Even A Heartthrob Can Lose A Puppy - Chapter 3

“Come out.”

He Yun sighed, squatting down to place the dry slip-on sandals beside the stone path.

“Sorry.”

Putting on the sandals, Si Yu walked up behind He Yun and whispered.

He Yun did not speak. He took a box of powder from the tray, stepped into the bushes, and carefully applied it to the undersides of the leaves.

“Need help?”

“No.”

“Okay.”

Si Yu answered readily, and his index finger reached out even more readily.

Before He Yun could react, Si Yu had already scooped up a generous amount of powder and, mimicking He Yun’s actions, flipped over the leaves to dust them.

He Yun did not stop him.

Given such tedious and boring work, Si Yu would be shouting of boredom and walking away in three minutes at most.

Yet until the golden evening sunlight poured across the sea surface like mercury, Si Yu remained right by He Yun’s side.

“Are you planning to transition in your next film?”

Unable to hold back as the sun sank behind the western mountains, He Yun finally asked.

“No, I haven’t accepted anything yet.” Si Yu blew away the excess powder clinging to a leaf’s surface. “Besides, I do not need to transition.”

Turning to face He Yun, Si Yu said earnestly, “I used to think gardening was just a boring hobby you used to pass the time. Now I know this is something you genuinely love, so I will love it too.”

The fingers gripping the wooden box tightened around it. He Yun turned his head away, refusing to meet Si Yu’s burning gaze.

“You should go back.”

He Yun closed the door, leaving Si Yu alone in the garden.

The setting sun seemed to take Si Yu’s body heat along with it.

Instead, a surge of intense heat rushed upward, straight toward his eyes.

Even though it was just a door away, Si Yu felt as though the distance was greater than the entire Eurasian continent of years past, as if no matter what he did, He Yun would never open that door.

His eyes ached unbearably. Si Yu raised a hand and rubbed them.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

“Si Yu!”

Si Yu’s suspended body finally hit the ground, landing on a smooth and even surface.

His eyes burned with pain, making it impossible to open them, but he knew he was in He Yun’s bathroom.

The air was filled with the scent of He Yun’s usual ebony and rose body wash.

“Do not open your eyes. Bow your head.”

He Yun’s voice came from above. Following the gentle, firm pressure He Yun applied to the back of his neck, Si Yu bent forward.

The next second, the sound of running water filled the room, and cool, clear water glided over his eyelids.

“It hurts, it hurts so much!”

“I know. Do not be afraid.”

He tightly braced his hands against the cool porcelain tiles of the sink, letting He Yun use his fingertips to gently yet forcibly pry open his tightly shut eyelids bit by bit.

“Are you feeling better?”

Si Yu forced his eyes open, but after catching a heavily blurred glimpse of He Yun’s figure in the mirror, he closed them again.

He shook his head.

Then, he was lifted up once more.

Deprived of his sight, his other senses became acutely heightened.

He Yun’s rapid breathing and violent heartbeat fell against his ear; the soft sofa beneath him and the cushion He Yun tucked under his neck felt equally real.

“Do not leave.”

By pure instinct, Si Yu caught the fingertips He Yun was about to pull away.

“I am not leaving.”

In the darkness, he heard He Yun say.

“I am going to get a towel and some ointment. I will be right back.”

“How fast?”

“Fifteen seconds.”

Si Yu shook his head.

“Ten seconds.”

Si Yu released his grip.

One, two, three, four, five.

Before Si Yu even reached ten, he caught the familiar scent of He Yun.

A cool towel was pressed over his still-smarting eyelids, yet the discomfort persisted. His feet kicked restlessly, and his hands tried to reach up and scratch his eyes.

“Do not move.”

Both his struggling arms and his upper body were pulled into He Yun’s solid embrace.

The embrace he had waited a whole year for, He Yun’s embrace.

“He Yun, is the only way you will ever agree to see me when I am in pain?”

The loss of his vision left him unable to even see He Yun’s expression.

“It hurts so much. Ever since you left, it has hurt every single day.”

Whether it was because he had maintained the posture for too long or because He Yun had tightened his embrace, Si Yu felt as though he could barely breathe.

After a long while, just as Si Yu grew so exhausted he was on the verge of falling asleep, he heard He Yun’s voice.

“Stop talking.”

Waiting until the breathing of the person in his arms grew steady, He Yun gently laid him down.

His knees, having knelt beside the sofa for so long, took a long time for the numbness to fade away.

Looking down at Si Yu, He Yun extended a finger to brush away the golden strands of hair trapped beneath the towel.

His fingertips grazed Si Yu’s hair, his cheek, and finally came to rest at the corner of his mouth.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.

The sweep of the second hand on the wall compelled He Yun to remove the towel covering Si Yu’s brow and eyes.

Unscrewing the cap, he gently applied the golden ointment to the still-red corners of Si Yu’s eyes.

He Yun felt as though he could no longer move.

Maintaining that awkward, pious, and humble kneeling posture, he silently gazed down at Si Yu.

Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.

Reaching into Si Yu’s pocket, He Yun retrieved his phone, swiped up to unlock facial recognition, turned off airplane mode, and dialed Nie Shuang’s number.

“Si Yu is with me. Come and pick him up as soon as possible.”

Si Yu was woken up by the vibration of his phone.

Eyes still closed, he grabbed the device and blindly tapped to answer.

“Mm.”

“Have you had enough of playing around?”

Instantly wide awake, Si Yu sat up.

“Going to Tahiti alone to clear your mind?”

The man on the other end of the line spoke with a frigid tone.

“Si Yu, lying is not a good trait.”

Hanging up the call, he hurled the phone far away.

Recovering his wits, Si Yu noticed a figure on the floor. Looking back, he saw He Yun standing nearby, unsure of how long he had been standing there.

“Did you call Shen Que?”

He Yun looked noticeably startled. He opened his mouth to speak, but in the end, said nothing.

“Do you hate me that much?!” Si Yu sprang to his feet and marched up to He Yun. “You actually got Shen Que to come drag me back, didn’t you?”

“You were supposed to go back anyway. This place is not suitable for you.”

Turning his back, He Yun set down a glass and remained silent for a moment before speaking up. “You only ever listen to Shen Que, do you not?”

“Shen Que is my boss, and I still have a five-year contract with him. Do you know how many hundreds of millions I would have to pay in penalties if I broke that contract?!”

“Then you should listen to him and go back.”

Sensing the unusual tone in He Yun’s voice, Si Yu grew suspicious.

Slowly walking around to stand in front of He Yun, he looked into his lowered eyes and asked, “Are you bothered by my relationship with Shen Que?”

He Yun raised his gaze, staring at him steadily.

It was impossible to tell whether he was silently conceding or waiting for Si Yu to continue.

“Yes, Shen Que and I have known each other for ten years, but there has never been anything between us. You know that very well. You are the first person I ever liked and dated.”

He Yun pressed his lips into a tight line, unable to squeeze out a single syllable.

Si Yu pressed on. “If you left me because you suspected I had something going on with someone else, let me tell you again right now. I only like you. From the moment I met you five years ago until now, I have only ever liked you.”

Stepping sideways to face Si Yu directly, He Yun replied flatly, “I know.”

Anger flaring up, Si Yu raised his voice. “Then why on earth did you want to break up?!”

“Why does it always come back to this question?”

He Yun’s tone softened slightly.

“Then what did you think I came here for?” Si Yu tilted his head. “To play house with you, or to strap a GoPro to my forehead and shoot a reality show?”

He Yun sat down on the sofa.

“Si Yu, have you ever considered that your reason for coming to find me isn’t because you love me so much, but simply because you cannot bear losing something that originally belonged to you?”

The mottled patterns cast by the lights turned into an unbridgeable chasm dividing the two of them.

“Just like that movie role you were lined up for, only for it to be snatched away by an actor you detested. You waited half a year just to find an opening, ending up stripping him of three magazine shoots and an endorsement. But in truth, you never wanted to do that movie in the first place; you just hated the feeling of losing.”

The heart of Si Yu, encased in a hard shell called unwillingness, cracked under the weight of He Yun’s words.

“Let it go.” He Yun suddenly smiled. “If you keep looking back, you can never move forward.”

The sheet of ice shattered with a crash.

Not because of He Yun’s indifference, but because He Yun had found peace before he did.

He Yun walked over to the entryway and gently pulled shut the door Si Yu had left ajar when he arrived.

At dawn, the rhythmic sound of a kitchen knife meeting a cutting board echoed slowly and steadily through the room.

Only after dropping the vibrant green chopped scallions into a porcelain bowl did He Yun realize that he did not eat scallions himself; the person who liked them was Si Yu.

A single porcelain bowl was their way of resolving differing palates, as well as the trick that made Si Yu eat a bit more vegetables and drink a bit more soup.

Si Yu was extremely picky about food. Sometimes, after a successful shoot, his appetite would skyrocket and he would eat heartily; other times, he wouldn’t touch a bite. When in low spirits, he might even express dissatisfaction simply based on the aroma drifting from the kitchen.

It was around that time that He Yun learned how to pickle salted vegetables.

They couldn’t just be salted vegetables; they had to be lightly stir-fried first to remove the raw taste.

Then, they were mixed with seasoned chili powder and cilantro segments, and served on a small dish.

Finally, he would monitor Si Yu’s reaction, adjusting the vegetables and seasonings until Si Yu was willing to pick up his chopsticks.

Was it tiring?

Not at all. It truly was not tiring.

Even if Si Yu took just one extra bite when he was in a bad mood, He Yun would be happy the entire day.

Staring at the scallions still glistening with water droplets, He Yun was just about to dump them into the trash can when a knock sounded at the door.

Standing outside was the person he had assumed would leave for good and never be seen again.

“I am starving. Did you make breakfast?”

With the morning wind still blowing, Si Yu stood outside the door wearing casual black clothes and a duckbill cap concealing his dazzling blonde hair.

Lard, salted vegetables, soy sauce, two heads of baby bok choy, and a bundle of thin noodles.

Sitting across from each other at the dining table after a year apart, they ate in a tacit, heavy silence without uttering a single sound.

“Are there really no chopped scallions?”

Aside from that single reluctant question Si Yu asked before digging in.

“He Yun, is scallion noodles without scallions even right?”

Standing in the entryway, Si Yu took off his cap and put it back on.

“Spring.”

“Huh?”

“Plain noodles.”

He Yun wiped down the table, the corners of his mouth lifting into a subtle, involuntary smile.

“Oh, I am leaving then.”

Behind him, the sound of the door closing echoed, and He Yun only managed to catch a glimpse of Si Yu’s departing jacket hem.

After cleaning the kitchen, He Yun carefully sealed the bowl of scallions with plastic wrap.

The vibrant green inside the white porcelain bowl became the prettiest decoration in the refrigerator.

Yet until it grew soft and sticky, with juices seeping to the bottom of the bowl, the person meant to taste it never arrived.

“Brother Yun, when are the people living in that house coming back?”

Glancing at the three kids, He Yun asked, “Why are you looking for him?”

“He said a week ago that he was going to treat us to snacks.”

He Yun paused his hands from burying scallion sprouts, lowering his head in silence.

Half an hour later, He Yun led the three kids back from the grocery store at the village entrance.

“Brother Yun, is he not coming back anymore?”

“Mm.”

“Why?”

“I do not know.”

“Aren’t you guys friends?”

“Maybe it is because… the noodles I cooked tasted too terrible.”

Looking out at the golden glow of the ocean, He Yun felt like it stretched on endlessly with no end in sight.

Jingle-ling.

“Hello?”

“He Yun, has Si Yu gone to find you?”

On the other end of the line, Nie Shuang’s voice sounded frantic and panicked.

“He disappeared again! Si Yu disappeared again!”

Hanging up the phone, He Yun grabbed his jacket and rushed out into the rainy night.