Weiran didn’t know if he wanted to press for more information, even if it wouldn’t have raised suspicion. “What I mean is, we aren’t together. And I thought maybe if I got someone to—to have s—if I met someone else, I would be able to distract myself, but I don’t think I can go through with it.”

“So you just want to talk? You could’ve just not shown up, you know.” The man rolled onto his back now, his arms stretching out on either side, and his robe fell completely open; Zhang Weiran averted his eyes again. “Are you lonely?”

“You’ve met people like me.” He meant this in a very different way than the man was probably going to interpret it. “Being in a position like mine gets lonely after a while. If you show any weakness…”

“Mn.”

Zhang Weiran folded his hands in his lap.

“Baby, I’m going to be honest with you because you’re cute.”

“Yeah?”

“I know some of that is probably true. And you do seem lonely. But if you really want to convince someone that you’re part of all this, at least ask for a blowjob.”

Zhang Weiran’s hands had begun sweating again. He pushed them between his legs, hiding them.

“And don’t be so sweet. The other boys I work with—they’ll get attached to you. Talk about you.”

Why are you helping me, Weiran wanted to ask, but he didn’t know if this was a test—if he asked, would this man just go straight to the people in charge?

“I didn’t know I came across that way,” he finally decided on.

“Mhm.”

Weiran didn’t know what else to say.

“Hey, I won’t tell anyone that we met or what we did, but can you do something?”

“I don’t think I can—”

“It’s not anything sexual. Just…you have a couple hours, right?”

Weiran looked back at him, saw that the robe was still splayed out around him, and very quickly looked back at the door. “Y—yeah. Two hours, is what they said.”

“Until you have to check out, could you…just hold me?”

Now Weiran looked back at him again, and this time all he saw was the man’s face—earnest, lonely, staring up at the ceiling with shining eyes. “Okay,” he said.

The man’s face lit up and he shot upward. “Really?”

“Yeah. I don’t mind.”