Another gust of wind howled, accompanied by the crashing of waves against the shore.
The rushing tide had already drowned out the voices of the other people under the Lover’s Lighthouse, so those couples seemed to have vanished as well. All around them was only darkness and the familiar presence within it. Even the light from the lighthouse, that soft, bright circle cast down from above, seemed to stop at their feet and behind them.
Darkness was accompanied by silence.
The rushing waves and the silence rubbed against each other, making the formless silence vast, beginning to press down on them… until suddenly, Huo Ranyin’s presence intensified, cutting off the silence and surrounding him.
In the darkness, Huo Ranyin moved closer to him.
A rose petal floated down from the sky and landed on his lips.
He was struck by the petal, a jolt that left his heart empty for an instant.
That instant was then filled by Huo Ranyin.
Huo Ranyin kissed him.
Gentle and searing hot.
An invisible, rich fragrance spread. Ji Xun tasted Huo Ranyin’s lips, an enticing flavor like red juice steeped with wild berries. He deepened the kiss, touching Huo Ranyin’s tongue, which, like a gentleman’s hand, led him in a graceful dance.
Ji Xun held his breath for a few seconds and plunged headfirst.
Plunging into a veil of pure beauty, he touched fire—the fire on Huo Ranyin’s lips, like a sea of flames; and he touched a blade—the blade of Huo Ranyin’s tongue, like a mountain of knives.
The blade’s edge kissed his tongue, and the flames singed his lips.
He plunged into the hell named Huo Ranyin.
A hell of depravity, a hell of ecstasy.
The air was sucked away, and a dizzy spell crept into his mind. The long kiss ended with Ji Xun’s slight gasp. The wind wrapped around them, blowing shivers through them—shivers from the cold wind, shivers from their intimate contact and separation.
Huo Ranyin let him go.
“Why?”
Ji Xun heard Huo Ranyin’s voice in the darkness. After that kiss, Huo Ranyin seemed to have shed his earlier bewilderment, now effortlessly in control of the rhythm again.
Oh…
Ji Xun touched his slightly burning lips, which held Huo Ranyin’s warmth. He immediately guessed what Huo Ranyin was thinking.
Do you feel like you have the upper hand just because you kissed me until I was out of breath?
“Why what?” Ji Xun asked back. He wasn’t being deliberate; he was just a bit distracted, still savoring the moment.
“Why did your attitude towards me suddenly change?” Huo Ranyin said in the darkness. “Focus—isn’t my kissing technique very good?”
“To be honest, it is quite good.”
“Answer me,” Huo Ranyin chuckled. “There’s better to come.”
“…” Ji Xun glanced into the darkness, trying to see Huo Ranyin’s expression. However, the other had already perfectly positioned himself, half in the light, mostly hidden in the dark. The darkness was like a tide, rising and falling on him as if breathing.
All Ji Xun could see was a sliver of Huo Ranyin’s snow-white profile revealed in the ebb and flow of darkness.
“You’re asking why my attitude changed?” Ji Xun gathered his scattered thoughts. “I thought we had a tacit understanding—but there are still some regrets. In the past, you never even told me your real name, Classmate Zhou.”
“…Just because of that?” Huo Ranyin scoffed lightly. “Because Classmate Zhou is Huo Ranyin, your attitude towards me suddenly changed? What, you like the Classmate Zhou type? The type that satisfies your desire to save others?”
“Don’t misunderstand, I had no improper thoughts about Classmate Zhou.” Ji Xun didn’t sigh; the sea breeze was like his sigh, lingering around Huo Ranyin, reluctant to leave. He said frankly, “It’s hard to say I like the past you, and it’s hard to say I like the present you, but I especially like the you who changed all the way from the past to the present. Can you understand that?”
“After all that, what you like is—”
“After all that, what I like is the resolute you, the decisive you, the you who carries a heavy burden but isn’t crushed, who still forges ahead—and that you is not a figment of my imagination.”
Ji Xun interrupted Huo Ranyin, slowly saying this, and then smiled at him.
“Sorry, my taste is just that old-fashioned.”
The beach fell silent for a moment. Ji Xun felt Huo Ranyin’s eyes, hidden in the darkness, thoughtfully sizing him up.
After a moment, he heard the other’s voice.
“Is this a speech for an awards ceremony?” Huo Ranyin sneered.
“…” Ji Xun.
“When it comes down to it, you just like this face that has grown up and blossomed, don’t you?”
“…” Ji Xun.
“Am I wrong?” Huo Ranyin teased.
“Not entirely wrong…” Better to admit to being swayed by looks than to being at an awards ceremony. Besides, Ji Xun remembered how he had secretly admired how much more beautiful Huo Ranyin had become during the book signing, so he didn’t feel the other was wrong.
After all, beauty is a feast for the eyes.
“Also…”
Huo Ranyin started to speak again but was interrupted by Ji Xun.
“You’re asking too many questions. Can’t we sit down and have a proper chat back in the hotel? The sea breeze here is so strong, it’s freezing.”
“You’re the one who brought me here.”
“I brought you here,” Ji Xun said. “And I’ve already achieved my goal.”
“Oh—” Huo Ranyin drew out the sound. “Then…”
As if grown wings by the wind, or like a slightly tipsy person stumbling lightly, he stepped out of the darkness and into the light of the Lover’s Lighthouse.
A misty, rainbow-colored halo, a projection of the moon, was cast upon the earth and into Huo Ranyin’s eyes, leaving a crescent moon’s reflection in his consistently dark pupils.
That gaze rested on Ji Xun’s face and intoxicated its way into Ji Xun’s heart.
Huo Ranyin’s voice was also low, like a feather in the night, carried by a tipsy mood, lightly falling into a slightly drunken heart.
“Let’s go back to the hotel. It will be an intense night,” he whispered wickedly. “An intense night that will leave you exhausted, savoring every moment, as wonderful as flying in the clouds… an intense night that will make you unable to get out of bed for work the next day.”
Thoughts, like butterflies, followed Huo Ranyin’s voice, fluttering freely in the air that was clearly cold yet felt feverish.
Ji Xun suddenly reached out and hooked Huo Ranyin’s hand.
“Your hand is so cold.”
“It’s always like this,” said Huo Ranyin.
“Put it in my pocket,” Ji Xun said, grabbing Huo Ranyin’s hand and stuffing it into his pocket. “Then it won’t be like this.”
“…” Huo Ranyin seemed to laugh. “Fine.”
The road that seemed somewhat long on the way there always became much shorter and faster on the way back.
Perhaps it was because they had a clear destination that the process of getting there was single-minded and focused, so they didn’t feel the passage of time.
On the way back to the hotel, there happened to be a fruit shop next to a flower shop.
Huo Ranyin prepared props for the words he had spoken. He went into both shops, first buying a bouquet of roses, then a dragon fruit, and then asked Ji Xun, “Is that enough?”
“Um—”
“If it’s not enough, we can get more.”
Huo Ranyin’s expression was natural and leisurely, speaking as casually as if discussing what to have for a midnight snack. But Ji Xun still saw a hint of mischievous teasing in the other’s eyes.
The charm born from the teasing was held in the corner of Huo Ranyin’s eyes, making the star-like beauty mark there sparkle.
Ji Xun led Huo Ranyin out of the fruit shop and flower shop.
They returned to the hotel.
In the elevator, Ji Xun asked, “Where’s your room?”
Huo Ranyin: “Next door.”
That made sense. Only from the room next door could one easily climb over from the balcony into his room. From any other room, whether above or below, would have been too conspicuous.
He said to Huo Ranyin, “Let’s go to your room.”
Huo Ranyin didn’t mind. He took out his room card, swiped the door open, and walked in.
But Ji Xun didn’t follow.
Huo Ranyin, holding the doorknob, turned around: “You have something else to do?”
He hadn’t inserted the card into the slot yet, so the room was still dark. The open door wasn’t fully open, forming a small, dim triangle.
Ji Xun stood in the hallway, took out his phone, and dialed a number.
After two seconds, the phone in Huo Ranyin’s pocket rang.
He answered it, saw the two characters for “Ji Xun” flashing on the screen, and raised an eyebrow slightly. “We’re face to face. Is there something you can’t tell me directly, that you have to make a redundant phone call…?”
Ji Xun smiled mysteriously without speaking, just shaking his phone, gesturing for Huo Ranyin to look again.
Huo Ranyin’s hand holding the phone tightened.
At this moment, he suddenly had a premonition. A small premonition that made his heart race, made the blood in his body feel like mulled wine, a feeling that went to his bones…
The phone was still ringing.
Ring after ring, an intimate and urgent call.
Huo Ranyin composed himself, lowered his eyes, and looked at the screen again.
The flashing name “Ji Xun” on the screen was not from his current number.
It was from a past number.
The number belonging to “Classmate Zhou.”
“Classmate Zhou” had called Ji Xun once, during his freshman year of university, calling the senior Ji Xun who had found a job and was about to change his phone.
The one and only call.
That call had not been answered.
Time turned, and seven years passed in a flash.
This call, which he thought had been lost in the river of time, was being called back.
He blinked.
The blurry shadow in his memory transformed into the clear image of the present, standing two steps away.
Smiling at him.
The sudden phone call disrupted everything.
All the steps Huo Ranyin had originally envisioned and prepared for instantly crumbled like a sandcastle hit by a rising tide, collapsing in disarray.
The sandcastle was like his heart, his reason, his entire being.
Ji Xun took the room card from his hand, inserted it into the slot, turned on the lights, turned on the air conditioning, and then closed the door.
The whirring sound of the air conditioner started up. Hearing this sound, Huo Ranyin’s body reflexively broke out in a thin layer of sweat. The fine sweat rolled on his skin, feeding back a slightly stinging, humid heat to his body.
Everything happening now was like a replica of what he had done to Ji Xun at dinner.
And so, all at once, Huo Ranyin was filled with a multitude of annoyances.
The annoyance of being seen through and figured out, the annoyance of what was almost a confession, and the annoyance of having his plans disrupted.
Annoyance filled Huo Ranyin’s body, causing him to suddenly grab Ji Xun and pull him onto the sofa.
They were supposed to have many more tender, affectionate moments… never mind, that wasn’t important… that wasn’t the important thing.
Huo Ranyin leaned down to bite Ji Xun’s lips—
When the temperature rose, when Ji Xun lost control because of it, the chaos would pass, and everything would once again be back in his grasp!
Ji Xun followed Huo Ranyin’s pace, but his movements were much slower and calmer than Huo Ranyin’s anxious ones, appearing very deliberate and unhurried.
He caught Huo Ranyin’s impatient hands and kissed him. His lips touched Huo Ranyin’s sharp eyebrows, closed eyes, high-bridged nose, and burning lips.
Back and forth, over and over, again and again.
Like tufts of colorful cotton candy landing on his face, Huo Ranyin thought.
The passion that had agitated his body began to fade again.
No, it wasn’t fading, but being replaced by another kind of strangeness, something that would stir up his emotions and leave him flustered.
He was frantically trying to escape this thing.
With his eyes closed, Huo Ranyin cursed vaguely, “…Have you kissed me enough? Don’t you know what to do next?”
Despite the cursing, his eyes remained closed.
Ji Xun asked, “Why don’t you open your eyes and look at me?”
“…”
He didn’t hear Huo Ranyin’s reply, only saw a faint blush appear on that pale face, as if the warm light of the hotel had finally glazed the fine white porcelain.
Huo Ranyin slumped his shoulders, bent his legs, and seemed to shrink his body as if shy from being kissed.
Ji Xun let out a soft laugh.
His fingers traced over Huo Ranyin’s brow and pressed on Huo Ranyin’s eyes.
“Ever since you walked in the door, you haven’t dared to open your eyes and look at me.”
“Is it because…”
He chuckled softly, an intoxicating sound.
“…you’re afraid that if you look at me, I’ll discover that your eyes are filled, layer upon layer, entirely with me?”
Those eyes finally opened.
The dark eyes were illuminated by the light, transparent like moonlight, like the color of water.
Huo Ranyin glared at Ji Xun, and this layer of moonlight and water color rippled, blurring the shadow hidden in the depths of his eyes, Ji Xun’s shadow.
“Yes.”
Huo Ranyin sneered.
“You’re always bragging about how brilliant your mind is, but it’s actually not that brilliant.”
He paused, the words rolling on his tongue, and said through gritted teeth:
“Did it really take you until now to realize something as simple as Huo Ranyin liking Ji Xun?”
