Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Jiang Chen had thought before about what he would do if he met someone he liked. With his personality, he shouldn’t be rash. He would start by being friends with the other person, getting to know them, slowly integrating into their life. He would patiently pursue them, and after the other person also developed feelings for him, he would find a suitable time to give them a romantic confession.

But as he sat in the car, the only thing on his mind was one thing.

See Ling Sheng.

He felt like he wasn’t normal.

What was it to like a man? He didn’t even figure out whether Ling Sheng liked him or not.

What could he do after seeing him? He hadn’t even thought of a suitable excuse.

There was no traffic at this hour. He arrived at 10:56. He got out of the car and hesitated on the side of the road, not daring to go in.

His head was hot, and his heart hadn’t calmed down. The alcohol was starting to kick in, and he was extremely sober and excited. After a while, he saw someone coming out from inside. It was Tonio and Coco. The two were holding arms and talking. He stood in the shadows without a sound. Then, another person came out behind them. It was Ling Sheng.

The three exchanged greetings, and Tonio and Coco left. Ling Sheng, holding his laptop bag, turned to walk toward the parking lot.

When Jiang Chen saw Tonio and Coco, he was still thinking that if Ling Sheng was there, he would just take a look from a distance. After all, he hadn’t even organized his thoughts, and he didn’t know what to say if he rushed up.

But when the person really appeared, he inexplicably followed Ling Sheng.

He didn’t make a sound, feeling like a pervert stalking someone, but he secretly hoped to be discovered, his whole being conflicted and out of control.

Ling Sheng had gone out to meet someone for dinner, so he didn’t park the car in the underground garage. It was eleven o’clock, and there weren’t many people around. It was very quiet, which made him keenly aware that someone was following him.

When he reached the car, he turned around and saw a tall figure following him. At the moment he turned, the figure seemed to take a step back, but there was nowhere to hide around, and since he had already been discovered, he froze there.

Ling Sheng recognized him and relaxed his tense body: “Xiao Chen?”

Jiang Chen heard his voice, but it felt like the voice was mixed with his own chaotic heartbeat. He walked step by step to Ling Sheng, and in the dim streetlight, he finally slowly saw his face clearly.

Ling Sheng looked him up and down: “It’s so late, what are you doing here?”

He didn’t know either. He hadn’t even prepared a lie. Under Ling Sheng’s probing gaze, he didn’t even want to tell a lie.

“Looking for you.”

His voice rang out quietly in the night.

“Looking for me?” Ling Sheng took only a few seconds to roughly figure out why he had come to find him: “Because of Xu Peiya’s matter?”

Other than that, there seemed to be no reason for him to come to find him alone at this time.

Today, when Xu Peiya was doing her resignation procedure, she said that she wanted to talk to him privately about something. With his age and experience, it was too easy to see what she was thinking.

Not just Xu Peiya, including Jiang Chen…

He leaned against the hood of the car, thinking about how to say it appropriately, because he wasn’t sure what Xu Peiya had told Jiang Chen.

At this moment, Jiang Chen couldn’t think of anything else. Looking at the man in front of him, whether it was his nonchalant tone or his gentle, smiling eyes, every move made him reluctant to look away.

An unprecedented impulse made him not even think about what would happen the next second. He stared at him, not even being subtle, like a child who had just learned to speak and read, with only a few words in his mind, so he could only use these few words to express himself: “Ling Sheng, I like you, I want to be with you.”

Ling Sheng was taken aback, turning his head to look at him in surprise.

Jiang Chen was breathing heavily, with sweat on his forehead and back. He was so nervous that his whole body was stiff, but his eyes were bright, like two stars in the night.

From childhood to adulthood, he always had a clear understanding of his abilities, but no matter how well he did, as long as he started, he would go all out. He had never felt diffident. After seeing Ling Sheng’s surprised expression, he immediately began to think.

He should have changed his clothes, and he hadn’t styled his hair. He should have bought a bouquet of flowers or a gift.

But now, he hadn’t even taken a shower, and he still had the smell of sweat left over from playing ball, and his clothes were casual, even smelling of alcohol and barbecue.

The more anxious he was, the more flustered he became.

His tone inevitably became less confident, becoming timid: “Peiya said… you like guys, so can you try with me?”

Should the confession include some nice words, even if it’s just praising the other person?

A person who had been confessed to countless times couldn’t say anything else at this moment.

After being surprised, Ling Sheng turned his head again. He took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his bag. After taking out a cigarette, he thought of something and looked at Jiang Chen: “Do you mind?”

At this time, Jiang Chen wouldn’t dare to shake his head no matter what he did, so he could only blankly say: “I don’t mind.”

He was like a prisoner waiting for sentencing, watching Ling Sheng light the cigarette, smoke, his slender fingers holding the cigarette, taking a puff and slowly exhaling smoke. Under the streetlight, it looked like a cloud scattered by the wind.

He was standing downwind, and the smoke blew onto him.

At home, his dad was a heavy smoker, but he wouldn’t smoke in the house. He would only smoke in the yard before coming back. His sister-in-law didn’t like the smell of smoke, so his brother rarely smoked, only during necessary social occasions. He would immediately rinse his mouth and wash his hands when he came home.

He didn’t smoke, and he couldn’t say he liked or disliked the smell of smoke. After all, there were too many people around him who smoked, but the smell of smoke blowing from Ling Sheng’s side felt like it was stained with Ling Sheng’s scent, which made him feel good.

Ling Sheng noticed that the smoke was blowing towards him, so he changed his position and walked to the other side of the road. Jiang Chen followed suit and stood downwind from him again, looking dazed.

Looking at the tall boy looking at him expectantly, like a puppy eager for its owner to hand it a bone.

Well, a big dog.

The corners of Ling Sheng’s mouth couldn’t help but twitch, and his eyes softened.

A cigarette was quickly finished. He exhaled the last puff of smoke and threw the cigarette butt into the ashtray next to him. Then he turned around to face Jiang Chen.

“Okay.”

Finally getting an answer, even a good answer, Jiang Chen felt like his heart had suddenly stopped. Instead, he was even more dazed. He stood there, not daring to believe it. What did Ling Sheng just say?

Okay.

He agreed?

Shouldn’t he ask when did you start liking me? Why do you like me?

…or something like that?

“Did you drink?” Ling Sheng’s expression didn’t change much: “I’ll take you home.”

Jiang Chen followed him into the car and sat in the passenger seat. He watched Ling Sheng get in, fasten his seat belt, and then turn on the phone’s navigation. His expression didn’t even change much. The confession just now seemed like a normal and ordinary conversation like “Have you eaten? Eaten, okay, then I’ll take you home.”

“Tell me your address.”

“Fu Jiang Garden.”

Igniting the engine, the car slowly drove out. Ling Sheng even smiled at the security guard in the security booth.

“Is it stuffy? Do you want to open the window?”

“Yeah.”

The place he lived was quite close to Xu Peiya’s house, not far from here, only a fifteen-minute drive. There was no traffic at this time. The car window slowly lowered, and the night breeze blew on his face, dissipating the heat, but no matter how the wind blew, he could still smell the smell of smoke that had just drifted over from Ling Sheng’s smoking.

Jiang Chen felt like he was still dazed. If it weren’t for this bit of smoke, he would have suspected that everything just now was a dream.

“Did you drink with Xiaoya?”

“Yeah.”

But as soon as he finished answering, he suddenly thought, would Ling Sheng think that he was talking nonsense because he was drunk, which is why he agreed so quickly?

So Jiang Chen anxiously turned his body to explain: “I’m not drunk.”

Ling Sheng waited for the red light and turned his head to look at him, with a faint smile still hanging on his lips: “I know, I can tell.”

His expression was too calm, so calm that it was a bit frivolous, like he was coaxing a child.

Jiang Chen was afraid that he wouldn’t believe him, and his tone became anxious, emphasizing: “I only drank a little. I’m very sober. I know what I’m saying.”

The red light turned green, and the car started again. The female voice in the navigation prompted to turn, and there were two minutes left to reach the destination.

Ling Sheng didn’t speak until the car stopped at the entrance of the neighborhood. He turned off the engine and turned to look at Jiang Chen. The front overhead light turned on, falling on his face. He looked at Jiang Chen’s flushed face, and the smile on his lips became more obvious: “I didn’t drink. I know very well what I heard and what I answered.”

Jiang Chen didn’t regain a bit of reality until now.

But he felt like he was still floating in the air, a bit unreal.

“Go back and take a shower, go to bed early.” Ling Sheng pressed the seat belt buckle for him: “Send me a message when you wake up.”

He leaned a little towards him, his hand that unlocked the seat belt buckle still on the storage compartment between the two. The skin on his hand was pale white under the light, and the veins on it were clear. Just as that hand was about to retract, Jiang Chen suddenly reached out and grabbed it directly.

Warm and dry fingers were held in his palm, a real touch and temperature.

He raised his eyes and saw Ling Sheng’s all-knowing smile, a little embarrassed and quickly let go of his hand, but at this time that hand stretched out again, this time directly pinching his chin.

With a “click”, the seat belt buckle was opened. The scent of tobacco accompanied the figure that enveloped him, blocking the overhead light, and a soft kiss landed on his lips.

It was a very simple kiss.

“Go up and rest.”

His hair was ruffled, the man’s voice passed by his ear, smiling, sounding very happy.

Jiang Chen couldn’t remember how he entered the neighborhood. When he came back to his senses, he realized that he was still in the elevator, but the elevator hadn’t moved. Only then did he see that he hadn’t pressed his floor. Looking at his phone again, it was already 12:30.

He had been standing in the elevator for at least twenty minutes.

Ling Sheng actually agreed?!

He agreed to him?!

And he even kissed him first.

From unrequited love to heartbreak to love, he experienced it all in one night. Even now, he felt like he was still dreaming.

The delayed excitement was boiling in his blood, making him feel so energetic that he wanted to vent it with all his might. Even the hand pressing the elevator button was a bit shaky. After entering the door, he didn’t even change his shoes and wandered around the house. If he wasn’t afraid of disturbing the neighbors, he would have wanted to stand on the balcony and yell.

He opened almost all the good friends in his phone list again, wanting to find someone to share with, but in the end, he forcibly held back.

They were both men. He didn’t mind being open with his friends, but it seemed that no one in the company knew about Ling Sheng’s sexuality. He wasn’t sure what Ling Sheng was thinking, so it was best not to talk nonsense now.

After wandering around again, he returned to the bed. After tossing and turning for a long time, he opened the newly added WeChat and stared at the profile picture for a long time, wanting to say something but not knowing what to say. Finally, he opened Ling Sheng’s profile, wanting to change Ling Sheng’s nickname, but he wasn’t used to changing it to something too intimate, a bit cheesy. After thinking for a long time, he only changed it to “Ling Sheng.”

After changing it, he held the phone for a long time. It was already 1:30. Was it too late?

He said to send him a message when he woke up, did that mean not to disturb him at night?

After hesitating back and forth for a long time, he couldn’t help but send a “Good night.”

But a message came back quickly.

“Good night.”

Jiang Chen stared at those two words, the corners of his mouth couldn’t stop splitting backwards, unable to control it. Finally, he pressed the phone to his face, laughing until he felt like an idiot.