Sex and the City Contract

Gabriel lay on the bed speechless - technically speaking, half-sitting, because the head of the bed was raised thirty degrees to keep blood supply to the brain adequate.Every two hours a nurse checks on him and wakes him up if he is falling asleep.

He was still a little groggy, but he was able to get out of bed and move a little bit, but he couldn't walk too far and was easily tired.In other words, he is conscious, but his physical strength is still weak, and he still needs observation and treatment.

After a few days in the hospital, Ryan will come to check him in the morning, Jesse will try to accompany him as much as possible whenever he is free, and Nelson will also spare an hour to see him; and in the company, except for Oxon who came to visit once , no one came to see him.

So Gabriel thought that he really belonged to the type with extremely poor PR, that's why there were so few visitors; besides, with his current troublesome situation that would drag people everywhere, anyone who could avoid it would of course avoid it as much as possible.

That's fine, Gabriel comforted himself, he was happy to be quiet, and he read some books that he didn't usually read when he was hospitalized, such as Proust's "larecherchedutempsperdu" (Reminiscence of the Passing Time), but he often couldn't read a few Page then drowsy.

Most of the time, Gabriel was alone facing the quiet and lonely ward in silence, with eyes open or closed, it made little difference.

After the routine inspection in the afternoon, Gabriel opened "Reminiscence of the Past" again, but he couldn't read two pages, and his eyelids became heavy again.When he opened his eyes, he found that the book on his lap was gone. "Strange..." He began to search, and when he raised his eyes, he found a figure beside the bed.

"Beginning to read this book means that your mind is quite clear, but it is very boring." The man said with a smile, holding the book in his hand.

Gabriel was stunned, his calm heart was involuntarily excited.Fortunately, the electrocardiograph was off, and he was glad to himself, otherwise the other party would definitely find that the curves on the screen were densely and irregularly oscillating at this time, and that would be embarrassing.He took a deep breath and turned his face away, unwilling to see the hypocritical gentle smile on that person's face.Looking into the corner, he found a suitcase: the man obviously came directly from the airport.

"Aren't you supposed to be in Dubai, why are you here?"

"It's not fun there, I miss home." Lawrence pretended to be humorous, "And I heard you had an accident, so..."

"Unfortunately, I just bumped my head. It wasn't serious enough to make a will. I didn't give you the opportunity to buy my house property." Gabriel said sarcastically, "I'm sorry, I made you come here in vain. .”

Gabriel's self-deprecating tone deepened Lawrence's sense of guilt and fault, he sighed, "Kiki..." trying to hold Gabriel's hand.

"That's a name that only my family members can call me. Please call me Gabriel." Gabriel twitched his hand, "You just bought a house with unknown ownership, which doesn't mean we have any relationship."

"Don't do that, please."

Lawrence's heart tightened, and he said pleadingly.Gabriel's defensive and hostile attitude made him quite uncomfortable. He felt like a wild wolf, watching the farmhouse owner put up the electrified fence, and he no longer knew how to break through the fence.

"Anyway, thank you for your visit." Gabriel said coldly, "Don't let me waste your precious time, please go quickly."

Lawrence reached out his hand, wanting to touch Gabriel's face, but it seemed that there was a transparent but hard door between them, and he couldn't touch it.He opened the door once, but was accidentally locked by himself. He could pull it with brute force, but he was afraid of breaking the lock, so he couldn't open it again.

"...I won't bother you anymore." Lawrence took a deep breath, clenched his half-outstretched hand, smiled wryly, and went to pick up his suitcase to leave.When he passed the end of the bed, he subconsciously squeezed Gabriel's feet, "have a good rest." Then he opened the door and strode out of the ward.

Gabriel kept his face turned away, frowning angrily.In fact, he didn't dare to look at Lawrence. He was very worried that if he gave Lawrence a look, he would tell him to stay, and he would be messed up.It wasn't until the door was closed that he turned his head to look at the empty chair beside the bed and sighed.

That night, on the one hand, Gabriel complained about his grievances, and on the other hand, he hated Lawrence's pity, as if he were a high-ranking nobleman who did good deeds, visiting a sad and clumsy beggar.It made him feel like a small and naive worm, when he sees the light, no matter what the source of light is, he will fly around blindly regardless of everything.

The result of a night of cranky thinking was that he didn't really fall asleep until the early hours of the morning.

"morning."

Gabriel opened his eyes in a daze, and heard someone greet him. "Morning." He replied subconsciously, thinking it should be the nurse on duty. "What time is it?"

"It's almost ten o'clock."

Gabriel suddenly realized that the voice sounded familiar, and after a closer look, he woke up in fright: "Ro...Lance? What are you doing here?"

Lawrence was sitting calmly on the chair beside the bed, with a laptop on his lap, a bluetooth headset in his ear, and a teasing smile on his lips, "This is the privilege of being a business owner: I can Freedom to decide when, where and how to work.”

Gabriel couldn't help being embarrassed.

After a while, Ren came over to check, and was even more shocked when he saw Lawrence, "Lawrence, there is no need for your hypocritical concern here!"

"George, I'm Gabriel's sponsor, you know it very well," Lawrence said, "I'm a 'natural' concern."

"It's too easy to say such high-sounding words now, what about before? Where are you from?" Ryan said sharply, "Who said 'I'm not interested in knowing'?"

Lawrence didn't respond.

Gabriel took a peek at Lawrence, and found that he was staring down at the laptop screen, as if he didn't hear Ryan's accusations.Gabriel sighed secretly, and Lawrence's silence erased some of the connections.

"Ren, forget it." Gabriel said coldly, "When this guy is a transparent person, he doesn't exist at all to me."

With Lawrence watching silently, Ryan completed the routine examination and said that Gabriel's recovery is good and he will be discharged from the hospital soon.After Ryan left, Gabriel opened "Reminiscing about the Past", and continued reading from the place marked the day before.

Gabriel's eyes stared at the book, and the words turned into alien symbols in an instant. He couldn't understand it at all. Then, his gaze involuntarily followed the corner of the book and landed on the case of the other party's laptop.Lawrence seemed so absorbed that he didn't say a word.After careful consideration, Gabriel decided that he must not be the first to speak—too cowardly.

As a result, Gabriel just peeked at the laptop in a daze, and the other party didn't move, and he didn't respond at all, although he knew in his heart that this kind of consumption would not solve the problem, but only highlighted his naivety.

After another half an hour, which lasted as long as a century, Gabriel began to get restless, cursing inwardly why Lawrence didn't speak.

"...If I want to give someone a gift in return, it should be expensive, show friendship but not be too intimate...what do you think should be given?" Lawrence asked coldly.

Gabriel turned his eyes back to the book, and quickly turned to the next page, "What?" He pretended to be puzzled, and then replied indiscriminately, "How do I know... a Jaguar car."

"Really?" Lawrence replied casually, and then said into the Bluetooth headset: "Listen, buy a Jaguar in my name and send it to... the model? It doesn't matter, the color is more feminine..."

Gabriel looked up at Lawrence, only to notice that he had been conducting a video conference online.Gabriel suddenly felt pedantic and stupid.

After a while, there was another call, and Lawrence spoke with the other end of the Bluetooth headset with a pleasant face, "Dear Selina..."

Gabriel was stunned, but stared at the book calmly.

"...I miss you too. I have something urgent to come back..."

Gabriel rolled his eyes, quite disdainful of the other party's flirting.

"Got it, yes, I like it very much... When you come back, you will see my gift in return: a Jaguar..."

Gabriel raised his eyebrows lightly, but he didn't expect Lawrence to simply buy the nonsense he was talking about as a return gift for his rumored girlfriend.

After finishing the call with Selina, Lawrence continued to work online and answered several calls.

Gabriel finally couldn't hold back and said, "Since you're so busy at work, why stay here and waste time with a useless patient? Go back to the company."

Lawrence gave Gabriel a provocative look, closed the computer without saying a word, then walked in front of him, removed the Bluetooth headset, turned off the mobile phone, and put the two things on his book.Gabriel stared at the mobile phone and headset in front of him, speechless.

"Let's go for a walk in the garden."

Gabriel raised his head, not knowing how to answer.Lawrence put Gabriel's books, his earphones and mobile phone on the small table next to him on his own initiative, and stretched out his hand to help Gabriel get off the bed.

As soon as Lawrence approached, Gabriel immediately caught the scent of AcquadiGio on him.This smell stirred up many intimate memories in his mind, his heart trembled, he gritted his teeth and said defensively: "Lawrence, it's not your fault that I bumped my head, you don't need to blame yourself or feel Sorry."

Lawrence was taken aback for a moment.

Gabriel continued, "This is a hospital, and there are many professional medical staff. There is no need to ask you to be a sympathetic volunteer."

Lawrence let go of Gabriel, spread his hands, turned his back, and sighed impatiently.Then, suddenly, he turned and sat on the bed again, cupped Gabriel's face, and kissed him on the mouth.

Gabriel was startled by the sudden movement. He wanted to hide, but there was no way to escape. He reached out to push Lawrence away, but he was caught by the wrist, and he was firmly fixed in the arms of Lawrence.Lawrence's tongue entered forcefully, but Gabriel tried to resist but failed in vain, and instead aggravated the opponent's aggression.

The more Lawrence kissed, the more forgetful he was. He supported his head with one hand, and began to caress his back with the other.Gabriel, who has not fully recovered and is still quite weak, can only struggle in panic. He is only wearing a loose patient's nightgown, and it is too easy to attack. The opponent only needs a little bit of brutal force to succeed.

However, Lawrence only stroked his back, and the king did not try to put his hands into his clothes; knowing that the other party had no intention of further rape, Gabriel gradually felt relieved and no longer resisted, and even gently pulled the other party.

Lawrence finally left his lips, buried his head in his ear, kissed the back of his ear and the nest of his neck, and hugged him tightly.

"I just want to tell you that I'm really sorry...sorry," Lawrence murmured in Gabriel's ear.

Feeling the strong heartbeat of the other party, Gabriel throbbed for a while.

"I hear you," Gabriel said slowly, "but... I'm not a power switch."

Lawrence looked up at him, "What?"

"I'm not a power switch," Gabriel explained. "It's not that you press the light and it turns on...that simple."

Lawrence shook his head, with a faint smile on his lips.

"Laugh. I know it's stupid to say that..."

"No, you're right." Lawrence smiled bitterly, "That makes sense."

Then, accompanied by Lawrence, Gabriel spent most of the day in the garden of the hospital.

Lawrence stayed until the end of visiting hours that day.When Gabriel woke up the next morning, he found him "working" beside the bed.This time, the position is a little closer than the previous day. Just tilt your head and you can see the content on the screen. However, Gabriel deliberately turned his face away, expressing that he has no intention of prying into secrets, let alone privacy.

Lawrence seemed to have a lot of work to do. Gabriel didn't want to disturb him, and wanted to pass the time with a book. He was about to reach out, only to find that his right hand couldn't move—Lawrence's left hand clasped the ten fingers of his right hand.

So cunning!Gabriel frowned, and wanted to pull his hand out, but the opponent's hand was like a poacher's net entangled the claws of an ignorant bird, and the more he struggled, the more he tightened it.

"Let go..." Gabriel was about to ask Lawrence to let go when someone knocked on the door.It must be Ren, Gabriel thought to himself, and immediately invited him in.After the door opened, a completely unexpected visitor walked in. "Andre!"

"I didn't know that you were hospitalized until yesterday, so I took advantage of today's vacation to take a look..." Andre held a paper bag in his hand, "Oh, you already have visitors."

Lawrence let go of Gabriel's hand, and stretched out to him confidently and politely, "Lawrence Brodys, Gabriel's 'roommate'."

Gabriel glared at Lawrence, unable to refute.

"I'm Andre, nice to meet you." Andre greeted lightly, walked to the other side of the hospital bed, took out two paper cups from the paper bag, "I brought some coffee from the shop... I didn't expect there to be The third person was there, sorry, only two copies."

Lawrence spread his hands indifferently.A few seconds later, he suddenly spoke like a blessing in his heart: "Andre?...Could you be Andre Nelson?"

"……how do you know?"

Andre was silent for a moment, then raised half of his eyebrows, and looked at Lawrence defensively, "I am indeed the son of Roland Nelson. It seems that the old man mentioned me to you, Mr. Broadis." Then he turned his head Said to Gabriel: "My life has nothing to do with my dad, so I haven't mentioned it in particular, and I didn't deliberately hide it."

Gabriel's eyes widened, he was speechless in surprise at first, and then smiled understandingly, "I understand...don't mind."

It was Lawrence's turn to look at Gabriel in astonishment, surprised that this brat was so lacking in vigilance.He chatted with Andre unknowingly, until Ren came to check, and the three of them chatted more happily.

Lawrence absent-mindedly checked the information sent by the secretary in the computer, and his thoughts flew far away. People of similar age group found it very easy to find topics, and quickly broke through the barriers.Lawrence suddenly felt as if he was watching a fish swimming in the water through a glass tank. The fish's mouth opened and closed, but he didn't understand the fish's language at all. He had no interaction with the fish, and he just felt ignorant.

Lawrence has never been an aquarium enthusiast.Coupled with getting older, he may only be able to appreciate the potted plants he pruned and cultivated.

"You're still here," Gabriel told Lawrence after Andre left.

Hearing this, Lawrence suddenly wondered what he was doing.He shook his head, turned off the computer and stood up. "If you want me to leave, just say it." There was a slight disdain in his tone, and he couldn't believe that he had been with the little ghost for so long.

"Wait!" Seeing that Lawrence was really going to leave, Gabriel panicked, and blurted out to stop him without thinking, "I mean... I thought you would be bored, so I found an excuse to leave first."

"It's not the most interesting conversation I've ever heard." Lawrence shrugged exaggeratedly, and sat down again. "However, it can be seen that you have more conversations with people of the same age..." He meant something "I guess I'm too 'old' for you," he said.

Gabriel stared blankly at Lawrence, and after pondering for a moment, he said slowly, "Coincidentally, I always prefer antiques with a long history."

Lawrence laughed, "The tragedy is, I'm not old and valuable enough to be an antique, but I'm not a fresh young brat either."

Gabriel was stunned, perhaps this was the real crux. "Lawrence, is this just an excuse?" Gabriel lowered his head, "Because I'm 17 years younger than you, and I'm not mature enough. At first you thought it was very new, but later you found it too burdensome, so you just Do everything you can to not want me to bother you, and let me retreat in spite of difficulties, right?"

Lawrence was speechless.

That's right, he sometimes deliberately called Gabriel "little devil" in a joking tone, happy to watch the other party's embarrassment. Each other, a cruel pleasure.God damn it, Lawrence suddenly felt that he looked hideous.

"Actually, it's much more complicated than you imagined." Lawrence was heartbroken, "Perhaps it's time to let you know some truth."

After being discharged from the hospital, Gabriel resumed his daily routine, but the interaction between Gabriel and Lawrence became more and more paradoxical: Lawrence cared for him but kept a polite distance, and they were close but not intimate.Compared to Lawrence's fully adult maturity, Gabriel was at a loss for what to do with embarrassment. He didn't know what attitude to face Lawrence, didn't know how to keep a safe distance, and began to feel that the so-called adult world rules were really annoying.

star friend day.

Gabriel sat anxiously in the front seat of the BMW. What taught him to be uneasy was not that he was alone with Lawrence in the driver's seat at this moment; the hand on the gear lever could touch his leg as long as he moved slightly to the side. And German cars are proud of the spacious and comfortable interior, as long as the seat backs are laid flat, even their heights can easily intertwine with each other without any problem.

Yet Gabriel knew these things were not going to happen.Turning his head to look out of the window, he vaguely saw Lawrence's side face in the reflection of the glass. An inexplicable gloom and indifference made his side profile more like an ice sculpture, and strange.

The car drove to the suburbs, and Gabriel found that there were fewer and fewer cars on the road, and their destination seemed to be an inaccessible place.At last they came to a fence through a tree-lined road of cypresses and plane trees.

When the guard saw Lawrence, he smiled and nodded before letting him go. Obviously, Lawrence was a frequent visitor to that place.While Gabriel was still having doubts in his heart, he could vaguely see the khaki exterior walls, rose windows and small towers in front of his eyes. They came to a large neo-Gothic building complex.

Lawrence parked the car in the parking lot without saying a word, then walked quickly towards the entrance of the building, and Gabriel also stepped up to keep up.

"Mr. Brodys, hello."

After entering the building, many people immediately greeted Lawrence with standard smiles.

Gabriel noticed an unknown solemn vigilance in the air. The large glass windows with excellent lighting were all tightly closed, and people walked as lightly as possible and spoke in a low voice.Walking into the glass door, a faint smell of disinfectant came to the nostrils, and Gabriel began to have a bad feeling.

Lawrence silently led Gabriel up the elevator, and finally came to a door. He signaled Gabriel to wait outside the door first, and walked in first.After catching a glimpse of Lawrence discussing with a gray-haired gentleman for a while, Gabriel opened the door, "Come in."

Gabriel took a deep breath and mustered up the courage to walk in.No matter what it is, he has to bite the bullet and face it.

"Gabriel, this is Dr. Raymond Campbell, the father of Jesse and George." Lawrence introduced, "This is Gabriel Gussman."

Gabriel immediately shook hands with the other party.

"Jash mentions your name a lot," said Raymond Campbell, smiling.

"It was too much trouble for Jesse and Ryan a while ago... No, I am very grateful for George's care."

"No, I should thank you for clearing George's stubborn head a little bit."

Gabriel responded with an embarrassed smile.

"So, we can go there?" Lawrence asked.

After Raymond Campbell nodded, Lawrence led Gabriel to another room.There was a bed in the room, surrounded by large and small precision instruments, and under the weak light from the blinds, the four white walls looked particularly bleak.

"Gabriel, let me introduce: this is my father."

Gabriel saw an old man lying on the hospital bed, his body was full of respirators, nutrition tubes, and other life-sustaining pipelines; the electrocardiogram machine vibrated regularly, while the brain wave machine fluctuated in a rather gentle curve.Gabriel was stunned. Although the old man was haggard, he could still see the resemblance to Lawrence from the eyebrows.

"Dad, it's me." Lawrence said loudly in his father's ear, "I brought someone to see you today. This is Gabriel." There was no special movement on the brain wave screen beside him, so Lawrence shrugged , mockingly said to himself: "It's a pity that he can't say hello to you, because he doesn't even recognize his own son."

After a while, Gabriel regained his composure, "Sorry, I don't know..."

"There's nothing to be sorry about." Lawrence pretended to be relaxed, but couldn't hide the bitterness and helplessness in his eyes. "This is my last secret."

Lawrence pulled a chair for Gabriel to sit down, but Gabriel subconsciously declined, walked to the foot of the bed and stared intently at the person on the bed.

Lawrence sat on the edge of the bed, saw Gabriel's reaction from the side, and took a deep breath, "I look like my father in appearance, sitting here and looking at him, sometimes, there will be a feeling of looking at the young man. The delusion of myself after getting old. That kind of shock... others can't understand.

"I often think that when I get older, I will soon become ugly, emaciated, unbearable, and maybe even become like this..." Lawrence looked at the person on the hospital bed and shook his head, "And you are still young, Good-looking and attractive, it is easy to find a good one, no, I will definitely find a better one..."

"Lawrence..." Gabriel didn't know how to answer.

"You won't be able to stand it and leave, of course. I'm almost sure of that." Lawrence had a considerate smile on his face, "You still have one last chance, and there's still time to get out now." After finishing speaking, he turned his back To Gabriel, deliberately not looking at him.

Gabriel stood there dumbfounded, completely at a loss for ideas.