After Redeeming the Paranoid Villain [Transmigration] - Chapter 23

Su Yu walked out of the bathroom while drying his hair. His mind was entirely occupied by the embarrassing scene that had just occurred. He was trying to figure out how to greet Gu Chen, but when he looked up, he immediately met Gu Chen’s eyes. Fortunately, Gu Chen did not seem to pay much attention to the previous awkwardness. After glancing at him once, Gu Chen offered no further reaction, allowing Su Yu to breathe a subconscious sigh of relief.

Despite this, Su Yu could still faintly feel a lingering gaze falling upon his back whenever he turned around. It felt hot, as if it might burn him. Yet, whenever he turned back with feigned nonchalance, he only saw Gu Chen looking down at his book. It was as if the sensation was merely a product of Su Yu’s imagination.

By the third time Su Yu turned to look at him, Gu Chen finally looked up from the bed. He spoke with a calm expression, asking if Su Yu was going to sleep yet. Su Yu avoided Gu Chen’s eyes and cleared his throat. He found the sofa in the room and instinctively lay down on it.

Gu Chen frowned as he watched this. The temperature of his voice seemed to drop a few degrees as he asked why Su Yu was going there instead of coming up to the bed. Su Yu looked at Gu Chen blankly.

Gu Chen’s tone carried a trace of displeasure as he asked if Su Yu really intended to sleep on the sofa. Su Yu nodded, acting quite magnanimous. He explained that since he knew Gu Chen was a germaphobe, he would not sleep in the bed.

Gu Chen looked at the guileless Su Yu and pressed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, forcing down a surge of inexplicable irritation.

“Come up here.”

This sentence carried a note of command that made Su Yu tremble slightly. He was always afraid that Gu Chen might suddenly lose his mind and pull out a knife.

The fear in Su Yu’s eyes brought Gu Chen back to his senses. He leaned his head on his hand helplessly. Since reaching adulthood, he rarely experienced such emotional instability, yet Su Yu could now provoke it with ease. Gu Chen looked at Su Yu, who was curled up on the sofa watching him, and let out a sigh.

Then, using the touch of gentleness he had learned because of Su Yu, he softened his voice with a rare, unfamiliar tone. “Be good. Come up here, please. It is cold on the sofa.”

Only after Gu Chen spoke those words did Su Yu realize that the man was actually worried about him. He hesitated for a moment before finally climbing into the bed under Gu Chen’s watchful gaze.

Even though they were both in the bed, the distance between them was wide enough for another person to lie down. Despite this, Su Yu remained tense and did not dare to relax. Gu Chen could feel Su Yu’s nervousness beside him, and he sighed again in the darkness.

Gu Chen realized that Su Yu’s influence over him was becoming increasingly severe. His gaze had begun to linger on Su Yu uncontrollably. Just a moment ago, when Su Yu walked out of the bathroom wearing one of Gu Chen’s black shirts, his heart had instantly filled with an unspeakable desire. His mind was consumed by a single thought: Su Yu had been stained with his color.

In Gu Chen’s memory, Su Yu had always been pure. At this moment, wearing the black shirt, Su Yu looked like a small white flower blooming in the depths of a boundless abyss. Although he retained his pure white color, he was already surrounded by darkness, and he was only one step away from being dyed with a different hue.

This realization brought a flicker of madness to Gu Chen’s usually calm eyes, but he forced it down immediately. He disliked this feeling of being out of control, as if all his actions were being dictated by Su Yu.

“Gu Chen, what is wrong?”

Having heard Gu Chen’s sigh, Su Yu asked cautiously from the darkness. Gu Chen pulled himself out of his thoughts. A flash of playfulness crossed his eyes as a mischievous idea formed in his mind.

“It is nothing,” Gu Chen said softly. “I just feel that you are afraid of me.”

His voice was very light, but Su Yu could hear a sense of fragility in it, as if Gu Chen were someone who had been abandoned.

Su Yu stammered, asking why he would feel that way.

“You are so far away from me. We are supposed to be the closest people to each other, are we not? So why is the distance between us so vast?” Gu Chen asked.

Hearing Gu Chen’s words, Su Yu’s back stiffened. Gu Chen’s assessment was correct; Su Yu was indeed avoiding him. Although they were a married couple, the marriage existed in name only. Furthermore, after the awkward incident in the bathroom, anyone would instinctively avoid the other person involved.

“Are you still afraid of me?” Gu Chen asked tentatively from under the covers, speaking as if he were handling his most precious treasure.

“No, that is not it,” Su Yu replied, biting his lip with some embarrassment. He could not possibly admit the real reason he was avoiding Gu Chen.

In the darkness, Gu Chen smiled, though the sound was somewhat desolate. “I understand. I cannot force you. Being with someone like me is nothing but a burden to you.”