Chapter Text
The Present (Sunday Morning)
Message from Mingjue:
A-Sang said you should check A-Zhan's IG
❓
Just do it.
He's always right.
Delete these messages!
😂
Deleted them.
Not before he screenshots it though. Blackmail material.
Lan Huan smiles.
His brother has one IG account only. It is for his photography hobby. But there is almost no new content lately. A-Zhan is busy as a junior in uni and now he is doing a summer internship in one of the big tech companies. Lan Huan misses him, although he just left two weeks ago.
He sees it immediately.
His brother's last post.
A photo of slightly open lips, a prick of fresh blood forming, and wet, and oh so so tempting, like they have been kissed senseless. There is a mole underneath, like a wink, inviting, seducing.
Caption: my lips 💋.
They are so not his lips!
His account must have been hijacked!
Lan Huan quickly dials his little brother's number, his heart tells him that something is wrong, more wrong than an account being hijacked.
“Hello, Ge,” he answers, sounding somewhat hoarse.
Lan Huan is on alert, “Are you sick?”
His poor little A-Zhan, his IG is hijacked, and now he is sick in another city too far away from him.
“No.” Comes the curt answer.
“I’ll make breakfast.” Lan Huan hears A-Zhan’s voice, but not clearly, like he is covering the speaker of his phone.
Lan Huan is too shocked to say anything. He presses his ear closer to the phone and jacks up the volume to hear any discriminating voice.
What is he hoping to find out anyway? He shudders.
But the only voice he hears next is A-Zhan opening cabinets and fridge.
“Ge, are you still there?”
“Yes. A-Zhan. Your IG has been hijacked. Do you know that?” He cuts to the point.
“Oh? I don’t know that.” He is not panicking, it seems.
“Well, the last post was last night and it was a picture of a pair of lips.”
Silence.
A silence that is too suspenseful for Lan Huan.
“I posted it.”
“What?” he shouts. It is really un-Lan to do it. His uncle would immediately show his disapproval if he were here.
He hears his brother take a deep sigh. “It’s a long explanation and I have to make breakfast.”
“Then put me on speaker, you can still talk while cooking.”
He knows his little brother too well that he can practically hear A-Zhan’s brain deliberating. But apparently, he doesn’t know about his life the past two weeks. That makes him feel abandoned.
The phone is being put in loud speaker and there is a low thud noting that A-Zhan has put it on a flat surface. Next comes the sound of eggs breaking and being whisked.
“I have a boyfriend.”
Lan Huan almost shouts again but he manages to stop it before it happens. “And?”
“Mn?” He asks quietly as if he doesn’t understand what Lan Huan means.
“You said long explanation.”
“I was wrong,” his brother answers in his low tone. He almost cannot hear it behind the chopping sounds. It almost seems like he is trying to drop the subject.
Now is Lan Huan’s turn to sigh. “His lips are nice,” he prompts, trying to coax his little brother.
“Yes.”
Was that pride he heard?
“How long have you known him?”
“14 days.”
Even if he thinks that 14 days is not long enough to know a person enough to date him, he is not going to judge his brother.
But wait, they just started dating and jumped into bed together already?
Don’t judge. Don’t judge. Don’t judge.
He has no right to judge.
He slept with someone immediately after they met.
“Ah, I see. Did he... ehm… spend the night at your place?”
He can’t keep his mouth shut.
“Last night was our first. We waited for 13 days before we shared a bed.”
What the hell?!
Lan Huan almost drops his phone.
A-Zhan is telling him that he was not as promiscuous as him. But it also means that he started dating a man he hardly knew.
”But you just got there two weeks ago!”
“So did he.”
Lan Huan gulps.
It has been a while since he needed to interrogate his brother. The last time was when he said that he liked boys, but even then he didn’t have anybody he liked.
He reminds himself that there is a certain way to communicate with his brother to make him open up.
“What’s his name?” he asks calmly, composing himself to face the stubborn version of his brother.
“A-Ying.”
Even his name is a secret? No last name? But Lan Huan knows he cannot pressure him to tell more.
“What is he like?” he changes tactics.
“The best human that has ever walked on earth.”
Wow.
His brother is stupidly in love.
“Where is he from?”
“He lives not that far from us.”
That means this A-Ying is familiar with their family’s reputation. Afterall, who doesn't know about the Lan's extreme wealth? The money that is linked to their names as the only two Lan's heirs. Them being super handsome, smart and capable are also added bonuses.
Maybe this A-Ying is just one of the money hunters.
“Is A-Ying from the same uni with you?”
“No.”
“So you just met him?”
“Yes. 3 weeks ago. At intern orientation.”
“And you didn’t tell me that you have been meeting him when you were still here?” he accuses.
“I haven’t. We didn’t talk during orientation.”
His jaw drops. Luckily nobody sees him in that compromising state.
“A-Zhan! You cannot just date someone you just met, especially when you don’t have any experience in that.”
“I am also A-Ying’s first," he answers stubbornly.
His brother is too innocent that he is not aware that he is being used!
“He may hide some information from you?” he suggests. He can’t very well accuse his brother’s new boyfriend is a liar.
“He didn’t.”
A-Zhan is stubbornly defending his boyfriend. He should, it is his first relationship.
But this A-Ying being so mysterious and A-Zhan hiding him from his own brother is making him mad. And worry.
“I’m coming there,” he says sternly.
“No.” A-Zhan sounds upset.
He needs to coax him. But they don't have time to talk before he hears another voice.
“Good morning, Lan-Er-Gege, what are you making? It smells so good that it woke me up from my slumber.”
It is 9 am and he just woke up?
His brother also just woke up and Lan Huan is aware of him having double standards. He again tells himself not to judge this person, especially when his brother seems to be entranced by him.
He immediately changed his mind. He will judge A-Ying as hard as he can in the name of protecting his brother.
From the phone, he hears footsteps and then smooches. He shouldn’t hear all of this. Or if he hears them, he should have blocked it. But he finds himself pressing the phone more towards his ear and jacking up the volume at the same time.
“My Ge is on speaker phone.”
“Aaaah, good morning, Lan-Da-Ge. I am A-Ying. Nice to meet you.”
He sounds like a temptress, a seductress. Looking at his lips, he must have the look, too.
“Hello, A-Ying," he says, trying to be nice as he digs more about this A-Ying.
"Can I call you Huan-Ge?” He sounds so adorable and cheerful. “After all, you are A-Zhan’s most priced brother and I want to be as close to you.”
”You can only be close to me.” His brother sounds jealous.
Lan Huan hears a chuckle and a smooch following that rude remark.
This person is too good. He should stay alert.
“You can call me Huan-Ge. Are you also an intern at Wen Corp?” he asks directly. At least people who get internships in Wen Corp have gone through a rigorous selection procedure. He should be smart if he managed to land himself an internship there.
But it can also mean that A-Ying is smart enough to be manipulative and trick his innocent brother.
“Yes, but in a different division with A-Zhan, though. Which makes me unable to see his handsome face at work,” he sighs cutely as if the burden of not seeing A-Zhan’s handsome fave is really an adversity.
Lan Huan doesn’t know how to respond to that complaint.
“Thank you for breakfast. Why don’t I make your favorite green tea for you?”
A full service. A-Zhan doesn't stand a chance.
"Mn."
Lan Huan wants to see the seductress' face, the one who finally and completely destroyed A-Zhan's defense.
"Turn on the camera, I'd like to see the person who won my brother's heart."
"Hahahahaha, are you that curious, Huan-Ge? Hold on a minute, I am making tea for A-Zhan."
"No."
"No? Ok then, Huan-Ge, A-Zhan said no."
What has got into his brother?
"A-Zhan, I'm coming there," he threatens his brother.
"I switched places with A-Ying's roommate."
Meaning: you don't have his address. And they live together? What is this madness?
"I can find out."
A-Ying laughs so merrily, it sounds like a melody. "Huan-Ge is a protective older brother. Don't worry, Huan-Ge. I also have a little brother. I understand… I will treat A-Zhan right. I kinda like him," he pauses.
"A lot."
A minute passes without any sound from the other end. Lan Huan can almost imagine they are looking deeply into each other's eyes like in a romantic movie. It makes him doubt whether he should end the ambiguous silence.
He is about to say something when he hears his brothers deep affectionate voice, trembling as if his heart is shaken.
"I like A-Ying a lot, too."
His brother actually shows his fragile heart to his suspicious boyfriend.
What has the world become?
Suddenly, he hears someone getting closer to the phone, his breaths are urgent as if he is concealing a horny need.
"Bye, Ge," is the next thing he heard before the line is cut.
It leaves him no doubt on what is happening in A-Ying’s apartment now.
How good that person manipulates his brother with sex.
Lan Huan looks at his phone, stupidly stunned and so worried about his brother's extreme changes.
And the fact that he is being conned.
He dials Mingjue's number.
He needs to consult him. And maybe ask A-Sang whether he knows about A-Ying.