I’m Face-Blind, But I Devoted Myself To Three Guys - Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Heavy and Hot

The door, losing its support, slowly closed, taking away the light from the hallway.

In the space soaked in darkness, fabric and leather sofa ground against each other, making rustling sounds. The raw breathing was heavy and hurried.

Qi Xu blinked. Though he couldn’t see, he was certain someone was in the room.

Standing at the door, his first reaction wasn’t to retreat immediately. Rather, it was: It’s so cold.

The temperature in the room was even lower than outdoors. In this weather, hotels usually preset the lounges to a comfortable range. The subtle hum from the central air conditioning vent proved it was on, but given this abnormal temperature, it was clearly blowing cold air.

Qi Xu shivered and couldn’t help taking a step back. The sound of his heel rubbing against the carpet alerted the other person.

“Who?” A husky male voice came from not far ahead.

As his pupils adjusted to the dark, Qi Xu saw a silhouette leaning against the sofa. His plan to leave changed the moment he heard that hoarse voice—it was indeed Xie Chengyan.

The man’s breathing was labored and heavy; he sounded ill. Qi Xu pursed his lips, hesitated for a few seconds, and chose to step forward slowly.

Sensing someone approaching, the man on the sofa gritted his teeth and squeezed out an angry curse: “Get out.”

The tone was fierce, but it carried a fragile, breathy quality. Seeing how much he resisted, Qi Xu stopped about a meter away to observe his condition.

The man leaned back in the corner of the sofa, his long legs spread out in the narrow passage between the sofa and the coffee table. One hand pressed heavily on the armrest, while his other arm was bent over his eyes. Even with Qi Xu this close, he didn’t look over. To be precise, he had no energy to spare.

By the moonlight spilling in through the window, Qi Xu realized the man was in bad shape. His suit jacket had been tossed aside, covering his midriff. His chest rose and fell violently under his shirt, and his lip line was pulled tight as if enduring something extreme.

Qi Xu didn’t know what was wrong; the man had been fine when they met half an hour ago. Driven by confusion, he took another step closer. Seeing no violent reaction, he simply leaned down and reached out toward the semi-conscious man.

Having stayed in the low temperature for a bit, Qi Xu’s hands were very cold, but the skin he touched provided a sharp contrast—it was burning and damp.

Qi Xu’s first thought was that Xie Chengyan had a fever.

Perhaps the cold hand dissipated some of the irritability caused by the high fever, as Xie Chengyan let out a soft sigh.

“Are you okay?” Recalling how his family acted when he was sick, Qi Xu rubbed the back of his hand against the man’s cheek and asked softly.

With Qi Xu’s slightly intimate contact, the suppressed breathing in Xie Chengyan’s throat suddenly quickened. Whether he didn’t hear or found it too difficult to speak, he didn’t answer.

Qi Xu glanced toward the foyer, wondering if he should call someone. After a moment, he withdrew his hand. “You seem to have a fever, I’ll call—”

However, just as he turned on his phone and before he could finish his sentence, his wrist was clamped by a massive force. A dark shadow suddenly stood up in front of him, the tall figure occupying his entire field of vision, followed by a dizzying sense of weightlessness.

“Ugh!” Though he fell onto the soft sofa, the startled Qi Xu still let out a cry.

It took a few seconds for his brain to clear and for him to realize his current situation. He was pinned to the sofa, his wrists tightly gripped and locked at his sides. Xie Chengyan’s knee was pressed between his legs, pinning him firmly beneath him.

The phone had dropped to the side during the accident. By the light of the screen, Qi Xu saw Xie Chengyan’s face clearly.

His lips were pale, his eyes bloodshot, and the veins at his temples were visibly pulsing. Fine beads of sweat gathered, soaking his bangs before rolling down his face and dripping onto the side of Qi Xu’s neck. The droplets slid slowly across his sensitive skin, feeling a bit itchy.

Qi Xu blinked.

Xie Chengyan was also studying him. Seeing how Qi Xu’s brief panic quickly returned to a calm expression, he suddenly grinned. “Little young master, it seems a bit impolite to intrude into someone else’s territory uninvited.”

His breath was still unsteady as he spoke, but in the quiet environment, Qi Xu could hear him clearly.

Before the person pinned to the sofa could explain, Xie Chengyan suddenly leaned down again. His tone near Qi Xu’s ear became slow and dangerous: “And it’s not safe, either…”

The husky voice was wrapped in scorching breath, so close it made Qi Xu tremble.

At this point, Qi Xu finally realized their distance was a bit too close, and the posture had a strange sense of ambiguity. He uncomfortably extended his free hand, pressing it against the man’s waist to give a push.

The moment his hand touched the thin shirt, a muffled groan suddenly escaped Xie Chengyan’s throat. The leather sofa underneath creaked. Qi Xu tilted his head and saw the veins bulging on the forearm propped beside his face; the soft leather of the sofa wrinkled under the man’s grip.

Xie Chengyan arched his back and closed his eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing with difficulty. “Don’t move.”

Qi Xu immediately froze. He wanted to tell Xie Chengyan to move, but seeing the man in such pain, he could only purse his lips and wait for him to recover.

His hand, held mid-air with nowhere to go, eventually rested on his own stomach, hoping to maintain a slight distance. But this move caused the suit jacket that had fallen between them to slide to the floor.

The man’s burning body heat was transmitted even more clearly. The stranger’s temperature made Qi Xu a bit uneasy. He subconsciously bent his legs to turn slightly, and as a result, his thigh accidentally brushed against the man.

“Ugh.” Xie Chengyan’s breathing intensified instantly.

Qi Xu also froze, because he seemed to have touched something… significant.

Something hard.

“You, you…” Are you okay? Why are you like this? Were you drugged?

Countless questions flashed through Qi Xu’s mind. He stood there with his mouth open, unable to get a full sentence out for a long time. Finally, he blurted out: “Do you need help?”

Xie Chengyan also knew that Qi Xu was aware of his state. Hearing this, he laughed ominously. “Do you like men?”

Qi Xu blinked. He seemed to have been asked this question not long ago. His answer remained: “I don’t know.”

“Then do you like me?”

If I want to be his ‘simp,’ I should probably express my liking first, right? Qi Xu thought distractedly, even admiring himself for not forgetting his mission at a time like this.

“Maybe?” he replied uncertainly, lightly licking his lips.

This time, Xie Chengyan laughed again—not the cold laugh of suspicion from before, but a simple snort.

The scorching breath swept across his face again. Perhaps infected by the man’s temperature, Qi Xu suddenly felt a bit hot himself, and he swallowed unconsciously.

Just then, there was a knock on the lounge door.

Both turned toward the door at the same time. For a moment, no one spoke. The person outside waited a few minutes and knocked again. “Mr. Xie, the second young master sent me to deliver medicine. May I come in now?”

Qi Xu looked back at the person pinning him down. He saw Xie Chengyan frown, a flash of disgust appearing in his eyes. “Tsk.”

Ning Yu’s words echoed in his mind: the relationships between the Xie bloodlines were poor, even hostile. Seeing Xie Chengyan’s expression, one could guess this person wasn’t truly there to help with good intentions.

The person outside received no response but didn’t leave. “Mr. Xie, I’m coming in then.”

Qi Xu remembered he hadn’t locked the door when he entered. He glanced at Xie Chengyan again, and after confirming his attitude, he spoke up: “You’ve got the wrong room. The person you’re looking for isn’t here.”

The person outside went quiet for a moment, likely hearing that the voice in the room wasn’t his target. After a while, they apologized: “I’m sorry, it seems I made a mistake. My apologies for the intrusion.”

Then, footsteps sounded as the person left.

Qi Xu’s attention was on the door, so he didn’t notice the man in front of him staring at him meaningfully. After the person outside was bluffed away, it was just the two of them again, and silence fell upon the room once more.

Recalling the man’s current physical state, Qi Xu felt a bit awkward. He raised his hand again to press against Xie Chengyan’s chest, intending to push him away. Fortunately, this time Xie Chengyan cooperated and stood up. But before Qi Xu could sit up, he heard the man speak leisurely: “How does the little young master plan to help me?”

“…” Qi Xu hadn’t expected the man to take his heat-of-the-moment nonsense seriously.

Xie Chengyan knelt on one knee between Qi Xu’s legs. Seeing his silence, he leaned in again. Qi Xu instinctively leaned back. Xie Chengyan didn’t pin him down again but leaned close to his ear, blowing a teasing breath. “You just sent away the person who came to help me. Doesn’t that mean the little young master intends to help me personally?”

Even though Qi Xu had helped him drive away trouble, he made it sound like he was a victim whose good fortune had been interrupted.

The warm, moist breath made his ear itch. Qi Xu turned his head. “Then how should I help?”

Buy him medicine? Guard the door? Call someone? Or run a bath?

Before he could think of more ways to help, Xie Chengyan reached out without warning, grabbed his arm, and pulled him into his arms.

Previously, it was always Qi Xu pestering the other two male leads. He hadn’t expected the third target to be more proactive than him. And it was nothing like he had imagined. Given their first encounter, Qi Xu had originally thought Xie Chengyan, who was extremely resistant to physical contact, would be the toughest nut to crack.

He nestled in the man’s burning embrace, blatantly dazed. Xie Chengyan noticed his distraction and frowned imperceptibly.

“Has the little young master ever been in a relationship?”

Qi Xu was pulled back to reality by the tightening arms and shook his head gently. “No.”

“So you’ve never done it before?”

It took Qi Xu a beat to realize what he meant. “…No.”

Xie Chengyan let out an unreadable laugh and took Qi Xu’s slightly cold hand. “Do you know how to do it?”

His fingertips felt a bit pained by the zipper, and the object under his palm was so energetic it made his skin crawl.

“…” Qi Xu’s brain stalled, and he was forced to turn to the system for help: Is he asking me to help him?

But this time, he waited for a long time and none of the three systems responded.

With no response, Qi Xu was helpless and alone. He looked down, staring at his hand, caught in hesitation. He hadn’t heard that being a ‘simp’ involved solving physiological needs. But if he really helped, he might get a huge reward.

At that thought, Qi Xu’s eyes even took on a look of “do or die” determination.

Xie Chengyan had been observing his expression, staring at his lips which were bitten in hesitation. His eyes gradually darkened. After some inner conflict, Qi Xu decided to go big.

He suddenly looked up, only to find the man had been staring at him—he didn’t know how long he had been watching.

“Don’t look at me…” Qi Xu licked his dry lips. “I’ll try,” he said very softly.

“But the little young master stared at that spot for so long and yet won’t let me look at you. Isn’t that a bit unreasonable?” Xie Chengyan narrowed his eyes slightly, the corners of his lips lifting in a suppressed, wicked curve.

“…I won’t look at you either.” Qi Xu pursed his lips.

“Fine, then I’ll trouble you.” Xie Chengyan chuckled and let go of his hand on the back of Qi Xu’s. He obediently closed his eyes and nodded to him, signaling him to start.

Qi Xu stared at Xie Chengyan for a long time, as if performing a final mental preparation.

Click—

In the quiet room, the sound of the belt buckle unlocking was crisp and abrupt. Qi Xu’s hand couldn’t help but pause, and his downcast eyelashes trembled. He guiltily looked up at Xie Chengyan, only to find the man had opened his eyes again at some point.

“!”

The man across from him turned the tables: “Didn’t you say you weren’t going to look at me?”

“…” Qi Xu was speechless.

Forget it, just look then. It’s pitch black anyway; I can’t see much.

Qi Xu sped up his movements, wanting to finish as quickly as possible. But he truly had no experience. In his fumbling, Xie Chengyan’s breathing became much heavier.

Heavy and hot.

Qi Xu was startled by that massive dark shadow and nearly turned tail and ran. He was once again glad the lights weren’t on; the light from outside wasn’t enough to see more details.

Just as he was thinking of an excuse to back out, the phone in the corner of the sofa vibrated. Qi Xu didn’t hesitate for half a second, grabbed the phone, and answered it.

It was a call from his brother.

“My, my brother called me to go home. I can’t do it anymore.”

Fearing Xie Chengyan would be unhappy and pin him down again, Qi Xu apologized and dashed out of the lounge without stopping. He left all the trouble and the mess he’d started to the person involved.

Only after Qi Xu was completely gone did Xie Chengyan lean back on the sofa, holding his forehead and laughing out of pure exasperation.

“Why is your face so red?” Ning Yu noticed his brother’s abnormal complexion and found it strange.

Qi Xu touched his burning cheeks, his eyes darting. “…It must be because the air conditioning in the lounge was set too high.”

Halfway home, Qi Xu realized the handkerchief in his pocket was gone. Thinking back to their entanglement in the room, it must have slipped out then.

At the same time, Xie Chengyan was still sitting on the lounge sofa. Moonlight broke through the clouds and spilled into the room, silver-plating his tall figure. He leaned against the sofa, the lines of his tilted neck tough and sharp. His hand was moving constantly, while his other hand tightly gripped a soft handkerchief. The small piece of cloth still carried a hint of its owner’s scent.

He brought it close to his nose. His breathing instantly became heavy.

After finishing, Xie Chengyan stared at the ceiling lamp to steady his breathing, suddenly overcome by a strong sense of self-loathing.

A long time later, the door opened and closed. The soiled handkerchief was abandoned alone in the trash can.