His fingertips hovered over the button he was about to press, and Jiang Lin answered without hesitation: "Yeah."
That day, he had confessed to Deng Feng on the phone that he had someone he liked, and now facing Deng Feng's still somewhat tentative words, he felt it necessary to explain clearly. After all, Deng Feng's eyes looked at him many times tonight, so obvious that even if he lowered his head and kept looking at his phone, he couldn't avoid it.
He could understand Deng Feng's difficulty in letting go of his thoughts, but he didn't want to make Ji Minglun feel uncomfortable. Especially since Ji Minglun and Deng Feng were friends who opened a shop together, he couldn't affect their relationship for his own reasons.
After pondering for a moment, Jiang Lin said solemnly: "Being with him, I feel like nothing has changed, just like before, but everything has changed."
"I know very well that I need him more than I thought, and I can't live without him anymore."
When saying these embarrassing words, Jiang Lin did not avoid Deng Feng's gaze, and there was no hesitation in his expression.
The last time Deng Feng heard from him that he had someone he liked was on the phone, and Deng Feng couldn't see his expression. This time, as they were sitting face to face, Deng Feng looked at his face and heard it again.
From the words and even the look in his eyes, Jiang Lin made him understand that Ji Minglun was irreplaceable.
The atmosphere gradually became heavy in silence. Deng Feng felt it and suddenly smiled easily, saying, "That's good. It feels very natural for you two to be together. Maybe this is the advantage of growing up together."
Jiang Lin stared at the pale eczema blisters on his fingertips and nodded slowly. Deng Feng continued, "Actually, Minglun doesn't usually take care of others, but he is really patient with you and very careful."
After saying this, Deng Feng was speechless for a moment. Why did he praise Ji Minglun for being so good to Jiang Lin, even though what he said was indeed true
Jiang Lin still couldn't respond, but luckily at this moment Ji Minglun appeared at the door of the store and quickly walked back to his seat.
Seeing him coming, Deng Feng stood up and said, "Let's go. I still have to go to the supermarket to buy other things. If we don't go now, it will be closed."
"Then you go first," Ji Minglun said, "I will go home directly with him."
Deng Feng turned around briskly, and before leaving, he paused again, then turned back and said to the two of them, "Let's get together before we leave. The day before yesterday, Zhu Zhu said it was a pity that Jiang Lin resigned so suddenly."
Ji Minglun looked down at Jiang Lin, and Jiang Lin met Deng Feng's gaze and said gently, "Okay, let's make an appointment then."
Deng Feng smiled at him, and this time he really waved goodbye and left.
Ji Minglun and Jiang Lin also walked out of the store and headed towards the parking lot. On the way, when there were few people around and the light was dim, Ji Minglun held Jiang Lin's hand at his side and asked, "What did Deng Feng talk to you about just now?"
Looking at the row of phoenix trees swaying in the evening breeze, Jiang Lin avoided a fiery red phoenix flower that fell at his feet: "He asked me if I would be happy with you, and said that you treat me better than others."
"Gone?" Ji Minglun was a little surprised.
"That's all," Jiang Lin sighed, but his expression was not relaxed, "Actually, Deng Feng is very reasonable."
Ji Minglun also avoided the rotten phoenix flowers on the ground that were stepped on by someone: "He is more open-minded than Deng Yi. He figured it out last night, but he still needs some time."
The people around him fell silent, and Ji Minglun stopped talking too. The two held hands and walked back to the car. As soon as they locked the door, Ji Minglun approached Jiang Lin and suddenly asked, "Jiang Lin, are you happy now?"
The air conditioner in the car was not turned on yet, and even though it was night, the air in the car was very hot and stuffy. Jiang Lin was trapped in the chair by Ji Minglun, and soon a thin layer of sweat appeared on his forehead. Staring at the pair of eyes in front of him that were expecting his response, he felt even hotter, and his heartbeat became irregular unconsciously.
Sensing his nervous reaction, Ji Minglun kissed him on the lips, then pulled away and continued to look at him.
Jiang Lin had just confessed his feelings for Ji Minglun in front of others, and his heart was still soft and vulnerable. The swelling emotions in his chest made his breathing faster and faster. He put his hands around Ji Minglun's neck, pressed the back of his head to bring him closer to him, and tilted his head to kiss those lips.
This was the first time he took the initiative to kiss Ji Minglun, just like last night. There were some words he couldn't say, but he hoped to make Ji Minglun understand through body language.
Not only is he happy, he is also lucky enough to have the opportunity to get back the person he almost lost but who was still willing to come back to him in the end.
When Jiang Lin returned home that night, he took the initiative more than ever before.
He hugged Ji Minglun and kissed him from the sofa to the bathroom. He took Ji Minglun in the hot water and bathtub, listening to Ji Minglun telling a secret about him in his ear while panting.
It turned out that Ji Minglun had been thinking about him in this bathtub during the time when he had just returned.
The cold bathtub wall under his palm seemed to become hot, and the hot water in the pool rhythmically brushed over his body again and again, and then splashed onto the ground. The shameful love words burned his skin red, and his consciousness became chaotic as if he had a fever, but his broken thoughts could still depict a beautiful picture.
That was what Ji Minglun had described in his ear, the whole process of thinking about him here.
They hadn't reconciled at that time, and he couldn't accept all of Ji Minglun, but tonight was completely different.
Jiang Lin refused to let go even after he was exhausted and carried to the bed. He buried his face in Ji Minglun's neck, letting him have his still rapid heartbeat and hot breath, until he fell into a deep sleep.
The next afternoon, when Jiang Lin woke up, he found that the blackout curtains in the room were drawn and the pillow next to him was empty.
He had a very satisfying sleep, stretched comfortably, frowned again when he sat up, reached his hand to the coccyx area, and touched a plaster.
The bathtub was slippery last night, and although Ji Minglun held him so that he wouldn't fall, this position made his movements even more careless. Not knowing when Ji Minglun had put the plaster on him, Jiang Lin gently stroked the area, sat for a while before standing up and opening the door to the master bedroom.
The door of Ji Minglun's house has good sound insulation. He didn't hear any noise outside when he was in the bedroom just now. Now he opened it and found someone sitting on the sofa in the living room watching TV.
The man was wearing a T-shirt and shorts, sitting on the sofa cushions with his long legs crossed, eating a bag of potato chips. When he saw him coming out, he smiled at him, showing his white and neat teeth, then turned his head to the kitchen and said, "Senior, Jiang Lin is awake."
Jiang Lin looked in the direction of the voice and saw the refrigerator door next to the kitchen island was closed. Ji Minglun, who was wearing an apron, turned around and saw him, put down what he was holding, came over and pulled him into the bathroom.
When closing the door, Jiang Lin heard Shen Ran turn up the volume of the TV. Ji Minglun put his hand behind his waist and asked, "I put a plaster on you this morning. Do you feel better?"
The man's words showed his concern for him. Jiang Lin felt warm inside and couldn't help but smile and said, "Much better."
Taking his electric toothbrush and squeezing out the toothpaste, Ji Minglun explained, "Shen Ran came to borrow English materials from me. He will be leaving after sitting for a while."
"Well," Jiang Lin glanced at the clock on the wall when he got up. It was almost five o'clock. He took the toothbrush and asked, "Aren't you going to keep him for dinner?"
"If you don't mind, I'll ask him." Ji Minglun rested his right hand on the sink and watched Jiang Lin brushing his teeth with a smile.
After spitting out the foam in his mouth, Jiang Lin replied: "Why should I mind?"
Ji Minglun moved closer to him and whispered in his ear, "I thought you would be embarrassed to be seen wearing my pajamas and sleeping in my bed."
Jiang Lin glanced at Ji Minglun, and seeing Ji Minglun's increasingly frivolous smile, he pushed him out.
When Ji Minglun came out, Shen Ran was looking down at his phone. He must have seen some message, but his face turned ugly. He tightly grasped the pillow beside him with his left hand, and veins on the back of his hand were faintly visible, as if he was about to get angry.
Shen Ran had a good personality and loved to laugh. Ji Minglun had never seen him so angry before, so he walked over and asked, "What's wrong?"
Shen Ran came back to his senses, and his first reaction was to cover the screen of his phone, and then he said, "It's okay."
He reacted quickly, but there was still a delay before Ji Minglun could see clearly what was on the screen.
It was a photo of a person being kissed by another person on the back of a sofa. The environment should be a nightclub.
When he first saw the photo, Ji Minglun didn't think much about it, but when Shen Ran covered it up, he remembered that although the person pressed on the sofa only half of his face was exposed, it should be Shen Ran judging by his appearance. As for the other person with his back to the camera, Ji Minglun also felt that he looked familiar, but he just couldn't remember it for a while.
However, the fact that Shen Ran kissed a man was enough to show the seriousness of the problem. Ji Minglun frowned and asked, "What's wrong with you?"
Some time ago, Shen Ran's breakup with his school beauty girlfriend caused a lot of controversy, and many people were talking about him being a lesbian's scapegoat. At that time, Ji Minglun comforted Shen Ran privately and told him not to dwell on it, but that was Shen Ran's first love after all, and he was forced to break up with his girlfriend in such an embarrassing situation. It would be hard for anyone to accept it.
Shen Ran was very emotional that day, but he calmed down after just one night. Ji Minglun didn't know what happened that night, and Shen Ran didn't tell him when he asked him about it. Now thinking back carefully, he received a call from Shen Ran that night, and Shen Ran said that he went to a gay bar with his friends to experience life.
At that time, he was watching a movie with Jiang Lin at Jiang Lin's house. The typhoon had not passed yet, and he was in a bad mood, so he just reminded Shen Ran to be careful and not to do anything rash. Now seeing such photos, it is possible that something happened that night that caused Shen Ran to quickly get over the state of heartbreak.
Ji Minglun didn't notice that his expression was quite interesting when he imagined it. Shen Ran looked at his face and thought that he must have discovered something. He became more and more unwilling to stay here. He stood up and urged: "Senior, please find the information for me. I have something else to do and I'll leave first."
Ji Minglun didn't move. When Shen Ran lowered his head to put on his slippers, his body leaned forward a little, revealing a mark under his collarbone that had not yet faded.
Thinking of the familiar figure in the photo, Ji Minglun remembered another thing and asked, "The other person in the photo is Zhao Jiyu, right? Did you run into him at the gay bar that night?"
Shen Ran froze as he stood up straight, but his cell phone fell to the carpet with a dull sound because he didn't hold it firmly.
"That's someone else's photo, don't talk nonsense, senior." He pretended to be calm and bent down to pick up the phone, without realizing that the back of his neck was exposed to Ji Minglun. Ji Minglun found two kiss marks and a bluish teeth mark from his neck to his right shoulder.
The signs of intimacy were so frequent that Ji Minglun, as a person who had experienced it, quickly understood the real reason why Zhao Jiyu came to support Shen Ran that day but Shen Ran said that he had sprained his waist and would not go to the competition.
However, since Shen Ran was unwilling to admit it, he would not ask further questions. He just waited for Shen Ran to stand up straight and reminded him, "If you want to hide the matter with Zhao Jiyu, remember to wear clothes with small necklines when you go out these few days. The marks on your body are too obvious."