Thirsty Skin - Chapter 3

Chapter 3 – 【It’s So Comfortable To Hold Onto】

Zhu Chizhou had learned how to save people, but it was his first time in actual combat.

Saving people from water is a very dangerous thing. He had no time to think about it at this moment. Relying on the posture he had learned from memory, he went around behind Lin Wan, put his hands under Lin Wan’s armpits, and lifted the person up with force.

When Zhu Chizhou pressed his warm chest against Lin Wan’s back, Lin Wan’s body seemed to soften. He stopped struggling and let Zhu Chizhou push him up, with his head out of the water.

Zhu Chizhou held Lin Wan tightly with both hands, and did a reverse breaststroke with his legs in the water. As if he was afraid of scaring Lin Wan, he moved very gently, slowly and steadily, bringing Lin Wan to the edge of the swimming pool.

Just when they were about to get ashore safely, Lin Wan seemed to finally come to his senses and suddenly grabbed Zhu Chizhou’s arm forcefully.

Zhu Chizhou thought he was still afraid, so he comforted him softly, telling him not to be afraid. But Lin Wan’s breathing became more rapid, and his body was shaking slightly, showing even more fear than when he was in the deep water just now.

Zhu Chizhou grabbed the edge of the swimming pool with one hand, and with the other hand, he held Lin Wan in his arms and pushed Lin Wan with his body, trying to get Lin Wan closer to the pool wall.

Lin Wan was only holding his arm unconsciously, but when his body touched the cold and hard tiles, he suddenly let go and turned around to hug his neck.

Lin Wan had been very cooperative from the time he was rescued to the time he reached the shore, but for some reason he suddenly became emotional. Zhu Chizhou was a little overwhelmed, and he didn’t dare to push him away, so he had to hold on to the edge of the pool with both hands to keep his balance.

He didn’t expect Lin Wan to be so timid that he would be so scared. If he was so afraid of water, why did he go swimming alone?

“It’s all right,” he said softly, “We’ve reached the shore, let’s get out of the pool.”

Lin Wan didn’t say anything, but hugged Zhu Chizhou even tighter.

There was a big height difference between the two people. Zhu Chizhou stood, stepping on the bottom of the pool, while Lin Wan put his arms around his neck, and his whole body hung tightly on him due to the buoyancy.

Not only were they tightly pressed together from the chest to the lower abdomen, but even Lin Wan’s pair of white and slender legs were wrapped around Zhu Chizhou’s waist.

Zhu Chizhou had never been hugged so tightly in the water like this before.

Forget about water, it has never even happened on land, or in the air.

He didn’t dare to move, nor did he dare to look at Lin Wan.

Zhu Chizhou was a good swimmer and had never drowned since he could remember. But he knew that humans had a natural fear of water, especially for people whose mouths and noses had just been submerged in water.

Lin Wan must be extremely frightened and extremely vulnerable now. He was worried about hearing Lin Wan’s private thoughts, so he had to look elsewhere.

The stalemate lasted for about half a minute, and Zhu Chizhou felt Lin Wan hugging him a little tighter, and then, without warning, Lin Wan buried her face in the crook of his neck.

For a few seconds, Zhu Chizhou’s heart almost stopped beating.

The feeling was not so obvious when the body was soaked in water. It was only after Lin Wan buried his face in it that Zhu Chizhou realized that his breathing was unnaturally rapid.

The hot breath sprayed on Zhu Chizhou’s neck.

Zhu Chizhou felt itchy and nervous, and his chest was beating wildly. Then he found that not only his heart was beating fast, but Lin Wan’s too.

Their chests were pressed so tightly together that it was almost impossible to tell whose heartbeat was louder.

Zhu Chizhou had hugged people of the same sex before, and his friends often put their arms around each other’s shoulders, but this was the first time he had ever experienced someone putting their face against his neck.

What’s even worse is…the two were only wearing a pair of swimming trunks.

Tight fitting, thin fabric.

No matter how hard you try to ignore it, the presence of that place is too obvious!

Lin Wan hung on him in the koala posture, and they were almost touching!

Zhu Chizhou’s hair stood on end. Suddenly, a mixture of thoughts came to his mind, and Lin Wan’s cold and desolate words echoed in his ears: Won’t it be painful to use this size?

Zhu Chizhou’s heart almost jumped out of his throat. He cleared his throat calmly and tried to make his voice sound natural: “Are you okay?”

Lin Wan heard it this time and shook his head into Zhu Chizhou’s neck. The frame of the goggles hurt his shoulder a little.

“Then let’s go up?” Zhu Chizhou said.

Lin Wan took a few quick breaths, and finally seemed to have recovered a little. He spoke in a hoarse voice, “Wait… wait a moment.”

As he spoke, that burning breath once again rushed into Zhu Chizhou’s skin, along with a soft, itchy touch. It was his… lips!

Zhu Chizhou’s muscles tensed up and he took a few deep breaths using the method his coach had taught him. Then he let go of the edge of the pool with one hand and stroked Lin Wan’s back stiffly, trying to comfort him, “It’s okay. Don’t be afraid. We’ll be fine once we get ashore.”

When his palm touched the skin on Lin Wan’s back, Lin Wan trembled again, let out a very light sigh from his throat, and tightened his arms around him again.

Zhu Chizhou was so frightened that he dared not move at all. He didn’t know that people would become so sensitive after drowning.

“Little Wanzi!”

Zeng Xubai’s voice pulled Lin Wan out of the chaos.

He was not fully awake yet. He first realized that the tip of his nose and lips were touching the person’s neck, then he found that his arms were around the person’s neck, and finally he realized with a tingling sensation that his legs were still wrapped around the person’s waist.

As two figures on the shore approached, Lin Wan let go of their hands, got off them, leaned his back against the pool wall, and stood firm.

Through the goggles, Lin Wan saw the smooth lines of the shoulders and neck, the slightly bulging veins in the arms, and the muscular chest. Drops of water were flowing down the wheat-colored skin.

Looking up, he saw that handsome, sharp, yet childish face.

Through the lens, he and Zhu Chizhou looked at each other for a while, thinking, 【It’s really comfortable to hug him.】

“Thank you.” He said to Zhu Chizhou.

For some reason, Zhu Chizhou’s face and ears suddenly turned red, and he stuttered, “Um, no, no, nothing.”

The boy turned his face away while talking, not looking at him. Obviously, he embarrassed him. Lin Wan felt ashamed, lowered her head, and said to Zhu Chizhou, “I’m sorry.”

The boy continued to stutter: “No, nothing. Are you feeling unwell? You don’t look good.”

Lin Wan said: “I’m fine.”

He turned around, tore off his goggles, put his hands on the edge of the pool, and tried to get out of the water, but found that he had no strength in his arms.

Zeng Xubai ran over and reached out to pull him at the right time. Zhu Chizhou also supported him from behind, holding his waist and lifting him up.

Lin Wan’s legs were so weak that he couldn’t stand steadily. Fortunately, Zeng Xubai supported him and he didn’t fall back into the water again.

Zeng Xubai took a bath towel and put it on him, then helped him to sit down on a beach chair on the shore to rest.

“What’s going on?” Ji Xun also came back and asked Zhu Chizhou, “Who is that?”

“He drowned,” Zhu Chizhou came out of the pool, dripping wet, “Lin Wan, my boss.”

Ji Xun’s jaw dropped in shock. He turned his head and whispered to Zhu Chizhou: “Damn, you didn’t tell me he looked like this!”

Zhu Chizhou took off his swimming goggles and swimming cap. His hair was dripping with water and his muscles were covered in water. “What?”

Ji Xun’s eyes were glued to Lin Wan. “It’s not an exaggeration to say that this is vivid and lively, right?”

Zhu Chizhou: “…You have an occupational disease?”

Ji Xun’s family runs an entertainment company that is involved in film, television, variety shows, and brokerage. Like Zhu Chizhou, he was forced to work for his family after graduation, but the difference is that Ji Xun is very passionate about this job, and especially likes to discover amateurs with star potential.

“Forget about that idea,” Zhu Chizhou said, “He earns a million a year.”

“Under my management, his annual salary will be more than a million. It’s possible to earn hundreds of millions!”

Zhu Chizhou was already used to his daily self-entertainment, so he ignored him, walked up to Lin Wan, and asked, “Are you feeling better now?”

Lin Wan wrapped himself in a bath towel, looked up at Zhu Chizhou, nodded, and said in a hoarse voice: “Much better.”

It would be impolite not to look at the person when talking face to face like this, so Zhu Chizhou had no choice but to lower his head to meet Lin Wan’s gaze, “It’s okay, don’t swim alone next time.”

The large-framed swimming goggles left a circle of indentation on Lin Wan’s face. The mark was not very deep, but it was quite obvious due to the fact that Lin Wan’s skin was too white.

Lin Wan’s cheeks and eyes were also red, with tears in her eyes, making him look as if he had been crying.

‘Maybe he really cried?’

Zhu Chizhou felt a sudden shock in his heart.

It was not known whether he had never looked at Lin Wan’s face so carefully before, or whether the pair of glasses that were always on his nose concealed Lin Wan’s beauty. For the first time, Zhu Chizhou discovered that Lin Wan looked… indeed vivid and lifelike.

It’s the kind of vivid and lifelike that would make anyone who sees it hold their breath.

He was staring blankly at the scene when a sentence popped into his mind:

【Thank you for saving me.】

Zhu Chizhou almost blurted out “Don’t be so polite”, but then he suddenly realized that what he heard was what Lin Wan was saying to him in his heart. He bit his tongue and swallowed back the words that were about to come out.

He didn’t dare to look at Lin Wan again, and instead looked at the person next to Lin Wan, the one called Lin Wan Xiaowanzi, and said, “If there’s nothing else, we’ll leave first. There was no lifeguard just now. You can tell the front desk later.”

Zeng Xubai quickly agreed and thanked Zhu Chizhou.

Ji Xun walked over from behind Zhu Chizhou, and stretched out his hand to Lin Wan with a big smile on his face. He looked like the owner of a bar in a red-light district who was trying to abduct decent women: “Hello, I’m Chizhou’s friend, my name is Ji Xun, and I’m from Ji Leng Media…”

Zhu Chizhou grabbed Ji Xun’s neck and pulled him back, interrupting him angrily: “Let’s go!”

Ji Xun was not as tall as Zhu Chizhou, nor as strong as Zhu Chizhou, so he was dragged away by Zhu Chizhou and had no power to resist.

After they left, Zeng Xubai sat down on the recliner next to him and fanned Lin Wan’s still red face with his palm, “Are you sick?”

Lin Wan said softly, “Yeah.”

“Didn’t you just change the medicine this month? Is it not working well?”

Lin Wan wrapped the towel tightly around his body, lay on his back, and raised his arms to block the glaring light. A special fragrance lingered at the tip of his nose. The fragrance was too faint and he couldn’t find the source. He just felt dizzy, as if he was still trapped in the water.

After a long time, Lin Wan took his arm down, turned his head to look at Zeng Xubai, and answered Zeng Xubai’s question in a calm tone: “It’s useless. All the medicines are useless.”