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By the time Mai Ding returned from the market, it was already late in the afternoon. An Ziyan was probably already hungry, for he only had milk in the morning and nothing else. When Mai Ding opened the door to the rooms, he found the entire place quiet. The TV was also not switched on. He headed for the living room and he saw his lover lying on the couch, with earphones plugged in and eyes all closed.
The evening sun was already beginning to shine into the living room, illuminating An Ziyan’s entire body. If you could just crop Mai Ding, who was now panting after carrying the groceries, out of the picture, it would have been picture perfect.
Mai Ding thought that An Ziyan was fast asleep. He felt more at ease. After leaving the groceries in the kitchen, he quietly approached An Ziyan. He tried to poke An Ziyan but there was no response.
Then out of the blue, An Ziyan stretched out his arm and grabbed Mai Ding. Mai Ding was indeed caught by surprise and because he lost his balance, he fell and landed into An Ziyan"s arms. “So you weren’t sleeping after all! And , if you were awake, why didn’t you say something when I came back? By the way, what are you listening to?” Mai Ding took the earphones from An Ziyan and plugged it into his own ear. He didn’t know what he was listening to. There weren’t any lyrics and he was not sure if he’s listening to an orchestra or something else. Still, he pretended to like it, trying to act as if he was sad to put it down. “This sounds great, but I have to go prepare dinner now.”
“Stop pretending as if you actually liked it and that we have something in common.” An Ziyan could see through his façade.
Mai Ding was starting to get a little upset. “Who would bother to act in front of you? And haven’t you realized? We do in fact have many similarities. Not just our taste for music but also our physique and, in fact, both of us are quite artistically inclined.”
Before Mai Ding could finish, An Ziyan already threw the remote control at him. “That’s a b.l.o.o.d.y insult, you know that? Go and prepare dinner quickly”
If we just based it on physique alone, Mai Ding was already far from any meaningful comparison. To be even willing to make such a comparison was, to An Ziyan, something utterly shameless.
Mai Ding glared at An Ziyan but decided to let it be and proceeded to the kitchen. When he was there, he realized that the kitchen was hardly used. “How did this fella survive all this while?” Mai Ding thought to himself. But, Mai Ding realized that when one had money, survival was never an issue. It was poor people like Mai Ding who had to learn to be self-reliant.
Anyway, a way to man’s heart is through his stomach. Mai Ding was all set to do just that! From an outsider’s point of view, Mai Ding was really like a hardworking wife. He was cutting the vegetables like a pro, but unfortunately for him, he was feeling a little uncomfortable "down there", for he wasn’t wearing any underwear. They were still wet from the earlier "frolicking". As a result, he was always fiddling with the bottom half of his body and this was, of course, noticed by An Ziyan.
“How long are you going to make me wait for my meal?” An Ziyan groaned.
“I am the one doing all the work and you are just behaving like an ungrateful person. Also, I… my "down there" is not comfortable because I’m not wearing anything.” And again he began touching "that part" again.
“Do you have syphilis*?”
(* - a disease spread through s.e.xual intercourse)
“f.u.c.k you. Even if I did have syphilis, I would have got it from you! I’m just not used to not wearing any underwear.” Mai Ding was feeling a little embarra.s.sed by all this.
An Ziyan took a hairdryer and pa.s.sed it to Mai Ding. “Go and dry your underwear. I think it’s disgusting to see you prepare food and touch your down there.” And even though Mai Ding looked a little unhappy with what An Ziyan said, he still took the hairdryer and did as he was told, glaring at An Ziyan accusingly as he did so.
When Mai Ding was done cooking, he brought the food out to the dining area where An Ziyan was already seated. An Ziyan knew that Mai Ding was looking at him earnestly, as if wanting to see his reaction. He knew Mai Ding was fishing for a compliment and purposely avoided Mai Ding’s gaze and just ate quietly.
“Out of ten points, how much will you give my cooking?” Mai Ding couldn’t wait anymore.
“Ten points.” An Ziyan knew better than to say ‘nine points’. If he had done so, Mai Ding might have thrown away the food.
“Glad you know what’s good for you.”
When dinner was over, Mai Ding dimmed the lights and dragged An Ziyan to the sofa. He placed the DVD he had brought into the player and even placed desserts nearby. When the movie was on, he was at first sitting very upright, but as the movie progressed, he was in different positions, even leaning on An Ziyan. He was at first excitedly explaining to An Ziyan about every character in the movie, but slowly, he could hear from him less and less. An Ziyan turned to find that Mai Ding had already fallen asleep.
Nudging Mai Ding, he said, “If you want to sleep, go to the room.”
Mai Ding opened his eyes and denied that he was sleeping. “No one is sleeping. I was still watching the movie. I don’t feel sleepy at all.” And after saying that, his eyes closed again. An Ziyan was getting a little fed up but he laid Mai Ding down horizontally on the sofa instead. He gazed at his lover’s face, and then gently kissed him on his forehead.
Mai Ding’s eyes opened again and for a while he stared at An Ziyan. “You stole a kiss from me!” And he hugged An Ziyan from where he was lying and again, fell asleep! In this position, An Ziyan couldn’t move at all and so he had no choice but to accompany Mai Ding to sleep on the sofa. And that was how the two guys spent their night together after dinner.
When Mai Ding awoke, he smiled to himself. To see one’s lover the first thing when one wakes up was, to Mai Ding, the luckiest thing that could ever happen to him. The TV was still on. He didn’t want to wake An Ziyan up, so he got up very slowly, and quietly switched the TV off. He then proceeded to the bathroom to take a bath.
After that was done, he was all set to prepare breakfast. Just as he was about to do so, the door bell rang. That shocked him a bit. He was afraid it was some aunt of An Ziyan. From the door viewer, he saw a relatively handsome guy with a beautiful ladywho had blond hair.
“An Ziyan! Wake up quickly! There’s someone at the door.”
An Ziyan turned away and said, “Just open the door.”
Mai Ding obeyed and opened the door for the two strangers. He wasn’t very good with words when it came to people he didn’t know and likewise, the two looked at Mai Ding in confusion. But when they saw that Mai Ding was wearing An Ziyan’s clothes, they finally understood what was happening. The guy smiled at Mai Ding before proceeding into the house to look for An Ziyan.
“Yan, are you still sleeping?”
An Ziyan finally got up.
The blonde girl asked in perfect Chinese, “Where is Xiaosi?”
“Xiaosi? I dumped her a long time ago.”
Mai Ding was standing quietly in one corner, staring at the new guests. Are they An Ziyan’s friends? He always thought that his boyfriend had no friends. “I am Zhou Ge. This is my girlfriend, Ellen.”
“Mai Ding.”
Ellen looked at An Ziyan. “Is he yours?”
“Otherwise?”
Ellen eyes Mai Ding and then turning to An Ziyan, she continued, “It"s hard to suite your taste”
Mai Ding could not take it anymore. “There are certain things you shouldn’t be mentioned out loud!’
Ellen pretended not to hear anything and continued to An Ziyan. “And my, my, what a temper.”
“Excuse me?” Mai Ding asked, flabbergasted.
An Ziyan got up and walked away, heading for the stairs to the second level of his home.
“Where are you going?” Mai Ding asked.
“Shower.” He replied nonchalantly.
“Are you just going to leave me here with these two?”
Ellen, in her princess-like att.i.tude, turned to Zhou Ge and asked, “Are we that dislikable, Xiao Ge*? My heart is broken.”
(* - something Chinese version of "~kun" from j.a.panese, used to call someone younger than you, she does this to appear cute)
“Shall I lick you where it hurts then, so that it can heal?”
“The two of you, stop being disgusting. If you want to continue with that, please get out.” An Ziyan barked.
“An Ziyan.” Mai Ding called out. His eyes were pleading to him not to leave him alone here.
“Didn’t you say you wanted friends?” An Ziyan coldly remarked.
Mai Ding was somewhat stunned by the fact that An Ziyan remembered what he had mentioned yesterday. He did, in fact, say that he wanted friends. But looking at Zhou Ge and Ellen… He didn’t want this type of friends. He couldn’t even see why anyone would want to be friends with them.
But whatever An Ziyan did was to ensure that Mai Ding would not be alone. This led Mai Ding to another conclusion: Heaven was not blind to bless him not with friends. Nor was Heaven kind enough to allow Mai Ding to spend his life with An Ziyan.
To Mai Ding, An Ziyan was Heaven itself.
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To be continued...