Voyage With The Pirate King

Plenty of scenarios were running through Rui Fei's mind at that moment and each had its own unique ending. His heart was beating hard against his chest as he stood there with clammy palms.

In that short time, he had already pre-enacted how this was going to play. Choosing to buy himself some time he asked yet again, "Huh?"

Ji Yao who had been lifting the porcelain cup of water to his lips paused with the rim of the cup barely touching his lower lip. His gaze was unfocused looking down as he placed the cup on the table with a soft thud.

He slowly glanced over at Rui Fei as though saying speak now or forever hold your peace. Rui Fei seemed to understand that look as he swiftly sat down opposite Ji Yao with an icy chill in his palms. Rui Fei nervously rubbed his palms like a first time offender at the principal's office.

Ji Yao didn't hurry him.

He silently put away the jade tile and carried on drinking a sip of water.. A slightly awkward atmosphere emerged mostly because of Rui Fei's nervousness. He picked up the cup in front of him. Gripping it tightly till his knuckles were white, he gulped the entire cup of water in one go before placing it down.

"I will say it but I can only say it with some liquor," he said clutching that porcelain cup tightly you would think it would shatter into pieces in his hand.

Ji Yao didn't argue with him, he took out a porcelain bottle from the drawer next to him and poured it out into the cups. As soon as he filled Rui Fei's cup the youth chugged it all down making an ugly expression as he swallowed the not so pleasant drink that tasted like poison.

He heaved a deep sigh before looking up to Ji Yao. In that short time, his eyes were a little bloodshot and his lips a bright red colour with a glossy finish shimmering under the candlelight.

He slid over his empty cup to Ji Yao asking for a refill but Ji Yao put away the bottle while saying, "If you get too drunk you won't talk."

Rui Fei couldn't refute that. That one cup was enough to give him the illusion that he was walking on clouds. He felt like he had the courage to tell Ji Yao anything without any consequences.

This was the powerful effect of dutch courage which so many seek to calm their nerves without getting inebriated. He was within the perfect balance between tipsy and sober putting him in the right space to confess.

Clutching his robe tightly he pursed his lips before slowly raising his head locking gazes with Ji Yao and said, "I..... I like you."

Thump! Thump! Thump!

Was the sound of Ji Yao's heart that had been jump-started by Rui Fei's words. He saw it coming but despite knowing in advance he still reacted strongly.

He hadn't had time to organize his thoughts and feelings because of everything going on around him but hearing this confession he couldn't help but react strongly to it.

With his head hung low while pressing his lips together he asked, "For how long," before downing his cup of wine forgetting his vow of abstaining from the devil's nectar.

Ji Yao's tone might have remained unchanged but Rui Fei was at least happy that he wasn't as upset. He scooched over and replied, "I don't know. I guess it just happened. Maybe the two years that I had been looking for you I had already started liking you."

That was the truth. He didn't know when exactly he was struck by cupid's arrow but when that arrow hit him, it hit him so hard that the effect was irreversible. He liked Ji Yao so much that he couldn't see anyone else in his eyes.

"What if it's just a phase?.... Because back then you thought I was a girl. Your feelings might just be of gratitude which you are confusing with the feeling of liking someone," said Ji Yao getting straight to the point. There was no need to sugarcoat this. Ji Yao had to know.

Rui Fei wasn't shaken by his words. No one knew his heart better than himself. Ever since he laid his eyes on Ji Yao for the second time a fragile scale was tipped off balance as a spring of love sprung up inside him. This wasn't a phase or a lapse in judgement, this was his true feelings and nothing could change that.

"That's the thing, the moment I laid eyes on you the second time, I knew I had to have you. I desperately wanted to monopolize every aspect of your life. I am serious about you and this is absolutely not a phase," he said with a lot of courage stemming from the liquor that left a warm sensation down his throat.

Ji Yao couldn't maintain an unbothered facade so he averted his gaze looking down at his empty cup. He had never considered being in a relationship especially with his aversion to people. But when he found the one person he didn't mind being touched by or touching them he was ecstatic.

The person being a boy didn't really bother him but he didn't think of having a romantic relationship with him. If Rui Fei was a girl his father would have already wedded them on Red Bane without a second thought. Now that Rui Fei actually liked him he didn't know what to do. This is why it took him so long to respond to this sincere, heartfelt confession.

Since Ji Yao hadn't responded for a very long time, Rui Fei leaned in close with his elbows on the table and said, "Yao-ge, I really like you. May I pursue you?"

Ji Yao who had been stuck in a trance was startled by Rui Fei's closeness and blurted out, "You are too young."

Rui Fei, "..."

"Too young?" echoed Rui Fei feeling like a bucket of icy cold water had been directly poured on top of his head. He was almost seventeen for heaven's sake and Ji Yao was eighteen.

Who in the history of confessing their feelings had been denied because they were too young? Of course, if they are underage they are too young but Rui Fei was slowly creeping towards the adult door. 

Ji Yao having realised what he had actually said felt helpless. He wanted to tell him that he would think about it but Rui Fei being this close to him, Ji Yao's soul flew away leaving his brain in charge.

Because his surely smart brain didn't have any experience with matters of the heart its IQ dropped sharply resulting in this answer. Well, since he had said it, he would stick to it.

"We can have this discussion again when you become an adult," he replied keeping up with his brain's spur-of-the-moment decision.

Rui Fei didn't know how to react. Could he actually wait that long for an answer? That's a year and a week of waiting. Okay, his seventeenth birthday wasn't a week from now. It was more like a month or so from now but still. 

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