LRAPTC Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Wedding (1)

“You can open your eyes now.” Makeup artist Aria’s voice rang in his ear.

Shen Jue responded and opened his eyes. Reflected in the mirror was an excessively handsome face. However, due to the lack of any expression, it resembled a delicate, lifeless doll dressed in a striking white suit. He didn’t choose the clothes himself, but they were surprisingly fitting.

Not long after the engagement was set, Shen Jue finally met his fiancé. He could still recall the scene of Ji Yuanan standing in front of a huge full-length mirror. The wedding attire didn’t make much of a difference to him, but Ji Yuanan was unexpectedly insistent, changing several sets back and forth, seemingly not too satisfied with any of them.

At that time, Shen Jue had changed his clothes early and stood beside Ji Yuanan, watching him busily fuss in front of the mirror.

“Your collar isn’t folded properly.” Ji Yuanan suddenly spoke. He walked a few steps towards Shen Jue, then reached out to straighten Shen Jue’s collar.

The distance was suddenly shortened, and Shen Jue stiffened all over. He could only stand there woodenly, allowing Ji Yuanan to adjust him. His gaze wandered, then settled on the mirror beside him. Ji Yuanan’s slender hands were slowly smoothing out the wrinkles on his clothes. A few seconds later, Ji Yuanan finally stepped back, and Shen Jue subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief, then thanked Ji Yuanan.

Ji Yuanan was about to say something when the phone suddenly rang, and he answered it. Shen Jue waited obediently. During Ji Yuanan’s call, interspersed with a few decisive words, Shen Jue was absent-minded. Many random thoughts floated through his mind, eventually settling on “Ji Yuanan is really hands-on, even with his busy work he still personally selects the wedding clothes.”

But why? Their marriage was clearly just an accident without any emotion.

Before Shen Jue could think too much, Ji Yuanan hung up the phone. Shen Jue didn’t want to trouble Ji Yuanan. Afraid that Ji Yuanan would pick out a few more sets of clothes for him to choose from, he immediately said considerately, “Let’s go with this set.”

“I like it very much.” Afraid that Ji Yuanan wouldn’t believe him, he added in time.

“How is it?” Aria hadn’t received a response from Shen Jue for a long time and couldn’t help but ask.

His memories were forcibly interrupted, and Shen Jue snapped back to reality. He blinked his eyes lightly. In the upper right corner of his vision, Aria was slightly bent over, looking at him in the mirror with anticipation.

So he obediently curled the corners of his mouth, and the person in the mirror finally smiled.

“Aria, your makeup skills are getting better and better.” He heard himself praising.

Hearing this, Aria smiled happily. Her eyes curved up, and she complimented, “No way! You were already good-looking to begin with. I just simply touched you up.”

The next second, the door was opened, and Shen Wei poked half his head in from the outside. He first saw the face in the mirror.

“Wow! Sister Aria, your makeup is so good!” Shen Wei walked in and didn’t forget to praise Shen Jue, “But my brother was already very…” He paused, thinking of a word to describe it: “Naturally beautiful. Yes, naturally beautiful.”

Aria smiled even more happily, “Right? And Xiao Jue’s skin is also in very good condition, the only drawback is that his dark circles are a bit serious.”

“Brother, you haven’t been staying up late again recently, have you? You always forget the time when you get busy.” He leaned forward, wanting to see the dark circles under Shen Jue’s eyes clearly.

“Could it be that he’s too nervous about getting married?” Aria guessed.

Seeing the two of them chatting more and more happily, and the topic becoming more and more off-track, showing no signs of stopping, Shen Jue quickly stopped them, “Aria, you go out first, I want to talk to Xiao Wei.”

Aria left, and the door was closed again. Shen Wei sat down on the chair next to Shen Jue. He fiddled with the bottles and jars in front of him for a while, then suddenly said, “Brother, I know, you actually don’t like Ji Yuanan at all, right?”

Shen Jue didn’t speak.

“You don’t have to lie to me, I heard everything that day.”

Shen Jue opened his mouth, but didn’t know what to say. He never knew how to comfort others, let alone refute. Fortunately, after a while, Shen Wei had already emerged from the sad atmosphere himself. His eyes lit up, and he suggested, “Brother, how about I help you elope?”

Elope.

Shen Jue silently swallowed these two words.

Even standing beside Ji Yuanan, accepting the gazes of the crowd, Shen Jue could still recall these two words, like some kind of curse, constantly swirling in his mind. Their wedding was held on a green lawn. Stepping on the soft grass, Shen Jue inexplicably felt a sense of unreality.

The background music was an unknown piano piece, the tune was light and cheerful, slightly smoothing Shen Jue’s nervousness. Under the guidance of the emcee, he turned around and faced Ji Yuanan. The next second, Ji Yuanan took his hand, interlocking their fingers in a way that didn’t allow him to refuse. The warmth from his palm was constantly transmitted, and Ji Yuanan gave him a reassuring smile.

The emcee had just finished reciting the long string of vows, and Ji Yuanan said without hesitation, “I do.”

Ji Yuanan was still smiling, behind him was a lawn stretching for hundreds of miles. In a daze, Shen Jue felt like he was constantly falling. The lawn under his feet turned into a swamp. He vaguely heard the emcee reciting the vows again, the emcee was asking him: Do you?

He finally stopped falling. Ji Yuanan was still holding his hand. He didn’t move and didn’t answer.

It was very quiet all around. For a moment, time seemed to freeze, only the piano music was still coming from afar.

According to the procedure, he should now say “I do” as in the TV series. It was best to be sincere enough.

Not far away, the camera was faithfully recording all of this.

Same-sex marriage had only been legal for less than a few years, and the number of public same-sex couples was few and far between, let alone public figures. As a darling of the media, Ji Yuanan, the media would naturally not let this opportunity pass. Before this, Shen Jue had learned about Ji Yuanan through social media. In the eyes of the media, Ji Yuanan was cold, aloof, and unapproachable, in line with the public’s consistent fantasy of a genius. Therefore, he knew better than anyone that their wedding was undoubtedly highly anticipated. Reporters were hidden among the invited guests, ready to capture news material at any time. Unsurprisingly, this wedding would be on the headlines tomorrow.

This was originally a perfect wedding.

At this moment, Shen Jue suddenly thought almost indifferently: If he continued to choose to remain silent, and then mess up the wedding, how would the news report it tomorrow?

He couldn’t see other people’s expressions, but Shen Jue could guess. In this situation, Shen Jue actually had the idea of turning around to look at his mother’s expression. Shock or anger would not appear on her face. She would never allow these expressions to appear on her face. Shen Jue suddenly felt that he was essentially a cold person like his mother.

In the melodious piano music, Shen Jue rarely recalled his childhood. From the time he had memories, his mother had not had much emotional fluctuation. The rare loss of composure was when he failed to meet her requirements. Shen Jue still remembered the disappointed expression very clearly. At that time, he realized that he could see such vivid expressions on his mother’s face.

Ji Yuanan’s hand, which was interlocked with his, moved slightly. Shen Jue finally turned his gaze to Ji Yuanan. Looking into Ji Yuanan’s eyes, Shen Jue saw his own blurry figure. He suddenly laughed.

It was really wrong to involve inexplicable bad emotions with irrelevant people. Shen Jue was perhaps too bored, or sulking. He seriously reflected on his outrageous behavior, tightened his grip on Ji Yuanan’s hand, and silently apologized in his heart. He vowed not to be so willful again in the future.

His fingers gradually tightened, Shen Jue’s smile did not diminish. Under the gaze of everyone, he finally opened his mouth: “I do.”

[Author’s Note]

Finally opened at the end of March, I wrote a marriage-first-love-later story that I wanted to write last year, it shouldn’t be too long.