LFB Chapter 8

It was a few minutes past midnight, the night was quiet. The dark and deep night seemed like a thick splash of ink smeared across the sky. There were no stars or moon in sight, only the street lights on either side were flickering faintly as they stretched into the distance.

It had just rained, so the ground was wet, and the puddles reflected the lights, casting a shadow of the silent silhouette of the city.

A taxi stopped in front of a KTV. A young man came out of the taxi, his sports shoes stepped on the wet ground, making a splash.

He said something to the taxi driver, then took out his phone to call someone.

Not long after, someone helped Shang Zhao down the stairs, followed by two people who came along to watch the fun. Ning Gui put his phone away, briefly greeted them, and then helped Shang Zhao into the car.

It was a fellow basketball member’s birthday today, so everyone gathered and went to KTV, where they had two rounds of drinks. Shang Zhao ended up completely wasted.

The person was really drunk, using his remaining sobriety to call Ning Gui just to say good night.

Ning Gui knew that he went to have a club dinner. When he received Shang Zhao’s call, he heard him say amid the noisy background, “I drank too much and kept typing wrong…so I’m calling you instead…um, good night.”

His voice was low and gentle.

And even carried a bit of ambiguous clinginess.

It was still raining at the moment, the sound was faint.

On Saturday night, the lights in the boys’ dormitory were turned off very late. One roommate went home, while the other two were too immersed in the thrill of gaming, occasionally hurling a few choice of words at their teammates.

Even while wasted, he still insisted on bidding him goodnight—how was that supposed to let him sleep peacefully?

Ning Gui asked for the address and came to pick him up.

As soon as Ning Gui got in the taxi, Shang Zhao leaned over. He first sniffed his neck, then leaned on his shoulder. He smiled a bit foolishly. “You really came…”

“It’s fake.” Ning Gui said indifferently, “You’re dreaming.”

Shang Zhao’s mind was in a mess. He thought about it for a bit, then said, “Then I’m having a great dream.”

He tilted his head to look at Ning Gui. He licked his lips and whispered, “Then in my dream, can I do whatever I want…”

Ning Gui looked at him and suddenly suspected that this person was pretending to be wasted.

He slightly raised a brow. “What do you want to do?”

Shang Zhao looked down, staring at the black hairband on his wrist.

Ning Gui’s hair was just above his shoulders, and he usually wore it in a bun. However, he came out suddenly tonight, so he just had the hairband on his wrist, which made his wrist look white and slender.

“I…want your hairband.”

Ning Gui was somewhat surprised, and a bit confused. “Why do you need my hairband?”

Shang Zhao pursed his lips. “My roommate has one.”

“His girlfriend gave it to him, and he wears it everyday.”

“The basketball team…” Shang Zhao thought about it, but he couldn’t remember who it was that annoyed him so much by constantly wearing the hairband and flaunting it right under his nose. “Some–someone on the team also has one.”

While waiting at the red light, the taxi driver looked at them from the rearview mirror.

The handsome young man, with a small mole at the corner of his eyes and a feminine appearance, curved the corners of his lips. Then, he took off the hairband on his wrist, lowered his head and put it on the hand of the drunk tall man.”

Are young people nowadays fond of showing affection like this?”

Shang Zhao obtained the hairband, and under the influence of alcohol, he really thought he was dreaming—the kind of dream where he was the master and could do whatever he wanted.

He suddenly felt a bit hot, and his gaze towards Ning Gui became burning.

Ning Gui’s heart skipped a beat when he looked at him like that. “What else do you want to do?”

“I want…” Shang Zhao said, “I want—want to kiss you.”

Ning Gui heard himself agreeing, his tone calm but his heartbeat was like a drum. Even his breathing was a little unstable.

After receiving permission, Shang Zhao held his hand.

After taking off the hairband, the tattoo on his wrist was shown in its entirety. Even the scar below the tattoo suddenly became more conspicuous.

The gentle and soft feeling lightly landed on his wrist, as if kissing a fragile treasure.

He’d mentioned it casually to Shang Zhao during a conversation, saying that when he was young and reckless, he had cut his wrist once. Later, finding the scar too unsightly, he’d covered it with a tattoo.

He mentioned it rather calmly, but the moment Shang Zhao’s lips touched his wrist and wanted to pull his hand right away, he realized that he had actually always cared about this scar.

It was really ugly.

And it was a constant reminder of how silly he was during his youth.

Ning Gui was stunned for a moment before pulling his hand back. He awkwardly looked out the window.

A light pink slowly spread from his ears to his cheeks.

The taxi stopped at their campus gate. The driver helped out, while the heat on Ning Gui’s face subsided.

He helped Shang Zhao out of the car, and not long after, Shang Zhao refused to move.

“I don’t want to go back to school.” After tasting the sweetness the first two times, he began to push his luck. “I want to sleep with you.”

Ning Gui looked at him, confirming that he was really drunk.

If it weren’t because he was drunk, how could someone who was usually innocent that he would blush just from looking at him, say he wanted to sleep with him without getting shy or stuttering.

He really wanted to say no, but Shang Zhao held one of his fingers and shouted in a clingy and sweet tone, “Ning Gui, Ning Gui, Ning Gui…”

“Please…”

Ning Gui sighed, then brought him over to a hotel not too far away.

With his ID, he booked a room, then helped Shang Zhao into the room, and sat him down before rubbing his own shoulders.

Shang Zhao had been moving around while getting here. Now that he was lying on the bed, he had settled down and was quiet.

Ning Gui opened a bottle of water and took a sip. He looked over at Shang Zhao—he was fast asleep.

He made all this fuss about sleeping with him and that’s it?

Ning Gui laughed in spite of himself. He went over to the bathroom, then drenched a towel in warm water, and helped him wipe his face and hands.

Afterwards, he simply washed up and lay down on the other bed.

After closing the lights, the room was submerged in the quiet darkness. He could only hear the faint sound of long, steady breathing.

Ning Gui closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep.