Chapter 40

Chapter 40: Midnight Snack

To be honest, Lin Jianyuan’s head was still buzzing.

Everything felt strangely unreal.

He was surrounded by unfamiliar sights: a psychiatric hospital, a ward, a stark white ceiling, pale yellow curtains drawn around his bed.

And his roommate, curled up in his arms.

Yes, that was the strangest part of all—his roommate in his arms.

Not just because his roommate happened to be a digestive system.

Okay, that was pretty bizarre, too.

But he’d been seeing his roommate as a digestive system for a while now. He was used to it.

They’d even shared a bed before, just like this.

But tonight was different.

Outside, the storm raged on. Rain hammered the window in heavy bursts.

Even though he was in the middle bed of a three-person room, he could hear the rain drumming hard against the glass.

How could it rain so hard? Would it get colder once the storm passed?

Random thoughts drifted through Lin Jianyuan’s mind.

Right—he’d left laundry hanging at home.

Never mind, it didn’t matter.

He had a wife now. Would his wife do his laundry?

He pictured that fair-skinned boy at the sink, hand-washing his underwear.

Wearing soft loungewear, loose pajama pants. In summer, maybe flip-flops. From behind, slim calves, pale ankles.

Tall and slender, hair tied in a little ponytail at the back.

Washing clothes, chatting with him about dinner.

He couldn’t take it.

Too much like a perfect wife.

His face burned red.

“What are you smiling about?”

The pink digestive system in his arms shifted.

Lin Jianyuan quickly wiped the grin off his face. “Did I laugh out loud?”

“No, but I felt your shoulders shaking. And your breath is hot on my neck.”

That last note curled up, as always.

But Lin Jianyuan heard a hint of playful whining in that soft voice.

It was unbearably cute.

How could a guy be this good at acting cute?

The curtains sealed them off from the world.

Still, Lin Jianyuan knew exactly where they were—this was a hospital room, and there were others nearby.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself.

Calm down. Calm down.

—Who was he kidding? He couldn’t calm down at all!

His mouth was about to split into a grin. If he had a tail, it would be wagging.

“Were you always into guys?” Lin Jianyuan reached out, trying to poke his roommate’s cheek.

But faced with a bundle of digestive organs, he couldn’t tell where the cheek was.

So he poked the throat instead.

“Into guys?” The roommate looked down at his own intestines. “I don’t think any part of me is straight.”

“So, did you have your eye on me from the start? Is that why you moved in so fast?”

His roommate fell silent.

Lin Jianyuan froze, then caught on.

He laughed, squeezing what should be his roommate’s right colon—really, his right waist.

His fingers sank into soft, slippery flesh. He couldn’t help himself. “No way, did I get it right?”

“You’re not mad?” his roommate asked, surprised.

“Why would I be mad? It just proves I’m irresistible,” Lin Jianyuan said, a little smug.

Who knew he was such a catch in the gay world?

Honestly, if someone had told him that before today, he would’ve died of embarrassment.

But now he’d bent, too...

“I don’t even know what I am anymore,” Lin Jianyuan admitted, pulling his roommate closer.

His roommate’s cool body slowly warmed in his arms, and for some reason, that made Lin Jianyuan fiercely possessive.

“I always thought I liked girls. Even back in school, sharing dorms and showers with other guys, I never thought twice about it. I never questioned myself.”

His roommate suddenly asked, “So do you have feelings for me now?”

Lin Jianyuan blinked. “What?”

He looked down at the digestive system in his arms, speechless.

Honestly, who could have feelings for a pile of digestive organs?

That was a digestive system!

A mouth, throat, liver, gallbladder, spleen, pancreas, stomach, intestines—a mass of living, squirming organs!

That couldn’t be right!

Even if he knew his roommate was human, having sexual thoughts about someone who looked like a digestive tract... that wasn’t right!

Suddenly, Lin Jianyuan realized something serious.

That kiss earlier had been pure impulse.

Maybe it was the storm outside, or the dizzying scent of insect repellent. Whatever it was, he’d lost his mind and kissed his roommate.

But now he’d come back to his senses.

His roommate was human, but in his eyes, still a digestive system.

How had he managed to kiss him?

He couldn’t believe it, even now.

And he’d even blurted out a confession, asking his roommate to be his wife...

He was doomed.

It wasn’t that he regretted it, but they were both adults, both men. Dating couldn’t just mean kissing.

They lived together, shared a bed. They couldn’t just lie under the covers and talk all night, every night.

But how would anything else even work?

His roommate was a digestive system. Was he supposed to use the rectum as—

A vivid, indecent image flashed through his mind.

His scalp tingled.

Wasn’t that just... a living fleshlight?

Shit, that was filthy...

No, no, that was way out of line! Treating his roommate like a sex toy? That was too much!

No, no, absolutely not.

His roommate was not a digestive system, not a digestive system, not a digestive system!

His roommate was a person! A real, living person!

But in his eyes, his roommate had always been a digestive system.

And yet, even as a digestive system, he’d fallen for him.

It was all his roommate’s fault—for being too damn cute.

How could he not fall for someone so adorable?

The lights went out.

In the darkness, Lin Jianyuan couldn’t help whispering, “Wife.”

His roommate, right beside him, let out a gurgle from somewhere in his intestines.

After the gurgle, his roommate asked, “So do I call you husband now?”

Lin Jianyuan: “...”

This was awkward.

His roommate said, “This is so weird.”

Lin Jianyuan: “...”

Even more awkward. Help.

How could it be this awkward?

Was everyone this awkward after confessing and getting together?

Lin Jianyuan didn’t know what to say. It was both funny and mortifying.

Somehow, his roommate let out a quiet laugh, too.

“So strange,” his roommate murmured, leaning in and pressing cool, soft lips to his.

His lips were soft and a little cold, the air thick with the nostalgic scent of insect repellent.

His roommate said, “Why do I want to kiss you, too?”

Lin Jianyuan’s mind immediately went to sex.

Lin Jianyuan: “...”

Thank god the lights were off, or he would have died of embarrassment.

He flushed, sweating all over.

Technically, he and his roommate were together now.

Technically, some under-the-covers help in the hospital wouldn’t be the end of the world.

Technically, even if his roommate looked like a digestive system to him, it was dark, wasn’t it?

If he couldn’t find the right spot, his roommate could guide him.

But still.

He still wasn’t used to his roommate being his wife.

It felt like a dream.

Lin Jianyuan tilted his head back, exhaling a long, hot breath into the darkness.

“Let’s sleep,” he said, pulling the blanket over them both. “If we don’t, something’s going to happen.”

“What’s going to happen?” his roommate asked.

“Don’t play dumb. Be good.”

“I’m not pretending. What is it? I really don’t know.”

“You little—” Lin Jianyuan slipped his hand under the covers and scratched his roommate’s waist.

His roommate’s right colon was ticklish, and he immediately squirmed and giggled, trying to escape.

Lin Jianyuan was ready. Before he could laugh out loud, he clapped a hand over his mouth.

His roommate’s laughter turned muffled, the soft bundle in his arms wriggling and twisting.

Lin Jianyuan: “...”

Worse and worse.

Or rather—

He was even more turned on now!

……

...

After some roughhousing under the covers, Lin Jianyuan finally drifted off.

But Xie Yu didn’t sleep.

He had no eyes, so Lin Jianyuan couldn’t tell if he was awake or not.

This was all so strange, he thought.

A human wanted him as a wife.

He’d actually become someone’s wife.

It was so strange, it was hilarious.

He couldn’t help but laugh again.

Xie Yu had no eyes, no nose—only a mouth.

Right now, his mouth was curled up, the urge to laugh unstoppable.

It was like eating something he shouldn’t.

He remembered this feeling. Once, he’d accidentally eaten something not meant for him—joy. Like a human overdosing on medicine, he’d laughed and laughed and couldn’t stop.

But this time, he hadn’t eaten anything wrong. He hadn’t eaten at all.

Before seeing Lin Jianyuan tonight, he’d already eaten his fill in the ICU.

He’d come here stuffed, belly full.

He knew Lin Jianyuan hadn’t had anything to eat for two days—he hadn’t been to work.

Xie Yu had long realized: only after Lin Jianyuan went to work did he produce the delicious food on Xie Yu’s menu.

The past two days, Lin Jianyuan hadn’t worked, so there was nothing tasty on him.

But then why—

His throat contracted, stomach, gallbladder, pancreas—all his glands quietly at work, digestive juices hot and abundant.

Soft intestines coiled around his human like snakes.

Pink intestines pressed close, separated only by the hospital gown.

His body was cold, the kind of clammy touch humans hated.

But the sleeping human pulled him close, tucking the blanket around him.

A human, fast asleep.

His human.

A delicious human.

A human he could never get enough of... huh?

Huh?

When he rubbed his throat contentedly against Lin Jianyuan’s chest—

Gurgle.

He realized it wasn’t his imagination.

There really was food on Lin Jianyuan.

Curious, his slender duodenum slipped under the hem of the hospital gown.

Pinched the human’s waist.

Pinched his chest.

Finally, he found it.

A vertebra.

A pale, flat vertebra, almost smiling, lifted and dangled by the duodenum.

“Bone snack.”

Even as he found the food, Xie Yu sounded annoyed.

His voice was cold and low, tinged with territorial irritation.

But in the next second, the agitation vanished.

“Huh?”

The duodenum curled, bringing the bone closer for inspection.

It wasn’t the real thing.

This bone wasn’t the real bone snack, nor a piece of it.

Just a mark.

What was going on?

Why did Lin Jianyuan have a bone snack’s mark?

...Whatever. It didn’t matter.

He was here already.

Xie Yu opened his mouth and popped the little snack in.

He crunched away, satisfied.