Past

"Xian... You are back."

Xian's smile is brighter than the sun itself, "Yes. Did you miss me, Jun?" He asks sweetly.

Without even a second's delay, YiJun pulls the younger boy into his arms; a stabbing pain shoots through Xian's chest at the touch, and he gasps.

YiJun lets go of Xian immediately and steps back to look at him, "Did I hurt you?... I am sorry."

"Jun is strong, but not strong enough to hurt me. You can never hurt me," Xian says, holding YiJun's hand and intertwining their fingers; the pain in his chest reduces to discomfort once again.

"Xian, I missed you. Every day without you was like a decade." YiJun steps closer once again and cups Xian's face within his palms.

Xian expects the pain to intensify, but it remains constant. 'I need to know what makes it hurt and what doesn't.' Xian thinks to himself; his hand travels his chest subconsciously.

YiJun doesn't miss it. He knows that Xian is hiding something, "Xian, what is wrong?"

Xian smiles affectionately, kissing the palm of his soulmate's hand, "Now that my Jun is with me, how can there be anything wrong?" He looks at YiJun from head to toe, and pouts, "Jun, I am upset with you. I can see that you have been skipping meals, and it looks like you are overworking yourself too."

Calming, YiJun's eyes take in Xian's appearance. 'Something is not right. Someone hurt him. He is still hurting. Even his eyes seem guarded. What did uncle do to him?' YiJun wonders.

When YiJun doesn't answer, Xian gets worried, 'Does he suspect that there is something different about me?'

Xian wants them to go back to their carefree time together; he wants to hold and touch Jun like before. He has missed him. 'I can endure the pain, but I can't make him worry.'

"Jun, I missed you... " Xian says before throwing his arms around YiJun and burying his face in the older boy's neck; YiJun returns the embrace.

The dull ache in Xian's chest intensifies; he ignores it. His body, pressed against YiJun's, feels good; he looks at YiJun's beautiful face, "You know you are gorgeous, don't you, Jun?" Xian says, looking at YiJun's lips, then suddenly without warning, he captures YiJun's lips between his.

As soon as their lips connect, Xian feels like his chest is being crushed under a ton of bricks. He finds it difficult to breathe, but he doesn't break the kiss; he deepens it. He pushes his tongue between YiJun's lips, which the older boy accepts, by parting his lips.

YiJun's moans get drowned between their lips. An intense need to devour Xian fills him, and forgets the promise he had made to Xi Xi. He picks up the younger boy, and without breaking the kiss, he carries Xian to bed.

Putting Xian on the bed, he goes to close the door. In the meanwhile, Xian feels like he being whipped. By the time YiJun returns, Xian's forehead is burning up, and his body is soaked in his sweat.

YiJun's eyes widen at the sight of Xian writhing in pain; he panics and sits next to him on the bed, "Xian, what is wrong!?"

On recalling the promise he had made to Xi Xi, he feels horrible. 'Maybe he is like this because I went back on my word... What was I going to do just now!? How would I have ever forgiven myself if I had... '

YiJun can not even bring himself to complete that train of thought. "I will get the physician," YiJun says, standing up and trying to leave the bed. But before he can even take a step away, Xian holds his wrist, "Don't go, please."

Present

As Shen and Wangji walk towards the jeep parked a couple of hundred meters away, officer Zhau steps out and waves at Shen, who purses his lips. Wangji gives a small bow that the officer conveniently ignores and continues to smile brightly at Shen.

Shen nods curtly, shaking Zhau's outstretched hand, "Officer Zhau, we have nothing to hide. If there was anything you needed for me, you could have just asked instead of following me."

Zhau unwraps a lollipop and puts it in his mouth. And without taking his eyes away from Shen's face, he licks it and proceeds to wink at him. Shen's heart starts beating rapidly, making him gulp, 'Why is he having this effect on me?' he wonders.

Wangji clears his throat, "Officer, I am a busy man. If you are done enjoying the candy, can we please get back to business?"

Zhuo finally pays attention to Wangji, "Spoken just like your uncle... Your very handsome uncle. Mr. Lan, I will get straight to the point." He turns and asks them to follow him to his jeep. He opens a file and hands it to Wangji.

Wangji remains expressionless but clenches his jaw; Zhau notices and takes the file back from Wangji. "As you can see, there has been another murder like the one that had happened a couple days ago. This time, however, no one saw you anywhere around the victim. But- " Zhau trails off and takes out another file; he hands it to Wangji.

It's a screenshot of the victim when he was alive. It's the man Wangji had tailed a couple of days ago. It was from the night he had saved Xian from the kidnappers. As Wangji flips through the pages, he can see himself right behind the victim. 'I had smelled Xian's blood and had left without even touching this man. So who killed him?' He wonders.

Zhuo hands another handful of pictures to Wangji. This time, he is unable to keep his face devoid of emotions: his eyes take in the images one by one. The latest bunch of pictures were the ones where he had threatened the kidnappers before getting intimate with Xian. Recalling the night makes Wangji's cheeks heat up. His eyes turn red. He quickly turns away from Zhau.

"It looks like I have hit a nerve, Mr. Lan," Zhau says, grabbing the pictures from Wangji's hands. He turns to Shen, "I don't even know why I am showing you these. I could lose my job if anyone comes to know that I am sharing these with our prime suspect." he blurts out irritatedly.

Shen steps closer, effectively blocking Wangji from Zhau's view. He wants to distract Zhau from Wangji, whose eyes are still not back to normal.

Shen steps right in Zhau's personal space and asks, "Officer, you don't know us. You don't owe us anything. Why are you showing these to us at the risk of losing your job?"

Zhau's heart starts racing. He recalls the first time he had laid eyes on Shen. He remembers how he had felt his heart move, not understanding why that was. He had tried to ignore it. He had tried to suppress it, but he had failed. The reason he had been outside the Lan mansion, spying on Shen, was not because he was ordered; it was because, try as he may, he had not been able to keep himself away for Zhu Shen. And now that Shen was close, he was beginning to feel like a teenager getting caught while confessing his love for the first time.

What Zhau was not aware of was that he was not the only one who was feeling out of sorts; as soon as Shen had stepped closer to Zhau, his scent had assaulted Shen's senses. It had taken great effort for him to stop himself from pulling the annoying officer close and marking him.

Shen gulps and takes a step back, "Wangji, leave," and Wangji does as told.

The two men continue to stare at each other as Wangji drives away in the car Shen had driven them in.

Once his nephew is out of sight, Shen takes a step towards the police officer, but before he can say anything, Zhau suddenly pulls Shen towards himself and reverses their positions.

*The Lan Hall*

Xian arrives at the hall. He picks up his token after singing a couple of lines of the song he had chosen, in front of the organizers. He is given an afternoon slot for the audition.

After distributing the tokens, the participants are escorted to a waiting room and are asked to fill out a form.

Xian looks at the consent form, feeling sad. Remembering the days when their family was still complete, he fills in the details and hands it over to the organizers.

Soon, he hears a voice over the speaker announcing the details of the auditions to the audience and the judges.

The Lan Pharmaceutical was a big company know for its philanthropy and charity. It does not come as a surprise to anyone that this audition was being organized like a concert.

The special feature of this audition, though, was not the program itself. It was the chief guest, who was also one of the judges.

A day ago, the tabloids had gone crazy over the fact that Lan Wangji would not only attend, but also be judging the event.

"That cold prince is planning to attend the auditions!" One of the famous tabloid editors had exclaimed, shaking his head in disbelief.

With just this one news, people had lined up to grab tickets for the auditions.

Wei Xian had never been the one to get impressed by people. Hell, in his eighteen years of life, he had never even been attracted to anyone, let alone date them. He had been approached by many, but his heart had never wavered, even a little.

He had finally concluded that he was probably an aromantic asexual. But that had all changed the moment Jun had licked his neck.

Yes, Xian had put two and two together, and understood that it was His Jun, who had saved him from the kidnappers, and in the process, had dropped his locket. The same locket that Xian had found and Jun had taken back the night before.

As the Lan Hall starts filling, the excitement to see the cold prince in person intensifies.

"I can't fucking believe that I will get to see Lan Wangji in person." One of the girls sitting next to him had said excitedly.

To which Xian had just rolled his eyes and asked, "He is just an industrialist. He is not even an Idol. So why are you all so excited?"

"Are you kidding us right now? He is dreamy and gorgeous, rolled into one." Another excited girl had replied.

Xian had chuckled, "You know, there is a chance that he might be gay."

A boy sitting a few seats apart had suddenly gotten up and patted his back, "Exactly! He might be gay. So don't get your hopes up." he had said, looking triumphantly at the girls.

Then a small catfight of sorts had brought out between the obsessed young boys and girls, and Xian had quietly distanced himself from the commotion.

He had walked over to the window and gotten lost in his thoughts. It was only when the voice over the speaker had announced his name that he was dragged back to the present.

It was his turn to take the stage.

He walks onto the stage and smiles, "I am Wei Xian, and today I will be singing Faded by Alan Walker."

The whole room falls silent as soon as he starts singing. All but one of the judges start scribbling in their scorecards.

Wangji doesn't take his eyes off Xian even for a second; their eyes meet a few times as Xian's gaze sweeps over the judges and the audience. But Xian's eyes never stop on him for more than a few moments. And Wangji doesn't like that at all; he wants to be Xian's only audience.
He doesn't like the fact that everyone in the room is getting to hear Xian's voice. He doesn't like the smell of want directed at Xian. He wants to do bad things to people who are calling him hot and sexy. No, Wangji doesn't like any of it.

It is at this moment that he decides that he will not let Xian emerge as the winner. He may be deserving, and he may be the best, but Wangji doesn't want this beautiful boy to win.

Wangji's heart had already marked Xian as his, and he did not want Xian to sing at The Emperor's Smile.

'I will never let Xian sing at Emperor's Smile.' The immortal creature decides, moving his hand over his heart.

{Note:- Word count 2065

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