Passion Raga Novel (Completed) - Chapter 43

Before Yuri could say anything, Ling Xinlu jumped into the pool. Splash! A large spray of water erupted, and the surface rippled violently. The figure that seemed to sink below the pool soon floated close to the surface, lying flat. Swish, swish, his body cut through the water, quickly reaching the other side of the pool.

A flexible and beautiful body.

For a while, Ling Xinlu roughly cut through the water, but after swimming for some time, his form gradually became more refined. As he said, it would be difficult to enter a competition, but it was certainly enough for enjoyment.

Ling Xinlu stopped at the opposite end and swam back, then stood up, breathing heavily. He brushed back the hair that clung to his face, wet from the water. For someone who said he didn’t swim and disliked pools, he looked remarkably refreshed.

Yuri, who had been silently watching him, wiped the water from his face with his palm and met Ling Xinlu’s gaze, asking, “Did you have a good swim?” Ling Xinlu, who had been staring at Yuri while rubbing his face with his forearm, had a smile in his eyes.

“Why are you smiling like that? Was my form that strange?”

Only then did Yuri realize he was smiling. Soon, he understood why he was smiling.

He liked Ling Xinlu being in the water. It was incredibly welcome and joyful that he was enjoying the water that Yuri loved so much. Although Yuri felt quite a bit of injustice at the thought that Ling Xinlu might have come to dislike water because of him, he was genuinely happy that Ling Xinlu was in the water.

“No, not at all. You did well. It’s hard to believe it’s been over ten years since you last swam.”

“Whatever I do, if I just know the knack, I do better than average. Even though I haven’t swum for a long time, I was quite good at it when I was little.”

Even this calm boasting was pleasant. Yuri couldn’t help but smile.

“But my body isn’t moving as well as I thought. It feels like my arms are somewhat flailing in the water…”

“Perhaps it’s because your elbows are going too far outwards. Why don’t you try pulling them in a little more?”

He somehow felt like a swimming instructor, but he was even happy about that.

Yuri swam a few meters at a slow pace in front of him. Ling Xinlu watched Yuri’s swimming form intently, then imitated him and swam again. It seemed that his words about being good at anything if he just knew the knack weren’t empty boasts; he seemed to figure out the key points on his own without Yuri needing to emphasize them.

“Just a little more with your arms… no. Don’t use your shoulders too much, just relax… Just a moment.”

Yuri approached Ling Xinlu, who was floating on the surface, swimming a few short strokes to demonstrate. If it was difficult to grasp the exact sensation just by watching, it was best to show him directly.

He embraced Ling Xinlu’s stomach with one arm to support him on the surface, so that Ling Xinlu wouldn’t sink even if he lifted his head or moved only part of his body. Then, he leaned his body over Ling Xinlu’s back. Almost lying on top of him, he reached out and held Ling Xinlu’s wrist, slowly rotating it at a consistent angle. So that Ling Xinlu could feel it directly with his body.

“Like this,” Yuri whispered, repeating the motion a few more times, then suddenly fell silent. Only then did he become aware of Ling Xinlu’s body so close to him. The body heat directly transmitted through their touching skin felt unusually hot, perhaps because they were in the cool water.

His heart pounded. So loudly that he worried Ling Xinlu might feel its rhythm through his skin. Thump, thump. At the same time, he couldn’t help but admire it. It was a beautiful body.

To say “pretty” might be an understatement; it was a beautiful body. An admirable, beautifully flowing, graceful male body.

Suddenly, he recalled a night, he couldn’t remember when, when he might have deeply experienced this body. It was a night when they had kissed, tasted each other’s tongues, and directly felt how hot his body temperature was on their skin. But it had stopped midway.

There was no regret or remorse, but sometimes he thought of it. That soft, sweet scent.

Stop it. Thinking thoughts that might displease him.

Yuri adjusted Ling Xinlu’s posture enough for him to grasp the sensation, then released the arm that had been embracing him. The cool water immediately clung to his arm as it pulled away from Ling Xinlu. He felt a little regretful, as if the memory of that warm body heat was being snatched away so quickly.

“Like this. Do you understand the feeling?”

“I think so.”

Ling Xinlu nodded. He swam a few laps in a small area by himself. As he did so, he seemed to grasp the knack, nodding to himself.

It was right after that.

As if to say, “Okay, that’s done,” he nodded, then lifted his head to look at Yuri. His gaze, unreadable, lingered for a while as if fixed. Yuri, who had been calmly meeting his gaze, tilted his head in confusion. Ling Xinlu, who had been looking at Yuri for a while longer, finally broke into a deep, knowing smile.

“I sometimes think about it, but you’re truly a pure-hearted person. No, I mean it in a good way, a good way.”

Yuri frowned slightly at the incomprehensible adjective, and Ling Xinlu quickly added, “I mean it in a good way,” but then smiled subtly as if it wasn’t entirely in a good way.

“It just occurred to me. It’s not for any other reason, just curiosity.”

“Yes?”

Ling Xinlu, who had cut himself off, stared at Yuri for a moment. He seemed to be debating whether to speak or not, but then he opened his mouth with a beautiful eye-smile.

“Even in this situation, you don’t feel any desire?”

“Even when we’re almost naked and tangled together?” Ling Xinlu added playfully. Only then did Yuri realize what he was talking about.

Perhaps Ling Xinlu also recalled the past, just like Yuri, as their bare skin brushed. Or perhaps, being such a perceptive man, he had noticed Yuri’s earlier thought about his beautiful body and was now bringing it up.

Either way, his face grew hot. Slowly, slowly.

Ling Xinlu seemed to notice Yuri’s face flushing as he stared at him, saying nothing, his expression stiff. “Oh, I was just joking, but really?” Ling Xinlu tilted his head, smiling helplessly.

Looking at him, Yuri mumbled stiffly.

“I do.”

He looked straight at Ling Xinlu, whose smile briefly vanished, and slowly continued.

“Mr. Ling Xinlu, your body is beautiful, so I desire to keep looking at it.”

Moreover, this was a body whose warmth he had felt up close, however clumsily. With such a body, with its beautiful skin exposed, right before his eyes, it would be stranger if he didn’t feel such a desire.

Ling Xinlu, who had been looking at Yuri with a somewhat bewildered expression as he answered calmly despite his flushed face, wrinkled his mouth while still smiling. “I asked for nothing,” he muttered with a sigh-like laugh.

“But that’s the only desire you feel, right?”

Yuri nodded. Then, after a brief silence, an unexpectedly refreshing answer came back.

“Good, that much is fine.”

Yuri only moved his eyes to look at him. He couldn’t understand what “that much is fine” meant. But Ling Xinlu, smiling as if to say that was enough, didn’t seem particularly displeased.

“You can indulge in that much desire, so please take good care of me from now on.”

“…? Yes, I’ll take good care of you too.”

He thought “take good care of me from now on” was a rather sudden greeting, but Yuri nodded and replied the same way. Immediately after, Ling Xinlu revealed what “from now on” meant.

“Wake me up every morning. I want to build up my stamina, and try swimming. Teach me well, teacher.”

“Your body is beautiful one.”

Annette burst into a loud laugh that made the phone ring, then cut him off sharply.

“…Is that so?”

Yuri mumbled ambiguously. He was talking about someone else’s body being beautiful, and he didn’t understand the context of this sudden retort. Well, Annette sometimes threw out odd remarks out of context.

It was by chance that the topic of swimming with his employer every morning came up.

“It’s getting cold these days, so you’ll have to use the indoor pool, which is a shame,” Annette said as a casual greeting, knowing that Yuri preferred outdoor pools to indoor ones, and would much prefer the sea to an outdoor pool if circumstances allowed.

“It’s fine. It’s a bit small since it’s attached to the mansion, but there’s no problem with two people using it.”

“Your body is beautiful one.”

Annette burst into a loud laugh that made the phone ring, then cut him off sharply.

“…Is that so?”

Yuri mumbled ambiguously. He was talking about someone else’s body being beautiful, and he didn’t understand the context of this sudden retort. Well, Annette sometimes threw out odd remarks out of context.

It was by chance that the topic of swimming with his employer every morning came up.

“It’s getting cold these days, so you’ll have to use the indoor pool, which is a shame,” Annette said as a casual greeting, knowing that Yuri preferred outdoor pools to indoor ones, and would much prefer the sea to an outdoor pool if circumstances allowed.

“It’s fine. It’s a bit small since it’s attached to the mansion, but there’s no problem with two people using it.”

“Two people? Why two people?”

“Mr. Ling Xinlu started swimming recently, so we go together in the mornings.”

Yuri said that, and then, hearing no reply from the other end for a moment, he called her name, wondering if the call had been disconnected.

“Annette?”

“What’s wrong? You don’t usually like swimming with other people, do you? You must have gotten really close to your employer!”

To her playful scolding, saying he had reluctantly followed her when she asked him to go to the pool together, Yuri belatedly apologized, “I’m sorry.”

Indeed, Yuri didn’t particularly enjoy swimming with other people. It wasn’t that he had a quirk of not entering a pool if someone else was in it, but he preferred spacious and uncrowded places if possible, where he could feel the water without any disturbance.

…But this wasn’t bad either. The sensation of a familiar and beloved person being somewhere in the same water.

“How is he? Is he a good swimmer?”

To her curious question, Yuri, who had been lost in thought for a moment, nevertheless said what immediately came to mind. “His body is beautiful,” he said.

Then, again, there was no sound from the other end of the phone for a while. The silence was longer than before. Just as Yuri was about to call out “Annette?” again, thinking the call had been disconnected this time for sure—

“Ahahahahahahaha…, Kyaahahahahahaha…”

An endless, almost inhuman laughter erupted from the other end of the phone. She must have fallen over from laughing, as he heard a crash and then a faint “Ow, ow, ow.”

Even amidst that hysterical laughter, muttering, “What’s going on, oh my god,” she finally managed to stop laughing only after hearing someone kick a chair next to her, telling her to get a grip. Derek seemed to be nearby.

“Ah, it’s been a really long time since I laughed like this. I never thought you’d say something like that. But, your body is beautiful.”

When Yuri asked her skeptically, “Is that so?” to her blunt statement, a firm “Of course!” came back immediately.

“Why do you think I dated you for months, even though our personalities didn’t really match as lovers? It was solely because your physique was good. How beautiful it was.”

“…Thank you for the compliment.”

“Yeah, so next time, come to the pool with me too,” she added playfully, then couldn’t speak for a while due to renewed laughter. Yuri patiently waited for her to return to the phone.

Annette, whose laughter had finally subsided a bit, said, “But,” her voice was a little more serious even as she laughed.

“To use you as a swimming instructor, that youngest master is truly indulging in luxurious extravagance. I feel like your talent is being wasted.”

“Not really. I’m doing well. But Annette, wasn’t there something you called about?”

“Oh, right, right. But it’s nothing difficult that I couldn’t ask someone else, so just think of this as an excuse to call you again.”

Having set that premise, she brought up a truly simple topic, as she had said. It was about a man she was currently investigating for work, who had recently visited China for a short stay, and she wanted to know what he had been doing during that time.

They, who served as each other’s contacts, had a network almost similar to their colleagues around them, but it was natural for them to help each other whenever needed. In cases where Yuri was employed elsewhere, there was a condition that it should not interfere with his main job, but generally, they could readily give and receive help because, in the long run, there was no general provision between them.

“Alright. But I can’t go investigate it myself, so I’ll need some time. If it’s not something with plenty of leeway, it would be better to look into other avenues as well.”

Replying thus, Yuri noted down the target’s personal information that she dictated. “I’ll have to look into it, but it seems like it’ll take about half a month. I’ve already told others, so it’s fine,” and so the customary conversation continued.