Chapter 20
Liang Xun thought about a lot of things during the time it took to smoke a cigarette.
The first thing that came to his mind was the first time he met Lin Shengwen. It was a quick glance at him in the library, and Liang Xun was blinded by his beauty. From then on, he firmly believed that he had fallen in love with this man.
This was an intuition that he himself could not question.
He never thought at first that he could get close to Lin Shengwen, but now, he is undoubtedly the person closest to Lin Shengwen - in the physical sense.
Liang Xun had thought about it before. Since Lin Shengwen and he had the same sexual orientation and both liked men, could he really take advantage of his proximity and try to pursue Lin Shengwen?
But he was too scared.
If he doesn't take the initiative, then when Lin Shengwen no longer needs his help, the two of them can sign the divorce papers and maintain their current relationship that is almost like friends. But what if he takes the initiative... There is only one chance, and if Lin Shengwen agrees, then everyone will be happy. The person he has been secretly in love with for so long can really become his boyfriend, just like a dream.
But what if Lin Shengwen rejected him?
He had hidden very well before, and Lin Shengwen had no idea that he existed, so any of his intrusions were covered up under the surface. But once Lin Shengwen knew about it, given Lin Shengwen's habit of doing things in a watertight manner, and the fact that his social circle was very different from Lin Shengwen's, if Lin Shengwen deliberately wanted to avoid him, he would never have the possibility of seeing Lin Shengwen again.
The door lock clicked, Liang Xun opened the door with the key, and walked into the living room from the entrance.
When Lin Shengwen heard the noise at the door, he got up from the sofa. When Liang Xun passed by him, he suddenly smelled a strong smell of smoke.
He knew Liang Xun smoked, and he probably still had some addiction—his cigarettes were strong and had a high nicotine content, but Liang Xun had never smoked in the house in all the time he had lived there. In fact, Lin Shengwen was somewhat curious about what Liang Xun had said on the phone. When he handed Liang Xun the phone, he saw the note was "Mom."
Liang Xun never mentioned anything about his family, and although Lin Shengwen felt the same way, he still developed a little curiosity. Lin Shengwen rarely exerted his curiosity on others, and he felt a little uncomfortable with it.
"It smells like smoke."
He saw Liang Xun lift up his T-shirt and sniff the fabric, but he couldn't smell anything unusual. He loosened his grip and the hem of his shirt fell back down. Liang Xun said to him, "Sorry, I went out to smoke. There might be some cigarette smell on my clothes."
At this moment, Lin Shengwen suddenly moved closer to him. He lowered his head, and the tip of his nose was almost touching the whorl of Liang Xun's head.
"It's the smell of cigarettes in my hair."
Liang Xun's fingers unconsciously twisted the hem of his T-shirt, almost twisting the fabric into a rose. After a while, he uttered, "How about... I quit smoking?"
Lin Shengwen smiled lightly and distanced himself from him.
"No, I didn't say I hated it."
On Friday evening, Liang Xun left the sailing club construction site early after handing over the work to another manager on the same project. He took a taxi to meet Lin Shengwen.
When he arrived, it was already seventeen or eighteen minutes later than the time they had agreed on. Lin Shengwen was sitting in the store waiting for him. When he saw Liang Xun come in, he didn't show any impatience for waiting for so long. He just asked the salesperson who had just received him to take out several rings that he liked.
Liang Xun noticed that Lin Shengwen was dressed very formally today - usually Lin Shengwen would wear a shirt and trousers to work, but he would not wear a tie or a vest, not to mention the weather was so hot.
While waiting for the clerk to go to the back room to get rings of different sizes, Liang Xun asked quietly, "Why are you dressed so formally today?"
Lin Shengwen looked at him, leaned close to his ear, and said to him: "I went back to my parents' house this afternoon. They like this."
"So that's how it is."
Liang Xun pursed his lips, feeling more certain about the rumor Sheng Biao had told him earlier, that Lin Shengwen was Mr. Lin's younger brother. No normal family would ask their children to wear a suit and tie when visiting relatives... unless they were a quirky family.
Liang Xun recalled that on the few occasions when he saw Mr. Lin Yunshen, Lin Yunshen was always wearing a well-fitting custom-made suit.
Is this his family tradition?
Liang Xun remained silent, but Lin Shengwen spoke up, "I've chosen a few on my own. Take a look first. If you're not satisfied, we can go to another store and have a look."
"Okay," Liang Xun suddenly remembered something and asked Lin Shengwen, "...Can you give me this ring after we get divorced?"
Lin Shengwen probably didn't expect that he would ask this question. He was stunned for a few seconds and pursed his lips. Just as he was about to say something, the jewelry store clerk came out with a velvet tray with several pairs of rings on it.
"Sir, I've got the ring with the size you mentioned. We don't have a lot in stock, so if the size isn't suitable, I'll try to coordinate it for you..."
Liang Xun originally thought that if Lin Shengwen bought it, he should just need to look at his expression to indicate whether he liked it or not, but he didn't expect Lin Shengwen to say something.
"Reach out your hand."
"Ah?" Liang Xun blinked. He looked up at Lin Shengwen who was standing next to him, and then looked at the clerk behind the counter in front of him. The clerk also winked at him. Her eyelashes were made thick and long by the mascara, so it would be unnecessary to say that she was winking at him.
Liang Xun slowly stretched out the claw of his left hand, and Lin Shengwen picked up a honeycomb-shaped ring inlaid with three hexagonal-cut diamonds and put it on his ring finger.
——The size was exactly the same as Liang Xun’s ring finger. Liang Xun tilted his head to look at Lin Shengwen, wondering how he knew the circumference of his ring finger.
Is this something that can be visually detected?
"Sir, you have excellent taste. This ring can be worn by both men and women and is perfect for any occasion," the salesperson praised. She then asked, "Sir, are you planning to get married? This ring also comes in a diamond-less version and a diamond-encrusted version. I have the diamond-less version here, you can take a look too."
Lin Shengwen picked up the one without diamonds and put it on his ring finger. He said to the clerk, "We are already married."
"Oh," the clerk blinked in surprise and said helplessly, "I'm so sorry."
"It's okay," Liang Xun reassured him. He gritted his teeth and said, "Can you get a full diamond model in his size?"
"Okay, wait a moment."
Seeing the clerk turn and go into the back room, Liang Xun took off his ring and tried on a few other rings. He whispered to Lin Shengwen, "I thought you were faking a marriage with me just to deal with that vice president or something like that. Why are you putting on such a show in front of people you don't even know?"
Lin Shengwen's face was expressionless. He glanced at Liang Xun before saying, "I think there's nothing wrong with this. It's just that it might delay you from finding a boyfriend."
A trace of annoyance appeared on Liang Xun's face. Only then did he notice the slight anger in Lin Shengwen's tone, but he really couldn't guess what Lin Shengwen was unhappy about.
He lowered his head and said that he hadn't had time to go to the barber shop to trim his bangs for a while, so they had grown a little longer. When he lowered his head, the bangs could cover the upper half of his eyes, but they were too prickly.
"Did Xu Yiming tell you something?" Liang Xun said, "I'm not looking for a boyfriend, please don't misunderstand."
Lin Shengwen snorted softly, his expression becoming even more unhappy. Facing Liang Xun's puzzled gaze, he said sourly, "How come I didn't know you and Xu Yiming had a secret?"
Liang Xun was anxious. If he had to say that there was something between him and Xu Yiming that was hidden from Lin Shengwen, it was nothing more than that he confessed to Xu Yiming that he liked Lin Shengwen. But he subconsciously felt that Xu Yiming would not say too much to Lin Shengwen, including when he asked him that day, it was mostly teasing.
He bit his lower lip, "No secrets."
Lin Shengwen took his left hand, took off several rings that he had tried on but did not quite fit Liang Xun's fingers, put them back on the velvet plate, and put on the three-diamond ring that he had tried at the beginning.
His eyes fixed on Liang Xun: "Really?"
Liang Xun nodded with difficulty under Lin Shengwen's gaze: "Really, I'd be a dog if I lied to you."
Lin Shengwen smiled and said nothing more. The clerk took out the ring, and Liang Xun smiled politely at her. When the clerk put the ring on the tray for them to try on, he reached out, took Lin Shengwen's hand, and put the diamond ring on his ring finger.
"You wear this," Liang Xun said firmly, "and don't look at anything else."
Lin Shengwen said to the clerk with a forced smile, "I want this full diamond model and the three-diamond model he just tried on. Thank you."
In addition to the ring, Lin Shengwen also bought a platinum chain. He paid with a credit card and took Liang Xun to the parking lot.
Liang Xun was still a little dazed. He didn't quite understand why Lin Shengwen wanted to wear a chain. It wasn't until he got in the car and fastened his seat belt that he figured it out: "Is it inconvenient for you to have surgery with the ring on your hand?"
Lin Shengwen thought for a moment and replied, "If you take some time to get used to it, it shouldn't be inconvenient, but I'd better take it off before going into the operating room."
"Oh, okay." Liang Xun looked at the rings on his and Lin Shengwen's hands.
Although the price was completely different, just as he expected, Lin Shengwen looked exceptionally good in this diamond-studded ring. A beauty needs flowers, and Lin Shengwen, with such a handsome face, looked radiant in a ring studded with diamonds even in the dim light. It was a perfect match. Liang Xun was very pleased with his taste and didn't notice that Lin Shengwen hadn't even bothered to fasten his seatbelt or start the engine during the few minutes they were in the car.
"Aren't you going back?"
Not long after Liang Xun finished asking, he found that Lin Shengwen suddenly approached him. Lin Shengwen supported his seat with one hand, leaned over, and stared into his eyes.
Isn’t this distance a little too close?
The moment Liang Xun realized this, he suddenly became nervous. He swallowed and his Adam's apple moved up and down. He was about to ask Lin Shengwen what was wrong or if there was any problem when Lin Shengwen spoke.
"Actually, that night, you kissed me forcefully after you got drunk."
"Liang Xun, shouldn't you be responsible for me?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
