Rong Ning did not know how he had fallen asleep, remembering only that in his dream, he had kissed Jiang Mohai.
The feeling of a kiss was unexpectedly this wonderful…
It was just like the kissing scene in his mind when he had just made a wish to the shooting star: soft, sweet. How he wished there could be a real kiss…
In the dream, Rong Ning was kissing with reckless abandon, still unsatisfied before the dream abruptly ended.
He slowly opened his eyes, licked his lips, and paused for a second, feeling like it had been quite real.
He hadn’t gotten enough of the kiss yet—why did he have to wake up!
Rong Ning exhaled a disgruntled breath of rough air and squirmed his body.
The tent was pitch black, and he couldn’t feel Jiang Mohai in his breathing space. Rong Ning reached out to feel the spot beside him—empty.
He bolted upright, illuminated his surroundings with his phone, and sure enough, Jiang Mohai was not there.
He couldn’t have gone out to relieve himself and gotten eaten by a wolf, could he!
Rong Ning quickly unzipped the tent, poked his head out, and saw a scattering of fiery sparks glowing in a dark corner not far away, instantly setting his mind at ease.
Borrowing the light from his phone, Rong Ning crawled out of the tent and walked over to his side. “Why isn’t Older Brother sleeping?” His voice carried a sleepy, languid tone that coiled, thread by thread, around Jiang Mohai.
Jiang Mohai stubbed out his cigarette, reached out to grab Rong Ning’s wrist, and helped him sit down. “The tent was a bit hot, so I came out to get some fresh air.”
“It wasn’t hot.”
Before going to sleep, a certain someone had blamed him for not bringing a blanket, and now he was complaining it was hot?
Furthermore, Jiang Mohai was only wearing a single shirt with nothing covering him at all—he should have frozen awake instead.
“I… I ate too much barbecue.”
“Oh.”
The two of them didn’t speak again, sitting side by side for a dozen minutes.
The atmosphere was weirdly strange…
With the night this dark, Jiang Mohai sat bolt upright, unsure of what he was looking at or thinking about, while Rong Ning was so sleepy he was practically about to flip over.
“So cold…” Rong Ning couldn’t help shivering, pulling the jacket draped over his shoulders tighter around himself.
Jiang Mohai raised a hand to wrap around his shoulder, his tone calm yet tinged with a trace of concern. “Let’s go inside.”
“Mn.” And go back to dreaming.
This time, however, Rong Ning did not dream of kissing. Instead, he reminisced about all the little moments spent getting along with Jiang Mohai.
Early the next morning, the half-asleep Rong Ning seemed to hear someone calling his name, but he refused to open his eyes.
His good dream hadn’t finished yet—no one could possibly wake him up!
The surroundings quieted down, and he drifted back into dreamland, though he could no longer pick up where the previous segment had left off.
Frazzled, Rong Ning flung off the clothes covering him, opened his eyes, and discovered that the sun was already high in the sky.
Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he slowly walked out of the tent, saw Jiang Mohai preparing breakfast, curved the corners of his mouth into a shallow smile, and lazily offered a greeting. “Morning, Older Brother…”
“Morning?” Jiang Mohai glanced at him, his well-defined knuckles flipping a piece of bread. “The sun doesn’t think you’re early.”
Rong Ning wore an embarrassed look, scratching his head sheepishly and squeezing out a mischievous smile. “I was fighting a monster in my dream, overslept.” His hair had been ruffled into a mess, making his appearance look even softer and more dull-witted.
Jiang Mohai glanced sideways for a split second, quickly withdrawing his gaze, and sighed. “Youth is great, the sleep quality is just top-notch.” He spoke with total deadpan seriousness, his tone both solemn and lively, making it sound somewhat amusing.
Rong Ning couldn’t help letting out a muffled chuckle as he sat down beside Jiang Mohai, tilting his head to stare intentionally or unintentionally at his face.
Resolute, noble…
Jiang Mohai looked straight ahead, handing over a golden-brown, crispy piece of toasted bread.
Rong Ning snapped out of it, put his hands behind his back, and playfully thrust his face forward. “My hands are dirty, feed it to my mouth.”
Jiang Mohai rolled his eyes in annoyance, but still obediently broke the bread into small pieces and fed them to him.
“Want coffee?”
Rong Ning decisively shook his head. “No, it’s bitter.”
“It’s sweet, I added sugar.”
Rong Ning hesitated, rolling his eyes. “Then I’ll just taste a sip.”
Holding the mug of coffee, Jiang Mohai pulled Rong Ning’s wrist over. “You can hold this one yourself.”
The corners of Rong Ning’s mouth hooked upward as he took the coffee, took a light sip, and began to savor it carefully, while his eyes darted from time to time toward Jiang Mohai’s parting and meeting lips.
In last night’s dream, the mouth he had kissed was precisely this one…
Jiang Mohai watched Rong Ning, a subtle shift in his gaze as the corners of his mouth ticked upward slightly. “Is it bitter?”
Rong Ning froze for a fraction of a second, lowering his gaze with dodging eyes. “I—it’s alright.” It felt as though his thoughts had been seen right through, suddenly making him rather embarrassed.
“President Rong!” Qin Shu’s shout pulled Rong Ning back to reality.
Hearing the sound, Rong Ning looked over, saw Qin Shu panting heavily as he hurried toward them, and asked Jiang Mohai, “What’s he doing running around this early in the morning?”
Jiang Mohai explained unhurriedly, “Moving things to the car.”
Looking behind him, Rong Ning saw that Qin Shu’s tent had already been packed up. “Ah? We’re heading down the mountain this early?”
“Mn, I’m going on a business trip tomorrow, heading back to prepare. I’ll have to trouble you to keep an eye on things at the company these next few days.”
“Going for how many days?”
“If everything goes smoothly, about a week or so.”
“Oh.” Rong Ning felt a wave of disappointment, his fingertips curling slightly as he lowered his gaze and tentatively asked, “Then… next week is my birthday, can you come?”
“As much as possible.” Jiang Mohai’s gaze landed on Rong Ning’s small face, the corners of his eyes curving as he ruffled his hair in comfort. “I’ll bring you a gift.”
He didn’t want any gifts; having Jiang Mohai all to himself was enough.
Returning to the city, Jiang Mohai dropped Rong Ning off at home and headed to the company himself, as some work needed to be processed before his business trip.
That evening, a drizzling rain began to fall from the sky. Jiang Mohai had almost finished his work and deliberately passed by a pastry shop on his way back, buying a box of Rong Ning’s favorite osmanthus cakes.
He happily carried the pastry box home.
The elevator reached the designated floor, and the moment the doors opened, a figure suddenly flashed forward and wrapped their arms around Jiang Mohai’s waist.
Jiang Mohai’s body swayed, instinctively tightening his grip on the pastry box in his hand.
Upon seeing the person in his arms clearly, a subtle shift crossed his face as he ruffled the teenager’s hair. “Why are you standing out in the hallway?”
Rong Ning raised his head, his eyelashes fluttering lightly, the corners of his eyes slightly red. “Older Brother, there was thunder, I was scared…”
“Thunder?” Jiang Mohai recalled that the rain was indeed heavier than before, but he didn’t seem to have heard much thunder.
“Why didn’t you call?”
Rong Ning hung onto him, affectionately rubbing against the man’s chest. “I didn’t want to disturb your work, so I waited out in the hallway.”
“Let’s go, to my place.” Jiang Mohai wrapped an arm around the teenager’s shoulder and led him inside.
Rong Ning probably didn’t want to eat anything in his current state, so Jiang Mohai placed the pastries on the dining table and guided him toward the guest bedroom.
“Sleep here today, having someone keep you company means you won’t be scared anymore.”
Puckering his cheeks, Rong Ning stood at the doorway of the guest room, refusing to budge and walk inside.
“Hmm?” Jiang Mohai stared at him with an investigative gaze. “Don’t want to sleep in this room?”
Rong Ning nodded, his gaze shifting fluidly as he looked toward Jiang Mohai’s bed in the master bedroom, flashing a blatant hint. “That room, is it okay?”
Jiang Mohai’s fingertips trembled for a fraction of a second, freezing for a moment before his thin lips parted. “Alright, let’s share.”
The permission granted, Rong Ning’s joy instantly soared to his brows as he hugged Jiang Mohai’s arm and headed straight for the master bedroom.
As the night grew deeper, the sound of rain outside the window gradually faded, with occasional rumbles of thunder, though the noise wasn’t large.
Rong Ning slept on the side farther from the window, and before long, he had shimmied over to the middle of the bed.
Figuring that Jiang Mohai was practically asleep, his boldness grew. He kicked off his own blanket and burrowed straight under Jiang Mohai’s covers.
“Ahem!” Jiang Mohai let out a light cough and commanded in a cold voice, “Go back!”