How Can Two People From Different Sides Ever Fall in Love? - Chapter 3

Chapter 3: A 360-Degree, Multi-Angle, Eight-Camera Cinematographic Presentation of This Kiss

“If I said I didn’t do that on purpose, would you believe me?”

Waterloo comes for everyone eventually. Raven’s public image, usually as clear and bright as the moon, was now in critical condition. He felt more aggrieved than Napoleon, practically on the verge of throwing his hands up to prove his innocence.

“If you had done it on purpose, I might actually be happier.”

Raven: “…”

He could hear it now—Hollis was absolutely doing this on purpose.

The intentional Hollis took a deep breath and buried his head into the crook of Raven’s neck once more.

Startled, Raven instinctively tried to dodge, but the space was too narrow. His shoulder hit the door with a dull thud, yet he couldn’t shake off Hollis’s large, fuzzy head.

“Don’t move.” Hollis followed his movement like a keen-scented hound, accurately refinding his original spot by smell alone. “Let me lean for a bit. I came straight to the meeting the moment I stepped off the plane this morning; my luggage is still checked at the front desk.”

As a fellow worker, Raven couldn’t help but feel a surge of empathy. For a fleeting moment, his heart softened, giving Hollis an opening.

Still, given the current economic climate, the fact that Hollis’s party was flying for business trips left a bit of a sour taste in his mouth.

Hot, moist breath puffed against his neck, while that highly conspicuous part of Hollis’s anatomy brushed against his thigh from time to time. Raven’s neck felt itchy, his thigh felt numb, and his throat was parched. A flare of illicit heat rose within him, but it had nowhere to go.

Truly a beast; his mouth claimed he was tired, but his body was high-spirited and not to be underestimated.

“When Avalokiteshvara Bodhisattva was practicing the profound Prajna Paramita, he illuminated the five skandhas and saw that they are all empty, thereby crossing over all suffering and difficulty. Shariputra, form does not differ from emptiness, emptiness does not differ from form…” To suppress this internal fire, Raven began reciting the Heart Sutra.

“What are you mumbling about?”

He had just reached the part where “form is emptiness, emptiness is form” when he was abruptly interrupted. He choked for a second, the recitation turning into a sigh. “The Heart Sutra. It seems you have no destiny with the Buddha.”

“Since when did you get interested in Buddhist scriptures? I thought you only liked reading history.”

Raven explained, “When I was a kid, the elders in the family would burn incense for the Bodhisattva and make me act as the audio player. After reading it so many times, I just memorized it.”

Hollis remained leaning on his shoulder and continued, “Then why were you peek at my proposal?”

“Huh?” Raven didn’t see the logical connection between those two sentences. He turned his head, looking down at the shameless head on his shoulder. “Be reasonable, won’t you? I looked at it fair and square.”

Hollis had drafted the proposal and left it on the coffee table in the living room. When Raven saw it, he naturally picked it up to flip through it—simply to see what it was so he could put it back where it belonged. The environment he lived in didn’t allow for things to be scattered about.

A few pages stapled together, the content was detailed but unformatted, with notes scribbled in the margins—counterarguments addressed to specific points. Raven had read it all, yet he hadn’t utilized it in the meeting as a weapon to counter Hollis, save for that one question: What is the essence of marriage?

Hollis’s handwriting had ended there, and Raven had provided his own answer.

He just hadn’t expected that the line “You seem very repelled by marriage” would directly tear through the veneer of peace between the two parties, exposing the underlying nature of partisan conflict. If Verdi hadn’t called a timely halt, Raven couldn’t imagine what kind of counterattack he would have launched.

However, as the emotions subsided and he stepped out of the “meeting” mindset, Raven had no interest in letting work needs dictate his personal needs. Facing Hollis again, naturally, only their private friction remained.

“What’s wrong?” Seeing that Hollis hadn’t spoken for a while, Raven shook his shoulder. “Was I too fierce during the meeting? You weren’t exactly holding back either. Everything I taught you, you used against me, didn’t you, Student Hollis?”

After saying this, Raven gave Hollis’s ear a playful tug with a smile.

Hollis’s title as the “Data Maniac” didn’t just come from the rigorous data in his proposals and reports; it also came from his methodical way of debating. Ever since they established their “bedroom partnership,” Raven had trained him in private. To occupy the high ground in a conflict, one simply needed: first, emotional stability; second, to avoid falling into the trap of self-justification; and third, to throw the question back at the opponent. As long as you could make the other person lose their cool and start jumping in frustration, you had already won half the battle.

“Forget it,” Hollis thought. Following the pull on his ear, he lifted his head, his expression deep and unreadable. “A famous teacher produces a brilliant student. So, how do you think I performed, Teacher Raven?”

Raven almost laughed out of anger. The student had learned the trade and was now starving the master, yet he had the nerve to ask for an evaluation. “If you used those tactics against anyone else, I’d be even more impressed.”

“You didn’t go easy on me either. Besides, do we always have to fight? Isn’t it better to get along peacefully?”

Raven didn’t want to discuss such a serious topic in such an unserious environment. It wasn’t that they were naturally opposed; it was just that society had divided them into camps. As for the systems established within those camps and the rights granted by them—whether everyone had to chase them—he had no answer. Under the weight of the general trend, an individual’s weight was infinitesimal.

“Then what is this supposed to be?” Raven’s gaze shifted downward, landing on the bulge in Hollis’s suit trousers, which was pointed straight at him like a gun.

Perhaps the answer was hidden in time. What they needed was to live through the present properly—much like how this man spoke of “peaceful coexistence” while his behavior felt more like “fighting.”

Hollis stared at him intently for a moment before leaning down to capture his lips. He skillfully pried open Raven’s teeth and lightly licked the tip of his tongue.

“You change your perfume so often, but your mouthwash is always peppermint flavored.”

Raven wiped the moisture from his lips. Hollis was always unpredictable, catching him off guard. Once it was over, Raven could only counterattack verbally: “What’s wrong with peppermint? What flavor of kiss was the Councilor hoping for? Cinnamon?”

Hollis was easy to please; he wasn’t picky about anything edible, except for the smell of cinnamon, which he couldn’t stand.

Hearing this, Hollis actually gave it some serious thought. “If it’s you, it’s not out of the question. Shall we try it next time?”

Raven: “…”

Great. He could no longer tell if Hollis was being intentional or not.

Coming out of the stall, Raven washed his hands at the sink. He repeated the steps from before Hollis arrived, once again folding the paper towel into a “tofu block” and tossing it into the bin.

Without the physical suppression, he turned around and pointed at Hollis, whispering a warning: “Today’s events end here. There won’t be a next time.”

Hollis was noncommittal but knew when to quit while he was ahead. He gave a soft “Mm” as an answer, then bypassed the man in front of him to go straight to the sink, shaking the water off his hands with a few quick movements.

Meanwhile, at the restroom entrance, a figure hurried toward them and then just as quickly hurried away. Neither of them noticed.

Afterward, the two left one after the other. Raven returned to the hall first.

In the vast hall, almost everyone was gone, leaving only Cybill scribbling away in a corner. Cybill and Raven belonged to the same party, and their work often overlapped. They had collaborated many times; over time, their interactions increased, and they became more familiar with each other than with other colleagues, occasionally contacting each other privately to hang out.

Seeing her, Raven raised an eyebrow in surprise. He wasn’t sure what Cybill was like outside of work. So, he held his breath and silently walked up behind her, peering over her shoulder to see for himself.

Just as he expected—on the notebook issued by the party, Cybill was working diligently, her pen never stopping. Soon, a vivid and interesting four-panel comic appeared on the paper.

Following the reading order: two comic characters were first arguing fiercely; then, they drew closer and closer until the final panel, where the characters’ mouths seemed to have magnets embedded in them, snapping together instantly.

Raven sucked in a breath. It wasn’t because he realized the two comic characters were male, but because no matter how he looked at it, those two faces looked exactly like the chairmen of the two parties from today’s meeting!

Cybill had a niche hobby. Raven had heard her introduce it—something about “shipping CPs”, but she hadn’t mentioned that the CPs she shipped would be this bizarre! Both chairmen were married with children; not long ago, he’d even heard that Chairman Verdi of their party had grandchildren. Was it appropriate for Cybill to ship them like this?

Perhaps his movement was too loud; Cybill’s hand jerked, and a diagonal line slashed through the middle of the two connected mouths on the paper, as if foreshadowing that this taboo romance would not have a happy ending.

The CP had “BE” on the spot. Cybill didn’t have time to mourn her masterpiece; she turned her head as if she’d seen a ghost. Seeing it was Raven, she immediately sighed in relief, patting her chest. “It’s just you. You gave me a fright.”

Raven was the one who was frightened. “Ms. Cybill, is this… appropriate?”

Couldn’t she just draw this secretly in private? Was this something that could be put on the table?

“Of course it’s not appropriate.” Cybill silently closed her notebook. “But it’s not like anyone else found out.”

Raven had nothing to say. He pulled out the chair next to Cybill—which was also his seat, and sat down. Still uneasy, he cautioned her, “Pay more attention. It’s lucky it was me.”

Cybill nodded shyly. “It won’t happen next time.”

Raven remained noncommittal. He glanced at Cybill, and the image of two mouths gradually drawing closer immediately flashed through his mind. At the moment they were about to kiss, the image shifted into real people. A 360-degree, all-around, multi-angle, eight-camera cinematographic presentation of this kiss played out for him.

Raven almost jumped out of his chair. Especially since he had just shared a kiss himself; even the double peppermint flavor couldn’t suppress the sudden surge of nausea. No wonder whenever a work Cybill liked was being adapted into a live-action film, she would come to him to cry about it. It turned out that the “2D world” entering the “3D world” really was that lethal.

The image wouldn’t go away. Raven massaged his forehead helplessly. “You should… ship something better.”

“I want to,” Cybill said, scratching the cover of her notebook as if it were an itch. “Between the two largest parties in the Federation combined, you’re the best-looking. But shipping a friend is too immoral; I can’t bring myself to do it.”

Raven’s lips twitched. He wasn’t sure if he was being dragged into this or if those two chairmen were somehow more “acceptable” to her. He quickly whispered “Sinful, sinful” to himself; mocking elderly leaders was truly ungentlemanly, even though his original intent was just to get Cybill to ship a normal couple.

The more he explained, the messier it got, so Raven simply shut his mouth.

“Though that’s not entirely true. That Councilor who gave the speech for the Aurora Party this morning… he’s quite good-looking. A different type than you—he looks a bit fierce, tall and sturdy. I feel like if he slapped me, he could turn my brain into tofu dregs.”

Before Raven had time to applaud her vivid metaphor, that very Aurora Party Councilor arrived late. He stood by the speaker’s podium, and just like during the morning session, his sharp gaze shot straight toward them.

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