The air stood still.
Half of Sang Yan’s face was still buried in her hair, his right hand gripping her wrist and resting it in front of him. The gesture was intimate and natural as if treasuring something precious. Yet it also felt like a restraint, leaving her unable to move.
Meticulously, it tore apart her remaining thoughts.
Wei Yifan’s body stiffened, her fists loosely clenched. This time, she didn’t even dare to breathe. She had never been in such close contact with a man before, and she could feel her face burning up.
It was completely out of her control.
Until she could barely hold her breath anymore, she slowly came back to her senses and exhaled softly.
Wei Yifan didn’t dare to move rashly again, nor did she dare to turn back and look at his current appearance. She feared that he might already be awake, and she would meet his long-awaited, meaningful gaze.
This stable situation could no longer continue.
It was like self-deception.
As long as she didn’t turn back, he would never wake up.
Wei Yifan focused all her attention on Sang Yan behind her. Her mind couldn’t process anything else as she tried to gauge how deeply he was sleeping by the rhythm of his breathing.
Several minutes passed like this.
As time stretched on, her anxiety gradually increased.
She felt she couldn’t just sit and wait for doom.
Wei Yifan mustered her courage and decided to try a second time.
Staring at the wrist Sang Yan was holding, Wei Yifan raised her other hand and carefully pried his fingers open one by one. Only after returning his hand to its original position did her nerves relax a bit.
She hesitated, then glanced back again.
Sang Yan’s bangs were messy and disheveled, making him look less sharp than usual. His eyes were still closed, long lashes resting upon them, with no further movement.
Wei Yifan instantly felt a sense of hope dawning.
She turned her gaze away, held her breath, and sat up, inching towards the edge of the bed bit by bit.
Ten centimeters.
Five centimeters.
Just a little more.
As her feet touched the ground, Wei Yifan heard Sang Yan’s slightly hoarse voice.
“Wei Yifan?”
“…”
Wei Yifan’s mind instantly froze. It took several seconds before she mechanically turned her head.
Her eyes met Sang Yan’s gaze.
The world fell silent at that moment.
Having woken up at some point, Sang Yan’s expression was clearer than before, bearing an indecipherable scrutiny. He also sat up, glanced around, then looked at her. “Why are you here?”
Before she could answer, Sang Yan spoke again. As if he hadn’t slept enough, his eyelids were slightly drooping, his voice low and husky, with a hint of morning grumpiness in his words: “Explain yourself.”
“…”
Wei Yifan closed her eyes briefly.
She had almost gotten off the bed, just a few steps away from leaving the room.
But Sang Yan just had to wake up.
Wei Yifan felt that all her previous anxiety had been for nothing.
It would have been better to wake him up from the start and face the consequences.
“You were dreaming.” This time, Wei Yifan decided to use delaying tactics, trying to fool him temporarily while he wasn’t fully awake. She suppressed her emotions and said with a straight face, “You’ll be fine once you’re fully awake.”
“…” Sang Yan stared at her, amused and annoyed. “Do I look like an idiot to you?”
“Mm.” Wei Yifan said as she walked towards the door, absentmindedly comforting him, “Go back to sleep, you won’t look like one when you wake up.”
“…”
Exiting Sang Yan’s room with feigned composure, Wei Yifan quickly returned to the master bedroom. She locked the door and immediately collapsed on the floor, exhausted. Leaning against the door panel, she listened vigilantly for any movement outside.
She didn’t hear Sang Yan following her out.
Wei Yifan slowly let out a breath of relief.
Soon after, Wei Yifan got up and went into the bathroom.
For a short while, she felt she couldn’t be in the same space as Sang Yan. She had to leave before Sang Yan came out of his room, and deal with this situation when she returned in the evening.
Once she had adjusted her emotions, she would calmly resolve this.
After quickly getting herself ready, Wei Yifan grabbed her bag and left the room. At this time, Sang Yan’s door was tightly closed, but the bathroom door on the other side was open, and she could vaguely see Sang Yan standing at the sink.
The sound of running water could be heard.
She paused her steps, then forced herself to walk towards the exit.
At the same time, the water sound stopped.
Wei Yifan had just reached the bathroom door.
Sang Yan turned his head in her direction. He had just washed his face, water droplets still clinging to it and sliding down. Seeing her, he unexpectedly reached out, grabbed Wei Yifan’s arm, and pulled her towards him.
Wei Yifan was forced to stop, taking several steps in his direction.
She looked up.
Meeting Sang Yan’s mischievous gaze.
“Running away so quickly.”
“…” Wei Yifan’s face remained emotionless as she calmly said, “What?”
Sang Yan didn’t speak.
In this situation, she couldn’t keep pretending. Wei Yifan could only come up with a reasonable excuse: “I’m not trying to act like nothing happened, I’m just in a bit of a hurry. I have an interview this morning, and it’s almost time.”
Sang Yan looked composed as if waiting to hear what else she might say.
Wei Yifan gently suggested: “Can we deal with this when I get back tonight?”
“Hmm?” Sang Yan smiled, enunciating each word, “No, we can’t.”
Wei Yifan was at a loss for words.
Sang Yan released her arm and bent slightly to look her in the eye. His eyelashes still had water droplets on them, and the corners of his mouth pulled into a faint smile: “First, tell me what was going on with you this morning.”
“Sleepwalking,” Wei Yifan explained. “It’s a behavior I can’t control.”
“Didn’t you say before that you wouldn’t enter my room?”
“This time I don’t know what happened,” noticing his expression, Wei Yifan sincerely said, “I’m sorry, this is indeed my fault. It won’t happen again.”
Sang Yan said lazily: “You’re making me quite scared, you know.”
Wei Yifan: “Huh?”
“After all, I don’t know what extent you might go to. Who knows, one day I might wake up,” Sang Yan bit out each word, his tone both annoying and shameless, “and find that my chastity has been ruthlessly taken by you.”
“…” Wei Yifan’s brow twitched.
“You don’t have to be so,” Sang Yan very deliberately paused, “covetous of me.”
“…”
Can you be reasonable for once?
Wei Yifan held back, patiently and calmly saying: “Let’s stick to the facts. I just found a place to sleep on your bed. I didn’t touch you at all.”
Sang Yan: “How do you know?”
“I woke up before you did.” This situation was already making her very frustrated, and with Sang Yan being so unreasonable, Wei Yifan decided to just be straightforward, “In fact, you’re the one with bad sleeping habits. When I tried to get up, you pulled me back—”
At this point, Wei Yifan’s rationality instantly returned.
She swallowed the rest of her words.
“Oh? Pulled you back, and then what?” Sang Yan looked at her playfully, as if he didn’t know what happened next, his tone teasing, “Go on, finish what you were saying.”
“…”
“Anyway, in your unconscious state, you also had physical contact with me,” Wei Yifan pursed her lips, speaking very fairly, “So we can consider it even.”
Sang Yan raised an eyebrow: “Even for what?”
Wei Yifan said calmly: “For the time I hugged you while sleepwalking before.”
“…”
“Oh.” Sang Yan drawled, “So that’s how you want to settle it.”
As he said this, Wei Yifan instantly realized that her words didn’t sound quite right.
“But isn’t it still me who’s at a disadvantage?” Sang Yan’s smile dropped, speaking with particular arrogance, “It’s obvious which one of us has feelings for the other, isn’t it?”
“…”
At this point, Wei Yifan’s mind was in complete chaos, and she didn’t know how to deal with this person.
Moreover, while she had previously found such words from him merely unspeakable, now she felt a hint of guilt as if her true feelings had been exposed. She decided to once again use the excuse of rushing to the interview, proposing to resolve this issue when she returned in the evening.
Her expression remained deliberately calm.
Sang Yan looked her up and down, his expression thoughtful, as if trying to catch something amiss.
After a moment, he agreed readily.
These words felt like a pardon, and Wei Yifan didn’t say anything more, immediately leaving.
After leaving that space where she was alone with Sang Yan, Wei Yifan didn’t feel relaxed at all. She only felt a headache, knowing that she would have to officially discuss and resolve this matter when she returned in the evening.
Mainly, Wei Yifan didn’t know what there was to resolve.
It wasn’t a one-night stand, nor was it drunken misconduct.
It was just because she had sleepwalked into the wrong place, so they had slept on the same bed without interfering with each other for one night. At most, this could only be considered as renting half of his bed.
Sigh.
How else could this be resolved?
Did she need to rent half of her bed to him in return?
She pondered this the entire way.
Back at the TV station, Wei Yifan focused her energy on work, temporarily pushing this matter to the back of her mind. She applied for equipment and an interview van, taking Mu Chengyun, the only available person in the office, out for an interview.
The two walked towards the parking lot.
Wei Yifan looked down at her phone messages.
Beside her, Mu Chengyun started a conversation: “Sister Yifan, are you free after work tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow?” Wei Yifan thought about her plans for tomorrow, “I’m not sure, why?”
“A senior I know just had a baby girl,” Mu Chengyun scratched his head, looking a bit embarrassed. “I want to go pick out a gift for her, but I’m not very knowledgeable about these things.”
“A baby girl?” Wei Yifan realized, “You could ask Sister Zhen Yu about that, she has a daughter who’s a few years old.”
“…”
Mu Chengyun was silent for three seconds: “Alright.”
As they were about to reach the car, Mu Chengyun suddenly stared at her face, as if he had just noticed something: “Sister Yifan, you’ve got something dirty on your face.” He pointed to the same spot on his face: “Here, it looks like dust.”
“Ah.” Wei Yifan took out a tissue from her pocket and wiped the area he mentioned, “Here?”
“A bit lower… no, to the left.” Seeing that she still couldn’t clean it properly, Mu Chengyun simply took the tissue from her hand, his expression very innocent, “Let me help you wipe it off.”
“…”
Before Wei Yifan could react.
He had already raised his hand.
This proximity made Wei Yifan feel uncomfortable and resistant. She instinctively took a step back, smiling politely: “It’s fine, I’ll take care of it later.”
Mu Chengyun’s expression froze, looking somewhat awkward as he rubbed his nose: “Okay.”
They got into the car.
Wei Yifan sat in the driver’s seat, wiped the dirt off her face using the rearview mirror, and then started the car. Looking ahead, she casually said, “Chengyun, check the equipment first.”
Mu Chengyun came back to his senses and obediently replied, “Alright.”
No one spoke in the car, with only the news playing on the radio. It seemed quiet, yet not quite quiet.
Soon, Mu Chengyun broke the silence, saying with a smile: “Speaking of which, this senior of mine is a classmate of Senior Sang. He got married right after graduation, and now he even has a child.”
Wei Yifan nodded: “That’s nice.”
Mu Chengyun: “Sister Yifan, how did you and Senior Sang meet? I remember your alma mater is Yihe University.”
Wei Yifan replied concisely: “High school classmates.”
Mu Chengyun made a sound of realization: “You’ve known each other for so long? You two seem to have a pretty good relationship.”
“Mm.”
“I thought you two were in a romantic relationship at first, because I noticed Senior Sang treats you quite specially,” Mu Chengyun said, sounding a bit envious. “So it turns out you’re just really good friends.”
Wei Yifan didn’t bother to explain, she just smiled.
“Then, Sister Yifan, do you know if Senior Sang had someone he liked in high school? I heard he pursued that person for a long time but never succeeded,” Mu Chengyun said with a smile. “My senior has mentioned it to me several times, but he’s never seen her. He’s also very curious about what kind of person could make someone as outstanding as Senior Sang like them for so long.”
Wei Yifan felt that this young man seemed to be even more gossipy than Fu Zhuang. She responded absent-mindedly, “I’m not too sure about that either.”
“I remember at the graduation dinner, someone even said, is it because the unattainable is always the best?” Saying this, Mu Chengyun paused, “Ah, right. I remember what Senior Sang said at that time.”
Wei Yifan spared him a glance.
“He said—” Mu Chengyun’s eyes were clear, his smile clean and bright, “‘What else? Do you think I’m capable of being such a devoted person?'”