Ch.16 – One-way Passage

When Xu Feng left, Xia Wennan peered into the lounge and took a look around the room.

The lounge was larger than he had anticipated, with a soft double bed in the centre, floor-to-ceiling windows on one side, and a wardrobe against the opposite wall. There was another door next to the wardrobe that was made of frosted glass, with only a hazy outline of the interior visible. 

Xia Wennan walked over to open the glass door and peered inside. It was, in fact, a bathroom with a shower.

He lowered his head and pulled his sticky T-shirt away from his chest. Coffee stains on a white T-shirt really stood out, and it seemed like it’d take a while for it to dry. After a bout of hesitation, Xia Wennan locked the lounge door from inside and stripped for a shower.

The bathroom’s frosted glass door had no locks. Xia Wennan closed it, turned on the hot water, and the rush of the jetstream flooded his ears. The semi-closed space was quickly filled with rising steam that engulfed him completely. 

Since he wasn’t familiar with the environment, Xia Wennan rinsed swiftly and perfunctorily. He couldn’t find any towel around, so he grabbed the T-shirt he’d taken off and carelessly used it to towel his body dry before tugging his pants on. 

He pushed the glass door open, clutching his soaked T-shirt, but with only one foot out the door, he spotted Ming Luchuan sitting on the edge of the bed, facing him, and immediately stopped dead in his tracks. 

“How did you get in?” Xia Wennan asked, still shell-shocked. 

“This is my room,” Ming Luchuan said. 

“But I locked the door.”

“…You think I wouldn’t be able to access my own room?”

Xia Wennan was momentarily at a loss for words. 

Ming Luchuan remained sitting. He was dressed in an immaculate suit, and with his long legs parted, elbows on his knees, and fingers steepled, his face was devoid of any expression as he looked at Xia Wennan. 

Xia Wennan got goosebumps from his gaze, and he slowly raised the wet T-shirt he was holding to cover his chest. 

Ming Luchuan’s icy voice called out, “What’s there to cover up.”

“You have such unique tastes, how would I know if you’re getting any weird ideas?” Xia Wennan muttered as he bypassed the bed and made his way to the door of the lounge. He opened the door and peeked out, but Xu Feng had not returned.  

“Where are you going looking like that?” Ming Luchuan’s voice rang out from behind him. 

Xia Wennan looked at him over his shoulder. “Why isn’t Xu Feng back yet?”

“What do you need him for?”

“He’s gone to buy clothes for me.”

“He won’t be back so soon.”

Xia Wennan was unconvinced. “Why? Are there no clothing stores around here?” He tried to recall the path he took from the subway station to the company, and apparently there really were no stores or shopping malls. 

Ming Luchuan rose, leaving the bedside and walking up to Xia Wennan. “I told him to get you a more appropriate set of clothes.”

Xia Wennan’s first reaction was to retort, “How are my clothes inappropriate?” After which he immediately followed up with, “Why would he need to do that?”

“We’re having dinner at my family’s house tonight,” explained Ming Luchuan.

Stupefied, the hand on Xia Wennan’s chest relaxed by accident. “Why should I go have dinner with your family?”

“Because we’re married. My family is your family.”

Xia Wennan thought about it, then asked, “Then does your family know that I have amnesia?”

“Ming Siyan came to visit you, didn’t he?”

Xia Wennan’s first thought was that the name sounded familiar, and then he remembered that Ming Luchuan’s omega brother Ming Siyan had visited him while he was still in the hospital.

He was still a little uneasy. “Can I not go?”

Ming Luchuan was staring at him. “Why don’t you want to?”

“I don’t know your family,” Xia Wennan said. He’d fantasised about it before—finding a partner and meeting his lover’s parents for the first time. It would undoubtedly be nerve-racking and awkward. And yet, unexpectedly, he’d skip right over that step. Once he faced Ming Luchuan’s parents, what would he call them? Would he also have to call them mom and dad?

As he thought about this, Xia Wennan asked, “Could you tell me about your family?”

Ming Luchuan gave him no answer, instead abruptly extending a hand to pull away the T-shirt that covered Xia Wennan’s chest.  

Horrified, Xia Wennan immediately moved behind the door, leaning against it as he demanded, “What are you doing?!”

Ming Luchuan tossed the T-shirt in his hand aside and clapped his hands as if he’d just thrown out something dirty. “It’s wet.”

It was wet, but the air conditioning was on full blast and Xia Wennan’s chest was now freezing. He wasn’t willing to talk to Ming Luchuan while shirtless, however, so he said, “Lend me something to wear first then.”

Ming Luchuan’s frosty gaze fell on his chest. “Why? There’s no part of you I haven’t seen yet, is there?”

For a split second, Xia Wennan felt like he’d been scalded by boiling water. His entire body trembled as his eyes went round, “What did you say?”

Ming Luchuan’s indifferent demeanor did not waver, but it seemed that his collar was a little tight, and he slightly loosened his neat tie as he said, “I said that I’ve already seen everything there is to see. I even know that you have a few moles on your ass.”

“A few?” Xia Wennan refused to believe him. 

“There’s a red mole on the left.”

“You’re lying. There are no moles on my ass.”

The corners of Ming Luchuan’s mouth twitched in a not-quite smile. 

Xia Wennan reached out to grab him, but just as his fingertips touched Ming Luchuan’s shirt, the office door was suddenly opened from outside and a lively, clear voice called out, “Wennan, you’re here?”

Xia Wennan turned to look and saw Ming Luchuan’s omega brother, Ming Siyan, walk through the door. 

Before he had time to answer Ming Luchuan’s question, Ming Luchuan grabbed his outstretched hand and dragged him into the lounge. 

Ming Siyan’s faintly alarmed voice sounded from outside, “Am I interrupting you guys?”

“NO! YOU’RE NOT!” Xia Wennan yelled to prevent him from misunderstanding.

By then, Ming Luchuan had dragged him all the way to the wardrobe. He took out a clean white shirt and chucked it at Xia Wennan’s body, saying “Put this on.”

Xia Wennan eyelids flew up as he shot Ming Luchuan a glance, taking the white shirt and putting it on. 

Ming Luchuan released him and walked out. “Why are you here?” he asked Ming Siyan outside the lounge. 

Xia Wennan heard Ming Siyan say, “I heard that Wennan was here, so I came by to check up on him.”

The long-sleeved white button-up looked mismatched with his shorts. Xia Wennan left the buttons undone and left the room, but at Ming Luchuan’s stormy glare, he returned and silently buttoned up his shirt. 

Ming Siyan gave Xia Wennan a warm smile. “Wennan, are you feeling better?”

“I am,” said Xia Wennan. 

Ming Siyan nodded and asked, “So have you regained your memories?”

This time, Xia Wennan shook his head, “Not yet.”

Ming Siyan’s face took on a look of concern. “It’s all right, take your time and don’t rush it.”

Not knowing how to respond to that, Xia Wennan could only smile at him. 

“Dad originally wanted to come to the hospital,” Ming Siyan said. “We didn’t think you’d be out so quickly.”

“The doctor said that staying at the hospital won’t really be of any help to my recovery. Might as well get out,” Xia Wennan said. 

“So what are you going to do next?”

Xia Wennan glanced at Ming Luchuan. “Just, slowly recover.

Ming Siyan sighed softly before he smiled once more. “Dad said that you guys are coming back for dinner tonight, why don’t we all head over together after work?”

“That won’t be necessary.” This time, Ming Luchuan answered before Xia Wennan could. “We’ll go on our own.”