Chapter 9 part4
Translated by Eve
Edited by Juurensha, Sora, Serefina
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Huo Ke and Eason had a talk. Sui Yuan used this time to research the plot and catch up on sleep, only waking up on the dawn of the second day. Upon waking, Sui Yuan suddenly discovered that the world had changed, making him feel that it had become a bit unfamiliar.
Sui Yuan blinked a few times, shocked in his heart. On the outside however, he looked at Huo Ke who had taken the initiative to come find him with joy and curiosity. He asked, puzzled, "Ah Ke Ge, what's the matter?"
Huo Ke looked at the petite youth. He appeared to be pure, as if untouched by even a speck of dust while sitting cross-legged on the bed. For a moment, he felt that he didn't recognize this person, who had been a thorn in his side in his last lifetime.
Every single one of the youth's actions carried a natural loveliness that wasn't at all fake. Clearly, his sitting posture was a bit graceless, but when he sprawled out, it was pleasing to the eye, to the point of making people unable to conjure up any bit of discontent. When he thought of the long talk he had yesterday with Eason, Huo Ke inhaled a deep breath, "I know of the matters between you and Eason. He…told me everything."
Sui Yuan shouted 'here it comes!' in his mind. He took the initiative to enter acting mode. His innocent and cheerful smile suddenly looked a bit guilty and unnatural, "What are you saying, Ah Ke Ge…I don't understand…."
"You and Eason are together, aren't you? The evening before yesterday, I saw the two of you kiss in the kitchen," Huo Ke hit the nail on the head with his words. Carrying a bit of a teasing tone, he didn't give Sui Yuan a chance to put on a show, "You want to say that the kiss was all a misunderstanding or an accident, right?"
The youth's fair cheeks flushed red, his limpid eyes glazed over. His entire person had sunk into shyness after having his love affairs exposed. He was nervous, even uneasy, "…I'm sorry, Ah Ke Ge. Eason Ge and I hadn't wanted to conceal this from you. It's just that…to say this kind of thing out loud wouldn't be good.…"
"Then, had he ever told you that up until yesterday…" Huo Ke's tone was cold and detached, "…We had been dating? We had been lovers for two years already."
Sui Yuan's eyes widened. His originally flushed cheeks turned pale once more, as if he doubted whether or not what he heard was an illusion.
——Of course, according to his character settings, he was just putting on an act. Li Kun, who Sui Yuan was playing, had known a bit of what had been happening since earlier. However, to maintain his 'white lotus' facade, he had to pretend that he had no idea.
"I… I didn't know… you and Eason Ge… I always thought that the two of you got along well, but not that it was because…" Sui Yuan's voice sounded particularly dazed. He put on a profound, extremely detailed act of being a 'no matter what I do, it's completely not my fault' white lotus. It was so convincing that Huo Ke involuntarily doubted himself. Perhaps Li Kun really didn't know anything at all—at the very least, he hadn't known until now.
This was the grievances that homosexual lovers had. Even if they lived in the same apartment, they still had to tenaciously conceal their affairs and pretend that it was all just feelings of pure friendship. No one dared to reveal the truth to anyone else.
The personality that Sui Yuan's role, Li Kun, put on display, was especially pure and free-flowing. At times, he makes jokes that are unscrupulous, or he speaks without thinking. Eason and Huo Ke both have taken him in as a little brother that they need to take care of. Naturally, they were afraid that this unreliable little brother would let the cat out of the bag in front of others, and it would be discovered by certain ambitious people. So, they kept him in the dark the whole time.
Therefore, before the band dissolved, and before Li Kun and Huo Ke wanted to tear into one another, he could completely dump all the blame on Eason. He himself could become an innocent victim who had been deceived.
"Eason and I were lovers until yesterday," Huo Ke shut his eyes and repeated himself.
Since he couldn't tell whether Sui Yuan really hadn't known or was just pretending, Huo Ke restrained himself from venting all his anger onto the possibly 'innocent' Sui Yuan.
After all, he had once considered Sui Yuan a little brother who he had to take care of. Moreover, the framing behind his back that had occured in his last life had yet to happen. Right now, the one sitting before him was probably still a pure child who had never hurt him.
Although he couldn't let his past grievances go, Huo Ke also could not impose revenge on the 'innocent'.
Sui Yuan lowered his head under Huo Ke's ice-cold gaze, his pearly white teeth tightly biting down on his lower lip. He looked so fragile, as if a single touch would break him into pieces. Even the words "white lotus" wasn't enough to describe his explosive acting that was as powerful as a hurricane at this moment.
——A crystal doll? Or maybe a glass doll? 5237 skipped over a long string of adjectives that made people feel as if they suffered a huge blow to its mind. It restrained its urge to give a 'like', afraid that it would affect Sui Yuan's performance and causing him to fall out of character. In its mind, it admired its foresight.
It just knew! Sui Yuan was particularly well-suited to play a 'white lotus'. He was simply an outstanding talent amongst white lotuses! No one could compare!
5237 was bewitched by Sui Yuan's acting. Even Huo Ke, who was facing him with a heart as cold as steel, couldn't endure and softened. He relaxed his tone, "Eason broke up with me yesterday. He said that he only likes you right now. He can't control his feelings for you, so he can only apologize to me. He said that everything is his fault, and that you didn't know anything. So if I wanted to take revenge, then I could enact it on him all I wanted, but I shouldn't harm you."
Sui Yuan's eyelashes quivered lightly, and his sharply contrasting eyes could not conceal his astonishment.
The astonishment in his eyes were Sui Yuan's real feelings because he knew that according to Eason's scum gong character settings, he would never personally say such a thing to Huo Ke. Eason would be just like Li Kun and would push all the blame onto the other man. He would try his best to wash himself clean of all responsibility and would not take on all the blame himself. So, the one who said this definitely was not Eason!
Huo Ke only saw a burst of excitement, elation, and incredulity in Sui Yuan's eyes. His eyes were even a bit watery. These kind of emotions that seemed to come from the depths of his heart made Huo Ke feel moved despite himself.
Sui Yuan couldn't help it as he automatically grabbed onto Huo Ke's sleeve, and asked with a trembling voice, "Did he say that? Did Eason say that?!"
——This wasn't Li Kun's lines, and definitely was not that of Sui Yuan who was acting as Li Kun. It came from Sui Yuan himself.
Huo Ke subconsciously nodded and looked dumbly at Sui Yuan who appeared on the verge of crying tears of joy. He was unable to make sense as to why the other made such a big deal out of this, but couldn't help but feel a bit of grief and envy.
"I'm going to go find him!" In a hurry to find out whether or not the person who was concealed behind the facade of Eason was who he thought it was, Sui Yuan abruptly stood up from the bed.
The soft bed made it difficult for him to keep balance, and Huo Ke reflexively grabbed onto his arm. The two factors together caused Sui Yuan to lose his footing, and he directly fell into Huo Ke's embrace.
The youth's body was tender and soft. Probably because he loved to eat sweets and drink milk, he smelled like sweet milk. Combined with his delicate appearance and ‘naive and pure’ personality, Huo Ke couldn't help but admit that when looking at just his outer appearance and temperament, Sui Yuan was undoubtedly much more attractive to men than he was.
Even if he loathed and rejected Sui Yuan in his heart, when he held him in his arms, his heart couldn't help but be moved.
——Even though he understood clearly that the other only appeared pure on the outside and was actually vicious on the inside, he couldn't help but be attracted to his appearance for a moment. This was probably the bad habit of men? Huo Ke mocked himself a bit.
Fortunately, Sui Yuan wasn't interested at all in seducing Huo Ke. Rather, he wasn't even aware that he was inadvertently seducing other people.
Furthermore, Huo Ke making more physical contact than normal made him feel uneasy. Sui Yuan put some distance between them in a fluster, a face full of apologies, "Sorry, Ah Ke Ge, I forgot myself…."
"You…" Huo Ke looked at Sui Yuan with a complicated expression. He quickly steadied his heart, which had been fluttering just now. However, he really couldn't find any interest in venting any of his own negative feelings onto the other man. Huo Ke seemed to see that same look in Sui Yuan that said he foolishly believed in love, just like his past self that foolishly believed in Eason. He felt a bit resentful towards Sui Yuan for being so silly, "What are you so excited for? Do you believe the words that he says?"
Sui Yuan stood up, a little helplessly. He wanted to go look for Eason, but because of his role and his manners, he couldn't throw Huo Ke to the side. He absent mindedly stood there for a moment.
When Huo Ke saw this, it further verified as to how deep Sui Yuan's love for Eason was.
——Or, was it that his love for him was already as unconditional as it could be?
"In the past, I was like you. I believed in Eason's love. I believed that we could walk hand-in-hand into the future, even if the world wouldn't let us. However, look at us now. Aside from being betrayed, what did I get?" Huo Ke sneered, grabbing Sui Yuan's shoulder. He forced the other man to raise his head to meet his eyes, "You can never believe in a man's words, especially the words of Eason, who betrayed me. That oath of eternal love that he told you so many times has also been said to me a countless number of times. Today, he spouted that 'I can't restrain my feelings of love for him' b*llshit and abandoned me for you. Tomorrow, he'll abandon you for someone who's much prettier and younger than you—someone who can benefit him."
Sui Yuan's averted his eyes, breaking eye contact under Huo Ke's bombardment—his attention was still mostly on Eason. Only his high level of professionalism let him rapidly and accurately say his lines at the right moment.
"Even if it's like that, I still like him…" The delicate youth bit down on his lower lip, sounding uneasy but resolute. There was longing mixed into his pain, "I'm sorry, Ah Ke Ge, but I really like Eason Ge. I…want to be with him."
Huo Ke, who knew that it would be like this from a long time ago, sneered. He looked at Sui Yuan, who bowed to him slightly. Soon after, the other quickly walked towards the door, expression obscure.
At the very least, he believed that Sui Yuan was single mindedly hell-bent on loving Eason. Even if he wasn't as pure and ignorant as he pretended to be, he didn't seem to hold any evil intentions, which was different from what he had gathered from his last lifetime.
But, what about it? People can all change. Right now, even if Sui Yuan was charming right now, he could turn vicious and greedy later on. All that was needed was time.
For now, he'll let him off. It wouldn't be too late to enact his revenge whenever Li Kun becomes as he was in his last life, Huo Ke thought to himself.
Sui Yuan took a cheerful step forward, pulling open the door. As soon as he opened the door, he heard Huo Ke's voice from behind him, tone cold, "No matter what, you and Eason have wronged me. So, I won't congratulate you," A pause, then he added, "I'll be waiting for the day you two break up."
Sui Yuan didn't want to continue to be nagged by him, so he just turned his head and nodded in haste. Then he rushed to Eason who was in the training room.
Inside the training room, Eason held his guitar with one hand and was writing something onto the musical score with the other. From time to time, he strummed the strings, seemingly immersed in composing music. When he heard Sui Yuan enter, he merely raised his head to nod at him, the expression in his eyes softening a bit.
Sui Yuan stopped three steps away from the other. After his temporary impulse subsided, what remained was a feeling of hesitation and uncertainty, as if he had just returned home after a long time away and didn't know what to expect.
Should he directly ask whether or not he was Zhao Xihe? Or should he indirectly sound him out? But, when they met each other before, why didn't he say anything? Why didn't he indicate that it was him? Why would he have to use Huo Ke to hint at his own identity? Furthermore, when he came to find him, why was he so indifferent?
Sui Yuan was a great actor, but he didn't understand human emotions. He definitely could not understand complicated emotional states like this. He only instinctively felt that if Eason was Zhao Xihe, then Zhao Xihe was angry—angry at him. He probably…wanted to punish him?
If that was the case, then what was his punishment?
Sui Yuan helplessly bit his lips, at a loss. He looked at Eason, who was busy minding his own business as he hung his head whilst fiddling with his guitar, ignoring him. After a long time, he spoke with much difficulty, "Ah Ke Ge… told me everything…."
"En," Eason replied, absentmindedly. When he didn't hear any other response after a long time, he couldn't help but turn his head to glance at Sui Yuan, expression particularly discontent, "I'm busy right now. Is there anything else?"
Because he was oppressed by the other's imposing manner, and also because he had a guilty conscience of having previously made up his own mind and abandoned Zhao Xihe to ‘drop dead’, Sui Yuan subconsciously shook his head when he heard these dismissive words. "No. I… I won't disturb you anymore."
After speaking, Sui Yuan and Eason made eye contact. For a moment, they were both in a daze.
Sui Yuan had never been an impulsive person. The urge to look for Eason just now already made him regret it immensely. He felt that he should calm down and slowly think of a plan. Only then should he go and coax the angry Zhao Xihe.
After all, he had never done anything like this before, and he never had a chance to learn from the mistakes of others. If by chance he made things worse because he wasn't cautious, then wouldn't that be even more vexing? After blurting out those words of farewell subconsciously, Sui Yuan paused. He then decisively turned his head, embarrassed, and turned to around to run away.
5237:"………………"
Eason:"………………"
0007:"………………"
Huo Ke who had been secretly watching from outside the training room:"………………"
The instant Sui Yuan had shut the training room's door, the pencil in Eason's hand snapped.
Sui Yuan, who was an idiot when it came to emotions, didn't understand what was happening. 5237, whose EQ was much higher than his and was a spectator who always seemed to see the situation more clearly than the parties involved, naturally understood it.
The other had laid the framework and given all sorts of hints. He only wanted to let Sui Yuan take initiative to give in, to follow him around in a gentle and coaxing manner and swear his eternal love to him. It'd be best if he would take initiative to get intimate with him in bed and soothe his small injured heart, compensating him for his discontent from having been tricked and abandoned.
Unfortunately, this was all useless against Sui Yuan! Absolutely useless!
5237 rejoiced in Zhao Xihe's misfortune while floating by Sui Yuan's side. It turned his head to look at Eason, whose expression was really terrible and was fuming with rage, but still forced himself to maintain his elegance. It simply wanted to light a long row of candles for him.
To want to make the normally passive, rarely expressive Sui Yuan take initiative—you can just patiently wait for that day! In any case, 5237 did not plan to help him give Sui Yuan a hint at all—who told Zhao Xihe to be so terrible previously? To even threaten to destroy him? It's holding onto this grudge!
5237 actually wanted to see whether Sui Yuan would use his groundbreaking negative EQ to see through Zhao Xihe's intentions, or if Zhao Xihe would break first, being unable to endure it any longer and take the initiative to seek a reconciliation with Sui Yuan.
"…Hey, are you ok?" After seeing everything and discovering that it was different than what he had imagined, Huo Ke called after Sui Yuan who silently walked towards his own room. He asked helplessly, "You and Eason…did you fight?"
"…En. I guess so," Sui Yuan's gaze darted around, and he replied in whisper.
"Then no wonder you were so stirred up after hearing me speak," Huo Ke shrugged his shoulders.
Just like 5237, although the motive was different, Huo Ke did not want to give this pair of troublesome sweethearts (?) any sort of help whatsoever. On the contrary, he raised an eyebrow with evil intent, "He had just fallen head over heels for you and has already become like this. It seems that you're even worse off then I was."
Sui Yuan:"………………"
"The more this happens, the less you should give in first," Huo Ke said coldly, watching Sui Yuan who was pacing back and forth helplessly, arms folded. He said a bit self-mockingly, "The easier it is to get something, the less it'll be treasured. You'll only lose if you fawn over him. He'll just throw you away all the more bluntly. That's me speaking from experience."
"…Then, what should I do?" Sui Yuan asked, subconsciously.
Although he knew that the matters between Zhao Xihe and himself were different from that of Li Kun and Eason, Huo Ke's confident appearance as a person who was "experienced and thus understands these things the most" made him subconsciously believe in him.
"Give him the cold-shoulder!" Huo Ke replied unhesitatingly, "If he takes the initiative to come looking for you and curries favour with you, then that would prove that he loves you and can't bear to leave you. On the contrary, if he doesn't care about you at all, then even if you took the initiative, it would be no use."
Sui Yuan was a bit hesitant. He lightly bit his lips, nodding.
He didn't know why, but when Huo Ke saw Sui Yuan at this very moment, he felt that the other was especially pleasing to the eye.
He wasn't a calculating seductor (?) of men like he had imagined. The youth was young and inexperienced when faced with matters of love, making people wonder if this was his first love. Huo Ke, who had messed with him with evil intentions, felt a bit guilty, feeling that compared to the pure Sui Yuan, he was completely rotten.
——If all of this was an act, then it was only right that he lost to Sui Yuan during the auditions. If it wasn't an act, then Huo Ke wanted to make sure he and Eason broke up. After all, the scummy Eason didn't suit this pure youth. Maybe in his last life, the youth had blackened and retaliated in many ways because he had also been deceived by Eason and thought that it was Huo Ke who was the third party in their relationship.
In this manner, these kind of messy thoughts began to circulate in his brain. Huo Ke couldn't help but raise his hand and pat Sui Yuan's head encouragingly, "Listen to me. I'm right."
Sui Yuan:"………………"
5237: "…I'm going to light a candle for both Zhao Xihe and Huo Ke. I sympathize with the former as his goal seems to be getting further and further away. As for the latter… in the case that Zhao Xihe finds out what he's said today, then he's really looking for an early death…."
The author has something to say:
Please light a candle for everyone wwwwww It's already obvious as to who Zhao Xihe is. The little sisters who couldn't figure it out don't need to feel frustrated any more~
The feelings between the three-member band have been sorted out. Sui Yuan has become a casanova →_→ A protagonist queen-like shou (?) He and the protagonist gong is Zhao Xihe's greatest obstacle… [candle]
Actually, I really like little Sui Yuan. See, I didn't give Zhao Xihe any kinds of benefits wwww
Eve: Ehehehehe, ZXH's pain makes me giddy. I love him, but I love to see him bullied even more.
Serefina: i was right lmao but same Eve, same. Also lowkey i think everyone secretly enjoys watching ZXH suffer
Sora: I was wrong because I wanted to be on the other side, but I feel a bit bad for ZXH…. just a bit though :3
Juurensha: I'm loving this and kind of have the same emotions as 5237