CH 39

Chi Xueyan’s Christmas Eve ended with a long series of enthusiastic praises from Sheng Xiaoyue on the other end of the phone.

After eating the cake, He Qiao took the initiative to contact his mother and told her about this birthday that she had been looking forward to for several days.

It was the first one he didn’t spend with his mother but with his newly married lover.

She loved everything He Qiao said. The adventure of wandering around campus, the hundred coins for the karaoke machine and the matcha muffin cake with marshmallows.

In a separate phone call to Chi Xueyan, she said this was the most romantic and special birthday she had ever heard about.

Chi Xueyan thought that this pair of mother and son were very similar. It was a similarity that went down to their bones.

Like He Qiao, she loved this birthday and she also liked him very much.

It wasn’t an emotion that could be disguised. It was just like in the past when he finally escaped from his home but He Qiao still remembered to call his mother.

Chi Xueyan once thought that He Qiao just did the surface work particularly well.

However, when Sheng Xiaoyue chatted with him in a cheerful tone, she talked about the large bouquet of pink roses she received from He Qiao today and the card with the wish that she would always be young and happy.

“I remember the day when you got the certificate. He ordered a car full of flowers at the florist and when he came home, he brought me a bouquet of pink roses.”

This mother never felt anything strange about her son and was sincerely happy with this Christmas Eve and this marriage.

“It is as beautiful as the bouquet I received today. Pink is my favorite color. What about you, Xiao Chi? What color do you like?”

The child’s birthday was the mother’s good day, so He Qiao sent her pink roses.

Earlier, he hadn’t forgotten this small ceremony on the day he suddenly got married.

Chi Xueyan listened to the brilliant and beautiful pink roses on the phone and remembered the silent yellow flower.

It came from a foreign novel he had read. His university teacher who taught literature also said to read it to his lover as a goodnight story before bed.

The yellow flower encountered in the park was the salvation of a desolate man. The ultimate beauty suddenly lit up his remaining bleak light.

So a yellow flower was an image suitable for associating with a lover. Chi Xueyan only thought about this in the past, but he didn’t recall the details of the story.

—The protagonist of the novel once felt desolate because he felt that in the accidental folds of time, he met his own reborn body. He concluded that all people were immortal. There would be countless reborn bodies repeating the fate of the past.

Independence was a reborn body and regret was a little mermaid.

‘A Yellow Flower’ was written by a foreign writer, just like the mermaid story adapted by Chi Xueyan. It seemed to have a different meaning in his life at this moment.

The inexplicable missing parts and detailed details in He Qiao’s memory made this logical and simple speculation shrouded in complex clouds.

Chi Xueyan, who was usually good at analyzing puzzles in detective novels, decided not to continue thinking about it.

It was because his current life wasn’t a detective novel and there was no god who0 could give him a definite answer.

He also occasionally wanted to treasure the unknown.

Therefore, Chi Xueyan just stared quietly at the bedside table. He said goodnight to Sheng Xiaoyue softly before hanging up the phone. Then he thought about buying a vase another day to place on his somewhat empty bedside table.

As for what flowers to buy as decoration, he hadn’t thought about it for the time being.

In any case, the days were still very long. He could think slowly.

He was only sure that he wanted flowers.

Outside the window, the moon was setting and the sun was rising. In the beautiful new house, Chi Xueyan said goodnight to He Qiao, who had a Christmas tree and hot milk. He also said good morning to He Qiao, who was one year older.

It was a new day and he had to get up early to go to work. Chi Xueyan walked out of the room a bit sleepily and a familiar smell filled the morning air.

He smelled the aroma of fried dumplings.

He Qiao made breakfast in the kitchen. Today was no longer a healthy and light sandwich. It was a full basket of fried dumplings.

It was the second type of breakfast dish that Chi Xueyan liked as far as he knew.

Chi Xueyan guessed that it would taste very similar to the friend dumplings from the college cafeteria next door.

He walked to the dining table and He Qiao came out with a plate full of fried dumplings. The timing was just right.

The two of them were eating breakfast face to face. Chi Xueyan remembered something and suddenly asked him, “Did you really sleep until 7:30 previously.”

Before He Qiao started waking up early to attend the group’s morning meeting, their different working hours meant Chi Xueyan would wake up at 7 o’clock. Once he was leaving at 7:30, he happened to meet He Qiao walking out of the room.

In those days, every day was a hurried meeting and parting.

When Chi Xueyan asked this, he looked into He Qiao’s eyes with interest.

He Qiao also looked at him. “No, I should’ve woken up earlier than you but I just stayed in my room the whole time.”

“Why?”

“I guessed you would find it awkward.”

‘After being woken up by the alarm clock in the morning, it was probably a person’s most real and most unguarded time. It was better to only spend such time in the same space with people they were close to, rather than a partner that he didn’t want any further intersection with.

Chi Xueyan smiled when hearing this answer. Then he lowered his head and focused on eating the fried dumplings.

“You guessed it correctly.” He praised this person. “The fried dumplings are delicious and has the feel of a university cafeteria.”

After this sentence, He Qiao’s question seemed very natural. “Do you still want to eat fried dumplings tomorrow morning?”

Chi Xueyan maintained his usual answer. “I’m just eating. What to eat is up to the person who cooks.”

Hearing the teasing in his tone, He Qiao paused and no longer used high-sounding reasons to go around in circles.

He decided to ask directly. “Do you want to go to work together today?”

Their workplaces were opposite each other and they could go to work together.

Hearing this proposal, Chi Xueyan raised his eyes to look at the other person. “Don’t you need to attend your father’s morning meeting?”

“My father has been on a business trip recently, so the morning meeting is suspended.” When explaining, He Qiao specially added, “I did participate before.”

Chi Xueyan had a smile on his face. “Yes, I know.”

He knew because He Qiao had been looking into his eyes and never looked away. He Qiao wasn’t lying.

Therefore, Chi Xueyan didn’t ask what He Qiao was going to do when going to the company an hour in advance.

He just went out with He Qiao after finishing breaking and sat in the increasingly familiar black luxury car.

They went to work together for the first time.

There was a faint rose fragrance in the car. Two dried flower sachets were placed, one in the front and one in the rear. This made the morning even more fragrant.

The traffic lights outside the car window were changing and flashing. Pedestrians came and went as usual.

He could act recklessly since he wasn’t driving himself.

Chi Xueyan took out earphones from his pocket, intending to listen to some music to refresh his mind before a busy day.

In any case, He Qiao next to him had documents to look at and wasn’t suitable for chatting. He didn’t want to disturb the other person.

However, when the music shifted to the next song and five minutes had passed, Chi Xueyan was looking at the scenery outside the window when he accidentally looked back. He saw that the documents in the hands of the person beside him were still stuck on the first page.

His gaze swept over the paper covered with inky black text and large headlines before meeting those gentle eyes.

The music from the earphones was very loud, but the world suddenly became quiet.

At this moment, Chi Xueyan realized one thing.

In the movie theater that day, He Qiao wasn’t watching the hollow fries that fell on the ground or even the movie.

His gaze and heart fell elsewhere.

They looked at each other and there was a moment of extremely brief silence. Chi Xueyan took off an earphone and handed it over with a smile.

“Do you want to listen? It is heavy metal that can make you lose your ability to concentrate on things.”

He Qiao took the earphone that was faintly emitting noise and his tone was very similar to that of a meticulous, good student. “I’ll try it.”

The quiet morning suddenly became deafening.

But it was a sound coming from the same pair of earphones.

Fingertips danced across the palm and the smell of the rose sachet was finally covered up. What was more distinct was the breathing of the person beside him.

Chi Xueyan continued to look out the window, mind wandering. Meanwhile, the pages on the side started to turn gently.

At the end of the song, the owner of the earphones switched the music.

A soothing piano tune replaced the violent heavy metal. Until the car drove into the underground garage of the clinic building, the tune in the earphones remained clear and lingering.

Amidst the melodious music, Chi Xueyan took back the other earphone. He watched the luxury car drive away before heading to the elevator leading to the clinic.

He Qiao didn’t let the driver stop in front of the building. He knew Chi Xueyan wanted to be an ordinary dentist who wouldn’t be surrounded by gossip every day.

He Qiao was always very attentive.

So what was he going to do when coming to the company an hour early?

Chi Xueyan subconsciously felt that He Qiao wouldn’t really go to the company.

The boss suddenly moved the work time earlier. The secretary who learned about this would have to take the initiative to come early and the other employees would also wake up early because of this. There would be a chain reaction one after another.

He Qiao wouldn’t do such a thing.

So where would he go?

With this unknown secret on his mind, Chi Xueyan walked into the clinic. He greeted his colleagues with a smile and came to his office.

The suspense that belonged to today didn’t last long.

He habitually walked to the wind and opened the blinds and the mystery was instantly revealed.

The dimly lit room became bright in an instant. The bright sun was shining outside the glass window.

Chi Xueyan blinked reflexively. Once his vision cleared, a familiar figure came into view.

On the wide and clean Maple Leaf Road, the red maples on both sides of the road were fading brilliantly in winter. The stores downstairs from the offices had opened their doors and cafes for office workers were already in business.

The cafe located on the first floor of the luxury office building could be clearly seen from the clinic window opposite it.

Outdoor dark green umbrellas, rattan tables and chairs, flowing wind and steaming, freshly served coffee.

Among the customers who sat and talked in the early morning, Chi Xueyan saw the neat black coat at a glance, even if it was a silhouette.

The young man was sitting at the coffee table, looking down at the tablet in his hand. His side profile was outlined by the early winter sun and the collar of his coat revealed a light and soft color.

Chi Xueyan remembered that he was wearing an off-white sweater today. This color seemed to be naturally suitable for the kitchen and for winter.

Through his binoculars, he judged that the coffee customer was using a tablet to look at the latest advertising samples handed in by the employees.

This ad looked wonderful.

He couldn’t help taking out his phone and calling the person who was watching the advertisement.

As he waited for the call to be connected, Chi Xueyan stared at the scenery downstairs and rarely remembered some past events.

He was actually familiar with the feeling of being liked and chased, familiar to the point of boredom.

Giving him breakfast, giving him flowers, waiting for him to finish class, going out to play, trying to find a topic to chat about…

Chi Xueyan had always simply rejected every suitor. He directly extinguished it as soon as there was a hint.

It wasn’t just because he had no feelings for these people. It was because he was also fed up with the same pattern of pursuit. Even the love that should be novel and unknown seemed to be monotonous and boring.

They tended to appear frequently in his line of sight with noisy movements.

But He Qiao was different.

He just expressed his mood in the calmest way.

At the right time, he would choose to let himself appear or not appear in Chi Xueyan’s field of view.

He Qiao even gave the choice of whether to see him or not from the window to the person he wanted to chase.

Chi Xueyan could leave the window at any time or stand there all the time. He could also pick up binoculars.

This was something that the person who didn’t want to fall in love felt was interesting.

On the increasingly bustling street, the phone in his coat pocket rang with a specially set ringtone.

He Qiao’s gaze quickly moved away from the screen in his hand. He lightly pressed pause on the video and picked up the call.

“He Qiao.”

The caller pronounced his name with strong laughter in his tone. “You haven’t chased anyone before, right?”

he Qiao was never surprised by the other person’s always sudden opening words. He held his phone and looked up, looking at the figure that might be looking down on him from a height.

He replied earnestly, “Yes.”

Then he heard Chi Xueyan’s equally serious words.

“It is just right.” The voice on the other end of the phone was leisurely. “I haven’t been chased by anyone either.”

The man standing behind the glass window looked at him. The sunlight dyed his eyes that were smiling. “—In the way I like.”