Finally Being Snatched Away at My Wedding by My Ex-Boyfriend - Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Standoff at the Hotel

Su Yuan leaned against Pei Xing’s back, staring at the crown of his head as if he were in a dream.

However, the Pei Xing in his dreams was never like the one before him.

The dream-Pei Xing was cold; he would vanish the moment Su Yuan drew near, and no matter what Su Yuan did, he wouldn’t come back. He would leave Su Yuan alone, trapped in a nightmare.

It was a nightmare of his own making, and losing Pei Xing seemed to be merely the lightest price he had to pay.

The long corridor was covered in thick carpet, making their footsteps silent. Su Yuan began to panic, fearing that his current lapse into joy would simply become a new nightmare.

“I can walk now,” he said. “Put me down.”

One of the hands gripping his knees loosened, but Pei Xing used his arm to keep him pinned in place.

Pei Xing took out the room card to open the door. “We’re already at the door and now you speak up? You really want to take all the credit for being a ‘good person,’ don’t you?”

Su Yuan was choked up and speechless. He was gently set down on the sofa.

He looked around the seaside villa, which was decorated in a vintage Southeast Asian style. The balcony curtains slowly drew open, and the afternoon light crossed the sea to land on the carpet and his restless legs, which were currently pressed together awkwardly.

In his peripheral vision, Pei Xing stood in the middle of the living room for a moment before quickly heading into the bedroom. The sound of running water started. When Pei Xing walked back out, Su Yuan lowered his head, continuing to act like an ostrich.

“Go take a shower.” Pei Xing looked at the white suit he was wearing. “Take those clothes off.”

The “ostrich” raised his head. “Then what will I wear?”

Pei Xing sat down at the desk by the floor-to-ceiling window and opened his laptop screen. Without turning back, he said, “Everything is in the bathroom.”

“Oh.”

Su Yuan kicked off his shoes and walked sluggishly toward the bathroom.

The phone beside Pei Xing rang, pulling his thoughts back. His assistant was on the other end confirming the schedule for later and asking if he needed to check his speech draft again.

“No need.”

Pei Xing walked to the sofa and looked at the size of the white leather shoes.

A size too small.

He picked up the shoes and threw them into the trash can.

“Bring over the dishes that are being kept warm.”

Inside the bathroom, Su Yuan looked at the toiletries. An electric toothbrush, shaving foam, aftershave… It seemed Pei Xing had been staying here for a while.

Once the bathtub was filled, Su Yuan habitually picked up a fluffy headband to pull back his hair and lay inside. The water temperature was just right, and the body wash was the same brand he usually used.

But the more it was like this, the less courage Su Yuan could find to face Pei Xing. In a fit of self-abandonment, he buried half his face in the water, leaving only his eyes exposed.

Holding his breath made his heart rate speed up, but it was controllable, which made him feel safe.

Pei Xing’s shadow appeared outside the frosted glass door. He didn’t knock. “Su Xinxin, no holding your breath in there.”

“Gurgle”

“It’s useless to say ‘I’m not.’ I heard the bubbles coming from your mouth.”

Su Yuan got up dejectedly, grabbed a bath towel to dry himself, and put on the clothes Pei Xing had prepared.

A gray Huaihai University t-shirt.

It wasn’t his own; it was Pei Xing’s, and it was huge. It hung loosely off his shoulders, reaching down to his thighs. The legs of the gray cotton sweatpants were no better, trailing on the floor like a robot vacuum.

Su Yuan stood at the bedroom door, meeting the eyes of Pei Xing, who was arranging takeout boxes on the table.

Pei Xing put a spoon into the fish soup and stared at the pant legs. “You won’t know to roll them up until you trip and fall, right?”

“I did roll them,” Su Yuan lifted a foot and shook the fabric. “They keep falling down.”

Pei Xing walked over. Su Yuan retreated a few steps, propping himself against the door to keep from falling. “No, I’ll do it myself. You’re so mean.”

Pei Xing stopped in his tracks. He watched as Su Yuan scooped up the pant legs, pinned them between his bruised and reddened knees, and scurried over to the dining table.

“Did you hit your knees against the tub in the bathroom?” Pei Xing frowned.

Su Yuan tucked his legs onto the chair. He let out an “ah” and brushed away a damp strand of hair stuck to his cheek. “No. Why isn’t there any meat?”

Pei Xing’s brow didn’t relax at all as he scanned the table: Caesar salad, quinoa and avocado, osmanthus sugar-marinated yam, and cod soup. “You used to stop eating meat after noon.”

“I want to eat it now,” Su Yuan took a bite of the yam. “Is there white rice?”

Pei Xing looked at the food he had ordered and called the hotel.

When the hotel meal arrived, Pei Xing picked up a spoon and carefully inspected every dish before placing them in front of Su Yuan.

Su Yuan scooped a spoonful of tomato and scrambled eggs onto his rice and quickly finished a large bowl.

“No one is fighting you for it,” Pei Xing pushed the tissue box toward him. “Are you planning to go hunt a tiger on the mountain after you finish?”

Because of his heart disease, Su Yuan always ate very little. For meat, he only ate seafood, deep-sea fish, and beef; he ate many vegetables and fruits, and he ate very slowly, like a little snail.

“Did you have the surgery?” Pei Xing asked.

Eating with such a large appetite at least this meant Su Yuan’s health was better than before.

Su Yuan bit his spoon, his eyes a bit vacant, as if he were using a lot of energy to process the question. “…I did.”

When Su Yuan lied, his eyes would usually dart around, but right now they were very calm. Pei Xing nodded and placed the soup in front of him. “Drink it.”

While drinking the soup, Su Yuan’s eating pace slowed down again. He scooped it up spoonful by spoonful, eventually staring at a piece of cod for a while before slowly putting it in his mouth. He looked like a squirrel selecting hazelnuts for winter.

Such a familiar reaction gave Pei Xing a sense of security and the illusion that their two-year separation hadn’t been that long.

They were together for four years; the time apart was only two.

Two years later, Su Yuan got married.

Two voices argued in his head.

Pei Xing thought again of the other person standing on the altar to put it nicely, a piece of “dog-skin plaster” (clingy person); to put it bluntly, a man named Chu Fei.

The man Su Yuan was marrying.

“Why get married?”

His voice was low, and it didn’t even sound like a question.

Su Yuan was still staring at the cod in his soup, as if looking at an unfamiliar friend, automatically ignoring Pei Xing’s question.

Pei Xing was dissatisfied with his reaction, but could only default to it being a topic Su Yuan was unwilling to discuss. He gave a small laugh. “Do you like Chu Fei?”

Having finished the cod, Su Yuan seemed to finally come back to his senses. He lifted his lashes and gazed at him blankly.

Pei Xing knew he shouldn’t continue to humiliate himself. They were getting married; there had to be feelings involved. Su Yuan equated marriage with love; when the same-sex marriage law passed, he had rarely dragged Pei Xing to the noisy city center to join the parade.

As for Chu Fei, even if he had been straight, once he was with Su Yuan, he would easily develop feelings. Just like Pei Xing had once done.

He didn’t have any standing to ask now.

It made him look as pathetic as those men Su Yuan had rejected in the past.

“I asked too much. You indeed have the right not to answer.” Pei Xing took a sip of coffee. “Being a little curious as your ex isn’t overstepping too much.”

Su Yuan understood this sentence and slowly shook his head.

The steam from the food dissipated, making Su Yuan’s face clearer. His mother was once a world-famous international movie star, and Su Yuan had perfectly inherited that face stubborn and haughty, yet possessing the fragility brought on by congenital heart disease.

When he acted spoiled or asked for a kiss, it felt like a grand blessing.

Pei Xing couldn’t help but wonder again: was that man just as lucky? Even luckier than him?

He picked up his water glass, trying to look away.

But he couldn’t do it, because Su Yuan was looking at him without blinking.

“You… Why did you come?”

“I was passing by,” Pei Xing’s jaw muscle twitched for a moment as he crossed his arms. “I have a university lecture.”

This answer was like a falling meteorite; it didn’t glow as the people on the ground hoped, but simply crashed heavily and dully into the earth.

Su Yuan stood at the bottom of the pitch-black crater, unable to find a way out.

He took out the firefly Pei Xing had once given him, barely lighting the area, and said, “I thought… you remembered what we used to say.”

Pei Xing appeared indifferent. “We said too many things. Which one are you referring to?”

The firefly’s tail blinked, its weak light flickering, making his eyes ache.

Su Yuan shook his head. “Nothing.”

He looked out the floor-to-ceiling window at the tranquil sea, as if worrying on behalf of a wintering migratory bird about the dark clouds drifting from afar.

“Knock, knock!”

The knocking sounded unexpectedly in the quiet room.

Su Yuan was startled and stood up from his chair. Pei Xing followed suit, pulling back the hand he had halfway extended, and said softly, “It’s my assistant.”

Outside the door, the third assistant, Zhou Wei, had received a call from the first assistant to come to the hotel to pick up the boss for the lecture at Huaihai University.

It was strange. The boss who in the Bay Area wished he could break every day into 48 hours and whose only hobby was feeding birds on the roof had suddenly changed his mind to accept an invitation and even returned to the country early?

Even if it was his alma mater, it shouldn’t have been enough to make him cancel a roadshow and a magazine interview, right?

Zhou Wei didn’t dare ask much. In his eyes, his boss, Pei Xing, was as precise as the AI he developed. Yet he was different; an AI would error out with a beep, but Pei Xing wouldn’t. He would only calmly finish his second cup of coffee and then provide a solution.

Composure was the sharpest blade, allowing Pei Xing to carve a path in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Zhou Wei called Pei Xing with no answer. He rang the doorbell with no reaction. So, he raised his hand and knocked.

A few seconds later, the door opened gently.

But what greeted his eyes was Pei Xing’s grim face.

“Why are you knocking so loudly?” Pei Xing’s speaking speed was extremely steady, which clashed terribly with his expression that looked like he wanted to eat someone.

Zhou Wei stood there with his mouth agape. “Boss, the lecture is about to start.”

Pei Xing’s face was incredibly dark. “Wait for me in the car.”

Closing the door, Pei Xing turned his head to look at Su Yuan, who had hidden his entire body behind the curtain.

Even more cowardly than before.

He walked over, stopping at a safe distance of one arm’s length. His voice was very soft as he said, “I have work to handle. Rest well here.”

Su Yuan’s fingers, as thin as white scallions, gripped the curtain, revealing half of his face as he nodded.

Pei Xing wanted to see a trace of reluctance in his eyes, but he only saw fear that hadn’t yet dissipated. Dropping his gaze, Pei Xing said, “As long as you don’t leave, no one will find you.”

Pei Xing turned, but his steps paused again. “Do you still want to marry him?”

Su Yuan shook his head.

“Mhm. I’ll handle the Chu family matters.” Pei Xing took out his phone and sent a text.

On the table, Su Yuan’s phone buzzed.

He was just about to walk over and pick it up when he heard Pei Xing say, “My phone number. Save it.”

Su Yuan instantly tightened his grip on the curtain. “You have my…”

“Mhm.”

Pei Xing gave a blunt answer. He put away his phone, and as if thinking of something embarrassing, he avoided Su Yuan’s gaze.

Su Yuan fell back to the bottom of the meteorite crater. The firefly lay in his palm, no longer able to emit a single spark of light.

“Then… why didn’t you contact…”

He still wanted to struggle, but Pei Xing interrupted him again. “A person always needs to have a bit of self-awareness.”

Su Yuan was like a bird driven away by the laughter of mean tourists. He turned around, pressing his nose against the glass, doing his best to escape the conversation he disliked.

His usual method.

Pei Xing was used to it, and he was also relieved that Su Yuan hadn’t continued to humiliate him.

He shifted the topic inconspicuously, picking up his black suit jacket from the hanger. “It’s very quiet here; you can open the window to let the breeze in. I’ll tell the hotel not to knock. If you need anything, call the front desk. Once they’ve prepared everything, I’ll send you a message. See you later.”

…

Inside the business van, Zhou Wei sensed the boss was in a bad mood. He had the driver open a new box of car fragrance and hurriedly took out an Oriental Crested Ibis plushie whose voice box had long been broken, sprayed it with jasmine perfume, and put it on the back storage shelf.

Sure enough, after making a few calls, Pei Xing got into the car. His face was still heavy. He squeezed the little ibis and stared out the window without a word.

Zhou Wei wanted to say something but couldn’t find an opening, until he saw several police cars roaring past.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve been back. I just heard someone went to a church to snatch a bride or a groom. That person must have watched too many romance movies. Haha!”