Hopkin suspects Bright is messing with his mood on purpose.
When his identity as an Inner City aristocrat is revealed, he is angry that he has lost this round; he is not interested in doing anything anymore. Now Hopkin only wants to whip him, to make him wail, to make him painful, to make him cry out and repent the sin he has committed.
Receiving no indication to continue, Bright is relieved somewhat â his virginity is preserved.
At the same time, he feels a slight disappointment. Heâs not a saint, and flirting with an outrageously beautiful man all the time, participating in all these lethal slave play, will entice him too, and waver his resolution as well.
In some dark corner of his mind, he is thinking of going with the flow and doing it for real. You have endured for too long, you have suppressed yourself for too long. Nobody will blame you for indulging a bit.
Yet a voice is countering it, you will blame yourself afterwards.
The devil continues his whispers, how much you want that man, how beautiful that man is. He is even an Inner City resident! An aristocrat with their head held up high! Right now theyâre in front of you, defenceless, free to be handled as you please! Return all the humiliation and pain onto him, and you will feel extreme pleasure and happiness! Think about what theyâve done to you! Donât you want revenge?
Bright thinks he does want revenge, but the target of his revenge is the Shithead.
The devil goes, whatâs the difference? Which Inner City aristocrat can be said to be virtuous? Donât forget what you want to do, theyâre all your enemies!
Bright counters that he has not yet done anything to hurt him. He will be wary of him, be on guard against him, use him to his advantage; however, none of these are excuses he can use to hurt him.
The devil is yelling, hypocrite! Sissy!
Bright is going, well fuck you too! How noble you are making yourself sound when you just want to fuck that person.
The devil mockingly laughs, I am you.
Bright has nothing to say⌠Itâs his loss.
While Bright is self-criticising in introspection, Hopkin is also deep in thought.
He went about it too hurriedly.
Due to finding Bright on the radar of other Inner City residents, he has developed an urge to possess Bright as early as possible. He even changed his original plan without a momentâs thought. His recklessness made him lose his usual calmness and made flaws appear. Though allâs well that ends well, and he reacts in time to repair it to hide his true identity deep down without being discovered by Bright.
Correction, without being discovered early by Bright.
He will tell him this one day himself, to hurt him, to make fun of him, to take the fruit of his victorious labour.
He is resolute in achieving this.
Hopkin looks towards Bright as he is thinking deeply. The man has retracted his outward ferocity right now, and returned to his usual taciturn and gentle self. Like a tiger retracting its claws, its paws soft and bouncy. Well-suited for squeezing and masking its great destructive power perfectly.
They look each other in the eye for a moment, and decide to overlook this small conflict in tandem. The man is kneeling and sitting on the ground, his weak parts like his neck and chest exposed to show his harmlessness and obedience.
Hopkin smacks his mouth a little, thinking about how good at pretension and ambush tigers are.
Bright changes the marking of Hopkin from yellow to orange in his mind, to alert himself to his danger.
On the one hand, he feels Hopkin is not like an Inner City aristocrat. He looks more like a victim of this society. Also, his tolerance of his actions is unusually high, unlike that which is characteristic of the Inner City residents; on the other hand, he thinks he should have noticed this a long time ago. The aura, the social position, and the respect the others have for him all indicated his extraordinary identity.
Bright is even questioning if Hopkin only wanted to deceive and toy with him when he approached him at first. It makes a chill go up from the bottom of his feet. He feels deeply terrified of this game full of conspiracy and malice.
Though, even if that were the case, what could he have done?
He couldnât retaliate. He must suppress his anger and pretend he has not discovered that, and play the game with him. So that the other person does not think of any even more malicious or cruel tricks to apply to him.
He hopes this is only a worst-case delusion he is attributing to himâŚ
Bright closes his eyes then. When he opens them again, his extra emotions and suspicions are well hidden away.
Seeing how Hopkin seems to have become somewhat sleepy, Bright climbs onto the bed, sitting behind him. His arms wrap around him from his back to his front. He puts his head on his chest.
While he is doing so, Hopkin is looking at him, eyes half-closed. There is no approval or objection, letting him change the position of the two people as he pleases.
One of them is dressed neat and proper, the other stark naked and appearing to be in a worse position, but the latter one is dominant here.
With a shred of curiosity, Hopkin does not do anything. He wants to see what Bright will do given he has figured out half his identity, and what kind of reaction he will have. Will it be self-abasement? Fear? Animosity? Or even vengefulness?
Unfortunately, it is none of those. The other person has retrieved his calm after his surprise. Like a puddle of water so deep you cannot see the bottom of it. Not even a stone dropping onto it can cause the slightest ripple.
Hopkin is slightly disappointed. Yet uncontrollably, he has become slightly aspiring.
He canât tell the reason either. The feeling is too unfamiliar, as if it has arrived here only after travelling through space and time for a long time. He has not decided how to deal with this at first, like a cat facing a strange object for the first time. He lowers his body in defence, circling it, not approaching it lightly but still closing in due to curiosity.
âI donât know what I should do with you.â Hopkin can hear the man sighing by his ears.
The man smells like the natural scents of his shampoo. It makes him think of a forest after it has rained.
Bright has a quiet personality, but it does not mean that he doesnât know how to use the weapon known as language.
âI thought you were a free man at first, and the show has given me too much stress. I sincerely hoped for a friend I didnât need to be wary about, so that I can have a bit of support when I am betrayed or taken advantage of. To make me believe that this world is not as bad as it seems.â
He presents his soft inner mind like presenting his soft underbelly to a predator. It is enticing the devil in a manâs skin to show his true colours. Hopkin can feel the beast in him ready for action, and he has to tie it up to calm it down.
âLike I told you before, I believe in love. I think love should be above sexual desire. For this reason, you have laughed at me, and yet I choose to stand by my views. I reject all bodily interaction without consent. Then you appeared. You also reject othersâ touch. It is so coincidentally and so alike. I forgot about my loneliness when I saw you.â
âMy mind is conflicted. I have seen Inner City residents. You are all perched atop us, and I am insignificant below that like an ant. We are different like clouds in the sky and dirt on the ground. Hopkin, what did you want to obtain by approaching me?â
Hopkin can say âthis is not something a slave should be asking,â or âall that are yours are mine,â or âI want to own your dignity, your happiness, your whole.â That, however, does not fit in with the illusion he wants to keep up. These truths must be said at an appropriate time under appropriate circumstances, to allow him to obtain the greatest amount of pleasure.
Now, he has to maintain this friendliness on the surface. He needs to make Bright sink deeper into this. He must deceive the man and destroy him from the ground up.
With that as his purpose, Hopkin has crafted an appropriate response.
He cannot say that he has goodwill towards him; itâs too unbelievable and the man will not buy that.
âI should be the one asking you that. Youâre the one to approach me first.â He throws the question back at Bright, interrogating. His long eyelashes flutter like a butterfly flutters its wings. His line of sight lowers, as if trying to dodge someoneâs gaze when revealing their inner self. âTo say something like âhoped for a friendâ⌠Do you truly have no sexual desire towards me?â
ââŚâ Bright âNewbie- Blackbelly â is unable to deny it.
The eyes as sharp as obsidian lock onto the man, full of inquisitiveness and fury. The aristocrat who feels offended speaks coldly, âwhat is your purpose for approaching me, Outsider?!â
Bright looks at Hopkin, speechless. The latter stares back without backing down, his lips biting tightly, though there is a slight reddening near the corner of his eyes. It looks as if his face, as cold and indifferent as ice, has suddenly had a drop of weakness added, appearing pitiable. Brightâs mind conjures up a poetic scene from this â Snow thaws as Spring comes; the ducks know the river's warmth.
Hopkin knows that he is beautiful, and also knows the techniques to use his beauty. It is just that he doesnât deign to nor need to use it normally.
As expected, the man starts to waver under his gaze. This is one of his rare victories.
Hopkinâs heart is beating wildly, a flash of brilliance appearing in his mind. He has discovered the manâs weakness, and discovered an effective way to deal with him! Ha, it was that simple all along? He finds it unbelievable, and unable to restrain himself from trying again, he forces a layer of water onto his pair of eyes.
Barely a second has passed before his eyes become covered by a pair of hands.
Bright can feel eyelashes shaking in his hands, a bit itchy. Some liquid is flowing downwards, making the skin under his hands wet and warm.
Bright regrets his actions while worrying. He wanted to probe Hopkin just a bit, like what he did to Ococo, but he got interrogated by the other person instead.
Heâs too sly!
âUs Outsiders have a saying that using appearance for personal gain is an abuse of this superpower.â
He switches Hopkinâs danger level to red.
Hopkin can feel the man pushing his head against his chest, and lying down backwards. He is lying on top of the man facing the ceiling, before a sheet of bed quilt comes up and covers his head. His vision goes dark while the manâs head is outside the quilt.
Hopkin has nothing to say, ââŚâ Is he a child? His understanding of the man is refreshed.
He adjusts his position, making himself more comfortable, and ends up in a position lying down facing the man. The side of his face is pushing against the tough and smooth chest of the other person. Then he triggers his tear ducts to continue producing the salty liquid.
As his ears are right next to his chest, he can hear the strong but rather arrhythmic heartbeat of the man, seemingly panicking over his reaction.
What a strange man, to be afraid of tears.
This useless, extraneous stuff.
A strange smile emerges on the face of the gorgeous man under the quilt.
Bright is recalling Xiaoming âs mother. She is a wonderful mother, one of the strongest creatures in the world in terms of fighting prowessââThese middle-aged aunties use their tears â the weapon they are most adept at using â well.
When attacked so strongly yet so affectionately, he managed to get rid of his habit of staying up overnight playing games, managed to get into a famous university, and managed to keep his sexual orientation secretâŚ
It was as if it were so long ago.
It was as if it were someone elseâs story.
Bright thinks that if Hopkin knew this truth, he would probably tear him apart aliveâŚ
Authorâs notes: Alternative chapter name: Similarities between a wife and her mother-in-law hahaha.