Chapter 3

Xu Qing Nuo carefully checked all the men around Mai Yao, including his brother, Mai Yuan.

In the end, his attention fell on Bai Fang.

Bai Fang was a friend of a friend that Mai Yao met last year. He was very handsome, tall and thin, a well-known model. He has been in the fashion circles for many years, and he had good taste and broad knowledge.

Mai Yao looked mature and stable, but his heart was the same as in college. He was still a sullen master, liked freshness and excitement, and advocated a quality and luxurious lifestyle.

When he and Bai Fang first met, they talked about everything, from famous car names, cigarettes and wines, to stock funds.

Xu Qing Nuo had no affection for Bai Fang; he always felt this man was too pretending.

He and Mai Yao have been together for so many years, and his most uncomfortable traits were his high self-esteem and easy self-importance. He always felt that he was very capable and was superior to others.

After Mai Yao and Bai Fang met, this stinking problem got worse.

Then Xu Qing Nuo discovered that Bai Fang was not so innocent about Mai Yao, and he dared to tease Mai Yao in front of him. He complained about it to Mai Yao, but Mai Yao said, “He likes to joke with everyone. He is in the entertainment circle. It is normal for him to have such an open personality. Don’t think too much, we’re just ordinary friends.”

Xu Qing Nuo was so angry that he sneered and said: “He is in the entertainment industry, you are not. He loves to flirt with people and move his hands and feet (1) and you enjoy it. Are you still called a normal friend? Okay, I’m also looking for a friend in the entertainment industry!”

Although Mai Yao liked to enjoy some harmless ambiguity, it was a joke, and he knew what was more important in his life. He didn’t have any ideas about Bai Fang. It was not worth irritating Xu Qing Nuo for him, so slowly, he became estranged from Bai Fang.

Bai Fang was angry, and he simply confessed to him, hoping that he would kick Xu Qing Nuo and stay with him directly. He was very scornful and contemptuous of Xu Qing Nuo in his words. Mai Yao also became angry, and from then on he avoided Bai Fang even more and was reluctant to interact with him.

Bai Fang was an evildoer, and Xu Qing Nuo was especially uncomfortable seeing his seductive eyes. Mai Yao finally cut off contact with him and said: “I can’t control who he wants to be friends with.”

Xu Qing Nuo was extremely happy.

It was a pity that his happiness didn’t last long. Six months ago, the company appointed Bai Fang to do a clothing advertisement for the Mai Yao Company coffee brand. Because of work, Bai Fang and Mai Yao started to meet frequently again.

From Mai Yao’s call records, Xu Qing Nuo found that they had made phone calls once or twice a week for the past two months.

Was Mai Yao’s cheating object Bai Fang?

Xu Qing Nuo felt that he was the most suspicious, but he was not 100% sure.

In fact, he still had doubts in his heart. He hoped he thought too much, and Mai Yao did not cheat: his body and his heart still belonged to him alone.

He tried to relax a little bit, overseeing the bookstore and writing articles every day as usual, so that Mai Yao would not notice the slightest strangeness.

However, when Mai Yao begged him for love at night, when he thought he might have hugged others, kissed others, and entered other people’s bodies, Xu Qing Nuo couldn’t stand it, and he couldn’t help but resist his touch.

He felt sick and dirty.

His reaction was so strong that Mai Yao felt it. He turned on the bedside lamp, frowned, and asked him: “What’s wrong with you, rejecting my touch these days? Are you physically uncomfortable, or am I upsetting you again?”

His eyes were full of tension and worry. Xu Qing Nuo looked at him, and his mood became more complicated.

Without looking away, he said lightly: “I’m a little tired lately, I’m not in the mood…”

Mai Yao thought he was not feeling well, so he didn’t force him. He simply solved it for the two of them, took a shower together, and hugged him to sleep.

Mai Yao slept soundly, but Xu Qing Nuo couldn’t sleep until 3:30 at night, staring in a daze at his sleeping face under the moonlight. All the past events during the last seven years, both beautiful and happy, and sad and painful, were like a film footage, appearing in his mind frame by frame.

He was sure that his love for Mai Yao had never faded. He didn’t want to lose him or make the relationship between the two of them embarrassing, but he couldn’t persuade himself to swallow all the doubts and pretend he didn’t know anything.

His heart was at a loss, and he didn’t know what to do.

“Hmm…” Mai Yao woke up suddenly and rubbed his eyes, lifting the bangs that covered his left eye with his right hand, and whispered, “Why aren’t you asleep?”

In the quiet late night, his voice and eyes were extremely gentle.

Xu Qing Nuo felt sour in his heart.

“Baby, did you sleep too much during the day, so you can’t fall asleep now? You, you always turn day and night upside down, just switch to being an owl…” said Mai Yao while encircling his waist with his arm and hugging him. He held him into his arms, pressed his lips to the center of his eyebrows with a soft kiss, and said jokingly, “Shall big brother sing a lullaby to make you fall asleep?”

He really did, and while singing, his eyelids gradually drooped down, and he fell asleep again.

Xu Qing Nuo leaned on his chest, listened to his steady and powerful heartbeat, feeling his hot breath and body temperature, and sighed quietly. He thought to himself, maybe he really was thinking too much; they were so in love with each other, how could Mai Yao let him down?

No matter how many doubts he had in his heart, he still chose to believe in Mai Yao again.

Xu Qing Nuo thought that as long as he stopped investigating, the relationship between him and Mai Yao would become as close and natural as before.

The next day, in the afternoon, he saw Mai Yao’s cheating object with his own eyes.

He never thought the man turned out to be his best friend, Lin Xiao Wen.

(1) 动手动脚 dòng shǒu dòng jiǎo | move the hands and feet (idiom) – to cause trouble, provocative actions between two people