Gu Qili finished packing her suitcase and turned around to see him sitting on the couch in front of the window, holding a tablet in his hands.
The curtains were wide open, and the moonlight was shyly casting itself upon him, covetously sculpting his contours.
He appeared to be concentrating intensely on the tablet, his profile clear and refined, untouched by the dust of years. Just watching him seemed as if she had known him for a long time.
"I've finished packing, I'm going to bed first." She glanced over briefly and hastily withdrew her gaze, afraid to be poisoned by the sight.
After a long while, he finally spoke, "Aren't you going to ask what this is for?"
"What?" Gu Qili didn't react immediately.
The corners of his mouth tightened, seemingly a bit displeased, but Gu Qili didn't know what he was being petulant about and couldn't be bothered to guess.
"Then I'll close the door."
He didn't respond, his eyes still fixed on the computer in front of him, the gentle halo reflected on it making his eyes exceptionally dark and bright.
Gu Qili returned to the guest room, took off his pajamas, they were too big and uncomfortable to sleep in. The clothes she had washed were still slightly damp after drying, but they should be fine to wear by tomorrow morning.
She flipped open her book to continue memorizing words, but the familiar letters swiftly morphed into Mu Shuoqian's image in her mind—him feeding her ginger juice, holding her hand, his almost naked, muscular physique.
She knew all too well it was just play-acting during their encounter, yet her girlish heart still fluttered slightly—after all, he was the first man to be so intimate with her.
"Gu Qili, what are you thinking about." She hastily shook her head, trying hard to rid herself of those discordant images.
She clearly understood that between them was only a contract-based relationship, a simple exchange of needs. Once their mutual purposes were met, they would part ways without any further connection.
Suddenly, a term came to mind: "dew couples"—like dew appears only at night, vanishing at dawn, so was their relationship, fleeting and brief.
It wasn't even light yet, and Mu Shuoqian was already up and getting ready, due to some urgent business he decided to take the earliest flight.
Dressed up and stepping out of the bedroom, he unexpectedly saw the light in the kitchen was on, casting a warm, pale-yellow hue overhead.
Accustomed to solitude's barren chill, such warmth caused him to pause momentarily until Gu Qili came out carrying a plate, somewhat awkwardly explaining, "There wasn't much in the kitchen, and the 24-hour convenience store only had bread, eggs, and milk left, so I just fried something simple, you'll have to make do."
She placed the egg-wrapped, golden-fried bread on the table, stealing a cautious glance at him, her clear, contrasting black and white eyes flickering with slight panic.
He stood still, his dark eyes undisturbed.
"The milk has been heated." She turned and went back into the kitchen, soon bringing out a cup of milk that seemed quite hot; she changed hands halfway through holding it. Get full chapters from noveⅼfire.net
"There's breakfast on the plane." He indifferently dropped the sentence and walked past her dragging his suitcase, the sound of its wheels rolling across the floor was unusually crisp. She had to step back twice to avoid being hit by the suitcase.
Looking back at the breakfast that no one cherished made her lift the corners of her mouth in self-mockery, but this didn't affect her mood. She decided to eat one portion herself and bring the other back to school for lunch.
After eating, Gu Qili looked at her books for a while, and when the day brightened some more, she left Jingshan.
Before she reached school, she received a call from Mickey, who sounded a bit off.
"Qiqi, don't come to school today."
"What happened?" Gu Qili's heart skipped a beat, intuition guiding her toward the last thing she wanted to occur.
Mickey hemmed and hawed, unwilling to state the reason, "Anyway, I've asked for a couple of days off for you, just stay at home for now."
After saying that, she hung up the call.
Home? Where is her home?
Gu Qili stood in a daze for a while, sighing. After all, paper can't wrap up a fire.