Deluge

Despite expressing disdain, he eventually still allowed for a kiss. If dating were a battle, then when faced with Xu Juan, Pei Yu had absolutely no power to return his blows. But this wasn’t important; Why bother with winning and losing? It all boiled down to satisfaction in the end.

For now, Xu Juan happily sprawled himself onto Pei Yu’s body, playing the role of a clingy demon to his heart’s content. 

To be honest, he wasn’t fond of being clingy, but he realized that Pei Yu was quite affected by it. Once he clung to him, Pei Yu’s entire body would stiffen while he showed an unhappy expression. However, his heart would start pounding very fast, his cheeks flushing in the next second, and he would let Xu Juan do as he pleased.

—— Why is he so adorable?

Xu Juan couldn’t figure it out; Initially, he fell in love with Pei Yu at first sight. What he fell for was Pei Yu’s unapproachable aura — He resembled a snow lotus upon the peak of a lofty mountain, as if a challenge, and it instantly aroused Xu Juan’s desire to conquer.

He couldn’t help but reflect, was Pei Yu easier to pursue than he had expected, or had his skills improved once again? But that didn’t matter, right now, he was in a tremendously good mood. 

“Let’s have dinner together tonight.” Pei Yu sat behind the desk, scribbling randomly with his brush. Xu Juan had his arms wrapped around him from the back of the chair, the weight of his upper body bearing down on Pei Yu’s shoulder. He spoke very intimately, “What do you like to eat? I’ll order in.”

Pei Yu was still a little stiff, but he maintained a façade of indifference: “I’ll pass, I have some other business to attend to tonight.”

Xu Juan immediately asked: “What business? Is it more important than accompanying me?”

“……” Pei Yu choked, “Can you not get into character so quickly? Be reasonable, I’m not used to it.”

“All right, if you dislike it, I won’t say those things.” Xu Juan loosened his arms and stood up straight, away from Pei Yu’s body.

Pei Yu’s back was to him and he couldn’t see his current expression, but even after waiting for a while, he remained silent and didn’t say anything else.

There was a slight shift to Pei Yu’s shoulders as if he wanted to turn around to look at him, but at the same time, he didn’t want to show that he was paying the other close attention. After hesitating for some time, he wasn’t able to bear it after all, turning around to say in a tactful manner: “There’s no other meaning, only that I’m not used to it. You should give me some time to get accustomed.”

Xu Juan had been sneaking peeks at his subtle reactions and was secretly gleeful, but he put on a serious front: “Okay, take your time to get accustomed. You can get used to it whenever you want, I don’t mind. Whatever you do, I’ll be fully accepting.” 

He reached out to embrace Pei Yu again, so enthusiastically that he was more scalding than the August sun. Pei Yu was hugged, nuzzled and kissed by him, and furrowed his brows hard, chiding: “Do you not have bones, Director Xu?”

Not only was Xu Juan unrepentant, he even changed the subject: “Look at our relationship now, don’t you think it’s inappropriate for you to still be calling me Director Xu?”

“Then how should I address you?”

“How would you like to?” Xu Juan said, “In my family, my father is Lao Xu, my older brother is Da Xu. You can call me Xiao Xu.”

Pei Yu: “……”

“I would rather call you Director Xu.” Pei Yu muttered quietly. 

“Actually,” Xu Juan paused, somewhat awkward, “I have a nickname called Juan-juan. God, it sounds awful, but it can’t be helped. Who allowed my mother to randomly pick such a terrible name for me back then.”

He reached for the front of Pei Yu’s shirt again, fiddling with a button as he continued to say: “I think it was because the year I was born, my father’s career was in jeopardy and there was a lot of pressure. My mother hoped ‘juan’ would take on the meaning of a ‘slow, gentle trickle’, and wished our family would see good days for a long time. Rather than huge profits, she wished for wealth that would be stable and long-lasting. I suppose I wasn’t born at the right time. My older brother’s name is Xu Zhouyi, my older sister’s is Xu Qingguang. Which of those aren’t better than mine?”

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Unexpectedly, Pei Yu said: “No, I think it’s pretty good. A slow, gentle trickle. What could be more beautiful than ‘long-lasting’? If I had to choose between fireworks and a gentle stream, I would definitely pick the latter.” 

“I would pick the fireworks.”

Xu Juan laughed, but seeing that Pei Yu seemed to be peeved by what he said, he switched up: “I was only saying. It’s just picking a name, why be so meticulous about it? Did you know, when I was little, how wronged I felt when my classmates chased me around while calling me Juan-juan? Some even called me Xiao Juan meimei. I was subjected to so much campus violence because of my name, I was so pitiful.” 

What he didn’t say was: Anyone who dared to call him that was beaten to tears by him. He was the embodiment of campus violence, to begin with, and was commonly known as the school bully.

Nevertheless, Pei Yu comforted him kindly: “Little children are ignorant, they were only playing a joke on you.”

Xu Juan pretended to have been comforted, lowering his head to nuzzle his cheek to the side of Pei Yu’s face: “Then do you want to have dinner with me tonight? If you have any appointments, why don’t you reschedule? I––”

Before he could finish speaking, his phone suddenly rang. 

Xu Juan quickly picked up, it was Hou Shijie on the other end of the line, instantly calling out: “Hey, cousin! Where are you relaxing at? Come out, let’s go have fun!”

Hou Shijie’s voice was especially loud and Pei Yu heard every word, crystal-clear.

Xu Juan put on his façade, saying: “Have what fun? All you know is to have fun, do you think I’m as unoccupied as you? I’m busy, go have fun on your own.”

Once said, he smoothly hung up. Despite the Hou Shijie on the other end being oblivious to the situation, he was dragged in front of Pei Yu and trampled on just for the sake of boosting Xu Juan’s positive image. Xu Juan said: “Sigh, this younger cousin of mine has been ignorant and incompetent ever since he was a kid. I’ve nagged at him so many times, but not a single word gets through to him.” 

“……”

They had only just gotten together —— At the very least, this was considered getting together, so Pei Yu maintained some sense of distance and didn’t make any personal remarks regarding his relatives. Whatever he heard, he nodded at, then eventually said: “I really do have something on tonight, let’s have dinner another day.”

Xu Juan had no choice but to agree, following up with another question: “Then when do you have to leave? Keep me company a little longer.”

“……” 

He displayed his adoration to the fullest; His actions, words, gaze — They all formed a web dripping with emotion, wrapping tight around Pei Yu.

Pei Yu had never gone through such a special kind of dating experience, so he was unable to reciprocate the same way. But not responding would make him seem a little cold, and that wouldn’t be too good, would it?

Pei Yu wasn’t sure what to say, nor did he know what he should do to make himself seem less restrained and wooden. It made him feel as if he had lost face.

He inhaled quietly, faintly getting the impression that his heart was tightly gripped by Xu Juan. It made him uncomfortable, but the feeling was mixed in with a foreign numbness that left him at a loss. 

“I… may be in a rush.” Pei Yu said, “I’ll keep you company next time.”

Seeing that he looked as if he wanted to flee, Xu Juan felt a little glum: “Next time again? Do you regret it and no longer want to try with me, Pei laoshi?”

“It’s not that.” Pei Yu denied while feigning composure.

To be honest, Xu Juan was afraid that he would regret it. After all, how could he allow the other to slip through his fingers?

“Then could you do something that shows you like me, even just a little bit?” Xu Juan tightened his arms even more around Pei Yu, hugging him, “We had an agreement, you would try experiencing how it feels like to date me. I can’t be the only one putting in effort, right? There’s that saying, genuine knowledge stems from practice, so you have to personally like me. How about this, let’s start small, you can give me a kiss first.”

Pei Yu: “……” 

Xu Juan remained sprawled on Pei Yu’s shoulder. He closed his eyes and turned, shifting so his face was in front of Pei Yu’s.

In the silence, he heard the sound of Pei Yu breathing very close to him; It was slow and controlled, as if suppressing some sort of concealed emotion.

Pei Yu had on an unfamiliar cologne, or perhaps it was the scent of his shower gel. He didn’t notice it earlier, but now that he had his eyes closed, his sense of smell was amplified and Xu Juan belatedly noticed how good the fragrance on his body was. He couldn’t help sniffing at it a couple of times, mildly addicted.

But Pei Yu stayed motionless, even after a long time. 

When Xu Juan was finally about to accept that he didn’t want to pay attention to him, his face was suddenly held by the other.

Pei Yu used quite a bit of force, probably due to clumsiness, causing him to underestimate his strength. His fingers slid down the line of Xu Juan’s cheek and grasped onto his jaw.

Xu Juan nearly suspected that his face was bruised with fingerprints. Then, Pei Yu finally abandoned his hesitation and kissed him.

It was a very brief touch, as if being brushed by a feather, slightly ticklish. 

Xu Juan was a little impatient, deliberately saying: “Have you kissed me yet? Why didn’t I feel anything.”

“……”

Pei Yu had no choice but to kiss him again, this time with more force. Just as Pei Yu leaned in, Xu Juan discarded his passiveness, moving from the back of the chair to Pei Yu’s front, leaning over to kiss him.

Although this position was a little tiring, it felt more satisfying to Xu Juan. 

Despite being adept at displaying weakness, he much preferred the feeling of being in control. Regardless of loving or being loved, he only wished to be the initiative one.

Pei Yu clearly could not think too deeply about things, even countering his enthusiasm had depleted a huge chunk of his energy.

On the other hand, Xu Juan was very pleased with himself, his energy boundless, “You should save my number.” He was already beginning to scheme for the future, “Just Wechat isn’t convenient, when there’s an emergency we still need to rely on calls.”

Pei Yu agreed, and saved his number. 

While filling in the contact details, Xu Juan was disgruntled by Pei Yu’s dull method of saving his contact name, deciding to personally demonstrate to him how it should be done. He opened his own contact list and typed out four characters: “my baby Yu-yu”, then suggested that Pei Yu changed his contact name to “my baby Xu-xu”.

“…You’re so damn childish.” Pei Yu refused to change it, “If anyone else were to see, it would be too embarrassing.”

Xu Juan said: “How is it embarrassing? Couples are always this romantic, spontaneously kissing their lao-gong or lao-po. We don’t see them getting embarrassed.”

“It’s not like we’re married.” Pei Yu was adamant.

Xu Juan was exasperated: “Just look at what century we’re in, who said that we can only call someone else lao-gong after marriage? If you want to say it, then say it. What matters is that it makes you happy.”

“How can you be so casual?” Pei Yu’s brows furrowed again. 

Xu Juan realized that he really couldn’t match his ideologies, because the two of them were completely different. He had no choice but to take a step back and raise his hands in surrender: “All right, I was kidding. I’m the kind of person who talks with no filter, don’t take everything I say to heart.”

Exhaustion suddenly settled upon him. Thank god he wasn’t intending to spend a lifetime with Pei Yu, or they would no doubt experience constant friction in their daily lives. He had no intention of persuading Pei Yu, and should Pei Yu want to persuade him, that would be a pipe dream.

But this was only the beginning, the most beautiful time during the dating period. The ever-increasing fervour and love that Xu Juan felt for Pei Yu allowed him to treat everything with indifference. As long as he could be together with Pei Yu, he was content, and nothing else held importance.

“I’ll send you off later.” Xu Juan said, “When does the semester start at your university? Can I drop by to look for you next time? Don’t worry, I won’t carelessly speak of our relationship, so it won’t affect you. I just want to have more opportunities to spend time with you, is that okay?” 

“Sure, but I’m very busy,” Pei Yu said.

“I know, I’ve already heard of it. Apparently, when you were still with your ex-girlfriend, you wouldn’t even spare some time to go on dates, breaking the girl’s heart. Will you break my heart this way too, Pei laoshi?”

“…” Pei Yu choked, “It’s not like I did it on purpose!”

“In the end, it doesn’t make a difference.” Xu Juan smiled at him, “But it’s all right. Even if you don’t pay attention to me, I’ll pay attention to you. Just focus on your work, I’ll watch you from the side. Isn’t that basically the same thing?” 

“……”

He truly spewed his flowery words wholesale, indulging Pei Yu until the other was obedient and docile. When he had to leave, he personally drove Pei Yu in his car.

Before getting out of the car, the both of them shared a very long kiss inside.

Once Pei Yu had left and the door was closed, Xu Juan gave a lazy stretch and made a turn, making a beeline for Hou Shijie’s gathering. Then, they proceeded to the nightclub and he had fun the entire night, only returning home the next morning. 

Author’s note: Coming up next is a period of sweet and happy dating life, please allow the fluff author nkll to demonstrate their unique specialty ( ^ __ – )