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Chapter 11 The Last Night
Chapter 11 The Last Night
At nine at night the rain had lessened. The wind was still there. When Chen Hao knocked at 1210, Gu Wanning had already cleared a space in the suitcase. She said the last night should not be done in the middle of someone else's clothes. Chen Hao took the sentence in. He also took off his watch and set it on the table, face down.
"At twelve I leave," he said.
"At twelve you leave," Gu Wanning repeated. "Now come here."
She was not in the robe. She wore an ordinary black tank top and shorts, like a person about to read in the room. That made Chen Hao want her more. He went over. His hand stopped at the side of her waist, waited for her nod, and only then drew her in. The kiss came slowly. Both of them knew these were among the last kisses of the trip, so neither of them made a kiss into a taking.
Clothes came off piece by piece. The tank top was lifted. The shorts went to her ankles. His shirt was pushed to his elbows by her, then taken off by him. When they were naked facing each other, Gu Wanning drew a circle with her finger around the tooth mark on his shoulder.
"Tomorrow it will be clearer," she said. "Your wife will see it again. Let her see it. Don't put ointment on it to hide it, unless it hurts. Hiding it would be like refusing the bill."
"I won't hide it."
They fell into the bed. Chen Hao's mouth went from her collarbone to her stomach, then lower. Gu Wanning opened her legs. Her fingers went into his hair and did not press down. He took her clitoris in his mouth. His tongue was slow almost to the point of torment. Her breaths went deeper, one after another. When two fingers entered she was already soaking. Chen Hao looked up at her. She nodded, meaning this was it.
There was no sound next door. The quiet made everything sharper. Gu Wanning was soon licked until the insides of her thighs shook. She said she wanted him inside, then said wait, kiss me first. Chen Hao kissed her. While he kissed, his penis slid along the seam of her legs and did not go in. The condom was still on the nightstand, unopened.
"I want you to wear it," Gu Wanning said. "The last night isn't an exception. If you go soft-hearted now and try to beg me, I'll look down on you for a second. After I've looked down on you I'll still push you off."
"I won't beg." Chen Hao took the condom and put it on himself. "I'm coming in. Do you want it?"
"Yes. On our sides. I want you to hold me from behind and come in. The last time I want to be held, not watched while I perform."
She turned onto her side. Chen Hao fitted himself to her back. One hand came around and held her breast. His penis stopped at the entrance, and he asked once more. Gu Wanning bent her leg and said yes, now. He pushed in. At this angle he went deep. Both of them made a muffled sound. His forehead was against the back of her head. His hand went from her breast to her clitoris. The thrusts were slow. Rain covered the sound of skin.
"Talk," she required.
"I'm here," Chen Hao said. "I'm Chen Hao. Tomorrow I go back to Shanghai with my wife. Right now I'm inside you. You're very hot. I like you. As we agreed, this isn't love. But the liking is real. If you want me to stop, I stop."
Gu Wanning's voice scattered. "Don't stop. A little deeper. Don't take your hand away."
He did it. Pleasure stacked little by little, without last night's panic of being chased by the wall. When Gu Wanning came she buried her face in the pillow. Her back arched. Her vagina clenched him hard. Chen Hao stayed at the deepest point, waited until she eased, then went on. She reached back and caught his hip and told him to finish moving too. He gave her several dozen more strokes. The speed was still governed by her hand. When he came he held her very tight, tight enough that both their ribs were uncomfortable. He called her name. The moment he had called it he added that tomorrow he would tell his wife about this sound too. Gu Wanning laughed, laughed until her shoulders shook. Inside she contracted once more, and he was sensitive enough that he nearly hardened again.
They did not do it a second time. It was still early. The body felt it had already reached the place where it ought to stop. Chen Hao pulled out, dealt with the condom, and wiped her legs with a hot towel. While he wiped her, Gu Wanning looked at the ceiling.
"You're too good at the afterward," she said. "Good enough that I'm a little angry. The anger isn't asking you to do it badly. It's that I know when I go back I'll use this to ask something of Lin Zheng. Asking your spouse is a good thing. Using someone else as the ruler is what we agreed to avoid. So I'm telling you now. I will not say Chen Hao wipes better. I will only say I want to be wiped like this too. When you tell Xu Siyi, don't use Lin Zheng as a ruler either."
"I'll try," Chen Hao said. "I can't do perfect. When I can't, I'll admit it."
They put clothes on and leaned side by side against the headboard, watching the rain outside for a while. At eleven forty Chen Hao stood up. Gu Wanning did not ask him to stay. She gave him his key card back and took her own. Their fingers touched once at the edge of the cards.
"Thirty days," she said.
"Thirty days."
The corridor light was on a sensor. It came on as soon as he stepped out. The door opposite opened at the same moment. Xu Siyi and Lin Zheng came out one after the other. Both heads of hair were a little disordered. Their clothes were neat. The four of them met in the middle of the corridor. No one spoke. Xu Siyi reached first and took Chen Hao's hand. Her palm was very hot. Lin Zheng stood beside Gu Wanning and looked down at her. Gu Wanning shook her head slightly, meaning she was all right.
Two minutes to twelve. The two doors shut again. This time, behind the doors, were their own spouses.
After Xu Siyi came in she did not ask at once. She pressed Chen Hao to the door first and put her face into his chest and smelled him. When she had smelled him she said, "There's her. There's also your own sweat. I can accept it. If you want to ask whether he's on me, he is. You can smell now. After you smell, we shower, and then we only sleep. I don't want to do it again inside the last of the smells. Doing it would be like a contest."
Chen Hao bent his head. At the side of her neck he smelled Lin Zheng's soap, very faint, faint enough to be almost covered by her own scent. Jealousy still pricked him. He did not dodge. He kissed that skin and said, "I smell it. I'm still here. Let's shower."
Under the hot water they scrubbed each other's backs. When she reached the tooth mark on his shoulder, Xu Siyi's hand stopped. Chen Hao said again what he had said in the daytime. She listened, then set her chin on his shoulder.
"She told you not to hide it. She was right. I have a little red on my chest too. You can look tomorrow. Not looking is also fine. I won't trade it with you for sympathy."
The bed was their own bed, though they had only stayed three nights. The sheets had been changed. The hotel had cleaned the room while they were swimming. The clean smell let both of them breathe out, and it also left a little emptiness. Xu Siyi turned the light off, put her back to him, then fitted her back into his arms. The position was too much like the way Chen Hao had just held Gu Wanning. He went stiff, and said it honestly.
"I held her like this just now. If I hold you this way I'll remember. I'm telling you. If you don't want to sleep like this, we change."
Xu Siyi was silent for a few seconds, then pulled his arm tighter. "Don't change. If you remember, you remember. If you secretly change position, I'll think that one belonged to her. Something that belongs only to her is worse than remembering. Sleep. Tomorrow we still have to check out, and take the train, and decide what we are after we get back to Shanghai."
Chen Hao kissed the back of her head. "We'll say it tomorrow. Tonight I'll only say one sentence. I came back."
"I know." Xu Siyi's voice was already sticky with sleep. "I came back too. Don't let go."
The rain stopped in the latter half of the night. The sound of the sea became clear again. Four people slept in two beds, a corridor between them, and also a paper written full of rules. The paper was still in Xu Siyi's bag. No one had torn it. It had already done what it was there to do.
