Chapter 63 The medal will stop hurting if you kiss it off.
You must not feel pity when you see a drunkard; you must stay far away from him.
This is the lesson Ning Jiu learned tonight.
She had been staying in Beijing for the past few months. To make it easier for her to get around, Ning Duyun specially prepared a pink Mini Cooper for her. Ning Jiu declined, but Ning Duyun smiled and said, "Consider it your aunt's birthday present this year."
Qiao Bolin was quite drunk. His usually cool and upright eyebrows furrowed slightly, and his cheeks flushed an unnatural red. His collarbone was slightly open, and his chest heaved with rapid breathing. His hot breath blew into her ear, making her feel itchy and numb.
He looked thin, but he was actually quite muscular. Ning Jiu couldn't move him by herself, so she asked a waiter for help. But the man insisted on sticking to her. In the end, the waiter had no choice but to help Ning Jiu with her bag and said he would ask the valet to bring her car over.
"Wait a minute." Ning Jiu tried to ignore the increasingly strong sandalwood scent on her body and looked up at the waiter. "Mr. Qiao, don't you have a car?"
What she meant was that she should just have someone drive Joel Bolton back in his car, so she wouldn't have to bother.
The waiter in front of her clearly recognized Qiao Bolin and shook his head slightly at Ning Jiu with a troubled expression.
"Mr. Qiao came with Mr. Xiao today, but Mr. Xiao has already left—"
Ning Jiu didn't say the second half of her sentence, but she understood that the method she had thought of earlier was probably not going to work.
She glanced down at the man beside her, who was completely drunk and unconscious, wondering just how much alcohol he had been forced to drink to get himself into this state.
Helpless, Ning Jiu had no choice but to lower her head and ask him.
"Where do you live? I'll have the driver take you home."
Qiao Bolin simply wrapped his arm half around her shoulder, his distinct jawline resting against her fair shoulder, his lower lip unconsciously caressing Ning Jiu's collarbone, the temperature fluctuating between hot and cold.
"Are you going to abandon me even in your dreams?" His hot palms gripped hers, yet he dared not squeeze too hard for fear of hurting her. His burning body temperature felt scorching even through her clothes. His once clear voice had become sticky and cloying. "Don't disappear again so soon, okay?"
"......"
The waiter standing to the side initially looked shocked, but later couldn't help but look like he was watching the drama unfold.
Under his gaze, Ning Jiu felt as if she were a spoiled brat who would start a relationship and then abandon it.
Feeling the weight on her shoulders, she felt a wave of helplessness and had no choice but to grit her teeth and put Qiao Bolin into the back seat of her car.
She's currently staying at Ning Duyun's apartment, so it's impossible for her to take the completely drunk Qiao Bolin back. But this guy can't even distinguish between reality and dreams, let alone give her a complete address.
Therefore, the only solution is—
Ning Jiu stood at the front desk of the hotel lobby, her shoulders almost crushed by the weight of the man.
Qiao Bolin was very drunk, half of his body leaning heavily against her, his breath filled with the smell of strong liquor mixed with the scent of sandalwood, but surprisingly not unpleasant.
The receptionist had seen countless people, but this was the first time she had ever seen a man who could be so eye-catching even when drunk.
The disheveled shirt clung to his slender figure, subtly outlining his perfectly slender muscles, and his tall frame almost completely enveloped the girl in front of him.
A few strands of black hair fell down, obscuring her well-defined and handsome features, but they still couldn't suppress her noble and sharp temperament. Her originally unapproachable aura was now inexplicably tinged with a touch of ambiguous allure.
Her eyes kept darting back and forth between him and Ning Jiu. When she heard that Ning Jiu only wanted the cheapest single room, she couldn't help but let out a soft "ah." She quickly realized that she had lost her composure and adjusted her expression.
"Miss, are you sure?" the receptionist asked meaningfully, "The single room bed is a bit small...it might not be enough for two people."
Ning Jiu understood the implication in her words, and her ears burned slightly. The distance between her and Qiao Bolin was already excessively ambiguous, and he seemed unsatisfied, as if drawn by the alcohol, he leaned closer to her little by little, his slightly stiff hair brushing against the back of her neck, making her almost want to pull away.
She insisted on a single bed in the end. Although the receptionist was surprised that they didn't seem to be so poor that they had to share a single room, she didn't ask too many questions and quickly completed the check-in.
The moment Ning Jiu got the room key, she almost couldn't wait to get rid of this burden, half-dragging, half-pulling him to the room door. Opening the door, she glanced around; as the receptionist had said, the space was indeed cramped. The single bed against the wall, covered with neat white sheets, still felt narrow.
She half-supported Qiao Bolin as she walked inside, and breathed a sigh of relief the moment she gently laid him down on the bed.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, his wrist was suddenly grabbed as he took a step.
The man, who had been drunk and had a hazy look in his eyes, opened his eyes at some point, his fingertips burning hot as he held her tightly.
When did you wake up?
Ning Jiu saw his throat bobbing and subconsciously reached out to touch his forehead to check if he had a fever. Just as she was about to touch his forehead, Qiao Bolin suddenly turned his head and pressed his cheek against her hand.
"You weren't even looking at me, so of course you didn't know I was awake," she said, her tone losing its usual calm and composure, tinged with a hint of sullen resentment from her drunkenness. "You spend more time looking at everyone else than at me."
This was the first time Ning Jiu had heard Qiao Bolin's voice sound so aggrieved, and she found his strange and childish possessiveness after getting drunk amusing.
"No, we're not even at the same table."
"Just because we're not at the same table doesn't mean you can pretend you don't know me." This question became his leverage. Even when drunk, Qiao Bolin's logic was frighteningly clear: "Does that mean if I don't talk to you, you can pretend I don't exist?"
As he said this, his eyes remained fixed on Ning Jiu.
She couldn't even tell for a moment whether he was drunk and out of his mind, or whether he was deliberately testing her under the influence of alcohol.
She lowered her head and said to him earnestly, "I can't just look at you alone."
“So I found another way,” Qiao Bailin said, half-jokingly, “There will be a time when your eyes will only be on me.”
He didn't say it explicitly, but Ning Jiu could roughly guess which situation he was referring to.
Ning Jiu's body, which had just cooled down, was starting to feel hot again, so she forced herself to change the subject.
"Let go, I'm leaving."
The man paused for a moment, as if he hadn't heard her, and continued to rub his straight nose against her earlobe.
Ning Jiu repeated herself before he reluctantly raised his head, his dark pupils staring at her directly and intensely.
"Give me a kiss, and I'll let go."
"......"
She never imagined that Joel Bolton would ever act so shamelessly.
Because of this, Ning Jiu was most likely certain that Qiao Bolin was truly drunk, to the point where he was completely out of it, and the tension in his heart suddenly eased.
Given his current situation, continuing to pester him is clearly inappropriate, but now—
Ning Jiu felt uncomfortable under Qiao Bolin's direct and intense gaze. She turned her body to avoid it, but he suddenly tightened his grip on her wrist, pulling her down onto the bed.
The bed was so hard it offered almost no cushioning. The moment she fell, Qiao Bolin instinctively shielded her, taking the weight himself with a muffled groan.
The two collided tightly, their postures chaotic, inevitably ending up in a complete embrace.
Ning Jiu was stunned for a moment. His hot body temperature made her chest burn. The smell of alcohol and familiar scent lingered around her nose, and she suddenly felt her eyes sting.
Noticing Qiao Bolin's gaze, she hurriedly turned her face away, her voice soft and hoarse.
"I just bumped into something, it hurts a bit."
"Um."
Qiao Bolin responded softly, his tone unreadable.
The next moment, Ning Jiu felt a heat on his cheek, and the cool tears were replaced by something warm. He leaned closer, and his already handsome eyebrows and eyes were magnified, making his features even more striking and beautiful in the dim light.
Qiao Bolin lowered his head and gently sucked away the tear that had somehow slipped down her cheek.
"Kiss it off, and it won't hurt anymore."
A damp trail meandered down from the corner of his eye, while the heat on his lips seemed to ignite the fine lines of his skin, leaving a scorching and irresistible mark.
Qiao Bolin's patience bordered on obsession as he meticulously licked along the tear stains from top to bottom. What should have been an admirable focus turned into an indescribable torment.
Ning Jiu bit her lip slightly, trying her best to suppress the tingling shiver that ran through her body. She subconsciously tried to avoid his movements, but as she moved away, their lips brushed against each other unintentionally, and they both froze for a moment.
That fleeting touch seemed to pull time back to the most innocent and tentative explorations of high school, both naive and passionate.
Six years have passed, and several more months have gone by.
Their desire for each other did not diminish at all; on the contrary, it intensified.
The small mole on Qiao Bolin's neck rose and fell slightly with the movement of her Adam's apple, and the corners of her lips still held the traces of her tears, glistening in the dim light, exuding a strange eroticism.
His eyes, which had been slightly drunk, suddenly darkened, reminding Ning Jiu of the silent, poised battle of a hawk before it pounces, as if it were about to devour her mercilessly.
What was just a fleeting kiss quickly turned into something else entirely.
Lips and tongue suddenly plunged in, their breaths mingling, a warm, moist sensation overflowing from between their teeth, saliva sliding down their lips to their chin, the interplay of coolness and heat teasing their reason until it crumbled little by little.
The sticky, wet sound paused for only a moment before surging back in. His tongue probed deeper, entwining with hers and refusing to let go. From uncontrolled eagerness to a calculated, inescapable entanglement, Ning Jiu was firmly trapped in his arms, every breath filled with his burning heat, unable to escape.
The hotel's air conditioning seems to be set too high.
The temperature around her body gradually rose. The kiss was too intense, and the time was stretched out indefinitely. Ning Jiu's chest heaved violently, and her cheeks flushed an alluring blush.
Just as she was about to lose all her strength, Qiao Bolin seemed to have had enough of kissing her, and lightly bit her rosy tongue, ending the long and tender kiss.
His slender fingers brushed aside her sweaty, tousled hair. The moisture at the corners of her eyes hadn't dried, and her beautiful eyes shone with a hazy light. In the dim light, his deep eyes reflected hers, where the desire hidden was no less than hers.
He was telling her with his eyes.
See, you could only see me just now.
In the silent space, their rapid breathing seemed even more unbearable.
His hand slid down her delicate cheek, his long legs slightly locking her in place, poised to strike. With just the slightest movement, the bed beneath him suddenly began to creak and groan abruptly.
The young master, who had lived for over twenty years, never expected to have his mood disturbed by the bed at such a time. His expression was unusually startled. Ning Jiu couldn't help but laugh at his expression, and when he looked over, she suddenly straightened her lips.
"You're not drunk?"
She observed Qiao Bolin's expression with a suspicious look, but apart from the kiss that had almost swallowed her whole, there was no flaw.
"I'm not drunk?" The emotion in his eyes vanished in an instant. He repeated her words, mimicking her tone perfectly. His fingers pinched her chin, and he was about to kiss her again, stickily. "Sweet Wine, why can everyone else call you Sweet Wine? I want to call you that too—"
"Sweet wine, so sweet..."
"Stop talking."
After getting drunk, Qiao Bolin seemed to have become even more shameless. Ning Jiu's heart skipped a beat when he called her name. She covered his mouth to prevent him from getting close, but instead, he started to suck and kiss the base of her fingers.
“Okay, I won’t say anything, Sweetie,” he said, taking advantage of the situation and leading her hand to loosen his tie. “Then kiss me again.”
"......"
Ning Jiu's initial doubts were dispelled, and he fell silent for a moment.
He took this as a silent acquiescence, and his lips and tongue invaded her mouth again, warm and lingering, while his fingertips massaged the back of her neck, sometimes tightly, sometimes loosely. A tingling current surged from her tailbone all the way up, and Ning Jiu was kissed until she was dizzy and disoriented.
His body gradually softened under his patient guidance, his lips became increasingly numb, and the skin pressed against his chest unconsciously grew hot.
She still retained a sliver of consciousness, and before things got out of control, she gently pushed him away, and Qiao Bolin reluctantly ended their second deep kiss.
Her chest heaved violently, as if something was quietly crumbling. The man's veined hand gently stroked her back to help her calm her breathing. Ning Jiu's gaze shifted downwards, finally settling on the thin scar on his right hand.
Qiao Bolin naturally noticed her gaze and thought she was trying to push him away again. He had already figured out how to deal with Ning Jiu's actions.
The hand holding her wrist moved down silently, wanting to wrap around her waist and trap her, but the girl suddenly relaxed all her strength and crashed straight into his arms, rubbing the back of his hand and asking in a hoarse voice.
"When you were stabbed here, did it hurt a lot?"
The girl's voice was slightly strained, probably because she thought he was not fully conscious, and her tone was filled with undisguised heartache.
Feeling the soft warmth in his arms, Qiao Bolin's throat bobbed involuntarily, and he followed her words.
"Ouch, that hurts."
She noticed the fingertips that were caressing the back of his hand pause, her thick eyelashes drooped slightly, concealing the fleeting emotion in her deep eyes.
He wanted all her attention to be on him, yet he couldn't bear to see her truly feel sorry for him. As Ning Jiu was intently observing the scars on the back of his hand, she suddenly heard Qiao Bolin speak with utmost seriousness beside her.
"But it's because I saved you that it became the most special medal of my life, so it doesn't hurt at all."
-----------------------
Author's note: My heart softened as I wrote this...
-
Another year younger! [Fireworks]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
