Before Luo Huai drifted off into a hazy sleep, he painfully remembered that tomorrow was Monday and he had an 8:00 AM class.
He opened his eyes with a wry smile, felt around the bedside table for his phone, and after coming up empty, checked under the pillow before finally finding the nearly dead device tucked between the sheets.
The screen lit up: 1:47 AM.
Luo Huai rubbed his throbbing temples, his head still feeling heavy and foggy. A sudden, strong urge to cry washed over him; his nose stung, and his eye rims grew hot, but he could only bite down hard on his lower lip, forcibly swallowing the moisture back down.
He opened his alarm app and set several back-to-back alarms to ensure he would definitely wake up. Then, he tapped into Pei Jiheng’s chat box.
The three sticker packs he had sent that morning still lay quietly in the conversation window without a reply.
Right now, he certainly didn’t have the energy to send any more teasing nonsense.
So Luo Huai silently typed out a line of text: [Uncle, would it be convenient for you to drop me off at school tomorrow?]
This time, the other person quickly replied with an [OK].
Only then did Luo Huai tearfully put down his phone, pull the cover up to his chin, roll over, curl into a ball, and close his eyes with a mind full of chaotic thoughts as he gradually drifted off to sleep.
Early the next morning, Luo Huai finally roused himself awake when the third alarm went off.
Sunlight squeezed through the gaps in the curtains, landing on the floor and shining with a somewhat dazzling brightness.
He sat up in bed, his hair a complete mess, his eyes still slightly swollen, and his face bearing the dull, unawakened daze of someone who hadn’t slept enough.
Luo Huai never expected that he could actually sleep so peacefully.
After experiencing all those events, in this unfamiliar room that didn’t belong to him, he had actually slept straight through until dawn without waking up a single time in the middle.
Luo Huai sat on the bed in a daze for quite a while before it suddenly dawned on him that this seemed to be Pei Jiheng’s bedroom.
On the bedside table lay a half-read English book with a bookmark clamped in the middle. Through the transparent wardrobe doors, several shirts and suits could be seen hanging inside, neatly lined up. There was a faint woody scent in the air, not cold fir pheromones, but the men’s cologne Pei Jiheng usually wore.
The pillow he was sleeping on was one Pei Jiheng regularly used, and the blanket he was currently under was one Pei Jiheng regularly used too.
Luo Huai’s face slowly flushed red.
Then he discovered an even more awkward problem: he couldn’t even escape this space immediately because he had no clothes to wear.
After searching around, his own outfit from the night before was completely soaked through and still lumped up in a wrinkled ball inside the bathroom laundry basket, completely unwearable.
It was even less possible for him to wear any of Pei Jiheng’s clothes. Putting aside the style, they simply wouldn’t fit him.
Just as Luo Huai sat cross-legged on the bed debating whether to call Pei Jiheng for help, the door opened.
Pei Jiheng stood in the doorway dressed in a black shirt, silver-framed glasses resting on the bridge of his nose. He looked thoroughly refreshed, forming a sharp contrast to Luo Huai’s current disheveled state.
Seeing Luo Huai instantly dive back under the covers like a startled rabbit, curling into a ball with only his eyes peeking out, Pei Jiheng raised an eyebrow.
“Awake?”
Luo Huai nodded from beneath the covers, rubbing his hair wildly against the edge of the blanket.
Saying nothing further, Pei Jiheng walked over and tossed a set of clothes onto the bed. A top, pants, and a brand-new pair of underwear were neatly folded, all in sizes that fit Luo Huai.
Luo Huai blankly stretched an arm out from under the covers, pulled the clothes over, and looked down at them.
“What?” Pei Jiheng leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed, watching him with the faint trace of an amused curve at the corner of his lips. “Waiting for me to dress you?”
Luo Huai’s face turned completely red.
“No, no, no need!” He shook his head repeatedly, clutching the clothes tightly in his hands as his voice cracked out of pitch. “Uncle, please step outside first.”
Pei Jiheng pushed up his glasses, hooked a smile, and turned to walk away.
As the car drove toward the school, Luo Huai sat in the passenger seat, still feeling somewhat ill at ease.
He was wearing the clothes Pei Jiheng had bought him, a light gray hoodie and dark blue jeans, both casual styles made of exceptionally high-quality fabric that felt very comfortable to wear, sitting in a completely different tier from what he usually bought for himself.
Clutching his seatbelt, he didn’t quite know what to say for a moment.
Pei Jiheng didn’t look like he intended to speak either.
The car interior was quiet, save for the low murmur of the engine and the occasional click of the turn signal.
Fortunately, the school was very close, so even with neither of them speaking, they arrived quickly.
As the car turned into the street where Binda University was located, Luo Huai spotted the bustling crowds and traffic at the school gates up ahead. Just as he was about to heave a sigh of relief, his phone vibrated, it was a call from Lin Yuhe.
Luo Huai frowned and rejected it.
Then that scumbag called again.
The screen lit up, flashing the words “Idiot Fu.” Luo Huai bit his lower lip, thinking that this nickname was still far too kind! He really should have used the original term.
Just as he was about to reject it a second time,
“Answer it.” Pei Jiheng glanced at his phone screen, his tone casual.
Luo Huai bit the bullet and answered, while also clumsily hitting the speakerphone button.
“Hello? Luo Huai, why didn’t you come home again?” Lin Yuhe’s voice blared from the earpiece. “Where did you go?”
Fumbling in a panic, Luo Huai turned off the speakerphone and pressed the phone to his ear with a movement so exaggerated he almost flung the device away.
Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the corners of Pei Jiheng’s mouth curving upward slightly.
Because it was glaringly obvious.
Asking about it only in the morning meant Lin Yuhe must have also returned home early that morning, which further proved that the married couple didn’t report their whereabouts to each other in daily life, let alone communicate.
Living under the same roof and not even knowing if your spouse came home.
Luo Huai cleared his throat and put on a serious act: “I, I went back to my apartment near school.”
“Then why didn’t you tell me?” Lin Yuhe’s voice sounded somewhat puzzled.
See? He didn’t even care to make a phone call to ask where his spouse was staying. The discord between this married couple was glaringly obvious.
“Well,” Luo Huai said vaguely, his eyes fixed on the street trees passing slowly outside the car window, “It’s Monday, and you still have work. I was afraid of disturbing you, so I didn’t mention it. Bye-bye, ah, have a good day at work, wait, hanging up.”
Not even knowing what nonsense he was muttering, he gritted his teeth and ended the call.
A temporary silence fell inside the car cabin.
As Pei Jiheng flipped on the turn signal to prepare to park, he spoke in a neutral, unbothered tone: “The relationship between you and your husband is quite fascinating.” The tail end of his sentence still curved upward!
Luo Huai let out two awkward laughs, too lazy to say anything else.
Arriving at the school gates, Luo Huai couldn’t wait to jump out of the car, then bent down, peered through the passenger-side window, and bid Pei Jiheng farewell: “Thank you, Uncle.”
Resting one hand on the steering wheel, Pei Jiheng tilted his head to look at him, a single eyebrow lifting slightly.
“Which part are you thanking me for?”
Luo Huai blinked in surprise, lowered his gaze to think about it earnestly for a moment, and then raised his eyes to meet that pair of eyes behind the silver-framed glasses.
“For all of it,” he said.
Pei Jiheng watched him, his gaze lingering for a fraction of a second.
Then he nodded in mutual understanding. The car window rolled up, the black Porsche’s engine roared back to life, and it quickly vanished down the intersection.
Standing at the school gate watching the vehicle drive away, Luo Huai finally turned around and headed into campus.