Passion Raga Novel (Completed) - Chapter 65

A hand caught his arm. Precisely where Xiao Qun had grabbed him a moment ago, a larger, smoother hand, stronger than Xiao Qun’s, took hold. Unlike Xiao Qun, who had lightly placed her hand, this grip was firm, making it impossible to pull his arm away.

“Why are you trying to go alone? Let’s go together.”

Ling Xinlu said casually. Yuri slowly turned his head. With his usual face, only without a smile, Ling Xinlu was looking at Yuri indifferently. Then he stepped forward as if nothing had happened.

Walking side by side, holding Yuri’s arm, Ling Xinlu said nothing. Yuri, who was walking as if being led by him, also remained silent.

From the floor with the athletic facilities, taking the elevator down until they entered his home, only the fragrant scent of pine mushrooms and silence accompanied them.

Ling Xinlu, who had been silently watching Yuri, who was busy untying the bundle in the kitchen, leaned against the wall behind him, lost in thought, his gaze fixed on a distant point in the air, then suddenly mumbled.

“That pervert Chad I briefly mentioned before, when I think about it, he was Big Brother’s friend.”

“…!”

“He was close enough to accompany us on family vacations. He seemed to have a considerable age difference from Big Brother, but Big Brother has friends from all walks of life, so it wasn’t strange for him to have a younger friend. But there aren’t many people close enough to go on a water trip with family, are there?”

His hands, untying the bundle, kept slipping. The knot was so tightly tied that even pulling at it with aching nails didn’t loosen it.

Yuri struggled with the knot, trying his best to divert his attention from Ling Xinlu’s words, which were muttered like a monologue from behind him.

“Is it not untying easily?”

At that moment, Ling Xinlu, who had paused speaking and was looking at Yuri, glanced over his shoulder and approached from behind. Ling Xinlu, who stopped behind Yuri, wrapped his arms around Yuri’s waist as if embracing him, reaching for the knot Yuri had been struggling with.

His chest touched Yuri’s back. His breath brushed Yuri’s earlobe. He clicked his tongue, muttering, Why is this knot tied so tightly? yet his slow hands, skillfully untying the knot, were unhurried and free of annoyance. Meanwhile, Ling Xinlu’s words continued.

“Do you know how much I regretted it then? The moment I regained consciousness, the memory of being on the verge of fainting came back, and I immediately gritted my teeth and said, ‘That water ghost, I’ll plunge him into the water and make sure he never comes out.’ Because of that, Big Brother, who already knew my personality, didn’t tell me who had brought me out of the water. He just admonished me, ‘You shouldn’t treat the person who saved you that way’.”

“…!”

“So I pretended to reflect and change my mind, smiling broadly and asking, ‘I really want to greet the kind person who saved me, who was it?’ but he didn’t fall for it.”

Big Brother is very sharp, despite how he seems, Ling Xinlu added, clicking his tongue.

Meanwhile, the bundle’s knot came undone, revealing the box. The well-carved wooden box was already emitting the scent of pine mushrooms even before its lid was opened. But the smell of pine mushrooms didn’t register in his mind.

Even after untying the knot, his hands didn’t withdraw, resting on the table. Yuri, trapped between the table and Ling Xinlu’s arms, couldn’t even think of asking him to move or turning around, remaining utterly still.

A moment of silence passed. And it was Ling Xinlu who broke the silence once more.

“Thank you for saving me.”

It was a soft, lovely voice, like a faintly crying kitten.

Ling Xinlu, standing close behind Yuri, whispered that into Yuri’s ear and then took a step back.

Only then did Yuri slowly turn around.

Ling Xinlu was smiling like a cat. A smile whose true meaning was unknown.

“…I’m sorry. For not helping you immediately.”

Yuri bowed his head. He didn’t find it strange that he was apologizing for saving someone. That smile, with lips smiling but eyes not, somehow made Yuri feel like a sinner.

As Yuri wondered why, Ling Xinlu’s smiling voice provided the answer. “Aren’t you sorry for not speaking up until now?” That’s right. That was it.

Yuri subtly raised only his eyes. Ling Xinlu was gazing intently at Yuri, his lips still beautifully curved in a smile.

“I’m sorry,” Yuri mumbled again, and Ling Xinlu’s entire face broke into a smile.

“Why, not at all. I understand. You’re not a child anymore, you have to think rationally. How careful must one be when saving a drowning person? Even a small child, consumed by the fear of death, would cling with all their might, and even a strong man could be in danger.”

Yuri closed his mouth, listening to his own past words echoed back to him.

To him, who was smiling brightly and saying “Thank you,” Yuri could only mumble, “Not at all.”

Ling Xinlu watched Yuri silently for a while, tilting his head and smiling faintly. His eyes narrowed, as if recalling a distant past.

“So that was it, that was Mr. Gable… Staring at someone so entranced, indeed.”

The words, murmured like a monologue, penetrated his ears with unusual clarity. Yuri lowered his head like a sinner, silently staring at his feet.

Then, suddenly, he mumbled in a voice so small it was barely audible unless one strained to listen. “It was like flowers bloomed.”

“Huh? What did you say?”

Ling Xinlu raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. He bent down, placing his ear close to Yuri’s lips. Yuri looked at the face tilted obliquely in front of him, then mumbled again in a tiny voice.

“It was like flowers bloomed in the water, so I couldn’t take my eyes off it. It was the first time for me to be so captivated by something.”

“Flowers,” Ling Xinlu mumbled, blinking and looking at Yuri. He stared at Yuri with a look of disbelief, as if he was about to let out an incredulous laugh, and finally, he did, letting out a faint, hollow laugh.

“What twelve-year-old boy gets so captivated, so entranced, by something like ‘flowers bloomed’? Seriously.”

Ling Xinlu, who had been sneering with a slightly sharp voice, suddenly fell silent. He frowned slightly, tilted his head, looked at Yuri, and then opened his mouth as if to say something. His lips, which had closed uncertainly, opened and closed once more.

It was a little while later that Ling Xinlu, looking at Yuri with narrowed eyes, finally spoke.

“Mr. Gable. Your first love.”

Suddenly, upon hearing a few short words, Yuri’s eyes flitted. Though his face showed no change, Ling Xinlu’s eyes, which had been intently watching Yuri so as not to miss a single expression, narrowed further.

“Who is it?”

He asked as if seeking confirmation, even though he already seemed certain. Yuri blinked his eyes once, twice, turning them elsewhere, then let out a quiet sigh. And then he straightened his back and looked at Ling Xinlu.

“It’s Mr. Ling Xinlu.”

Ling Xinlu looked at Yuri thoughtfully. At Yuri, who met his gaze calmly without avoiding it this time, he let out a faint laugh at some point.

“You’re saying it outright.”

Yuri subtly shrugged his shoulders in response, as if to say, It’s not like I have anything to hide anyway.

When he thought about it, it was true. Yuri had already told Ling Xinlu he liked him, and Ling Xinlu knew it. Now, whether his liking for him was a first love or a second, there was no longer any reason to hide it.

The term “first love” might be a bit of a misnomer—he hadn’t felt what he would recognize as love when he saw that young boy so long ago—but this man was certainly the first person who had captivated him.

Yuri sighed and quietly continued.

“He was beautiful even then. And he still is. So captivating that I couldn’t help but stare.”

Ling Xinlu said nothing, watching Yuri speak slowly, tracing the past in his mind. A hint of bewilderment, a touch of wryness, and a little more of some other emotion settled on his face.

But the next moment, those expressions vanished as if they had never been there.

His cool eyes glared at Yuri.

“Then why didn’t you contact me afterwards?”

“Excuse me?”

“You rescued someone from the water, and then you just ran away without waiting for him to wake up. You never showed up once after that, either.”

Yuri could only look at Ling Xinlu, who would surely have tried to plunge him back into the water and make him a water ghost forever if he had appeared or contacted him and said, ‘I saved you.’

He hadn’t even thought of contacting him after saving him. He was satisfied with just hearing from Ling Tangyun that ‘the youngest brother is safe,’ and that was the end of it. Wasn’t that obvious?

Ling Xinlu must have known that what he was saying was unreasonable. Yet, he was now demanding to know why Yuri hadn’t contacted him.

“People really don’t change, do they?”

Suddenly, Ling Xinlu laughed. His mouth twisted into a wry expression, and though he was smiling, there was a bitter tinge to his face.

“You were like that back then, and you’re just going to leave again this time, aren’t you, Mr. Gable?” Suddenly, incomprehensible words came out. Yuri looked at him in confusion.

“You pull someone out of a state of such agony that they’d rather die, and now that their heart has somewhat calmed down and they feel somewhat livable, you immediately bring up not renewing the contract and leaving.”

Ling Xinlu was staring intently at Yuri. Seeing the resentment even visible in his eyes, Yuri was speechless for a moment.

He had never said such a thing. He had never said he wouldn’t sign a contract—though he had said he wouldn’t sign a lifelong contract—and he had never said he would leave—though he would go back if they didn’t renew the contract. What Ling Xinlu was saying wasn’t entirely wrong, but he was subtly twisting the content of the words, stringing together something completely different. Yuri looked at him in dismay.

However, the thought occurred to him the next moment. Perhaps that was truly how Ling Xinlu heard Yuri’s words.

People are creatures who hear what they want to hear, and each person interprets the same thing according to their own will, so perhaps he wasn’t lying himself.

But.

Yuri thought, ‘But.’ He couldn’t help but feel a flicker of injustice. But. Nevertheless… If he thought that way, Yuri wanted to tell him it wasn’t true.

“Shall we re-contract?”

Yuri said to Ling Xinlu.

The contract expiration date was approaching soon. It was about time to consider whether to renew the contract.

Although Yuri thought it would be best for Ling Xinlu to end their contract this time, he himself didn’t necessarily want to end it.

It’s fine. He could probably still be helpful to him for a while. A few years, at least.

Ling Xinlu gazed intently at Yuri, who calmly brought up the re-contracting. His thoughtful black eyes glittered as they stared at him for a while, then he reached a concise conclusion. “Let’s make it a lifelong contract.”

“…!”

Before Yuri could open his mouth, Ling Xinlu slowly continued,

“Mr. Gable, you said it before. Why would there be a reason to sign a lifelong contract when we can just renew it every year? You said you wouldn’t sign a lifelong contract. You’re right. In most situations, it’s foolish to set a long contract period when you don’t know how things will turn out, so I also thought you were right.”

“Then—”

“But,”

Ling Xinlu interrupted Yuri, who was about to say, Then couldn’t we just renew it annually, like before?

“You always just leave whenever you want.”

He mumbled, his face even losing its usual smile for a moment. Yuri quietly faced Ling Xinlu, who was expressionless.

Then suddenly, Ling Xinlu smiled beautifully.

“Mr. Gable, do you know how you look at me?” Ling Xinlu took a step closer to Yuri. Watching him get closer, Yuri wondered what kind of face was reflected in those black eyes.

“You look at me as if I’m the most beautiful and precious thing in the world.”

Was that so?

Yuri looked at Ling Xinlu, who was whispering softly to him and smiling charmingly with his eyes. The most beautiful and precious thing.

It wasn’t a wrong statement. He was, at least for now, the most beautiful and precious thing to Yuri.

Yuri nodded. “That’s right,” he mumbled so softly it was almost a whisper, a monologue that was barely audible, but Ling Xinlu, who was looking at Yuri, must have heard it. Ling Xinlu’s smile deepened a little more.

“But, even looking at me like that, you could always leave.”

His low voice, like a sigh, truly turned into a sigh.

“Saying you’d contact me on New Year’s or my birthday, and wanting to stay in touch for a long time… I really can’t understand that, no matter how much I think about it.”

The sigh gradually turned into a growling breath. The smile was no longer a smile.