Seeing Jiang Mo had fallen asleep, Gu Ye put on his robe and quietly left the room to take a shower.
Humming a tune after his shower, Gu Ye wasn't sleepy. He sat on the sofa and posted a moment on his social feed.
Then, with a showy flair, he sent a red packet into his group chat with his close buddies.
Unexpectedly, the two people in the group snatched up the red packet with lightning-fast speed.
Gu Ye: ??
Seriously, guys? It's this late, aren't you sleeping?
"Sleep? Get up and party! I'm unemployed and don't have work anyway, my sleep schedule's completely flipped," Liu Jia looked at the generous red packet—his living expenses for the week were secured.
He teased, "The young master isn't sleeping so late and comes to the group to spread wealth. Did something great happen?"
"Just looking at this, our Master Ye is in a good mood today," Tan Yangming guessed. "Could it be to celebrate retiring from the entertainment industry?"
Liu Jia: "Old Tan, you're the clever one, hitting the nail on the head right away."
"Master Ye retiring is good too, going home to directly inherit the family fortune. Don't even mention it, it was kinda awkward seeing him on TV before," Tan Yangming chuckled.
Gu Ye: "..."
Looking at the conversation popping up in the group, Gu Ye typed quickly, "It's not related to me retiring."
Tan Yangming: "Oho, wrong guess then. So what other great news do we not know about?"
Having held it in for so long, finally able to say it today, Gu Ye crossed his legs. "I'm in a relationship. I have a girlfriend."
"Wait, bro, for real?" Liu Jia was a bit dumbfounded. "Who are you dating?"
Tan Yangming, however, caught a whiff of something different. He went to check the other's social feed and, sure enough, saw the latest post: two hands clasped together.
One large, one small, clearly a man and a woman.
"Well, I'll be damned, you really are in a relationship."
"Really. And you guys know the girl too," Gu Ye said.
"We know her?" Tan Yangming pondered carefully. "Don't tell me, you got together with that high school crush of yours?"
As far as he knew, this guy had only ever had a thing for that high school classmate.
Gu Ye replied simply, "Yeah."
Tan Yangming & Liu Jia: "Who?"
Gu Ye: "Jiang Xiaomo."
The group went quiet for a second, then messages immediately started popping up one after another.
Tan Yangming: "Well, I'll be! So it was her you had a crush on in high school! Completely missed that."
Tan Yangming: "Have you been hiding this from us? How long have you been dating? Confess!"
Liu Jia: "You're all paired off now, leaving me as the lone single dog."
Liu Jia: "The beauty hanging off the handsome guy's arm, while I can only be an extra in the background. How tragic."
...
Gu Ye looked at their teasing, feeling quite pleased.
Tan Yangming howled, "You guys absolutely have to treat us to a feast!"
Liu Jia chimed in: "Right, I want a feast. Channel my sorrow into my appetite."
"Fine, one of these days, my treat," Gu Ye said. "I'm going to sleep."
Sneaking back into the bedroom, Gu Ye got into bed, glanced at Jiang Mo beside him, and fell asleep contentedly.
The next morning, Jiang Mo's alarm went off as usual.
Still half-asleep, Jiang Mo forced her eyes open, fumbled for her phone, turned off the alarm, and fell back asleep.
She had set three alarms and usually only got up when the second one rang.
Gu Ye woke up when the first alarm sounded.
Seeing Jiang Mo continue sleeping, he didn't say anything.
When the second alarm went off, Jiang Mo curled up, feeling utterly exhausted. Her eyes still shut, she groped around for the phone following the sound.
"If you're too tired, maybe you should take a day off."
Who's talking?
Her mind foggy, Jiang Mo thought slowly, then suddenly her eyes flew open as she remembered what happened last night.
Gu Ye was holding the blanket, his shoulder exposed, with a few red marks on his fair skin.
C-could those be from her scratching him last night?
Was she that... fierce?
Jiang Mo clutched the blanket. "No, no need for time off."
Gu Ye was skeptical. "Then I'll drive you to work later."
After saying that, he got up first, unabashedly showing off his physique, and went to the walk-in closet to change.
Jiang Mo also took advantage of this time to get up, get dressed, and wash up.
After rushing through her morning routine, Gu Ye drove Jiang Mo to work. While the car was stopped at a red light, Jiang Mo glanced outside and saw a pharmacy by the roadside.
Her heart tightened, but she didn't speak.
As they neared her company and she was about to get out of the car, she hesitated for a moment, her face flushing. "Did you... take precautions last night?"
