Ou Shaowen nodded happily, went back to his room and picked up the quilt, then carefully divided Ou Renjin’s bed in half and placed his own quilt and pillow.

“Don’t worry, I sleep very quietly, and I promise I won’t touch you or make a sound.” He couldn’t restrain the little excitement, acting like a child who was going on a spring outing the next day.

Ou Shaowen stopped talking about sleeping with him, the two quilts were clearly separated, and when he promised not to cross the border, Ou Renjin couldn’t help teasing him, “Didn’t you say you wanted to sleep with me? How can you sleep with me if you don’t touch me?”

Ou Shaowen turned, opened his arms and patted him on the back with a slap, hugging him vigorously, “Just hug like this.”

“That’s weird.” He added, “Every time I touch your body, I am so happy. If I can get closer to you, I will be even happier. If only I could be so happy all the time.”

Ou Renjin: “……” 

He felt as if this guy was flirting, in other words, giving a veiled invitation. He considered for a moment whether to gloss over it with his usual excuse: I’m actually pretty conservative at heart, and I hope that everything will happen naturally after we get married.

Usually, when they heard such a reply from him, the young lovers were always secretly happy and touched, and couldn’t help but start looking forward to being the one to take that step with him.

But before he could say anything, Ou Shaowen let go of him without a second thought, turned and threw himself onto the bed, where he curled under the quilt, revealing only his eyes. Those eyes, full of satisfaction and smiles, holding an affection that seemed to be too heavy to carry, looked at Ou Renjin intently.

Ou Renjin’s throat felt a little itchy. It seemed that at this moment, he needed to say something.

But… What would be the most appropriate thing to say?

“Good night.” 

“Good night.”

The two voices sounded in unison, very softly, as if they were both afraid of shattering some beautiful dream.

“When are you leaving in the morning, can you wake me up before you go?”

Ou Renjin lay on the other side of the bed, “I remember you don’t have work scheduled for tomorrow, is there anything you need to get up early for?”

“Yes, I need to see you off!”

Ou Renjin chuckled in a low voice, “Look how good you are at making people laugh.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

“Then can you call me tomorrow?”

“Yes, promise, I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Later, they talked about something else, something they didn’t  remember much about.

Because of some experience when he was a child, Ou Renjin was actually very afraid of the sound of someone making a noise next to the bed when he was sleeping. As long as someone came near his bed at that time, even the lightest footsteps could wake him up. The sensation of being awakened in this way was so unbearable that his heart felt like it was about to jump out of his throat, his eardrums were buzzing and he could not even breathe. He had to press hard on his chest and try to calm down and adjust for a long time before he could regain a normal breathing rate.

The focus of this problem was not on sleeping, but on the bed. In other places, on the sofa, at his writing desk, and in the car, although he could not sleep very deeply, he would not be awakened abruptly and uncomfortably.

Therefore, Ou Renjin originally planned to change to another room to rest after coaxing the kid to sleep. Unexpectedly, during the quiet conversation, he quickly fell into a deep sleep, and it was not until early the next morning, when he woke up to the sound of another person breathing, he recalled in a daze that there seemed to be one more person in his bed. 

He turned his head to look at Ou Shaowen. His sleeping position was very regular, lying face up, his arms straight at his sides, motionless, a bit like a lifeless corpse.

Ou Renjin somehow felt his heart jolt and reached out to nudge him, “Hey, wake up.”

“Hmm.” Ou Shaowen answered him before his eyelids lifted; then his eyelashes fluttered slightly and he opened his eyes to look at him.

Ou Renjin let out a sigh of relief and teased, “So you really didn’t exaggerate, you slept very quietly all night and didn’t touch me a bit from start to finish.” Extending his index finger and poking his face, he added, “Well, that’s the only physical contact we have had in bed.”

Then he got out of bed, put on his slippers and said in a serious tone as he walked towards the bathroom, “It’s a pity you missed this opportunity. It’ll be difficult to sleep with me again.”

Ou Shaowen stared unblinkingly at him as he entered the bathroom and nodded, echoing sincerely, “Yes, it’s a pity.”

When Ou Renjin finished washing up and came out, Ou Shaowen was still staring blankly in his direction. Ou Renjin walked straight over to him, lifted his chin with one hand and kissed him on the lips.

It was a little different from the feeling of skin on skin, different from the feeling of the kiss on his cheek, and Ou Shaowen’s poor vocabulary was unable to describe how he felt at the moment. The only thing he could say for sure was that when Ou Renjin finished his sloppy kiss and was ready to move, Ou Shaowen didn’t want him to leave just like that.

So he grabbed Ou Renjin’s hand and gave it a gentle tug, making him sit on the edge of the bed, stroking his neck with his other hand, not wanting to let him pull away.

The corners of Ou Renjin’s mouth seemed to curl up as he obediently deepened the kiss. Although it was limited to a mutual entanglement of lips, it still left him very satisfied. The kid didn’t understand anything but every time his lips tried to leave, he would cling to Ou Renjin tighter, so childish, yet so adorable.

“Okay.” He turned his face away from another chase attempt of Ou Shaowen, “I’m going to work, so you can sleep again.”

Ou Shaowen shook his head and climbed up after him, “I want to have breakfast with you.”

So they had breakfast together, and Ou Shaowen proceeded to send him to the car and stood at the door watching him drive farther and farther away.

The figure in the rear view mirror was like Amah Rock (“husband-watching stone”, a naturally shaped rock located on a hilltop in southwest Sha Tin District, Hong Kong). It was just a little bit more pampering, how come he became so clingy?

Ou Renjin smiled and glanced at the rear view mirror again. Ou Shaowen was still standing there looking at the direction the car was driving away. He couldn’t help but repeat it again, so clingy!

After this day, Aunt Zhou began to whisper in Ou Shaowen’s ear over and over again, “President Ou really likes you, he would rarely stay here overnight before. Never let anyone stay in his room at night either. I don’t know how jealous he was when he heard you were buying us gifts! How often do you get in touch with President Ou? Why are you so shy, kid? President Ou is very busy. If you expect him to contact you every time, you won’t know when you’ll see him again.”

So, Ou Shaowen finally tried to take the initiative to text Ou Renjin.

He hesitated for two whole days, typing and deleting, before finally sending a text message –

I want to kiss you, when will you have time?

Then, he added a sentence –

If you’re busy, you don’t have to come over, I’ll come over to you.