Chapter 15

Xie Xian gave the villa to Chen Heng. Since it had already been extensively renovated with a soundproof room and a recording studio, it made more sense for Chen Heng to live there. 

Xie Xian and Lin JunYi moved into a penthouse apartment that was also owned by Xie Xian. The first night that they’d moved in together, Lin JunYi was awoken in the middle of the night by banging on the door. However when the man who was wrapped tightly around his body moved, he closed his eyes again and pretended to be still asleep.

Xie Xian dropped a gentle kiss on his forehead and then left, closing the bedroom door behind him.

The apartment had good sound insulation and in addition the first thing Xie Xian told the person who’d come calling in the middle of the night was to be quiet. Hence Lin JunYi could only hear snippets of the conversation.

“.... are you insane?! This is Chen Heng! The person you’ve loved your entire life! And now you’re actually going to break up with him… some type of lowly corporate spy… have you gone crazy?!”

“It’s Dong Zhan,” His system supplied the information to him.

Lin JunYi rolled over in bed. He couldn’t really hear Xie Xian’s voice since it was very low. But a few minutes of conversation later, Dong Zhan’s voice rose sharply again.

“No I don’t understand! There’s nothing to understand! Xie-ge, are you being blackmailed?! Otherwise how could you stand to…”

“....do you know how upset Chen Heng is?! He hasn’t even been eating….”

“....and on top of that, that damned punk of a piano student of his keeps trying to call him… I looked into it… you did something to him right? If you don’t want to stay beside Ah-Heng then why…”

“....you expect me to believe something like that?”

“....you want me to take care of Ah-Heng from now on?! Xie-ge do you know what you’re asking…”

The conversation went on and on. It wasn’t until an hour later that Xie Xian sent away the guest and returned to the room. He saw that Lin JunYi was sitting up in bed and browsing through his phone.

“Don’t read in the dark,” Xie Xian turned on a lamp and got back into the warm bed. As soon as he did that he pulled Lin JunYi into his arms. “Are you looking through my schedule again? You really want to be my secretary again?”

“Otherwise?”

“You can do anything you want. I can support you.”

Lin JunYi ran his finger down Xie Xian’s handsome face and smiled. He said teasingly, “How else can I keep an eye on you to make sure you’re not running around with someone else?”

Xie Xian’s eyes darkened. He deeply wished that the young man’s possessiveness was real but was clear that he was only joking. Tipping Lin JunYi’s head up, he kissed his red lips and then the seductive mole beneath his left eye. Sticking out his tongue, he licked it slowly.

Lin JunYi sighed. It felt nice to be protected and loved like this. 

If only he could… stay interested in this man…. How good that would be…

“You have to!” 729’s voice interrupted his thoughts. “It’s up to you to make sure the second male lead lives happily ever after!”

Lin JunYi hummed softly. 

Xie Xian held him and spoke quietly, “The reason that I’m putting pressure on Sun YuZhu’s family to send him overseas isn't because of Chen Heng.”

Lin JunYi smiled into the darkness. “I know.”

“Although I know you don’t like him anymore, I still don’t want you to ever see him again. The thought of it makes me… uncomfortable.”

“I know.”

Xie Xian opened his mouth to say something else but then closed them again. Lin JunYi continued smiling. He knew what it was that Xie Xian had left off. He’d given Sun YuZhu two options. Either he could stay in China and continue pestering Chen Heng or take Xie Xian’s money and go overseas permanently. Sun YuZhu hadn’t responded well and had thrown a fit but his family was more than willing to sacrifice him to get into President Xie’s good graces.

No doubt Xie Xian hadn’t told him any of this because he was scared of Lin JunYi misunderstanding. 

“Do I seem like that kind of small-hearted person?” Lin JunYi asked 729. 

Although actually he did feel a bit uncomfortable in his heart right now. 

“Host, you’re not worried that the second male lead still has lingering feelings for the protagonist shou, are you?” 729 asked this cautiously, afraid of upsetting the host.

Lin JunYi touched his chest. If only 729 could understand how much he cherished the small, sour feeling in his heart.

Because that meant that his interest in Xie Xian was still alive and burning.

How long would it last?

He couldn’t be sure.

And if the time came when he was no longer interested in Xie Xian, could he stay beside him for the sake of the mission…?

Lin JunYi didn’t have much confidence in himself. He was after all a creature that lived purely on instinct.

Looking down at the thoughts flickering through Lin JunYi’s jewel-like eyes, Xie Xian’s expression darkened as though he could read his mind. 

***

A few weeks later something happened. When Xie Xian was in a meeting, he’d left his private phone with Lin JunYi. The same time the phone lit up with Dong Zhan’s incoming call, 729 said: “Host, the protagonist gong has kidnapped the protagonist shou and is holding him hostage!”

Lin JunYi’s eyes flashed. When he picked up the call, Dong Zhan yelled: “Xia-ge, come to the villa straight away! That bastard punk broke in and has taken Ah-Heng hostage! Don’t call the police, he said if he sees a cop car he’ll kill Ah-Heng straight away. Come now!”

The line went dead. Lin JunYi stared at it, thinking quickly. As if sensing his thoughts, 729 said: “The protagonist gong is armed with a gun!”

Xie Xian certainly couldn’t have a happily ever after if he was dead. Thinking quickly, Lin JunYi stuffed Xie Xian's mobile phone in his pocket and went to get the car, driving over to the villa quickly. 

When Xie Xian came out of the meeting half an hour later, he was surprised to see Lin JunYi was nowhere to be found. He dialed Lin JunYi’s number but there was no answer.

Another secretary informed him, “I saw Mr. Zhou go out in a hurry. Before he did that I saw him answer his phone.”

His phone? Xie Xian looked around his desk and saw that his personal phone was missing as well. Even if Lin JunYi had some urgent private matter to attend to, he wouldn’t have taken Xie Xian’s phone with him. Not unless he wanted to prevent Xie Xian from knowing about something…

Xie Xian’s heart tightened as a frightening conjecture appeared in his mind.

***

The fact that Xie Xian could vaguely piece together the details was not surprising. He’d known that Sun YuZhu was growing increasingly more and more desperate as the weeks wore on and his family insisted on pushing him overseas and cutting him off from the family business.

Xie Xian had been expecting him to retaliate in some manner and had sent a great deal of people to watch over him and Chen Heng. Just now he’d tried to call Chen Heng’s bodyguards but none of them had answered. Hence he rushed over to the villa.

It wasn’t until much later on that he found out the reason that the bodyguard hadn’t notified him was because Chen Heng, who was also desperate about the situation and was trying in vain to find some way to shake things up, had told them that the disguised Sun YuZhu was his friend and admitted him to the house voluntarily. So they hadn’t been on their guard and had been easily subdued by his gun.

When Xie Xian burst into the room he saw to his horror Sun YuZhu sitting in a chair with Chen Heng, Dong Zhan and Lin JunYi bound in a row behind him. The bodyguards had all been totally knocked out by this time.

“Ah, President Xie, so good of you to join us.” Sun YuZhu pointed the gun at him. “I was just waiting for you. Now that everyone is here, we can begin our chat.”

“Sun YuZhu, what do you want?” Xie Xian asked dangerously.

“What do I want… what do I want?” Sun YuZhu’s eyes were red and there were huge bags around his eyes. He looked as though he hadn’t slept for ages. “That’s a good question, what is it that I want?”

He looked at Chen Heng and said with a sneer, “I thought Teacher Chen was what I wanted but it turns out… that you were just a boring and lousy lay.”

Chen Heng’s eyes flashed with extreme humiliation and disbelief. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing from the man who had once told him that he loved him!

Sun YuZhu touched his head, feeling quite inexplicable. He muttered, “It feels like everything in my life was going fine and then, after I met you, everything became wrong…”

“Because of you I’ve nearly lost everything. If I’d known then I wouldn’t have ever approached you, I wouldn’t have sent Zhou Yi to Tianya then everything would be fine…  everything would still be normal… Zhou Yi would still be mine. Zhou Yi…”

He squatted down in front of Lin JunYi and reached out to touch his face lingeringly. When he heard Xie Xian try to rush him from behind, he whipped around and pointed the gun in his face. “Stop right there and don’t move! If you move I’ll blow both you and his brains out! Yes, I’ll kill him! Why shouldn’t I? After all he’s just a dog that I raised. A dog should be loyal to his master. A disloyal dog should be put down!”

“Sun YuZhu,” Xie Xian said between gritted teeth. “If you dare touch him I’ll skin you alive.”

“Hahahaha… but don’t you know I’ve already touched him? Xie Xian, I won’t let you have him. Even if he dies, he has to die as my dog. I won’t let you have him-ahh!!” Sun YuZhu’s voice was abruptly cut off as something attacked him from behind. Before he could react, Lin JunYi - who had broken loose from his restraints some time ago- had wrapped the rope that was previously around his wrist around Sun YuZhu’s neck and pulled hard. 

Taking advantage of the distraction, Xie Xian immediately kicked the gun out of Sun YuZhu’s hand.

Pulling the rope even tighter, Lin JunYi spoke mockingly into Sun YuZhu’s ear, “Who’s your dog? Say that again, I dare you.”

Sun YuZhu’s eyes bulged as if he couldn’t believe Zhou Yi would attack him.

“You’re the dog…. no, calling you a dog is insulting to a dog. You’re nothing but a disgusting lowlife. Let me tell you once and for all that I have never, ever loved you.”

Disbelief flashed through Sun YuZhu’s eyes but then Xie Xian suddenly wrenched him from Lin JunYi’s grasp and threw him to the ground, beginning to pummel him mercilessly.

As the violent blows landed on Sun YuZhu’s body, a crazed Xie Xian raged, “Where did he touch you Ah-Yi!? Tell me and I’ll cut it off!”

“His hands and…” Lin JunYi trailed off. Xie Xian looked at him with red eyes and said, “Go to the kitchen and get me a knife.”

“Xie-ge! Are you insane!?” Chen Heng was in disbelief. He has never seen this crazed, deranged side of Xie Xian before. He turned his head and looked at Lin JunYi. It’s all because of this guy? Xie-ge’s never even been like this for me before…

Meanwhile luckily Lin JunYi held onto a shred of his sanity. The truth was seeing Xie Xian going crazy for him was actually a bit exciting - he couldn’t deny his heart was beating madly - but a Xie Xian in jail really wasn’t the happy ever after he was aiming for.

So he untied Dong Zhan and Chen Heng instead. Dong Zhan immediately went to call the police. Lin JunYi went over to Xie Xian and hugged him from behind. He said soothingly, “Ah-Xian, it’s okay now. He’s already passed out. He can’t hurt me anymore, everything’s fine now.”

Xie Xian paused and then suddenly turned around and violently hugged him. “How could you do this without telling me!? What if something happened to you!? How could I keep on living when I... love you so much…”

Lin JunYi paused and then said lightly, as though Xie Xian hadn't just confessed to him, “Didn’t you see how nimbly I got out of the restraints? It’s a special skill of mine.” As a teenager he’d once been interested in being a magician. His mother had hired some famous ones to teach him and he’d indeed studied earnestly for a little while before eventually getting bored with it. Anyway when it came to breaking through ropes he was pretty confident. “If you’d just waited a few more minutes, I would have solved everything myself.”

“Ah-Yi…” Xie Xian’s voice was a little bit broken. “You fool, don’t you ever do something like this again… promise me.”

“I’ll do my best.” Lin JunYi said and Xie Xian’s arms closed crushingly tight against him as he closed his eyes.

A little distance away Chen Heng stared at the embracing couple. His eyes were shadowed and that seed of darkness planted in his heart sprouted and grew acid drenched leaves...

***

Author's Note: *Looks at the number of readers and feels quietly happy*. Thanks for reading everyone~ 3 more chapters until this arc ends.