Behind The Red Curtain | YiZhan ✓

21-Totally Captivated

The pleasure of seeking ones heart had always been defined as a sinful gesture. Liking someone wasn't a sin itself, but, the thoughts that person would have were. Imagination was a wild and complicated thing. Not many understood of it, but you certainly did not have to make a sense of grasping the whole idea about it. If you knew what fantasizing meant, then you would've definitely known the concept of what imagination meant as well.

And Zhan was well knowledgeable in that area, as he had fantasized about many things in life. Most of them being for the sake of imagining his unsatisfied desires as he stroked his length aggressively.

And he thought, that whatever he had felt when next to Yibo, was just his imagination and nothing more as well. But he wasn't oblivious enough to not know that he was a liar also.

Last night hadn't been the first time he had felt like that. The day Yibo had accepted him for his impurities was when it all began. When he tended to his wounds, when he soothed his heart with his words, when his sincerity was voiced by his one and only voice, when the warmth he had felt when he had dragged him out of the recording room out of anger and impatience. Especially that night when they had both rolled down on the ground because of his carelessness, Yibo had held him close to his chest like he never had. And that made Zhan feel something. His protectiveness, the way he would look at him like he mattered the most, the way he would speak in the kindest tone.

Before he had realized it, he had been totally captivated by them all.

One would be blind to think that, what that captivation made him feel, was just the basic romance one would feel while in a friendship. And Zhan had been blind like that at the beginning, yet not so anymore.

He could not make himself say the complete definition of that captivation, let alone put his feelings before his eyes and accept them. Yibo was his friend, and that was all there was to it.

But he knew he had been lying to himself more, the moment he began to ignore his friend and put a distance between them.

It was one day at first, later two, which then became a week. Yibo was well aware of his behaviour, yet afraid to ask because of what he might risk which would lead to Zhan's awareness of his secrets.

So both were silent, not either of them having the courage to voice their thoughts. At the end, it became weird to even sit in the same room with only the two of them inside.

Yet little did they know of what that distance would cause later on.

The second week of their work had passed, the song almost done. It just needed some slight touch-ups and nothing more, which was left for the editor to be done.

It was also their last visit to the studio. They wouldn't have a second reason to meet if the ignoring continued on, which made them both anxious. But even then, both had managed to keep their cool.

It was past midnight in the city, the rush hour long over and the sky illuminated by the artificial lights all around. Zhan and Yibo had just come out of the company building, both ready to head home and rest.

"So, are you heading home?" The small talk was just the same as it had been for the past two weeks, dry and unmoving. Both seemed in pain whenever they talked, simply because not answering had never been an option. "Yeah i guess so. You?" Yibo shrugged at his question, wanting to make Zhan show a different reaction other than his fake smile, which he had been seeing continuously throughout the whole weak. "Maybe hit a hotel? I've been feeling rather stressed after all."

Zhan's eyes widened, his gaze later falling down as his chest hurt. Just why did it hurt so much? Even looking at him was now painful. "I-i see.. everyone needs to release their built up stress right?"