The Daughter-In-Law Is So Pitiful? Just Take Her Home and Pamper Her! - Chapter 20

Chapter 20: Chen the Oblivious

To keep his balance, he had to stick his butt out slightly, and the curve of his jeans traced a youthful temptation just above the green felt of the table.

Xu Yao’s cue dropped to the floor with a loud clatter. In one swift motion, he yanked Chen Mi by the wrist and pressed him up against the edge of the pool table. The colorful balls scattered in all directions, one rolling into the corner pocket with a faintly suggestive thunk in the silence.

“Did you do that on purpose?” Xu Yao growled against his earlobe, his hand gripping that slim, swaying waist.

Chen Mi’s lashes trembled violently, and he was still dumbly clutching the chalk in his hand. “I—I really don’t know how to play…”

The balls on the table were still faintly trembling when Xu Yao lifted him onto the table. The chalk slipped from Chen Mi’s hand and dragged a blue streak across the green felt.

“Don’t know how?” Xu Yao bit open his first shirt button, his sharp canine grazing over Chen Mi’s collarbone. “I’ll teach you something easier.”

Chen Mi looked up and saw the ceiling fan slowly spinning above, its shadows overlapping with Xu Yao’s lashes.

When Xu Yao’s hand slipped under his shirt, Chen Mi panicked and grabbed his wrist. “N-No, we can’t…”

Xu Yao buried his head in Chen Mi’s neck. “Then give me a kiss.”

Chen Mi’s breath caught, his fingertips unknowingly tightening around the collar of Xu Yao’s shirt. The old ceiling fan squeaked as it turned, breaking up Xu Yao’s husky voice in the warm air.

“No… no, not here. Let’s go home. There are people here,” Chen Mi felt like he’d been tossed into a steamer.

“Just one kiss. Just on the cheek. I’ll count it as you winning this round,” Xu Yao coaxed softly.

Chen Mi was about to combust. His fingers unconsciously clenched against Xu Yao’s shoulder blade.

The boss lady, ever sensible, stayed tucked quietly behind the bar counter.

“Three seconds,” Xu Yao murmured, his nose brushing the vein pulsing in Chen Mi’s neck. “If you close your eyes, I’ll take it as a yes.”

Chen Mi’s lashes trembled even harder, but in the end, he obediently closed his eyes.

The moment his lips touched Xu Yao’s cheek, the broken sound system in the pool hall suddenly blared out the grating intro of “Sweet Honey”—clearly triggered on purpose by the boss lady.

“That’s enough!” Chen Mi jumped away like a startled rabbit, his thigh bumping into the edge of the table as the balls clattered loudly.

Xu Yao had gotten what he wanted and leisurely watched Chen Mi fluster around, not even knowing where to place his hands.

The remaining rounds ended in a draw, thanks to Xu Yao’s very obvious “letting the sea win.”

The final match: black eight showdown.

Xu Yao deliberately missed, then watched as Chen Mi gleefully sank the last ball into the pocket.

The boss lady brought over orange soda. Condensation dripped down the glass bottles, smearing Xu Yao’s “letting him win” record on the scoreboard.

“I won!” Chen Mi’s eyes sparkled as he bit off the bottle cap. “No dishwashing for me!”

Xu Yao clinked his bottle against his. “Mhm, our little Mi is the best.”

As Chen Mi tilted his head back to drink, his Adam’s apple moved up and down, and a drop of orange-flavored soda slid down from the corner of his mouth.

Xu Yao’s eyes darkened. He suddenly reached out and wiped the drop away with his thumb.

“You got some here,” he said huskily. Then, deliberately waving the sticky finger in front of Chen Mi’s face, he slowly licked it clean.

Chen Mi nearly choked on his drink. His ears were red like they’d been soaked in sunset.

He hastily put the bottle down, the bottom clinking crisply against the wooden table. “Let’s—let’s go! Time to go home!”

Xu Yao chuckled and picked up their jackets, following after him.

Just before they stepped out, the boss lady suddenly called them back and shoved something into Xu Yao’s hand—it was the black eight ball that Chen Mi had pocketed earlier.

“A prize,” she said with a wink, her gaze sliding meaningfully toward their intertwined fingers. “Come back next time, alright?”

On the way home, twilight was setting in.

Chen Mi hugged the black eight, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing over the smooth number on its surface.

Xu Yao walked beside him, his arm occasionally brushing Chen Mi’s shoulder.

“Xu Yao.” Chen Mi suddenly stopped walking.

“Hmm?”

“Back there…” Chen Mi bit his lip. “You… let me win on purpose, didn’t you?”

Xu Yao raised an eyebrow and ruffled his fluffy hair. “Who knows.” He deliberately dragged out his words. “Maybe some little dummy just got lucky?”

Chen Mi glared at him, cheeks puffed, but when he saw the glint of amusement in Xu Yao’s eyes, the anger drained away. He lowered his head, staring at the black eight in his hands, and muttered, “…Thank you.”

Xu Yao suddenly pinched his chin, tilting his face up.

“Xiao Mi,” Xu Yao said, voice gentle but firm, “you don’t need to thank me. This is what lovers do.”

“Lovers…?” A spark lit in Chen Mi’s eyes, only to quickly dim again.

Xu Yao’s pupils constricted, his grip on Chen Mi’s chin tightening. “What else?”

His voice dropped, suddenly cold. “What did you think we were?”

Chen Mi froze under the sudden intensity. The black eight slipped from his hands, landing with a thunk into the roadside gutter… but got stuck and didn’t fall in.

“I—I thought…” Chen Mi stammered, but before he could finish, Xu Yao pinned him against a brick wall covered in creeping vines.

“Thought what?” Xu Yao ground out, forehead pressed against his. “Thought I was some charity worker? That I had nothing better to do than babysit stray cats all day?”

His breath was heavy and hot against Chen Mi’s skin. “Or did you think—”

He abruptly stopped. His throat bobbed hard, voice cracking. “You really think I’d just sleep in the same bed with anyone?”

Chen Mi’s heart pounded. His back pressed tightly to the rough wall.

And in Xu Yao’s eyes, beyond the rage, he saw something deeper… hurt.

“No…” Chen Mi scrambled to explain, hands pushing at Xu Yao’s chest, but remembering his fresh tattoo, he changed to clutching his shirt instead. “I just…”

“Just what?”

“…Just can’t believe…” Chen Mi’s voice was barely a whisper, “…that someone like you would actually like someone like me.”

Xu Yao paused—and then laughed. The kind of laugh someone makes when they’re pushed past the edge.

The next moment, he pulled Chen Mi into a fierce hug and kissed him hard, mouth trailing punishingly from the back of his neck up to his lips.

Chen Mi’s sensitive body trembled. He didn’t dare shove hard against Xu Yao’s chest and could only go limp, letting himself be bullied.

“Idiot.” Xu Yao rested his forehead against his, voice hoarse. “I even let you mess with my tattoo. What more do you want?”

That night, a page was ripped from the accounting notebook—Xu Yao had furiously written up a “Penalty List for a Certain Oblivious Someone,” but it was way too embarrassing, and Chen Mi had snatched it away and hidden it.

Oh, and the black eight, after being cleaned of all the mud by Xu Yao, was placed in the most prominent spot on the nightstand.