TF01 66

The truth was, he knew they couldn’t go back.

They had already lost that chance the night it first happened.

Ying Ming stayed silent as Shi Yi pulled him along. They passed the private room they had just come from. Both of them knew they could still walk in and keep up that bullshit act of being friends. But neither of them stopped.

Shi Yi’s grip was strong, his pace quick.

When they got to the parking lot and reached the car, just as Shi Yi was about to get in, Ying Ming beat him to it.

“I’ll drive.”

He slid naturally into the driver’s seat and stubbed out the cigarette he had barely smoked.

Shi Yi paused for a moment at the gesture, but in the end, he said nothing and got in. Ying Ming didn’t ask where he wanted to go. He just pulled out of the lot and headed straight for the main road. It was the weekend, so traffic was heavy. Ying Ming drove with a kind of pent-up urgency, weaving through lanes and overtaking cars without even bothering to signal. Shi Yi leaned against the window, watching the tense lines of his profile. His gaze drifted from the corner of Ying Ming’s eye down along the curve of his jaw and throat. When his eyes landed on that Adam’s apple, he clicked his tongue without thinking.

All his life, he had never looked at a man’s body like this.

Until now, he had always believed that sex and love worked best between men and women. That sense of mutual balance, of filling in each other’s blanks, felt like the natural order of things. It was just how the world worked.

What happened between him and Ying Ming never felt harmonious. Every time they collided, it ended in disaster. They were both a mess afterward.

But he had become addicted to that feeling.

He vaguely remembered a time when they had talked about going crazy for love. He hadn’t taken it seriously. Back then, he thought the whole idea was ridiculous. Now that it was happening to him, it just felt inevitable.

Like nearly fucking in a public bathroom. If someone had told him that in the past, he would have laughed in their face even with a knife to his throat.

He let out a laugh and shook his head, a little amused at himself.

Ying Ming glanced over. “What are you laughing at?”

“I’m laughing at how if we were going to end up like this anyway, then what the hell was all that mess before even for.”

Even if they died together now, the only thing that would stay frozen in time between them was the fact that they had already crossed the line. Shi Yi let out a long breath. His voice was full of resignation.

“If we’d died yesterday, people would’ve said we died for brotherhood. If we die today, they’ll just call it a tragic love story.”

After saying that, he turned to look at Ying Ming.

“You turned me gay. You better take responsibility.”

Ying Ming raised an eyebrow.

Take responsibility?

Which one of them was supposed to be responsible for the other? With things the way they were now, neither of them could wash their hands of it. Their lives had already fallen apart, everything they had known suddenly shattered. The road they had been walking for years now veered off into something else entirely. What lay ahead was unknown, and for anyone, that kind of change was terrifying.

He kept his eyes on the road and tapped the steering wheel once.

“Fine. Just to keep you from going out there and screwing up anyone else. Since you’re already bent, I’ll make sure to snap you the rest of the way. Clean break.”

Going back to how things were wasn’t possible anymore. That kind of switch just wasn’t built into him.

Shi Yi actually laughed at that.

The trail of headlights stretching into the distance shimmered faintly in the night. Nothing around them had changed. And yet somehow, even the air seemed different.

So this was what people meant when they talked about happiness. About feeling fulfilled.

Sometimes it really only lasted for a moment.

When something you had wanted so desperately was finally right there in your hands, that kind of solid, grounded feeling was impossible to put into words.

The car was still moving fast. Ying Ming was heading in the direction of Shi Yi’s place. Shi Yi watched the familiar streets and signs pass by. It wasn’t until they were close to the entrance of his neighborhood that he suddenly asked, “How many times have you been here?”

Ying Ming frowned. “Including tonight? Sixteen.”

At first, it was every few days. Later, it was almost every day. He would drive over without even thinking about it. He never stopped, never got out. He just passed through, eyes sweeping across every place that confirmed Shi Yi lived here. It would calm the restlessness in his chest, if only for a few seconds. After that, it always came back stronger.

Shi Yi had gone to his door in the middle of the night, staring blankly at the warehouse lights like he’d lost his mind. It wasn’t like Ying Ming hadn’t done the same.

Because that need to see someone could not be held down.

It was like a traveler in the desert. Even knowing that every sip of water would mean one less left, he still couldn’t stop himself from opening the bottle again.

That was human instinct.

The instinct to survive. The instinct to feel. It pushed past the limits of reason and made everything they did stop making sense.

When Shi Yi heard that, the restlessness he’d just barely managed to tamp down began to flare up again. Irritated, he told Ying Ming to drive into the garage. As the door shut behind them, he turned on the overhead light, yanked at Ying Ming’s sleeve, and said, “Get out.”

The closed garage shut out the rest of the world.

Apart from the harsh glow of the car light, the only thing he could see was the man in front of him.

Ying Ming knew exactly why Shi Yi was reacting this way. He frowned slightly.

“Do you have to be this fucking desperate?”

Shi Yi’s answer was to grab the back of his neck and drag him into a kiss. It was deep and rough, tongue working with urgent, pent-up need. He didn’t let go until he’d had enough, and even then only just barely.

“Don’t tell me you’re not into it.”

His hand flicked Ying Ming’s lower half, deliberately crude. “Your body says otherwise.”

Ying Ming narrowed his eyes in the dark, something heavy and unreadable gathering inside them. Slowly, he lifted his T-shirt over his head and tossed it aside. Then, while Shi Yi was still grinning, he reached over and yanked open his shirt.

He leaned in and bit lightly at his chest. Shi Yi’s muscles tensed instantly. Ying Ming laughed against his skin.

“You’ll find out exactly what my body’s saying soon enough.”

They were pressed against the side of the car. Shi Yi let him have free rein, letting Ying Ming’s hands and mouth move wherever they pleased. The kisses trailing across his chest were hot and slow, every bite laced with a sharp teasing edge. He knew exactly what he was doing.

Shi Yi’s body, already not fully satisfied from earlier, had only gotten more sensitive after that half-baked interruption. He gave a low grunt, unable to fully suppress the reaction. Ying Ming was clearly going after all his sensitive spots on purpose. Shi Yi gave him a shove, not to stop him, but out of frustration. The teasing was getting unbearable. His whole body felt like it was on fire. If this kept dragging on, he didn’t even know what the fuck he’d end up doing.

But Ying Ming, as if oblivious, just kept going at his own slow, deliberate pace.

He undid Shi Yi’s belt, then dropped into a crouch.

Before Shi Yi could register what was happening, Ying Ming’s mouth was already on him, at the source of all this unbearable need.

“Fuck!”

Shi Yi’s whole body jerked.

He was clearly shocked that Ying Ming would go this far. His hand tightened in Ying Ming’s hair, wanting to pull him away, yet unable to stop himself from craving more. Every nerve in his body was lit up with excitement, screaming for it. Just the thought that it was Ying Ming under his hand nearly drove him insane.

Between two men, Ying Ming didn’t even need any real technique to make Shi Yi feel good.

His hand worked the heat in his grip, growing harder and thicker by the second. Even though it was his first time doing this, there was none of the awkwardness or shame he’d expected. His eyes never left Shi Yi’s face, watching every twitch of expression, every shift in breath. He was completely immersed in the feeling of control, watching every reaction Shi Yi gave him, knowing exactly how a change in rhythm or angle would make him feel.

And it made him want more.

He wanted to see Shi Yi fall apart, to watch the man who’d always stood above everyone else finally lose his grip, break down completely in front of him.

That wildness in his blood hadn’t ever really gone away, even after all these years. It had just quieted. The moment he saw Shi Yi, this tug-of-war had started. The more they clashed, the more they understood each other, until everything finally came to a head the moment their bodies collided. Once it started, there was no stopping it.

Shi Yi was already drowning in it.

The cold of the car behind him, the stale air in the garage, none of it mattered anymore. All of it was getting swallowed up in the tide. Ying Ming had become the only anchor his mind could hold on to, and everything else was just a blur of wanting more. In the face of desire, a man’s surrender was almost inevitable. No matter how hard the mind resisted, the body would always give in. Especially now, when everything they’d bottled up had finally broken loose, and they were standing here, face to face, with nothing left to hide.

His hands gripped Ying Ming’s shoulders harder and harder. Every sigh, every moan between them fed the heat even more. Right now, that was all the permission they needed.

The ragged breathing in the garage grew heavier. Right at the edge of climax, that rising tension and pleasure gripped Shi Yi’s awareness. He grabbed Ying Ming’s hair instinctively and finally yanked him away at the last moment.

Release came with a rush, thick and heady. Just as Shi Yi had wanted, some of it landed on Ying Ming’s face.

Under the car light, Ying Ming, always good at tempting people, didn’t even bother to wipe it off. With a wicked smirk, he tilted his head up slightly, letting Shi Yi get a better look.

That expression of provocation laced with submission made Shi Yi’s eyes burn red with heat.

He yanked Ying Ming up and kissed him like he wanted to crush him. At that moment, there was nothing left in his mind except the urge to possess. If it were possible, he would have fused the two of them into a single body. He would have stripped away everything, including thought and hesitation, until nothing remained. He wanted nothing except this man in front of him. He wanted to lose himself completely in his warmth, his breath, the low, broken moans of someone short of air, the instinctive resistance that shifted into a desperate grip, until it all gave way to willing surrender.

Shi Yi’s voice had gone hoarse from lust. He gripped the back of Ying Ming’s neck and growled, “Are you fucking insane?”

Every time the heat between them started to die down, Ying Ming would deliberately stoke it again until it blazed even stronger. Shi Yi was convinced he just liked watching him lose control, refusing to stop until he had completely pushed him over the edge.

He knew any answer Ying Ming gave would only piss him off more, so he didn’t wait. He leaned in again and kissed him, this time slower, drawing out the contact with lingering licks and soft bites. They both leaned into each other, giving in to the haze, letting their minds slip further and further away.

When Shi Yi’s hand moved down to unfasten Ying Ming’s pants, Ying Ming caught his wrist.

With one leg between Shi Yi’s, Ying Ming smiled lazily, his posture dripping with suggestion. “That’s not what I want tonight.”

He angled his shoulder to push Shi Yi’s chest back against the car. When Shi Yi resisted, he pinned him down with one hand.

“Shi Yi, this is what it’s like to be with a man. You’d better be ready.”

As he spoke, his hand traced Shi Yi’s collarbone, then slid lower, circling a few times over his abs with deliberate provocation before slowly moving further down.

Shi Yi’s face was stiff.

What had started as vague discomfort and resistance began to show signs of real alarm after Ying Ming’s last words. His body, already swollen with desire, tensed even more under the sudden stimulation. He was still gripping the other man’s shoulder, but he hadn’t used any force.

Ying Ming wasn’t actually trying to overpower him. If Shi Yi really wanted to push him away, he could have.

But he didn’t. So Ying Ming continued without obstruction, sliding a hand behind Shi Yi’s waist and reaching down. When he touched the crease between his ass cheeks, Shi Yi reflexively lifted a knee, not hard, but enough to bump Ying Ming in the stomach.

The tension in his body was impossible to ignore.

“Fuck, Ying Ming. You’re serious about this…”

It sounded like a question, but his voice made it clear it wasn’t.

Shi Yi could feel every breath Ying Ming let out against his neck. The hand resting at his back didn’t move, and their bodies stayed locked in that position. But even so, Ying Ming didn’t stop. He hesitated for a moment, then smoothly withdrew his hand and turned Shi Yi around, pressing him face-down over the hood of the car.

“Don’t fuck around,” Shi Yi snapped, twisting once to throw him off. But Ying Ming grabbed his wrist.

With one hand he pulled off Shi Yi’s shirt, exposing the back of his neck, and sank his teeth into the skin with a rough bite. Shi Yi flinched, and Ying Ming used the momentum to shove his hips against him, pinning him down.

The car seemed to take on Shi Yi’s heat, growing warmer under his skin. Gritting his teeth, he managed to hold still until Ying Ming had pulled down his pants. The sudden chill made him shiver. He needed every ounce of self-control not to throw Ying Ming off him.

The shame, the conflict, the overwhelming desire for release, twisted together into a psychological torment he could barely bear.

Jaw tight, brows drawn, he endured Ying Ming’s teasing and his gentle kisses, but it didn’t help. When Ying Ming told him to relax, it only made him more guarded. That deep, instinctive rejection, both physical and emotional, was no longer something he could control.

Ying Ming watched Shi Yi’s reactions from behind, his expression shifting moment by moment before he finally gave a small, helpless twitch of his mouth. He pulled something out from his pocket and squeezed it directly onto Shi Yi’s body.

The sudden cold made Shi Yi almost jump off the car. “What the fuck is that!”

There was even a strange fragrance mixed in. Ying Ming began massaging the area with the gel, slow and deliberate, and the strange discomfort made Shi Yi want to punch him. In fact, the image that flashed through his mind was of the two of them getting into a fight, him pinning Ying Ming down and fucking him senseless.

Ying Ming replied mildly, “Lube.”

Shi Yi gritted his teeth. “Why the hell do you carry that around?”

Their little “elopement” had clearly been a spur-of-the-moment thing. They hadn’t separated the whole time. So how the hell had Ying Ming gotten his hands on something like that?

Ying Ming pressed a finger into him and raised his eyebrow. “I figured if you pissed me off even a little today, I’d just fuck you.”

Fair trade, in his view. He was only settling the score.

Shi Yi muttered a curse under his breath, but Ying Ming couldn’t catch all of it. He could only feel the hoarse voice grind out one line between clenched teeth.

“So you planned this from the start.”

When Ying Ming slid a finger in, Shi Yi didn’t make a sound. The groan that nearly burst out was forced back down as he bit it off. He heard Ying Ming, voice tight with lust, continue the conversation.

“You don’t even know how long I’ve been planning this.”

This time was nothing like that night. Back then, they’d both been half-drunk, carried away in the haze. Their minds were already foggy, their senses dulled. Even if it hurt, at least there had been a layer of numbness to blunt it.

Now, Shi Yi was completely sober. Every nerve was sharply awake, every sensation magnified. His whole body was locked stiff with tension. There was no buffer. Only raw pressure, physical and mental, crashing in from all sides.

Sweat broke out across his forehead. As Ying Ming pushed a little deeper, Shi Yi finally tipped his head back. “I can’t… Ying Ming… I really can’t…”

But the man behind him said nothing. He pulled back slightly, then pushed in again.

Shi Yi’s right hand curled into a fist against the window. Through the hazy light, he saw Ying Ming’s shadowed reflection in the glass. Blurred, but unmistakably close. The urge to fight back surged up again like fire through his chest.

Ying Ming worked to ease the tension in Shi Yi’s body, ignoring the words of protest that came from beside his ear. His eyes looked dazed, as if none of it mattered anymore. All that was left in them was a desperate resolve, close to cruel.

“You fucking idiot,” he muttered. “I went to all that trouble to put distance between us. Cut contact. Stay away. I knew that when it came to the edge, I’d flinch. But you… you just kept pretending not to see it. Kept dragging me into this dead end with you. And when you finally crashed into the wall, you fucking used me to break the fall.”

His fingers pushed in a little deeper. Ying Ming was gritting his teeth now.

“Fuck! Why the fuck should I? Just because Young Master Shi decided to go gay, the whole damn world has to change? I’m an only fucking child too! So why the hell is it that you bend and I’m supposed to bend with you? Huh? Fucking hell, why the fuck did you have to defend me?”

As Shi Yi’s body finally adjusted to one finger, Ying Ming didn’t hesitate to push in a second. Shi Yi couldn’t hold back this time. When that muffled groan slipped out, something twisted in Ying Ming’s chest, a flash of satisfaction sharp and bitter.

“Why the fuck did you take that hit for me? I’d rather end up like Dong Xiao than owe you a favor like that.”

The image of Shi Yi’s blood-covered face that night surfaced in his mind again. Ying Ming felt like he’d been punched in the chest, the impact so heavy he could barely get a word out. It took him a long time to struggle to lift his head and look at Shi Yi’s strained, forcibly composed profile reflected in the window.

“Shi Yi, taking my life would be easier than taking my feelings.”

A debt of gratitude, no matter how huge, he could repay.

But how was he supposed to repay this? If he gave back what Shi Yi had given him, who was going to return those sleepless days and nights, the torment he’d endured with no relief?

It was a losing deal. Ying Ming had never been the type to make noble sacrifices. He never imagined he’d end up like this, trapped, unable to pull free, unable to escape. Even drinking himself senseless night after night did nothing to numb the obsession that had taken root in his chest. People said the more clear-headed someone was, the harder they lost their mind once it happened. Ying Ming figured he was probably just a step away from going completely insane.

So even if Shi Yi wanted to give up now, there was no way he was going to stop.

If his price was throwing himself in this once in a lifetime, with no self-control, then Shi Yi’s price was probably having to crush that pride and self-respect he had clung to his whole life.

Ying Ming held Shi Yi’s waist, his movements slow but firm as he continued working him open. Every bit of resistance his hands felt only deepened his urge to keep going. The sweat trickling through the cold air of the garage was mostly cold sweat. Ying Ming himself was holding back so hard it hurt. What he really wanted was to throw Shi Yi down and fuck him senseless right there against the car. But wanting was one thing. His hands didn’t rush.

“When we were filming, holding that damn script, directors always talked about how beautiful love was. For the one in your heart, you’d give up your life, your future, everything. Or they’d talk about sweetness, about growing old together, meet-cutes in the city like some fucking fairy tale…” Ying Ming thought of all that and let out a laugh. Bitter. His eyes fell along Shi Yi’s spine, following the dip of the bone all the way to the place that was wrapped tightly around his fingers.

“Why is it that the moment I realized I loved you, all I could think about was going down in flames with you?”

The lube had a stimulant effect. When Shi Yi took in Ying Ming’s third finger with no real resistance, both the one being entered and the one doing it felt a faint sense of relief.

Shi Yi narrowed his eyes slightly at what Ying Ming had just said. From the moment he fell in love, he had only ever wanted the two of them to go down together.
That tight knot of pressure that had been stuck in his chest this whole time suddenly eased, for no particular reason. Maybe it was because once you got used to something, you stopped fighting it so much.

When Ying Ming finally entered him, there was no sharp rejection. No intense resistance.

What he did feel was pressure.

The steady push felt like the barrel of a gun closing in. Dangerous, but unstoppable. Ying Ming hardly made a sound. Except for the rough edge in his voice from holding back, his movements and rhythm were as controlled as ever. At the very least, compared to the madness of that first night, what they had now could almost be called tender.

Shi Yi could not help wanting to look back at Ying Ming.

But the angle was awkward. Before he could adjust himself, Ying Ming began to move.

He was just as he had always appeared to be. Calm and reserved. His violence was something he buried deep. Unless someone pushed him hard enough, he never let it show.

Shi Yi could feel the man’s breath against the back of his ear. It was unsteady. A little impatient, but still restrained.

At first, the rhythm was slow. Then it picked up.

Shi Yi was stuck in that space between disbelief and agitation. He could not accept being pinned down like this, but his body’s reaction was already taking over. It felt different from before. He could not say whether it was painful or pleasurable. That fine, prickling heat was crawling from his nerves through his blood, racing through his limbs. When the tingle climbed all the way up his spine, he finally let out a low sound from his throat.

All he could see in his mind was Ying Ming’s face that night, straddling him. He couldn’t see it now, but the desire flooding his body felt like a repeat of everything from back then. His vision started to blur, and in the end, all that remained was that face, shifting in and out of focus, overlapping again and again. The reactions were the same, but the situations completely different. Even the sounds overlapped and contradicted each other.

It felt like he had already experienced this before that night ever happened.

It wasn’t something that lingered in his memory. It had been etched into his body instead.

Ying Ming suddenly thrust hard into him. His hand gripped Shi Yi’s waist tighter. His palms were slick with sweat, and so was Shi Yi’s waist.

That uncomfortable dampness gave him a strange sense of shared sensation. After finding the one spot that could trigger the strongest reaction from Shi Yi, Ying Ming began increasing the range of his movement, slowly pulling back, then slamming in deep. When Shi Yi gritted his teeth and his body started to tremble, Ying Ming simply smiled.

If the union between a man and a woman was meant to spark pleasure through desire, then what existed between two men was more like a drug, a twisted thrill born from domination. The more resistance it met, the more addictive it became. Especially with someone like Shi Yi, who carried defiance in every part of him, yet still ended up like this.

Between the two of them, one always acted before thinking, the other always thought more than he spoke.

Neither of them was the type to back down. And yet somehow, like fate or a curse, they had ended up entangled like this. Everything felt doomed from the start. Or maybe destined.

All the feelings they had ever experienced in past relationships, compared to this hesitation and struggle, seemed like childish fairy tales. Even the emotional highs and lows weren’t worth mentioning now.

Shi Yi could feel the waves of pleasure climbing from his tailbone to his scalp, each one more intense than the last, hitting before the previous one had even faded. Ying Ming’s increasing force was pushing him harder against the car, and when the other man reached around his waist to grip his front, he finally lost it and roared his name.

“Ying Ming!”

His voice carried warning, frustration, and a hunger he couldn’t hide.

Ying Ming’s hand felt like it was on fire, every touch burning into him. The lust he thought had quieted after the first release was being dragged back to the surface, provoked over and over again. The harsh friction was laced with unbearable pleasure, entangled with the itch for release, weaving into a net that tightened around him, choking his breath and draining his focus.

One hand finally let go and grabbed at the hand Ying Ming was using to stroke, but that movement also meant he could no longer brace against the window. His whole body collapsed forward. The shock of cold on his skin and the deep thrust behind him hit at the same time. Shi Yi arched his back and slammed a fist against the car window.

“Fuck you, you bastard!”

He could not even name what he was feeling. It just made him furious.

But that outburst only seemed to brighten Ying Ming’s mood. With a smile full of malice, he kept pounding the exact spot that was driving Shi Yi out of his mind. The layer of cold sweat covering them slowly gave way to something heated and thick, like the air itself had turned sultry. Desire swelled between them like a wave, rolling in harder and faster, not letting either of them breathe.

Shi Yi’s waist was starting to give out. He gripped the edge of the car for dear life, trying to keep himself from falling, but the sensation flooding his body was reaching its peak. His tightly clenched teeth were close to giving way.

Behind him, Ying Ming kept asking, voice low and hoarse, “Shi Yi, how is it?”

Shi Yi could not get a single word out.

He was almost certain that if he loosened up even a little, the first sound that escaped him would definitely not be one he wanted to let out. At this point, Ying Ming’s deliberate provocation could no longer stir Shi Yi’s fighting spirit. He was holding the last of his defenses with a stubborn grip, resisting the waves of intense sensation rolling through his body in a kind of defeated haze.

Behind his closed eyelids, patches of color began to form in the dark.

There was yellow, blue, all kinds of shapes and sizes. Sometimes they clustered, sometimes they scattered. Eventually, the black background shifted into a glaring red, cruel, seductive, and beautiful. It swallowed his thoughts, tearing through every trace of meditation he had tried to hold onto.

Ying Ming pulled out a little, flipped him over, and pressed forward again. The awkward and humiliating position made the blood drain from Shi Yi’s face before rushing back again. His glasses had slipped, hanging halfway off his nose, giving him a disheveled and wrecked look. His eyes remained closed, his lips tightly sealed, his entire body tense with unspoken resistance.

Ying Ming moved in closer, watching every subtle change on Shi Yi’s face as he slowly pushed back inside.

Their bodies were practically flush together. He bit down lightly on the glasses and, with his mouth, carefully nudged them back into place. Then, he flicked his tongue across Shi Yi’s right brow bone.

That finally made Shi Yi open his eyes. Desire was unmistakably pooled in his gaze, mixed with a flicker of rage he could not conceal. He did not resist any harder, but neither did he give in.

Between them, there had always been a force holding them in check.

They had met as kindred spirits. Fell into love without meaning to. But beneath it all, still buried in their bones, was the same refusal to back down.

People often said the one who loved first would be the one to lose. But between Shi Yi and Ying Ming, there was no way to tell who came first.

If they were just friends, then why had Ying Ming thrown himself in the detention centre and never regretted it afterward? If they were just brothers-in-arms, then why had Shi Yi taken that hit for him so readily and never regretted it?

They had been surviving in this world for years. Maybe they weren’t cold-blooded, calculating men, but they certainly were not naive.

Men who always measured their gains and losses could never have become the Shi Yi and Ying Ming standing here today.

Even if their ways of showing it were different, they both understood the rules of survival far too well.

It was impossible to say which of them had fallen first. Ying Ming who lay awake night after night, Shi Yi who sat silently in the hospital as the doctor told him his vision would be severely impaired. Even they couldn’t untangle the mess.

By the time they came to their senses, everything had already passed the point of no return. Beyond the sinking, the struggle, and the rage, the one thing that never faded was the desire to possess, and with time, it had only grown stronger.

The difference this time was that the fury and recklessness had given way to something steadier, more grounded.

Even though reason still burned to ash and everything was consumed by lust and release, both Shi Yi and Ying Ming felt something solid for the first time.

The road ahead might still be uncertain, but that constant gnawing anxiety hanging over them had finally disappeared.

When Ying Ming pulled out, Shi Yi shifted slightly, letting most of his weight fall against the car door. Tilting his head back, he caught a glimpse of the other man’s face through the corner of his left eye, still flushed with lingering desire.

“Ying Ming… one of these days I’m going to strangle you…” The threat, spoken through gritted teeth, had none of Shi Yi’s usual certainty or arrogance. Right now, even his fingers were limp with exhaustion, but his tone remained sharp.

Ying Ming licked his dry lips and let out a roguish grin. Just as the rush of desire had started to settle, Shi Yi’s half-hearted threat stirred it back up again. He leaned in close, and under the other man’s fire-laced glare, slowly pressed their lips together, biting and nibbling with practiced care. Then, face to face, he murmured, “Sooner or later we all die. For me, it’s just about enjoying it while I can.”

This night, compared to the last, should have been much calmer.

Yet both Shi Yi and Ying Ming felt like they had gone even more insane.

The lust stirred by alcohol and the desire that came from full, sober awareness were two entirely different things. That so-called accident, like a gun going off by mistake, now felt insignificant compared to what this truly was.

“Shi Yi, if one day we decide to walk away from this twisted fate, you’d better remember tonight.”

Ying Ming bit lightly at the curve of Shi Yi’s ear, voice edged with a hint of menace.

He was still pressing down on him, his hands continuing to roam. The man under him let out a restless grunt, then turned his head and kissed the corner of his mouth. “Isn’t it a little early to start talking about memories?”

He lifted a hand to touch Ying Ming’s jaw. “We’ve got plenty of time ahead of us. As for what we’ll end up remembering, we’ll see.”

Give and take, and they were even for now. Who would have the upper hand next time was still up in the air.

The sky hadn’t brightened yet, but for the first time, Shi Yi was genuinely looking forward to tomorrow.