Chapter Text
“We've been husbands for ten years, and I'm only now finding out you're a mafia boss!?”
Greenery whizzed past the window, trees and bushes nothing but a blur. The country lanes fortunately happened to be wide, but they were long enough that Shen Yuan could still see the black car following them. Approaching a sharp corner, Shen Yuan almost yelled as he drifted the car smoothly around it. It was a relief that his family circumstances meant that he had some unusual skills, handling car chases being one of them. Frantically spinning the steering wheel, he repeatedly glanced in the rearview mirror, feeling powerless as the expensive, subtle car followed in his tyre tracks.
On a normal day, Luo Binghe would have smiled and showered Shen Yuan with compliments. It was a truly impressive move, one not many could pull off. The praises were on the tip of his tongue, his hands restless from his place on the backseat, and his mouth keen to show the driver just how impressed he was. Instead, biting his lip to shut himself up, Luo Binghe cast his gaze out of the window, and muttered under his breath.
“Soon to be ex-husbands.”
“What?” Shen Yuan shouted, half-distracted by the quickly gaining car. Ah, why did he have to drive this car today? He should have taken one of Binghe’s, at least then, if he totalled it he wouldn’t feel as bad. It would be a nice way to vent after discovering such a huge secret.
“I said,” Luo Binghe raised his voice with a face that screamed he didn’t care and settled his hands into his lap, “I don't know what you're talking about.” He jutted out his lower lip like a child trying their hardest to cause an inconvenience. “I don't have a husband.”
Shen Yuan glanced in the mirror and clicked his tongue. His husband was sulking. Nothing new there. He expected that this would happen. Binghe saying that they weren’t husbands though? That was unexpected and completely ironic considering how they got into this mess…
“What are you talking about?” Shen Yua, stamped on the accelerator shaking the tail end of the car. These country roads were great for driving fast, but they only went in one direction with no turnings in sight. Typical! Shen Yuan spared his husband another moment of his attention on a particularly long, flat straight. “Binghe?”
Luo Binghe pursed his lips. Clasping his hands together he relaxed into the leather seat. Despite being thrown this way and that, he was handling it rather well. Not surprising, Shen Yuan thought, he was a flipping mafia boss after all! He probably got into car chases at least twice a week.
Shen Yuan should have been angry. He should have been furious. This information was grounds enough to demand a divorce, but, well, Shen Yuan was hiding a little secret of his own and guilt ate away at his outrage. There was also the lurking thought that, with Luo Binghe’s position… did he already know?
Anyway, between the car hunting them down like a wolf chasing a rabbit, the secret Shen Yuan held like a girl's first crush, and Luo Binghe’s current perplexing attitude, Shen Yuan’s nerves were a little bit strung.
Luo Binghe, a man of many talents including music, decided to pluck them.
“I don't know who you are.” Luo Binghe said, pouting and readjusting the cuffs of his deep red shirt.
It was only a small strum. A tiny little pluck. The reverberations danced along Shen Yuan’s stress perfectly and he quickly lost his temper.
“Oh for fu- Binghe! Now is not the time for you to play games!” Shen Yuan roared, wondering if he would have time to pull over and give Luo Binghe a quick stamp to the crotch before their pursuer caught up to them.
“I'm not.” Luo Binghe replied, looking into the rearview mirror. He caught the serious, indifferent face of his right hand man in the car behind them, and then continued to explain, “I must have amnesia.” He paused and added, “Probably from a bang to the head.”
Shen Yuan almost wanted to laugh, but he would probably end up crying first.
“Seriously?” He desperately changed the cars gears, finally arriving at a crossroads. Silently praying, Shen Yuan performed a beautiful 360 spin in the car, trying to confuse the car chasing them, and picked a random lane to drive down. Once he had time to breathe, he cried out, exasperated, “Binghe, I told you I was sorry! I didn't mean to hit your head when putting you into the car!” His apology was heartfelt and earnest but, Shen Yuan being Shen Yuan, couldn’t help but tack on, “It's not my fault you're so tall!”
“And handsome.” Luo Binghe commented.
“Right, right, right, and handsome.” Shen Yuan agreed, like a greasy old man begging for funding for a failing project; once he had flattered enough, he got to the point: “So can you please tell them to back off? It's not like I'm actually trying to kidnap you!”
Luo Binghe exhaled through his nose, letting Shen Yuan sweat for a minute.
“I can't tell them.” Luo Binghe raised his hands, the metal cuffs around his wrists clanging together like a prisoner being escorted to his cell. He also thoughtfully explained: “Besides, you have kidnapped me.”
Shen Yuan was honestly on the verge of tears. What a mix up! He just wanted Luo Binghe to cooperate for once, but this psychopath never let him get his way easily! To think he would even let his men think that Shen Yuan was a threat!? What happens if they get caught!? Knowing the underground well, Shen Yuan understood that he would be dead in less than a minute!
“I just need you to sign the papers.” He wailed, eyes stinging, heart racing, wheel turning into another drift worthy of a round of applause.
Luo Binghe finally graced Shen Yuan with an apathetic stare, albeit through the rearview mirror. It was somewhat amusing. Shen Yuan was so stressed that he hadn’t stopped to use his brain properly. Who said the car was chasing them because Luo Binghe had been kidnapped? Upon being dumped on the backseat of his husband’s car, Luo Binghe, already aware of what Shen Yuan was up to, sent a quick message to Mobei Jun, telling him to follow them closely in case anything happened.
Who made Shen Yuan’s thoughts so dramatic?
He needed to stop watching so many TV shows.
Luo Binghe cocked his head to one side, raising his brows.
Just sign the papers? Ha. As if it were that simple.
“Why should I do that?” Luo Binghe asked, recalling those offensive papers with a wrinkle of his nose. “What's in it for me?”
Although tensions were high and Shen Yuan believed himself to be in a life or death situation, he keenly picked up on the hole Luo Binghe had looped.
“Well according to you, you don't even know me!” Shen Yuan wanted to cackle with this victory. He challenged Luo Binghe’s acting. “Why would you want to stay married to a stranger?”
Luo Binghe didn’t even blink before he counterattacked.
“You have to understand that someone in my position has to be cautious.” Luo Binghe’s nonchalance was second to none. His calm and steady exterior would have received an award nomination if one could see the rage inside him just thinking about those papers. As composed and collected as a cat, he said, “What you say are divorce papers could be something else altogether”
“Binghe!” Shen Yuan would have pulled his hair out if his hands were free. Luo Binghe could have chosen any time to fake amnesia, but he had to choose right now!
“You claim to be my husband,” Luo Binghe stretched his legs slightly, then pointedly said, “but you could be the family member of a rival who is trying to undermine me.”
Fuck. Shen Yuan’s mind reeled. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
He fucking knew!
“Binghe”, Shen Yuan thundered, “there is no need to bring my brother into this!”
Shen Yuan still had enough of a mind to understand that if Luo Binghe knew about his family, he had probably known about it for a while. In fact, if Shen Yuan wasn’t a few metres from having a gun to his head, he would have recalled the first time Binghe met his brother. No wonder Shen Jiu had been so against their relationship.
However, Luo Binghe interrupted any time he had to think.
“I wonder where you got the sedative to put me to sleep?” He sang, accusingly.
“Ha,” Shen Yuan laughed weakly, defeated. Getting the sedative was an easy matter, his brother wanted to use something much stronger. Like a bullet. Infuriated and helpless, Shen Yuan stubbornly pointed out, “What useful selective amnesia you have.”
“Thank you.” Luo Binghe replied, ignoring the barbs accompanying his husband's words.
The car finally settled into silence.
Neither Shen Yuan nor Luo Binghe wanted to break this silence. Years of marriage meant they knew one another almost entirely inside and out. The next person to speak was destined to be the loser, and neither party wanted to take this loss.
The tension thickened. It was suffocating, the air stuffy. The car whizzed down the country lanes, no end to the disagreement or the chase in sight.
Eventually there was a sigh from the driver's seat.
“Binghe, I know.” Shen Yuan rubbed the steering wheel with his thumbs. “I'm asking a lot.” He acknowledged. His husband was possessive, obsessive, even a little bit psychotic, and he was asking him such a thing. Shen Yuan shook his head, still not willing to back down. “I know that. But… can't you just do this one little thing for me? Please?”
The husband's eyes finally met through the mirror.
One pleading, one deadpan.
“Shen Yuan.”