The Husband From the Original Pairing is Now Divorced - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Handsome — “Husband will help you.”

Sheng Jia felt as though he were lost in a dense jungle.

He had lost his sense of direction, running aimlessly, unable to find a warm, safe nest. Night was fast approaching; rabbits swarmed toward the hillsides, birds beat their wings toward the other side of the mountain, and elks drinking by the river disappeared into the depths of the forest in pairs.

The sky grew darker and the silence deeper, yet Sheng Jia still couldn’t find his “home.” The orange-red sun sank below the horizon, and everyone vanished, leaving him to wander alone.

Fear and panic began to set in.

Don’t leave me. Don’t leave me here alone.

Sheng Jia tried his best to chase after the disappearing animals, but his steps were too short, and his voice was too small. Finally, he stepped into thin air and plummeted into an abyss. In the boundless darkness, he watched those receding backs accelerate away from him. No one waited, no one stayed, for he was merely a tiny, insignificant ant.

…

“Baby, wake up!”

His hand was suddenly gripped with force, and his entire body was hoisted up by that strength. Sheng Jia’s eyelids fluttered, and he opened his eyes.

“Teacher Sheng, what’s wrong? What did you dream about?”

In front of him was Zhou Zifei’s enlarged face, his brow furrowed with deep worry and anxiety. Sheng Jia stared blankly at him, offering no answer, but it felt like the first time he had ever gazed at Zhou Zifei so closely and carefully. In the morning light, he didn’t look away; every inch of his gaze was glued to Zhou Zifei’s face.

“I… what did I dream…”

Sheng Jia murmured to himself, already unable to recall the details of the dream. But the lonely sorrow of being abandoned by the whole world lingered in his heart, making him exceptionally hungry for Zhou Zifei’s embrace and touch.

“You were crying and tossing around. Was it a nightmare?”

As if reading Sheng Jia’s mind, Zhou Zifei opened his arms and pulled him in. His palm patted the man’s back. Because he had just woken up, Zhou Zifei’s voice was raspy, vibrating deeply against Sheng Jia’s ear.

Sheng Jia burrowed forward, burying himself in Zhou Zifei’s chest. Listening to that reassuring heartbeat, he spoke muffledly: “I don’t know. Just hold me.” After a pause, Sheng Jia tightened his arms around Zhou Zifei’s torso. “Hold me so hard it feels like you’re squeezing me.”

His voice was tiny, but Zhou Zifei heard it clearly. He silently wrapped his arms around Sheng Jia’s waist, pulling him flush against his body.

Feeling the slender, thin frame in his arms, Zhou Zifei suddenly spoke: “Why does it feel like only one night has passed, yet Teacher Sheng has gotten so much thinner?”

His fingers moved from the protruding shoulder blades to the hip bones covered by only a thin layer of flesh, then forward, pressing against the flat, slightly concave abdomen.

The more Zhou Zifei felt, the more his heart ached. His palm rubbed carefully over the soft, warm belly, entirely unaware of Sheng Jia biting his lip with flushed cheeks.

“Don’t… don’t touch anymore…”

It wasn’t until those trembling fingers gripped his wrist and Sheng Jia’s panting voice rose that Zhou Zifei suddenly snapped out of it. Sensing a certain physiological change, Zhou Zifei’s hand stopped immediately. He looked down at the Sheng Jia in his arms.

Sheng Jia’s forearms were folded in a push-back motion; the body that had been pressed tightly against him had retreated, and a mist had gathered in his eyes.

Zhou Zifei’s Adam’s apple bobbed. His gaze lingered on Sheng Jia’s pale neck, marked with pink traces, and he suddenly understood why Sheng Jia seemed thinner after one night.

It was his fault.

The fire that had been stoked had to be suppressed again. Zhou Zifei withdrew his hand and lifted the covers, intending to go to the bathroom to take care of things himself.

Sensing the departing palm, Sheng Jia felt a sudden pang of reluctance. Though they had fooled around the night before, leaving Sheng Jia with a sore waist and weak legs, it had also been like rain after a long drought—he had tasted a completely different kind of pleasure, and it had made him… greedy.

“Where… where are you going?”

Sheng Jia reached out to grab Zhou Zifei. He propped himself up on the bed, looking up at the seated man. His pajama collar was askew, revealing a large expanse of skin where old scars were covered by countless new red marks.

Zhou Zifei turned back to see this sight. His gaze moved up to see Sheng Jia’s shimmering eyes and slightly parted lips. Those gentle, smiling eyes were now overflowing with “springtime” desire.

In the midst of his internal struggle—

“Baby, are you still scared?” Zhou Zifei asked softly.

Sheng Jia, finding a rational excuse for his sudden clinginess, quickly followed Zhou Zifei’s lead and nodded.

“You want me to stay with you?” “Mm…” “How should I stay with you?”

Zhou Zifei lay back down. His fingertips slid into Sheng Jia’s collar. “Should I stay with this part first, or… this part?” He gave a little pinch and moved lower.

“No…” Sheng Jia whimpered, pressing his palm over Zhou Zifei’s wandering hand. But the strength he used was duplicitous—it was very light. Rather than stopping the hand, it felt more like guiding it into position.

Zhou Zifei couldn’t take it anymore. He ducked under the covers.

“Ah—!”

Sheng Jia immediately gripped the pillowcase tight. Moments later, with tears streaming, he tilted his head and bit down on his own sleeve.

Sparrows landed on the windowsill, chirping and peeking curiously at the scene inside. Seeing only a human curled up under the blankets, they flew away, bored. Several waves of birds passed by outside. After an unknown amount of time, Zhou Zifei finally emerged, drenched in sweat.

The bridge of his nose and cheeks were flushed from pressure, and traces of fluid clung to his lips and lashes. Sheng Jia was still clutching the pillowcase, biting his sleeve. The afterglow was long and lingering; he hadn’t quite come back to earth yet.

“Baby, let go.” Zhou Zifei huskily pinched Sheng Jia’s cheeks, prying a wet section of the sleeve from his crimson lips while holding his limp wrist.

Now, all of Sheng Jia’s loneliness, sorrow, and panic were gone, replaced only by comfort. It felt so good, as if all his troubles could vanish under Zhou Zifei’s tongue and lips.

Can I have this every day? Can Zhou Zifei give me this every day?

Sheng Jia’s dazed eyes slowly lifted. Seeing Zhou Zifei leaning in, he instinctively opened his mouth. Zhou Zifei’s motion to carry him to the bathroom paused. He looked down and saw Sheng Jia obediently and proactively sticking out his tongue. He remained silent for a long time.

Finally, he pinched that warm, wet softness with his thumb and forefinger and teased: “Does Baby want to eat his own stuff? Do you actually like the taste?”

Sheng Jia’s face heated up. He finally realized how wanton he was being. He tried to close his mouth in shame, but couldn’t retract his tongue because of Zhou Zifei’s grip.

“You… let go…”

He spoke unclearly. Zhou Zifei used one hand to hold his chin and his fingers to play with his tongue and throat thoroughly before letting go.

“It’s my oversight. I forgot that this part of Baby is the most afraid of being lonely. It needs constant entanglement to be satisfied.” Zhou Zifei wiped the saliva from Sheng Jia’s chin and laughed as he carried him into the bathroom.

Sheng Jia was both annoyed and ashamed, but the hollow void in his heart had indeed been filled by this morning’s intimacy. The endless wandering seemed to have found a resting place ahead.

Neither of them explicitly mentioned moving in together, but from that weekend after meeting Lu He, Zhou Zifei’s belongings began to multiply in Sheng Jia’s home. Two sets of toothbrushes by the mirror, an extra pillow on the bed, couple-style throw pillows on the sofa…

All these changes happened because Sheng Jia had become more clingy. Zhou Zifei was happy to stay and glad Sheng Jia relied on him. But when he noticed Sheng Jia frequently crying in his sleep with a look of panic, his joy was quickly diluted by worry.

Another weekend morning, after seeing Sheng Jia receive a call, Zhou Zifei watched his purse and his eyes drop unnaturally. He knew that from this day forward, Sheng Jia might either finally sleep well or fall into a deeper depression for a long time.

“She said she wants to talk to me.”

Sheng Jia hung up and sat down beside Zhou Zifei, his head lowered, clutching his phone tightly. He didn’t say who “she” was, but they both knew.

“Do you want to see her?” Zhou Zifei asked, pulling him into a hug.

Sheng Jia had briefly mentioned Lu He to him, but beyond that, he didn’t know how to explain. Everything about her in his memory had become uncertain after their chance encounter. He didn’t know if she was still the woman he remembered. He truly didn’t know how to tell someone about his mother who had been gone for twenty years.

“I…”

Burying his face in Zhou Zifei’s chest, Sheng Jia sought the courage to make a choice from that warm, solid heart, only to find himself still hesitating. He used to think that as long as he ignored the night she left, he could live in the self-delusion that “Mommy didn’t abandon me.” But the truth was, she had.

For years, Sheng Jia avoided thinking about the reason she left. Now, the appearance of a “younger brother” forced him to face the truth: between her two children, Lu He had chosen the other one.

“I feel a bit… unwilling. And a bit wrong,” Sheng Jia said.

“Feeling wronged” is a strange emotion. Once a small crack opens, all the grievances rush out, forcing you to speak about them.

“Then go. Tell her you’re unwilling, and that you feel wronged.”

“What if she… doesn’t want to listen?”

“Then the husband will help you. If she doesn’t listen, I won’t let her leave.”

Sheng Jia’s eyes widened. He was startled by the word “Husband,” so much so that his complex emotions became even more jumbled.

“Wha-What?”

“Don’t worry, I know how to behave,” Zhou Zifei promised seriously.

“N-No, I’m not talking about that! You just said—” The title was stuck in his throat; Sheng Jia couldn’t bring himself to say it.

“Just said what? What’s wrong?” Zhou Zifei asked back as if nothing had happened.

Sheng Jia felt even more ashamed by the casual response. He stood up and stiffly said he was going to his room to change before heading out. Zhou Zifei followed him, asking what he had been about to say, only to have the bedroom door slammed in his face.

…

…

Husband.

Sheng Jia leaned his back against the door, chanting the word in his mind. His cheeks heated up. He chanted it again.

Zhou Zifei said, “Husband will help you.”

Even Yu Xianghang had never said that. In their ten years together, they had always called each other by their names. But Zhou Zifei had called him Princess, Baby, Jiajia, and now he called himself “Husband.”

Then… wouldn’t that make him… Zhou Zifei’s wife?

Sheng Jia shook his head violently, denying it. No, he was a man; how could he be a wife?

But… but when Zhou Zifei said it, his expression was so calm, so natural, so… handsome.

Sheng Jia covered his pounding heart and replayed Zhou Zifei’s expression and tone.

My husband will help you.

His lips curled up involuntarily, and he began to smile foolishly.