Chapter 43: A Strange Man

After a long pause, he finally forced himself to speak calmly, “What’s poking me? Is it the sunscreen bottle?”

You Chong, still angry, responded ambiguously, “The sunscreen bottle?”

Lin Hexi turned his head with a composed expression, looking at You Chong earnestly. “Yes, it’s the sunscreen bottle.”

You Chong stared at him deeply for a moment, not saying a word.

As he waited in vain for You Chong’s response, Lin Hexi began to feel uneasy.

A light sheen of sweat started to form on his back, and the heat source pressing against his tailbone continued to spread, even showing signs of burning down along his abdomen.

Subtly squeezing his legs together, Lin Hexi lowered his head and tried to pry open You Chong’s arm that was wrapped around his waist.

Sensing the change in Lin Hexi’s body temperature as well, You Chong calmed down slightly and moved his arm away from Lin Hexi’s waist.

With the restraint around his waist gone, Lin Hexi stood up from You Chong’s lap without looking back, jumped off the chair, and bent down to pick up his baseball cap and shirt that had fallen into the sand.

The cap and shirt were filled with sand, so Lin Hexi crouched down and shook them repeatedly.

After a while, when he stood up and turned around, You Chong was no longer on the chair.

Guessing that You Chong had gotten up to do something, Lin Hexi felt a mix of confusion and relief. He picked up the sunscreen that had rolled to the corner of the chair and gazed distantly at the clear sky and sea, momentarily lost in thought.

Just how long had it been since You Chong had relieved himself, to have such a reaction to him?

Lin Hexi was still shaken, and for a rare moment, a bit of regret welled up inside him. He couldn’t help but start reflecting, wondering if he had taken his joke too far.

That was when he keenly sensed that someone, dozens of meters away, was staring at him.

As he turned his head, Lin Hexi noticed that, at some point, a young, unfamiliar couple had settled under the second beach umbrella from the left.

The girl in a bikini, with her back to him and Bluetooth earbuds in her ears, was lounging in the arms of her tall and muscular boyfriend, eating snacks. The young man, with a buzz cut and wearing a tank top, held his girlfriend comfortably, but his intense, deep gaze was fixed squarely on where Lin Hexi was standing.

Their eyes met briefly.

Caught in the act of staring at a stranger, the man showed no trace of panic. Instead, he calmly smiled at Lin Hexi, with an unfazed expression, even across the empty lounge chair between them.

Lin Hexi indifferently withdrew his gaze and reclined in the chair.

The four who went shopping soon returned, with Zhou Xuan and Zhao Du carrying bags filled with drinks, while the other two dragged along swimming rings that were childishly cute in design.

Not seeing You Chong around, Lin Tong, with a cold face, reached out to shove Lin Hexi, who was lying with his eyes closed in the chair. “Where’s Brother Chong?”

Lin Hexi opened his eyes and sat up in the chair. “He went down to swim.”

Lin Tong was stunned for a moment, and quickly suppressing the frustration in his eyes. He bent down, picked up the swim ring he had tossed at his feet, and walked toward the sea alone.

Finding it amusing, Lin Hexi glanced at Lin Tong’s retreating figure before looking away.

While turning his head, he saw Yang Juan standing nearby, drinking a beverage, so Lin Hexi casually said to him, “Grab me an ice-cold Coke.”

Yang Juan asked, “Do you want Pepsi or Coca-Cola?”

Lin Hexi replied, “Whichever one’s colder.”

Yang Juan picked out a bottle of Pepsi and handed it to him.

Lin Hexi reached out, took it, opened the cap, and took a couple of swigs. The cold liquid slid down his esophagus and into his stomach, and the heat inside him seemed to subside along with it. He exhaled in relief, then screwed the cap back on and pressed the entire bottle against his cheek to cool down.

It was only then that Yang Juan noticed the unusual redness on Lin Hexi’s face and couldn’t help but lean in for a closer look. “Why is your face so red?”

Lin Hexi paused almost imperceptibly, then casually lifted his gaze. “It got burned by the sunscreen bottle.”

Yang Juan, who did not understand, looked confused.

Lin Hexi lazily smirked and didn’t bother to explain further.

Zhou Xuan and Zhao Du soon went to the beach to find You Chong, leaving only Yang Juan and Lin Hexi behind on the sand.

By four in the afternoon, the sun overhead was no longer as harsh as it had been at midday. Yang Juan turned to find the swimming ring he had placed under the lounge chair.

Lin Hexi picked up the sunscreen beside him and tossed it to Yang Juan. “Put on some sunscreen before you go.”

Yang Juan looked up and thanked him, then squeezed out some sunscreen and applied it to his arms and legs.

Sitting on the lounge chair next to him, Lin Hexi watched for a moment. Noticing that Yang Juan stopped applying sunscreen after covering just his hands and feet, Lin Hexi beckoned him over with a curl of his finger. “Come here, I’ll help you put it on your back.”

Yang Juan couldn’t help but blush a little.

Lin Hexi chuckled, reached out, and pulled him to sit in front of him. “Lift up your shirt yourself.”

Yang Juan obediently lifted his shirt, with his ears tinged with a faint shade of red.

Lin Hexi silently curled his lips but didn’t dare to laugh out loud. He poured some sunscreen into his palm and spread it over Yang Juan’s thin and pale back, commenting, “Your back is really fair.”

Yang Juan’s ears turned an even brighter shade of red, almost dripping with color.

Lin Hexi’s lips curled into another smile, but once again, he sensed the strong presence of a gaze fixed on his face.

With a hint of annoyance, he furrowed his brows, paused his movements, and looked toward the source of the gaze.

What he saw was You Chong’s sharply handsome face.

You Chong was shirtless, his chest still dripping with water, as if he had just come up from the sea.

After a brief moment of stunned hesitation, Lin Hexi’s gaze slowly shifted downward, unconsciously glancing at You Chong’s lower half.

You Chong’s deep voice sounded, tinged with annoyance, “Where are you looking?”

Seeing that You Chong’s body had returned to normal, Lin Hexi quickly withdrew his gaze, flashed him an embarrassed smile, and lowered his head to continue applying sunscreen on Yang Juan.

However, You Chong’s disruptive stare remained fixed on him, prompting Lin Hexi to pause again and look up at him.

But You Chong ignored the questioning look Lin Hexi threw his way, instead furrowing his brows tightly and staring intently at Lin Hexi’s hand, which was covered in white lotion.

Realizing belatedly what was going on, Lin Hexi silently quickened his pace, and in the end, he finished the task somewhat hastily.

However, You Chong’s thoughts were not aligned with Lin Hexi’s.

You Chong naturally assumed that the whole issue stemmed from his own lack of relief for too long, and his focus wasn’t on the fact that the interaction involved Lin Hexi.

It was also obvious that Lin Hexi hadn’t been completely unaffected at the time. In this situation, which hurt both sides without benefiting either, Lin Hexi hadn’t gained any advantage.

You Chong set other matters aside for now, although Lin Hexi’s deliberate act annoyed him, he still felt a sense of displeasure seeing Lin Hexi’s hand moving back and forth on someone else’s back.

By this time, Lin Hexi had already finished helping Yang Juan adjust his shirt. Yang Juan stood up from the lounge chair, first expressing his thanks, then asked, “Are you coming?”

After glancing at the sun outside the umbrella, Lin Hexi nodded and said, “I’ll go too.”

Lin Hexi applied some more sunscreen, leaving his unreachable back for last.

Noticing You Chong’s displeased expression out of the corner of his eye, Lin Hexi felt too embarrassed to ask You Chong for help again. Instead, he turned to Yang Juan and said, “Can you help me put some on my back?”

Unexpectedly, You Chong interjected, “I’ll do it.”

After taking the sunscreen from Yang Juan’s hand, You Chong sat behind Lin Hexi and began applying it to his back.

Lin Hexi looked back in surprise and asked softly, “You still dare to help?”

“If I don’t,” You Chong scoffed, pressing down harder on his back, “are you going to go around bothering others?”

Lin Hexi calmly countered, “Aren’t you afraid I might make you react again?”

You Chong snorted coldly. “Would you dare to make those sounds in front of others?”

Lin Hexi briefly imagined the scenario and immediately fell quiet.

“But,” You Chong suddenly leaned close to his ear, his tone laced with a hint of indistinct danger, “if you dare make those sounds in front of others, I won’t hesitate to take you right there in front of them.”

The next second, You Chong tossed the sunscreen into Lin Hexi’s lap and stood up, saying indifferently, “All done.”

For once, Lin Hexi didn’t respond immediately.

He remained seated in the chair, and his fingers slowly brushing the right earlobe that had grown slightly warm from You Chong’s breath, with his expression a bit dazed.

You Chong probably hadn’t noticed.

Just now, when You Chong was speaking softly near his ear, it seemed like his lips had accidentally brushed against Lin Hexi’s earlobe.