Shen Wei’s hand is still resting lightly on his shoulder, a wisp of feeling. Zhao Yunlan twitches his shoulder beneath it, feels the subtle tense-and-release of Shen Wei’s fingers. He draws in a breath, and doesn’t know what to say.
Shen Wei regards him. His expression hasn’t changed, but there’s the faintest sense of smirking satisfaction to him. He says, gravely, “There. Now the implication will be the truth.” His voice has gone shockingly low.
As if that kind of small untruth mattered in the shadow of the larger untruth of whatever was between them. Zhao Yunlan manages to gather his faculties enough to rasp, “Marking up the escort is extra.”
Shen Wei does smile, then, a corner of his mouth curling up. “Even when I didn’t start it, hm? I suppose I did make it — somewhat worse.”
Zhao Yunlan claps a hand to his throat. The skin is hot under his palm. He doesn’t remember how big the mark was in his mirror. Without a mirror, he can’t tell how much darker it is now. How much more intense Shen Wei had made it.
His whole face is on fire.
“Fair enough.” Shen Wei’s tongue darts out to wet his lips. He digs his wallet out of a back pocket and holds it up. “Take it out of whatever cash is in there, or add it to my tab next time if there isn’t enough. My credit card bill is ridiculous enough already this month.”
Zhao Yunlan doesn’t doubt it. Shen Wei has booked him no less than once a week this month, sometimes twice. Always for at least two hours. At this point, Zhao Yunlan can’t help but feel that someone as hot and competent as Shen Wei might be better served finding an actual boyfriend to lavish his devotion and time on. One he doesn’t have to pay.
Shen Wei twitches his wallet with a faintly insistent air, arm outstretched. “Xiao Zhao.”
an alternate version of the post-necking scene from the last few posts! for context, zhao yunlan got a hickey from a different client / someone else, and then showed up to a meeting with shen wei with it on full display. (hehe.) this was a fun exercise in testing out different versions re: how much i want to emphasize the transactional nature of their relationship at this point in time, and how big i want the emotional shift for zhao yunlan to be. still not sure! mostly the result of this is: auuuugh i like them both!