WIL CH 1

Chapter 1: Distracted

They had been married for three years. Between them, there was only sex—never love. Lin Xi knew very well that Wen Feng didn’t love him.

“Who are you thinking about, to be so distracted?”

Wen Feng was used to Lin Xi spacing out. He thrust harder, punishing his wandering thoughts with action. A sharp pain dragged Lin Xi back to reality. Wen Feng seemed as though he wanted to destroy him, every movement filled with force. Lin Xi couldn’t bear it, and his parched voice broke into pleading, stammering:

“I’m not… not thinking of anyone. Please, gentler… it hurts.”

Wen Feng yanked away the pillow that had been propped under his waist and pulled him upright. Their hot, sweat-slick bodies pressed together as his mouth crashed down in a bruising kiss. It felt like Wen Feng wanted to devour him whole. Lin Xi’s tongue ached from being sucked, the taste of iron filling his mouth.

Lin Xi tried to raise his hands to push him away, but Wen Feng’s arms locked tightly around him, leaving him no room to move. He could only endure the onslaught, until he was nearly suffocating. Out of desperation, he bit the tongue ravaging his mouth, hoping to make him stop.

“Hah—bold of you, daring to bite me.”

Wen Feng finally pulled away, a thin strand of saliva still connecting their mouths. Lin Xi’s whole face flushed crimson, his chest rising and falling rapidly. From his chest to the tips of his ears, a rosy blush spread, beautiful and helpless. Three years had passed, yet he still couldn’t get used to Wen Feng’s ferocity in bed.

Their eyes met. Lin Xi’s trembling hand rested on Wen Feng’s shoulder, his lips parted as tears threatened to fall. In a weak, breathless voice, he said:

“I’m sorry… I couldn’t breathe.”

The man before him clearly wasn’t satisfied yet, desire burning openly in his gaze, his body radiating an overwhelming heat. Wen Feng leaned close to his ear, chuckling darkly, hands gripping Lin Xi’s waist as he pulled him closer. His tone was laced with dominance:

“So unwilling to sleep with me, is that it?”

Lin Xi didn’t know how to answer. To say it was voluntary would be a lie—but he had never resisted either. His stamina could never match Wen Feng’s, and unlike the rumored lovers Wen Feng had outside, he had no tricks to please him. Every time, it ended in cries of pain, leaving Wen Feng dissatisfied.

And yet, Wen Feng never let him go. Once Lin Xi’s breathing calmed, he claimed his lips again.

When Lin Xi woke, the other side of the bed was empty.

Three years ago, this villa had been prepared as their newlywed home. But less than a month into marriage, Wen Feng had stumbled upon an email Lin Xi once wrote to his ex-boyfriend. It was actually something from long ago. Lin Xi had a habit of never deleting things, and over time, he’d simply forgotten it was there.

That message was a desperate plea for reconciliation, filled with longing and reluctant affection—but it had sunk without a trace, never receiving a reply.

By sheer misfortune, Wen Feng had seen it after they married. Though he already knew Lin Xi once had someone he loved deeply, facing undeniable proof of it still sent him into a fury. From then on, Wen Feng often stayed away from home, frequently photographed in the company of rumored lovers.

Lin Xi rose from bed and walked into the bathroom. In the mirror, his neck was covered in love bites. Wen Feng used to mark his body often, but rarely did so on his neck.

Lowering his gaze, Lin Xi sighed. Today was a workday. He had to go to the office later, and with it being summer, he couldn’t exactly wear a turtleneck to cover them.

After a long moment of hesitation, he took some band-aids from the medicine box and stuck them over the marks. The effect looked clumsy, almost like a deliberate attempt to hide something—but it was better than walking into the office with his neck covered in hickeys for all his colleagues to see.

Lin Xi had underestimated the gossiping power of the office. When he went to the pantry to fetch some water, colleagues passing by gave him looks full of meaning, their smiles knowing. Thin-skinned as he was, Lin Xi felt as though he were walking around naked. Embarrassed, he filled his cup quickly and hurried back to his desk, not daring to wander again.

He had studied animation in university, but an unexpected incident forced him to withdraw during his junior year, just before graduation. His advisor had felt it was a great pity to waste such talent, so he wrote him a recommendation letter and referred him to one of his former students who was already established in the industry.

When Lin Xi first entered the company, rumors swirled behind his back. Colleagues whispered that he’d gotten in through the back door. And in truth, that was the case. If his teacher hadn’t helped him, how could he have entered one of the top game companies in the industry?

He started as an apprentice, running errands under his mentor, Lu Mingyu. Fortunately, Lin Xi was diligent and eager to learn. Lu Mingyu was also willing to teach him, and since Lin Xi already had a solid foundation—lacking only practical experience—he quickly showed promise. Originally, Lin Xi was only asked to do some simple character rendering, but his work turned out so well that he earned official recognition. Over the past three years, he had grown to the point where he was designing game characters independently.

Now, holding his sketch board and pen, he was fully absorbed in sketching an anime character on the screen.

“Ding ding ding—”

The sharp ringtone of his phone broke his concentration. Seeing the name displayed on the screen, his fingers suddenly went weak. The pen slipped from his grasp, rolled a few times across the desk, then stopped.

Memories of last night rushed back into his mind. Lin Xi couldn’t imagine why Wen Feng would be calling him now.

“Hello.”

“……”

There was silence on the other end. He almost thought Wen Feng had dialed him by accident. He asked again, “Wen Feng, are you there?”

At last, that familiar voice came through the receiver: “Mn. I’m here.”

“You… called me. Is something wrong?”

“Come with me to a banquet tonight.”

Lin Xi gripped his phone, his heart uneasy. In the three years of their marriage, Wen Feng had never once taken him to any formal occasion. To the outside world, it was as if their marriage didn’t exist at all.

“Can I not go? I still have work to finish. I might need to work overtime tonight.”

“No.” Wen Feng’s tone brooked no refusal.

“I’ll send you the address.”

And with that, he hung up, leaving Lin Xi staring at the message that soon arrived, dazed.

Three years ago, Wen Feng had taken him on a flight overseas—over ten hours long—to register their marriage abroad. Same-sex marriage was illegal in China, and that had been Lin Xi’s first time leaving the country. Their marriage had always been a transaction. Yet by all logic, Wen Feng was the one who had lost out in the deal. Lin Xi had been too desperate for money back then. With nowhere else to turn, he would have agreed no matter who had offered such terms.

But Wen Feng had used him to oppose a family-arranged marriage, publicly coming out by presenting their foreign marriage certificate directly to his parents. The only ones who knew about their union were Father Wen and Mother Wen.

In their eyes, Wen Feng must have loved Lin Xi enough to abandon a powerful marriage alliance that could have strengthened the Wen family’s empire. But only Lin Xi knew the truth—how false it all was. The endless gossip headlines and Wen Feng’s frequent absences were proof enough of how colorful and indulgent his life outside truly was.

To Wen Feng, Lin Xi was nothing more than a convenient tool to keep his parents from interfering in his life.

That evening, Lin Xi arrived at the address Wen Feng had sent, only to discover that entry required an invitation. Outside the hotel, a musical fountain sprayed water to the rhythm of a melody, while luxurious cars pulled up one after another to the revolving doors.

Lin Xi’s appearance, however, was completely out of place. He wore white sneakers, light blue jeans, and a plain white T-shirt printed with a few cute cartoon characters and English letters. He looked exactly like a college student, not a banquet guest.

Sure enough, security stopped him at the entrance. Helpless, he could only take out his phone and call Wen Feng.

When Wen Feng finally came out, Lin Xi was sitting idly on the fountain steps, staring blankly into space. His pale skin glowed faintly under the blue fountain lights, highlighting the sharp curve of his profile. Behind him, water sprayed gracefully into the night air, a backdrop that made the young man even more striking.

Lin Xi watched as Wen Feng approached, dressed immaculately in a tailored suit. Tall, handsome, his presence was commanding. Wen Feng’s deep brown eyes were especially captivating—as though they could draw in a person’s very soul. Lin Xi thought, out in the world, there must be countless people willing to be his lover. Compared to those greasy, pot-bellied men of wealth, Wen Feng was the definition of rare perfection.

Standing up, Lin Xi glanced toward the revolving doors and said softly, “They said I need an invitation to get in.”

“Mn. Why are you so late?”

Wen Feng’s message had clearly stated 8 p.m., yet now it was nearly 9:30. It wasn’t that Lin Xi had deliberately stalled—he had truly been working overtime. Coming at this hour was already considered leaving early.

“I’m sorry, I got held up with work,” Lin Xi explained cautiously.

Wen Feng’s gaze slid from his face to his neck. When he spotted the band-aids plastered there, his brows knit together, dissatisfaction evident. He suddenly reached out, seemingly intent on tearing away the strip covering Lin Xi’s Adam’s apple.

Caught off guard, Lin Xi flinched violently and clutched his throat in alarm. That mark was the most conspicuous one—not just a kiss mark, but the clear imprint of Wen Feng’s teeth. He had bitten him so hard the night before that the bruise was still dark purple.

Lin Xi’s breathing quickened, his whole body tense with wariness.

“What are you doing?!”

Wen Feng’s lips curved in a shadowy smile. “My mark—are you that ashamed of it?”

Lin Xi kept both hands protectively over his throat, refusing to answer. His slender fingers were bare, nothing adorning them.

Wen Feng seized his hand. “Where’s your ring?”

Lin Xi’s eyes flickered and he immediately pulled back, turning his head to avoid Wen Feng’s crushing stare.

“At home.”

“Why aren’t you wearing it?” Wen Feng’s voice grew sharp, the kind of tone he only used when angered. That dangerous edge made Lin Xi lower his head. His gaze fell on Wen Feng’s hand—there, on his finger, the silver wedding band still gleamed. Lin Xi suddenly realized: Wen Feng had never once taken it off.

Did that mean even when he was with his lovers, he wore their wedding ring?

Uneasy, Lin Xi stiffly offered an excuse. “I took it off a while ago while cleaning… I left it in the drawer and forgot to put it back on.”

Of course, he could never say the real reason. Some time ago, gossip headlines had reported Wen Feng and his lover entering a hotel together. At the time, Lin Xi had felt a wave of despair over their hollow marriage. Looking at the ring on his finger had only made the sadness heavier, so he’d slipped it off and tucked it into the drawer by his bed. If there was no love between them, what was the point of wearing it?

Wen Feng couldn’t be bothered to expose his flimsy excuse. He stepped forward, clasped Lin Xi’s hand tightly, and interlocked their fingers. Leaning in close to his ear, his voice dropped, dangerously intimate:

“Don’t ever let me see your fingers bare again. Don’t forget what we are to each other.”

The gesture was intimate, but it only left Lin Xi cold. He didn’t dare argue. From the moment he had taken Wen Feng’s money, every decision between them had belonged to Wen Feng alone.

Lin Xi didn’t understand why Wen Feng cared about something so small, but he also couldn’t refute him. After all, theirs was a real marriage—they had a certificate, even if obtained abroad. Lowering his head, he mumbled quietly, “Alright, I know.”

(To be continued…)