When I Meet the Moon - Chapter 48

Chapter 48

Hearing that click, Yun Li felt the arms embracing her tighten gradually. She turned her head sideways, lifted her chin to look up at him, and found Fu Shize staring down at her with a completely expressionless face.

It was as if he were waiting for her to continue.

Feigning composure as she pried his fingers apart, Yun Li headed to the kitchen to pour a glass of water while her mind raced furiously.

She hadn't told her best friend that the two of them were dating, and when Deng Chuqi had asked, she hadn't acknowledged his identity either.

That really wasn't very nice of her.

Would he be upset about this?

Yun Li poked her head out from the kitchen, but Fu Shize's eyes were lowered, making his emotions unreadable. Figuring she might be overthinking it, she returned to the living room, sat on the couch, and took a sip of water: "Let's keep watching the movie."

Fu Shize twirled the remote control around in his hand without any intention of pressing a button.

Yun Li nudged his knee, acting as if nothing was wrong as she motioned for him to hurry up and start it. A few seconds later, Fu Shize hit the play button, and Yun Li got up to turn off the lights, casting the movie projection onto the wall.

She sat back down on one end of the couch while Fu Shize lay stretched out, his upper body leaning against the opposite side with one leg drawn up.

It was a romance film that had swept the internet at the time. The movie lacked any ambiguous or provocative scenes, focusing instead on pure, heart-fluttering moments and romantic natural scenery. After watching for quite a while, Yun Li shifted her body and inched a bit closer toward Fu Shize.

The only light in the room emanated from the projector, casting a glow across his face. Yun Li turned sideways; he was staring fixedly at the screen with a calm, natural expression that bore no resemblance to someone who was angry.

Yet his arms remained crossed over his chest.

She inched even closer, settling right in front of him.

She wasn't paying attention to the movie at all, probing tentatively to coax him out of his bad mood. After a short while, the person behind her stopped holding out against her, reaching out to pull her into his arms.

Seeing him finally relent, Yun Li let out a sigh of relief.

The movie was only an hour and a half long, and it had a happy ending. As the ending credits music swelled, Yun Li tilted her head back to look up at him, only to find that he was leaning back against the couch with his eyes closed.

He had fallen asleep.

"..."

Yun Li felt that the movie had been a bit too pure, yet somehow not all that boring either.

She studied his sleeping face; his eyelashes were distinct and individual, and the outer corners of his eyes were long and narrow. Yun Li extended a finger to brush lightly against his eyelashes, causing his brow to furrow tightly and his closed eyelids to flutter slightly.

He was having a nightmare again.

She recalled the first time she saw him curled up on the couch in the EAW lounge, his shoulder blades sharp and lean. She realized that whenever night fell, invisible dark mists would envelop him, trapping him within them endlessly with no escape.

Yun Li smoothed out the furrow between his brows. As if receiving comfort, his expression slowly relaxed. Emboldened, she lightened the pressure of her touch even further until he suddenly opened his eyes and caught her finger.

Caught completely off guard.

She instinctively tried to pull back, but he locked her body in place, calmly returning her finger to the space between his brows before closing his eyes again and resuming his steady, even breathing.

Yun Li: "..."

There was no such thing as someone faking sleep this brazenly.

...

Before leaving, Fu Shize forwarded the address of a revolving restaurant to Yun Li; he had booked a New Year's Eve dinner there. Located on the top floor of the Tianqi Mall, the revolving restaurant offered a sweeping view of the city's nightscape.

She gave Yun Ye a call. The siblings usually spent New Year's Eve together, and it felt somewhat strange that her companion this time wouldn't be him. Leaning against his bed while playing a game on his tablet, Yun Ye kept his eyes glued to the screen and asked without turning his head: "What."

Considering she already had the perfect New Year's Eve planned out, Yun Li put on a pleasant tone: "How are you spending New Year's Eve tomorrow?"

"New Year's Eve?" Yun Ye glanced up at her with an indifferent expression: "What kind of New Year's Eve am I supposed to have when you're not around?"

Yun Li paused. Over the past few years, the teenager's facial features had gradually matured, yet his brows and eyes still retained a familiar look. She habitually teased: "Aren't you a regular romantic."

Changing the subject, she asked: "How come Mom and Dad let you play video games?"

"This game is all about biological trees; I'm just reviewing the stuff from my biology class." After giving her a brief science lesson, Yun Ye suddenly shut his tablet, stood up from the bed, hopped onto the floor, and shuffled over toward the camera in his slippers.

Yun Li: "Don't stomp a hole through the floor."

Yun Ye: "..."

He picked up his phone, flopped back down onto the bed, brought his face close to the camera, and pulled his usual stinking expression: "Are you spending New Year's Eve all by yourself tomorrow?"

When Yun Li was hanging out with Yun Ye, she was used to doing other things at the same time, like browsing Bilibili or playing games. Without looking at him, she answered offhandedly: "Mind your own business."

Yun Ye snapped back: "I'm not minding my business, I'm just hoping you'll be just as miserable as me."

After the two of them traded banter about their daily routines, they hung up. Her phone buzzed—Yun Ye had sent her a red packet with a very simple title: [For Yun Li's New Year's Eve].

"..."

Why did she suddenly feel a twinge of guilt?

As soon as she finished talking with Yun Ye, Yun Li dialed Deng Chuqi's number. The person on the other end didn't speak right away. Seizing the opportunity, Yun Li rushed to apologize: "Qiqi, don't be mad. I originally wanted to tell you the next time we met."

"Fine, I suppose I'm not heartbroken enough to die over it." Deng Chuqi chuckled, putting on airs for a moment. "Was that voice Xiaxia's uncle? You two got together after just a few days of not seeing each other?"

Feeling rather embarrassed now, Yun Li whispered: "Yeah."

Deng Chuqi: "How did you guys end up together? How's it progressing?"

Omitting the details, Yun Li gave a rough, high-level summary.

"You chased after him for ages back then without any results, but now that you've stopped chasing, things are moving like a runaway train," Deng Chuqi joked. "Though looking at it this way, the person he intended to ask out before was probably you all along."

After hashing all that out, Yun Li didn't forget the question she actually wanted to ask: "He invited me out to dinner for New Year's Eve. Does this mean he wants to ring in the New Year together?"

"Of course it does!"

Deng Chuqi racked her brain: "I can't read Uncle Fu's mind. I used to think he was practically asexual, but now it doesn't look like it at all."

Yun Li was baffled: "What's that supposed to mean?"

Deng Chuqi suddenly turned serious: "Lili, you need to protect yourself. On New Year's Eve, you only stay out past midnight—you don't stay over."

Yun Li: "..."

The next day, after finishing lunch, Yun Li sat in front of her vanity. After spending a long time applying makeup, she pulled a camel-colored turtleneck dress from her closet.

Before changing into it, she sent Fu Shize a text: [Can you send me a full-body photo of what you're wearing today?]

Without asking why, Fu Shize replied a few minutes later with a photo directly.

A deep gray sweater and light gray casual trousers.

Yun Li: [What about your coat?]

Fu Shize sent another photo over.

A black trench coat.

Comparing her wardrobe against his photos, Yun Li selected a matching deep gray form-fitting sweater, a skirt, and a long black wool coat.

Once she tried them on, Yun Li took a picture and sent it to Fu Shize.

With the caption: [We're wearing couple's outfits today.]

Heading out early, Yun Li first went to Haitian Mall to scope out a gift she could buy for Fu Shize.

After wandering around the mall for a bit, Yun Li stopped in front of an aromatherapy shop.

He had poor sleep.

Yun Li picked out a vetiver scented candle; after testing the scent, it carried hints of lemon and lemongrass. The scented candle was packed neatly inside a small box, which was then slipped into an exquisite paper bag.

Standing by the roadside, Yun Li drafted a text message intending to ask Fu Shize to pick her up at Haitian Mall. The two malls were separated by quite a distance. Standing there on the pavement, she paid no attention to what was happening behind her.

Suddenly, she heard someone cry out in alarm: "Thief, someone's robbing me!"

Alertly glancing to her right and finding nothing amiss, Yun Li then heard hurried footsteps rushing up from behind: "Get out of my way!"

Before she could react, she was knocked off her feet from her left-rear side, crashing down onto the ground. The gift bag she had been carrying flew out of her hand.

Stumbling slightly after crashing into her, the mugger quickly regained his balance and sprinted forward again, casually snatching up her bag of gifts on the run.

Everything happened too fast. Kneeling on the ground, Yun Li felt a momentary wave of daze: "My things..."

Someone else rushed past in pursuit, and within seconds, both figures had vanished from sight.

Her phone rang in her pocket. Brushing the dust off her knees, Yun Li struggled to stand up. Pulling out her phone, she saw caller ID showed Fu Shize, and she tapped to answer: "Hello?"

"Where are you? I'll come pick you up."

Yun Li looked around: "I'm on the street behind the north entrance of Haitian Mall." A sharp pain flared up in her right hand. Shifting the phone to her other hand, her movements became terribly awkward. Checking her right hand, she saw that the back of it had scraped against the concrete when she fell, scraping away a large patch of skin where blood and dirt were muddled together.

A single glance made her feel it looked gruesome, and she quickly looked away. A wave of vexation washed over her: "I might be late." She had taken a tumble, and the gift was gone to boot.

Fu Shize: "What's wrong?"

Whenever she fell down as a child and came home, Yun Yongchang would heap abuse on her, calling her a troublemaker who couldn't give anyone peace of mind. Out of pure instinct stemming from fear, Yun Li didn't dare confess what had happened right away.

With infinite patience, Fu Shize asked again: "What's wrong?"

His tone allowed Yun Li to relax her guard.

Not wanting to worry him too much, Yun Li changed the subject: "The restaurant you booked seems really hard to get reservations for. I might be running late, can we push the time back a bit?"

Ignoring her question entirely, Fu Shize instructed: "The north entrance of Haitian Mall. Wait for me there." The call remained connected, and Yun Li heard the engine start up. Just as she thought he had forgotten to hang up, his voice came through the receiver—

"Keep the line open."

Not wanting Fu Shize to make a wasted trip when he arrived, Yun Li stood at a prominent spot by the roadside while gently blowing on the scraped skin on the back of her right hand.

Fu Shize's car arrived swiftly. After Yun Li climbed into the passenger seat, he pulled over into a temporary parking spot by the curb.

Switching off the engine, his gaze swept downward from the top of her head, missing not a single spot as he scanned her skin inch by inch.

Enduring his laser-like gaze, Yun Li brought up her question again: "Can we push back the time for the restaurant?"

The man beside her remained silent. Unbuckling his seatbelt, he leaned in close toward her. Before Yun Li could process it, Fu Shize had already located her injury, lightly supporting the back of her hand as his brows furrowed: "What happened to your hand?"

Since this obviously couldn't be kept under wraps anymore, Yun Li confessed flatly: "I bought you a gift, but someone just snatched it away..." With every single word she spat out, his pitch-black eyes cooled at a visible rate, giving off the terrifying aura that he was about to annihilate the entire solar system the very next second.

Yun Li turned around to comfort him instead: "That guy bumped into me, so I took a tumble. It's really no big deal, just scraped a bit of skin.”