SDT 72

Chapter 72 Why Should I Be Friends With You

Lu Kongyun took Yu Xiaowen back to Orange Garden.

…

Yu Xiaowen slept very well. He felt that the fever had gone down a lot, but the heat became even more obvious.

In his blurry vision, he saw a strange room.

The curtains moved under the dim glow of the small nightlight. The light from a laptop in the distance reflected softly on a chair and the wall behind it, making the dream feel ordinary and calm, perfectly fitting the image of a one-hundred-point dream.

There was the scent of his favorite pheromone, but it was faint and hard to catch, like an illusion where reality invaded the dream. So he didn’t think much, he put his hand down and moved it, after a few strokes, he heard the sound a squelching noise.

He rubbed against the comfortable bed and hummed.

There was movement. Yu Xiaowen turned toward the sound. The door opened and a person walked in. It was Lu Kongyun. He carried a tray with food and looked at Yu Xiaowen. His gaze stayed on him with an expression that was hard to describe.

“……” Yu Xiaowen came to his senses.

He looked at Lu Kongyun and felt that it came too fast. But he already knew this wasn’t a dream. Doing that in front of someone was inappropriate. He twisted slightly in discomfort and forced himself to hold back.

He panted and his body went soft. He reached out his hand, pulled a tissue from the bedside table, and wiped his hand. Then he sat up.

Lu Kongyun stood by the door and stared at him.

Yu Xiaowen adjusted his pants.

“Where is this?” It seemed like this was the second time he asked that question today.

“My house.”

“…Ah?”

Yu Xiaowen held the tissue in his palm and looked around in surprise. This wasn’t the guest room he had stayed in before.

Lu Kongyun seemed to notice his confusion and told him, “This is my room.”

“…Why am I in your house?” Yu Xiaowen rubbed his eyes to wake himself up more. “And why did you let me sleep in your bed?”

“You were very sick. I already told your supervisor.” Lu Kongyun answered. “I have work to do. It’s easier for me to watch you if you sleep here.”

He walked over and put the tray on the bedside table.

“You even made food for me?!” Yu Xiaowen looked up at him with wide eyes.

“You haven’t eaten anything since noon.”

“……” Yu Xiaowen looked at the steaming porridge, the pale fried eggs, and a small plate of pickles.

He tightened his grip on the tissue, sniffed, then looked at the other with a smug smile.

“I can really eat porridge you cooked on your bed? I never even dared to dream of this when I dreamed I was the Emperor of Manjing!”

“Even the Emperor of Manjing can’t.” Lu Kongyun said. “No one can eat on my bed.”

He thought for a moment, then added, “But you’re sick.”

Yu Xiaowen’s eyes flickered. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he only bit his lip.

Lu Kongyun’s gaze moved down to Yu Xiaowen’s waistband. It wasn’t standing like before, but it hadn’t fully softened either. It pitifully bulged inside the pants, accusing its owner of cruelty.

“Do you want me to help you?” he said.

Yu Xiaowen, who had just lifted the bowl to sniff the porridge, froze and looked up. “…What?”

“I mean help you deal with it.” Lu Kongyun said while looking there.

“……” Yu Xiaowen pulled up both legs. “N-no need. It’ll be fine in a while.”

“No need?” Lu Kongyun said loudly. “You used to try every possible way to make me touch you, kiss you, and now you say you don’t want it? Because I offered first, it doesn’t matter anymore?”

“Hey.” Yu Xiaowen said with a grin. “Why are you bringing up the past again? Didn’t you say you don’t want to hear my apologies anymore?”

Lu Kongyun sat on the chair next to the bed. He saw Yu Xiaowen happily finish the porridge on his spoon, then take a bite of the egg. He squinted and smiled

“It’s so good! Hey, you know that saying, a soldier who doesn’t want to be a chef isn’t a good doctor? Hahaha.”

“I’ve already helped you before.” Lu Kongyun said.

Yu Xiaowen immediately lowered his head and started eating the pickles.

Lu Kongyun said again, “Aren’t you uncomfortable now?”

He saw that Yu Xiaowen’s expression didn’t change, but he was putting more food into his mouth. With a muffled voice, he said, “We’re friends now. I won’t do that kind of thing to you anymore.”

While he spoke, Yu Xiaowen adjusted his wristband. “Oh, I see. It was set to low before. No wonder.”

Then he put the egg on the porridge, raised the bowl, and started eating while covering his face, making exaggerated sounds of enjoyment.

….

Lu Kongyun cleared the dishes, sat in the living room downstairs, and stared at the black TV screen in front of him. He frowned and picked up his phone. He typed and sent a message to Gao Yuting.

Lu Kongyun: Check my data quickly. Has my illness relapsed?

Gao Yuting: ?

Gao Yuting: Young Master Lu, are you kidding me? Isn’t this just normal?

Gao Yuting: Also

Gao Yuting: cough cough

Gao Yuting: You’re enjoying it, right?

Lu Kongyun looked upstairs and licked his canine teeth as he typed back: Not that one. Number Two. The auxiliary ring.

After a while, Gao Yuting replied: No abnormalities, only slightly high levels, just in the normal range. What’s wrong? Besides wanting to do the deed, do you feel anything else uncomfortable?

Lu Kongyun typed quickly: Since this evening, I feel similar to when my illness acted up before.

Lu Kongyun: I can’t control my emotions.

Gao Yuting: No way!!

Lu Kongyun: But it doesn’t feel exactly the same.

Gao Yuting: Describe how you feel.

Lu Kongyun thought, then typed: I want to do it even more than before, and I also really want to get angry.

Gao Yuting: …What do you mean [question face]

Gao Yuting: Are you saying you want angry sex now?

“……” Lu Kongyun threw the phone aside.

The phone buzzed again soon after. He picked it up, but this time it wasn’t from Dr. Gao, it was from Dai Lanshan.

Dai Lanshan: Thanks for your help, my brother’s fine now.

He typed back: Oh.

Dai Lanshan: So did Hao Dali choose you or Ye Yisan?

Dai Lanshan: : [Teeth clenching]

Dai Lanshan: Will he leave S country after his case closes?

Lu Kongyun stared at the chat window.

The feeling he had been suppressing suddenly erupted. His blood rushed faster, his heart beat harder, and his muscles went rigid, but it was hard to classify the reaction simply as anger. Because mixed in with it was a strange stifling feeling, like resentment.

Yu Xiaowen had worked as a security guard in M Country, where the employer raised assassins and even sent them to kill their own subordinates. The guests in the manor even beat people. It was through all kinds of scientific and mystical effort that Lu Kongyun found him.

He was the one who took Yu Xiaowen to Azalea Island, risked his life to rescue Ye Yisan, got shot in the shoulder, almost ended up needing a catheter for life. He risked infection by skipping the hospital and drove overnight to Shijia to collect evidence, even had the bullet removed at an unlicensed clinic.

Now he had a huge workload, couldn’t rest properly, had to take leave during the day, and still ran around to prove Yu Xiaowen’s innocence.

(We’re friends now.)

.

Was Lu Kongyun so desperate for an Omega to risk his life for him, to climb mountains of knives and walk through seas of fire?

And what, get a “Happy New Year” message once a year?

Lu Kongyun stood up, walked quickly up the stairs, and went toward his room. He saw Yu Xiaowen coming out of the bathroom. Yu Xiaowen’s face was red. When he saw Lu Kongyun, he froze. His confused expression showed a trace of embarrassment, but he quickly composed himself, as if nothing had happened, as if he had only gone to the bathroom.

“Cough cough… what a comfortable toilet.” He tried to cover up.

Lu Kongyun couldn’t help exposing him. “You look more comfortable than I do.”

Yu Xiaowen walked a few steps shamelessly, then suddenly remembered something, and he immediately stepped farther away. “I feel like I sweated a lot, I dirtied your bed. Can I take a shower? Do you have any clothes I can change into?”

Lu Kongyun sniffed. Yu Xiaowen stepped back a little more and looked at him.

Lu Kongyun went back to the room and handed him a new pair of disposable underwear and a clean set of pajamas.

“…Thanks.” Yu Xiaowen took them from a distance and quickly walked away toward the bathroom.

A moment later, the sound of running water came from the bathroom.

Yu Xiaowen was still washing when he heard a sound behind him. He turned around and saw Lu Kongyun standing outside the glass door facing him.

Yu Xiaowen gasped and covered his chest. “What are you doing?”

The glass door of the shower opened.

“Hey hey what are you—!” Yu Xiaowen turned his back by reflex, but as a man, being seen from behind was worse than being seen from the front, so he turned around again and covered his lower body with his hand. “What’s wrong? Can’t you talk outside?”

Lu Kongyun walked into the shower, stared at Yu Xiaowen, and didn’t care that his body and clothes got soaked by the water. He only stared at him.

Yu Xiaowen used one more hand to cover his upper body.

Dr. Lu’s clothes became drenched. Yu Xiaowen forced himself not to look down and looked directly at his face. Water covered Lu Kongyun’s face, his black hair stuck to his forehead, and drops rolled from his lashes and nose to his lips and chin. His face that always looked cold and distant now looked like a pitiful dog in the rain.

Yu Xiaowen turned his head to look at the glass door.

“Will you go back to live with that agent again?”

Yu Xiaowen wiped his face. “I’m Yu Xiaowen now, not Hao Dali. Where would I go back to? This is my home. I’m not going anywhere.”

“You go into heat too easily. Will you always let those scheming Alphas in your bureau help you?”

Yu Xiaowen cursed. “Who the hell? Who’s scheming? Who dares?”

“I think I can’t be your friend.” Lu Kongyun said.

“…But you just said you could?” Yu Xiaowen felt the wet fabric under the water touch his skin, and then Lu Kongyun suddenly started helping him on his own.

“Ha…”

Yu Xiaowen leaned back against the tile wall warmed by steam. Lu Kongyun stepped closer. He looked at Yu Xiaowen, lowered his head, showed his canine teeth, and licked his wet red lips with his tongue.

Yu Xiaowen looked at his parted lips that looked soft and moist and turned his head.

“I… said no need…”

It made the opposite happen. The other helped harder until Yu Xiaowen almost knelt down. He struggled, and Lu Kongyun pressed him in place, breathing near his face as he spoke. “We slept together, we can’t be friends.”

“Who said that?” Yu Xiaowen said. “That, uh, that makes no sense. Even couples can break up and still be friends, not to mention we have no… relationship…!”

Lu Kongyun pressed his body harder. His hand moved with precision, right where it needed to. Yu Xiaowen trembled all over without warning, then looked down at what flowed away along his legs and the running water.

Those fingers were too long.

“I saw this place.” Lu Kongyun said. “We can’t be friends.”

“If you don’t want to be friends, fine! But maybe the doctor who treated me before… also saw it too! So what?”

Yu Xiaowen’s eyes were red from the afterglow. His hands pressed weakly on the wall. His whole body screamed of intoxication, but he still spoke clearly between gasps.

Lu Kongyun looked at him.

He said, “But he doesn’t know how your voice sounds when you call his name.”

“…Then what do you want?” Yu Xiaowen pushed his hands against him and shouted with a nasal tone. “Are you crazy? You really want to be some selfless giver? I’m the blackmailer who threatened you with your family scandal! I lied to you and made you sick! Under your noble heart, I only feel ashamed! Why are you still treating me like this?”

“I’m not noble at all. I don’t give a fuck about anyone’s business.” Lu Kongyun said.

Lu Kongyun, Dr. Lu, he cursed.

Yu Xiaowen was stunned. He immediately wondered if he had taught Young Master Lu bad habits by swearing too much.

Lu Kongyun turned off the water, pulled a towel from the rack, wrapped it around Yu Xiaowen’s shoulders, then lifted him like pulling a radish out of the soil and dragged him back to the room.

“Ah! Hey!” He got thrown onto the bed.

“You know it too.” Lu Kongyun looked down at him from above. “You were the one who wanted to like me first. You blackmailed me with bad intentions, then lied that you died. You did so many things that hurt me, and now you think you can move your mouth a little and we’ll be friends again?”

“Then hit me, go ahead?” Yu Xiaowen pulled the towel around himself. “What are you trying to do, reward me?”

Lu Kongyun said nothing.

Then Dr. Lu stood up and left. Yu Xiaowen jumped up too, ran to the bathroom, put on the underwear and pajamas, then walked to the stairs, leaned forward, and looked down nervously. When he heard Lu Kongyun coming up, he ran back to the bed, wrapped his hair in the towel, and lay under the blanket.

Lu Kongyun came back, put a box labeled Ts-4 on the table, took off his dripping wet clothes, threw them on the chair, and sat down. He brushed the water from his hair, crossed his arms, and faced Yu Xiaowen bare-chested. His eyes were focused, and his voice stayed calm though it didn’t match his gaze. “Officer, let’s play another game. But this time, I make the rules.”

“…What game?” Yu Xiaowen looked at the familiar-looking box, then looked at Lu Kongyun, and his eyes shifted away.

“Choose one of two.” Lu Kongyun said.

“…Choose what?”

“You can choose to use the truth serum.” Lu Kongyun pointed at the table.

“Or you can choose to live in my basement.”

“What basement?” Yu Xiaowen still couldn’t understand him after eating the fragrant porridge and smooth eggs he cooked. “You want to lock me in a basement?”

“If you don’t want that, you can choose the truth serum.” Lu Kongyun said. “One of the two.”

“What do you even want?” Yu Xiaowen really didn’t understand. “You saved me, why do you want to lock me up? And you can’t even do that. You have to send me back to the detention cell tomorrow.”

“I can choose not to. I can say you escaped because I didn’t watch you.” Lu Kongyun said.

“…Escape from Orange Garden? In front of all those cameras and guards? What am I, a phantom thief? Who’d believe that.” Yu Xiaowen wrapped himself in the blanket and sat up. “If you want to ask something, just ask. I won’t lie. Don’t waste that drug. Your brother said this stuff needs clearance from the Intelligence Department to use. How can you use it for fun?”

“You will lie.” Lu Kongyun said.

“Ask first. You didn’t even ask yet. How do you know I’ll lie?” Yu Xiaowen said.

“Did you fall for someone else?”

“…”

He choked for a few seconds, then answered. “No. It’s not that easy to fall for someone.”

“You’re lying.” Lu Kongyun said. “You thought too long before answering. And they say the way to give up on one love is to have another.”

“You’ve been single all your life, and you’re quoting ‘they say’? There are many ways and reasons to give up on love.”

“Then which are you?”

“I…” Yu Xiaowen said. “I already told you clearly in the detention cell. If you don’t understand, you’re not someone fit to think about love. Give up.”

Lu Kongyun didn’t speak. His face looked hurt.

Yu Xiaowen felt bad and was about to speak, but Lu Kongyun said, “You said I’m not fit for love.”

“I, I just…” Yu Xiaowen tried to explain something.

Lu Kongyun snorted coldly. “You clung to me when you wanted to blackmail me, I did all this for you, and you say we should be friends. You’re the one who’s messed up. You think you’re fit for love?”

“No, I just… I just wanted what’s best for you.” Yu Xiaowen said helplessly. “What else? You want me to keep clinging to you?”

“I don’t want that.” Lu Kongyun said each word in a cold tone. “You already don’t like me. I don’t expect anything from you.”

Lu Kongyun stood up suddenly, grabbed his wet clothes, walked out of the room, and slammed the door.

“…”

Yu Xiaowen sat in the blanket, lost in thought, and then suddenly realized he hadn’t used a phone in a long time. He felt he really needed one now. He needed to ask the internet for help.

Could pheromone disorder make an Alpha who controlled emotions perfectly change personality suddenly? Would he ever recover? If he couldn’t…

He used to be so stable, so gentle.

How could Yu Xiaowen ever pay back such a good and calm mind?

He lay down and wrapped himself in the soft-smelling blanket, feeling gloomy.