Chapter 71: Side Story Three

Ji Su had never been much afraid of pain. He'd grown up rough-and-tumble, and when something hurt he couldn't act cute about it to his parents the way other children could, so he'd had no choice but to hypnotize himself into believing he didn't feel it.

But ever since marrying Gu Zhao, he seemed to have grown more and more delicate.

Long, slender, pale fingers braced against the ridged muscle of his abdomen, the tips faintly flushed pink; the firm, full surface of those abs gleamed with sweat, as though oiled, so slick it was impossible to hold on.

Ji Su shifted his hips up a fraction, his voice trembling at the tail: "Gu Zhao, I can't..."

Gu Zhao clenched his back teeth, his large hand gripping that narrow waist as if to bruise: "Baby, you can..."

The muscles of his waist and abdomen rose and hardened like stone, veins swelling with the effort of it — unbearably, devastatingly sexy.

Ji Su cried out, his waist giving way, and his whole body sank down in one solid, helpless drop.

He felt he had become a small boat, fallen by accident into a vast ocean, tossed in surging waters, struck again and again by white-crested waves, swaying on the brink of capsizing...

When Ji Su woke again, his whole body was sore and aching, as though a heavy truck had rolled back and forth across him several times.

The heavy curtains had been drawn, sealed against the light, and for a moment it was hard to tell day from night.

Ji Su lay face-down on the bed for a long while, gathering himself, then reached with difficulty for the phone on the nightstand.

His fingertip lit the screen: four in the afternoon.

Gu Zhao had come back at five in the morning. Nearly eleven hours. Ji Su had passed out several times and been woken again each time.

Although Gu Zhao had fed him water and food in between, the steady seep of sweat had drained the moisture from his body, and he had cried so hard that his throat was still dry and rough.

A soft creak — the half-closed bedroom door was pushed open from outside.

Ji Su slowly turned his face toward the doorway.

Light from the living room spilled into the bedroom; a tall man walked in against the brightness, his features unreadable, looking for all the world like some beast that had eaten its fill — lazy, at ease, patrolling its own territory.

Ji Su silently turned his face away again, burying it in the pillow.

Gu Zhao sat down on the edge of the bed and asked, low: "Does anything hurt?"

Ji Su kept his face buried in the pillow, unwilling to acknowledge him.

Gu Zhao leaned in and pressed a kiss to the tender skin behind his ear, the sound of it wet and soft.

Ji Su shuddered in reflex, his body as though still holding the memory of that wildness — a touch, and it was as if some switch had been hit.

Gu Zhao laughed low and deep, gathering him up along with the blanket: "Not feeling stifled, little ostrich?"

Ji Su lifted his face and opened his mouth to bite him.

But Gu Zhao took the opening to kiss him, his tongue finding its way familiarly into his mouth and kissing him thoroughly.

By the time he let go, Ji Su was lying in his arms again, gasping, dazed.

Gu Zhao slipped a hand beneath the blanket: "Let me check — see if you're hurt anywhere."

Ji Su immediately pressed that hand down, truly unable to bear it any longer, and opened his mouth to bite his shoulder.

"Ouch..." Gu Zhao hissed in a breath, and his other hand — through the thin blanket — patted, neither too light nor too heavy, the rounded curve of that bottom.

"Mm..." Ji Su hummed softly, his brow creasing. "My butt hurts..."

Gu Zhao shifted to rubbing it with the flat of his palm, twice: "Delicate."

The round, full curve of his bottom was flushed red, like a peach ripened to bursting, as though the lightest squeeze would split it open and spill out rich, sweet juice.

Thinking of it that way, the pressure of his hand grew careless again.

Ji Su struggled in his arms: "Gu Zhao! You're really too much..."

Gu Zhao tightened both arms, pinning the person in his embrace still: "Where did I go too far?"

"You lied to me!" Ji Su stopped struggling, accusing him in a small, aggrieved voice. "You promised..."

Promised he wouldn't go all the way in, promised to let him be on top and set the pace — in the end it had all been a lie.

By the last of it he had cried until his voice was hoarse, and yet those large hands locked around his waist had not relented for a single moment, as though they meant to knock his very soul loose from his body.

"Promised what?" Gu Zhao's eyes held a smile. "You said don't stop, and I didn't stop — wasn't that obedient enough?"

Ji Su couldn't help but think of certain moments when he clearly said 'No, stop,' only to have it maliciously twisted into 'Don't stop' because he said it in broken, halting breaths...

Ji Su, half embarrassed and half furious, glared at him with wet eyes: "Gu Zhao, if I ever believe you again, I'm a pig!"

"Good wife, it was my fault." Gu Zhao lowered his head to press a kiss to his lips, soothing in a low voice: "Lighter, next time."

Ji Su froze for a moment, his cheeks slowly reddening: "Wh-who's your wife?"

"You." Gu Zhao patiently repeated it. "You're my wife."

Ji Su turned his face away, talking tough: "I'm not your wife."

Gu Zhao gripped his pointed chin, forcing him to turn back: "I've already made you cry — if not my wife, then whose?"

Now Ji Su was red all the way to the base of his neck, and he simply shut his eyes.

Gu Zhao narrowed his dark eyes slightly, gathered him up in his arms, and stood: "Let's eat something first."

Ji Su reached out from the blanket and wrapped his arms around Gu Zhao's neck: "I want to brush my teeth first."

"Alright." Gu Zhao answered, and changed course toward the bathroom.

*

After Ji Su had finished washing up, Gu Zhao gathered him up again and carried him to the chair at the dining table in the living room.

He had burned through too much energy that day, and his stomach had long been empty; without ceremony he picked up his chopsticks.

Gu Zhao served him as he ate, reminding him: "Slow down."

Ji Su ate until he was seven or eight parts full, set his chopsticks down, and leaned back against the chair, rubbing his faintly rounded little belly.

Although Attorney Gu liked to bully him, his cooking was genuinely beyond reproach, and Ji Su ate until he was thoroughly, completely content.

Gu Zhao picked up a wet wipe and cleaned his fingers, unhurried: "Full?"

"Mm." Ji Su nodded. "Full."

Gu Zhao curved his lips into a smile that was hard to describe: "Since you're full, it's my turn next."

Ji Su didn't understand: "You eat — isn't there still plenty?"

Their eyes met — and in the flash of an instant, Ji Su leapt down from the chair.

But the moment his toes touched the floor his legs gave way, and he nearly collapsed.

Luckily Gu Zhao, quick-eyed and quick-handed, caught him and swept him up into his arms: "Wife, where are you trying to go?"

Ji Su shivered and instinctively began to plead: "Gu Zhao... Attorney Gu, I can't, I really can't..."

Although, thanks to the thorough preparation beforehand, he had not actually been injured, right now his waist ached, his bottom hurt, and his legs felt as though they had been strained — he could not bear any more...

Gu Zhao laughed low: "Teacher Ji, how can a man say he can't?"

Ji Su found it puzzling too — both of them men, why was the gap in their stamina so vast?

Gu Zhao kicked open the bedroom door and bent to set him down on the bed.

Before Ji Su could escape, he reached out and caught that slender wrist: "Teacher Ji."

Ji Su caught the seriousness in his tone, and his retreat faltered.

Gu Zhao knelt on one knee and drew an exquisite blue velvet box from his trouser pocket.

He opened the box with one hand; the warm overhead light fell down, and a large Blue Diamond Ring glittered brilliantly.

Ji Su was stunned: "What is this?"

"This is a blue diamond I acquired at auction, which I had a designer custom-set into a ring." Gu Zhao explained, simply. "Do you like it?"

"It's very beautiful, but..." Ji Su didn't quite understand. "Don't we already have wedding rings?"

"That ring was bought on the spur of the moment." Gu Zhao lifted the diamond ring from the box, holding it in his hand, and asked, slowly and with great gravity: "Ji Su, will you marry me?"

Only then did it belatedly dawn on Ji Su — Gu Zhao was proposing to him all over again.

He blinked his lashes and asked, feigning innocence: "Attorney Gu, why do you want to marry me?"

"Because I like you." Gu Zhao answered without the slightest hesitation, as though he had rehearsed it a thousand times in his heart. "Because I only want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Ji Su, struck squarely by Attorney Gu's directness, felt the heat rise to the roots of his ears, and asked in a small voice: "Then — when did you start liking me?"

Gu Zhao answered frankly: "For me, it was love at first sight."

"Love at first sight?" Ji Su was a little surprised. "At our first blind date?"

"No." Gu Zhao's eyes were dark and deep. "My love at first sight for you was much earlier than the day you met me."

It had been the freshman welcome gala of his third year — Gu Zhao had been forcibly dragged along by his roommates to watch the performances.

He had sat for a while, grown restless, and stood to leave; just as he rose, the emcee announced the next act — a piano solo.

The first note fell, and Gu Zhao's whole body jolted; he turned sharply toward the stage.

Only a single spotlight was left on the stage; under its bright beam, the boy seated at the piano was slender and upright, his long pale fingers flying across the black and white keys, so clean and pure he looked like a sprite who had accidentally fallen into the mortal world.

From that day on, he had begun to watch everything about Ji Su in secret — but for various reasons, he had never once appeared before him directly.

It was only near graduation that he realized, with a start, that he had long been in love with Ji Su; but the firm had only just been founded, affairs were tangled and busy, and he could only set his personal feelings aside for the moment and throw himself wholly into his career.

And yet in all the years since, he had never again met anyone who stirred his heart; in the middle of the night, when dreams came, the person who came to him in those dreams always wore the same beautiful face.

In the end he could not hold back any longer, and through his own network of contacts, he tracked down Ji Su's current situation.

He stood before the floor-to-ceiling window of his office, his gaze fixed without wavering on the figure in the photograph, and felt his blood stir restlessly once more.

"Wait..." Ji Su keenly caught the key point. "You investigated me behind my back?"

Gu Zhao replied, without a flicker of change in his face: "I didn't look into anything else. I just wanted to know your relationship status and marital status."

Ji Su: "..."

Is this even legal?

"Knowing you'd still been single all these years made me very happy." Gu Zhao's lips curved faintly. "So I deliberately created an opening — had Zhou Yang get close to your friend."

"What?" Ji Su's eyes widened slightly. "That was your arrangement too?"

"I didn't know how to approach you. A blind date was the simplest and quickest way." Gu Zhao smiled. "The facts proved I made a wise decision."

There had been no such thing as coincidence — everything had been his long-laid scheme.

Ji Su's emotions churned in complicated silence.

"I've already made a full confession; I hope Teacher Ji will deal with me leniently." The fingers holding the ring trembled, almost imperceptibly. "So now — can you accept my proposal?"

His expression looked perfectly composed, but his slightly hoarse voice quietly betrayed his tension.

After a long moment, Ji Su let out a breath and answered, his tone steady: "I will."

Without another word, Gu Zhao seized his wrist and swiftly slid the diamond ring on, as though afraid he might change his mind.

Ji Su's heart felt as though it had been steeped in sugar water — soft, sweet — and he carelessly let down his guard.

The next second, he was pushed down onto the bed.

Gu Zhao rained scattered, close-set kisses across his face, his voice going hoarse as well: "Wife — tonight is our true wedding night."

That night, Ji Su was made to call out "husband" countless times, in every corner of the house.

But the more he called out, the more excited Attorney Gu became; several times he was certain he was about to be done to death.

Just before he sank into unconsciousness for the last time, Ji Su thought, utterly resigned: a man who'd been single for twenty-nine years is really terrifying...