Chapter 6: Holding Hands Under the Covers

Chapter 6 Holding Hands Under the Covers

"Just wanted to ask if you were asleep." Lu Hechi finished speaking, then turned his head and asked softly in his direction: "Bro, can you talk with me for a bit?"

Shen Lanxue didn't say yes, but he didn't say no either.

He closed his eyes.

He listened to his own heartbeat.

"What do you want to talk about?"

Lu Hechi poked his shoulder with a finger: "Bro, turn around first."

Shen Lanxue didn't move, so Lu Hechi poked again, drawling in a whiny, pleading tone: "Bro, come on, turn around, please?"

Shen Lanxue reluctantly turned onto his side to face him.

The lights were off, and the room was pitch-dark, with just a sliver of moonlight sneaking through the curtains, bringing a soft glow.

On the narrow single bed, the two lay facing each other, there was barely any space between them, their breaths mingled together.

Their vague silhouettes rose and fell in the dark.

Lu Hechi's fingers twitched and accidentally grazed Shen Lanxue's leg. He yanked his hand back, asking in a hushed, shy voice:

"Bro, weren't you tired a second ago? Why haven't you fallen asleep yet?"

Shen Lanxue kept his eyes down, and even in the darkness, he didn't dare raise his head to look at him.

He did his best to push down the happiness bubbling up inside him.

"...I was just about to fall asleep."

"Then go to sleep. I'll stop bothering you."

Shen Lanxue started to turn, but Lu Hechi suddenly reached out and grabbed his hand under the covers, cutting him off: "Bro, don't turn. Let's sleep like this, okay? I wanna look at you."

Shen Lanxue froze for a second when he grabbed his hand, then tried to pull it back.

Lu Hechi held on tighter.

"You..."

Shen Lanxue got a little annoyed and tilted his chin up to find his face.

Lu Hechi happened to look down at that exact moment.

The next second.

Their noses grazed each other, and their lips were only a finger's width apart.

Neither of them said a word.

All that was left was the sound of their breathing.

Lu Hechi squeezed his hand and gave it a gentle shake.

"Bro."

Shen Lanxue shut his eyes. "Okay."

"..."

"..."

When Lu Hechi woke up the next morning, Shen Lanxue had already left. He felt the sheets—they were cool, so he must have left a while ago.

For some reason, he felt a pang of loss.

In the morning, the doctor came to check on him. It was the same woman he'd seen when he woke up yesterday.

She wore a white coat, had her short hair tied back, and wore a mask, with fine lines crinkling at the corners of her eyes when she smiled.

"How'd you sleep last night? Any discomfort?"

Lu Hechi lay in bed and answered earnestly: "No, thank you, ma'am."

The doctor's heart stuttered.

Getting called "ma'am" by a twenty-five-year-old guy—how old did she look?

She said flatly, "Mm, that's good."

Lu Hechi felt like she was giving him a weird look, and at that moment, another woman came in, looking to be in her forties or fifties, carrying a thermos.

"Mr. Lu, I brought you breakfast."

It took Lu Hechi a second to realize she was talking to him.

Right. He was twenty-five now. Not eighteen.

After the doctor finished asking about his condition, she left to check on the patient across the hall.

Lu Hechi got out of bed, and the woman hurriedly set down the thermos to steady him. "Mr. Lu, please be careful."

"I'm fine." After getting out of bed, he asked her: "Was it my brother—Shen Lanxue—who sent you?"

The woman nodded: "Mr. Shen told me to take good care of you."

Lu Hechi pressed his lips together, feeling a little restless, though he couldn't explain why.

"So... is he not coming?"

The woman said, "Well, I'm not sure about that. Mr. Shen has been on a business trip out of town recently—said it would be a month. He rushed back yesterday, and this morning he went straight to the company early. He seems quite busy."

Lu Hechi nodded.

Remembering that when he came yesterday, he was still wearing a suit—he must have hurried back to see him.

His mood improved a little.

He waved off the woman's help and walked to the bathroom on his own.

The mirror showed an exceptionally handsome face.

Lu Hechi had been good-looking since he was a kid. Wherever he went, a crowd of girls would gather around him, and his desk drawer was always stuffed with love letters and snacks that never got cleaned out.

This face is twenty-five now, with a mop of tousled black hair, sharp features, and a jawline that had grown even more defined. But that boyish spark in his smile was still there.

Lu Hechi slowly brushed his teeth and washed his face with one hand, then took another look at himself in the mirror.

When he walked out of the bathroom, the housekeeper had already set out the food on the table.

It was lavish—all nourishing dishes.

After finishing breakfast, Lu Hechi took out his phone and saw a new message on WeChat from Shen Lanxue.

"Are you up?"

Lu Hechi texted back: "I'm up. Are you still coming over today?"

It took another five minutes for his phone to buzz.

"Yeah, I'll head over after I finish up this afternoon. Take care of yourself."

Lu Hechi's groggy morning mood instantly vanished.

Lu Hechi: "Then I'll be waiting for you."

"..."

Shen Lanxue put down his phone and rubbed his forehead.

He hadn't managed to fall asleep until the middle of the night, and woke up again before dawn.

Dim light seeped through the gap in the curtains, and he realized he was completely wrapped in Lu Hechi's arms, his face buried against his chest.

Lu Hechi, meanwhile, had his good arm wrapped around Shen Lanxue's waist, his chin resting on the top of Shen Lanxue's head, sleeping soundly.

He didn't dare move, scared of waking Lu Hechi. He struggled out of bed, moving with extreme care the whole time, terrified that the other man might open his eyes at any second.

Luckily, it all went off without a hitch.

Early in the morning, he drove back to the villa, took a shower, changed clothes, and rushed to the company, not even having time to check on the sleeping Little Star.

"Knock, knock—"

There was a knock at the door. Shen Lanxue snapped back to the present, straightened up, and said, "Come in."

His secretary, Li Wenrui, twenty-eight this year, had been a scholarship student funded by the Shen family and had been working for him ever since he graduated.

Li Wenrui placed the documents on the desk and said with a lowered head, "Mr. Shen, the contract with Tianrui has been finalized."

Shen Lanxue: "Alright, you can head out now."

Yesterday afternoon, he had still been out of town.

The new energy chip technology negotiation had gone on all day, and the other side's chief engineer was a stubborn old-timer who refused to budge on the technical parameters.

Shen Lanxue had gone there personally to nail down the final clause before signing.

But just as he was about to sign the contract, Lu Wentang called him, saying Lu Hechi had been in a car accident.

He postponed the contract signing and flew back overnight.