A Fatal Attraction from Lawyer A - Chapter 43

“After the fever subsides, Lawyer Gu needs to have a pheromone concentration test. He can be discharged only after the concentration drops back to a normal Alpha value. For the next half month, both of you must maintain a regular schedule—no smoking, no drinking, and no staying up late. Then, return to the hospital for a pheromone compatibility test. Other than that, there are no further issues.”

The doctor and nurse completed their examination without delay and left the ward.

In the ward, Gu Yuxi truly felt he was caught between a rock and a hard place. In front of him were Luo Panzhi’s family; behind him was Luo Panzhi.

However, even if he wanted to leave, he probably couldn’t go alone. His stomach hurt as soon as he stood up, and Qi Lin was nowhere to be found. Leaving him here like this really showed what a good friend he was.

Moreover, the Husky, Luo Panzhi, was clinging to his waist and wouldn’t let go, and his eyes were truly swollen from crying. Adding the handprint on his right cheek, an outsider might think Gu Yuxi was a scumbag who had abused Young CEO Luo and was now trying to break up with him.

Luo Panzhi secretly looked up at Gu Yuxi. Seeing his silence, his heart sank with a thump. He’s not seriously going to break up with me, is he? A sudden rush of anxiety and depression clogged his chest. He released Gu Yuxi’s waist and looked at his large family crowd. Worried that his family might pressure Gu Yuxi, he said lukewarmly:

“You all go out first. This is between him and me; don’t interfere.” After speaking, he glanced at his Older Brother, Chu Guzhi.

Then he saw Yan Lu blocking his Older Brother’s path, completely obscuring his view. He quietly shifted his gaze and composed himself. He still couldn’t beat the world champion, and he couldn’t blame anyone else for this matter.

He could only blame himself for not climbing out of the corporation and finding a corner to hide in.

Chu Yiqiao had just witnessed his son’s crying and dramatic tactics, and he knew his son genuinely liked Gu Yuxi. However, looking at Gu Yuxi, he couldn’t be sure if Gu Yuxi liked You Pan back. It seemed like his son’s unrequited love, which was quite pitiful.

He had thought he could come and mediate, but now it seemed inappropriate for them to intervene in a romantic matter.

“Yuxi, don’t feel any pressure. Just rest here until you’ve recovered. I’ve already arranged for an aide to come and look after you,” Chu Yiqiao said.

Gu Yuxi hesitated to speak: “Actually, I don’t—”

“No need for an aide. I’m enough; I can take good care of him.” Luo Panzhi stood up, walked to his Father, Chu Yiqiao, and put an arm over his shoulder, leading him out. Then he lowered his voice: “I’m begging you, don’t mess things up right now. I really don’t want to be the only one alone in the family photo this year. Hurry up and leave, hurry!”

Luo Qingye narrowed his eyes: “Just talk; why are you hugging?”

Luo Panzhi immediately felt helpless. He let go of his Father’s shoulder and switched to hugging his Elder Father’s shoulder: “Is this better? Can you go now?”

He was already miserable, and they still had to tease him.

“Speak to him properly. Yuxi is your Dad’s student and mine; we watched him grow up. If you truly bullied him, your Dad and I definitely won’t let you off the hook,” Luo Qingye finished his official statement, then leaned in and whispered to his son: “Yuxi responds well to softness, not hardness. Crying a few more times will work. Go for it.”

Luo Panzhi quickly ushered his meddling family away, giving Jian Wenxing a meaningful look: ‘You’re in charge,’ and then closed the ward door.

Gu Yuxi: “…” He didn’t even get a chance to speak.

In the corridor, Jian Wenxing could only shrug helplessly at the family members’ stares: “Honestly, I only just found out they were together, too. I really don’t know the specifics; You Pan is so secretive.”

“So, you’re the only one left single in our generation,” Luo Yuchu said, leaning on her wife Yuan Nai’s shoulder, smiling maliciously: “Jian Wenxing, even my Second Older Brother has found a partner. What’s wrong with you?”

Just as Jian Wenxing was about to retort, a familiar figure came into view. His eyes held an amused look: “Soon.”

Qi Lin was holding a bag of clean clothes for Gu Yuxi. He didn’t expect to run into the person he least wanted to see as soon as he arrived, and his expression was subtle.

“Lawyer Qi, are you looking for Lawyer Gu?” Jian Wenxing walked up to Qi Lin and extended his hand as if to take the bag: “I’ll take it in. Lawyer Gu is with my brother right now. It’s probably not appropriate for you to go in, considering you’ve already ‘broken up’ with Lawyer Gu, haven’t you?”

Qi Lin: “…” Why bring up an embarrassing topic? He awkwardly pulled at the corner of his mouth: “Yes. Thank you for your trouble.”

“What are we? Why be so polite?” Jian Wenxing raised an eyebrow at him.

Qi Lin: “…” What relationship could they possibly have?

If he hadn’t so emphatically told Jian Wenxing that he and Gu Yuxi would be eternally happy together that time, he wouldn’t be this embarrassed. He never thought he’d run into Jian Wenxing here. Someone find him a hole to crawl into.

🛌 In the Ward

“I truly know I was wrong,” Luo Panzhi returned to Gu Yuxi’s side and hugged him. With his family gone, he could hold him shamelessly: “But don’t scare me with breaking up. I know I haven’t been that much of a bastard yet.”

Gu Yuxi felt the strength of the arm wrapped around his shoulder. He initially thought about pushing him away, but realizing it would be futile in his current state, he gave up the struggle. He was ultimately at a disadvantage because he had been marked, and this disadvantage was due to his own soft-heartedness.

“Baby, don’t be angry anymore. I’ll agree to everything you want from now on, okay?” Luo Panzhi looked down at the person in his arms and coaxed him softly.

Suddenly, the warmth of his lips pressed against Gu Yuxi’s ear. Perhaps from crying, his hoarse, pleading voice rang out close to his ear, tingling his eardrum and stirring an unusual ripple in his heart.

Gu Yuxi tilted his head, trying to dodge the lips touching his ear, but only caused his Adam’s apple to bob.

Luo Panzhi took in all of Gu Yuxi’s shifting expressions. He reached out and held his hand, sliding his fingers through Gu Yuxi’s, interlocking them in a tight clasp: “Baby, please stop being angry, okay?”

As he spoke, he placed their clasped hands over Gu Yuxi’s heart, as if feeling for something, and then slowly lifted them to his shoulder. He lowered his head.

He placed a kiss on their intertwined hands.

“It was my mistake. I didn’t respect or care for you enough. Now I understand. You don’t want me to treat you as someone who needs complete protection. You want our care and protectiveness for each other to be mutual.”

Gu Yuxi’s eyes flickered. His gaze fell on their clasped hands, on the kissed knuckles. In his ear was Luo Panzhi’s voice, full of endless tenderness and compromise, words that nearly made him melt.

But the moment Luo Panzhi told him to leave, thinking back on it, he still felt hurt.

He knew Luo Panzhi hadn’t meant it, but was just fighting with himself.

Seeing Gu Yuxi still ignoring him, Luo Panzhi suddenly remembered that he often heard his Elder Father call his Father this when he was little. Every time he called it, his Father would stop being angry.

“Older Brother.”

Gu Yuxi’s body stiffened. Those two words were like a weak electric current drilling silently into his eardrum, paralyzing half of his body. He slowly turned his head, his gaze meeting Luo Panzhi’s direct, unwavering eyes.

“Since this is my first time dating, if there’s anything I do wrong, Older Brother can teach me slowly, okay?”

Gu Yuxi forced himself to look away, but he couldn’t compel himself to suppress the racing, restless beat of his heart. It was like striking a snake’s weak spot—this address completely had him cornered.

It had been this way from the start. He was already defenseless against Luo Panzhi’s deliberate closeness, and the reason he finally fell was that Luo Panzhi knew what he liked.

He didn’t want to give in, but Panzhi called him “Older Brother” (Gege).

Should he forgive Luo Panzhi so easily?

“Let go,” Gu Yuxi tried to pull his hand away, making one last desperate struggle for his self-control.

Luo Panzhi saw the redness spreading over Gu Yuxi’s ears. Compared to the icy ‘Let go’ from before, this ‘Let go’ held no threat. He fought back the urge to smile, slowly releasing his grip:

“Okay, Older Brother (Gege).”

With another “Older Brother” (Gege), Gu Yuxi felt his waist suddenly weaken, followed by a faint, lingering soreness in the anal cavity area. Thinking of the culprit, he shot Luo Panzhi a distant look: “Don’t think calling me ‘Older Brother’ will make me forgive you. I hold a grudge.”

How did he survive those three days of confusion? He had imagined every possible bad outcome and even dreamed of Luo Panzhi hysterically yelling at him to get lost.

In the end, knowing the guy was in a heat cycle, he still endured the discomfort to help him through it. Now, he had to get back the grievance of those three days. He couldn’t let his heart and body suffer for nothing. After all, he held a grudge.

“Then I’ll court you again,” Luo Panzhi noticed that Gu Yuxi seemed unable to straighten his back and knew he had been rough during his heat cycle. He placed his hand on Gu Yuxi’s lower back and rubbed his waist.

Gu Yuxi felt comfortable under the massage, and he pretended to be indifferent: “You won’t catch me this time.”

He absolutely couldn’t be easily won over this time. The word ‘get lost’ was a hurdle he couldn’t overlook.

“Then I’ll court you slowly. I’ll eventually catch you,” Luo Panzhi told him to lie back down on the bed: “You can be discharged once your fever is gone, as the doctor said. I’ll go to your place to get you a change of clothes.”

Hearing Luo Panzhi was going to his place for clothes, Gu Yuxi grabbed him quickly: “You’re not allowed to go!”

He hadn’t put away the wine bottles on his table.

There were probably four or five empty bottles.

Luo Panzhi had put all the bottles in the cabinet before, not explicitly forbidding him to drink, but posting a note on the outside that read:

—Dare to drink one bottle in one go, and I’ll penetrate you ten times.

Also, the sticky notes with Luo Panzhi’s various warm reminders and morning confessions that he had put on the refrigerator had all been ripped off and scattered on the floor.

Luo Panzhi was about to leave when he felt the corner of his shirt tugged. He looked down and saw Gu Yuxi’s anxious look, and his lips curved slightly: “What, you don’t want me to leave?”

“My stomach hurts.” Gu Yuxi lay down, clutching his stomach. But as he lay down, he accidentally exerted too much force, pulling at his back. His face instantly went pale; this time, the pain was real.

Seeing this, Luo Panzhi certainly didn’t dare to leave. He sat by the bed, helped Gu Yuxi lie down properly, and then let him turn onto his side, rubbing his stomach:

“Where does it hurt?”

It took Gu Yuxi a moment to recover from the pang of pain. Seeing that Luo Panzhi wasn’t rubbing the correct spot, he turned his back to him, then grabbed his hand and guided it to his lower back:

“Here.”

When he turned, the loose hospital gown unintentionally exposed a section of his toned waist. Both sides of his waist had faint, not-very-red pinch marks, which stood out as intimate traces on his cool white skin.

The place needing the massage was right below the dimples of Venus (the lower back).

Luo Panzhi suddenly laughed out loud.

Gu Yuxi was confused by his laugh. He turned his head: “What are you laughing at?”

“Lawyer Gu, don’t you know I’m ‘courting’ you?” Luo Panzhi gently massaged his waist with his palm, laughing deeply: “So, stop seducing me, or I’ll think you can’t wait for me to catch you quickly.”

Gu Yuxi: “…” He doesn’t have to be so self-assured.

So, was it better to be misunderstood or to have him discover the empty wine bottles at home? He chose to be misunderstood.

Outside the window, night had fallen, swallowing the last trace of light. The cool moonlight and the dancing ink-dark shadows of the trees complemented each other, softening a corner of the night.

The sound of the air humidifier was a gentle hum by the bed. The perfect pressure of the hand rubbing his lower back was like a lullaby. Gu Yuxi, feverish and exhausted, gradually drifted off to sleep.

Luo Panzhi listened to Gu Yuxi’s even breathing and knew he was asleep. He smiled softly, his eyes full of affection, tucked the blanket around him, and then stood up. He had to go home to get clean clothes for Gu Yuxi.

He would definitely sweat a lot once the fever broke.

Just as he opened the ward door, he saw his Older Brother, Chu Guzhi, standing outside. He was stunned: “Why are you here?”

“You Pan, I’m sorry,” Chu Guzhi said with some apology: “I was the one who told him about your heat cycle. I originally just wanted him to lure you out, and I had already arranged for the doctor to inject you with a blocker and an inhibitor, but I didn’t expect him to…”

“He loves me very much.”

Chu Guzhi: “…?”

Luo Panzhi patted his Older Brother’s shoulder, looking completely unsurprised: “It’s fine. I don’t blame you. Even if you hadn’t told him, he would have found me, because he wouldn’t bear to see me suffer so much. He cherishes me that much, and he must have been frantically worried looking for me these past few days.”

Chu Guzhi: “…You’re quite confident.” Lawyer Gu personally told me they weren’t together. “So, are you two together or not?”

“We’ve been together for a long time, truly. We have a great relationship. Alright, I need to go get his clothes now. You take your time walking back.” After speaking, Luo Panzhi quickly left.

Clothes?

Chu Guzhi watched Luo Panzhi walk away, tilting his head thoughtfully. Didn’t someone already bring the clothes?

With a ding, Luo Panzhi unlocked Gu Yuxi’s apartment door with his fingerprint. The moment he stepped inside, he was hit by the smell of alcohol, and his brows furrowed. Before he could turn on the lights, his foot hit something, making a crisp clatter.

He hit the light switch in the house. As the entire room lit up, the empty wine bottles by his feet, including the overturned empty ones on the bar counter not far away, came into view. His expression instantly darkened.

How much did this guy drink?

He dared to drink this much?

Is he drinking wine like water?

Luo Panzhi quickly walked to the kitchen. The moment he stepped inside, he saw shredded paper scattered all over the floor. It was the warm reminders he had taped to the refrigerator, along with the morning confession notes—all torn to pieces.

Even the hearts he had drawn were ripped up.

He looked up. The innermost cabinet where he hid the liquor was open. Although the rest of the liquor wasn’t gone, the top shelf was empty. He estimated at least five bottles had been drunk.

This meant Gu Yuxi had been both drinking and venting his anger by tearing up his notes for the past three days.

—It’s fine. I don’t blame you. Even if you hadn’t told him, he would have found me, because he wouldn’t bear to see me suffer so much. He cherishes me that much, and he must have been frantically worried looking for me these past few days.

Luo Panzhi: “…”

Luo Panzhi suddenly wasn’t sure if Gu Yuxi had been frantically worried these past three days. He only knew he was frantically worried now. Clearly, Gu Yuxi was not afraid of the warning: “Dare to drink one bottle in one go, and I’ll penetrate you ten times.” Instead, he was using this method to warn Luo Panzhi—he wanted Luo Panzhi to feel his heart ache.

Just as Luo Panzhi had sworn at Gu Yuxi to make him keep away during his heat cycle, Gu Yuxi still helped him through it, and Luo Panzhi, being rough, ended up injuring Gu Yuxi’s anal cavity. Now, Gu Yuxi was making him feel the pain of the aftermath.

He stood at the kitchen doorway, looking at the scattered paper scraps on the floor. He rubbed his forehead with extreme helplessness, sighed softly, and finally gave in, bending down to pick up all the notes. He collected every tiny piece and couldn’t bear to throw them away.

“Why are you so stubborn?”

He used to think there was nothing in this world that could defeat Luo Panzhi, including his original attempt to continue exercising his charm to ‘steal’ his love. He thought that once he and Gu Yuxi got together naturally, that was it. But he never imagined that this person’s personality and temper were completely different from his appearance.

On the surface, he looked cold, but once he dropped his reserve, he would act cute and clingy—and only when he felt like it.

When he was in a good mood, Luo Panzhi was happy.

When he was in a bad mood, Luo Panzhi could only yield.

Now that this incident had happened, someone with Gu Yuxi’s strong pride would naturally not let him off the hook so easily. Gu Yuxi hadn’t even agreed to forgive him after seeing him cry until his eyes were swollen.

Luo Panzhi placed the torn notes into a clear box. Under the outline of the light, the fragmented words ‘I like you’ and ‘I love you’ on the slips of paper pasted to the edge of the box were faintly visible. He carefully collected them all.

Now he understood. In this world, there was only one person who could make him willingly set aside his pride and cry, who could arbitrarily control his mood, and who could truly defeat him.

That person was Gu Yuxi.

Then he would court him again.

This time, openly and honestly, he would tell everyone that Luo Panzhi loved Gu Yuxi.