Disobedience To Control chapter 27
One-sided Kiss
After coming out of the swimming pool this time, instead of going home alone, Song Siheng drove with Yang Xiaobei to the villa in the eastern suburbs.
It was rare that Yang Xiaobei didn’t speak much along the way. He was wrapped in a thick coat, his hair still damp, and the car window was open a crack, letting in the cool breeze, which blew his bangs up.
“Are you cold?” Song Siheng happened to encounter a red light, stepped on the brake, turned his head to look at him, showing unusual concern.
“Not cold.” Yang Xiaobei shook his head, this was the only sentence he said in the car.
By the time the two arrived at the villa area, the sun had already sunk below the horizon, and the last hint of evening warmth had dissipated completely.
After getting out of the car, Yang Xiaobei seemed to have recovered, he walked in front of Song Siheng, pushed open the garden gate, passed the overgrown lawn, and stopped in front of the door. He entered the password lightly: 0, 2, 1, 3.
Seeing that he was unwilling to talk, Song Siheng went back to the study first. There were still some emails left to deal with that day.
Yang Xiaobei stayed in the kitchen on the first floor, stewing something.
About an hour later, his voice came from under the stairs, “Are you hungry?”
Song Siheng closed his laptop and went downstairs five minutes later. When he entered the dining room, he saw that Yang Xiaobei had stewed a pot of millet porridge.
“I see there’s nothing else in your house.” He shrugged.
“If you want something, you can order it yourself.” Song Siheng pointed to a note posted on the refrigerator with the contact numbers of several nearby restaurants for takeout.
“Forget it, these places are too expensive. A bowl of wonton noodles costs me an extra hundred bucks.” Yang Xiaobei joked with Song Siheng, seeming to have recovered from the mood of the day.
Song Siheng turned to look at him. “Yang Xiaobei.”
“Yeah?” Yang Xiaobei rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie and was about to sit down.
“I gave you quite a bit of money, didn’t I?” Song Siheng looked into his eyes. “Why are you saving so much?”
Yang Xiaobei was stunned at first, lowered his eyes, and after two seconds, met his gaze. “Remembering hardship in prosperity, you rich people don’t understand. Unlike us who are used to being poor, we dare not spend money even when we have it.”
“Why are you saving money?” Song Siheng didn’t speak at first but watched him sit down. “Jiangcheng University’s tuition isn’t expensive, and you shouldn’t have much expenses in the swimming team.”
Yang Xiaobei didn’t answer at first but reached out and scooped up some porridge for himself with a white spoon. Then he looked at Song Siheng with a playful smile, “Hey, I’ll be honest with you.”
“What are you hiding from me?”
“I, uh, am vain.” Yang Xiaobei leaned across the table and tapped Song Siheng’s back of the hand. “I also want to buy a watch like yours.”
Song Siheng looked down; it was a green dial steel mechanical watch.
His tone was frivolous, and his logic was contradictory. Song Siheng didn’t know if this statement was believable.
“Do you like it?” Song Siheng unclasped the wristband with a click and reached across the table to hand it to him. “It’s for you.”
“Damn.” Yang Xiaobei didn’t move, just looked at him. “Is this for real?”
“The watch is real, of course,” Song Siheng replied nonchalantly.
“I’m asking if you really want to give it to me?””
“Forget it then.” Song Siheng retracted his hand to take it back, but halfway there, Yang Xiaobei intercepted him.
“Yes, yes, of course, why wouldn’t I want a free gift?” Yang Xiaobei took the watch, turning it over in his hand, carefully examining every inch of its mechanical structure. “It’s a pity I have to get in the water every day, otherwise, I’d wear it every day.”
Song Siheng chuckled softly. “Don’t waste good stuff.”
“No way. I’ll put it by my bedside, it’s like seeing you every moment, every night.” Yang Xiaobei smiled playfully and then, without ceremony, put the watch on himself.
“Gross,” Song Siheng averted his gaze.
After finishing their porridge, the two sat down on the sofa, and Yang Xiaobei turned on the TV. Song Siheng rarely stayed overnight at the villa in the eastern suburbs, and besides Yang Xiaobei, no one else had ever turned on the TV.
Glancing up, Song Siheng saw that Yang Xiaobei had tuned into a puzzle quiz show.
“You still watch this?”
Two college students were competing on the TV, and the person with the most correct answers could win the ultimate prize of the day.
“There’s nothing else to watch. I don’t like watching singing and dancing competitions either.” Yang Xiaobei yawned, flipping through channels with the remote control.
Song Siheng paid no more attention and turned to go upstairs to continue dealing with business matters. Suddenly, Yang Xiaobei turned around and grabbed his wrist.
Puzzled, Song Siheng looked at him. “What’s up?”
Yang Xiaobei looked into his eyes. “Have you heard of the trolley problem?”
“You know about that too?”
Yang Xiaobei flashed a set of white teeth and pointed to the TV. “I heard about it on TV before. Am I not allowed to educate myself?”
“What do you want to ask?” Song Siheng poured himself a glass of water, looking down at Yang Xiaobei.
“If you were the person driving the trolley,” Yang Xiaobei looked up at his face, “and I was lying on one end of the tracks, and you could save the other five people by running over me, what would you choose?”
Song Siheng had never thought about this question, let alone expected it to come from the person in front of him.
“It’s not a math problem. There’s no standard answer, so I won’t answer,” Song Siheng shrugged.
“You don’t have to treat it as a math problem, just answer with your intuition.”
Looking at the watch on Yang Xiaobei’s wrist, Song Siheng smiled faintly. He walked to the other end of the sofa, sitting sideways on the armrest.
He leaned in close, facing Yang Xiaobei. “I would step on the gas and run you over.”
Finishing his sentence, he reached out and grabbed Yang Xiaobei’s arm, then bent over, pressing him tightly.
Yang Xiaobei was forced to lean back, but soon he laughed and broke free from his embrace, embracing his waist. “Okay, impressive. Let me see how you plan to run me over.”
Since they were at the villa in the eastern suburbs, and Yang Xiaobei’s injury had already healed, the two inevitably ignited their passion once again.
However, this night, Song Siheng clearly felt Yang Xiaobei’s hands gripping him particularly hard, as if he wanted to break his waist.
“What are you doing?!” Song Siheng bit him back, his canine teeth embedding into the muscle, almost piercing the skin.
Yang Xiaobei winced in pain, coming to his senses and loosening his grip. The sweat on his forehead dripped onto Song Siheng’s neck.
For the first time, the two didn’t go all the way, silently retreating to different bathrooms. In the vast villa, only the sound of water at different frequencies penetrated the walls, echoing between spaces.
And that dark green mechanical watch still lay on the bedside table, faithfully ticking away.
When Song Siheng finished washing and returned to the bedroom, Yang Xiaobei hadn’t come back yet. He pulled back the covers and lay down, sinking deep into the mattress. In mid-winter, birds nested in the trees outside for warmth, chirping softly.
Perhaps due to the excessive exercise of the day, Song Siheng quickly closed his eyes, falling into a light sleep.
He didn’t know how long it had been when, in a daze, Song Siheng felt the mattress sink slightly. After a rustle, a pair of hands appeared around his waist, followed by his entire back being embraced. Usually, when they spent the night together, they each slept on half of the bed, clearly delineating the boundary. It was rare for such a boundary-crossing contact to occur afterwards.
Yang Xiaobei’s short hair, now dry, felt somewhat soft as it brushed against the back of his neck. Their breathing gradually synchronized, and the rise and fall of their chests, the warmth of their skin, seemed to dissolve the previous discomfort.
But Song Siheng couldn’t fall asleep. He opened his eyes, and in the dim room, the curtains were still, and the birds outside had quieted down. Only the watch on the bedside table continued to tick persistently.
Yang Xiaobei’s breathing grew even. Song Siheng felt a little uncomfortable being squeezed, and was about to pry open his hand, but then heard the person behind him whisper in a very small voice, “It’s okay, it’s okay.”
Song Siheng stopped his movement and turned to look at him.
There was no light in the room, only a faint light filtered through the curtains.
The faint light fell on Yang Xiaobei’s closed eyelids, and he seemed to have broken out in a thin layer of sweat again. And on his thick eyelashes, it was unclear if there were droplets of sweat or tears.
In the darkness, Song Siheng looked at this face for about two minutes before slowly lifting his right hand and gently wiping away the droplets from his eyelashes with his thumb. Then he traced his eyelids, cheekbones, jawline with his fingertip, finally stopping at his neck.
Then he cupped the person’s neck in front of him, slowly brought his face closer to his own, and pressed a gentle kiss on his forehead.
Even he didn’t know the reason.
However, to Song Siheng’s surprise, the person in front of him suddenly opened his eyes.
“Why did you kiss me secretly?”
📢Author’s Note
Oops, got caught.