Starlight Descends - 61
Water Droplets
The tie at her waist soon came undone. A hand caught her by the waist, the man turned her slightly in his arms and kissed her from behind.
The kiss was light at first, no more than a fleeting brush. When he felt her respond, it deepened, growing fiercer. Their breaths tangled together, hot enough to set her soul ablaze.
Burning.
Scorching.
She had no idea if he'd turned the floor heating up or down. It felt as though the air itself had begun to boil.
His hand lingered around the loosened ties, not quite exploring, not quite withdrawing, a maddening hover at the edge. Lowering his gaze, Yu Jiashu asked, "Can I?"
After a two-second pause, Qi Yao turned around with some difficulty and gave a muffled hum of assent.
A rosy flush crept from the tips of her ears upward, spreading across her cheeks as she felt the cool touch against her skin.
He was still kissing her.
Their foreheads rested together, lips pressed against lips. Heat bloomed from every point of contact, turning even coolness into fire.
When the kiss finally broke, something seemed to be pressing against her. Adjusting her breathing and willed herself not to move, Qi Yao's lashes trembled. Looking up, she asked softly, "Do you have it?"
Yu Jiashu looked back at her.
His pupils were black, deep, pulling you under.
A moment later, without a word, he pulled back, opened a drawer, and returned almost immediately. The foil packet hung loosely between his fingers, rustling.
"Here, or the bedroom?" she heard him ask.
"My legs are weak. I can't walk," she answered honestly.
Yu Jiashu laughed. Tilting his head, he kissed the spot behind her ear and guided her by the waist toward the sofa. "Then next time I'll carry you in."
The sofa sank softly beneath their weight. Slender fingers found the drawstring at the waistband of his gray sweatpants and slowly tugged it loose.
Holding the packet between his teeth, Yu Jiashu tore it open and climbed onto the sofa on one knee.
Amid the rustling and shifting movements, Qi Yao suddenly felt something wet against her side.
Liquid, flowing gently.
He had only just lowered himself over her.
She went blank for two seconds, grabbing his shirt. Looking both bewildered and uncertain, she said, "...It's okay."
"..."
Yu Jiashu paused.
His dark lashes lowered. Glancing down, he tugged at the corner of his mouth, leaned closer, and reached behind her, fishing a carton of milk out of the pocket of the clothes lying beneath her.
The packaging had burst under the pressure. It had flattened, and milk was dripping steadily from the tear.
Zhou Qi's milk.
Stretching out one long arm, he tossed the ruined carton into the trash before lowering his gaze again to look at her. There was helplessness in his expression, and a trace of amusement. Half smiling, he asked, "What exactly is 'it's okay' supposed to mean?"
"..."
Qi Yao blushed all the way to her neck. She scrambled for cover, her voice barely a whisper. "...Nothing."
Yu Jiashu looked at her for a while, and suddenly laughed.
"Relax."
The man leaned over her, his broad shoulders and narrow waist blocking out the sunlight and casting a shadow across her.
His voice dragged lazily at the end, scorching and husky, the low, magnetic resonance falling word by word against her ear.
"Your boyfriend isn't that fast."
"..."
When they started, the afternoon sun was still bright. Golden light streamed through the gap in the curtains. The shadows stretched longer and longer until darkness finally swallowed the room.
By the end, Qi Yao's voice had gone a little hoarse. Held upright by the waist, she admitted obediently while clutching at his shirt, "...Maybe next time, being fast would be okay."
Yu Jiashu laughed again. Now he looked thoroughly languid from head to toe. Lowering his eyes to her, he drawled, "Sorry. Can't really do fast."
"..."
This man…!
Yu Jiashu carried her to the bathroom. After standing beneath the hot shower for quite a while, she finally regained a little strength and suddenly realized she hadn't brought any clothes with her.
Turning off the water, she was about to call for him when a voice came from outside the door.
"Finished yet?"
Qi Yao let out an "Oh."
The frosted bathroom door showed only the vaguest silhouette. The man curled a finger and tapped lightly against it. "Brought your clothes."
Qi Yao cracked the door open and extended a slender, pale arm, still dotted with a few water droplets she hadn't wiped clean.
Yu Jiashu looked down at her arm, passing the clothes into her hand. "Figured you probably won't feel like going across the hall to get your own. Wear mine for now, okay?"
"...Mm."
QI Yao took his white T-shirt and withdrew her hand, shutting the door again. She thought indignantly, Can't he just say it! Why did he have to hook her finger too?
His touch had slid down along her forearm, long fingers lingering until they reached the end and hooked around her pinky.
...So annoying!
By the time she came out, Yu Jiashu had finished showering too, he must have used the other bathroom. He'd changed into a black T-shirt and was half-heartedly towel-drying his hair.
Water droplets slid down from the ends of his hair. A small patch of his collar was damp, clinging to the side of his neck.
Qi Yao noticed he never seemed to put a towel around the back of his neck. The first time she'd come to his apartment, he'd been exactly the same.
"If you do that, your clothes will still be wet when you go to bed."
Yu Jiashu took a couple of seconds to process that, "They won't. I usually sleep late."
Sometimes because of work. Sometimes because Zhou Qi dragged him into gaming sessions. Since returning from San Francisco, his body clock had never really settled back into place.
"Staying up late is bad for your kidneys," Qi Yao said with a slight frown, answering almost on instinct.
"..."
After several seconds of pause, Yu Jiashu looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "Is it?"
Though he didn't say it aloud, Qi Yao could clearly read the words written across his face.
Don't you already know whether my kidneys are fine or not?
Qi Yao: "..."
Unbelievable.
She choked on her response and decided not to engage. Pressing her lips together, she changed the subject. "By the way, what did you tell Zhou Qi?"
Despite the obvious deflection, Yu Jiashu obediently dried the ends of his hair properly and said. "I told him I'm dating his goddess."
"Huh?" Qi Yao's eyes widened, genuinely in disbelief. "Just like that? And he believed you?"
Yu Jiashu fell silent for two seconds, put the towel back in the bathroom, and only answered after coming back out. "Of course."
"Doesn't he know what kind of person I am?"
Actually, that wasn't true.
But Yu Jiashu didn't feel like saying so.
At the time, the kid had been in the middle of a game. After Yu Jiashu told him, he'd glanced at the time with a somewhat startled expression, then looked up and said: Ge, you never told me you sleepwalk in the middle of the night.
"..."
Yu Jiashu had twitched a corner of his mouth and repeated himself, insisting it was true. He had also ordered Zhou Qi to move out the very next day.
Zhou Qi had stared at him for a long time, finally looking as though he might believe it. 'Fine,' he'd said. Then, when Yu Jiashu turned to go back to his room, he heard him lowering his voice to send a voice message.
"Bai Pangpang, I think my Ge's mental state is a little off. Can you come check on him tomorrow? I'm scared to stay here alone."
"..."
Who cared what he thought?
The important thing was that he'd moved out in the end.
Yu Jiashu quietly deleted that memory from his mind. Looking up again, he appeared perfectly calm and entirely justified as he said, "He also said there's no one else worthy of his goddess besides me."
Qi Yao: "..."
Really?
She wasn't really convinced.
"Fine, then," she said at last.
Yu Jiashu wisely chose not to continue inventing stories. He touched the back of his neck, bent over, and pulled a clean T-shirt from the wardrobe.
Qi Yao sat on the edge of the bed watching him.
His room was immaculate. The black-and-white color scheme was simple and elegant, there was not a single thing that felt out of place.
The floor heating was still on. Warmth rose from below, gentler and more comfortable than central heating.
Every winter, the cold and dry air always irritated Qi Yao's nose. Heating systems only made it worse, yet she couldn't do without them because of the cold. Sometimes she'd be sitting at home and suddenly sneeze twice, which immediately puts Lizi into a state of high alert.
Stretching out a leg, she nudged the floor with her toe and sighed wistfully. "Wish I'd known. I would've had Qiao Nian find a place with floor heating too."
The words came out naturally.
Only when Yu Jiashu turned to look at her did she suddenly realize.
Oh. Qiao Nian wasn't her agent anymore.
She couldn't quite describe the feeling. It was as though something inside her had suddenly been hollowed out.
Memories and farewells always had such power. They polished people smooth with time, eroding their flaws, magnifying years of history and the comfort of familiarity.
After a moment of silence, Qi Yao parted her lips and smiled faintly. "Force of habit. Hard to break overnight."
Yu Jiashu watched her for a while. "It's okay."
Then he shifted slightly and sped up what he was doing.
Qi Yao watched him change clothes with his back turned to her. Crossing his arms, he caught the hem of his shirt and casually pulled it over his head, revealing a lean, defined waist.
Half-turned, he let her see the clear, segmented lines of his abdominal muscles. The V-line of his Adonis belt was sharp, tracing down along his lower abdomen before disappearing beneath the waistband of his pants.
As he pulled the fresh T-shirt over his head, the muscles along his back tightened slightly beneath smooth, powerful lines. The motion was swift and strong, exactly as it had been earlier.
Before the hem of the black shirt fell back into place, Qi Yao caught sight of the red marks near his shoulder blade.
Her breath stalled instantly, and her face went red again for no reason.
Some deeper, some lighter. Nail marks.
...Hers.
Yu Jiashu finished changing, put the previous shirt in the bathroom, and came back out to find another quail.
A slender figure sat curled up on the edge of the bed, hugging her knees, resting her chin on her arms, her face faintly flushed.
"..."
After a two-second pause, he was starting to get familiar with this phenomenon. One eyebrow lifted slightly.
"I was about to offer some comfort, but now it looks like you don't need it anymore?"
"..."
Qi Yao pressed her lips together. "I'm pretty good at digesting things on my own."
Yu Jiashu suddenly laughed. The mattress sank softly beside her as he climbed on. "Still, I should offer some. Can't let you digest everything by yourself."
"You know..."
Qi Yao waited two seconds and realized there was no follow-up. She turned her head to look at him.
The universally useful opening phrase had stalled halfway through.
Yu Jiashu was looking at her too, silent for a moment.
He genuinely couldn't think of anything good about those two people, especially that senior of hers.
Still, he wasn't the sort to talk behind people's backs. He wasn't some moral role model, but it felt cheap.
And besides, he wasn't the one who had spent years with them.
Outsiders could always offer easy wisdom. After all, it was simple to stand above the situation when it wasn't your life, when you weren't the one trapped inside the emotional whirlpool.
"You know..."
He finally lowered his lashes and looked at her. "If you moved to a place with floor heating, wouldn't you not be living across the hall from your boyfriend anymore?"
Qi Yao blinked.
Come to think of it, that did make sense.
Seeing how ridiculously obedient she looked, Yu Jiashu suppressed the urge to kiss her, and averted his gaze. He drawled lazily,
"And your little ugly dog wouldn't be barging in at dawn to tug on my pant leg."
"..."
Before the feeling of being moved had even finished, Qi Yao was struck a little speechless. "He's not ugly. And he has a name, okay?! He likes you so much, too."
"What do I need him to like me for?"
Yu Jiashu's gaze drifted back to her. Seeing her cover her mouth to stifle a tiny yawn, he sat up slightly and reached over to switch off the light.
"You liking me is enough."
The words fell from above her.
Leaning forward slightly, the man braced an arm past her head. His chest brushed lightly against her forehead, warm and solid. Through the thin layer of fabric, she almost felt she could hear his heartbeat, steady and powerful, constant.
Click.
The light went out.
In the darkness, everything seemed to drift slowly and quietly.
The scent of cedar and mint mingled with the fresh fragrance of body wash, filling her every breath.
"Sleep?"
Qi Yao heard Yu Jiashu ask above her.
Her heart pounded.
The drowsiness that usually hit her on schedule had vanished without a trace.
Her breathing tightened slightly. She gave a soft hum of agreement. Then the two of them lay quietly on the bed, only a few inches apart, the shallow sound of their breathing floating in the dark.
It felt different from her own room.
The bed was bigger. The covers and pillows were soft and plush. And there was his scent on everything.
Cool cedar mint. Clean and pleasant.
When tangled together, it became burning hot.
Her sleepiness disappeared completely.
A source of heat was right beside her hand, seeming to burn through the air itself. And her breathing gradually quickened.
Staring at the faint glow of night leaking through the gap in the curtains, Qi Yao curled her fingers around a fold of bedsheet and heard herself ask softly, "What kind of sleep?"
The air went silent for two seconds.
And then, soundlessly, it began to boil.
A heavy body shifted over from beside her, and against her ear, he murmured:
"This kind?"
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