Isn't This a Contract Marriage? Why Are You Sneaking Kisses! - Chapter 8

At dusk, the sun slowly sank in the west.

Carrying a bag of medicine, Shen Silie walked slowly out of the hospital.

Having been cared for by nurses for three days, he had hardly used his legs at all. It had only been a minor scrape to begin with; now, aside from a slight awkwardness in his stride, he could walk without much trouble.

Shen Silie took out his phone, about to call for a ride.

A familiar black Maybach pulled up steadily in front of him.

The rear window slid down, revealing Ji Yunshen’s cold face.

“Get in.”

Shen Silie’s footsteps faltered. The plastic bag in his hand made a faint rustling sound. He didn’t move, only lifting his eyes to meet Ji Yunshen’s gaze in mid-air.

The air stagnated for a few seconds.

“Don’t make me say it twice.” Ji Yunshen’s tone remained cold, tinged with a hint of impatience.

Shen Silie bit his lip. “I already called a car.”

Thud. The car door swung open.

Before Shen Silie could process it, his wrist was gripped tightly. His vision blurred as Ji Yunshen forcefully dragged him into the car.

The door shut with a heavy thud.

Shen Silie fell onto the back seat. His leg, which hadn’t fully healed, was inevitably twisted, and cold sweat instantly beaded on his forehead.

Ji Yunshen pinned him against the seat.

The car accelerated quickly.

Shen Silie’s fingers trembled slightly, digging into the leather upholstery as he tried to steady himself. The pain in his knee and wrist made him feel like he might collapse entirely.

Ji Yunshen noticed nothing. His palm remained clamped around the youth’s wrist with a force that felt like it was crushing the bone.

“Shen Silie.” Ji Yunshen stared at the trembling youth. Gone was the intimacy and gentleness of the past; he was now radiating pure aggression. “Try hiding from me one more time.”

“Let me go.”

Shen Silie’s chest heaved as his breathing grew labored.

Ji Yunshen ignored him, tightening his grip until his own knuckles turned white.

Shen Silie was breaking out in a cold sweat from the pain.

“Let me go!” Shen Silie suddenly lunged upward, wrenching his hand free and slapping Ji Yunshen across the face.

SLAP—!

The sound rang out, leaving both Shen Silie and Ji Yunshen stunned.

The driver in the front seat suppressed the urge to look back.

The interior of the car fell into a dead silence, with only the low hum of the engine echoing. The air was thick with the scent of leather and residual tobacco—an oppressive atmosphere that made it hard to breathe.

Shen Silie panted heavily, his hand still suspended in mid-air. His fingertips trembled, and his palm burned with a stinging pain.

Ji Yunshen’s head was turned to the side, a clear red palm print gradually surfacing on his cheek.

“You hit me?” Ji Yunshen asked in disbelief.

Shen Silie curled back, his nape pressing against the cold window glass. “I… I didn’t mean to…”

His throat was parched and painful, yet he continued to shrink back.

Ji Yunshen instinctively reached out to grab him.

Shen Silie recoiled in terror, his arms raised in a defensive guard.

Ji Yunshen froze completely.

It wasn’t until he saw Shen Silie’s deathly pale face that he seemed to realize what was happening.

Ji Yunshen slowly lowered his head. His gaze fell on Shen Silie’s knee, which was curled at an awkward angle, and the bag of medicine lying on the floor. He saw the bruises already turning purple on the youth’s wrist.

Ji Yunshen’s face went white. His chest felt as if a giant boulder were pressing down on it, making it impossible to breathe. For a long time, his lips moved, but no sound came out.

The car finally pulled over on a quiet, deserted street corner.

The driver nimbly unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out, leaving the two of them alone.

Shen Silie kept his eyes down, huddled in the corner like a startled cat. His body was pressed against the window, his breathing light and rapid.

The bruise on his wrist covered the red crescent birthmark.

Click—

A cigarette was lit. In the flickering glow, Ji Yunshen exhaled a cloud of smoke.

The warm air from the vents brushed against Shen Silie’s sweat-drenched neck. In the nearly airtight space, the smoke swirled. Shen Silie’s face grew paler and paler as his breathing became more frantic.

Unstoppable low coughs escaped his throat.

Ji Yunshen stared down at the blue smoke rising from his fingers. He touched the palm print on his face; the burning pain was still vivid.

He turned to look at Shen Silie huddled in the corner. His Adam’s apple bobbed, and his voice was deep and hoarse. “You hate me.”

Having spent nine years together, he knew the youth’s every move. Resistance and hatred were no exception.

“Why?” Ji Yunshen asked.

He didn’t understand what had happened. In just a few short days, the other’s attitude toward him had undergone such a massive shift.

Shen Silie looked away, not answering the question. He only said, “We are friends.”

“I only just realized it.”

Shen Silie paused, his voice raspy. “I’ve been overstepping my bounds all along. we shouldn’t interact like this anymore.”

Silence filled the air.

Ji Yunshen’s breath hitched, and his heart felt numb with a sour ache. “You think… we’re just friends?”

Shen Silie turned to look Ji Yunshen in the eye. His voice was hoarse but firm. “We will always be friends. Only friends.”

“The hell with being friends!” Ji Yunshen’s eyes suddenly turned bloodshot. His voice rose sharply as a tidal wave of fury erupted in his eyes—but beneath the waves was a boundless terror.

“Who do you think you relied on to get where you are today? If it weren’t for me, would those people have let you get through those three years in peace? What right do you have to give me attitude!”

“Shen Silie! Who do you think you are? You used me up and now you want to dump me? I’m telling you, you’re not worthy!”

Ji Yunshen panted with rage, his emotions stacking up until the veins on his forehead bulged. The already tense atmosphere exploded the moment Shen Silie uttered the word “friends.”

Shen Silie looked at the man before him and spoke softly.

“That day outside the lounge… I heard everything.”

His voice wasn’t loud, but it was enough for Ji Yunshen to hear clearly.

It was as if a bucket of freezing water had been poured over Ji Yunshen’s head.

His pupils shook. For a moment, he forgot to breathe. Ash fell onto his hand, the heat making him flinch.

Moonlight spilled through the window, casting a fragile, cold light on the youth’s jade-white skin.

Shen Silie met his gaze. His lips, pale from hyperventilation, were almost transparent. The corners of his eyes were tinged with a faint red, and his damp eyes shimmered with a watery light—like a candle flickering out in the moonlight.

“Ji Yunshen.”

“I did like you.”

“From age sixteen to twenty-three—seven years. I loved you that entire time.”

Ji Yunshen’s body was rigid. The depth of emotion in Shen Silie’s eyes filled him with a surge of panic. He wanted to say something to interrupt this, but the way the affection was vanishing from the youth’s eyes inch by inch left him paralyzed.

“I don’t blame you, nor do I have the right to.”

He knew that without Ji Yunshen, he never would have lived in peace at that school where management was lax and class differences were stark. When he first entered the entertainment industry with no background, it was Ji Yunshen who stepped in to block the first few attempts to harm him.

Shen Silie looked at Ji Yunshen, but he wasn’t seeing him; he was looking through time at the boy from back then.

He remembered when those bullies had locked him in the lounge at school. Ji Yunshen had smashed the door open with a stool, ending up in the hospital after a one-on-four fight. He had caused a massive scene with their families just to protect Shen Silie from being expelled.

The young Ji Yunshen had held him while he was burning with fever, huddling in a thick snowbank. That winter was brutal, and the roads hadn’t been cleared yet. Ji Yunshen had pulled him into his arms, using his own body as a shield against the ground so not a single snowflake would dampen the boy’s clothes.

That summer, when they had fallen behind the group, Ji Yunshen had carried him—suffering from a fractured leg—wading through the mud step by step.

He was sensitive to the cold. Once, when the school’s heating failed and heavy snow blocked the roads, leaving everyone stranded for two days, Ji Yunshen had run up and down the stairs to boil water, stuffing all his hot water bottles into Shen Silie’s arms. He wrapped two thick blankets around him and lay beside him to ensure no cold air got in.

They had buried a memory capsule by the willow tree. He had written: “I want to be best friends with Ji Yunshen for a lifetime.”

Regarding the things Ji Yunshen had said in the lounge—it wasn’t that he hadn’t noticed or didn’t know. It was just that those fragments of memories had allowed him to forgive the man countless times throughout those long years, endlessly anticipating the next moment. The moment when the man might return to the person in his memories.

Clearly, you used to be the best to me.

The narrow space between the car seats was filled with lingering tobacco smoke.

Almost unable to breathe, his lungs feeling tight and uncomfortable, Shen Silie took a breath through his mouth and rubbed his numbing wrist.

That sincere heart from the past was real, which is why he had fallen for Ji Yunshen. The sincerity that made him love Ji Yunshen was real, so he didn’t regret it.

But.

With a sour, watery mist in his eyes, Shen Silie’s voice became even steadier. “Ji Yunshen, I loved you. I loved you very, very much.”

“But I am not willing to be toyed with like this.”

As the words fell.

Shen Silie lowered his head, reaching out to pull up his slipping coat. The bruises on his wrist overlapped with the dark red birthmark. Tears fell onto them like a wilting flower.

“I should go home.” Shen Silie turned his face away, rubbing his aching eyes.

Panic instantly crawled onto Ji Yunshen’s face. He felt his blood run cold. Having spent nine years together, he knew how gentle the other’s personality usually was—and how stubborn he became once a boundary was crossed.

He knew what this meant.

Ji Yunshen’s voice trembled uncontrollably. He wanted to reach out and pull the youth into his arms, but his own arms felt weak. He could only offer a frantic, clumsy defense.

“It’s not like that. I’m not… I’m not close with them. That day, I was just… I was talking nonsense. Let me explain.”

Shen Silie tried the door.

The door opened, and he stepped out of the car.

Ji Yunshen lunged but caught nothing, staggering as he chased him out of the vehicle.

Shen Silie had already walked away. Ji Yunshen called his name with a voice bordering on terror: “Silie!”

Ji Yunshen was about to give chase.

His phone rang. Hearing that specific ringtone, Ji Yunshen only hesitated for three seconds before quickly leaning back in to grab the phone.

When he looked up again.

Shen Silie hadn’t stopped to wait for him.