Disobedience To Control chapter 61
I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Do It Now
In this island nation, each island was managed by a hotel and was an excellent place for private vacations.
The island butler took their luggage, and the afternoon sun shone on the azure sea. With the butler leading the way, the two followed behind. Five minutes later, the three of them walked onto a wooden plank road extending into the sea, with two rows of small wooden houses arranged on both sides of the plank road. Each one was independent, with several pillars underneath, rooted in the sea.
The butler stopped at the farthest wooden house, handed two room keys to Song Siheng, said something in a low voice, then smiled and left.
Yang Xiaobei approached and saw a sign next to the small wooden house, with a line of English written on it: Luxury Water Villa.
Below that was another line of small letters: Sunset Side.
“What does this mean?” Yang Xiaobei turned back to ask him.
“This room has a view of the sunset.” Song Siheng opened the door with a swipe, and with a click, behind the seemingly inconspicuous wooden door was a spacious space of nearly a hundred square meters. Upon entering, there was a large foyer, with two rows of closets facing each other for guests to store luggage. Further in were two separate washrooms, each with a huge vanity mirror. In the bathroom, there was even a bathtub two meters wide.
In the center of the room was a large bed two meters wide. Four pillars stood on either side of the bed, diagonally hanging four pieces of beige gauze curtains.
Opposite the bed were four huge glass sliding doors. When the doors were opened, there was an open-air balcony. To the left of the balcony was a wooden staircase, leading down to the endless sea.
After Song Siheng unpacked his luggage, he walked to the balcony and found Yang Xiaobei sitting on the wooden staircase, with his legs hanging down, his toes less than a meter away from the sea surface.
“What are you thinking?” Song Siheng sat down behind him, half a body taller.
“I’m wondering how much it cost you to book an entire island.” Yang Xiaobei didn’t turn around, still looking at the calm sea. It was already four o’clock in the afternoon, and the sun near the equator was gradually setting, showing signs of slipping away.
“It’s not expensive. This island usually doesn’t have many visitors, just about ten rooms.”
“Even if it’s small, it’s still an independent island. Why only develop a dozen rooms?”
Song Siheng chuckled, “This country has thousands of islands, and there are still many undeveloped deserted islands.”
“You’re familiar with this place?”
“I came here to fish last Chinese New Year.” Song Siheng had been here seven or eight times. When business was not going well, he often came here to relax.
“Fishing?”
“Yeah.”
“Why did you come this time?” Yang Xiaobei suddenly turned his head, “To fish for me?”
Song Siheng clicked his tongue, “Stop flattering yourself. I haven’t had a break in a long time, okay?”
Yang Xiaobei looked into his eyes, and Song Siheng had taken off his sunglasses at some point, the orange-red sunlight reflecting perfectly in his pupils. The light was too strong, so Song Siheng squinted his eyes.
Watching this scene, Yang Xiaobei’s Adam’s apple involuntarily rolled.
“Right. You’ve experienced much more than I have.” Yang Xiaobei turned his head back and looked down at the sea.
Family conflicts, betrayal, brothers’ suicide, parents’ divorce, and even his longtime secretary being implicated. For anyone, experiencing any of these events might lead to a mental breakdown.
But Song Siheng always seemed like a precision aircraft, flying forward without distraction, unaffected by any interference.
“Have you ever cried?” Yang Xiaobei suddenly asked.
“Me?”
“Yeah.” Yang Xiaobei stared at him, “When was the last time you cried?”
Song Siheng squinted his eyes and thought for a moment, then cleared his throat, “When I was five, I fell down the stairs.”
Yang Xiaobei scoffed and turned back, “You’re lying.”
Song Siheng didn’t explain further.
Yang Xiaobei stood up from the steps and slapped his thighs, “You’ve booked the island, so can you stay in all those dozen rooms?”
Song Siheng hadn’t expected him to care about this, and hesitated for a moment, “In theory, yes.”
Yang Xiaobei exclaimed, “Wow, then I’ll sleep in this room for the first half of the night and in the next one for the second half. Otherwise, wouldn’t it be a waste?”
Song Siheng rolled his eyes, “Save your energy, okay?”
Song Siheng walked back indoors and sat on the single rattan chair at the foot of the bed. The sun had slowly sunk to the sea level, casting a deep red glow over the sea surface.
“Do you want to make a bet?”
Yang Xiaobei also walked back, “What bet?”
“Tomorrow is the fifteenth day of the lunar month, and it is said that this island experiences heavy rain every full moon. Let’s bet, whether it will rain tomorrow.”
Yang Xiaobei glanced at the scorching setting sun outside the glass door. “Impossible. With such a beautiful sunset, how could it possibly rain tomorrow?”
“I bet it will rain,” Song Siheng said.
The next morning at half past seven, thunder shook the heavens, and the lightning illuminated the glass door of the wooden house.
Yang Xiaobei woke up in a daze and looked up to find Song Siheng already sitting on the balcony. Outside the window, huge heavy rain clouds drifted by, and the sea was being pounded by rain, stirring up layers of waves.
“I told you it would rain,” Song Siheng said, turning back to him. “You lost.”
The rain on the island was completely different from the rain in the city. Once it started raining in the city, the whole sky would inevitably be gloomy, and everything would be muddy. But the rain clouds on the island came fiercely, precisely targeting a certain area of the sea.
Yang Xiaobei had never seen such a spectacular storm at sea. After watching for a while, he walked to Song Siheng’s side. “How long do you think this rain will last?”
“Not sure. It could be half an hour, it could be the whole day.”
“Damn. This is such a waste. Flying all the way here, and now it’s raining, we can’t do anything.”
Song Siheng stood up from his chair. “Who said we can’t do anything?”
“What?” Yang Xiaobei didn’t have time to react before Song Siheng had already changed into his clothes in the bathroom and was holding a paper bag in his hand.
“Where are we going?!” Yang Xiaobei hurriedly followed, and Song Siheng had already walked out of the house with an umbrella.
The rain on the beach was not heavy. Song Siheng led him forward until they reached the vicinity of the pier where they had come from. Turning left and right, they soon saw a low building in front of them.
“What is this place?”
“Secret base.” Song Siheng pressed the doorbell, and someone quickly answered the door.
It was another butler-like staff member. Yang Xiaobei folded the umbrella, and the person nodded politely to him, taking the umbrella.
Song Siheng said a few words in English to the opposite side, and the staff nodded repeatedly before leaving.
“Let’s go in.” Song Siheng pointed to a large door in front of them. Yang Xiaobei, puzzled, walked up and pressed the door-opening button.
“Where is this?” he said as the door opened completely.
Buzz—
The blue pool water reflected in his pupils. There was actually a private swimming pool hidden on this island.
“This place is usually not open to the public, it’s a private club for VIP clients,” Song Siheng explained. “But it doesn’t have the kind of 50-meter swimming lanes you guys have, here there are only 25 meters, barely enough.”
Seeing the swimming pool, Yang Xiaobei felt a bit at a loss, clearing his throat twice. “My swimming trunks are still in the room, I didn’t bring them.”
“I didn’t ask you to swim.”
“Then why are we here…”
“I’m swimming today.” Song Siheng turned around and went into the changing room next to him. Five minutes later, when he came out, he had already changed into swimming trunks, with a smartwatch on his wrist.
“How many seconds does it take for you to swim 100 meters?” he asked Yang Xiaobei casually, standing beside the starting platform.
“Us?” Yang Xiaobei took a step back, making room for him. “If we’re talking about professionals, swimming 100 meters in 49 seconds would secure a spot in the top eight in the national competition.”
“What about someone like me with amateur skills?”
Yang Xiaobei didn’t understand why he suddenly asked this, so he replied, “For amateur skills, swimming 100 meters in two minutes would be considered impressive.”
“Shall we make a bet?”
“What are we betting on?”
“Let’s see if I can swim 100 meters in two minutes.” Song Siheng lowered his head and lit up the watch on his right wrist.
Before Yang Xiaobei could respond, Song Siheng had already warmed up and stood on the starting platform.
“Here I go!” his feet pushed off the platform one after the other, and as soon as he spoke, he stretched out his arms and dived into the water like a fish.
“Damn, when did he learn to dive off the starting platform?!” Yang Xiaobei watched in amazement.
After swimming underwater for five or six meters, Song Siheng surfaced. Then he quickly started the stroke, with high elbows and shoulder rotations.
Although the movements were a bit stiff, all the technical points were in place.
In the 25-meter lane, he quickly reached the end, smoothly turned underwater, and pushed off the wall.
A hundred-meter swim requires two laps to complete. As he reached the third 25 meters, Song Siheng’s arm movements showed signs of fatigue.
But he didn’t give up, using his legs to push forward. His breathing rate also increased. The entire swimming pool was filled only with the sound of his kicking and stroking through the water.
The last 25 meters were about to end. In the last two meters, Song Siheng kicked with long strokes, extended his arms, and bang!
Finally, he reached the end of the hundred meters, successfully returning to the shore, smoothly touching the wall.
He grabbed onto the buoy and surfaced, lifting his wristwatch.
“2 minutes and 15 seconds!” he blinked triumphantly. “Yang Xiaobei, you should be feeling a bit pressured now!”
Yang Xiaobei pulled him out of the water onto the shore. Song Siheng took off his swim cap, shook his hair, and tried to catch his breath.
“When did you learn this?” Yang Xiaobei remembered that he had only taught Song Siheng two lessons before. “Which coach taught you?”
Song Siheng laughed. “If you don’t teach me, should I just sit around and wait?”
Yang Xiaobei was less than half a meter away from him, the person in front of him soaked with water. Water droplets clung to his hair, his attractive body glistening, and his swimsuit clinging tightly to his thighs. His two beautifully sculpted legs were right in front of him.
After glancing at him for a few moments, Yang Xiaobei felt his heartbeat quicken again.
“I’m going to change and then we can eat,” Song Siheng shook the water out of his swim cap, and under Yang Xiaobei’s gaze, he returned to the changing room.
Yang Xiaobei was forced to avert his gaze.
What Yang Xiaobei initially thought was going to be a meal at the island’s restaurant turned out differently. When they returned to the wooden house, someone was already waiting at the door with a small cart.
“You can think of it as room service,” Song Siheng explained to him, then pushed the door open, gesturing for the person to come in.
The staff member skillfully arranged the dessert, main course, and drinks on the wooden table on the balcony. However, five minutes later, they all left the room.
Yang Xiaobei increasingly felt that all of this was breaking through his understanding of the past nineteen years.
The rain at sea was still falling, but it had lessened a lot. There was a sunshade extending from the balcony of the wooden house, conveniently blocking the rain.
“Do you want some wine?” Song Siheng took a seat first and raised one of the glasses. “Wine, it shouldn’t make you drunk.”
Yang Xiaobei wasn’t used to drinking alcohol. But for some reason, he nodded, “I’ll have a little with you.”
Song Siheng tilted his head back and took a sip, furrowing his brow slightly. “This wine has a bit of a harsh taste.”
Following his lead, Yang Xiaobei also took a sip. He didn’t understand what Song Siheng meant, but he felt his throat tighten and heat up.
The weather on the island was indeed changeable. They hadn’t finished their desserts yet when the rain clouds in the distance rapidly drifted southwards, and it seemed that the rain was about to stop.
After drinking a bit of wine, Song Siheng relaxed. With one hand holding the wine glass and the other resting on the armrest of the rattan chair, he softened considerably, sinking into the chair and looking at Yang Xiaobei.
Yang Xiaobei had only taken a few sips, but seeing Song Siheng’s slightly flushed cheeks, he found himself feeling a bit warm too.
“What troubles did you have when you were a child?” Song Siheng suddenly asked him.
Yang Xiaobei looked at his slightly parted lips, taking several seconds to digest his question.
“When I was a child…” Yang Xiaobei slightly avoided his gaze, looking down at the remaining half of dessert on the plate, “I couldn’t eat enough, couldn’t dress warmly enough, and was often beaten up. Mainly, there wasn’t enough money.”
Song Siheng looked at him, but his eyes didn’t reveal any emotion.
“And after growing up?” Song Siheng continued to ask.
Yang Xiaobei paused, then looked back at him. “After growing up, there were even more troubles.”
The rain clouds dispersed, and a bit of light seemed to filter through from the other side of the sea. The ambiguous light fell perfectly on Song Siheng’s face, from his brow to his nose bridge, and then to his lips, like a delicate golden thread.
“Such as?” His lips moved as he asked.
Yang Xiaobei’s Adam’s apple moved slightly.
“Such as now.”
“What?” Song Siheng didn’t understand what he meant.
“Such as now, there’s something I want to do, and if I don’t do it now, I’ll go crazy.”
“What is it?” Song Siheng raised an eyebrow and asked.
Yang Xiaobei didn’t answer. Instead, he stood up, reached across the wooden table between them, and gently lifted Song Siheng’s chin.
Then, he kissed Song Siheng’s lips forcefully.