Secret Incident (BL) - Chapter 2

His thoughts were drowned by the heavy rain, his vision blurred by water.

When Liam Jun first saw the figure crouching under the eaves of the old tiled house, for a fleeting moment, it looked like a white Scottish Fold cat stranded in the rain.

White. A cat.

Head lowered, its slender form drenched by the downpour, shivering slightly. When it looked up, its gaze was nothing short of heartbreaking.

Fluttering eyes, rainwater clinging to flushed cheeks, lips tinged a delicate red.

Liam only glanced a few times—just a few times—yet he was already bewitched, forgetting to look away.

In that moment of eye contact, their hidden desires were laid bare.

One caught off guard, the other momentarily dazed—thoughts laid bare through their gazes, all too obvious.

They tried to recover, both clearing their throats, averting their faces, and refusing to acknowledge what had just happened.

Liam had always been aware of his preferences—he was a man who liked men. But he never imagined that one day, he would feel a sudden, raw attraction to a stranger on the street.

He had even less expected such a visceral reaction from himself—especially considering how many corpses he had dissected over the years.

Shouldn’t he be completely desensitized by now?

Yet deep down, a voice murmured, “Interesting.”

But he didn’t look back. He decided that “interesting” was best left as a fleeting spark in that one brief moment.

The storm didn’t last long. Soon, the sun peeked through the clouds again. Water still dripped from the eaves, but the heat was already rising from the ground in thick waves.

It was August. Summer had its own ways of making humans experience the full meaning of “drenched in sweat and fire.”

As soon as the rain stopped, the two of them left in opposite directions without looking back.

Pening Harbor was a town built on maritime trade. Since the Ming Dynasty, it had gone through cycles of decline and reconstruction. Now, it was divided into an old and a new district.

The new district continuously expanded with land reclamation, developing commercial residences. Meanwhile, the old district stretched along the port’s trade routes, home to the town’s local residents.

Most of the buildings in the old district were traditional houses—white walls peeling in patches, red bricks weathered to a bluish hue over time, and intricate wooden carvings on the roof tiles glistening under the light.

Once the rain stopped, the sounds of the bustling docks and the market vendors’ shouts filled the air again.

Liam Jun stepped out of the alley and stood at the edge of the street, holding a small suitcase in one hand. He put on his sunglasses to shield himself from the glaring sunlight while shaking off the rainwater from his clothes.

The sea breeze carried a thick stench of fish, nearly suffocating him. After standing still for a moment, feeling his clothes dry slightly, he started walking again, resuming his search for the right path.

The town’s streets were a mess—no clear signs, no logical layout—frustrating enough to test anyone’s patience. By the time Liam finally arrived at his hotel, his clothes and hair had dried almost completely.

The hotel was an old building, worn down by time. As soon as he stepped inside, the blast of air conditioning pulled him back to life. He let out a quiet sigh of relief.

The electronic sensor at the entrance chimed, and a receptionist peeked out from behind the front desk.

“Sorry, we’re fully booked.”

Liam walked straight to the counter.

Having endured rain and sea breeze the entire way, his hair was now tousled into a dated, wavy side-part. He didn’t take off his sunglasses, so his expression remained unreadable. Without saying a word, he pulled out his phone, opened his hotel reservation, and placed it on the counter. Then, he glanced around the lobby.

There were two staff members at the front desk. They both looked at his phone screen, then exchanged glances.

The older woman among them stood up with a bright, welcoming smile. “Oh! You must be Mr. Jun?”

Before they could say anything else, Liam handed over his ID and stated, “My colleagues will be arriving next week.”

“Got it. You’ve booked three single rooms, correct?”

The receptionist took his ID and passed it to her coworker for registration. As she worked, she chatted, “We’ve got a big celebrity staying at our hotel! Filming a movie, you know. They could’ve stayed anywhere, but they booked the entire place here.

“At first, we were going to cancel your reservation, but you guys booked your rooms more than half a month before the film crew arrived. When we called your friend—Miss Jiang, was it? Oh my, she was furious! She refused to give up the reservation no matter what. We had to negotiate for ages just to free up these three rooms for you…”

The hotel owner was more interested in boasting about their celebrity guest.

Unlike the professional demeanor of regular hotel staff, the woman was clearly the manager of this small inn—chatty and friendly. While verifying Liam Jun’s identity, she remarked, “Mr. Jun, you look younger than your ID says.”

After finishing the check-in process, she handed him the room key and stepped out from behind the counter to lead the way. “So, what brings you to Pening Harbor?” she asked.

“Market research,” Liam replied.

“Market research for what? You’re not here to build more apartments, are you?” She suddenly looked alarmed and stopped in her tracks, turning to shout at the man behind the counter. “A-Jian! Look at this! More developers! They’re going to put up even more buildings! Ugh, the ones they’ve already built are so tall, they’re terrifying to look at—”

“Would you be quiet for a second?” A-Jian interrupted. “The guest hasn’t even said anything yet, and here you are rambling on.”

The woman turned back to Liam, eyeing him closely. She had offered to lead him to his room, but after all that talking, she still hadn’t moved. Instead, she continued, “Mr. Jun, are you married? You’ve booked a room for three months—won’t your wife and kids miss you while you’re here?”

A-Jian cut in again, this time apologizing to Liam. “We offer free earplugs at the inn.”

Liam patted his pocket and said, “I don’t have my business card on me, but I’m here for tourism development research.”

“Tourism development? In Pening Harbor?” The woman waved dismissively. “Who would want to visit a place like this?”

A-Jian shot her a sharp look, silently telling her to shut up, then turned to Liam with another apology. “She talks too much—please don’t mind her.”

“Did I say something wrong?” she asked.

Liam remained expressionless behind his sunglasses, offering a simple, “It’s fine.” His detached demeanor made him seem even more distant and unreadable.

While standing at the counter, the two staff members—who were obviously a married couple—continued bickering in hushed voices, completely forgetting about their guest who was still waiting to be shown to his room.

By now, Liam had already taken in every detail of the small inn’s lobby, from its modest furnishings to the dynamic between its two owners.

Just then, the electronic chime at the entrance sounded again.

Since he had been thoroughly ignored, Liam had already wandered toward the inner part of the inn, studying a table made of patterned tiles and a collection of tea sets displayed behind a glass cabinet.

Then, he heard the woman’s voice, this time filled with urgency. “You’re finally back! Did you get caught in the rain?”

A warm voice replied, “No, I didn’t. I went to the market for a bit.”

Liam caught the reflection of the newcomer in the glass of the tea cabinet. Turning around, his gaze—hidden beneath his sunglasses—landed directly on the person who had just entered.

He had assumed their brief alleyway encounter had ended as quickly as it had begun.

He hadn’t expected to see him again.

And that assumption—that he was just a fragile little white cat—seemed… incorrect.

Liam watched as the “little white cat” froze for the briefest moment, only to immediately recover with an innocent, harmless-looking smile.