Chapter 25

After the security door opened, Xu Ze and Lu Heyang stood facing each other for several seconds before Xu Ze took a step to the side. He had absolutely no experience in inviting people into his home — especially inviting someone he liked — and so, under Lu Heyang's gaze, he stiffened into silence for a moment before finally managing to say, 'Please come in.'

Lu Heyang took a step into the room, stopping in front of Xu Ze. He reached up, pinched the brim of Xu Ze's cap, and lifted it up, revealing his whole face. Lu Heyang tilted his head slightly, looking at the corner of Xu Ze's mouth. 'Does it still hurt?'

'It doesn't hurt anymore.' The corner of his mouth was still swollen; it was impossible that it didn't hurt. It was just that this bit of pain was truly insignificant. Xu Ze took his cap off, paused, and then closed the door.

'Do you have something to do out there?'

'I was going to buy suppressant patches.' Xu Ze answered whatever Lu Heyang asked, dazed, and even offered an extra explanation. 'My Susceptibility Period might be coming.'

'I brought two boxes,' Lu Heyang said.

He walked over to the small dining table and set down what he was carrying. Xu Ze's home wasn't large — a two-bedroom, one-living-room layout — and the entire living room was emptily bare: a dining table, one chair, and a trash can. It was clearly a space where only one person had been living long-term.

Xu Ze came to his senses a little and went to fetch another chair from his room, placing it beside Lu Heyang. On the table sat a thermal lunchbox. Lu Heyang opened the lid, then sat down and pushed the bowl and chopsticks toward Xu Ze.

After a brief hesitation, Xu Ze sat down opposite Lu Heyang, his hands resting on his thighs. 'Why did you…' he asked.

'An apology gift,' Lu Heyang said with a smile. 'Still angry?'

He wasn't angry. Xu Ze felt there was nothing to be angry about — if he were to be angry at anyone, it would be at himself. Xu Ze didn't think Lu Heyang had done anything wrong; there was no reason for Lu Heyang to have considered someone like him too much in the first place. And even if Lu Heyang had made a mistake, Xu Ze would have absolved him in his mind the very first moment.

'I'm not angry,' Xu Ze said softly.

'But you told me not to come see you anymore.'

Xu Ze frowned slightly, his expression thoughtful. He remembered that wasn't what he had said last night; he thought he had only told Lu Heyang not to go to the Underground Club anymore.

Had he remembered wrong?

As he was thinking this, Lu Heyang stood up. 'If that's the case, I'll be going first.'

Xu Ze was stunned. He instinctively reached out a hand, then stopped it rigidly at the edge of the table. He stood up too, a little flustered. 'No.'

Lu Heyang looked at him.

'It's not that I don't want you to come see me' — that sentence was too strange. Lu Heyang might not think much of it, but Xu Ze absolutely could not bring himself to say it.

Fortunately, Lu Heyang was considerate. Seeing Xu Ze's difficulty, he smiled and said, 'Just joking. Let's eat.'

Throughout the meal, Lu Heyang kept looking at his Mobile Phone, which kept Xu Ze from feeling too awkward. After they finished eating, Xu Ze gathered the bowls and chopsticks, preparing to wash them. Lu Heyang looked up and said, 'Leave them. The maid will wash them when I get back.'

'I'm the one who ate, so I should wash them,' Xu Ze said. In his mind, the Lu Family's maid only needed to provide services for the Lu Family members; there was no reason for him to have eaten a meal and then let Lu Heyang take the dishes back to be washed.

He took the bowls and chopsticks to the kitchen. From Lu Heyang's angle, he could see Xu Ze standing at the sink, head bowed, washing the dishes. Xu Ze seemed to do everything with a focused, quiet seriousness. His arm and the side of his neck still had gauze bandages on them, but it didn't interfere with doing chores.

After washing the dishes, Xu Ze had originally intended to dry the utensils with a towel and pack them up again so Lu Heyang could take them away immediately. But he hesitated for a few seconds, not daring to look at Lu Heyang, and only said, 'It might need a moment. We should wait for the bowls to dry before packing them up.'

Even this short sentence came out a bit stuttered. Xu Ze felt a strong pang of guilty unease, and he was afraid Lu Heyang would see through his clumsy excuse.

'It's fine,' Lu Heyang said, his elbow resting on the table, chin propped on his hand as he looked at him.

Xu Ze walked out of the kitchen, trying to think of something to talk about. But, as expected, he couldn't come up with a single word. All he heard was his own heartbeat.

'Let's go to your room,' Lu Heyang said, picking up the two boxes of suppressant patches from the table. 'You put one on and get some sleep.'

'Okay,' Xu Ze nodded.

The furnishings in Xu Ze's room were slightly more abundant than those in the living room: a bed, a wardrobe, a desk, a fan. There wasn't much clutter, and it was similarly kept very clean. The bedsheet was navy blue; the thin quilt was folded into a small square and placed in the center of the bed. The bed and the desk were on opposite sides of the room, with a window right in the middle. The white short curtains were half-drawn, stirred slightly by the breeze, revealing the dense treetops outside.

'Go to the bed,' Lu Heyang said.

Xu Ze went over without question and sat on the edge of the bed. Lu Heyang opened the packaging of the suppressant patches, took one out, and peeled off the backing.

Only then did Xu Ze understand that Lu Heyang was going to apply the suppressant patch for him. His hands tightened, gripping the edge of the bed. He obediently lowered his head, exposing the back of his neck. He looked at the floor, watching the sunlight, swaying with the curtains, cast broad and narrow bright shadows against the wall.

Xu Ze had been vaguely preparing himself, preparing to be asked by Lu Heyang why he lived alone. But Lu Heyang never asked anything.

And so, those things he didn't really want to talk about didn't need to be said — didn't need to be said to Lu Heyang. Xu Ze thought again: the reason Lu Heyang didn't ask was probably just that he had no interest in knowing.

He felt Lu Heyang gently place the suppressant patch over his gland. Then, Lu Heyang's fingers smoothed the edges of the patch, making it adhere more closely to his skin.

The suppressant patch contained borneol, so it felt cool when applied. But Xu Ze strangely felt even hotter.

His neck and ears were a little flushed from the heat — one of the symptoms of an approaching Susceptibility Period. Lu Heyang looked down at the area behind Xu Ze's ear. There was a short, stray hair there.

Lu Heyang's fingertip brushed against the skin behind Xu Ze's ear, flicking that stray hair away. Xu Ze shivered all over at the touch, seeming a bit sensitive.

'Sorry,' Lu Heyang apologized first, then asked him, 'Are you that ticklish?'

Xu Ze's ears seemed to turn even redder, his shoulders and neck stiff. He kept his head bowed, looking as if he hesitated for a moment, but in the end he nodded honestly.

'Take the Wristband off,' Lu Heyang said. 'Doesn't wearing it feel uncomfortable?'

It was deeply uncomfortable, especially during a period when one's Pheromone ran unstable, for a shoddy Wristband like this would only suppress the Pheromone by crude, forceful means, bringing on a great deal of distress. Xu Ze answered, 'It's fine, I'm used to it.' But afterward he obediently took the Wristband off all the same.

He glanced up at Lu Heyang, then immediately felt at a loss. Xu Ze hadn't dared to imagine Lu Heyang coming to his home, but the other was now standing in his room, by his bed. Xu Ze's gaze drifted aimlessly for a while before he finally asked, 'Would you like to sit on the chair for a bit?'

'Okay,' Lu Heyang said, as if he had finally observed enough of Xu Ze's various reactions. He went and sat down on the chair in front of the desk.

He placed a hand on the books on the desk and asked Xu Ze, 'May I look?'

Xu Ze nodded.

Lu Heyang then opened Xu Ze's homework. The Preparatory Academy's weekend assignments were never too heavy, so much so that even someone like He Wei could complete them on time and in full.

The handwriting in the book didn't quite match Xu Ze's own personality. The strokes were cold, sharp, and decisive, free and easy, yet not at all sloppy.

'Your handwriting is very nice,' Lu Heyang said.

It was just a compliment on his handwriting, but Xu Ze still felt dazed for a second before replying, 'Thank you.'

He felt he couldn't sit still. To cover up his nervous unease, Xu Ze stood up to close the window. He stood before the window; the wind lifted his hair and T-shirt. The sunlight was fierce, outlining the shape of his body beneath his clothes. Xu Ze grabbed the fluttering white curtain — his long, slender fingers clenched tight around the fabric, as if grasping a bouquet wrapped in white paper.

It should have been a bouquet of Plum Blossom, because the wind carried the scent of Plum Blossom.

Xu Ze closed the window, let go of his grip, and drew the curtains properly. The room instantly darkened a little and became much quieter.

Lu Heyang withdrew his gaze from Xu Ze, reached out, and turned on the floor fan beside the desk, aiming it toward Xu Ze's bed.

'Get some sleep. If your Susceptibility Period comes this afternoon, you won't sleep well tonight.'

'Okay.' Xu Ze's head was actually already very dizzy, and his throat was itchy, wanting to cough — the initial symptoms of a Susceptibility Period were very similar to a cold or fever: fever, drowsiness, chills.

He lay down on the bed. The moment his head touched the pillow, weariness and dizziness washed over him. He hadn't slept well last night because his whole body ached, and he hadn't rested after coming back this morning either. At this moment, it was excessively quiet. Xu Ze didn't have the energy to think any further. He pulled the quilt up until it covered the lower half of his face, curled up on his side.

His eyelids grew heavy, dragging downward. Xu Ze blinked slowly; Lu Heyang's figure grew blurry in his vision. Xu Ze opened his mouth a little and said somewhat indistinctly, 'If you have things to do, you can go. Just close the door.'

He wasn't asking him to leave. He wanted Lu Heyang to stay a little longer more than anyone, but he was also afraid of taking up Lu Heyang's time.

Whether Lu Heyang answered or not, Xu Ze wasn't too sure anymore. Before his eyes closed completely, Xu Ze thought: from the moment Lu Heyang knocked on the front door until this very second, perhaps it was all just a dream he was having as his Susceptibility Period approached.

Not long after, in his haze, Xu Ze heard Lu Heyang's footsteps, then the sound of the bedroom door closing, and finally the sound of the front door and the security door closing.

There. The dream was over. Xu Ze fell into a deep sleep.