Translator: Helliot
Editor: Isalee
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Chapter 14, Temptation
There was a knock on the door. He quickly put on his pajamas, but when he placed his hand on the handle, he hesitated for a long time. He was sure that the person at the other end of the door had to be Gu Ze.
Meng Fu didn’t want to open the door. He didn’t want to see Gu Ze’s face, and he was getting that suffocating feeling again.
It felt like his entire body had grown heavy.
The knocking continued, so he finally opened the door.
The person standing at the door had an angry look on his face. He pushed Meng Fu away and walked straight in without even taking off his shoes, not seeming to care at all as if this were his home.
“Why didn’t you open the door?”
“I was in the shower so I didn’t hear the door,” he said before turning around to look for the air conditioner remote.
Seeing that his hair was still wet and his clothes loosely unkempt, Gu Ze believed that Meng Fu wasn’t lying.
Gu Ze sat on the sofa and watched him turn on the air conditioner, then watched as he walked into the kitchen. His eyes slowly descended along with the droplets of water on Meng Fu’s hair, down to his gaunt figure, then his exposed bare white calves.
“Have a cup of water.”
He lowered his head and put the cup down on the table, loose collar revealing his delicate collarbones.
Gu Ze suddenly thought of a word—temptation.
Whether it was intentional or not, he couldn’t stop his eyes from wandering down Meng Fu’s collarbones and into his clothes. Gu Ze thought to himself that it wasn’t without reason that some men would take a fancy to other men, but that was because this man in front of him right now was even more alluring than a woman.
He retracted his gaze and took out his phone, playing games as usual. He’s just a man. No matter how seductive he may be, he’s still a man after all.
But still, Gu Ze couldn’t calm down.
As if he were under a spell, he kept feeling the urge to look at the man standing silently at the side.
Well, no harm in looking, he thought. There was no need for him to hold back. What was there for him to worry about in front of his enemy?
Water was still dripping from Meng Fu’s hair since he hadn’t dried it earlier. Occasionally, a few drops would land on his clothes, and the way the fabric stuck to his skin felt uncomfortable. So, he could only casually wipe it away with his hand.
This was the second time Gu Ze had come to his house. He had no idea what Gu Ze wanted, so he could only stand and wait.
Just as he was reaching up to wipe the sweat off his forehead, he saw Gu Ze put his phone down and look straight at him.
Those eyes changed from curiosity to amusement, then finally looking undisguised at him.
Gu Ze wasn’t shy about staring at his chest at all, as if he wanted to see the skin beneath his clothes, even if he had already made him strip for him before.
“Mr. Gu.”
“Are you surprised at the sudden appearance of this boss of yours?” He was still watching Meng Fu with his eyes, but his speech was of a serious tone.
“I was,” he answered. He found it a little hard to accept being stared at by Gu Ze in this way, and he began to stare at the cup of water on the table, watching the calm surface of the water. But he realized that sooner or later, the calm would be broken.
Just like his own once peaceful life.
“Mr. Gu. Why don’t you just fire me? Wouldn’t firing me make you happier?”
Sure enough, the calm surface of the water was broken. He watched Gu Ze pick up the cup, swaying the water inside back and forth. The cup now gone, he could only stare idly at the table.
Gu Ze swayed the cup of water in his hands. He noticed Meng Fu’s eyes quickly moving to the table instead.
How interesting.
Teasing him like this amused him.
“I won’t fire you because I’m going to keep an eye on you. If a murderer like you were to run off some day, I might lose sight of you completely.”
“I won’t run away,” he asserted.
“And how am I going to trust the words of a murderer?” Gu Ze responded. Then, his eyes moved from Meng Fu’s face to his feet.
Those fair and delicate feet were wearing old men’s slippers that looked completely out of place. Whether it was out of unease or anger, all ten of his toes were tightly curled up.
Gu Ze thought that Meng Fu would only respond with a bland and even stiff “Mr. Gu,” but he didn’t expect Meng Fu to have such interesting reactions too.
“How are things with you and Miss Xie?” he continued asking. He wanted to see more of Meng Fu’s reactions. It might have been out of anger or forbearance, but his toes curled up even more. Yet in just a moment, they all loosened up again, and his feet had gotten all red from the pressure.
It was as if his nerves were pulled taught and smoothened out again.
“There’s nothing between us. We already broke up a long time ago. You don’t have to ask about this anymore, Mr. Gu.”
He didn’t need to ask; it was all over already.
“You’re heartbroken, aren’t you? Hurt?” Gu Ze guessed at the emotions inside his heart. “Losing your courage to love someone because of your sins. What a tragedy.”
The water stuck to his hair ran down his hair strands, condensing into water droplets before landing down by his eyes, sliding down like tears.
He quickly wiped it away with his hands. He didn’t want Gu Ze to mistake them for his tears.
“You’re crying?” Gu Ze stood up and walked over to him, looking down at the eye he’d wiped off, watching his eyelashes flutter like butterfly wings. It seemed like a teardrop was hanging off of them. “It makes me very happy to see you sad enough to cry.”
All of a sudden, Gu Ze’s body moved on its own, raising his hand as if he was going to wipe away his tears.
But after rising up slightly, Gu Ze put his hand down again as if he’d realized what he was doing. Heh, this sinner’s tears really are as cheap as that woman’s…
Meng Fu was going to explain that they weren’t tears, and even though his mouth moved, he gave up on explaining in the end.
What’s the point? If it makes him happy, then just let it be.
Sometimes he felt apologetic to Gu Ze, and sometimes he hated him. This man ruined his two-year sentence reduction, and he was still constantly finding words to hurt him with.
But very soon, that hatred would quickly morph into guilt.
Standing there motionlessly, Meng Fu’s legs had already started becoming numb. Even the droplets of water on his neck were now dry, but Gu Ze still didn’t have any intention to leave.
This man just stood next to him, staring at him for a while before turning around again, sitting back on the sofa and playing his games.
The background music of his game poured out from his phone, or maybe it was the victory jingle. Whichever it was, the sound felt piercing to Meng Fu.
But for Gu Ze, he couldn’t focus on his games like usual. Every so often, his eyes would peer towards that man standing there like a wooden statue, then he would deliberately mention Xie Zhenzhen to him every so often.
As usual, they were the words he’d used deliberately to prick him, but after repeating them so often, he gradually stopped. His fingers were constantly tapping on his phone screen while he peered at Meng Fu whose toes were fidgeting from the corner of his eye.
He didn’t ask Meng Fu to stand there, but he was most likely just used to sticking to formalities in front of others. So, if Gu Ze never asked him to sit, he would probably just keep on standing.
In fact, this could be a disguised form of punishment too.
When he was bored of playing his games, he would just browse the web and read some news. Unexpectedly however, he ended up seeing himself pop up in the headlines. The photo was blurry and the title was written in big letters as if it was too important to be missed. “Shui Qing’s love candidate spotted? Mr. Rich Second Generation!”
He bit his lip in displeasure and stroked his own chin. He was just playing around with that woman, and now it ended up on the headlines.
He couldn’t just let this woman have her way. He dialed a number and said in a gruff voice, “Secretary Wang, have you read today’s entertainment news?”
“What news?”
He sat up and said in an angry voice, “Deal with it immediately.”
He hung up. Looking over, that man was still standing there motionlessly, eyes staring listlessly at the cup of water.
His legs must be numb by now.
Gu Ze picked up the cup and finished the rest of his drink.
“Get me another cup of water.”
Meng Fu felt grateful that Gu Ze was thirsty at the moment, because his legs really were numb. When he moved his feet, each step felt numb and uncomfortable. He walked very slowly and only worked his legs a little when he was inside the kitchen, moving them up and down to get some blood flowing.
He also quickly grabbed a towel and wiped away the rest of the water stuck to his hair and neck.
He put the cup of water back on the table and when he raised his head inadvertently, he caught Gu Ze looking at him with a smile in his eyes. It wasn’t the mocking, angry, or prickly smile of the past, but rather one of slight pleasure.
Soon, the corners of Gu Ze’s lips also raised slightly.
He had no idea why this was so. Meng Fu thought it was perhaps related to what he had seen on his phone. But what did it have to do with him? After putting the cup down, he continued standing in place.
He hoped that Gu Ze could leave as quickly as possible. The sooner he left, the more time he would have to read.
“That hairstyle suits you.”
“Huh?”
What a strange remark. Why did he suddenly say that? What was wrong with his hair?
But Gu Ze did not answer his doubts. Without even drinking the water, he stood up and left.
After the door shut, he plopped down on the sofa as if he were relieved of the pressure. That water was calm as it had never been touched, calm like that man had never visited.
Calm, just like in the very beginning.