Chapter 25
When they returned to the resort, everyone went to soak in the hot spring separately.
“I’ll watch Xiao-Qi while you guys go enjoy the hot spring,” Zhang Yuwen volunteered.
Huo Sichen wanted to stay with Zhang Yuwen, but Zhang Yuwen shook his head.
“You were exposed to the wind in the park without a coat. Don’t catch a cold. ”
Yan Jun smiled. “Then I’ll go take a bath.”
Chen Hong moved his belongings to Yan Jun’s room, and Chang Jinxing went over to share a room with Zheng Weize; something had definitely happened between them again today. And then everyone was gone.
The common area was strangely quiet, their game of Monopoly lying unfinished on the table.
Xiao-Qi, no longer satisfied with exploring the furniture, was picking up the game money and looking at it curiously.
“Don’t tear it, okay?” Zhang Yuwen told her.
He put the dice away in case she decided to eat them.
Zhang Yuwen was fond of children. If he’d had a daughter like Xiao-Qi, he probably wouldn’t date again. He would devote himself wholeheartedly to taking care of her, showering her with all his -attention; he’d spoil her and treat her like a little princess from the moment she was born—
Suddenly, Xiao-Qi looked at Zhang Yuwen and said, “Yuwen?”
Zhang Yuwen froze. For one wild moment he panicked, thinking something supernatural was occurring, but then he realized what had happened. “Are you calling me? Xiao-Qi, you can say my name?”
“Yuwen?” Xiao-Qi said again in her baby voice.
“What?!” Zhang Yuwen was stunned. As far as he knew, this was Xiao-Qi’s second word, her first besides “Papa!” His name wasn’t easy to pronounce, either—how had she learned it?
Xiao-Qi, who found Zhang Yuwen’s reaction hilarious, came over to hand him the Monopoly money. “Yuwen?”
“Oh my god…” This was the first baby who had ever fully trusted Zhang Yuwen and called him by his name. He couldn’t help the tears that sprang to his eyes. He wanted to pick Xiao-Qi up, but she refused.
“Yuwen! Yuwen!” Xiao-Qi said again, and toddled away.
“Is anyone here?” Zhang Yuwen was so worked up that he wanted to find someone to show this off to.
Alas, everyone was gone. Light from the setting sun streamed through the doorway, casting everything in a golden glow, and Zhang Yuwen felt that he grasped the transient meaning of existence.
He would remember this moment for the rest of his life!
“Oh wow,” he said. He was so moved he almost cried.
Yan Jun was the first to return.
“Sh-sh-she… She can say my name!” Zhang Yuwen exclaimed when he saw Yan Jun. “Yan Jun! Did you hear that? She can say Yuwen!”
Yan Jun wore a bathrobe, his hair still damp. His smile was striking. “Maybe she picked it up because of how often we all say it.”
“Say it again?” Zhang Yuwen said to Xiao-Qi.
Xiao-Qi ignored him and opened her arms to Yan Jun, who picked her up. She was still grasping Zhang Yuwen’s clothes, though, refusing to let him leave. “Yuwen.”
Zhang Yuwen laughed delightedly. “You hear that?! How many words can she say now?”
“Three. This is the third. She can say ‘auntie’ too.”
Zhang Yuwen was beside himself with joy. Gradually, the others returned, and when they heard Xiao-Qi could say names now, they took turns coaching her.
“That’s not fair!” Chen Hong complained. “Hey! Yan Jun! Have you only been teaching your daughter Yuwen’s name?” Except for Yan Jun, who was in his room blow-drying his hair and didn’t hear them, they all erupted into laughter.
“Where’s Sichen?” Zhang Yuwen asked.
“He’s still waiting for you at the hot spring,” Chang Jinxing told him. Zhang Yuwen quickly changed into a bathrobe and made his way there.
Huo Sichen was sitting on the stone area by the hot spring when Zhang Yuwen jumped in and splashed water all over his face. He watched Zhang Yuwen. “You’re in a good mood.”
Zhang Yuwen grinned but didn’t explain.
“Feeling refreshed after your nap?” Now that Zhang Yuwen had arrived, Huo Sichen got back into the water—but Zhang Yuwen, noticing how red his skin was from the steam, made him get back out in case he fainted.
“No more drinking tonight,” Zhang Yuwen said in a warning tone.
“Of course. I’d get a good beating if I wasted a beautiful night.” Zhang Yuwen didn’t reply, and Huo Sichen came closer. “Are you looking forward to tonight?”
Zhang Yuwen tried to dunk Huo Sichen’s head into the water, but Huo Sichen was ready and fended off his attack.
They wrestled in the water for a while, and Zhang Yuwen realized that Huo Sichen was much stronger than him; the guy almost upended him, but ultimately, he teased Zhang Yuwen playfully for a moment and then let him go.
Once they’d calmed down, Huo Sichen asked, “What do you think it should be like when two guys are together?”
“All I know is that they can soak in a hot spring together.” Zhang Yuwen knew what he was trying to ask, but he refused to take the bait.
Huo Sichen laughed. “Uh-huh, that’s one thing.”
“You should get out of the water and drink something,” Zhang Yuwen said. So Huo Sichen got up, naked, and sat at the edge of the pool to continue their conversation.
Zhang Yuwen sized Huo Sichen up. He was a bigger guy than Zhang Yuwen. In the natural world, larger animals often played the role of the “protector”—that is, the male. In same-sex relationships, this was maybe the top.
“By the way,” Huo Sichen said, “can I ask to take the lead?”
“That’s called being the top, or ‘1,’” Zhang Yuwen said. “I knew you’d been thinking about this.”
Huo Sichen’s breathing quickened, nerves setting in. He licked his lips and looked at Zhang Yuwen. “Just an idea… I’m just throwing it out for discussion.”
Zhang Yuwen countered with a question of his own. “If I insisted on being the top, and otherwise, no deal, would you accept it? Or…take a step back and go back to being friends?”
“No, Yuwen,” Huo Sichen said immediately.
“I really do love you…” Belatedly, it occurred to him that a hot spring pool wasn’t the most solemn place to profess his love.
His face turned even redder as he tripped over his words, trying to explain.
“I think…all of these things can be overcome. If you really can’t agree to it, and it has to be me who…
um… I’ll be willing to give it a try, but… ”
Zhang Yuwen watched Huo Sichen silently, feeling moved. It was clear from Huo Sichen’s reaction that he had never done it with a man, and he was nervous and clumsy when it came to gay sex. It was also clear that Huo Sichen really liked him.
“It’s just,” Huo Sichen continued apprehensively, “I might not meet your expectations. I mean, it might not be totally harmonious…”
Zhang Yuwen gestured for him to stop talking. Generously, he said, “Okay, sure. It’s just a position. No big deal. I want to experience bottoming too.”
Huo Sichen’s breath caught. His body reacted to those words, and Zhang Yuwen, seeing it, burst into laughter and splashed him with water. Huo Sichen blushed.
“Even if it feels uncomfortable,” Zhang Yuwen rationalized, “there are still plenty of other ways to do it.”
“Then that’s decided!”
“Yeah, but I have a request.” Zhang Yuwen looked Huo Sichen’s naked body up and down. With his physique paired with that handsome, serious face of his, he really was gorgeous. “You have to let me top you once in a while. Can you agree to that?”
Zhang Yuwen had to have a taste of that glorious, fair, elite body.
“Sure,” Huo Sichen said without so much as a second thought.
What a bizarre conversation. Who had serious discussions about sexual roles in a hot spring pool? But this was an issue two men who wanted to be together had to resolve. Zhang Yuwen wondered if two bottoms who fell in love would also bargain with each other like this.
When Zhang Yuwen decided to date Huo Sichen, his intent was to pursue a wholly new kind of same-sex relationship—one that was equal and mutual.
There would be no big, strong top who had to care for and dote on the bottom, and no bottom relying on his top.
But Huo Sichen was so inexperienced with this budding romance that he handled many of the details as if it were a heterosexual relationship.
Sometimes he treated Zhang Yuwen as a girl.
But that didn’t matter. People could change.
During dinner, the mood was much livelier than the previous night. Yan Jun and Huo Sichen didn’t drink, and Zheng Weize and Chang Jinxing sat together again. Zhang Yuwen wanted to brag about Xiao-Qi calling his name, but she was engrossed in a cartoon on Yan Jun’s phone.
“We haven’t toasted yet!” Chen Hong said.
“Oh, yeah!” Chang Jinxing put down his phone and picked up his cup.
The moment the toast was suggested, Zhang Yuwen’s social anxiety reared its ugly head. And sure enough, Chen Hong said, “Thanks to Yuwen for bringing us together.”
“Yeah!” Zheng Weize chimed in. “Thank you, Yuwen, for taking us out to have a good time.”
“It’s the work of fate, I guess,” said Zhang Yuwen, blushing.
“Thank you, Yuwen.” Yan Jun raised his cup with a smile. “You know what I want to say.”
“Thanks,” said Chang Jinxing. “You’ve changed me a lot.”
Zhang Yuwen dreaded situations like this more than anything, especially when people made genuine expressions of emotion. Every time it happened, he wanted to hide under the table.
“Yuwen is a wonderful person,” added Huo Sichen. “It’s truly a blessing to know you.”
“Stop it, guys,” Zhang Yuwen pleaded. “This is mortifying.”
“Really,” Zheng Weize continued, “my life has changed completely. I’m so much happier than I used to be.”
Then I guess I won’t be chasing you guys for rent, Zhang Yuwen thought. “Okay, enough. Let’s toast,” he said. “Let’s all keep working hard in the coming year.”