Chapter 117: Awkward
Li Mu didn’t know why, but when the warm water in the bathtub reached his chest, he felt a bit heavy in that area.
He had felt this before when taking baths at home, so he figured it was normal and didn’t think too much of it.
Taking a bath during the autumn and winter seasons really was a comfortable thing. It helped him relax both body and mind. Being surrounded by warm water, with the gentle ripples softly moving over his skin, almost felt like a massage. It was so relaxing he nearly wanted to moan.
Steam slowly filled the bathroom, making it harder for Li Mu to see clearly.
He raised his hand and tilted his head, looking at his thin, pale arm. So soft-looking, with no muscle at all. One couldn’t even tell it belonged to a guy. He let out a quiet sigh.
Why did something like this have to happen to me?
Every time he took a bath, he would end up sighing about his unlucky life.
His head started to feel a little dizzy.
His arm felt weak, too.
It was getting hard to breathe.
Suddenly, Li Mu realized, wasn’t there something about how soaking in a bath too long could make people faint?
He instinctively tried to sit up, but that’s when he noticed he had no strength left. His whole body felt slow, numb, and fuzzy. His head was spinning.
“Yu Fan!” He weakly called out toward the outside while trying to get out of the tub.
“Yu Fan!”
He had never felt this way before when taking a bath at home.
It hadn’t even been ten minutes, right?
He pushed open the frosted glass divider with all his strength and leaned over the edge of the bathtub like a limp fish. But his head was so dizzy, he couldn’t even tell what he was doing anymore.
The bathroom door opened. When Yu Fan came in, Li Mu suddenly realized, he wasn’t wearing anything.
…………………………………………
When Li Mu woke up, he found himself lying in bed, covered by a blanket.
He had no idea how much time had passed. It felt like he had just blinked, and now he was awake.
His body was still weak. He lifted his head a little and saw Yu Fan sitting nearby.
“How long was I out?”
Yu Fan was startled, then turned around and saw Li Mu’s pale face. He let out a sigh of relief. “Not long, maybe ten minutes or so.”
“How do you even faint while taking a bath?”
“Oh…” Li Mu looked at Yu Fan’s bright red face with no expression. “Why’s your face red?”
“……” Yu Fan silently handed him a bottle of water.
He didn’t trust the hotel’s water kettle, no telling if it was clean, so he never used it.
Li Mu took the water, but noticed his hand was shaking badly. Still, he continued, "It's not like I haven't seen yours before. You even ran around naked at my place once. Why are you so shy?"
As he said that, he pulled the blanket tighter around him and tried to sit up slowly.
Seeing how much he struggled, Yu Fan took the water bottle back and helped open the cap. “You sure talk tough for someone so weak.”
Li Mu turned his head away, not looking at him.
“If that’s how it is, why don’t you get dressed right in front of me later?” Yu Fan said with his usual teasing tone. “Turn your head. I’ll help you drink some water.”
“I’ll do it myself.”
“Your hands are shaking so bad, how are you gonna do it yourself?”
Yu Fan helped him drink a little water, even though Li Mu clearly didn’t want help. After that, neither of them said anything. Yu Fan went quiet, not knowing what to do.
He played with his phone for a bit, and finally asked, “Feeling any better?”
“It’s okay.”
Li Mu didn’t look at him and kept his head down, playing with his phone.
Yu Fan couldn’t help but glance at Li Mu’s arms sticking out from under the blanket. Then he suddenly remembered the “view” he had seen earlier.
Without thinking, he touched his nose. Luckily, getting a nosebleed was just something that only happened in Anime. At least for him, besides blushing and his heart beating faster, he didn’t have any embarrassing reaction.
As he thought about it, he casually placed a pillow over his lap.
The atmosphere in the room was a little awkward, maybe even a bit... pink and romantic.
Li Mu had been trying to act like he didn’t care, but now his face was completely red. He kept his head down and didn’t dare look at Yu Fan.
Even though he always thought of himself as a man and believed it wasn’t a big deal to be seen naked, his logic told him that his body didn’t really match that identity anymore.
It would’ve been better not to overthink it, but once he remembered how Yu Fan saw him completely naked, and even carried him to the bed, he started to feel a strong wave of embarrassment.
He suddenly wondered: Did Yu Fan take advantage and touch me somewhere...?
That guy likes taking sneaky photos... he even secretly took his ID picture and edited it… He wouldn’t be that creepy, right?
He definitely got excited, didn’t he?!
Was it a “princess carry”? Or did he drag him out by the legs?
The redness on his face spread to his ears and even his collarbones. He couldn’t pretend to play with his phone anymore. He pulled the blanket up all the way to his chin and finally spoke, trying to stop his wild thoughts.
“Go get my clothes from the bathroom.”
“Alright,” Yu Fan quickly said, almost as if he was escaping, and rushed into the bathroom. He tossed the clothes onto the bed, then went back into the bathroom without saying a word.
Li Mu finally relaxed a lot. He couldn’t wait to get dressed.
Most of the weakness he had felt after fainting was gone now.
After getting dressed, he knocked on the bathroom door. “You can come out now.”
Yu Fan happily came out of the bathroom. When he saw that Li Mu was fully dressed and looking calm, but still a little red in the face. He couldn’t help but tease him, “And you were making fun of me, you’re clearly embarrassed too!”
As he spoke, his eyes drifted down to Li Mu’s chest.
Li Mu didn’t respond. He just put on a jacket over his shirt and climbed back into bed. Then he turned off the light. “Wake me when it’s time.”
“Okay, you get some rest.”
Yu Fan sat on the other bed and looked at his phone. In the darkness, though, he kept glancing at Li Mu’s face now and then.
Maybe it was because his other brain was doing the thinking, but he felt like Li Mu looked more and more attractive. That delicate face, those soft lips... everything about him looked tempting.
Get your head straight!
He quickly tried to push those thoughts away.
He’s my best brother, someone who’s been through thick and thin with me!
Damn it, this “brother” is way too tempting...
His throat felt dry, and his body felt a bit hot. He swallowed and forced himself to look back at his phone.
The room smelled faintly of orchid, mixed with the scent of body wash and shampoo. It actually smelled really nice.
While half asleep, Yu Fan eventually dozed off too, and ended up having a dream that should not be described.
Just as the dream was about to hit its climax, a phone call from Chen Yi woke him up.
“It’s midnight. Time to go.”
“Okay,” Yu Fan replied with a tired sigh.
“Who was that?”
Li Mu’s voice startled him so much that he jumped. He quickly straightened his tone and said, “It’s midnight. The boss told me to go downstairs.”
“Then let’s go,” Li Mu said, stretching lazily. As he stretched his muscles, he let out some soft little moans.
Those cute little sounds made Yu Fan want to reach over and ruffle Li Mu’s hair, but he didn’t even dare look him in the eye. He got up quickly and said, “No rush, I’ll just go to the bathroom first…”
“But… why are you taking your underwear with you to the bathroom?”