Chapter 2667: Rain in the South City Tonight 29

Xie Linzhou looked around the room, only recalling when he heard Jin Chen say to let him take two sobering pills.

He grabbed Jin Chen's hand and, without letting him speak, walked stubbornly toward the bar beside the Living Room.

"I want to drink alcohol."

Jin Chen, being pulled by him, chuckled slightly, "Still drinking? You've had enough tonight."

"I want to drink the alcohol you mix," Xie Linzhou stopped, turned to look at him, his gaze unusually serious, "the kind you mix just for me."

The obsession in Xie Linzhou's heart grew intensely strong; in the room only the warm yellow ambient light above the bar was on, its glow like the afterglow of sunset, casting his inner grievance and longing in an alluring light.

"Let me mix it for you tomorrow, okay? You're really drunk now." Jin Chen tried to reason with the drunkard.

Xie Linzhou disagreed, showing no sign of the maturity and steadiness one would expect from someone older than Jin Chen.

He hooked Jin Chen's finger, gave it a light shake, "Today at the bar you mixed drinks for them, but not for me."

Xie Linzhou gazed at Jin Chen more seriously, stating a grave fact.

"I'm really jealous."

Jin Chen saw Xie Linzhou seemingly waiting for his reaction, indulgingly ruffled his hair, "Alright, I'll mix it for you."

He pulled Xie Linzhou to sit on a high stool, turned sideways, and took out the tools.

Considering Xie Linzhou's drunken state, Jin Chen deliberately mixed a non-alcoholic drink, since in his current condition he wouldn't taste the difference.

Xie Linzhou received the beautifully colored drink, took a small sip beside Jin Chen, savored it carefully, and lifted his head doubtfully to look at him.

"This drink… what's its name?"

Jin Chen curled his knuckles, gently brushing his still slightly damp cheek with the joint, "Tears."

Xie Linzhou frowned, puzzled by the name, then took another sip, trying to discern the flavor, and indeed detected a faint bitterness.

"Tears…" he murmured, "Why is it bitter?"

Jin Chen leaned in close, the distance between them so small their breathing could be heard.

He whispered back, "Yeah, why?"

Xie Linzhou blinked, a tear still clinging to his eyelash.

He hesitated a few seconds before slowly realizing, his voice dropping with a hint of sudden understanding.

"So… I was the one crying."

Tonight's stubborn wish finally fulfilled, Xie Linzhou set the cup back on the counter, wrapped his arms around Jin Chen's neck, and leaned his whole body in.

Xie Linzhou rested his chin on Jin Chen's shoulder, his lips near the ear, exhaling warm, moist breath.

"I miss you so much…"

Jin Chen said nothing, pulling Xie Linzhou into his embrace, one hand lightly and intermittently pinching the back of his neck, the pressure gentle, only able to feel the warmth from his palm.

Xie Linzhou didn't want just to hold him like that; he pulled Jin Chen down to sit, then awkwardly straddled him, tightly encircling his waist and burying his face in the crook of his neck.

"Why do you miss me yet never come find me, always hiding?" Jin Chen asked softly, his fingertips brushing aside the tear- and sweat-dampened bangs on Xie Linzhou's forehead.

Xie Linzhou narrowed his eyes; the dim light blurred into a hazy gray in his vision, his consciousness gradually scattering and muddling under the alcohol's effect.

But some thoughts, having been turned over in his heart for many days, were not hard to speak now.

"I miss you…" he whispered, "that's why I can't come find you; it wouldn't be fair to you."

Xie Linzhou rubbed aimlessly in Jin Chen's embrace, his lips nearly touching the bare skin on Jin Chen's neck.

Xie Linzhou stared at that patch of skin for a few seconds, then merely pressed the tip of his nose gently, affectionately, against Jin Chen's cheek.

"What should I do…" overwhelming drowsiness washed over him, Xie Linzhou's voice already hoarse, as if he were talking in his sleep.

As Xie Linzhou leaned in, Jin Chen instinctively tilted his head back, his Adam's apple giving a slight bob.

He tightened his grip on Xie Linzhou's waist, fell silent for a moment, then said softly, "If you wake up later and still remember tonight… come ask me again."

Xie Linzhou relaxed, said nothing more, and heard those words before drifting completely into sleep.

——

The heaviness of the hangover made Xie Linzhou wake up with a foggy head, lying in bed for a while before slowly pushing himself up to sit.

He usually holds his liquor well; last night he wasn't actually drunk to the point of insensibility, so from being picked up by Jin Chen from the private room to what happened later in the car and at home…

Every fragment, even his drunken indiscretions and words, he remembers clearly.

Xie Linzhou closed his eyes and sighed wearily.

How did it end up like this again.

Having said he'd stay calm and think things through, the moment he saw someone and had a drink, he completely collapsed, abandoning all armor.

Xie Linzhou suddenly remembered something, pushed open the bedroom door, and walked out.

The Living Room was quiet; Jin Chen wasn't there.

Xie Linzhou glanced over the Living Room, looked toward the bar, and saw on the counter still the glass of "Tears" Jin Chen had mixed for him last night.

He picked up the cup; there was still about half left, he took a sip, and it was delicious.

It was basically not alcohol, nor did it have a bitter taste.

Xie Linzhou held the cup, his lips unconsciously curving, his heart feeling sour and soft, leaning against the bar as he slowly finished the remaining half of the drink, wanting to betray the self who had proposed breaking up half a month ago.

He couldn't let go, not even a bit.

He still liked it, liked it to the point his chest ached.

He was still unwilling, unwilling to let from now on he and Jin Chen become two parallel lines that never intersect.

Suddenly hearing the door open, Xie Linzhou instinctively set the empty cup back on the counter, not yet sure how to face Jin Chen, somewhat flustered he turned around and came face‑to‑face with Jin Chen pushing the door in.

【Villain Blackening Value detected -15, total 50!】

Jin Chen saw Xie Linzhou standing in the Living Room, bent over as usual, placed the document bag on the entryway cabinet, and put the umbrella into the stand.

Xie Linzhou averted his gaze, his heartbeat a little quick.

His hand hanging at his side unconsciously curled slightly; after a while, he whispered softly, "Jin Chen…"

Jin Chen changed into his slippers and walked in, his gaze falling on him, and he responded with a sound.

Without the boldness that comes from drink, he is sober now; speaking those words is, for Xie Linzhou, nothing short of difficult.

Each word feels like it needs to be brewed in the throat a hundred times before he can muster the courage to say it.

But he must continue speaking.

"I previously said… breakup," Xie Linzhou took a deep breath, forced himself to lift his head, and looked into Jin Chen's eyes, "It's that I wanted to escape; I can't stand the feeling of being deceived, and I don't want you to feel wronged, and I still need you to comfort me."

"I thought…" Xie Linzhou felt a sour ache, he sighed slowly and heavily, "I thought that if we just separated, everything would return to the right track."

"But no, I can't handle it; not seeing you would make me suffer even more, and I still miss you."

Xie Linzhou choked back softly, "Jin Chen, I don't want to break up."

Jin Chen listened quietly, walked up to Xie Linzhou, and looked at him rather silently.

Silence, for Xie Linzhou, is like torture, as if the world had frozen, leaving only the soul struggling in anguish, worried, helpless, grieving.

Xie Linzhou couldn't help but think: that night, when he proposed the breakup, did Jin Chen also clutch his heart like this? The more he thought, the more regret and sourness filled his heart.

Jin Chen gently rubbed Xie Linzhou's shoulder, telling him not to be so tense, "If we want to get back together, the precondition is that we must resolve the previous issues, right?"

Xie Linzhou bit the thin flesh inside his mouth and nodded.

He recalled Jin Chen's words from last night: "Do what you said last night still count? I remember everything."

Jin Chen's gaze was deep, as if trying to see into his heart, "Were your earlier concerns really just because you didn't want to be deceived?"

Xie Linzhou's expression shifted slightly; he was about to say yes, but Jin Chen raised his hand, fingertips pressing against his lips, stopping the words about to escape.

"Think it over carefully."

A warm sensation came from his lips; Xie Linzhou blinked slightly, then relaxed.

He lightly hooked his finger around Jin Chen's finger resting on his lips, his heart no longer anxious, and he could think seriously.

"Really… is it just that?"