Chapter 95: D-L (1)
95 – D-L (1)
Lin Xun remained vigilant all the way back.
After being laid horizontally on the sofa, he looked up at Dong Jun and said, “I think something’s off.”
“Hmm?” Dong Jun let out a soft nasal sound. “What’s off?”
“A boyfriend wouldn’t leave me in the hospital lobby,” Lin Xun said seriously, “but he also wouldn’t break my leg.”
He saw a faint hint of a smile in Dong Jun’s eyes.
Next, Dong Jun placed Zhi Zhen in his arms and said, “Be good.”
The words seemed directed at Zhi Zhen, but Lin Xun felt they were meant for him. He sensed trouble.
The doctor had prescribed a pain-relief spray. Dong Jun sat down beside him, placed Lin Xun’s leg on his own lap, opened the spray, and applied it several times from the knee to the ankle. A cool, tingling sensation seeped into his skin.
The medicine Bihai Xianzi had applied earlier was meant to promote blood circulation and felt warm, but now a layer of cold had been added. Lin Xun found the sensation somewhat indescribable. However, the spray’s effects were immediate—the coolness masked much of the pain.
The car ride back from the hospital took half an hour. During that time, his blood circulated several times, and the areas that hadn’t had time to bruise earlier now eagerly turned blue and purple.
At dusk, the light was dim, and the air seemed to stir with something.
Dong Jun’s clothes were black.
Lin Xun’s leg rested on them, its base color pale, now dotted with several patches of blue and purple.
Lin Xun felt his mind had gone awry, finding the scene somewhat erotic, especially with Dong Jun’s long, elegant fingers resting on his knee.
Just as he was suppressing this thought, Dong Jun suddenly said, “Your legs really are beautiful.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhi Zhen walked over to Lin Xun’s leg, tentatively extending a paw to prod the largest bruise on his knee.
—Only to be grabbed by the scruff of his neck by Dong Jun and exiled to the floor.
Zhi Zhen let out an angry “meow” at Dong Jun before scampering away.
Lin Xun laughed. “You made him angry.”
Dong Jun replied, “He gets easily upset whenever he’s left alone at home.”
Lin Xun said, “Zhi Zhen really does enjoy being with people.”
Dong Jun remained silent.
Lin Xun shifted his gaze from Zhi Zhen’s retreating figure back to Dong Jun.
Perhaps due to the backlighting, Dong Jun’s eyes appeared deep—his pupils were a pure black, starkly contrasting with the whites of his eyes.
His voice lowered slightly. “I wouldn’t be happy either if you were alone outside.”
Lin Xun raised both arms toward Dong Jun.
Understanding, Dong Jun leaned closer.
Lin Xun hugged him, kissed the hair near his ear, and said, “Don’t be angry anymore.”
Dong Jun asked, “Why are you so good at this?”
Lin Xun: “…”
Well, you asked the very question I wanted to ask.
Lin Xun replied, “I… have a natural talent for it.”
Unable to move easily, they had dinner in the living room. Sitting close to Dong Jun, they lingered together after the meal until Dong Jun effortlessly picked him up again in the same position.
Lin Xun mused that Dong Jun was indeed going to become his mode of transportation for the next few days. But when they reached the staircase, he still felt a bit embarrassed. He recalled his school days when Jia Gou, with his Caucasian physique, was the strongest among the three of them. Yet, if you asked him to carry a water dispenser bottle up six flights of stairs in one go, he would inevitably complain for a long time. Moreover, a grown man was much heavier than a water bottle.
He wasn’t overweight, but he wasn’t particularly thin either—just a normal build with a normal weight. Dong Jun wanting to carry him up three flights of stairs felt a bit inappropriate to him. So he said, “I think I can hop up.”
Dong Jun: “What are you talking about?”
“I’m not doubting you,” Lin Xun said. “I’m just worried about tiring out my idol.”
Dong Jun: “Oh.”
He turned around.
Lin Xun was met with the sight of an elevator door.
Lin Xun: “…”
Lin Xun: “Sorry, I just haven’t seen much of the world.”
Dong Jun turned his head and kissed him.
Lin Xun fell silent.
Back in the room, Zhi Zhen had been peacefully resting on the bed, but as soon as he saw the two of them enter, he immediately ran into the walk-in closet and refused to come out.
Dong Jun took Zhi Zhen’s place on the bed, showing no intention of retrieving his cat or putting Lin Xun down. “What do you want to do tonight?”
Lin Xun thought for a moment but couldn’t come up with any pastime other than reading research papers.
Upon learning his preference, Dong Jun ruffled his hair. “Then let’s take a bath first.”
That was the problem.
Lin Xun certainly needed to wash up, but obviously, he couldn’t shower on one leg. And if he tried to stand on both feet, the pain would immediately overwhelm him.
Lin Xun: “I don’t think I can do it.”
Dong Jun: “I can help you.”
“If it’s with you,” Lin Xun said, “I haven’t overcome this psychological… feeling yet. I still feel like we’re not that familiar.”
Dong Jun: “If you hadn’t buried your face in my shoulder while saying that, I might have found it more convincing.”
Lin Xun: “If you weren’t holding me, I’d be burying my face in a pillow right now, not your shoulder.”
“Mhm.” Dong Jun said, “You can request to go bury your face in a pillow now.”
Lin Xun: “No request.”
Dong Jun laughed, and Lin Xun felt the slight vibration in his chest.
Lin Xun: “But I’m also not requesting to take a bath face-to-face with you.”
“Let’s compromise.” Dong Jun said, “I’ll put you in the bathtub and then take you out.”
Lin Xun: “If only your tone didn’t sound so much like you were sending me off to kindergarten.”
Dong Jun: “Aren’t I your guardian now?”
Lin Xun: “You said you were my boyfriend just this afternoon.”
Dong Jun: “And you won’t even take your clothes off in front of your boyfriend.”
Alright.
Lin Xun felt he now understood the proper way to interact with his idol.
It was bickering.
And in today’s round of bickering, he was at a disadvantage. Humiliated, he said, “Thank you, guardian, for sending me to the bathtub.”
Dong Jun finally set him down on the bed and said, “I’ll go run the water.”
Lin Xun wrapped himself in the large towel delivered by the robot, until Dong Jun, acting as both guardian and transportation, carried him away and placed him into the bathtub filled with white bubbles, much like dropping a dumpling into boiling water.
Like a well-behaved dumpling, he found his spot, revealing his shoulders and half his chest from the bubbles, and began examining the bathtub’s function buttons.
The little robot, holding towels, bathrobes, and a series of toiletries, also stood in front of the bathtub.
Lin Xun heard Dong Jun say to the robot, “Take good care of him.”
Anyone with a grateful heart would be moved by such meticulous care from their guardian.
Lin Xun, with his grateful heart, looked up at Dong Jun.
Dong Jun’s clothes were splashed with water from when he was “dropped” into the tub. Part of his white shirt had turned translucent, revealing the faint outline of his waist.
Dong Jun seemed to notice his gaze, raising an eyebrow slightly.
Lin Xun recalled how, on the sofa earlier, Dong Jun had said his legs were beautiful in the same tone as the doctor.
He said sincerely, “Your waist is also very beautiful.”
Dong Jun: “…Thank you.”