Obsessed with a High-Ranking Esper (BL)-Chapter 199: Burning the flowers

"Was it that tiny Guide I met in the hallway," Jian Ci said, voice low.

Yu Xi glanced at him. "He is not that tiny."

Jian Ci scoffed. "That’s the one who gave you..." He trailed off, eyes narrowing. Then, quieter, "He doesn’t match you."

Yu Xi didn’t respond. He turned back to his workstation, fingers adjusting a tool that didn’t need adjusting.

Jian Ci leaned in slightly, then poked Yu Xi’s waist, just enough to make him twitch.

"Little Xi," he murmured, "can I ask you something?"

Yu Xi turned his head, eyes meeting Jian Ci’s. "Ask."

"Did that little dude that just walked out the door... is he the one who did all that?" Jian Ci asked, voice low and sharp.

He didn’t even realize how salty he sounded until the words were already out.

Yu Xi turned to him, brow raised. "Do what?"

Jian Ci pointed at Yu Xi’s neck, where the faintest trace of a mark lingered just above the collar. "You know. That."

Yu Xi’s lips curled into a smirk. "Why do you want to know?"

"I am just curious," Jian Ci muttered, eyes narrowing. "I mean, he just looks so... harmless."

Yu Xi smiled and looked away, the smirk deepening. Jian Ci’s gaze flicked to the bouquet still sitting on the edge of the workbench, an obnoxious explosion of color and fragrance. It was an eyesore to look at.

"Let’s study together," Jian Ci said abruptly.

Yu Xi glanced at him. "Sure. Just sit properly."

"No," Jian Ci replied, already sliding closer. He wrapped his arms around Yu Xi from behind, resting his chin on his shoulder like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Yu Xi huffed. "Back up. My boyfriend will be jealous."

"No," Jian Ci said again, softer this time.

Yu Xi chuckled, but he didn’t move. He let Jian Ci stay there, let him press close and linger. Jian Ci smiled, satisfied, feeling the quiet surrender in Yu Xi’s stillness.

He reached up and touched Yu Xi’s hair, fingers brushing through the strands. The familiar scent of amber and vanilla rose to meet him. It was warm, grounding and unmistakably Yu Xi, but also unmistakably his.

They used the same products. The same shampoo, the same body oil. It was a quiet, shared ritual neither of them ever acknowledged aloud. But Jian Ci noticed, he always noticed.

Across the room, Vigil snorted and looked away, muttering something under his breath as he pretended to focus on his notes.

Elias, meanwhile, sat hunched over his communicator, eyes glassy. He scrolled through old messages from Leane, rereading them like they held the secret to not getting dumped. He didn’t dare reply without Jian Ci’s help. One wrong emoji and he’d be single by sundown.

He scratched his head, sighed dramatically, and whispered, "I am so screwed."

***

Hours later, Jian Ci and Yu Xi returned to their room, the quiet hum of the academy halls fading behind them. Yu Xi carried a slender glass vase tucked under one arm, the other cradling the extravagant bouquet Caelus had given him. He moved with care, setting the vase on the desk by the window where the light was softest.

He unwrapped the flowers slowly, reverently. Snipping stems, trimming leaves, adjusting angles. Moonpetal Blossoms, Silverveil Lilies, Crimson Starflowers, each bloom was placed with intention. It wasn’t for show. Yu Xi genuinely cared. Not because they were from Caelus, but because he knew what these flowers could do. Their calming properties, their subtle pyschic harmonic resonance, they would help Jian Ci. That was reason enough to be meticulous.

Behind him, Jian Ci sat on the bed, clicking his tongue softly. There was a strange pressure in his chest, like something was off-kilter. A disturbance buried deep in his soul, just out of reach.

Yu Xi glanced over his shoulder. "I need to go get something. I will be back soon."

Normally, Jian Ci would ask, Get what? But tonight, he just nodded and lay back on the bed, one arm draped over his eyes.

Yu Xi paused at the door, hand on the frame. "Are you okay?"

Jian Ci moved his arm just enough to meet his gaze. "Yeah. I am fine."

Yu Xi didn’t believe him. The tension in Jian Ci’s voice, the way his aura had been flickering all day it wasn’t fine. But he nodded anyway, eyes lingering with quiet doubt. "Okay."

He stepped out, and the door hissed shut behind him.

Immediately, Yu Xi pulled up Jian Ci’s health indicators on his communicator. His heart rate, neural activity and psychic stability were all within normal range. He exhaled, tension easing from his shoulders, and walked away.

Inside the room, Jian Ci lay still. Then it hit. A sharp sting, like a needle driven straight into his mind. He gasped, clutching his head as the pain bloomed. It waw white-hot, searing and invasive. It wasn’t just pain. It was wrongness, like something foreign was clawing through his thoughts, trying to tear him apart from the inside.

He groaned and rolled off the bed, hitting the floor hard. His vision blurred, his breath caught in his chest and then there was darkness.

It swallowed him whole. There was no sound, no light and no sense of time or space, just confusion. And something waiting in the dark.

In the sea of darkness, he stood up, swaying as a wave of nausea rolled through him. His limbs felt heavy, his head thick with static. The world around him was dim, muffled, like he was underwater or worse, trapped in a coma. Panic clawed at the edges of his mind, but he forced himself to breathe.

Yu Xi has my health monitor, he reminded himself. He will know when something was wrong. That thought calmed him down. He clung to it like a lifeline.

Time lost all meaning. Seconds stretched into eternities, but eventually, the darkness began to lift. Jian Ci’s eyes fluttered open, the haze retreating slowly.

He expected to see Yu Xi hovering over him, brows furrowed in worry, voice soft and grounding. But that wasn’t what he saw.

The first thing that came into focus was smoke. The acrid scent of scorched petals filled the air. And then he saw the flowers Yu Xi had been carefully arranging. The Moonpetal Blossoms, the Silverveil Lilies and the Crimson Starflowers... all of them had been reduced to ash and blackened stems, the vase cracked and steaming.

Jian Ci stared. And to his horror, he felt... a great sense of satisfaction. A dark, curling pleasure twisted in his chest at the sight of the ruined bouquet.