After the security door opened, Xu Ze and Lu Heyang stood facing each other for several seconds before Xu Ze finally stepped aside.
He had absolutely no experience inviting someone into his home—especially someone he liked. Under Lu Heyang’s gaze, he stood there stiffly and silently for a while before finally saying, “Come in.”
Lu Heyang took a step inside and stopped in front of Xu Ze. He raised a hand, pinched the brim of Xu Ze’s cap, and lifted it, exposing his entire face. Lu Heyang tilted his head slightly and looked at the corner of Xu Ze’s mouth.
“Does it still hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
With the corner of his mouth still swollen, it was impossible for it not to hurt. It was just that this little bit of pain was truly insignificant. Xu Ze took off his cap, paused, and then closed the door.
“Do you have somewhere to go?”
“Buy inhibitor patches.”
Xu Ze looked dazed. Whatever Lu Heyang asked, he answered, even adding an explanation.
“My rut might be coming soon.”
“I brought two boxes.”
Lu Heyang walked over to the small dining table and placed what he was carrying on it.
Xu Ze’s home wasn’t big. It was a two-bedroom, one-living-room apartment, but the entire living room was so empty it barely looked lived in. There was a dining table, a single chair, and a trash can. It was obvious that only one person had been living in this apartment for a long time.
Xu Ze finally came back to his senses a little. He went into his room, brought out another chair, and placed it beside Lu Heyang.
There was a thermal container on the table. 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 across from Lu Heyang, his hands hanging at his thighs.
He asked, “Why did you…”
“An apology.”
Lu Heyang smiled.
“Are you still angry?”
Xu Ze wasn’t angry. He didn’t think there was anything worth being angry about. If anyone deserved his anger, it was himself. Xu Ze didn’t think Lu Heyang had done anything wrong—Lu Heyang had never had any reason to worry so much about someone like him in the first place.
And even if Lu Heyang had done something wrong, Xu Ze would instinctively find a way to excuse him in his heart.
“I’m not angry,” Xu Ze said quietly.
“But you told me not to come see you again.”
Xu Ze frowned slightly, looking thoughtful. He remembered that he hadn’t said that last night. He seemed to have only told Lu Heyang not to go to the club anymore.
Had he remembered incorrectly?
While he was thinking this, Lu Heyang had already stood up.
“If that’s the case, then I’ll leave first.”
Xu Ze froze. He instinctively reached out, then abruptly stopped his hand at the edge of the table. He stood as well, looking a little flustered.
“No.”
Lu Heyang looked at him.
It’s not that I don’t want you to come see me.
That sentence sounded far too strange. Lu Heyang might not read too much into it, but Xu Ze absolutely couldn’t bring himself to say it.
Fortunately, Lu Heyang was very considerate of him. Seeing Xu Ze struggling, he smiled and said, “I’m just kidding. Eat.”
Throughout the meal, Lu Heyang kept looking at his phone, making things less awkward for Xu Ze.
After they finished eating, Xu Ze gathered the bowls and chopsticks and prepared to wash them. Lu Heyang looked up.
“Just leave them. The housekeeper will wash them when I get home.”
“I ate from them, so I should wash them,” Xu Ze said.
In Xu Ze’s mind, the housekeeper at Lu Heyang’s home only needed to provide services for the Lu family. There was no reason for him to eat a meal and then make Lu Heyang take the dishes home to be washed.
He carried the dishes into the kitchen.
From where Lu Heyang was sitting, he had a perfect view of Xu Ze standing in front of the sink, head lowered as he washed the dishes. Xu Ze seemed to take everything he did seriously, focused and quiet. There were still gauze pads and Band-Aids on his arm and the side of his neck, but they didn’t interfere with doing housework.
After Xu Ze finished washing the dishes, he originally wanted to dry them with a towel and put them away again so that Lu Heyang could take them with him immediately.
But after hesitating for several seconds, he didn’t dare look at Lu Heyang and only said, “It might take a little while. I’ll have to wait until the dishes are dry before I can put them away.”
It was only a short sentence, yet he stumbled over it slightly as he spoke. Xu Ze felt a strong sense of guilt and was also afraid that Lu Heyang would see through his clumsy excuse.
“It’s fine.”
Lu Heyang rested his elbow on the table, propping his chin on his hand as he looked at him.
Xu Ze walked out of the kitchen, trying to find something to talk about. But as expected, he couldn’t get a single word out. All he could hear was his own heartbeat.
“Go to your room.”
Lu Heyang picked up the two boxes of inhibitor patches from the table.
“Put on an inhibitor patch and get some sleep.”
“Okay.”
Xu Ze nodded.
Xu Ze’s bedroom was slightly more furnished than the living room. There was a bed, a wardrobe, a desk, and a fan. There wasn’t much clutter, and it was equally clean and tidy.
The bedsheets were dark navy blue. The thin blanket had been folded into a small square and placed in the center of the bed.
The bed and desk were on opposite sides of the room, with a window exactly between them. A short white curtain was half drawn, gently stirred by the breeze, revealing the dense treetops outside.
“Go sit on the bed,” Lu Heyang said.
Xu Ze walked over without hesitation and sat down on the edge of the bed.
Lu Heyang opened the package of inhibitor patches, took out one, and peeled off the backing.
Only then did Xu Ze realize that Lu Heyang intended to put the inhibitor patch on him himself.
Xu Ze’s hands tightened, gripping the edge of the bed. He instinctively lowered his head, exposing the back of his neck.
He looked at the floor and saw the sunlight shifting with the movement of the curtain, casting broad and narrow patches of light and shadow along the wall.
Xu Ze had been vaguely preparing himself all along, preparing for Lu Heyang to ask why he was the only person living in the house.
But Lu Heyang never asked anything.
And so, all those things he didn’t really want to talk about didn’t need to be said. He didn’t have to tell Lu Heyang.
Xu Ze thought again that the reason Lu Heyang didn’t ask was probably simply because he had no interest in knowing.
He felt Lu Heyang gently place the inhibitor patch over his gland. Then Lu Heyang’s fingers stroked along the edge of the patch, pressing it down so that it adhered more closely to his skin.
The suppressant patch contained menthol, so it felt cool after being applied, but strangely, Xu Ze felt even hotter.
His neck and ears were slightly red from the heat, one of the signs that his susceptible period was approaching. Lu Heyang lowered his eyes and looked behind Xu Ze’s ear, where a short strand of stray hair had fallen.
Lu Heyang’s fingertip brushed behind Xu Ze’s ear, moving the stray strand away. Xu Ze immediately flinched all over, seeming somewhat sensitive.
“Sorry.” Lu Heyang apologized first, then asked him, “Are you really that ticklish?”
Xu Ze’s ears seemed to grow even redder, and his shoulders and neck stiffened. He lowered his head, looking hesitant for a moment, but eventually nodded honestly.
“Take off the bracelet,” Lu Heyang said. “Doesn’t it feel uncomfortable wearing it?”
It was very uncomfortable, especially during the period when his pheromones were unstable. This cheap-quality bracelet could only suppress his pheromones roughly and forcefully, causing tremendous discomfort.
Xu Ze answered, “It’s fine. I’m used to it.”
But afterward, he obediently took off the bracelet anyway.
He looked up at Lu Heyang, then immediately became at a loss.
Xu Ze had never dared imagine Lu Heyang coming to his home, but now the man was standing right inside his bedroom, beside his bed.
Xu Ze’s unfocused gaze wandered around for a while before he finally asked, “Do you want to sit in the chair for a while?”
“Okay.”
As if he had finally observed enough of Xu Ze’s various reactions, Lu Heyang went over and sat down in the chair in front of the desk.
He placed a hand on the books lying on the desk and asked Xu Ze, “Can I take a look?”
Xu Ze nodded.
Lu Heyang opened Xu Ze’s homework.
The weekend assignments at Preparatory School were never particularly heavy, to the point that even someone like He Wei could finish them on time and in the required amount.
The handwriting on the page didn’t quite resemble Xu Ze’s personality.
The strokes were cold, sharp, elegant, and decisive, without looking messy in the slightest.
“Your handwriting is really nice,” Lu Heyang said.
It was nothing more than a compliment about his handwriting, yet Xu Ze still spaced out for a second before answering, “Thank you.”
He felt a little restless.
To hide his nervousness and unease, Xu Ze stood up to close the window.
He stopped in front of the window, and the wind lifted his hair and T-shirt. The sunlight was scorching, outlining the shape of his body beneath his clothes.
Xu Ze caught the fluttering white curtain.
When his long, slender five fingers curled tightly around the curtain, it looked like he was holding a bouquet wrapped in white paper.
It should have been a bouquet of gardenias, because the scent of gardenias drifted in with the wind.
Xu Ze closed the window, released the curtain, and drew it shut.
The room immediately became a little darker and much quieter.
Lu Heyang withdrew his gaze from Xu Ze and reached out to turn on the floor fan beside the desk, directing it toward Xu Ze’s bed.
“Get some sleep. If your susceptible period comes this afternoon, you won’t sleep well tonight.”
“Okay.”
Xu Ze’s head was already very dizzy, and his throat felt itchy, making him want to cough.
The early symptoms of a susceptible period were very similar to a cold or fever: feeling hot, drowsiness, and chills.
He lay down on the bed.
The moment his head touched the pillow, exhaustion and drowsiness washed over him.
He hadn’t slept well the night before because his entire body hurt, and he hadn’t rested after returning home that morning either.
The silence at this moment was almost too peaceful.
Xu Ze had no energy left to think about anything else.
He pulled the blanket up until it covered the lower half of his face, then curled up on his side.
His eyelids grew unbearably heavy.
Xu Ze slowly blinked once, and Lu Heyang’s figure in his vision gradually blurred.
Xu Ze opened his mouth and said somewhat indistinctly, “If you have somewhere to be, you can go first. Just close the door.”
He wasn’t telling Lu Heyang to leave.
More than anyone, he hoped Lu Heyang would stay a little longer.
He was simply afraid of taking up Lu Heyang’s time.
Xu Ze wasn’t sure whether Lu Heyang answered.
Before he completely closed his eyes, Xu Ze thought that perhaps everything from the moment Lu Heyang knocked on his door until this very second was simply a dream he was having as his susceptible period approached.
Not long afterward, in his hazy state, Xu Ze heard Lu Heyang’s footsteps.
Then came the sound of his bedroom door closing.
Finally, he heard the front door and the security door close as well.
All right.
The dream was over.
Xu Ze fell into a deep sleep.
Xu Ze, you didn’t really think Lu Heyang had actually left, did you…
And, Lu Heyang only gets the door broken down on him when he goes to dangerous places like underground clubs and stays out of his bodyguards’ sight for longer than a certain amount of time.
But this was just visiting a schoolmate’s home, so it was perfectly fine for him to stay a little longer, okay?