Hormones That Can't Be Hidden - Chapter 12

Sure enough, as Fang Mingxuan followed the instruction turning over with a slow, leisurely composure to lie face-up on the cold table a new and far more severe ordeal truly began.

Facing this young body, completely unshielded and shrouded in the steam under the lights, Dong Junhao found that no matter where he directed his gaze, it felt wrong. Meeting those eyes, deep as pools and filled with unmasked amusement and scrutiny, made his heart race in a panic; it felt as though all his clumsy thoughts were being seen through. But if he hurriedly averted his eyes, his gaze would uncontrollably slide over that firm chest that rose and fell slightly with each breath, over the clear V-line of the flat abdomen, and… the undeniable presence further below.

Dong Junhao felt his scalp prickle. His breathing rhythm was completely shot. He could only move stiffly to the side of the table, bracing himself and keeping his eyes fixed downward, cautiously continuing his now-tainted “scrubbing” work. His movements were even more clumsy and hesitant than before, carried out with a tension that felt like walking on thin ice.

Fang Mingxuan seemed to immensely enjoy this state of utter embarrassment. His gaze followed Dong’s darting eyes, his tensed jawline, and the bronze neck where beads of sweat continually rolled down, watching him like one would an entertaining play.

“Do you know how to grow flowers?” Fang Mingxuan suddenly tossed out a seemingly random question.

“Grow flowers?” Dong Junhao blinked, answering honestly. “Back home we have land. I know a bit about growing vegetables and tending to crops. Flowers… those delicate things, I haven’t really messed with them.”

“Then it’s settled. Growing vegetables and growing flowers are essentially the same thing!”

As Dong Junhao’s fingers stiff and careful, as if using only his fingertips to pinch lifted Fang’s solid forearm to scrub, Fang Mingxuan spoke again. This time, his tone lacked its previous playfulness. It became more serious, yet the underlying sense of “getting what he wanted” became even clearer and more pressing.

“Master Dong, to be honest with you… I’ve always quite liked people from Shandong. Honest, hardworking, and they keep their word.” He paused, his gaze like a precision searchlight landing on Dong Junhao’s trembling eyelashes, which were now beaded with even more sweat from the tension.

“I only recently returned from abroad, and many things need rearranging. Right now, I happen to be short of a reliable personal assistant. The work isn’t complicated; you’d mainly be in charge of my daily meals and living arrangements, and incidentally look after the garden and glass vegetable greenhouse at my house in the suburbs you said you can grow vegetables, right? Perfect. Occasionally, you might need to travel with me and act as a helper. Most importantly,” he intentionally slowed down, emphasizing every word, “the person must be absolutely steady and dependable. To me, you look just right.”

“As for the pay,” he threw out the most tempting condition, “it will definitely be more than double what you’re making here. How about it? Interested in… giving it some thought?”

Dong Junhao’s hand stopped completely, frozen in mid-air. He looked up sharply, his eyes colliding with Fang Mingxuan’s, which were currently filled with “sincerity.” There seemed to be no mockery there, only a calm statement and invitation, much like a business negotiation.

But these words were too abrupt, too far beyond the boundaries of everything he had learned in his twenty-odd years of life. A pie falling from the sky? He had never believed in such things.

“I…” His Adam’s apple bobbed, his voice strained. “I’m just a rough guy from the countryside. Besides manual labor, I don’t know anything, and I haven’t seen the world. Sir, please… stop making fun of me.” He once again categorized this as the high-handed whim of a rich man.

“I’m serious.” Fang Mingxuan shed the last trace of his casualness. His gaze was steady and certain, carrying a heat he might not even have noticed an eagerness to persuade. “You’re a strong, capable man. Are you really content to stay huddled in this tiny, steam-choked place every day? Bowing and scraping to satisfy all sorts of people with all sorts of motives, wasting your strength and your youth bit by bit?”

His tone became inadvertently impassioned, as if reciting a family creed or perhaps convincing himself. “When people are young, they should seize opportunities, dare to fight and strive for the top! You have to… achieve something decent for your life to not be in vain, don’t you?”

The words were forceful, yet they held a hint of stiffness as if they were ingrained values that didn’t quite match his usual lazy demeanor.

Dong Junhao listened in silence, but his head hung even lower. “Thank you for the kind offer,” he said dully, continuing to scrub the other man’s arm mechanically and without any real pattern. His vision was locked onto the contact point between his rough fingers and the fair skin, not daring to look up again. “We… we’ve only met twice in total. We don’t know each other at all. I… I don’t have your education or your grand ambitions. I can’t do the work you elite people do, nor can I aim so high. Let’s just… forget it.”

“Indeed, I was too hasty.” Fang Mingxuan followed the flow immediately. His tone softened instantly, the passion receding like a tide to be replaced by a subtle, coaxing gentleness. “Don’t know each other? The more we interact, the more we’ll know. You see, aren’t we… ‘intimately’ interacting right now in another way?”

He intentionally emphasized the word “intimately.” At the same time, his gaze meaningfully swept over Dong Junhao’s sweat-soaked, stiff palm, which was currently resting on his chest due to its owner’s turbulent state of mind.

Dong Junhao felt like he had been touched by fire and tried to pull his hand back, but Fang Mingxuan reached up and lightly pressed down on his wrist. The touch was cool, his fingers long and strong. The force wasn’t great, yet it carried an inescapable sense of claiming sovereignty. Dong Junhao froze on the spot, unable to move; even his blood seemed to turn to ice.

Looking at Dong’s wide, terrified dark eyes and his face that was red enough to smoke, Fang Mingxuan suddenly let out a low chuckle and released his grip. The laughter seemed magnetic, rippling through the steam with an air of ambiguity.

His tone returned to its usual lazy, magnetic drawl, as if the moment of dominance had been a mere hallucination. “But then again, Master Dong, look at me. Every time I’m with you, I am ‘completely open’ and hold nothing back.”

His gaze slowly traveled over Dong Junhao’s light blue work shirt and shorts, which were soaked through with sweat and clung to every bulging muscle like a second skin. A playful light sparkled in his eyes.

“But you…” he trailed off, sounding like he was nitpicking an over-wrapped gift. “Don’t you always wear… a bit too much? Wrapping yourself so tightly doesn’t that make our communication less… transparent?”

Dong Junhao’s cheeks burned hot. His ears were buzzing. After a long while, he managed to squeeze out a muffled, reasoned rebuttal from between his teeth: “‘Completely open’… that means speaking the truth and being sincere. It… it has nothing to do with… with how much clothing you’re wearing, does it?”

“Oh?” Fang Mingxuan’s brow arched. A flash of cunning crossed his eyes, like a child who had successfully pulled off a prank and was ready for more. “That’s where you’re dead wrong. As far as I know” He paused on purpose, creating a false impression of citing authority. “Authoritative scientific research from abroad shows that when ‘physical barriers’ between people are reduced to a certain level, their psychological defenses drop accordingly. The words spoken then are often closer to the truth of the heart, making it easier to establish genuine trust.”

He was talking pure nonsense with a straight face. He watched the look on Dong Junhao’s face—a mix of skepticism, bewilderment, and the helpless daze of someone unable to argue against a “knowledge barrier.” The triumphant, joyful smile at the corner of his mouth could no longer be suppressed; it spread like ripples in a pond, lighting up his handsome face. It made his eyes appear even deeper and brighter through the steam, so dazzling they were almost impossible to look at directly.

“So,” he lifted his body slightly, a move that abruptly shortened the distance between him and Dong Junhao. His lowered voice carried a perfect hint of huskiness. The sound was pitched extremely low, like top-tier silk brushing against an ear. His warm breath almost touched Dong Junhao’s tense, sweat-beaded jaw.

Every word was like a whisper with a small hook, filled with a devilish seduction, slowly but firmly prying at the man’s tight mental defenses: “Master Dong, look at me. I’m here, ‘holding nothing back.’ In the spirit of reciprocity, shouldn’t you… try to be a bit more ‘open’ with me? Getting to know each other more deeply and comprehensively isn’t a bad thing, right? After all, trust is the foundation of cooperation.”

This nearly explicit hint terrified Dong Junhao. He was like a bowstring pulled to its absolute limit; all his movements seized up, and even his breath hitched. The warm skin beneath his palm and the handsome face closing in created a dizzying sense of pressure.

Seeing this, the corner of Fang Mingxuan’s mouth curved into an understanding, reassuring arc. He pulled back just enough to give Dong Junhao some room to breathe. But his gaze remained like a precision searchlight, locked onto every subtle change in the man’s expression.

“Don’t be nervous. I’m not saying this to make things difficult for you.” Fang Mingxuan’s tone slowed, becoming more persuasively sincere. “I am truly thirsty for talent. Just now, I also learned a bit about your situation from Boss Liu hardworking at the construction site, and although you’re out of place here, you’ve never lost your temper with a guest. Even when you’re wronged, you endure it. You have a certain drive, yet you have your own bottom line. That is rare.”

He paused. His gaze became almost tangible as it slowly swept over Dong Junhao’s broad shoulders and iron-cast arm muscles. There was evaluation in that look, and unhidden admiration.

“More importantly, I see something in you… something many people in this era have already lost. A kind of resilience, a purity untainted by complex social rules, and this physique and character that were born to do great things. Trapping you in this tiny place, repeating the same movements every day, dealing with those… blind fools,” he paused meaningfully, clearly referring to the thugs and the daily harrassment, “is a waste of heaven’s gifts. It’s wasting your life. Looking at it, even I feel it’s a pity.”

His voice dropped lower and steadier, yet it strangely cut through the bathhouse noise. Every word carried weight, slamming into Dong Junhao’s heart.

“My invitation might sound abrupt, but it is by no means a whim, and certainly not the idle pastime of a rich man. It is a judgment made through serious observation I believe you are a piece of raw talent worth polishing.”

“Right now, you just lack an opportunity. You lack a stage where you can perform, and you lack… someone who truly knows your worth and knows how to appreciate you.”

Fang Mingxuan blinked slightly, his thick lashes casting a moving shadow on his eyelids, making his gaze appear even deeper and more unfathomable as if it contained infinite promises.

“If you’re willing to come and help me, to be my personal assistant the title sounds simple, but I absolutely don’t want a nanny or a lackey. I need a versatile hand who can handle tricky matters for me, who can control the room in certain situations, and who is absolutely reliable.”

“The people and things you’ll encounter, the scenery you’ll see, and the skills you’ll learn will far exceed your current imagination.”

He sat up. The final sentence was uttered almost against Dong Junhao’s rapidly heaving chest, carrying the seduction and certainty of a devil’s bargain: “I guarantee that with your character and ability, combined with my resources and guidance, you will definitely carve out a place for yourself and earn a clean, respectable future.”