This state was too unbearable to look at. Zhou Mi felt like a pitcher plant crushed into the soil, automatically activating its defense mechanism, secreting nectar due to foreign invasion, and desperately tightening to digest it.

“Let go…” she endured as much as she could, squeezing out an indistinct voice.

Zhang Lian chuckled softly and released her, but as he moved away, he still pinched her calf.

This highly humiliating action immediately made Zhou Mi’s earlobes turn as red as blood drops.

She immediately turned to smack Zhang Lian’s upper arm, but was caught by the wrist and pulled into his embrace.

His other hand wrapped around her waist as he moved close to her ear and whispered, “You can’t be touched at all, hmm?”

Then he affectionately kissed her ear, “Go shower, I don’t want to be alone.”

His breathy voice baked Zhou Mi through from inside out, from face to neck, turning red like it was smeared with strawberry jam, sticky and sweet.

She put on a small pouty face and wriggled out of Zhang Lian’s control, leaving the bed without looking back.

Zhou Mi didn’t dare wear anything dress-like again, choosing a relatively modest baby blue two-piece pajama set. When she returned to the bedroom after drying her hair, Zhang Lian was sitting in the same spot, talking on the phone. From the content, it was about work, and his expression was serious, something she hadn’t seen all day. When his darker-toned eyebrows furrowed, it added several degrees of sternness.

Catching sight of Zhou Mi entering, this frigidity immediately dissipated, like black smoke.

The book had been casually flipped over nearby. Zhou Mi closed the door and went to the desk drawer to find a forest-patterned sulfuric acid paper bookmark, carefully smoothed out the pages, then closed and placed it properly.

Zhang Lian had just hung up the phone and noticed her careful actions. “I wasn’t finished reading.”

Zhou Mi looked up, “Then use a bookmark, don’t just leave it anywhere.”

Zhang Lian smiled and agreed, “Alright.”

Zhou Mi raised her eyebrows in surprise and returned the book to him.

The man put down his phone, his slender fingers opened the book pages, looked at her bookmark from both sides, then slipped it back in, quickly becoming absorbed in reading as if no one else was there.

Is this what being a boss is like, recharging anytime, anywhere?

Zhou Mi marveled inwardly as she climbed onto the bed, sitting at the headboard and playing with her phone on silent.

Perhaps because they hadn’t shared a bed for so long, or because of the current situation, Zhou Mi couldn’t help but peek at him occasionally, then press her lips together to hide her smile.

Later, she gradually adapted to his presence and could remain composed, focusing on the mundane things she usually did before sleep, such as browsing Weibo, scrolling through Douyin, and checking various gossip groups and forums. After being immersed for a while, she suddenly remembered she hadn’t claimed her daily login rewards in the game, so she immediately turned her phone horizontally and opened Honor of Kings.

“Zhou Mi,” just as she clicked on the third item, a voice came from across, “Do you have any ambition?”

Zhou Mi glanced up, “Huh?”

He raised his eyebrows slightly, “An employee who just passed probation playing games all day under the boss’s nose.”

“It’s not work hours now,” Zhou Mi defended herself, “It’s Saturday! Leisure time! Free to do whatever!”

Zhang Lian’s expression remained unchanged. “Didn’t you say you were doing important work this afternoon in front of your mother?”

How did he have something to say about everything? Zhou Mi was silent for a couple of seconds. “Why were you eavesdropping on people’s conversations?”

Zhang Lian said, “People wearing headphones don’t realize how loud they are, especially that gaming crowd.”

Zhou Mi: “…”

She felt guilty. “Did you not sleep well this afternoon?”

Zhang Lian smiled wryly, “You could say I barely slept at all.”

Zhou Mi fell silent again. After a moment, she flattened her pillow, moved her bottom away from the headboard, leaving a considerable space, “Then you should sleep early.”

Zhang Lian asked, “What about you?”

Zhou Mi glanced at the time on her phone. “It’s only just past ten.”

Zhang Lian also checked the time. “So?”

Zhou Mi, “It’s not my bedtime yet.”

Zhang Lian asked, “Still have plans to team up for late-night gaming?”

Zhou Mi’s tone suddenly rose, “No, okay? I just went on the game to claim something…” Suddenly she realized something, her eyes showing deeper meaning, emitting a sly light, “Are you…”

Zhang Lian watched her mischievous face, “Hmm?”

Zhou Mi hummed twice, deliberately making her words unclear, “Jealous?”

“Yes.” He admitted it directly, his expression open, pronouncing clearly.

Zhou Mi’s heart immediately softened. “Oh, you should have said so earlier.”

Zhang Lian still looked at her, “If I had said it earlier, would you have listened? This afternoon, I asked you to stay in the room; you agreed, but where were you?”

Zhou Mi was speechless.

She started to act coquettishly, her tone twisting like a soft-serve ice cream, even raising a sweet little tail at the end of her sentence, “This afternoon was really work, I couldn’t ignore a client’s invitation, I’ll sleep with you now, okay?”

Zhang Lian stared at her motionlessly for a while, making Zhou Mi’s scalp tingle, then he opened his lips, “Go inside.”

Zhou Mi was stunned for a moment.

Zhang Lian said, “Go to the side by the wall.”

Zhou Mi, “Oh.”

She obediently migrated to the inner side.

Zhang Lian stretched a bit, then moved from the foot of the bed to the headboard. His entire body looked so long against the scale of her small bed. As he moved, the muscular and skeletal details pressed through his pajamas, like an agile cheetah.

Zhou Mi held her phone, unblinking, like a dazed hamster squeezed into a corner.

Zhang Lian set an alarm, then his eyes moved from the phone screen to Zhou Mi’s face staring at him, “What’s wrong?”

Zhou Mi snapped out of it, “Ah, nothing, just thinking about what I should do.”

Zhang Lian narrowed his eyes slightly. “You said you’d sleep with me, but you don’t know what to do?”

Zhou Mi choked a little, claiming, “I’m not very clear about which kind of sleeping you mean.”

Zhang Lian let out a meaningful laugh. “Which kind do you want?”

“I know which kind you’re thinking of.” Zhou Mi crossed her arms, pursed her lips, and had to throw out this mood-killing fact: “But my place doesn’t have that.”

Zhang Lian was quiet for a second, his expression hardly changing. “Lie down.”

“Oh.” Zhou Mi exchanged a glance with him and also lay down.

She placed her hands on her chest, eyes fixed on the ceiling light, not daring to move.

Her heartbeat was incredibly fast, the kind that pushes against her palms one beat after another. Though not exactly battle-hardened, she’d had multiple experiences before, but for some reason, at this moment, this second, she felt like she was facing her first night with her beloved. Her thoughts tangled like a ball of yarn, binding her into a restricted, hesitant mummy.

“Can I turn off the light?” Zhang Lian suddenly asked.

Zhou Mi heard her breath quicken, “Oh, sure.”

Her face flushed slightly.

Her answer was so nervous it came out with a tremor, how embarrassing. She wasn’t sure if he heard it.

With a click, the room turned into a dark valley, with only a little light seeping through the door crack.

Their breathing became audible due to the change in environment, rising and falling in alternation.

Also becoming obvious were the man’s subtle movements, of clothes, of bedding, as if creating tangible wrinkles in the pitch-black atmosphere. Zhou Mi’s heart compressed along with it, uncomfortably twisting her fingers together.

The next moment, there was a distinct sinking feeling beside her as he turned toward her.

His palm pressed against her back, always so warm, undeniable.

Zhou Mi held her breath, silently clenching her teeth.

In the brief moment of suffocation, she was also pulled over, her face very close to his front. The scent from the man’s skin immediately filled her nostrils, the smell of her shower gel, not too strong grapefruit fragrance. It was the first time she had smelled such a sweet and incredible scent on Zhang Lian, and she couldn’t help but sniff a couple more times to confirm it was there.

The chest pressed against her vibrated lightly twice – he was suppressing a laugh.

“Are you a puppy?” his lips against her forehead, speaking softly.

Zhou Mi curled her fingers tightly against his chest, silently expressing her dissatisfaction with this description.

Her small fist was quickly grasped and brought behind him. He embraced her again, his whole body drawing in slightly, changing their parallel proximity to an enveloping one. They were like two solid-colored puzzle pieces; even though there were now some small scratches on them, the feeling of fitting together remained the same as always.

Zhou Mi heard Zhang Lian sigh lightly and long.

“It’s been so long since I held you like this.” His tone was sincere.

This made Zhou Mi’s eyes rapidly heat up.

In a daze, she felt a sense of time overlap, as if dreaming back to their first night. Her hand moved to his shoulder, like a small vine gathering courage at night to wrap around a tree trunk, not afraid of breaking in the process, “Let me tell you a secret.”

“Hmm?” The man’s nose tipped down slightly, a gesture of listening.

Zhou Mi said, “That time I wanted to continue meeting you, one reason was that I liked your embrace. You held me that day…”

“Mmm,” her nose suddenly blocked, with warm liquid uncontrollably sliding down her cheeks, “…all night, I loved being held by you like this…”

Zhou Mi completely choked up.

She hated her sensitive, weak, easily exposed, and easily defeated ghostly self.

But being easily moved was like a blessing and a curse at the same time.

“I was in a really bad state that day,” Zhou Mi continued, “Do you remember?”

Zhang Lian replied, “I remember.”

Zhou Mi was afraid her tears and runny nose would get on him, so she pulled her face and upper body away a bit, but was unhesitatingly pulled back by Zhang Lian.

She stopped moving and continued in a muffled voice, “My mood was terrible, I was in so much pain, felt so empty, felt like I would never get better, but your embrace healed it, filled it up…”

“So that’s why I said those things the next morning, because I couldn’t bear to part with you,” she was crying fountains of tears, then abruptly pointed out, “Your clothes must be soaked now, right?”

The man’s breath was warm. “It’s not my clothes anyway.”

Zhou Mi broke into a tearful laugh, “But it will seep through to your skin.”

“That’s okay.” Zhang Lian lowered his head, his voice deliberately soft and comforting. When he spoke so close, even the smell from his mouth was clean and pleasant.

“What about you?” Zhou Mi raised her head slightly, her gaze stuck to his chin, speaking with a slight nasal tone, “I told you a secret, you have to exchange a secret too.”

Zhang Lian laughed, “Is there such a thing as acting first and informing later?”

Zhou Mi pinched his shoulder neither lightly nor heavily, being unreasonable, “I don’t care.”

“What do you want to know?” Zhang Lian’s clear gaze also fell.

At this moment, they truly saw each other in the darkness, or rather, only each other’s eyes existed in their world.

Zhou Mi asked with purpose, “Why were you willing to agree to meet me every month?”

Zhang Lian was silent for a few seconds, then asked, “Have you noticed my WeChat profile picture?”

Zhou Mi lied, “No.”

Zhang Lian was certain, “You have.”

Zhou Mi pressed her lips together, admitting, “Okay, I have looked at it. It’s from ‘Dead Poets Society,’ right?”

She was too embarrassed to tell him that the night she discovered the truth, she had rewatched the film and once again cried her eyes out.

She was afraid of him knowing how much she cared about him.

Zhang Lian’s face showed another smile. “Do you know why those boys ran out in the middle of the night?”

Zhou Mi thought for a moment, “Their daily lives were too orderly and rule-bound, so under the literature teacher’s encouragement, they started going to a cave together after dark to read poetry.”

Zhang Lian asked, “Do you understand now?”

Zhou Mi, “Understand what?”

The hand on her back moved to her cheek, lifting her face.

The man’s lips came closer, kissing her forehead, kissing her tear-glistening eyes, kissing her moist nose, finally stopping at her lips, whispering:

“You are the poem I sneak out to read every month.”