MLROCSHR Chapter 14

Chapter 14: I’m His Boyfriend

When the clock hand quietly slipped towards eleven o’clock at night, the entire office building was already enveloped in the darkness of the night. The originally bustling office area was now unusually quiet, and the personnel had long since dispersed.

However, the president’s [Office] located in the corner of the floor and the adjacent conference room were still brightly lit.

A low and magnetic voice broke the silence: “Not off work yet?”

Lian Xun followed the sound and looked over. Qi Luzhi, draped in a suit jacket, stood tall at the door. Weak light projected from behind him, outlining his figure even more slenderly.

“Aren’t you still working?” Lian Xun pressed between his eyebrows, trying to relieve the fatigue and pressure brought on by prolonged work.

His handsome face was now full of weariness, and his usually bright and energetic eyes seemed somewhat dim.

After talking with Feng Nuo and Li Yang today, Lian Xun’s thoughts were like a runaway wild horse, difficult to control. Various speculations and worries constantly emerged in his mind, and his work efficiency had dropped a lot, so he had to work overtime until now.

Qi Luzhi just stood there at the door, silent, only gazing at Lian Xun with his deep eyes.

Lian Xun thought of Li Yang and couldn’t help feeling a little irritable. His already listless face drooped even further. He asked with a sullen face, “Something wrong?”

Finally, Qi Luzhi slowly opened his mouth and said, “Li Yang and I are just friends, very good friends.”

His voice was as calm as water, but it seemed to contain some kind of deeper meaning.

Lian Xun’s heart skipped a beat. Was this, a special explanation for him?

“What did Li Yang say to you?”

“Never mind what anyone told me, you just need to remember what I said.” Qi Luzhi’s words were domineering.

Lian Xun was happy to hear this, and the gloom in his heart was swept away.

He was just so hopeless. Qi Luzhi’s one sentence was enough to coax him.

With his mood improved, he suddenly felt very hungry.

“Brother Qi, I’m hungry.” With no one around, Lian Xun wanted to act spoiled.

“Let’s go, I’ll take you to get something to eat.”

Whether it was an illusion or not, Lian Xun seemed to see Qi Luzhi smile slightly.

Stepping out of the building, the biting winter wind rushed towards them, and Lian Xun couldn’t help shrinking his neck.

“What do you want to eat?” Qi Luzhi asked.

“Something sweet.” Lian Xun now urgently needed a sweet taste to comfort his little heart, which had suffered so much today.

“I know a good dessert shop nearby, I’ll take you there.”

“Okay.”

The two walked side by side on the street, the soft light of the street lamps spilling down, stretching their figures long. The two black shadows sometimes intertwined and sometimes separated, as if dancing a silent dance.

Lian Xun turned his head slightly, looking at the shadows intertwined on the ground. A trance suddenly surged in his heart, as if time had flowed backward, returning to that beautiful [University] time.

At that time, they also walked side by side on the campus like this, their feet stepping on the path illuminated by the moonlight, surrounded by a quiet and peaceful night.

The two of them walked and talked on campus like this, unknowingly walking until very, very late, but neither was willing to be the first to suggest going back.

Arriving at the dessert shop, Lian Xun chose a chocolate cake. The [Waiter/Waitress] handed him the cake, smiling and saying, “Sir, today is December 14th, Hugs Day. Take a picture hugging your partner in the shop and check in to receive a buy-one-get-one-free coupon.”

Hugs Day?

This was the first time Lian Xun had heard of this holiday.

He turned to look at Qi Luzhi beside him, a hint of anticipation and hesitation in his eyes, “We…”

“Don’t even think about it, not possible.” Qi Luzhi refused very decisively.

“Sir, you need a couple to take a photo and check in.” The [Waiter/Waitress] deliberately emphasized the word “couple.”

“He is my boyfriend,” Lian Xun said. “What, are you discriminating against homosexuals?”

“Ah, of course not.” The [Waiter/Waitress] quickly waved his hand, with a smile on his face, “You two… are a great match!”

Qi Luzhi said words of refusal, but when it came to Lian Xun’s requests, he was always verbally reluctant but physically compliant.

In the end, the two still took a couple photo at the check-in wall in the shop.

In front of the clusters of heart-shaped roses, Lian Xun tightly wrapped his arms around Qi Luzhi’s waist, his chin resting on his shoulder. The side of his face in the lens was delicate and beautiful, and even the curve of his smile was so perfect.

Qi Luzhi looked helpless. At the urging of the [Waiter/Waitress], he raised his right hand and gently placed it on Lian Xun’s waist, the taut jaw indicating his awkwardness at the moment.

Click!

The photo froze this seemingly happy moment. Lian Xun asked the [Waiter/Waitress] for the photo and carefully treasured it in his phone.

Finding a seat by the window, Qi Luzhi questioned in a cold voice, “I don’t seem to have agreed to be your boyfriend yet.”

Lian Xun said sheepishly, “An ex-boyfriend is still a boyfriend.”

“Buy one get one free, don’t want it for nothing.”

Actually, he wanted the group photo more.

He and Qi Luzhi hadn’t taken a single photo together.

Lian Xun fiddled with the sticker on the cake box and asked, “When exactly are you going to give me an answer?”

Qi Luzhi: “Are you in a hurry?”

In a hurry! Of course, he was in a hurry! Lian Xun shouted in his heart.

These days, he was like a prisoner awaiting final judgment, with a trace of hope still retained in his heart, but more of endless torment.

He had tested Qi Luzhi’s bottom line countless times, and each transgression was like looking for an answer.

An answer that could confirm that Qi Luzhi still loved him deep down.

“When I’ve thought it over, I’ll naturally give you an answer.” Qi Luzhi did not answer directly.

This sentence was like an invisible wall, isolating Lian Xun’s expectations and anxiety outside.

Lian Xun’s fingers unconsciously increased their strength, and the sticker made a slight tearing sound under his fingers. “Okay, don’t make me wait too long.”

He pushed a box of cake in front of Qi Luzhi, “Here, I’ll share one with you.”

“Take them all, I don’t like sweets.” Qi Luzhi pushed it back again.

Lian Xun: “…”

“Then I won’t be polite.”

After eating the cake, his stomach felt much better. The two slowly walked back to the [Company Underground Parking Garage], and then went home separately.

Back at the apartment, it was already past midnight. Lian Xun simply washed up and planned to go to sleep, but suddenly received a call from Gao Jingqian.

Calling so late, could there be something urgent?

Lian Xun frowned slightly and answered the phone.

“Hello, Brother Jingqian?”

“Ah Xun, are you free tomorrow? I’d like to meet with you.”

Lian Xun was silent for a while, and suddenly, the image of Qi Luzhi looking jealous when he saw Gao Jingqian at the banquet that day popped into his head.

“Ah Xun, it’s about the fire in your family back then. That incident may not have been an accident.”

“Don’t you want to know the real cause of your mother’s death?”

Lian Xun seemed to hear a thunderclap and was stunned.

His mother’s death… wasn’t an accident?

Could it be that his father had been lying to him all along?

Thinking that Gao Jingqian might know something, Lian Xun agreed to the meeting request.

“Okay, see you tomorrow!”