Ex-boyfriend

Chapter 4

　　Xu Yue was shocked upon hearing that. He suddenly rolled over and pressed Chu Yi under him.

Chu Yi laughed in a low voice, wrapped his hands around Xu Yue’s neck, and said hoarsely, “A’Yue, you don’t know how much I missed you.”

　　He had a few buttons on his shirt undone deliberately, exposing his gloriously broad and fair chest. Xu Yue lowered his head, covered his red-hot lips with his own and seared his marks all over Chu Yi’s body.

 That bout of love-making was fierce and impassioned. When it ended, both of them were sweating profusely.

　　Chu Yi leaned on Xu Yue’s shoulders. His eyes were unusually bright as he asked, “Are we good now?”

　　Before, every time they broke up, no matter how severely they fought, everything could be solved by make-up sex. Except for the last time. Chu Yi’s derailment was the straw that broke the camel’s back and Xu Yue left without looking back …

　　The bedside lamp hadn’t been turned off yet. Xu Yue’s expression at this moment was as indifferent as before. He caught Chu Yi’s hand that was teasing his chest and said, “Aren’t you being too affectionate?”

　“What?”

　“It’s just a one-off. Why take it so seriously?”

　　It’s just for fun. That’s all. Why so serious?[1]

　　When Xu Yue was washing up the next morning, those words suddenly popped into his mind. They were said the last time they quarreled. Chu Yi had said those words casually while smoking a cigarette.

　　Xu Yue remembered that it was dusk then. The setting sun shone in from outside the window panes and the rays fell on Chu Yi. In the haze of smoke, his fingers were particularly pleasing to the eye.

　　Really, why bother with that person?

　　He has never had a heart.

　　Later, Xu Yue never looked back. Chu Yi didn’t hold back either. He was truly a Casanova and his lover changed one after another. After several years, he suddenly returned to look for him. Who knows if he had truly come round or it was just a whim?

Xu Yue didn’t want to think too much about it. He went to work after getting dressed. He had purposefully left home early today. Consequently, he showed up at his company early.

　　Soon after, Su Yanwen came into the office looking for him. His eyes swept over him. and he became hard-faced. He threw the documents on the table and barked, “Sign.”

　　Xu Yue was a little confounded. While signing, he asked, “Why are you so angry today?”

　“It’s nothing. I didn’t sleep well last night.”

　　While talking, Fu Mingjie came in, chomping his breakfast. He greeted the two of them, “Good morning.”

　“You’re late.” Su Yanwen raised his wrist, looked at his watch and added lukewarmly, “You are late by forty minutes.”

　“I was entertaining a client until late and barely had any sleep.”

　Su Yanwen immediately followed up, “God knows if you were actually attending to client or were busy chasing after girls?”

　　Fu Mingjie was rendered speechless. He felt inexplicable.

　　Xu Yue gave Fu Mingjie a meaningful glance, lowered his voice and asked, “What’s the matter? Did you offend him again?”

　　Fu Mingjie smiled ambiguously. “Ask yourself.”

　　As he replied, he pointed his finger at Xu Yue’s neck.

　　Xu Yue raised his hand and touched it. It was only then that he remembered that Chu Yi had taken a bite on his neck at the peak of his pleasure last night.

　　Had he left a mark?

　　He coughed awkwardly.

　　Fu Mingjie leaned over, bumped his shoulder and winked at Xu Yue. He asked, “It’s Chu Yi, right? Have you two reconciled? I heard that he is Chu Tiancheng’s son and the heir apparent of the Chu family. As long as, A’Yue, you can sacrifice a bit of your sex appeal, we won’t have to worry about orders in the future…”

　　Su Yanwen heard this and immediately rolled his eyes, “Why are you spouting so much nonsense? It’s time to get back to work.”

　　Just as Xu Yue finished signing, Su Yanwen took back the document in one hand and grabbed Fu Mingjie by the collar with the other and dragged him out of the office. Since the door was left ajar, Xu Yue could hear them quarrel outside.

At the noon break, Xu Yue found band-aid and covered the love bite on his neck. Subsequently, Su Yanwen’s expression improved.

Unexpectedly, when he got off work, he found Chu Yi waiting for him downstairs.

As if the luxury car he drove wasn’t eye-catching enough, he wore a pair of sunglasses and struck a pose. One would wonder which advertising company was shooting a blockbuster there.

　　Xu Yue went downstairs with a black face.

　“What are you doing here?”

　Chu Yi whistled and said with a smile, “Wooing you.”

　“Don’t you remember what I said last night?”

　“Of course, I remember. That it’s a one-off, right?  With such a first night, surely, there’s a second night and a third night to follow. Sooner or later, you will take up lifetime subscription.” Chu Yi opened the car door and said, “Hop in. I have booked us a nice dinner at a hotel.”

　　Xu Yue did not budge.

　　Chu Yi did not force him. He took off his sunglasses and said, “Which floor is your company on? Give me a tour.”

　　Xu Yue thought of Su Yanwen upstairs and suddenly had a premonition of an impending headache. After hesitating for a while, he got into Chu Yi’s car.

　　Although Chu Yi drove a luxuary car, he could only move forward slowly through the rush hour traffic. By the time they arrived at the hotel, it was already dark outside. The hotel that Chu Yi chose had a very good atmosphere. He was very chatty and humorous himself. After the meal, Xu Yue really had a sense of being out on a date.

　　After eating, Chu Yi didn’t drive home. Instead, he took them to a nearby movie theatre.

　　Xu Yue didn’t know how many years it had been since he last saw a movie. He frowned and said, “Is this how you usually chase your lovers?”

　“No,” Chu Yi blinked and admitted insincerely[2], “Usually, I just have to hook my finger.”

　　He brought Xu Yue over to the ticket counter. “Let’s watch Director Lin’s new movie. I absolutely loved the way the two protagonists were looking at each other, with a distant look in their eyes, at the end.”

　“Have you seen the movie already?”

　“No. Just the trailer.”

　　Xu Yue looked through the brochure but could not find Director Lin’s name. Chu Yi leaned over and flipped through it. He said, “Maybe I remembered it wrong. That movie probably hasn’t premiered.”

　　They ended up casually picking a love movie to watch. There was nothing new in terms of plot, just some melodramatic cliché shit[3]. Xu Yue was drowsy. Chu Yi was one step ahead. He directly fell asleep on Xu Yue’s shoulder.

　　It was almost ten o’clock when the movie ended. Chu Yi couldn’t think of any new tricks to torment Xu Yue and drove home directly. After last night, he had no scruples. He headed straight to the bedroom as soon as they got home.

Xu Yue at once stopped him but ultimately let him be.

　　As Chu Yi said, as long as there is a first time, there will inevitably be a second and a third time. However, he reiterated his position, “It’s only a physical relationship. There won’t be anything else.”

　“Okay.” Chu Yi appeared rather proud. He rolled around on the bed under the quilt, and said, “Isn’t love made by making it?”

　　Then he eagerly looked at Xu Yue.

　　Xu Yue pretended not to understand what he meant. He took a shower, turned off the light and went to bed. No matter how much of a rascal Chu Yi was, he wouldn’t force himself upon someone[4]. He could only whine while washing up and lie down beside Xu Yue.

　　In the middle of the night, Xu Yue heard the person next to him scream out, “A’Yue…”

　　His voice was gut-wrenching. The sound of it heart-rending.

　　Xu Yue got up suddenly and turned on the light. He saw that Chu Yi was still asleep, with cold sweat covering his forehead. Xu Yue shook him awake.

　　Chu Yi opened his eyes blankly. It took a while for him to recognized Xu Yue. When he did, the corners of his mouth curled upwards, revealing a tragi-comic expression, neither crying nor laughing.

　“A’Yue …” His voice was slightly hoarse as he yelled and drilled his way into Xu Yue’s arms.

　　Xu Yue had never seen him look like this. He was very reluctant to push him away. He lifted his right hand, placed it on Chu Yi’s back and inquired, “What’s the matter?”

　　Chu Yi was quiet for a long time before he said, “I had a dream.”

　“What did you dream?”

　“That when I returned from Africa, I ran into a starlet on the plane… Chen Rui. He kept on pestering me. He was good-looking. So, I took a fancy to him.”

　Xu Yue let out a faint “Oh”. He felt that that was something that Chu Yi would do[5].

　“But that was when the relationship was new. In less than two months time, I broke up with him. Later on the 25th December, on the Christmas Day, some idiot invited me to the class reunion. I had nothing else planned.  So, I attended. There, I met you.”

Chu Yi continued in a choked-up voice, “I hadn’t seen you in a while. But your appearance has not changed at all. I tried to talk to you, but you ignored me.”

　　Xu Yue thought privately, “Serve you right.”

　　In his heart, Xu Yue had quite a lot of admiration for his dream self.

　　Chu Yi continued, “I drank quite that night. When the reunion ended, I was dead drunk. When I got to the side of the road to hail a taxi, a car came over …”

　　Having said this much, Chu Yi swore and then continued, “Chen Rui had gone crazy. He probably wanted to run me over with the car. The headlights were blinding, when he drove towards me.”

　　Xu Yue’s heart tensed up. He asked hastily, “What happened after?”

　“After?” Chu Yi raised his head. His jet-black eyes stared straight at Xu Yue. The expression on his face was indescribable. But that expression disappeared in the blink of an eye. He laughed out loud and said, “Then you woke me up…”

　　Xu Yue unknowingly breathed a sigh of relief. He patted Chu Yi’s stiff back and said, “It’s just a dream. Let’s go back to sleep.”

　　Chu Yi said, “Yeah.”

　　Xu Yue turned off the lights. After a long while, Chu Yi whispered to himself in the cold darkness, “Yes, it’s just a dream.”

[1] Referencing how Chu Yi dismissed his infidelity.

[2] Telling a half truth

[3] Kun Yi Wei Lou wrote ‘些爱来爱去的狗血内容’ ‘xiē ài lái ài qù de gǒu xuè nèiróng’ which is literally ‘some love gained; love lost type dog-blood plotline’. 

[4] Super Side Note: Kun Yi Wei Lou wrote ‘霸王硬上弓’ ‘Bàwáng yìng shàng gōng’ which euphemistically refers to rape. 
The phrase literally means ‘the hegemon (of Western Chu) attaches the bowstring’. It is said that the hegemon of Western Chu (Xiang Yu) could bend a bow and attach the string single-handedly. In case someone forgot, Chu in Chu Yi’s name is the same.

[5] Even in real life, not just in the dream.