AAWOMAHI Chapter47

Lu Xingmian remembered that when he first applied for the part-time job, the store manager had said that the store provided accommodation.

 

The next day when Lu Xingmian went to work, he asked the store manager about the dormitory.

 

The store manager said that there was an employee dormitory on the second floor of the store, but since all the employees, including Lu Xingmian, had a place to live, the dormitory had been empty all this time.

 

Lu Xingmian asked the store manager if he could live in the dormitory from now on.

 

Since it was an employee dormitory to begin with, there was, of course, no problem. However, the store manager was a bit puzzled. Didn’t Lu Xingmian live with his brother? Why would he suddenly want to live in the employee dormitory?

 

After thinking about it for a moment, the store manager understood. The two of them must have had a fight.

 

The employee dormitory was even better than Lu Xingmian had imagined. It had air conditioning and a private bathroom with a shower. Most importantly, Lu Xingmian could save money on transportation.

 

Lu Xingmian moved into the dormitory that very day.

 

That evening, at the time he usually got off work, Lu Shiran came to pick up Lu Xingmian as he always did.

 

Seeing Lu Shiran come in, Lu Xingmian’s heart skipped a beat. He quickly lowered his eyes, not daring to look at him. Fortunately, he was the only one left in the store.

 

Lu Shiran: “Lu Xingmian, I’m here to take you home.”

 

Lu Xingmian looked up, met Lu Shiran’s smiling eyes, and quickly turned his head away. “I already made it clear to you at noon. I won’t be living at your place anymore.”

 

“Lu Xingmian.” Lu Shiran suddenly called his name, and Lu Xingmian instinctively replied with a small “hmm?”

 

Lu Shiran: “The cake was delicious.”

 

Lu Xingmian: “Oh.”

 

Lu Shiran: “The noodles were also delicious. I ate them all.”

 

Lu Xingmian remained unmoved: “Oh.”

 

Lu Shiran stepped closer: “Zai Zai, come home with me.”

 

Lu Xingmian was stunned. So the “Zai Zai” he heard yesterday was really Lu Shiran calling him.

 

Lu Xingmian was not going to go back with Lu Shiran. Lu Shiran also knew that Lu Xingmian was still angry and wouldn’t come home with him right now. He could only wait for him to calm down, as he was the one who had been in the wrong.

 

After Lu Shiran left, Lu Xingmian locked the store door. As soon as the lights went out, the first floor was plunged into darkness.

 

Humans have an instinctive fear of the dark.

 

The first floor was so vast, and he was all alone now. Lu Xingmian suddenly became scared and quickly ran to the second floor.

 

After washing up, he hurried to bed.

 

He had several messages from Lu Shiran on his phone.

 

Looking at Lu Shiran’s profile picture, Lu Xingmian felt a little less afraid.

 

Lying in bed, Lu Xingmian thought about Lu Shiran’s call of “Zai Zai.” Why did his heart inexplicably race and his ears feel a tingle whenever he heard him call him that?

 

What exactly did Lu Shiran want? He already knew his identity, so why was he still treating him the same as before?

 

There was an answer in Lu Xingmian’s heart, but he didn’t dare to believe it.

 

The more he thought about it, the more his mind was in a mess. He took out his earphones, put them on, found an audio file, and clicked play.

 

[Lu Xingmian, if one day I make you angry, will you listen to my explanation?]

 

[I’m not good at singing, are you sure you want to listen?]

 

[Lu Xingmian, you ate instant noodles again tonight? Didn’t you promise not to eat instant noodles?]

 

[Congratulations to student Lu Xingmian for getting first place again.]

 

–

 

It had been seven days since Lu Xingmian moved out of Lu Shiran’s house.

 

Every evening when Lu Xingmian got off work, Lu Shiran would appear at the store on time to pick him up and take him home. Of course, Lu Xingmian refused every time. When Lu Shiran was leaving, Lu Xingmian stopped him: “Mr. Lu, please don’t come again.”

 

Lu Shiran smiled. From “President Lu” to “Mr. Lu,” he was quite content. At least Lu Xingmian wasn’t as angry anymore.

 

Every day, Lu Shiran would send him messages, and every night he would send him long voice messages to lull him to sleep.

 

Every time Lu Xingmian told himself not to open the voice messages Lu Shiran sent him, but he couldn’t resist the temptation and opened them anyway. Lu Xingmian thought he was just listening to a voice message.

 

Accompanied by the long voice message, Lu Xingmian fell into a dream.

 

These past few days, while he was asleep, outside the coffee shop, a black car was parked quietly.

 

When dawn broke, the black car would quietly leave.

 

The person in the store was completely unaware.

 

When he woke up, Lu Xingmian stared blankly at his phone. The last page he was on was the chat with Lu Shiran. He thought he couldn’t continue like this, so he sent a message to Lu Shiran.

 

[Don’t send me messages anymore.] Followed by a cute and fierce-looking emoji.

 

Lu Shiran: [Come home with me, and I won’t send them anymore.]

 

Lu Xingmian: [Impossible.]

 

Lu Xingmian himself didn’t realize that if he really didn’t want Lu Shiran to send him messages, there was a very simple way: block him directly.

 

He could block the contact information of the Song family and the Lu family without hesitation, but he never even considered blocking Lu Shiran.

 

The store manager recently discovered something unusual. Every time the store manager left the store, a luxury car would be parked not far away. At first, the store manager didn’t pay much attention, but after several days of seeing the luxury car when he got off work, he became concerned.

 

The store manager was worried about the safety of Lu Xingmian, who was living alone in the store at night. So, when he got off work that day, the store manager deliberately walked over to look at the license plate and the person in the car. He wanted to ask what he was doing parked there every day and also warn him that there were cameras everywhere.

 

When he saw the person in the car, the store manager understood.

 

The next day, Lu Shiran walked into the coffee shop again.

 

“Zai Zai, come home with me.”

 

Lu Xingmian bit his lip: “Mr. Lu, I’ve already made it very clear to you.”

 

Lu Shiran: “Call me Lu Shiran.”

 

Lu Xingmian turned his head away, and with a hum, decided to ignore him.

 

Still unable to get Lu Xingmian to come back, just as Lu Shiran was about to leave, Lu Xingmian called out to him: “Lu, Lu Shiran, can you please stop coming to find me every day?”

 

Lu Shiran’s body stiffened, and he turned to look at him.

 

Lu Xingmian: “You’re making me troubled and at a loss. Lu Shiran, can you just let me be alone for a while?”

 

Lu Shiran: “How long do you need?”

 

Lu Xingmian: “I don’t know.”

 

Lu Shiran: “Are you going to break up with me?”

 

Lu Xingmian: “I don’t know.”

 

He didn’t know what his feelings for Lu Shiran were right now. He liked Lu Shiran but was also afraid of liking him. On one hand, he subconsciously wanted to get closer to Lu Shiran, and on the other hand, he was also afraid of getting close to him.

 

Their eyes met. For a time, whenever their gazes met, Lu Shiran would come over and kiss him.

 

Lu Xingmian lowered his eyes.

 

After a while, he heard Lu Shiran say softly, “Okay, I promise you.”

 

Lu Shiran had already left, but Lu Xingmian was still staring blankly in the direction he left. Was it just his imagination? He thought he saw a hint of loneliness in Lu Shiran’s retreating figure.

 

The store manager, who had been busy in the back, walked out: “Lu Xingmian.”

 

Lu Xingmian greeted the store manager, “Store manager.”

 

The store manager asked him, “Are you getting used to living in the dormitory?”

 

Lu Xingmian: “Yes.” For him, he could always adapt to new environments quickly.

 

The store manager looked at Lu Xingmian. Although his appearance seemed normal, it was clear to anyone that Lu Xingmian had looked a bit haggard these past few days. His face was written all over with the raw emotions of youth.

 

He had also vaguely overheard their conversation from the back.

 

The store manager said, “By the way, Lu Xingmian, every time I get off work, I always see a car parked near our coffee shop.”

 

Lu Xingmian suddenly looked at the store manager, his heart pounding erratically.

 

“The person in the car is your brother,” the store manager said. “He stays outside with you every night and doesn’t leave until daybreak. Ever since you started living in the store, your brother has been outside with you every night, right until dawn.”

 

Lu Xingmian stared at the store manager, his mind instantly going blank. He couldn’t process the information in the store manager’s words for a moment.

 

Was Lu Shiran really outside every night?

 

How was that possible? How could Lu Shiran, the famous head of the Lu clan, stay outside with him all the time?

 

After the store manager left, it suddenly started to rain.

 

The downpour brought back the memory of Lu Shiran once coming to fetch him with an umbrella on a rainy day.

 

Thinking of Lu Shiran’s name, Lu Xingmian’s heart suddenly ached.

 

He switched off the lights, and instead of hurrying upstairs as usual, Lu Xingmian groped his way through the darkness toward the window. Lu Xingmian was wearing a black T-shirt, which blended perfectly into the darkness.

 

Lu Xingmian silently watched outside. Due to the rain, there were almost no pedestrians on the street, and even the passing vehicles were much fewer.

 

Lu Xingmian pursed his lips. It was so late that there shouldn’t have been any cars parked outside. He thought the store manager must have been mistaken, and besides, he had just said those things to Lu Shiran, so he should have left by now.

 

After waiting over ten minutes and just as he was about to head upstairs, Lu Xingmian noticed a black car slowly approaching.

 

It slowly, slowly stopped in front of the coffee shop. As if afraid of making any noise that the person inside the coffee shop would hear, the car drove very slowly. It was the first time Lu Xingmian had seen someone drive a car so sneakily.

 

When the car came to a stop, Lu Xingmian’s chest felt a sour ache. It was Lu Shiran’s car.

 

In the heavy rain and the darkness, even though it was just a blurry figure, Lu Xingmian recognized it. The person in the car was Lu Shiran.

 

Did he never go back home?

 

Although he couldn’t see Lu Shiran, he knew that Lu Shiran must be watching the coffee shop.

 

The rain pattered heavily against the window and the ground.

 

Lu Xingmian’s chest was filled with a bitter ache, and his eyes suddenly turned red.

 

After calming down these past few days, Lu Xingmian realized that his emotions had been a bit too intense that day.

 

He came to understand that he had been mistaken about many things.

 

If on that day, all Lu Xingmian could think about was how Lu Shiran had lied to him, then now, all Lu Xingmian could think about was every little moment they had spent together.

 

Every night, Lu Shiran would lull him to sleep. This had been going on for over a year.

 

He thought of the time they needed to call a guardian, and Lu Shiran came without hesitation and stayed with him for a whole day.

 

He thought of how during the New Year, Lu Shiran specifically came to spend the holiday with him. Even though he had so many relatives, he came alone to be with him, made him so much delicious food, and even gave him a red envelope.

 

He also remembered how, with just one phone call from him, Lu Shiran immediately appeared in front of him to comfort him and brought him home without a second thought.

 

And there was the time Lu Shiran celebrated his birthday and gave him a birthday gift.

 

Lu Xingmian touched his earring. All the memories of being with Lu Shiran came flooding back, making his chest ache with a painful fullness. His eyes could no longer hold back the tears, and they began to fall in large drops.

 

The rain outside was getting heavier and heavier, seeming as if it would last all night.

 

Lu Xingmian sat by the window, his eyes fixed on the car parked a short distance away.

 

Inside the coffee shop, Lu Xingmian’s phone vibrated, emitting a faint light in the darkness.

 

Lu Shiran: [Lu Xingmian, it’s raining today. Don’t set the air conditioner too low. Be careful not to catch a cold.]

 

Lu Xingmian looked out the window.

 

[Where are you?]

 

Lu Shiran replied quickly.

 

[At home, Zai Zai, come home. How about I come and get you?]

 

Putting down his phone, Lu Xingmian saw a faint blue light turn on in the car in the distance.

 

He was clearly in the car, clearly outside, yet he lied and said he was at home. Lu Shiran was a liar.

 

Lu Xingmian lowered his head and wiped away his tears. Then a small, dark shadow quickly scurried past his eyes.

 

Lu Xingmian wondered if his eyes were deceiving him. He turned on his phone and glanced around but saw nothing, perhaps he had imagined it.

 

When he turned around, Lu Xingmian’s eyes met a pair of small eyes.

 

Lu Xingmian cried out in a shaky voice, “Ge, help me!”