Thirsty Skin - Chapter 50

Chapter 50 – “Will You Miss Me?”

The aroma of mango mousse filled the air, slightly sweet, but Zhu Chizhou felt a mixture of bitterness and sourness in his heart.

Whether to confess, when to confess, and how to confess, these three questions are more difficult to answer than the other.

First of all, can Lin Wan accept that his inner voice could be heard by Chizhou?

Zhu Chizhou put himself in the other person’s shoes. If his thoughts were broadcast live to another person in real time, even if that person was Lin Wan, it would not be easy for him to face it calmly.

Moreover, Lin Wan was a cautious and sensitive person. He was used to not exposing his inner thoughts easily and always carefully controlled his emotions. If Lin Wan knew that Zhu Chizhou had heard his inner thoughts, he would probably be greatly shocked.

Maybe… he’d turn against him?

Lin Wan finally took a step towards him, willing to trust and rely on him, but how strong was the relationship they had just established? Would it be shattered by this incident?

Zhu Chizhou didn’t dare to try.

Maybe he would explain things to Lin Wan after their feelings deepened and their trust in each other became stronger?

But how long will he keep this secret from Lin Wan?

Zhu Chizhou stared at the cake box that Lin Wan had taken off the table, his heart in a mess.

“What are you thinking about?” Lin Wan’s voice brought Zhu Chizhou back to reality.

Zhu Chizhou and Lin Wan looked at each other and heard Lin Wan say in his heart:

【Why are you not happy?】

Zhu Chizhou looked away and turned his head to look out the window as if nothing had happened: “I was thinking, it seems like it’s going to rain soon.”

It is cloudy today, and the sky is white and hazy, as if covered with a layer of paper, but the sky is still bright and there is no sign of rain.

Lin Wan put the small fork in his mouth and stared at Zhu Chizhou’s face for a while. He saw Zhu Chizhou’s uneasiness, but did not ask any more questions.

After eating the cake, Lin Wan said to the boy, “I still have some work to do, which may take more than half an hour. Do you want to wait for me to go home for dinner?”

Zhu Chizhou’s heart moved, he turned his gaze from the window to Lin Wan and said, “Yes.”

Lin Wan raised a light smile, lowered his head and spread out the documents, and said casually: “By the way, we are out of food at home. Let’s go to the supermarket together later and buy some of your favorite food to put in the refrigerator.”

Zhu Chizhou could tell that Lin Wan was coaxing him.

“Okay,” Zhu Chizhou felt a little embarrassed when he stood up, “Then you go ahead and do your work. I’ll work overtime too.”

After leaving Lin Wan’s office, Zhu Chizhou took out his cell phone and walked towards the elevator.

He must find a way to remedy the situation quickly! !

Cambridge, Massachusetts, 5:30 a.m. local time.

Yan Lu was awakened by the ringing phone.

There are five numbers that can call him during his sleep hours: his father, his mother, Ji Xun, Zhu Chizhou, and one who has never called him.

He was busy until very late the night before and was now extremely sleepy. He reached for his phone and answered it with his eyes closed. His voice was lazy: “What’s up?”

Zhu Chizhou’s voice came from the receiver: “Brother Lu, don’t sleep, save me!”

Yan Lu frowned and instantly woke up from his sleepiness.

Zhu Chizhou’s way of addressing Yan Lu has different levels.

Yan Lu is two years older than Zhu Chizhou. Usually, Zhu Chizhou just calls Yan Lu by his full name. If he needs Yan Lu’s help, Zhu Chizhou will call him “Old Yan”.

If he got into a big trouble and couldn’t clean it up himself, and needed Yan Lu to help him deal with his parents, Zhu Chizhou would call him Brother Lu.

Yan Lu hadn’t heard that form of address in many years. The last time was when Zhu Chizhou ran away to a country in civil strife to join the Allied Forces during the summer vacation of his senior year in high school. He was caught by Lei Zhengting and locked up at home to be taught a lesson.

If Yan Lu hadn’t stopped him, Zhu Chizhou would be in a wheelchair now.

In the darkness, Yan Lu slowly opened his eyes, “What did you do again?”

Zhu Chizhou said in a tone as if confessing to the priest: “I did a bad thing, a very bad thing.”

“Are you interfering in other countries’ internal affairs again?”

“No,” Zhu Chizhou paused for a moment, “it’s more serious than that.”

Yan Lu: “Oh, which chapter and which article of the Criminal Law?”

Zhu Chizhou: “It’s not written in the criminal law.”

“Then why are you calling me at this time?” Yan Lu closed his eyes. “Hang up.”

“Wait!” Zhu Chizhou howled over there, “My best brother is an EEG expert. This is God’s arrangement. You must save me!”

Yan Lu lost all his sleepiness due to his howling. “What? Are you crazy?”

“That’s about the same.” Zhu Chizhou said.

Yan Lu has an undergraduate degree in biomedical engineering and a master’s degree in neuroscience. In recent years, he has been doing research on brain-computer interfaces, focusing on EEG signal analysis. Yan Lu is a perfect match for this job.

Zhu Chizhou told Yan Lu everything about how he could hear Lin Wan’s thoughts. The more Yan Lu listened, the clearer he became. Finally, he sat up from the bed and asked, “Why didn’t you look for me in the first place?”

Zhu Chizhou: “…I’m afraid you’ll catch me and use me for experiments.”

Yan Lu: “Are you not afraid now?”

Zhu Chizhou immediately felt guilty: “You are not such a beast, are you?”

Yan Lu remained calm and asked, “Have you ever been to a psychiatrist?”

“I’m mentally fine!”

Yan Lu: “You are just kidding me.”

“I swear everything I said is true. If I lie to you even for one word, I will never get an erection for the rest of my life!”

This oath was enough to convince Yan Lu, and he said, “Then come here quickly, and let me see what miracle has appeared in your brain.”

Zhu Chizhou didn’t care about his brain at all, he just asked: “What should I do about Xiaowanzi?”

Yan Lu’s tone was calm but excited: “Bring him here too. Whether I can win the Nobel Prize depends on you two.”

Zhu Chizhou: “?”

Zhu Chizhou: “Do you have a conscience? I trusted you so much, but you want to use me to win the award. You…”

Yan Lu suddenly interrupted: “If it were me, I would keep it a secret from him forever.”

Zhu Chizhou paused: “…Is there no bottom line?”

“No one will accept this,” Yan Lu said. “No one can accept that there is a person who can hear his or her inner voice. He or she is completely naked and transparent in front of you. There is no privacy, no personal space, and you can know whatever he or she is thinking at any time. Do you understand how horrible this is?”

Yan Lu’s words made Zhu Chizhou completely frozen.

In fact, he knew that Yan Lu was right.

He now holds on to the hope that Lin Wan will accept this matter, just to make himself feel more at ease.

“Fuck…” Zhu Chizhou was in agony, “I don’t want to lie to him anymore.”

“His illness will never be cured anyway. He craves your body, and you can hear his inner voice. You two are even now.”

“This is different,” Zhu Chizhou said, “I helped him relieve his symptoms, and I was willing to do so. But I can hear his inner voice, is that what he wants?”

“Can you think of a way… to help me turn off this ability?”

This was Zhu Chizhou’s purpose in looking for Yan Lu. He wanted to solve the problem first, and then go to Lin Wan to apologize.

No matter how angry Lin Wan was at that time, at least he still had a chance to get him back instead of letting Lin Wan be afraid of him.

Yan Lu was silent for a moment and said, “Theoretically, it is possible. Come to my place first and I will see what is going on.”

Although he was not absolutely sure, Yan Lu’s words made Zhu Chizhou feel a little relieved.

After finishing the call and going upstairs, Zhu Chizhou saw Lin Wan standing at the door of the tea room chatting with their colleagues.

This was a rare scene. Lin Wan rarely chatted with people in the office area before, and he seemed to be having a very happy time, even smiling.

Zhu Chizhou walked over there. Lin Wan caught a glimpse of Zhu Chizhou out of the corner of his eye, turned around, smiled at him, and walked away with the cup in his hand.

The colleague who was chatting with Lin Wan just now greeted Zhu Chizhou and gossiped, “Have you noticed that our boss has become much more cheerful since he came back from his sick leave?”

Zhu Chizhou nodded, “Yeah.”

Lin Wan had become cheerful, and he couldn’t let him become depressed again.

It was said to take half an hour, but Lin Wan took more than an hour to finish the task at hand.

Zhu Chizhou went to the underground garage to wait first. When he saw the person coming, his eyes were glued to the thin figure. After the person got into the car and sat on the passenger seat, he hugged the person again.

Lin Wan was stunned for a moment, “What happened today?”

There was a car center console between the two of them, so it was not comfortable to hug like this, but Zhu Chizhou did not let go and rubbed against Lin Wan’s neck for a long time.

Lin Wan was held up with his head tilted back, and gently stroked Zhu Chizhou’s back like coaxing a child, “Are you in a bad mood?”

“No,” Zhu Chizhou hugged him tightly one last time as a car arrived outside, then let go with a smile on his face, “I just miss you a little.”

Lin Wan looked at him and couldn’t help laughing.

【So he’s just acting like a spoiled brat.】

When the car drove out, it was lunchtime and the road was a little congested. When the car stopped, Zhu Chizhou let go of the steering wheel with his right hand and held Lin Wan’s hand.

Lin Wan could feel that Zhu Chizhou was still not very happy, but the boy didn’t say anything and didn’t ask. It was just that when Zhu Chizhou held his hand, he squeezed his fingers between Zhu Chizhou’s fingers and held them.

The little brat couldn’t keep his cool, he would definitely say it out loud.

After parking the car in the supermarket parking lot, the boy really started talking.

“Xiaowanzi,” Zhu Chizhou turned to look at Lin Wan, “I plan to go to the United States on a business trip next week.”

Lin Wan looked at him.

【Is this the reason why you are unhappy today?】

Lin Wan grabbed Zhu Chizhou’s hand and shook it, “Don’t worry, it’s ok.”

“There are still a few days left. I will record two more meditation guides for you.”

Lin Wan pursed his lips and said, “Okay.”

“I’ll be back in two weeks.”

Lin Wan said obediently: “Ok.”

“You have to eat well even if you are alone.”

Lin Wan said obediently: “I know.”

“Will you miss me?”

“Yes.”

“How much?”

Lin Wan looked at Zhu Chizhou and couldn’t help laughing: “I’ll miss you a lot.”

Zhu Chizhou said: “Kiss me.”

Outside the windshield, it was bright daylight and the parking lot was busy. Anyone passing by the car could see inside by just turning their heads.

Lin Wan was so shy and cautious, and Zhu Chizhou knew he would be rejected, so he just wanted to satisfy his desire to talk.

But Lin Wan unbuckled his seat belt, held Zhu Chizhou’s face with his hands, leaned over, and kissed him lightly on the lips.