During the long silence, Jing Yuanzhou watched Lin Yan quietly. A long time passed before he sighed. “Looking at your attitude, it seems you don’t want to talk?”
Lin Yan felt like Jing Yuanzhou’s breath was blowing against his heart. He had still been thinking about how to guard against this person but now he inexplicably felt that there was nothing wrong with confessing to each other.
“No, it is fine to talk.” Lin Yan glanced at his wrist that was still being held by Jing Yuanzhou and muttered, “Let go first.”
Jing Yuanzhou smiled softly and obediently took back his hand. However, the hand that was retracted was placed back on his ankle. It resumed the ambiguous movements just now and continued to massage the ointment.
In this way, the evil fire that had just been suppressed started to run rampant again. The atmosphere that had already calmed down became filled with ambiguity in an instant.
Lin Yan was sure that Jing Yuanzhou was absolutely doing this deliberately. He gritted his teeth and asked without a smile, “Jing Yuanzhou, can I understand that you are nervous? Deliberately using this behavior to make me happy… have you ever thought about what if I don’t appreciate it?”
Jing Yuanzhou looked up at him. “You will appreciate it.”
Lin Yan was choked up by such a sentence and finally couldn’t help clicking his tongue. “This type of overconfidence is indeed your style of doing things.”
Jing Yuanzhou heard these words and paused his massage for a moment. There was a moment of silence before he said, “In fact, I’m not that confident.”
He thought about it and added, “At least, I’ve never been able to figure out what you are thinking in your heart.”
Lin Yan didn’t answer. He instinctively wanted to grab for a cigarette, only to find that there was nothing in his pocket. Jing Yuanzhou noticed Lin Yan’s movements and took out a box of cigarettes, handing it to him. “Do you want to smoke?”
Lin Yan’s gaze paused for a moment. Then he reached out and pulled one out. Rather than lighting it up, he rubbed it repeatedly in the palm of his hand. “I won’t smoke.”
Jing Yuanzhou didn’t ask much and took back the cigarette box. The surroundings became quiet again. In such an atmosphere, Lin Yan pinched the cigarette butt in his hand and changed its shape. It seemed that this action wasn’t enough to vent the emotions currently surging inside him. He sent it to his mouth and it shook up and down as he spoke. “Then what do you think?”
The moment he asked this, the undercurrents that had been surging between them for a while was brought into the light. For these tacit things, it was too hypocritical to continue hiding them. It was better to be direct and honest.
Lin Yan didn’t say it but he couldn’t help muttering secretly in his heart, ‘We are both adults. There is no need to learn from children and play some silly confession game.’
The heartbeat itself was a physiological reaction. The only certainty now was that the two of them were indeed aware of each other. According to Lin Yan’s meaning, even the sentimental confession sections could be completely omitted.
After all, if he and Jing Yuanzhou really wanted to get together then they might explode on the spot. The thing they were originally lacking wasn’t ‘you and me’ but how to properly arrange things in the next period of time. The real problems were always more difficult to deal with than the emotional part.
Lin Yan thought that Jing Yuanzhou was a senior god approaching the age of retirement and should have the same worries about the team’s development. He didn’t expect that after staying silent for a moment, Jing Yuanzhou also pinched a cigarette in his mouth and spoke in an extremely serious voice, “I don’t know. I haven’t considered anything apart from the fact that I definitely like you.”
I definitely like you.
Just these words made Lin Yan almost smash his cigarette. “……”
It was really hard for him to connect such excessive love with a man who was so self-controlled. At first he was a bit stunned. Then the words started to replay in his mind like they were on an infinite loop. His heartbeat was out of control.
Lin Yan couldn’t help swearing in his heart. ‘Fuck, I thought we could skip the sentimental confession stage. He suddenly played with me like this!’
The most important thing was that Lin Yan discovered he actually really liked this…
Under the indoor lighting, Jing Yuanzhou noticed the unusual blush on Lin Yan’s face. A smile flashed in his eyes and he deliberately made his voice a bit lost. “Why aren’t you talking anymore? Don’t you like me? Is everything just my wishful thinking?”
Lin Yan saw all the changes in this person’s eyes but he jumped straight into the trap despite seeing through it. He took a deep breath and didn’t avoid the question. He simply and concisely replied, “I like you. There is no wishful thinking.”
The moment he spoke, he felt Jing Yuanzhou’s fingertips on his ankle squeeze slightly. Then it quickly loosened as if afraid of accidentally causing him pain. Such a small detail made Lin Yan’s mouth uncontrollably curve up in a smile as he saw Jing Yuanzhou’s forced calm expression.
In the past few days, apart from the usual training time, Jing Yuanzhou’s attention had always been on Lin Yan. Originally, he had prepared many things in advance for today’s conversation. He never expected that Lin Yan would express his feelings so directly.
The thin window paper that was one-sidedly broken was torn open all at once. It was too unexpected and all his preparations seemed useless.
Jing Yuanzhou’s Adam’s apple moved and he controlled the impulse to push this person onto the bed. One thousand words were restrained to a few sentences. “Yet you’ve been hiding from me like this. What are you worried about?”
“It isn’t your problem. It’s me.” Lin Yan was silent for a moment before grabbing at his hair. “This team was formed by me and I have to be responsible for all of you. When there is no way to deal with two important things at the same time, I think normal people will choose to deal with the ongoing thing first.”
It was very concise and made Jing Yuanzhou instantly understand. From the moment Lin Yan intentionally avoided contact with him, he had actually guessed this was a possibility. Still, he couldn’t help being a bit dumbfounded once he heard it directly. “This is why you are sacrificing me?”
“How can you say I am sacrificing you? It is obviously for you.” Lin Yan glanced at him and every word was clear. “How many years can a player have a professional career? Jing Yuanzhou, how many years do you have left?”
The expression on Jing Yuanzhou’s face gradually became restrained after this sentence. A complex emotion hit his heart. This was accompanied by a gradually warming heartbeat that made him want to pull this person into his arms.
Lin Yan’s words were extremely sensible and objective. Perhaps from the identity of the team owner and coach, all these considerations were understandable. However, Lin Yan didn’t realize that in his view of the situation, every final point was a consideration for Jing Yuanzhou.
23 years old, it was an age where one might retire at any time. Compared to dreams, whether you liked a person or not was something that could be temporarily endured. However, could a person really stand it?
Lin Yan saw Jing Yuanzhou remain silent and felt a sharp pain in his heart. He was about to say something when he saw Jing Yuanzhou suddenly stand up and throw the cigarette aside. Then without warning, he leaned forward.
Lin Yan’s heart jumped and he instinctively retreated. In such a position, he naturally had to fall straight on the bed. The light in front of him suddenly dimmed and Jing Yuanzhou’s figure was above him. His back was to the light and his face was in the shadows, so Lin Yan couldn’t really see it. Two hands were on both sides of Lin Yan and a hoarse voice was hard. “You haven’t tried it. How do you know there is no way to deal with it?”
Lin Yan’s eyes shook slightly. Jing Yuanzhou stared into Lin Yan’s eyes and tried to control his emotions so they didn’t leak out too much. “Of course, if you are really worried then it doesn’t matter if we don’t fall in love.”
He paused before adding, “However, we can always confirm the relationship first right?”
Lin Yan was already very parched. Then he couldn’t help being stunned by the last sentence.
He was shocked that someone could have such shameless logic and met Jing Yuanzhou’s eyes. “Determine the relationship first and then fall in love? Jing Yuanzhou, are you inviting me to get onto the bus first and then buy the ticket?”
“As long as you remember to buy the ticket, I can do it.” Jing Yuanzhou answered calmly. Then he thought of a new term that sounded quite academic for their future mode of getting along. “For two months, let’s treat it as a ‘pre-association’. Now that we know each other’s hearts, it is absolutely impossible to pretend that nothing has happened, at least in my opinion. Instead of meeting each other awkwardly, it is better to adapt to this mode of getting along before we officially fall in love. At that time, you will find that everything isn’t as complicated as you think. Do you agree?”
His tone was so gentle it was almost coaxing. In particular, the tone of the last three words were low and gentle and they stroked at his hot earlobes. The words of refusal were stuck in Lin Yan’s throat and could no longer come out. In the end, he couldn’t resist avoiding Jing Yuanzhou’s deep gaze and gritted his teeth. “So why is it two months?”
The attitude of not refusing directly made the joy in Jing Yuanzhou’s eyes more intense. He leaned toward Lin Yan’s ear. “Because this is the maximum I can endure.”
The words seemed like crazy talk and he laughed. “Once the time comes, whether you want to continue or not, I will make you admit it!”
The sudden action made Lin Yan unable to react for a while. It wasn’t until the hot breath touched his earlobe that his body shook instinctively. He lay flat and his feet instinctively wanted to curl up. However, he was forced to stay where he was due to Jing Yuanzhou pressing against his body.
The man’s low voice entered his ears. His face suddenly burned red.
Lin Yan’s mouth slowly tightened upon discovering such embarrassing details. He lowered his eyes in an expressionless manner and narrowed then when he saw Jing Yuanzhou’s smile. Seeing that Jing Yuanzhou was about to get up, he suddenly reached out a hand without warning.
Jing Yuanzhou obviously didn’t expect Lin Yan to abruptly act and he was directly pulled down without any precautions. Their lips hit each other hard in an instant.
The fierce and dazzling kiss was full of revenge for that ‘ridicule.’ They completely fell and the two people rolled around on the bed.
After the deep kiss, their breathing was disordered like the messy clothes on their bodies. Residual heat surrounded them.
Noting Jing Yuanzhou’s deeper gaze than before, Lin Yan endured the pain from his hurt ankle and wiped the aftermath of the kiss from his lips with his thumb. “What are you looking at? Isn’t it a pre-association?”
He worked hard not to make his voice too hoarse. “This is the interest for the next month or so.”
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