Chapter 16

Damn.

He just touched my abs, and he actually…

Jiang Chen wanted to pull his hand away but also liked the feeling, even wanting more.

He was starting to wonder if he was just born gay, otherwise, how could he react just from being touched?

But this wasn’t the right place, in broad daylight, and in a male dormitory. Soon, people would be back from eating. Hearing the sound of talking in the hallway, Jiang Chen immediately jumped away.

The dormitory door opened, and three people came in. Seeing them, they exclaimed, “Chen-ge, you guys haven’t gone to eat yet? Hurry up, or all the food will be gone. Those guys from C University are like they’ve never eaten in a cafeteria before.”

After eating, Jiang Chen didn’t want to go to the dormitory; he wanted to go with Ling Sheng to rest in his car.

Once they were in the car, Jiang Chen still wanted to continue the topic from the dormitory, but he was too embarrassed to say directly, “I like you touching me.”

That would be too shameful.

So he said, “Wang Ming’an showed me your chat history; you asked him to go to a hotel.”

Ling Sheng frowned slightly in confusion, then opened his phone to check: “Hotel? Was it the time I sent him clothes?”

Sent clothes?

Ling Sheng directly handed the chat history to him.

Wang Ming’an: [Thank you, bro, for helping me vent my anger. I’ll buy you a new set of clothes.]

Ling Sheng: [You can just throw the clothes away.]

Wang Ming’an: [I’ve already bought a new set for you. I just happen to be going over there today, so it’s no big deal.]

Ling Sheng: [Okay, come on over.]

Ling Sheng: [XX Hotel, Room 1815. Just come on up.]

Wang Ming’an: [Okay, can I come a bit later? 9:30? I have some things to do today.]

Ling Sheng: [Okay, I’m going to take a shower first.]

The first few lines of the conversation had obviously been deleted by Wang Ming’an. What a mind, stirring up trouble.

“I ran into someone who plays dirty and started a fight right away. I had no choice but to help him out, and he got my clothes dirty, so he bought me a new set. I transferred the money to him later,” Ling Sheng said, shaking his phone. “Done reading?”

The following lines were also somewhat deleted. He complained that the modeling fee they offered was too low and was unwilling to go back for another photoshoot.

Wang Ming’an: [Bro, I don’t need money. I’m not doing it.]

Ling Sheng: [Okay]

Jiang Chen, who had been staring at the phone, suddenly felt embarrassed: “I didn’t… mean to look at your phone.”

Ling Sheng didn’t mind. Instead, he looked at him with a smile, pinching his chin as if giving him a reward: “It’s normal to be jealous of your boyfriend. It’s even better to say it out loud. As your boyfriend, I also have an obligation to explain these misunderstandings.”

Ling Sheng was always mature and considerate, making it impossible to find fault with him, which only made Jiang Chen seem more childish.

But there was still one thing he was very concerned about. The more someone is indulged, the bolder they become. Jiang Chen asked him: “So do you still have feelings for him now?”

“No,” Ling Sheng’s finger caressed his lips: “He made my boyfriend so angry. It’s good enough that I didn’t make trouble for him.”

Jiang Chen lunged forward to kiss him. Ling Sheng smiled and ruffled his hair, indulgently letting him release his passion on him.

They didn’t get much rest the whole afternoon. In the afternoon, Jiang Chen was still full of energy and won without any surprises. He didn’t go to the victory celebration dinner. Instead, he took a cool shower in the dormitory, changed out of the clothes he’d worn in the afternoon, and hurried off to meet Ling Sheng, who was waiting for him outside the school.

Ling Sheng’s car was an Audi A6, which he said was provided by the company. It was still parked in the same spot as at noon. As he excitedly ran over, he saw the car door open, and Wang Ming’an got out of the car. As soon as he stretched one foot out, he saw him. Wang Ming’an froze, then revealed a smile: “Jiang Chen?”

Jiang Chen didn’t give him a very good look, only humming in acknowledgement as he stood by the passenger seat and waited.

The meaning was obvious: he wanted to get in the car.

He suddenly understood why some girls online said that their boyfriend’s passenger seat could only be occupied by them. Now he really hated Wang Ming’an sitting in that seat.

Seeing him, Wang Ming’an didn’t hurry to get out of the car. Instead, he turned his head and said to Ling Sheng, “Sheng-ge, see you later.”

Ling Sheng grunted a sound of acknowledgement, his expression resembling Jiang Chen’s.

Once Jiang Chen got inside, he felt like something was off, as if there were thorns on the seat, but he couldn’t really say it out loud. So he started adjusting the seat up, down, forward, and backward, also explaining to cover up his real intentions, “He must have adjusted the seat just now; I’m moving it back.”

Ling Sheng just watched him adjust it. The slightly unpleasant mood he had felt because of Wang Ming’an improved when he saw Jiang Chen moving around in there. So he didn’t say that Wang Ming’an hadn’t touched the seat at all and just watched Jiang Chen adjust it for a long time.

“Did he spray cologne? He didn’t take a shower and sprayed cologne; it smells so strong.” Jiang Chen wanted to get the car washed.

Ling Sheng made an “oh” sound. He reached out and tugged at the collar of his T-shirt: “Then smell if I have any of the scent on me.”

Today, he was wearing a V-neck T-shirt, and he had put on a casual suit jacket when he was outside in the evening. At this moment, the collar was hooked and pulled down by his fingers, revealing a bit of his pectoral muscles.

Jiang Chen only glanced inside and felt his face getting a little hot: “Open the car window. It’ll dissipate if it gets some air.”

Ling Sheng couldn’t help but reach out and tousle his hair, opening all the windows.

“Did he come looking for you?” Jiang Chen asked.

Ling Sheng drove, answering casually, “Yeah.”

Although he knew that Ling Sheng wouldn’t be ambiguous with anyone else while dating him, Wang Ming’an’s behavior of deleting chat logs to provoke him made Jiang Chen very disdainful, and he really didn’t like looking at him: “What did he want from you?”

Ling Sheng answered truthfully, “He said he wanted to try again at the company; it doesn’t matter if the money is much or little.”

He had heard about Wang Ming’an’s family situation; his family owned a real estate company, so they definitely didn’t lack money. With that, his purpose was very clear. Jiang Chen felt that the block he had made on the court that day shouldn’t have blocked the ball into the basket but should have blocked it directly onto his head.

“He’s coming for you,” Jiang Chen said firmly, almost gnashing his teeth.

“Yeah,” Ling Sheng didn’t deny it. He glanced at his boyfriend’s eyes, which were wide as saucers, during a red light and said with a faint smile, “I don’t know where he gets the confidence to think he can compare to you.”

All the anger in his stomach instantly leaked out.

Jiang Chen’s tense back relaxed, and he leaned back in his seat, humming for a long time. It wasn’t until they arrived at their destination and were about to get out of the car that he said, “It’s not that I’m easily charmed; it’s that you’re too good at it.”

Ling Sheng unbuckled his seatbelt and naturally leaned over to kiss him: “Yes, as long as my boyfriend is happy.”

In the past, after winning a game, they would go out to eat and have some drinks, so Jiang Chen didn’t drive today. Because Ling Sheng had to work tomorrow and couldn’t come to watch the finals, he specially took him out for a nice meal today and then sent him home.

At the apartment complex, Jiang Chen couldn’t help but ask him, “So did you agree to let him go to the company?”

Ling Sheng didn’t care, speaking officially, “It’s not up to me to personally handle model interviews. If he wants to go, he can go interview himself.”

Official matters should be handled officially, but when he thought about how someone with ulterior motives toward Ling Sheng would go to the company and see Ling Sheng often, he couldn’t let go of his worries: “Didn’t he go once last time? He should be able to pass the interview this time too. Won’t you see each other often?”

“Not necessarily. I usually don’t go to the photo studio,” Ling Sheng said.

But Jiang Chen remembered seeing him often when he went to the shoot.

Sure enough, Ling Sheng smiled at him: “You don’t fall into that ordinary category.”

Jiang Chen felt like he was tickling him again, scratching at his heart with a feather. He felt like he couldn’t let this go on. Like kissing, there should be give and take to make it more interesting. So he countered, “Oh, so Ling-zong had designs on me long ago.”

Ling Sheng didn’t answer immediately. His eyes fell inch by inch from his face, tracing over his neck, shoulders, waist, and abdomen. That gaze was so blatant that it felt tangible. Every place he looked at felt like it had been touched by him. Jiang Chen felt a heat rising in his body, and as his gaze moved further down, he cleared his throat, interrupting Ling Sheng.

At this time, Ling Sheng reached out and pinched his reddening earlobe, the tips of his fingers cool and comfortable like an electric shock: “I’ve said it before; I like your body.”

“You said you liked my figure.” Jiang Chen wanted to rescue his earlobe from his hand, but he couldn’t bear to part with those cool fingertips. He really liked Ling Sheng’s touch.

That meant he was attracting Ling Sheng.

Ling Sheng liked him.

Ling Sheng followed his lead: “Then I’ll revise it. I like your figure, and I like your body even more.”

Having a good figure was something more people had praised, it was a type of compliment, but being praised for liking his body was even more ambiguous, even more indicative of attraction. Ling Sheng was always able to say these kinds of words so easily, and yet he said them so naturally.

Jiang Chen admitted that he couldn’t compete and wanted to escape but was unwilling to escape.

In the end, they exchanged a long goodnight kiss in the car before Jiang Chen reluctantly went upstairs.

The next day, they unsurprisingly won the championship. Ling Sheng sent his congratulations. Xu Peiya couldn’t buy a return ticket because she was out playing during the holiday and postponed it for several days, missing the game and bringing Jiang Chen a pile of gifts.

Ling Sheng was especially busy after the holiday, working overtime every day and not having much time to meet. Jiang Chen was also forced to withdraw some of his attention. In the past month or so, between the games, modeling, and dating, Jiang Chen had hardly spent any effort on his studies. Since Ling Sheng didn’t have time to meet him, he could only focus his attention on other things; otherwise, his mind would be full of Ling Sheng.

But Ling Sheng was really too busy, often working until after 11 p.m., even working overtime on Saturdays, which made Jiang Chen embarrassed to pester him every day.

Finally, they got to the weekend. Jiang Chen drove early in the morning to pick up Ling Sheng. Today, they had agreed to take him to Yan Huan’s restaurant to eat. They were slowly completing the things they had planned during the holiday, and it still made him very happy.

He arrived downstairs at 7:30 a.m., but thinking that Ling Sheng had worked overtime until 11 p.m. the night before, he wanted to let him sleep a little longer, so he waited downstairs for half an hour before sending him a message: [Send me a message when you wake up.]

The message was quickly replied to.

Ling Sheng: [Come over.]

JC: [Didn’t you work very late yesterday? How did you wake up so early?]

Ling Sheng: [I felt your message in my dream, and I woke up.]

Jiang Chen pursed his lips and tapped his forehead with his phone before typing a reply: [I’m already here.]

It took two minutes for the message to be returned: [Building 15, Room 1502, come on up.]