Reluctantly Willing

When Father An saw the two squirming against each other while naked, he froze. This must be a dream. Yan Zi had been so obedient since childhood. This was impossible.

Just as he turned around, Gu Jun called out at him.

“I’m dreaming,” Father An said dazedly. “Dreams are so realistic. I can even hear voices.”

In less than a minute, Gu Jun had already put on his pants and was sitting on the bed, fully clothed and lighting a cigarette. “You aren’t dreaming. This is your son.”

Mother An heard noises, so she came over from the other room. When she saw the man on the ground, her face paled. Her first reaction was to cover the mess on An Xiaoyan’s upper body with a shirt.

“What’s going on? Aren’t you an official? How can you do this?” Mother An’s voice was choked, but she still maintained her image.

“Who said bosses can’t do this? Your son voluntarily climbed into my bed. Ask him if you don’t trust me.”

An Xiaoyan was woken up by a basin of cold water. The first thing he saw was the LED light hanging over his head and a familiar face.

“Mom…”

“You still call me ‘Mom’? Tell me, what’s your relationship with him?”

This woke An Xiaoyan entirely. He looked at his body with difficulty and felt the intense pain coming from behind him. Tears spilled out of his eyes.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

“Tell me, how did you get your job?”

An Xiaoyan didn’t know what his parents thought of him now. In this isolated mountain village, no one had ever mentioned the word “gay” before. A girl would be gossiped about if a girl lost her virginity before getting married, let alone him doing something like this.

When Mother An didn’t an answer, she shook him forcefully. “Answer me! Are you still my son?”

“I don’t have a job.”

Mother An froze. Tears streamed down her face too. “I don’t have a son like you. Your dad and I worked so hard to put you in school so you can have a good life, not to do this. Don’t you feel sorry towards us?”

When a lie was covered with a hazy veil, it looked beautiful from afar. But the moment the veil was lifted, the cruel truth would be more painful.

An Xiaoyan looked around the room. Gu Jun sat on the bed, his father leaned against the door, and his mother knelt beside him. The light made everything seem like a dream, but it was only a dream. It was time to wake up. He had no need to keep lying.

“Everything is real.” These words stabbed his heart. An Xiaoyan didn’t know how he said it aloud. It was just meaningless to keep hiding it.

“Go. Don’t come back.” Father An’s strong body suddenly felt fragile. An Xiaoyan pushed himself up. He put his clothes on and kowtowed three times with his weak body. Then he limped outside.

“You too. I’ll pretend nothing happened these days.”

Gu Jun brought the sleeping child on the bed. He called his driver and walked out too.

“If you’re not an official, if you’re not rich, I’ll definitely break your dirty leg.”

“Then thank god I’m rich.”

When everyone left, the room quieted down. Father An slumped in a chair, still in disbelief. How could his Yan Zi turn into this?

“Should I chase them back? The child’s still hurt.” Mother An couldn’t recover either, but Yan Zi was still her son. He was a piece of her. She was hateful, but her heart still hurt.

“Why chase him back? Just say he died in a car accident. The An family doesn’t have a son like him!”

Mother An knew people gossiped cruelly in the village. She couldn’t accept that her son did those things with a man. She could only cry in a corner. What kind of karma was this?

An Xiaoyan walked down the road. The pain in his body dug into his heart and his tears still flowed. He only had a thin shirt on his back. He had to stop and rest against a tree every few steps. He should’ve known what kind of person Gu Jun was. He shouldn’t have come back.

What was the point of living? He didn’t have a home anymore. He had nothing anymore. His parents had gone easy on him by letting him go instead of beating him to death…

He took one step, two steps, three steps, and then fell to the ground with a thud.

Gu Jun’s car drove down the moonlit path. Gu Jun sat in the backseat. When he saw An Xiaoyan lying beside the road, he didn’t tell the driver to stop. They whooshed past.

When they really passed him by, the exhilaration of revenge was drowned by worry. It was night. What if there was a robber? There might be coyotes or wolves in the mountain too. What if he was eaten?

The more Gu Jun thought, the more restless he felt. What was he worried about?

The image of An Xiaoyan alone on the mountain kept appearing before his eyes. The figure under the sun had made him lose his mind. When rings of light shone on An Xiaoyan’s body, he actually wanted to hug that thin frame.

“Turn around.”

The driver couldn’t process this. Was his boss serious? This was a one-way street. Making a U-turn was so dangerous.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know how to turn around.”

The driver gulped. He’d only driven in the big city. It was his first time driving on a rural path and it was nighttime too. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t scared, but he also knew Gu Jun’s temper. If he didn’t turn around, he’d be fired.

While he was still debating, Gu Jun spoke again. “Get off. I’ll drive. You wait on the road with the Young Master.”

Before the driver could react, he was already holding the kid and standing on the side of the road. He watched as the two headlights drove into the distance. The light cut open the darkness, ripping the horizon apart.

An Xiaoyan’s expressions of sadness, forbearing, and resilience flashed past Gu Jun’s mind. Cursing under his breath, he floored the gas.

A burst of emotions suddenly bloomed within him, making Gu Jun even more annoyed. He’d never worried about anyone in his 29 years of life. He’d never felt this kind of anxiety. An Xiaoyan, you better be okay. Otherwise, I’ll punish you after you wake up.

The headlights shone on the body beside the road. Gu Jun ran toward him without even waiting for the car to fully stop.

Under the yellow light, it was as if An Xiaoyan’s face had a layer of gold. Gu Jun pushed aside the hair on An Xiaoyan’s forehead. He wrapped the man in a jacket and carried him onto the backseat.

After he started the engine, Gu Jun floored the gas pedal again. While driving, he peered at the man in the backseat from the rearview mirror. The nerve inside Gu Jun’s heart started pulsing again. An Xiaoyan belonged to only him.

Chen Chen had already received Gu Jun’s order. He went to the city closest to An Xiaoyan’s home. Gu Jun had a company there. They didn’t have to worry about somewhere to stay.

In the evening, a dirty black business vehicle cruised to the agreed-on location. Chen Chen was just about to open the door when Gu Jun got out with someone in his arms.