Chapter 12

In the afternoon, Ji Heyi went to the company and didn’t return home until the evening. This time, the person waiting at the door of the house was no longer as polite as last night, and left cigarette butts of varying lengths all over the ground.

However, in this corridor full of cigarette ash, Ji Heyi didn’t smell the choking smell of smoke as he imagined. The window at the end of the corridor was slightly open, and the smoker in the corner was knocking a cigarette that hadn’t been lit against the window, not knowing how long the window had been open to disperse the smell.

Hearing the sound, Chi Yan immediately turned around to look. After an afternoon of nicotine withdrawal, his complexion was worse than in the morning, the decadence and irritability left by days of smoking and drinking were on his face, only his eyes were bright. Seeing the person coming, he subconsciously took two steps closer, like a patient in withdrawal seeing his addiction.

Ji Heyi opened the door and entered the house under his gaze, the carpet was obviously dirty where it had been rubbed by the cigarette ash under his feet. He turned around and opened the storage room next to the entrance, before his hand reached out, the person behind him took the cleaning tools first.

“I’ll do it.”

Before stepping out of the threshold, Chi Yan turned the door lock that he didn’t have a key for, and looked back at the homeowner again.

Ji Heyi didn’t say a word, bypassed him to hang his coat in the living room. He went into the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge. A person who didn’t get enough sleep didn’t have much appetite for anything, so he simply took some ingredients.

The kitchen door was pushed open when he was washing the onions.

The person who came in stood by and watched silently for a while, without missing a beat, he intercepted the spring onions that were being put on the chopping board. Without waiting for anyone to speak, he chopped them into mince in a few strokes, cut all the washed ingredients, and then picked up a clean plate and washed it for a long time.

When he applied detergent for the third time, Ji Heyi took the plate from his hand and plated the salmon.

Chi Yan withdrew his hand, looked around, and there was nothing else to touch. He stood in place for a moment, took another piece of salmon from the refrigerator, and tentatively pushed it towards the sink.

Ji Heyi took it over and continued to clean.

Chi Yan moved from his right side to his left, reached out and touched his waist, the person who was preparing the ingredients with his head down didn’t look at him.

So, both hands circled around from behind, touching the relaxed and warm body temperature of the person in his arms. The only sound in the kitchen was the flowing water in the sink, it was calm. He pinched his finger joints against each other to control the strength of tightening his arms.

“Ji Heyi………Ah Yi.” He took a slow and long breath, “Ah Yi.”

“…..I’ve taken out the trash, I couldn’t find the air freshener at home, I’ll open the window for a while, you won’t smell it when you wake up in the morning, I………” The difficulty of stuttering made his speech slow down, “I waited at the door for a while in the afternoon, did you go to the company after you left the coffee shop, you just………what you said at noon in the coffee shop………about the movie lines, I heard you say——”

The salmon that had been dried was placed on the foil, Ji Heyi wanted to turn around to find the seasoning, but as soon as his hand touched the arm around his waist, it seemed to have hit some switch of the person behind him, the voice suddenly became urgent, “Don’t! Don’t……….Ah Yi.” The arm that suddenly tightened made his waist hurt, Ji Heyi put down his hand, and leaned on the kitchen counter.

In the silence, Chi Yan spoke in a hoarse voice: “………That night you arranged dinner outside, I thought………it was time, you were going to tell me to break up.” His heavy breathing buried into his neck, “Your dad had just talked to me about those things, I couldn’t think of any other reason for you to arrange to meet me outside, you usually don’t like to eat out.”

His voice was hard, “Ah……….I——”

Ji Heyi sprinkled onions on the two plates of fish waiting to be roasted, and asked: “Do you want black pepper?”

“Wha——” The person behind raised his head, and tightened his arm again, “…..Yes.”

Ji Heyi grabbed his wrist and said: “Let go.”

The hand left, but the way was still blocked. Ji Heyi turned around and looked at him for two seconds. Chi Yan raised his hand again, his arm stopped in front of his shoulder for a while, as if he finally came back to his senses. He took a small step back, and opened the cupboard above his head to find the seasoning.

Ji Heyi took the seasoning box he handed over, opened another storage cabinet and glanced, “There’s no salt.”

“I’ll go buy it.” Chi Yan quickly finished a sentence, but his feet were nailed next to him and didn’t move.

He corrected himself: “I’ll go with you.”

There were still some side dishes that hadn’t been prepared, Ji Heyi took out the remaining vegetables from the refrigerator, “You go, and bring two bottles of olive oil by the way.” He glanced at him, “The spare key is in the drawer of the cabinet at the entrance, take it and go out.”

“……Okay.”

After checking out at the supermarket downstairs, he realized that he had mistakenly taken sugar for salt in his distraction, but he was already at the doorstep. Chi Yan tried the new key.

He should have turned around and gone downstairs to continue shopping, but he couldn’t help but go into the kitchen to take a look at the person.

Ji Heyi saw him come back and looked at the bag in his hand.

“I bought the wrong thing, I’ll go downstairs and buy it again.” Chi Yan took out the olive oil, “Use this first.”

Ji Heyi: “………Aren’t you hungry?” He guessed that this person hadn’t eaten anything from morning till night.

“I’m not hungry, I’m not hungry at all. Are you hungry?” Chi Yan didn’t wait for his answer, “I’ll be back soon, very soon.”

When he opened the door and entered the house again, he could already smell the aroma of food. Chi Yan turned around in the living room twice, turned on all the lights, and there was a conversation coming from the kitchen. He pushed the door in, Ji Heyi was cutting carrots with wet hands, and a phone was on speaker next to him. The voice coming from the phone was intense, the volume even covered the sound of the door being pushed.

It was Chi Cong.

“…….Damn——Even the most clichéd script wouldn’t be written like this! Even the most brainless character wouldn’t act like him! What the hell is all this? How can he be so capable? I am really——So that bastard has been playing the role of a self-sacrificing lover for all these years? My good brother, who is pure and innocent, is a scumbag who found a substitute to play with feelings!? I’m just a green tea bitch who has been hanging my good brother as a spare tire for five years!?”

Chi Yan was originally silently pouring salt into the seasoning box on the side, every action was careful to be light and quiet, but when he heard the last part, he turned his head and replied: “Who are you calling a scumbag?”

Chi Cong on the other end of the phone probably didn’t expect him to be there, and paused for a moment.

Just as Ji Heyi had lowered the volume of the speakerphone by two degrees, the escalated barrage came over: “Chi Yan! Chi Yan, damn your grandpa! How are you here? You——” Through the phone, the anger was itching, Chi Cong looked like he was about to throw his phone any minute, “How could I have a stupid younger brother like you? Who allowed you to set up such a disgusting character for me, you yourself are shameless and think everyone else is just like you, right! I don’t have a stupid younger brother like you! Damn your grandpa!”

“Our grandpa has been in the ground for several years now, show some respect, Chi Cong.” Chi Yan took the knife from Ji Heyi’s hand, took over the cutting of the vegetables. The touch of fingers and arms was intimate without any barriers, letting the words slip out without thinking, “Calling someone else’s husband late at night, talking for half an hour, is that something a person with face and skin would do?”

After saying this, he stopped chopping vegetables and quickly glanced at Ji Heyi.

Ji Heyi had already taken the fish to the oven.

Chi Cong had nothing to say about his thick skin, he was silent for a while before he snorted coldly: “You love to imagine things, don’t you? Just wait, I’ll make you live in my shadow for the rest of your life!” He then turned to Ji Heyi and said confidently, “Ah Yi, come to the airport to send me off. I missed the flight information for tomorrow, I’m afraid of being blocked by fans at the airport, I plan to leave early tonight.”

After ending the call, Ji Heyi and Chi Yan looked at each other.

Chi Yan lowered his head to wash his hands: “It’s already——” He glanced at the screen of his phone, “Eight o’clock, the fish just went into the oven, aren’t you hungry? You came back so late yesterday, and……..and I disturbed you for half the night, you plan to rest early today, right? It’s nearly an hour’s drive to the airport. Don’t——”

As he spoke, he raised his head and saw the calm look on Ji Heyi’s face under the light, and swallowed his words.

“Go, why not go, since he’s already mentioned it…….Shall I go with you?” After drying his hands, he felt the keys in his pocket, “I’ll drive, you didn’t sleep well last night, and it’ll be eleven o’clock when we get back from the airport.”

The person who said this probably forgot how he had been smoking, drinking and staying up late these few days, but his eyes were very bright, and he looked really energetic.

Ji Heyi nodded.

There were few people waiting for flights at night, Chi Cong didn’t wear sunglasses or a mask to disguise himself. The assistant who sent him to the airport also left, and they saw the figure next to the luggage from afar.

Chi Yan stopped ten meters away, grabbed Ji Heyi’s wrist: “I won’t go any further——If there’s a fight at the airport, I’ll be detained right away.”

Ji Heyi saw Chi Cong’s eyes flaring up and walked over alone.

As Chi Cong approached Ji Heyi, his eyes never left the person who had found a place to sit down, “What is he hiding for? Wasn’t he very arrogant on the phone?”

Both of them could see that Chi Yan’s figure had already hidden beside a pillar in the distance.

Chi Cong withdrew his gaze and asked, “Have you eaten, shall we find a shop nearby to make do?”

“No need, dinner was almost ready at home before I came. What time is your flight?”

“There’s still an hour.” Chi Cong looked him up and down, “You received a call at two in the afternoon, but you didn’t return home until eight in the evening. Were you harassed by that bastard all afternoon? When did he come to find you?” As he spoke, he thought of the movie ticket he had given to Chi Yan, “Did he see the movie and immediately couldn’t hold back?”

“………About that.”

Chi Cong looked over at Chi Yan again, even though Ji Heyi had basically explained everything on the phone, he hadn’t fully digested this episode for a while, he couldn’t help but exclaim, “This damn bastard——he really is a talent.”

Chi Yan seemed to feel something and looked over. Chi Cong turned his head away, and asked Ji Heyi: “So, are you two…….okay now?”

Ji Heyi didn’t respond. Occasionally the gaze of passersby fell on Chi Cong. He took the hat from Chi Cong’s suitcase, indicating him to do some cover-up.

“That’s true, now that things are clear to this point, who could be more troublesome than him, you’re not the kind of person who can make a lot of twists and turns in one way.” Chi Cong put on his hat, and saw Chi Yan sitting there, who was initially a little guilty for the first three seconds, but now he was staring here without blinking. His gaze was strong like a searchlight, and his hand was tapping on his leg again and again. Although he couldn’t see his expression, he could feel his whole person’s impatience and intolerance.

“He’s quite arrogant!” Chi Cong raised his eyebrows incredulously, “As soon as I leave, he’s probably going to take off with my flight.”

He originally wanted to go over and jab a few words at Chi Yan, but Chi Yan had already stood up, and walked towards him with extremely arrogant pace. So Chi Cong turned his head and hugged Ji Heyi’s shoulder, kissed his face with a smack: “I’ll be back in early October! Bye!”

Ah! That stupid thing won’t die of anger!

“Damn——”

The angry voice echoed through the airport hall: “Damn! Chi Cong——!!!”