Manhattanhenge

Chapter 12: P. Medicine with Special Effects

Just one night, won’t you take me in?

Ning Yixiao wore a cap, but Su Hui still recognized him instantly. Car lights swayed in the rain, leaving behind long rays of light akin to tangled ropes that bound them together.

Drenched in the rain, Ning Yixiao approached him, habitually offering a smile first as he asked amicably, “Why are you here?”

Su Hui’s hair was shorter than before and a little disheveled from the wind. His gaze was languid, like he held a freedom unique to teenagers — with a glimmering, flickering, drifting beauty.

His tone was slow. “I’m playing. I ran out and walked and walked until I came here.”

His babbling nonsense that jumped through topics was treated with great acceptance. Ning Yixiao stood in front of Su Hui, taking away each of the empty bottles he had placed on the bench to sit next to him.

“What are you playing?” Ning Yixiao didn’t look at him and only asked.

A gust of wind assaulted them, bringing with it droplets of rain. Su Hui closed his eyes, spreading his arms open and letting the wind puff up his shirt before vanishing. He let the wind approach every inch of his skin.

“I like the wind so much,” he whispered softly.

Ning Yixiao did not mind him jumping through the topics. “Why?”

Su Hui opened his palm, feeling the wind blow through the gaps of his fingers, eyes on the swaying shadows of trees on the other side of the road.

“When there’s wind, this world doesn’t seem like it’s dead. Everyone is alive.”

Ning Yixiao understood what he meant very well. His lowered hands subconsciously opened up to feel the moving air and rain between his fingers.

He looked at Su Hui. “You cut your hair?”

“Mm-hmm.” Su Hui nodded, somewhat strengthless, before he suddenly whipped his head upwards, smiling as he asked Ning Yixiao, “Do I look good?”

For some reason, when Ning Yixiao saw this smile, he felt a little saddened. He was unable to differentiate if he was just projecting his emotions or if he truly sensed something.

“Yeah. It was good before too,” He answered.

Su Hui giggled again. This time, it was more heartfelt.

“I liked it better before too. They were the ones who wanted me to cut my hair. They think this makes me look more spirited.”

As he spoke, he wanted to stand up, but dizziness instantly took hold of him. He bent over, elbows on his kneecaps, head feebly lowered.

He still felt like throwing up.

Through the drenched shirt, Ning Yixiao could see his slightly protruding shoulder blades.

“You drank alcohol?” Ning Yixiao bent over to check his state. “Looks like you didn’t just drink a little.”

As he spoke, his gaze shifted to those water bottles, mentally thinking, So this person gets very thirsty when drunk.

Su Hui hadn’t yet decided whether to tell him the real reason. But in the end, he didn’t deny it. He still felt terrible. His state worsened after he bent over, so he pushed himself up on his knees, but that nearly made him vomit.

Ning Yixiao immediately supported him, two hands holding onto his elbow. “Are you alright? You want to throw up?”

Su Hui didn’t dare to shake his head and half-leaned on Ning Yixiao. “I… I want to use the toilet.”

Hot breath circled Ning Yixiao’s neck, causing his muscles to stiffen up. Ning Yixiao let go of Su Hui and let him sit up properly while he crouched down to collect each and every of the bottles to throw into the trash. Then, he helped him up.

The moment Su Hui got up, his collar was tugged open, exposing a large patch of paper-pale skin that looked easy to leave marks on. And when marks were left, they would vanish very easily too.

Ning Yixiao’s steps stopped abruptly. He took off his cap to put it on Su Hui’s head.

Dizzy as Su Hui was, he was a little bewildered, emitting noises like the mews of a kitten. “Mnh?”

“Wear it.” Ning Yixiao held onto him. “If your hair gets wet, it’s easy to fall sick.”

There were no public washrooms nearby, so he took Su Hui to walk for a while. Although the rain was not heavy, it was not acceptable to stay under it. Su Hui’s shirt was already soaked through. He planned to find a restaurant to settle matters, but Su Hui pointed with a finger, mumbling that there seemed to be a bar at the corner of the street.

Though he said it was a bar, he might as well have said hotel. A crowd stood outside, both Chinese and foreigners. And each of them donned an expression that said they were so bored that they had nowhere to kill time.

Remembering his practiced pointing of the place, Ning Yixiao could not help but link Su Hui together with these people. But he still felt they were a little different.

Two men stood at the hotel entrance, their hands holding objects which could leave temporary fluorescent marks on the back of one’s hands. Their eyes scrutinized Ning Yixiao’s cheaply priced short-sleeved shirt and then the branded watch on Su Hui’s wrist.

“Hello. The entrance fee for men is three hundred. Cash, WeChat Pay or Alipay are all OK.”

Ning Yixiao was momentarily tongue-tied, the request to borrow the washroom trapped in his throat.

But Su Hui looked up and very bluntly spoke, though not very fluidly, “L-Let me borrow… The washroom, please…”

Seeing his face, the man at the door immediately made a face of incredulity. He stared at him up and down and then he threw a side glance at Ning Yixiao. “Ooh, the show hasn’t even started and you’ve already gotten yourself so drunk? Careful that someone sexually assaults you, handsome boy.”

Ning Yixiao’s face changed. Su Hui’s brain seemed to have frozen. It was still thinking about the three hundred the employee had mentioned, so he subconsciously reached for his pocket. But he hadn’t expected his wrist to be grabbed. He looked up then to see Ning Yixiao’s furrowed eyebrows.

“Leave with me.”

Su Hui was a little perplexed. Even when he was dragged a few steps away, he still did not remember to ask him where they were going. He just strenuously said, “I need the washroom…”

Ning Yixiao said that he knew, but he still dragged on his hand to pull him onto a bus.

Su Hui no longer remembered when he last took the bus. A few phrases popped up in his mind — danger, mental hospital, crowded — but they dissipated very quickly. Because he discovered that among these riders packed like sardines, Ning Yixiao had circled his arms around him without touching him. It was a safe barrier appropriately distanced

He instantly felt that those three phrases had nothing to do with him anymore.

In his muddled state, some illusions appeared in Su Hui’s vision. He suddenly saw the sea on Ning Yixiao’s face. A deep, black-colored sea. But it very quickly changed into a small, tiny pill, changing from black to white.

Illusions like that persisted until Ning Yixiao pulled him out of the bus. Like taking care of a child, he half held him in his arms as he took him to a run-down old building.

There was no lift here. The apartment building was just like an entrance to an ashen tomb. Its interior was pitch-black with the stench of rotten fruits and meat drifting through the air. Coupled with the moist smell of mold, it left one unable to see any sign of vitality.

Su Hui’s weak focus was drawn to a small advertisement in the building corridor and then drawn away by the black soot. He stared at the dirt on the wall and nearly tripped over the rubbish bag at the door of another apartment in the corridor.

He felt himself heading downwards, body uncontrollably leaning forward — but was pulled back by Ning Yixiao.

After steadying on his feet, he heard the fragmented sound of a key placed into the hole. The door opened, melting into the dark corridor. Su Hui was taken inside.

“You don’t need me to help you, do you?” Ning Yixiao said as he pulled him to a very, very tiny door by his wrist.

The light was switched on. The space inside was cramped and small. The sparse few toiletries were placed on a yellowing, damaged ceramic sink. A couple more were on the window sill.

Su Hui entered while supporting himself on the wall. The illusions did not stop. Everything seemed to have gotten bigger. He felt like he was an intruder from the land of tiny people, bumping himself on everything. His knees directly hit the cabinet under the sink.

“Never mind.”

He heard Ning Yixiao’s voice. And then his arms were grabbed and he was brought to the urinal area. Only then did Ning Yixiao let go.

Then he left, leaving behind a sentence, “I’ll wait for you outside.”

It was a hard task for Su Hui to wash his hands too. He kept misidentifying the position of the tap and spent ages on it as though he was playing a game of hide-and-seek. When he came out, he was tripped by the door threshold. With his hands still wet, he immediately fell into Ning Yixiao’s arms; he had been standing properly by the door. Su Hui even left wet hand prints on his clothes.

Very clearly, Su Hui could feel Ning Yixiao’s body stiffen slightly before he was pushed away.

“Exactly how much did you drink?”

Ning Yixiao found it strange. He couldn’t smell alcohol on Su Hui, and just thought his limbs were very weak and his hands were trembling slightly.

“Ning Yixiao, do you still have water…”

Likely because the metabolism had kicked in and the drugs had been gradually expelled from the body, the illusions slowly vanished. Su Hui’s vision recovered, and he could see how the room looked.

This was a cramped apartment with two rooms, a living room and no windows. The room was dimly lit, the living room was thin and long, connected to an even narrower kitchen. Like a sickle, the two doors were next to each other,  with the wood on the doors chipped off and spotted.

“I don’t have mineral water. Is it fine if I just boil some water now?”

“Mhm, yes.” Su Hui nodded, subconsciously grabbing Ning Yixiao’s hand. “I want to drink salted water.”

He looked so well-behaved, his eyes glassy, making one impossible to reject.

Ning Yixiao could only bring him to his room and then boil a pot of water, pouring it in the only mug that he had. He added some salt as requested and brought it into the room.

He had only obtained the key last night. Before class this morning, he moved over a portion of his things. Ning Yixiao had mysophobia. So, he had mopped the floor thrice and wiped it four times with disinfectant water. With the remaining amount of time, he could only set up his bed. So, his luggage was still completely piled in this small room that was less than ten square meters, unpacked.

Meanwhile, Su Hui was just seated at the only free spot on the floor that wasn’t occupied by the luggage. His head was tilted, leaned on the edge of the bed, his back facing Ning Yixiao, unmoving. Just like a delicate doll that did not belong here.

This was a basement that was converted into two rooms and a living room, and it did not have a window, so the room was stuffy. Ning Yixiao spotted his hair sticking to the back of his neck, so he effortfully moved the luggage boxes away, walking to the sole small desk there to turn on the old fan left by the landlord. He took the chance to cool down the mug of water too.

The moment the fan turned on, Su Hui seemed to have come back alive again. He opened his eyes, staring fixedly at the creaking, spinning fan.

“Do you want to drink?” Ning Yixiao didn’t have space to stand, so he sat on his luggage, extending the mug over. “It’s hot. The water was just boiling.”

“Mhm.” Su Hui reached out. “I’m not afraid of it being hot.” As he responded, he took the mug and held it in his hands, drinking in small sips. But it was still too hot. Each time he sipped, Su Hui had to raise his head at the fan so that it blew at his warm face.

He took great effort to finish the water. Su Hui felt that he was about to be shrouded in steam. He leaned on the bed, eyes staring at Ning Yixiao. His voice was even more languid than usual. “Why did you move out? Don’t you have a dorm?”

Ning Yixiao didn’t mind his abrupt question. He donned his usual smile. “I received an internship offer from a company, and I still have to stay in school during summer break to work on my projects and the thesis. But I didn’t apply to stay in the dorm, so I can only find a place outside.”

As he answered, he found a towel that he had used only a couple of times from his luggage, extending it to Su Hui and motioning him to wipe away the water on him.

“It’s a very good company, right? Where is it? Is it far to get to work?” Su Hui accepted the towel, the smile on his face obvious. The long eyelashes that usually looked a little heavy were fluttering agilely along with the smile.

“It’s far.” Ning Yixiao only answered the last question.

“Then why not find a place closer?”

“Because this place is cheaper.” Ning Yixiao still answered the question with relative patience and then straightforwardly asked the little young master, “Now that you’ve gone to the washroom and drank water too, are you going home? I’ll send you off.”

He’d thought Su Hui would cooperate, but he surprisingly shook his head. “I’m not going back.”

Su Hui rested his chin on his arm, sucking in a deep breath. “Ning Yixiao, I don’t have a place to stay anymore.”

These words did not sound convincing.

The voice of Ning Yixiao’s roommate suddenly rang out in his mind. Those seemingly true yet untrue amorous topics surfaced in his mind one by one.

How could he be someone without a place to stay?

 Su Hui suddenly turned his head, moving slightly closer to Ning Yixiao. With a gaze that could easily obtain everything it wanted, he looked at him, pleading, “Can I stay at your place here tonight?”

Only less than twenty centimeters lay between them. Ning Yixiao could distinctly see the beads of sweat on the tip of his nose. He clearly didn’t quite have much of an expression and even seemed a little distant, but his glassy eyes exuded a fragile sort of enticement.

“Just one night. Won’t you take me in?” Su Hui wasn’t quite steady in this kneeling posture. He paused and raised his head. “Really. I won’t take your bed. I won’t squeeze with you. I’ll just lie on the floor. No… I don’t need to sleep too.”

A tinge of excitement was in his demeanor — it was not obvious.

“Help me out. No matter what, I don’t want to go home toda…” Su Hui spoke but suddenly stopped. He moved closer, reaching out to grab the spot in front of Ning Yixiao’s face.

Taken aback, Ning Yixiao instinctively caught his hand.

“There’s an insect…” Su Hui whispered softly.

Ning Yixiao was very certain. “There’s no insect.”

Su Hui felt that he wasn’t mistaken. He suddenly shifted forward, leaving only ten centimeters of distance between the two.

“There is, right? A little flying insect…” He stared at Ning Yixiao’s face and blinked. He abruptly reached to touch his right eye and then giggled. “No, no. It’s your mole.”

Ning Yixiao was left at a slight loss from this, so he grabbed his two hands at once, holding them together as though he was a criminal. “Don’t move any way you want.”

“Okay then…” Su Hui mumbled softly.

When Su Hui opened his mouth to speak at such a close distance, Ning Yixiao suddenly noticed the tip of his tongue.

A pink medicine pill seemed to be on it.

Ning Yixiao raised an eyebrow. “You just took medicine?”

“Nhn?” Su Hui seemed surprised at first. After tilting his head in contemplation for a while, he then laughed. He wanted to wave his hand in dismissal only to remember his hands were grasped. So, he only shook his head. “Noo.”

His eyes were sparkling with some slyness. He raised his head then, parting his lips to stick out his tongue for Ning Yixiao to look. The “medicine pill” was pinned on the pink tongue surface. The tip of the wet tongue slid across teeth, trembling slightly and then curling upwards to reveal the bottom of the tongue piercing.

The corners of his lips raised, Su Hui’s teeth held the tongue tip in place — just like biting down gently on a pill.

Such a display was very suggestive. So suggestive that though it was just for a short while, it had eased to a slow frame in Ning Yixiao’s eyes.

What terrified him was, his first reaction was actually— what would that feel like?

He wanted to stick his finger in to try.

These reactions that leaped out at him had given Ning Yixiao a thorough fright. His rationality immediately urged him to stop as his heart beat rapidly. But in the next second, his will attempted to force himself to calm down.

The pill seemed to be truly taking effect. Bitterness had spread in his mouth.

To Su Hui, this might not be worth a note at all. Ning Yixiao thought, perhaps, it was not his first time to show it to someone else. Or perhaps, the alcohol had gone to his head, so doing anything at all was as natural as ever.

It did not have anything to do with who it was. He was just someone who happened to discover it.

Su Hui laughed as he closed his mouth, explaining, “It’s a tongue pin. I don’t really feel that happy today, so I put it on.”

These words didn’t have much logic.

Ning Yixiao’s drifting thoughts came back a little. He looked towards him and unexpectedly asked an illogical question. “Does it work?”

Su Hui was very fascinated by his reply. This was the first time someone could eliminate all the answers he did not like and throw out such a response.

As weird a person as he was, he could still be on the same channel as another person.

“Mm…”” Su Hui’s voice was soft and light, his tone completely opposite from his words. “I originally wanted to just anger someone just a little bit. If they discover that I put this on, they’ll get a headache. I don’t want to be put there like an exhibit for everyone to see. I’m a person, not a toy. But sadly, those adults only care about socializing. They didn’t even have the time to notice…

“But the first person to discover it is you. So, my mood suddenly became good again.”

As he spoke, the “pill” on his tongue tip was faintly visible every now and then.

A pill that would never ever melt.

Su Hui looked towards Ning Yixiao, his smile pure. “Does that count as super effective?”

The author has something to say:

So lewd
For someone to immediately imagine sticking his finger in, he’s really a bit of an S now…

——
Cai: NYX name meaning Just One Night. Su Hui asking NYX to take him in for Just One Night.
Cai: mathladymeme.jpg