Your Boyfriend is Great! He's Mine Now - Chapter 24

“So, is it the same with everyone else?”

Shen Xubai felt it was impossible to reason with him. The heavy, intense scent of masculine hormones rippled through the air, making his entire body feel uncomfortable. “Let go of me first.”

“Senior, you smell so good.”

Goosebumps erupted instantly along the back of his neck, behind his ears, and down his spine. Gu Linyuan didn’t just take advantage of him with words; he took a deep breath against the side of his neck, his expression intoxicated like a pervert.

“Senior, I want to kiss you.”

The low, raspy voice sounded right in his ear, and the string that had been holding his mind together suddenly snapped. In a fit of rage, Shen Xubai shoved him away and scrambled to escape the devil’s den, leaving his briefcase and laptop behind on the sofa in his haste.

Gu Linyuan let himself fall back into the soft sofa, raised a hand to cover his eyes, and laughed to himself.

Once Shen Xubai returned to his room, he ducked into the bathroom and couldn’t resist taking yet another shower. Only when the anger and panic had been washed down the drain did he walk out, wearing a cold, indifferent expression, before falling into a daze.

A presidential suite costing thousands a night was truly different; the floor-to-ceiling windows presented the night view of Haicheng right before his eyes, almost completely unobstructed. Everywhere was brilliantly lit, and in some skyscrapers, people were spending money on billboard campaigns to support their favorite idols.

Shen Xubai just watched as celebrity after celebrity flashed by. Finally, a woman appeared. She was a very dignified and elegant woman with the surname He, and a birthday greeting was written above her photo.

Shen Xubai froze for a moment before remembering that today was… Gu Linyuan’s… he wasn’t quite sure what to call her. If even a birthday banquet was being held so grandly, didn’t Gu Linyuan, as a descendant of the Gu family, need to rush back to the Gu residence?

As he was thinking this, the phone on the sofa began to ring. Lost in thought, he answered it absent-mindedly.

“Are you dead yet?”

?

A strange voice came through the receiver. Shen Xubai moved the phone away from his ear and looked at the caller ID Chen Yanzhi.

Who is this? Which client? Shen Xubai tried for a while, but couldn’t place the name.

“Looks like you’re not dead.”

He must have picked up the wrong phone. He couldn’t blame himself who told them both to use the same black phone with no case? The person on the other end must have realized there was no response, as their tone suddenly sharpened. “Are you dead?”

“Apologies, I am not Gu Linyuan. I didn’t mean to answer your call; I picked up his phone by mistake. If it’s urgent, I can take it to him now.”

The person on the other end was silent for a moment, then replied very politely, “I see. My apologies for the trouble. It is quite urgent I’m worried he might do something reckless.”

His footsteps stopped abruptly. Shen Xubai asked in surprise, “Reckless?”

“Yes, reckless.” The serious, solemn tone didn’t sound like a joke at all.

Shen Xubai suppressed the anomaly in his heart and said calmly, “I don’t think so; he was fine during dinner.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. The night makes people feel vulnerable, especially on a day like today.”

A day like today? Did he mean his stepmother’s birthday? But Gu Linyuan hadn’t shown any sign that anything was wrong. Shen Xubai thought for a moment and decided it would be better to let this person verify Gu Linyuan’s safety himself.

“Hold on, I’ll go knock on his door.”

He knocked a few times, but no one came to open it. Shen Xubai patiently pressed the doorbell a few more times. Still, no one opened it. A foreboding sense of dread surged in his chest.

“He might be in the shower. I’ll call my own phone and tell him to call you back in a moment.”

“Mn, thank you.”

After Shen Xubai hung up, he stared at the person on the lock screen for a few seconds. The man was leaning against a dark leather chair, his crisp white shirt gleaming in the cold light. His eyes were closed, and faint shadows lingered beneath his pale cheeks. His lips were tightly pressed together, as if he were displeased. This was him one of the many photos Gu Linyuan had brazenly stolen of him in the car last time.

A strange feeling stirred deep in his heart. But he couldn’t dwell on it now; he miserably discovered that Gu Linyuan’s phone had a lock screen password, and he couldn’t unlock it. Therefore, he couldn’t make any calls.

Knock, knock, knock—

“Gu Linyuan.”

Shen Xubai thought of the first sentence Chen Yanzhi had said, and every sentence thereafter, each one increasing his anxiety.

“Gu Linyuan!”

It was impossible not to hear such a loud noise. Could he really be doing something reckless?

“How do you relieve yourself when you’re in a bad mood?”  “Self-harm.”  “Physical pain can distract you…”

The blood drained from Shen Xubai’s face. He hammered on the door fiercely. “Gu Linyuan! Open the door!”

He waited two seconds with no response. Just as Shen Xubai was about to return to his room to call room service, the door before him was pulled open without warning.

Completely caught off guard, Gu Linyuan took in the panic and worry written all over Shen Xubai’s face.

“Senior, what’s wrong?”

Shen Xubai looked him over quickly: wearing a bathrobe, entirely in one piece, not a limb missing, not a drop of blood spilled. His hanging heart finally dropped, only to be instantly replaced by a surge of fury. Shen Xubai pushed the man in front of him without hesitation. “Are you fucking sick? I called you so many times, didn’t you hear me?!”

Gu Linyuan was stunned, instinctively explaining, “I was in the shower, had some music playing, and the door was closed it might have been soundproofed.”

“You’re living alone, why the hell are you closing the door? I almost called the police!”

“I won’t close it next time, then.”

Although Gu Linyuan didn’t know what he was angry about, the fact that his Senior was angry on his behalf and judging by the sound of it, worried to the point of anger was exhilarating. Senior even pushed him. Senior even used foul language. How worried must he be?

Gu Linyuan felt so happy he was practically floating. “Senior, you were worried about me.”

Shen Xubai was snapped back to reality by those words. All the fury stuck in his throat, unable to come out. He calmed himself for a few breaths. “I picked up your phone by mistake. Someone was looking for you; he was very worried about you and told you to call him back.” He didn’t forget to add, “He’s the one who asked me to check on you.”

Gu Linyuan didn’t speak; he just stared at him deeply. “Where’s my phone?”

Shen Xubai’s fingers curled. Before he could answer, he walked toward the sofa, saying to himself, “It’s right here.”

Watching Shen Xubai’s flustered, muttering appearance, Gu Linyuan’s heart softened into a puddle. He didn’t care about anything else; he grabbed Shen Xubai just as he was about to step out the door, clamped his arms tightly around him, and pulled him into an embrace.

“Don’t go.”

The husky whisper, trembling with a near-pleading intensity, crashed straight into Shen Xubai’s ears. Shen Xubai froze entirely. Gu Linyuan’s cold, searing breath seeped into every pore without invitation, like thorny vines wrapping tightly around him, trapping him in a suffocating presence.

He couldn’t ignore it.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, Shen Xubai snapped back to his senses and struggled with all his might, pushing against the other man’s chest. Gu Linyuan seemed prepared for it, holding him even tighter.

“Gu Linyuan! Let go!”

How could Gu Linyuan bear to let go? He had finally embraced the person before him in the light of day the person he had longed for, the person who drove him mad. Every drumbeat of a heartbeat, the feverish skin, and the scent belonging uniquely to Shen Xubai everything was frantically gnawing at his rationality, attempting to shatter his shackles.

The nearly broken voice rang out again. “Senior, keep me company…”