A Good Addiction - Volume 1

Chapter 15 - Some Scars Revealed

Jingyu arrived in Beijing late. Mechanical problems forced his flight to be delayed, adding to the already elevated stress and fatigue he was feeling.

He had woken up to Zheng Ge telling him that the post on the forum had caught traction on some third rate "news" sites. These weren't news sites in as much as they were peddling in gossip purely for click counts. Nonetheless, the story had gotten grown some wings.

Then as he was waiting to board the flight, he had been texting with Weizhou, but was only getting short, neutral responses. Jingyu could guess what was happening, and he knew he had contributed to it. He should have stayed up and talked with Zhou Zhou, explaining in full detail what happened when those photos were snapped. Instead, he he knew Weizhou probably got the itch and couldn't stop dwelling on it. All it takes is to get the wrong idea about something, and the idle speculation will start sinking a ship.

Jingyu sat in the van on the way to the hotel, running through all of this in his head. He was constantly gritting his teeth, jaw muscles flexing. Well, what could he do? At least he did sleep, so that he can have the energy to right this ship with his baby tonight. He just felt like he'd been blind-sided by all of this, and now he'd been put on trial, judged, and condemned without a chance to plead his case. This is precisely what he hated about his success, the exposure that made him an exposed target, a celebrity piñata. This life was an exercise of extremes: extreme accolades and extreme negativity. He wanted a knob to be able to turn the amplitude down.

The van pulled into the hotel, in the front. When Zheng Ge told the driver to go to the rear, the driver replied that word had gotten out where they were staying and it was of no use to take the back route anymore. The crowd came into view.

"Well, fuck." Jingyu calmly stated. He wasn't mentally prepared for this. Fortunately, the hotel had roped off a good amount of distance from the crowd to the entrance, so it wasn't as in-your-face as he had worried. Still, he hadn't dressed as well, or taken care of his appearance, in a rush to get back to Beijing.

After a quick exit from the van and a fast walk to the lobby, the elevator ride and a walk down a darkened hall, Jingyu stood at the entrance to the suite. Zheng Ge had already bid him farewell and entered an earlier room. He stood there for a brief moment, took a deep breath, and walked inside.

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Weizhou heard the door open and close, which jerked him back to the present. He was in the bathroom, getting ready for Jingyu's arrival, but his efforts had been lost in self-contemplation and doubt, staring at himself in the mirror. Instead, he was unshowered, unshaven, and still only in boxers and t-shirt.

As Weizhou walked out of the restroom, Jingyu was wheeling his suitcase into the bedroom. They both stopped and looked at each other for a long second.

"Hey, welcome back." Weizhou said, forcing a smile. His hair was disheveled and overall appearance looking as bad as he felt.

Jingyu could see through the smile immediately, and the whole image of Weizhou tugged as his heart like never before. Zhou may be able to act, but they had created a bond so tight, there was no hiding their true emotions. The question was, how does he cross this gulf that opened up between them? This sinkhole that had appeared, threatening to suck their relationship down.

"Babe. I--I'm sorry. I owe you an explanation, and I can see it's been eating at you." he said, his face showing concern, and also radiating the love he has for Weizhou.

Weizhou stood there, his first instinct was to not admit Jingyu was right. But he knew he had gone into protection mode earlier that day, after his mind started racing. He even had a good cry that afternoon. And standing there, now, the emotions starting surfacing again. Anger, confusion, sadness... and now relief at finally seeing Jingyu. His smile faded, and he wasn't sure what to say. The storm raging inside was leaving him confused.