Beyond the Cage

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My other versatile-pairing novel next door, Hard to Guard Against a Hidden Arrow, is being drafted. If you're interested, feel free to check it out. Add it to your favorites, and I'll start posting!

Tong Wenxun arrived alone in an unfamiliar place. His life was already a tangled mess, and on his very first day he ran into a waiter who made his hands itch. He managed to hold himself back.

But after accidentally bumping into him a second time, he couldn't resist pinning the other guy down in a bowl of spicy hot pot. The other guy started it.

Later, he learned that this guy lived in the same alley, making him something of a neighbor. He worked several jobs, was very familiar with the dog in the alley, and was also a college student... A college student?

From what Tong Wenxun could tell, the guy worked all day and squeezed in classes whenever he could.

Later still, he learned that the guy was a great cook, made delicious roasted sweet potatoes, and loved to sleep...

He was good at eating, running, hiking, and cycling...

All right, he was good at everything. Tong Wenxun was also good at getting as mad as a pufferfish when he saw the guy hurt, and good at getting on his nerves.

But what could he do? He'd chosen this boyfriend himself, so he could only "punish" him a little.

*

Shi Liang's daily life was as regular as a copy-and-paste routine. In other words, it was dull.

Work, classes, sleep, meals...

Of course, even dull days had their irritating moments. Even when a rare handsome guy showed up in the bar, Shi Liang wasn't exactly pleasant to him.

Their first meeting was unpleasant, and the second was even worse. But when Shi Liang collapsed at the guy's feet with a fever, the guy didn't kick him away. He just left him in the stairwell and even gave him medicine. He really didn't hold a grudge.

So when Shi Liang learned the guy liked men, he wasn't put off. Some things just happened naturally.

He'd never dated anyone or liked anyone before. This was his first taste of love, and now he had something to look forward to and a goal in life. At the very least, he didn't want to fail any more classes.

No one can say what the future holds. The one thing he knows for sure is that his life can't be without the other guy.

Theme: Someone will love you, no matter what it takes.