ghost… umm…” He kissed me, using an extremely lingering kiss to overcome my last resistance. Fine! Just for his heroic words: “I’d rather die in pieces, suffer eternal damnation”, I’ll forgive him this time! After the passionate kiss, he asked, “Sweetie, are you hungry?” Finally, a human-like question. “I’m starving! I hadn’t even eaten dinner, and after such intense exercise, how could I not be hungry!”
“What do you want to eat?” He looked at me expectantly. “I want you to cook noodles!” At his suggestion, I started to miss the spicy dan dan noodles. “Okay!” He helped tidy my clothes, cleaned up the mess, and we went to my apartment, which was filled with the smell of cooking. We sat by the window, the melancholic “Heavenly Fragrance” playing on loop, him holding my shoulder as we shared a bowl of noodles. This was the most delicious bowl of noodles I’d ever eaten.
A thin ray of light penetrates the dense cloud layer, raindrops suspended in the emerging dawn, casting a hazy veil over the pale blue sky. The rustling of clothing and thin blanket subtly hints at my shyness and his persistence. “Stop it, it’s already bright,” I whisper, worried about the poor soundproofing of this building.
“But I want to hold you while sleeping, not just your clothes.”
Finally, my fragile clothing succumbs to his insistence. Without the barrier of fabric, our slick skin touches, and I realize how warm his body is. My cold skin feels comfortable against him, and I draw closer. His fingertips gently brush my neck, caressing and trailing down my spine. Feeling his body’s response, my still-aching body begins to tremble.
“No more, I’m so tired…”
His lips paused behind my ear, exhaling softly before withdrawing.
“Sleep,” he says, extending his arm to my pillow, allowing me to rest on it, then wrapping another arm around my chest and grasping my hand, completely enveloping me in his embrace.
Our body curves are tightly pressed together; I lack the courage to turn and face him directly. The world falls into silence, so quiet you could hear cherry blossoms falling, smell their faint fragrance, and feel his steady heartbeat.
As my body relaxes, the day’s exhaustion sweeps me away. I close my eyes, feeling our body temperatures merging, heartbeats aligning, breaths accompanying each other. After being in Japan for so long, I’ve never felt this secure.
Is this what they call a sense of safety?
Confidently surrendering to him, I quietly sleep in his embrace. It feels like returning to childhood, lying in my mother’s arms, listening to her lullabies. My breathing stabilizes as I sleep deeply, without dreams.
At some unknown time, I wake to warm morning light. Squinting, I see our hands resting on the blanket, his still holding mine. On our wrists are Seagull brand watches—black and white—with his watch buckle engraved with the word “Babe!” This touch of emotion is new to me.
Especially thinking this hand belongs to Ye Zhengchen, that dazzling man in the sky—does he truly belong to me? I know he doesn’t; I’m just a passerby in his life. But occupying him during this love’s blank period is enough for me. Everything else is unimportant!
Everything seductive was exposed before my eyes, and my dazed expression, rose-colored obscurity, and inseparable union must have been captured by him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have such turbid breathing, intense physiological response, or uncontrolled overflow of passion. Countless kisses and sweat, gasps and moans, unbridled restraints and struggles—countless times ascending to the peak and then falling to the mortal world.
Near noon, we concluded our ultimate entanglement at the happiest peak.
He took care of everything for me, lying on my chest and enjoying the rare tranquility.
After a while, I reached for a pen on the bedside table, moved to the edge of the bed, and drew a horizontal and vertical line on the wall. I decided to add yesterday’s session as well, so I drew another small horizontal line.
“What are you drawing?” he asked, looking at the half-written “zheng” character on the wall.
“Marking the number of tutoring sessions, so you can’t renege on the bill!”
He let out a bright laugh, grabbed my pen, added a couple more strokes, and pulled me back into his embrace.
“Are you sure you’re a full-time doctor?”
He looked at me thoughtfully, a drop of sweat falling on my forehead. “Why do you ask?”
“Haven’t you worked part-time at the Kabuki theater in Shinjuku?!”
He laughed. “Don’t have such high expectations of them! They need to take many stimulants to service once!”
But I still felt that a doctor shouldn’t have such a strong body and fierce stamina!
Author’s note: Oh my! A day’s labor for a high-skilled worker is actually two thousand yuan; I want to be a high-skilled worker too!
Under the eaves
If Brother Feng hadn’t called to remind Ye Zhengchen that today was his birthday and informed him about the dinner everyone had prepared, I would certainly have died on my own bed.
I was truly muddled; I couldn’t even distinguish which two intertwined bodies belonged to whom! When he hung up the phone and withdrew from my body, I felt dismantled, completely lacking the strength to tidy up the mess on me or even cover myself with the blanket.
I couldn’t help but sigh: the cost of this tutoring is too high! Compared to this, the Japanese’s high tuition fees seem humane, and the 800 yen per hour at convenience stores is reasonable. I’ll never complain about life’s hardships again!
The most frustrating thing is that Ye Zhengchen lay beside me with a satisfied look, easily stretching his impressive body. If not for the thin layer of sweat glistening on his muscular form, I would doubt this was the same man who had just engaged in intense exercise with me.
Ye Zhengchen lifted me from the bed again, wrapping his right arm around my shoulders.
I mustered my last bit of strength, found a comfortable position, and lay on his chest with my face buried in his shoulder.
“Happy birthday…” I asked, “…right?”
“Yes! Very happy!” He tidied my hair and planted a kiss. “If I’d known you’d be so tempting without clothes, I wouldn’t have waited until today.”
“If I’d known you’d be so beastly without clothes, I wouldn’t have given you a chance!”
He raised an eyebrow and smiled, holding my hand and placing it over his heart.
Beneath my palm was his hot, heavy heartbeat. The pointers of two watches jumped in near-perfect harmony, not a millisecond apart.
In the sunlight, the names on the watch clasp shimmered: Chen Darling
“Why did you engrave ‘Darling’ on your watch clasp? Why not my name?” Although “Darling” looked warm, I thought “Bing” would match “Chen” better.
“In case I change girlfriends later, I’d have to grind off your name and replace it with the next one. How troublesome!” He said casually. “‘Darling’ is good! It’s generic, never needs changing…”
I was so exhausted that even if I had strength, I’d want to hit him with a rice cooker and yell, “Go die!”
Fortunately, my tongue still had some strength, so I praised him: “Senior, you’re so far-sighted! Don’t forget to pass this watch down through generations, if they don’t mind it being an N-hand item!”
He sighed softly, pinching my cheek: “You’re just a cooked duck with a hard mouth!”
What good is being hard when you’re already cooked!
“In this world, there are many girls called ‘Bing’, but my ‘Darling’ is one of a kind! Unique!”
During my days with Ye Zhengchen, the “zheng” character filled the wall, laughter and tears poured throughout the room. Every time I recall his cheesy words, I’m moved!
Just as I was being moved, he ruined the moment with: “Darling, I’m hungry!”
