22

The seconds ticked on, one after another. Though Ji Su kept his head lowered, he could still feel the oppressive weight of that gaze from above.

Gu Zhao didn't even bother wiping the water from his abs, as though his full attention was fixed on waiting for his answer.

Under that pressure, a flash of inspiration struck Ji Su, and he found a reasonable excuse: "I didn't bring swim trunks. Maybe next time I have the chance to learn."

Gu Zhao spoke: "There are swim trunks in the room's cabinet."

"Yeah, the swim trunks are in the cabinet at the very back of the bathroom." Zhou Yang picked up the thread. "Setting everything else aside, at least this Hotel prepares things very thoroughly. We'll stay here again next time."

"Come on, Ji Su!" Wang Mingzhe slapped the water's surface. "Look — my foot isn't even healed yet and I can still swim. You'll definitely learn. Don't worry, just get in!"

Ji Su closed his eyes briefly. It seemed he had no choice but to deploy his ultimate move.

He raised his eyes and exchanged a glance with Qiao Jin, just about to fake a faint on the spot, when his phone suddenly rang in his pocket.

Ji Su's movements froze. Never had his own ringtone sounded so sweet to his ears.

This was no ringtone — this was the saving grace of heavenly music.

Ji Su immediately pulled out his phone from his pocket, his tone apologetic: "Sorry, I need to take this call first."

With that, he turned around and strode quickly away from the Swimming Pool, phone in hand.

Gu Zhao stood in place, his gaze following that hurried retreating figure, the look in his eyes growing ever darker.

After several seconds, Zhou Yang finally reacted: "Ji Su took that call so urgently — could something have happened?"

Qiao Jin smoothly rose: "No idea. I'll go check on Susu first. You guys keep playing."

Qiao Jin ran off too. Zhou Yang, a bit bored, called out: "Gu-ge, come back in and swim a couple more laps!"

"Swim by yourself." Gu Zhao tossed out a line, then walked away with wet footsteps, not looking back.

In the Swimming Pool, Zhou Yang and Wang Mingzhe exchanged blank looks: "How did it suddenly come down to just the two of us?"

Meanwhile, Ji Su walked toward the bedroom while answering the call: "Hello?"

A mechanical female voice came through the phone, pitching him a bank loan service.

To avoid blowing his cover, Ji Su went all in on the act, chatting with the AI recording without a hitch: "Mm-hmm, okay, I understand..."

He finally made it to the door of the room. The moment he stepped inside and was about to close it, a not-inconsiderable resistance pressed against him from behind.

Ji Su startled, turned around, and saw it was Qiao Jin — only then did he relax.

"Who was it?" Qiao Jin whispered. "Not your dad again, is it?"

"No." Ji Su gestured for him to come in first.

Qiao Jin stepped inside, closed the door, then locked it behind them.

Ji Su hung up: "No one. A sales call."

"Then that call really saved you." Qiao Jin leaned against the door, still shaken. "You scared me to death just now. I almost thought you were about to blow your cover."

Ji Su walked to the edge of the bed and sat down. The more he thought about it, the more something felt off: "Xiao Qiao, do you think Gu Zhao knows something?"

The way Gu Zhao had looked at him just now made him suspect the other man was thinking of throwing him straight into the Swimming Pool.

"No way?" Qiao Jin thought it over carefully. "Apart from both playing Piano, you and Mengmeng are completely different people. There's no reason he'd connect the two of you."

Ji Su's brow furrowed slightly: "Could it be that I let something slip while playing Piano?"

"There are so many people in the world who can play Piano — what kind of evidence is that?" Qiao Jin paused, then slapped his forehead. "I get it. It's because you playing Piano reminded him of Mengmeng, so now he just doesn't like the look of you."

Hearing this, Ji Su felt a little reassured: "Xiao Qiao, your analysis makes sense."

"Right?" Qiao Jin's confidence soared. "Don't worry. You just have to stick to not taking off your pants in front of Gu Zhao."

Ji Su repeated firmly: "I will absolutely never take off my pants in front of him."

After saying it, he vaguely felt something was off about it, so he rephrased: "I will absolutely never show my legs in front of him."

Qiao Jin nodded: "Absolutely not!"

*

It was still early. Ji Su opened his laptop and worked on some drawings for a while, when someone knocked on the door.

He closed the laptop, walked to the door, and asked warily: "Who is it?"

"It's me, He Yi Ming!" A bright, cheerful voice came from outside. "Ji Su, are you asleep?"

Ji Su opened the door: "Not yet."

He Yi Ming explained: "Old Wang and the others downstairs are making a fuss about playing a game. They sent me to call you and Qiao Jin."

Ji Su hesitated, then asked quietly: "Who's all playing?"

He Yi Ming replied: "Old Wang, Old Zhou, and me. If you and Qiao Jin both play, that's five."

Ji Su heard that Gu Zhao wasn't included and relaxed. He turned and raised his voice: "Xiao Qiao, do you want to play a game?"

Qiao Jin was in the middle of using the toilet and called back: "Just a moment, just a moment, I'll be right there!"

The three of them went down the spiral staircase. Ji Su's gaze fell on the living room, and the smile at his lips suddenly froze.

The person sitting expressionlessly on the sofa, legs crossed in a pair of outrageously long proportions — who else could it be but Gu Zhao?

Ji Su instinctively retreated back up the stairs, but the next second, Gu Zhao lifted his eyelids.

Their eyes met. Ji Su silently withdrew his foot and continued down the stairs.

He couldn't make it too obvious — being too obvious would look like he had something to hide.

"Huh?" He Yi Ming was a bit surprised too. "Gu Zhao, didn't you just say you weren't playing this game?"

Gu Zhao, ever stingy with words: "Changed my mind."

"Alright, one more person makes it livelier." He Yi Ming rubbed his nose, not thinking too much of it.

Qiao Jin got there first, taking the seat beside Zhou Yang.

Ji Su chose the sofa seat farthest from Gu Zhao, but He Yi Ming promptly plopped down on his left.

Ji Su scooted over a little, silently allowing it.

After spending these past few days together, he'd found He Yi Ming to be a pretty good person, and privately the man hadn't brought up adding him on WeChat again.

Maybe the other really did just want to be friends — in which case there was no need for him to overreact.

"Alright, everyone's here now." Qiao Jin asked, "What game are we playing?"

Wang Mingzhe grinned: "This game is called 'I Have, You Don't.'"

"'I Have, You Don't'? What kind of game is that?" He Yi Ming asked curiously. "How come I've never heard of it?"

Wang Mingzhe seized the chance to roast him: "Hahaha, you old country bumpkin, there are plenty of games you've never heard of!"

Zhou Yang, afraid the two would start bickering again, quickly began explaining the rules: "The rules are that everyone takes turns saying something only they've done that no one else has. But if anyone present has done it, then both the speaker and the person who did it have to take a penalty together."

"The rules sound pretty simple." Qiao Jin rubbed his chin. "So what's the penalty?"

Zhou Yang bent down, dragged out a crate of beer from under the sofa, and set it on the table: "This is the penalty."

Qiao Jin quickly declared in advance: "Just so you know, my drunk behavior is really bad. If I drink too much, you might not be able to handle the consequences."

Zhou Yang joked: "If you really do drink too much, I'll carry you upstairs."

Qiao Jin's face went red, and he started to stammer: "R-really?"

"I can do it too!" Wang Mingzhe cut in. "Even though my foot's not in great shape, I can still hoist you up there!"

Qiao Jin: "Absolutely not necessary!"

The game officially began. The bottle spun once around the table and pointed first at He Yi Ming.

"Right at the start it's me — a little nervous!" He Yi Ming thought for a moment, then dropped a bombshell: "When I was little, I was dressed up as a girl."

"Holy shit!" Wang Mingzhe shouted. "He Yi Ming, just to win, you're willing to drop something this explosive?!"

He Yi Ming looked smug: "What's the big deal? Just say whether you have it or you don't!"

Zhou Yang: 'This one we definitely don't have.'

At this moment, Ji Su, who had been sitting off to one side, reached for a cup of beer on the table.

The others turned to look at him in unison, and for a moment the exclamations of 'holy shit' rose and fell in waves.

Gu Zhao also lifted his gaze toward him; whatever he was thinking, a few strange currents surfaced in those bottomless dark eyes.

'Really? Susu, you dressed up as a girl when you were little?' Qiao Jin's tone was one of utter disbelief. 'Something like this and you never even told me about it! Are we still best friends or what?'

Ji Su produced an awkward but polite smile: 'Just once, when I was very small. If He Yi Ming hadn't brought it up today, I wouldn't have remembered it at all.'

'Ah, sorry sorry sorry!' He Yi Ming pressed his palms together. 'It's all my fault — I'll drink this one for you!'

Just as Ji Su was about to decline politely, a cold voice rang out: 'Are you trying to break the rules of the game?'

Gu Zhao's words were aimed at He Yi Ming, but those pitch-black eyes were fixed on Ji Su's face.

Ji Su pressed his lips together, tipped his face back, and drained the cup in one go.

'Bold!' Wang Mingzhe slapped the table. 'Generous!'

He Yi Ming could say nothing more, so he too lifted a cup and drank it dry.

The second round: the mouth of the bottle pointed at Qiao Jin.

Qiao Jin thought it over seriously for quite a while, then ventured, testing the waters: 'When I was little, I ate roasted grasshoppers.'

'What?' Wang Mingzhe's face was a picture of bafflement. 'Roasted grasshoppers?'

'You know, that kind of grasshopper — all green, with two big eyes!' Qiao Jin gestured as he spoke. 'I ate roasted grasshopper legs!'

The rest of them still stared at one another blankly, with no idea what he was talking about.

Qiao Jin planted his hands on his hips and let out three great laughs: 'Hahaha! I'm definitely winning this round — look, none of you have even heard of it!'

Qiao Jin had dodged the bullet; the game went on, and this round the bottle pointed at Gu Zhao.

Everyone except Ji Su was suddenly fired up.

'Gu-ge, Gu-ge, your turn!' Wang Mingzhe slapped the table and heckled. 'I've been waiting for this moment forever — hurry up and drop something explosive!'

Gu Zhao's expression didn't so much as ripple; his thin lips parted and let fall four words: 'I've had an online relationship.'

Ji Su's spine went rigid in an instant, and he sat up straighter without meaning to.

He had assumed this would be something hard to bring up — why had Gu Zhao said it so easily?

'Tch... boring.' Wang Mingzhe was disappointed. 'Didn't we already know about this?'

The only one still out of the loop, He Yi Ming: 'Huh? What? You all knew Gu Zhao had an online relationship?'

Zhou Yang corrected him: 'To be precise, he had an online relationship.'

He Yi Ming remained thoroughly baffled: 'Is there a difference?'

'The difference is—' Qiao Jin picked up the thread, 'one is the present tense, the other is the past tense.'

This time He Yi Ming finally understood, and shut his mouth in stunned admiration.

Wang Mingzhe slumped back against the sofa: 'Fine, Gu-ge should win this round.'

Zhou Yang: 'Anyway, I've never had an online relationship.'

He Yi Ming: 'Me neither — something that trendy doesn't suit me.'

But Qiao Jin grew tense, frantically signaling Ji Su with his eyes: don't you dare step forward this round!

Ji Su clenched his teeth, and in the end still reached for the cup.

Even though these things were all matters of personal conscience, since he'd agreed to play the game, he ought to abide by its rules.

A subtle shift passed through Gu Zhao's eyes: 'Didn't you say you'd never had an online relationship?'

Ji Su lowered his lashes and argued, soft-voiced: 'I said I hadn't run into an online scammer, not that I hadn't had an online relationship.'

It wasn't really a lie — because in that online relationship, he was the one doing the deceiving.

'Th-this-this...' He Yi Ming froze, and confirmed again: 'Ji Su, you really had an online relationship?'

Ji Su answered: 'Mm.'

'Then your online partner was—' He Yi Ming stopped himself halfway and switched to a different question: 'Are you still in an online relationship now?'

Ji Su replied: 'No.'

He Yi Ming exhaled in relief: 'That's good then...'

'Wait wait wait—' Wang Mingzhe raised both hands and launched into his three-question interrogation again. 'Ji Su, when did you have this online relationship? Which school? Were they good-looking?'

Qiao Jin rolled his eyes: 'Susu already said he broke up with his online partner, and you're still firing off all these questions — aren't you just poking at his wound?'

'Sorry! My bad!' Wang Mingzhe manually sealed his mouth shut. 'I'm muting myself!'

Ji Su lifted his cup and drank another one dry.

His lips, moistened by the alcohol, looked all the more crimson and dewy; that little lip bead on his upper lip was glistening, strikingly pretty.

Gu Zhao's gaze lingered there for several seconds, then he tilted his chin up and drained his own drink in one go.

Fortunately, Ji Su wasn't punished again after that; by the time the game ended, he'd only drunk those two cups from the very beginning.

Of everyone, Wang Mingzhe had drunk the most; Zhou Yang and He Yi Ming propped him up between them as they went upstairs, while Qiao Jin took charge of cheering them on from behind.

Just as Ji Su was about to get up and head back to his room, that familiar voice sounded at his ear: 'Ji Su.'

He sat back down on the sofa: 'Is there something you need?'

Gu Zhao pulled his phone from his pocket and went straight to the point: 'Add me on WeChat.'

Ji Su was slightly startled: 'Huh?'

Gu Zhao looked at him: 'What, is it inconvenient?'

'I...' Ji Su's brain spun urgently. 'My phone's in my bedroom — I didn't bring it down.'

Gu Zhao stood up: 'Then we'll go to your room and add each other.'

Ji Su: '...'

Damn — he'd forgotten who had come up with this trick in the first place.

Ji Su could only pretend to pat his trouser pocket: 'Sorry, I remembered wrong — my phone's right here in my pocket.'

Gu Zhao opened WeChat and walked toward him.

'Scan mine.' Ji Su pulled up his WeChat QR code and held up his phone screen.

He silently congratulated himself — thank goodness he'd had the foresight back then to create a separate account specifically for adding scumbags.

Otherwise he really wouldn't have known how to get past this hurdle today.

With a soft beep, Gu Zhao scanned the QR code.

Ji Su pressed the screen off, stood up, and tried to leave.

Gu Zhao: 'Hit accept.'

Ji Su's steps faltered: 'I'll accept once I'm back in my room.'

Gu Zhao let out a cold laugh, a thread of mockery in his tone: 'Didn't you say you wanted to repay me properly?'

Ji Su swiftly opened WeChat and tapped to accept the friend request, his pale fingertips nearly sparking fire against the screen: 'There — accepted.'

Gu Zhao gave a noncommittal hum: 'Mm.'

Ji Su tucked his phone back into his pocket and walked quickly toward the staircase.

Today he was wearing a pair of white casual pants that normally looked quite loose, but as he went up the stairs the fabric drew taut, outlining the full, lifted curve of his buttocks, with the slightly fleshy tops of his thighs laid bare before one's eyes.

Gu Zhao stood there behind him, watching him disappear around the corner.