Chapter 254 - New kink
Zei sat hunched on the worn-out sofa, arms crossed loosely over his chest, his brows knitted in thought. The dim lighting of the house cast long shadows across the room, but his eyes remained fixed on the hallway where Shao and Jai had just disappeared.
Something was off.
A strange heaviness had settled in the air the moment those two had walked in. Shao’s usually distant gaze had been... different. Softer. And Jai... Jai had looked like he’d just run a marathon and gotten kissed by a thunderstorm all at once.
Zei blinked slowly with a pout. There was something—something very, very important—that had just happened, and yet... he had forgotten what it was. It gnawed at the back of his mind, a vague sense of having walked in on the tail-end of something intimate.
He chewed on his bottom lip, eyes narrowing. From where he sat, he hadn’t been able to see clearly, but he’d definitely caught a glimpse of the way Shao had stood behind Jai, arms loosely circling him in a half-embrace. His hands had gently tugged Jai’s torn shirt closed, fingers lingering a little too long on fabric and skin.
"Don’t you think they’re acting weird...?" he muttered aloud, half to himself, half to Muchen, who was still standing like a statue near the hallway.
Muchen’s eyes were still glued to the hallway, as if seeing through the walls.
Zei turned toward him, his voice a little louder this time. "Your friend and Jai... are they together?"
Muchen sighed softly, like all the breath had left his chest and hadn’t come back yet. "I don’t know," he said at last, his voice distant. His shoulders slumped further as he finally turned away from the hallway. "If something’s happening between them... Shao will tell me. When he’s ready."