Chapter 22: We Can Kiss Now

Chapter 22: Now We Can Kiss

Lu Hechi's brain froze for a second, unable to tell if this was real.

If this were a dream, last night he hadn't dreamed anything like this!

The elevator kept going down, floor by floor.

Lu Hechi tried hard to recall what had happened when he went back to the private room yesterday.

Song Jiyao had plied him with a lot of alcohol, he was dizzy, and then... what happened after that?

It seemed like Shen Lanxue had brought him home...

When they stepped out of the elevator, they accidentally bumped into each other.

Half-drunk and half-out-of-it, Lu Hechi touched his lips, and he was back in that moment from last night—warm breath brushing his face, a very gentle touch.

"..."

The moment he walked in the door, he heard Little Star laughing in the living room.

Lu Hechi slipped on his slippers and walked in, to find Little Star lying on the carpet playing with LEGOs, while his brother sat on the armchair, head down, reading a finance magazine.

It was a picture of peaceful domestic bliss.

Lu Hechi took a deep breath, his dark eyes fixed on the two of them, as if trying to burn this scene into his memory.

Isn't all your hard work just for a moment like this?

And he'd gotten it the moment he woke up.

"Daddy!" Little Star heard him, popped his head up, eyes bright, still holding a little LEGO piece. "Where'd you go today?"

Lu Hechi shuffled over in his slippers, scooped Little Star up, spun him around, and planted a big kiss on his cheek.

"Daddy went to work to earn milk money for you."

Shen Yixing shot him a mock glare: "I stopped drinking formula ages ago!"

"Okay, okay." Lu Hechi held Little Star and sat down next to Shen Lanxue. "What about you? Why are you home so early from school?"

His son usually got out at 4:50, and it was barely past 4 now.

"The teacher said we have the afternoon off!" he said happily. "Tomorrow we're playing games! Daddy and Baba have to come too!"

Shen Lanxue had already texted him about it at noon.

He already knew.

Shen Yixing tugged on Lu Hechi's sleeve. "Daddy, the teacher said we have to wear matching clothes! Do you two have matching clothes?"

Lu Hechi instinctively looked at Shen Lanxue.

Shen Lanxue shook his head at him.

Lu Hechi got tugged around by the little guy and looked down. "No, we don't."

"Then let's go get some!" Shen Yixing said.

Lu Hechi: "Okay, we'll go after dinner."

"No, I wanna go now!"

Little Star didn't let go, tilting his little face up with an expression that clearly said, "If you don't agree, I'm not moving."

He was a smart kid.

He knew that as long as Daddy agreed, Baba would definitely come too, so he only pestered Lu Hechi.

Lu Hechi lasted less than five seconds under that stare before caving: "Fine, fine, sweetheart, let go of me. I'll go put on my shoes, and we'll head out now."

Only then did Shen Yixing let go, then scooted over to whisper something in Shen Lanxue's ear.

Lu Hechi was just about to get up and change his shoes when he vaguely heard things like "I did this, awesome, awesome" — fishing for praise.

He raised an eyebrow. "Who's awesome, huh?"

When he wanted something, Shen Yixing was quick with the flattery: "Of course it's you, Daddy! Handsome and amazing!"

Lu Hechi was so flattered he was floating, dazedly changed his shoes, and drove to the mall.

The second Little Star got inside the mall, he started running wild.

He grabbed Lu Hechi's hand and dragged him through about five clothing stores, shaking his head at everything, critiquing like a little adult.

Either the colors weren't right, or the patterns were too babyish—he was super picky.

By the time Lu Hechi got dragged to the seventh store, his legs were about to give out: "Son, what exactly are you looking for?"

Little Star stood in front of the rack, tilting his little face up, deep in thought: "I want something cool, something nobody else has, and it has to look like we're a family at first glance!"

Shen Lanxue was strolling along behind them and paused mid-step when he heard that.

Lu Hechi, meanwhile, was picturing Shen Lanxue in gothic clothes and couldn't help but laugh.

Then the laughter died in his throat as he saw Shen Lanxue and Little Star both staring at him.

Lu Hechi: "..."

That was awkward.

Just then, Little Star's eyes locked onto a black tee with a black skull print. "This one! I like this one!"

The shop assistant had been trailing them the whole time and immediately grabbed the shirt when she saw.

Lu Hechi took it and looked it over—honestly, it was pretty cool. He held it up against himself, then turned and handed it to Shen Lanxue.

"Bro, try it on."

Shen Lanxue didn't take it, his face unreadable. "...Pick something else."

Shen Yixing pouted. "Baba." Then he whipped his head around and frantically blinked his big sparkly eyes at Lu Hechi.

Lu Hechi wanted to ignore it, but his son was too good at being cute.

So he tugged at Shen Lanxue's clothes too. "Bro."

Shen Lanxue was silent for a few seconds. Under the weight of two pairs of eyes, he stiffly picked up the shirt and held it up in front of himself.

He already had a cold, distant look about him, and that plain black tee popped even more on him.

"Daddy's so handsome!" Shen Yixing went all starry-eyed. "Even more handsome than Papa!"

They ended up going with that shirt.

That night, Lu Hechi and Shen Lanxue lay in the same bed, with the bedroom lights off and everything pitch black.

With so much going on during the day, all that ambiguous tension had been pushed down, but in the quiet of the night, it came roaring back.

Lu Hechi couldn't sleep, tossing and turning, plagued by the faint scent of Shen Lanxue's perfume and the sound of his breathing in his ears.

His heart thumped against his ribs.

Lu Hechi suddenly piped up: "Brother, you asleep?"

There was a beat of silence.

Shen Lanxue's voice drifted over: "...No."

Lu Hechi turned over, scooting up against Shen Lanxue, trying to make out his shape in the dark.

"Brother, last night... did we kiss?"

He said it bluntly, no filter.

"...We accidentally touched lips."

"Like, mouth on mouth?"

"Yeah, something like that."

Lu Hechi wasn't satisfied.

"A kiss is a kiss! What the hell is 'something like that'?!"

Shen Lanxue hesitated, then said, "Go to sleep."

Lu Hechi shuffled closer and pulled him into a hug. "I can't sleep. Every time I close my eyes, I see you kissing me. I've never kissed anyone, and my first kiss was with you, but I didn't even get a real taste of it."

He stopped mid-sentence, suddenly remembering that he'd just lost his memory—before that, he'd probably kissed his brother a million times.

Lu Hechi wasn't about to drop it. "Brother, you still haven't answered what I asked you yesterday!"

Shen Lanxue was taken aback.

Lu Hechi kept nagging in his ear: "Can I? Can I? Can I?"

Shen Lanxue's fingers gripped the blanket, the black string on his wrist felt heavy, its tiny diamonds catching the dark.

"Brother, can I kiss you, or what?"

Shen Lanxue took a deep breath, turned his head away, and mumbled, "...Mm."

Lu Hechi lit up instantly. "Really?"

Shen Lanxue said nothing more.

Now that he had his answer, Lu Hechi's mind was completely consumed by those soft lips.

His big, sharp-knuckled hand came up to trace Shen Lanxue's face.

He traced down slowly from his forehead—long lashes, a high nose bridge, and then the lips he'd been craving all afternoon.

"..."