Chapter 2
The rain came down even harder on my way home.
By the time I arrived, I was soaked through.
“I’m taking a shower. Close your eyes.”
I knew he was still there.
The young man’s voice exploded. [What do you mean, close my eyes?]
[Do you even hear yourself?]
[Fine, go shower. I’m leaving.]
[Just don’t die in there.]
Why was he still so ill-tempered?
I laughed and went into the bathroom.
When I came out, I changed into dry clothes and grabbed a towel to wipe my hair.
My phone, abandoned on the sofa, chimed without pause as messages flooded in.
I opened a few. Not one said what I wanted to hear.
Close to midnight, I returned to the dining table.
I didn’t reheat the food. None of it suited my taste to begin with, and now every cold, greasy bite made my stomach churn.
I forced down three mouthfuls.
Three.
Then I lit the candles. In their flickering glow, I made a wish to see him one more time.
“That dedicated?” The young man’s surprise was impossible to hide.
I could almost see him lazily raising his eyes, a faint flicker of suspicion passing through them.
“I’ll never understand you people in the Conquest Division. The higher-ups told you to win men over, not torture yourselves. If this isn’t working, just kill him.”
“That Chi-whatever human bomb isn’t even here. Who’s this performance for?”
His voice suddenly turned irritable again.
The candle flame danced in my eyes, and a quiet joy rose inside me.
You.
Of course I was doing it for you, Zhou Xingye.
“He has a name.”
Zhou Xingye scoffed.
“What’s that got to do with me?”
I took a sip of water to settle my stomach, then slowly finished what I had been saying.
“Just like you have a name.”
“Right, Zhou Xingye?”
At last, I had an excuse to say his name openly.
Blood-red light dropped over the room. Every sound around me vanished, leaving only the system’s shrill, frenzied alarm.
Zhou Xingye appeared without warning in the chair across from me. Frowning, he stared at me for a long moment.
As the alarm grew more piercing, he lifted one hand. The entire room seemed to warp.
The alarm finally stopped, and the sounds of the world rushed back into my ears.
Wind howled. Rain hammered the windows.
Then came Zhou Xingye’s scolding voice. “Stop acting crazy.”
“Why do you still remember my name?”
“I told you, you can’t say it.”
I bit my lower lip and looked at him anxiously.
“I’m sorry.”
Zhou Xingye clicked his tongue, his thick brows drawing together.
“What are you doing?”
“I wasn’t even yelling at you.”
I sighed inwardly.
I was trying to make him feel sorry for me.
Zhou Xingye, apparently, couldn’t tell.
I tilted my head and looked at him. “It’s been a long time.”
It really had.
I missed him.
He ignored that. With a cold expression, he lectured me instead. “Can you act normal for once?”
I shook my head without taking my eyes off his face.
“My mission bar is falling so fast.”
“I’m going to die.”
“Before I do, could you grant me one wish?”
Zhou Xingye idly played with his fingers. A noncommittal hum rolled from his lips.
“I want a hug.”
I opened my arms to him.
He froze for several seconds, then raised his voice. “No.”
“All right.” Undiscouraged, I considered my options. “Then how about one kiss?”
I held up a finger to show I meant a tiny one.
Zhou Xingye had looked thoroughly bored until then. Now his amber eyes widened in disbelief.
He shot to his feet so fast the chair scraped behind him.
“Absolutely not!”
“I’m dying,” I declared, shameless despite having no grounds to be.
“What’s wrong with letting me have one hug and one kiss before I go?”
Zhou Xingye sneered. “Planning to extend your life that way, are you?”
I fell silent.
I truly did crave him.
Why couldn’t Zhou Xingye understand?
“Stop staring at me and look at your mission.”
He sighed. The doorbell rang outside.
“Try not to actually die.”
“The food I ordered for you is here. Don’t eat that garbage.”
“And don’t say my name.”
The moment he finished speaking, he vanished.
I shuffled to the door in my slippers, delighted.
The smile dropped from my face the instant I saw Chi Yan.
“I’ve been so busy I forgot your birthday was around now.”
“I had someone buy you a present. It’ll be delivered later.”
“I can explain what happened with Ji Mo.”
The hand I had braced against the doorframe trembled, but my voice remained calm. “All right. Go ahead.”
“The others invited her. I didn’t know she’d be there. And I only kissed her because of a dare. I’d been drinking, everyone was egging me on, and I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“There really is nothing between us.”
“After all these years together, you can trust me.”
I nodded.
“I understand. You should go.”
Chi Yan stared at me in surprise, a bad suspicion taking root in his eyes. “What do you mean?”
He nearly ground out my name. “Shen Jiayan.”
For some reason, I suddenly thought of Zhou Xingye sitting there with that expressionless face.
I almost laughed, but held it back. I copied his icy tone.
“Stop acting crazy.”
My door answered for him with a dull thud.
Poor thing. It had taken a punch from Chi Yan in his rage.
“Shen Jiayan, don’t come crawling back to beg me.”
In the dim light, his face looked almost twisted.
I shut the door, dragged a chair over, and sat beside it.
I was waiting for my food.