Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Lu Yuzhi had been drinking, so he called the driver to pick us up.

We sat in the back seat on the way home, separated by a polite, carefully measured distance.

Since getting into the car, he had gazed silently out the window. The quiet in the car felt stretched tight.

Even the driver sensed it and handled the road with unusual care.

I had no idea what to say. Lu Yuzhi and I shared almost no topics of conversation.

I simply took out my phone and concentrated on answering the day’s messages.

Without warning, my hand was empty. Lu Yuzhi had taken my phone.

Before I could finish being surprised, he leaned sideways and lowered his head into my lap in one smooth movement.

Afraid he might fall, I instinctively raised my left hand to support the shoulder hanging halfway off the seat.

He took my right hand and pressed it to his cheek.

“I don’t mind Momo’s ex-boyfriends. But could Momo delete all of them?”

He looked up at me. Perhaps because of the alcohol, his eyes were hazy.

The passing streetlights fell over them in broken flashes, turning the usual calm distance in his gaze into starlight.

Even his normally even voice had taken on a wounded, drunken softness.

It was bewitching.

Before I fully understood what he was asking, I nodded as if under a spell.

Beauty truly led people astray.

Once my mind caught up, I explained, “I already deleted them. Every single one.”

My lovestruck mouth spoke first; my rational brain came sprinting after it.

He smiled at my answer. Perhaps he really was drunk, because the smile was unexpectedly adorable.

He rubbed his cheek against my palm, then closed his eyes contentedly while keeping hold of my hand.

Only then did I realize what a brilliant combination of courtesy and force he had just used.

Businessmen were terrifying.

The car stopped smoothly outside our building.

“Wake up. We’re home.”

I patted Lu Yuzhi lightly.

He opened his eyes, gave me a silly smile, sat up, and stepped out.

When I followed, I found him leaning against the car door. Assuming he was too drunk to stand steadily, I reached out to support him.

He dodged me, leaving my hand empty.

Then he took that hand and led me into the building.

He nearly walked us straight into the emergency stairwell.

I stopped him. He looked at me with perfect innocence.

“We’re going upstairs.”

I did not know whether to laugh or cry.

We lived on the twenty-eighth floor. We would still be climbing at dawn.

Apparently, he was very drunk.

I guided him back to the elevators. All the way to our door, he followed obediently behind me.

I let go of his hand to press my thumb to the lock. Suddenly, he embraced me from behind.

“Momo is my wife. Momo is mine.”

His voice was tender and lingering-almost so full of feeling that I believed he meant it.

Once inside, he followed me everywhere like a little shadow.

Even after I prepared everything and took him to the bathroom, he followed me back out.

“I’m not leaving. I’ll stay right outside.”

I sighed and gave in, pushing him back into the bathroom.

How could Lu Yuzhi become this clingy when drunk?

He emerged later with steam rolling off him. When he saw me sitting outside, he said, “Momo can shower now. I’ll guard the door for you too.”

The way my “ex-boyfriend” had addressed me at the reception had clearly gotten under his skin. He had stubbornly called me by my nickname ever since.

I wanted to tell him that I was sober and did not need guarding.

But in his current state, he had the temper of a small child and needed to be soothed. I let him do as he pleased.

When I opened the bathroom door, Lu Yuzhi was squatting directly outside.

There was a chair beside him, yet he had chosen to squat.

A cool, devastatingly handsome man in soft cotton-and-linen pajamas crouched obediently outside the bathroom, looking as though he had suffered some terrible grievance.

Did alcohol lower intelligence?

Still, I had to admit he looked adorable like this. It made my heart ache for him.

I stepped around him and headed for the bed. After two steps, something felt wrong.

I turned. He was still crouching where I had left him, staring at me resentfully, his expression pitiful and his eyes full of accusation.

This was a magical attack.

For perhaps the fifth time that night, something struck me straight in the heart.

How could drunk Lu Yuzhi be so… cute?

They said you truly liked a man when you found him adorable.

There was no saving me. I had fallen completely.

I went back, bent down, and took his hand, leading him to bed with me.

I switched off the light, eager to rest. Matching wits with Lu Yuzhi had exhausted me.

Smack.

Lu Yuzhi kissed me.

“Good night, wife.”

The sleepiness I had only just gathered vanished without a trace.

How did alcohol make him so dangerously charming?