Thirsty Skin - Chapter 43

Chapter 43 – 【This feeling… is it love?】

Now… not anymore…

What did that mean?

【He said this as if he was teasing me.】

【But, I haven’t told him about my sexual orientation…】

“Which folder is the information in?” asked the person next to him.

Lin Wan’s heart was beating wildly: “It’s in my mailbox.”

【Does he know that I am the same???】

Zhu Chizhou turned the computer around so that the screen was facing him: “Log in to your email.”

“Oh, okay.”

Lin Wan’s reaction was slower than usual. He reached out to touch the computer touchpad, and his arm touched the arm of the person next to him. His fever had not subsided yet, and when he touched Zhu Chizhou’s slightly cool skin, his heartbeat became even more chaotic.

【So what did he think of me before…?】

Finding the email address in the browser’s favorites, he clicked on it, and the email at the top of the inbox list is the one sent to him by Zhu Chizhou.

He clicked to download the attachment, then Lin Wan moved a little to the side and separated from Zhu Chizhou’s body.

While waiting for the progress bar to load, Lin Wan felt Zhu Chizhou looking at him. He glanced over calmly: “What’s going on?”

Zhu Chizhou stared at his arm that had just moved ten centimeters away and said, “Mr. Lin, now that you know I’m gay, are you trying to avoid suspicion now?”

“No,” Lin Wan said calmly, “I’m just afraid that my cold will infect you.”

“If it was contagious,” Zhu Chizhou said with a scorching gaze, “it would’ve spread when I took you out of the bathtub just now.”

【Help!!!!!】

“Oh,” Lin Wan turned his eyes away, “Would you like to drink some cold syrup as a precaution?”

“It’s too late,” Zhu Chizhou said, “I think I have a fever too.”

Lin Wan turned his concerned gaze back and asked, “Are you feeling cold?”

Zhu Chizhou: “It’s a little cold.”

Lin Wan looked him up and down and noticed that his clothes were a little wet. “Just now…um, you got your clothes wet when you hugged me, right?”

Zhu Chizhou followed his gaze and lowered his head: “Yeah.”

“Why didn’t you change?”

Zhu Chizhou: “Do you have any clothes I can wear at home?”

What he wore last week, he took them home and hadn’t brought it back yet.

Lin Wan: “…No more.” After a pause, he continued: “But wearing wet clothes can easily make you sick. Take them off and I’ll help you dry them. It will only take about ten minutes.”

He reached out and touched Zhu Chizhou’s forehead. “It’s not hot. Take it off quickly. I’ll help you dry it.”

Lin Wan said this and was about to get out of bed.

Zhu Chizhou held him down and asked, “Where is the dryer?”

“On the balcony.”

“Okay,” Zhu Chizhou said, “I’ll go by myself.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the boy raised his hand and took off his shirt. The distance was very close, and Zhu Chizhou was facing Lin Wan at this time, with his firm and full chest muscles shaking right under Lin Wan’s eyes.

Lin Wan’s fever got worse, and the tips of his ears were burning. He turned away and said, “Then you go. If you don’t know how to do it, call me.”

“Well,” Zhu Chizhou said softly, “Wait for me in bed.”

When the boy got out of bed, Lin Wan’s eyes followed his wheat-colored, perfectly muscular back. He quickly left the room, and Lin Wan fell headfirst onto the pillow.

‘What does it mean to wait for me in bed?’

‘Did he do that on purpose? He is so good at teasing!’

‘Where did you learn it?!!’

Two minutes later, Lin Wan was still lying on the pillow. When he saw Zhu Chizhou coming back with his upper body naked, his heart skipped a beat. He quickly got up, sat up straight, and looked calm. 【How come he came back so soon? I thought he would put on his clothes before coming back.】

“I feel a little cold,” Zhu Chizhou sat back on the bed, politely keeping a distance of ten centimeters between him and Lin Wan, “I’ll wear it after it’s dried up.”

Zhu Chizhou coughed.

Lin Wan spread out his quilt and put it on Zhu Chizhou, then moved closer to him, arms touching him. “Are you still cold?”

Zhu Chizhou raised the corner of his mouth: “It’s much warmer now, thank you.”

After the data was downloaded, the two of them looked together. Zhu Chizhou pushed the computer towards Lin Wan and moved closer. Suddenly, Zhu Chizhou’s phone rang.

Zhu Chizhou took out his cell phone and took a look at it. He lifted the quilt and got out of bed while answering the phone: “Mom.”

Lin Wan held the computer on his lap and watched the boy walk out of the room while talking on the phone.

“Are you not at work today?” Zhu Ling asked.

“Yes,” Zhu Chizhou thought to himself that his mother already knew about it, so he might as well just say it directly, “I’m at Director Lin’s house. He’s sick and asked for leave, and I have something urgent to do with him, so I asked him to keep working despite being on IV drip.”

Zhu Ling laughed out loud: “How come you are even more stubborn than your Director Lin?”

Zhu Chizhou also smiled and said: “Follow the leader’s path and leave the leader with nowhere to go.”

The matter of having Guo Jiamin come over was cleared up with two jokes, and Zhu Ling did not ask any more questions.

“Mengmeng will be doing an internship at your company tomorrow, did you know?”

Zhu Chizhou walked to the balcony and stood in front of the dryer. “I heard her mention it before. Didn’t she say it would be next month? Why is she coming tomorrow?”

“She has nothing to do at school these days and is bored, so she said she wants to go early,” Zhu Ling said, “You two’s family backgrounds should still be kept secret from the people in the company.”

Zhu Chizhou said: “I know.”

After chatting for a while, he hung up the phone.

The display screen on the dryer counted down to two minutes. Zhu Chizhou stood by and waited for a while. When the time was up, he opened the door and took out the hot clothes.

When he returned to the bedroom, he saw Lin Wan standing by the bed, raising his hand to take the bag of liquid hanging on the clothes hanger.

Zhu Chizhou put on his shirt and walked over, took the IV bag and asked, “Where are you going?”

Lin Wan glanced at Zhu Chizhou and said calmly, “To the bathroom.”

Zhu Chizhou: “What are you going to do?”

“Pee.” Lin Wan’s cheeks turned slightly red. He rarely said such rude words in front of others.

Zhu Chizhou held the bag of medicine and walked towards the bathroom, and Lin Wan followed behind him.

‘The boy is really tall. Holding the bag like this, it feels like he runs much faster.’

Lin Wan stood in front of the toilet and reached out to take back the IV bag: “I need to pee, you get out.”

Zhu Chizhou looked at him and asked, “Which hand are you going to pee with?”

Lin Wan, who was receiving an IV drip in his left hand and holding a bag in his right hand, said: “…”

“How about I help you?” Zhu Chizhou looked at Lin Wan’s waistband.

Lin Wan hung the IV bag on the hook of the wall rack and said, “I have my hands free now. You can go out now.”

Zhu Chizhou pursed his lips and said aggrievedly: “Lin Wan, do you dislike my homosexuality and don’t want to…”

Lin Wan could no longer hold back and interrupted him loudly: “I don’t dislike you! Neither do I dislike myself! Okay, get out now!”

Zhu Chizhou should have pretended to be surprised at this time to show that this was the first time he heard of it, but his personality really couldn’t play such a green tea role. He said “Oh” and turned away.

People with dermatitis are unwilling to be honest with themselves, but at least they are honest about their sexual orientation.

Zhu Chizhou leaned against the bathroom door with his lips slightly raised.

After a while, the sound of flushing water came from the bathroom, and then Lin Wan kicked the door from inside: “Chizhou, are you outside? Open the door for me.”

Zhu Chizhou opened the door, took the IV bag from Lin Wan, and asked, “Do you want to sit on the sofa for a while?”

Lin Wan paused, and suddenly remembered that day when he was drunk, he asked Zhu Chizhou to go to the sofa with him, take off clothes and hug each other in the bathroom, and even touch each other for 30 minutes.

【Did Zhu Chizhou drink too much that day and lose his memory? 】

Zhu Chizhou: “…”

Why did you suddenly think of this?

Lin Wan answered his question: “Go to the bedroom. The computer is still on the bed.”

Zhu Chizhou turned around and walked slowly in front, and Lin Wan followed.

As they walked, Lin Wan recalled what he had done to Zhu Chizhou.

First, he held him in the swimming pool. Then, when he was on a business trip to Chengdu, he got drunk and slept one night, still holding him in his arms. Then, he held him in his arms again and again.

Before, Lin Wan always thought that Zhu Chizhou was a straight man, because it was normal for other straight men to hug each other when they were in a good relationship, and they would not take it seriously if they slept together after drinking too much, so Lin Wan did not have too much psychological burden about this.

After all, Hesse wrote that Demian kissed Sinclair on the lips, and not many people think that Demian and Sinclair are gay.

But Zhu Chizhou is not a straight man, so the nature of the matter has changed fundamentally.

And the boy was straight when he first went to Chengdu on a business trip, but not now…

Lin Wan still remembers what he did to Zhu Chizhou during his first business trip to Rong City.

He also remembered every time after that.

An answer is evident.

“Zhu Chizhou.” Lin Wan called out to the person in front of him.

“Huh?” Zhu Chizhou turned around.

Lin Wan looked into his eyes and said, “You said you were a straight man before, but now you are not. I want to know how this change happened.”

The person in front of him lowered his eyes and looked down. His eyes were very dark, but his voice was very soft: “Of course it’s because of someone.”

Lin Wan’s heartbeat quickened for a moment. He saw his own shadow in the boy’s bright pupils and asked, “Who is it because of?”

The boy smiled openly: “What do you think?”

Back on the bed, Zhu Chizhou helped Lin Wan hang the medicine on the clothes hanger, then walked around to the other side of the bed and sat down.

Lin Wan felt his heartbeat and breathing were disordered, and he wondered if he was going to have a seizure. While he was thinking about it, he heard the person beside the bed say, “Lin Wan, have you ever liked anyone?”

“Hmm?” Lin Wan came back to his senses and thought for a moment, “I don’t know. I haven’t experienced it.”

“Don’t you know what it feels like to be liked?”

Lin Wan shook his head: “I don’t know.”

“Liking him means,” Zhu Chizhou looked at Lin Wan carefully and said softly, “When I see him, my heart beats faster… When I get close to him, my breathing becomes rapid. When we haven’t met, I want to see him, and when we meet, I want to get closer. I can’t bear to see him go, and I want him to stay with me. I want to be with him even if I don’t do anything. I don’t want to have close contact with anyone else except him. Do you have this feeling towards anyone?”

Lin Wan frowned slightly.

【Rapid heartbeat, shortness of breath, the desire to get close, the desire to stay together, these are all indicators of the onset of craving syndrome.】

【If it is not satisfied, the skin will feel stinging, itchy, and breathless.】

【This feeling… is it love?】

Lin Wan said cautiously, “Chi Zhou, I must admit that I have this symptom towards you, but I’m not sure if it’s love. Regarding the ice water bath question, I’m going to answer you again.”