11
Shawn stood at the table, looking at the distraught man opposite him, feeling both angry and pitiful.
When Xu Qi approached him to hypnotize Xu Yi, he immediately refused. However, Xu Qi was unusually adamant, even threatening to sever their years-long friendship, so he eventually agreed.
However, he knew that given Xu Yi's condition, problems were bound to arise sooner or later. A few days ago, Xu Qi called him to come and undo Xu Yi's hypnosis, and without hesitation, he rushed to the Xu family home. The initial hypnosis had taken several months, but the undoing only took a few minutes.
After being unconscious for two days, Xu Yi finally woke up, which relieved Xu Qi. However, Xu Yi's unusually cold attitude towards him once again deeply hurt him.
For the past few days, Xu Yi hadn't looked at him directly, nor had he spoken a single word to him. He knew his younger brother wouldn't forgive him, and silently endured the excruciating pain. Until today, he learned from his father that Xu Yi had actually left the Xu family and moved to his own villa. This meant that Xu Yi was truly breaking away from the Xu family.
He returned to his room, bewildered. The room was empty; Rose had gone to the headquarters early that morning and hadn't returned by the time he finished work. She was probably spending the night out again. For several nights in a row, he had received calls from Rose telling him she wouldn't be back tonight, seemingly deliberately avoiding him.
He would never use his position as master to suppress Rose, nor would he pry into her private affairs. But Rose would never act this way either, staying out for several nights in a row! Not only that, Rose's attitude towards him was completely different from before. Before, Rose's gaze was gentle, but now she refused to look him in the eye, and her tone had become distant, businesslike. Perhaps because of what happened last time, this child would no longer be close to him. But, clearly, it was the other person who betrayed him, so why did it seem like he was the one in the wrong? Was everyone going to leave him?
He slumped down, opened a drawer, picked up Xu Yi's photo, and stared at it blankly. The younger brother in the photo was only 10 years old, smiling angelically at his camera. He thought painfully that this child he had cherished since childhood would never smile like that at him again. He couldn't help but kiss the thin photograph, unaware of the shock in the eyes peeking through the crack in the door.
Upon witnessing this astonishing scene, Shao Yang stumbled back, even bumping into Shawn, who had come to see Xu Qi. He quickly greeted Shawn and then fled as if his life depended on it.
Shawn was somewhat bewildered until he entered Xu Qi's room and saw the photo the man hadn't had time to put away. Then it all became clear. This guy had truly brought this trouble upon himself. From the moment he met Xu Qi, he knew this guy was an incurable brother-obsessed fanatic. Worst of all, this idiot even interpreted this brother-obsessed complex as: love. When he accidentally discovered this, he really wanted to pry open this guy's incredibly dull brain to see if some kind of groove was missing! A man who treasures a photo of his younger brother when he was 10 years old is clearly just an idiotic older brother!
He once tried to ask Xu Qi if he had any desires for his younger brother, but Xu Qi beat him up so badly that he ended up in the hospital for three days. Xu Qi was furious at the time, believing that he had desecrated his little angel and even suspected that he harbored dirty desires for Xu Yi.
Good heavens! How could such an idiot exist? Shawn was utterly defeated. He really wanted to tell Xu Qi that he did indeed harbor "dirty desires," but those desires were directed at Xu Qi himself, not at his brother who had the appearance of an angel but was actually a devil! But he didn't have the guts. If he really said that, Xu Qi might keep him in the hospital for the rest of his life.
However… perhaps this is a good opportunity. It's time for Xu Qi to realize his feelings for his younger brother.
Shawn sighed. "Adam, maybe you need to relax."
Xu Qi slowly raised his head, forcing a smile: "Do I look that down and out?"
Shawn raised an eyebrow: "You look like a Scrooge who just went bankrupt."
Then he went around the table and grabbed Xu Qi, saying, "Come with me."
Shawn entered the bar with practiced ease, waved to Lance, and pointed to Xu Qi beside him: "Give this guy a 'Margarita,' and for me, I'll stick with 'Bamboo.'"
Xu Qi looked around. This was a bar—or more accurately, a gay bar. There were no women, only males desperately releasing their hormones. He glanced at Shawn with a wry smile: "This is what you call 'relaxing'?"
Shawn shoved the glass into his hand: "Of course, it absolutely works."
Xu Qi was somewhat helpless; Shawn never played by the rules. He raised his glass, tilted his head back, and downed it in one gulp. Lance was a little angry and was about to speak when Shawn raised his hand to stop him, so he could only turn his head away in frustration.
Suddenly, Shawn tugged at Xu Qi's sleeve: "Isn't that your subordinate?"
Xu Qi followed his gaze, and the wine glass in his hand fell to the floor with a "crack," shattering into countless crystalline fragments.
The men sitting in the corner in the distance were Rose and Antonio. From this angle, their posture was incredibly ambiguous.
Two weeks ago, Antonio returned to New York and immediately began pursuing Rose ardently. Unfortunately, Rose was preoccupied with Xu Yi's hypnosis release and had no time for him. These past few days, Xu Yi had finally returned to normal, and to avoid Xu Qi, she agreed to meet Antonio at this bar every night. Of course, he couldn't accept her advances, but it was truly the first time he'd encountered such a persistent suitor. He could only wait and see, hoping the other's patience and enthusiasm would wear off.
“Antonio, you’re a good friend. But I’m sorry, I really can’t accept your love. You deserve someone better,” Rose reiterated.
Antonio smiled and leaned closer to him: "See, aren't we friends now? You'll soon find out how well-suited we are."
"Okay, if you insist on thinking that way, there's nothing I can do. Maybe you've been spoiled by your ex-lovers." Rose finally gave up trying to persuade him. "I don't want to waste any more words with you."
He stood up to leave, but Antonio grabbed his forearm: "Since we're friends, how can you leave after less than half an hour? At least stay and chat with me for a bit."
Rose turned around, her tone somewhat cold: "If your so-called chat is just about saying these things to me, then I'm afraid I won't play along."
Antonio felt a pang of pain in his heart, but still forced a smile and said, "Okay, I won't talk about that. How about I buy you something to drink?"
Rose glanced at her watch; it was only eight o'clock, so she sat down.
Shawn glanced furtively at Xu Qi's expression, a sense of foreboding creeping over him. Xu Qi's eyes were sinister, his gaze fixed on Qiangwei and the other woman as if he wanted to kill them.
Shawn was puzzled; Xu Qi's reaction seemed too extreme. Even if his subordinate liked men, was this a necessary reaction? Could it be… Shawn's heart skipped a beat: was his real rival in love this Rose?
An hour later, Qiangwei and her companion left the bar. Xu Qi immediately followed them and was surprised to find that they entered the nearby hotel one after the other.
Xu Qi looked up at the "MoonLight" sign, then slowly turned to Shawn and asked, "You should know what kind of hotel this is, right?"
Oops, I realized I didn't finish posting the last chapter! Here it is~
Shawn's forehead was sweating: "This..." He didn't finish his sentence.
He dared not say that "MoonLight" was actually a gay hotel! He was a bit overwhelmed; it seemed the problem was much more complicated than he had imagined.
Just then, Xu Qi's phone rang. A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips as he took out his phone and pressed the call button.
"Young Master, I have some business to attend to today and I'm afraid I won't be able to return." Rose's flat voice came through the receiver.
Xu Qi gripped his phone tightly, his voice almost squeezed out between his teeth: "Okay, you go ahead and do your thing."
After hanging up the phone, Xu Qi gripped it tighter and tighter until finally, with a "crack," the well-made phone was crushed in two.
Looking at the phone's miserable state, Shawn swallowed hard and managed to say, "Adam... calm down..."
Xu Qi turned his head, his face calm: "Don't worry, I'm very calm. Whether he wants to be with a man or a woman is his own business."
Shawn couldn't help but take a step back: "Ah...you're right...I'll go back now."
Without waiting for Xu Qi's reply, he turned around and fled in panic. If he stayed any longer, he might become cannon fodder in Xu Qi's rage, and he didn't have the courage to bear that.
Xu Qi glanced back at the flashing hotel sign, gritting his teeth. Who Qiangwei dated was indeed… none of his business. That should be the case. But when he thought about how, without his knowledge, that Italian man was still entangled with Qiangwei, he couldn't control the anger welling up inside him.
Perhaps... it's because the child he watched grow up has left him to be with another man, and he feels resentful. He looked bitterly at the phone broken in two in his hand. In the end... was he all alone?
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