Chapter 3 Sneaking Into His Bed For the Night.

The phone rang for more than ten seconds before Xi Zhou finally picked up. A cool, indifferent voice came through the line: “What is it?”

I instantly switched to my “dutiful wife waiting by the door” persona:

“Why aren’t you home yet? Do you know what time it is? I’ve been waiting for you forever!”

A light, mocking scoff was his only response. I was completely stunned:

“Did you just scoff at me?! If you’re not coming home, fine, but how dare you mock my feelings? My heart aches, I’m wounded, I am deeply, deeply sad…”

“Hold off on the heartbreak for a second,” he cut me off. “You said you’re at home waiting for me… so which ‘home’ would that be?”

“Right, right, right, wait, no, no, no!” My brain totally short-circuited for a full five seconds.

“Because I am at home,” he let out another dry scoff. “And I don’t see you anywhere.”

Me, completely forgetting that I was currently hiding out at Qingquan’s place: “…”

Oops. Spilled the beans.

As a result, Shang Chi threw me out of the house with zero hesitation. He gathered up all my bags and clothes, shoved a whole carton of strawberries into my hands, and booted me out the door at light-speed:

“Hurry up and go foster some emotional bonding with Xi Zhou! I’m only doing this for your own good! Go, go, go! Don’t come over unless you have a reason, actually, don’t come over even if you do!”

*Bam!* The door slammed shut so fast it felt like if he’d been a second slower, I’d have turned into a zombie and broken back into his house.

The moment I got back home, I rushed straight to file a complaint: “Shang Chi is the absolute worst!”

Xi Zhou didn’t even bother lifting an eyelid: “Who told you to run over to someone else’s house in the middle of the night?”

“Because you always come home so late, I was lonely, duh!” I argued right back with total confidence.

“I got home at six-thirty today.”

Me: “…” This man never followed the script!

After sulking through a shower, I lay in bed, but my mind was racing. Thinking about this “white moonlight” Shang Chi had mentioned, I couldn’t sleep an inch. So I popped straight up like a carp leaping over the dragon gate, marched right over to Xi Zhou’s door, and started banging: *Thump, thump, thump!*

“Xi Zhou! Are you asleep?! Can I come in? Can I, can I, can I?!”

“Get in here.”

I pushed the door open and stepped inside. Xi Zhou was sitting up in bed, wearing gold-rimmed reading glasses and holding a book entirely in English, looking equal parts serious and… trying way too hard to look cool.

“Were you knocking on the door or trying to demolish the house?”

I flashed the most flattering, butter-up smile I could muster: “Are you getting ready for bed? Would you mind if there’s one more person in the bed? Would you, would you, would you?”

He looked at me for two seconds: “You?”

I nodded vigorously like a pecking chicken. He stared for another two seconds, and thinking I had a shot, I started blinking my eyes like crazy. In response, he let out a soft chuckle and dropped the ultimate cold-blooded line: “I would mind.”

“Why would you!?” I transformed into a tragic K-drama heroine. “My sleeping posture is super well-behaved! I don’t snore, I don’t drool! I’ll just stay on the very edge, I swear I won’t touch a single hair on your head!”

He raised an eyebrow, keeping silent. I pressed my hands together and begged: “Please, I really, really want to sleep with you!”

After a long staredown, he let out a sigh, lowered his gaze back to his book, and muttered: “If you want to sleep, close the door.”

Me: “…!?”

He said yes! I immediately slammed the door shut with a satisfying *click* and eagerly scrambled under the covers like a little squirrel.

Xi Zhou’s bed was huge, leaving plenty of “social distancing” space between us. But strangely enough, even though it was the exact same type of bed as mine, his felt so much warmer and softer.

Before even a few minutes had passed, drowsiness hit me like a truck. I mumbled out one final promise: “Don’t worry… I’ll be on my best behavior…”

Right before drifting off completely, I vaguely heard a sigh and a low, rumbling voice: “Idiot.”

Ever since that night, I started pushing my luck. Whenever he was a little late getting back, I’d immediately call him up:

“Honey, come home~ The baby has been crying forever and I can’t calm him down, and dinner is getting cold. I just took the kid for a walk, and the dog is at home doing its homework…”

Xi Zhou: “?”

Whenever he was home, I stuck to him within a strict ten-meter radius. He ate. I ate with him. He worked. I dragged my beanbag chair right next to his desk to scroll on my phone. Even when he went to take a shower, I’d carry a towel and trail right after him.

Xi Zhou blocked the bathroom doorway, completely poker-faced: “You want to shower together now, too?”

“Of course! Just at the same time! You take your shower, I’ll take mine!”

He just let out an “Oh” and turned to walk inside. He was probably starting to get used to having a clingy little tail invading his personal space.

During a visit back to my parents’ place, my mom asked with a worried frown, “Vãn Vãn is a bit too clingy, does it bug you, Xi Zhou?”

In a rare moment of not roasting me, Xi Zhou answered with absolute seriousness, “It doesn’t bug me at all.”

I was so touched I almost teared up: “You’re the best! Let’s go to the movies tonight?”

“No.”

…And just like that, the illusion shattered instantly!

My face fell as I immediately whipped out my soft-pleading tactic: “Really not? But I really, really want to go with you…”

He looked at me and the corners of his lips twitched upward: “Is that the only trick you’ve got?”

I grinned. It was an old trick, sure, but it worked every single time.

“Not today, I’ve got stuff to do.” He paused for a beat. “Let’s go the day after tomorrow.”

I instantly came back to life, happier than if I’d won the lottery. And just like that, two days later, the two of us actually ended up at the movie theater, kicking off a chain of developments I never saw coming.