Can the birthday person make a wish?

Jiang Songhe changed her shoes straight in the entryway. Through the staircase partition, she could see a pair of bare feet hanging down from the living room sofa. She silently walked to the dresser under the partition, pulled out a drawer from the mezzanine, and pressed the switch for the central air conditioning on the control panel for the entire area.

"If you find the dust cover in the way, just lift it off and put it in the storage room at the very back across the street." Jiang Songhe leaned on the handrail and stepped up the stairs. "There's a guest room next to the storage room, it's a suite, you and him can stay there."

After saying that, he moved up the stairs one step at a time to the second floor and returned to his room.

Jiang Songhe sniffed her collar, slowly circled the bathroom dressing room, and finally returned to the bedroom. Facing the neatly folded pajamas on the bed, she began to undress with great difficulty.

The pullover sweater I was wearing was easy to put on, but now that it was time to take it off, it was incredibly difficult.

With his hands crossed, Jiang Songhe pulled the hem of his shirt up to his neck. As soon as he bent over, his head buzzed. He had to maintain this posture, hold his breath, and wait for the dizziness to pass before continuing.

Two icy hands suddenly pressed against her shoulder blades, then wrapped around her forearms. Jiang Songhe gasped in surprise, fell backward, and tumbled onto the bed.

With her head and arms still covered by the sweater, Jiang Songhe, whose vision was completely obscured by darkness, reflexively twisted and struggled. One side of her sternum and both wrists were immediately pressed onto the bed. Suddenly, a sly laugh pierced through the holes in the sweater fabric: "Reacting so strongly, are you afraid I'll eat you?"

The dizziness he had just experienced caused a brief period of mental blankness. Only after hearing the voice clearly did Jiang Songhe remember that he had asked Jonathan to stay behind.

So he stopped struggling and sullenly refused the customer's help from inside his sweater: "I can do it myself."

The guest was just as domineering as he had been in the car, ignoring his refusals and continuing to press on his sternum and wrists, while slowly pulling his shirt up. Before he could figure out what was being used to pull it up, he felt a coolness on his chin, followed by a heat on his lips.

"We got to eat it."

As the fabric moved over his head following the last note, Jiang Songhe regained his sight. A circle of silver light entered his field of vision and then quickly disappeared from the bottom edge. A slight pain came from the crook of his neck.

Jonathan's face then came into view, his expression grinning with a hint of smugness. He had taken off his sweater, but his posture remained the same. He leaned closer and said, "Next, I'll give you two options: A, I'll help you take a bath..."

“B.” Jiang Songhe didn’t know the answer to B, but just kept answering.

"B, let me help you change your clothes." Jonathan Xi was like a bridge, spanning Jiang Songhe's left and right sides. His hand on her wrist slid down her arm to her back, and he pushed Jiang Songhe to sit up. His hand on her chest reached for the pajamas not far away, shook them open, and then unbuttoned them with both hands.

Jiang Songhe's face flushed slightly after a delay. Taking advantage of Jonathan's focus, he rubbed his face with his newly freed palms. After Jonathan unbuttoned all the buttons on his pajamas, he subconsciously reached out to catch him.

Jonathan sat down, assuming an inescapable stance, and with a quick movement of his hand behind him, asked knowingly, "What does 'help' mean?"

He then commanded, "Raise your hands."

Jiang Songhe sighed and slowly did as instructed.

Whether it was because her arm injury hadn't fully healed or because she hadn't adjusted to the time difference, Jonathan's hands suddenly started trembling, making the buttoning process less than smooth.

Jiang Songhe said she would do it herself, but Jonathan was not only domineering but also stubborn. He slapped Jiang Songhe's hand away, frowned, pulled the front of his pajamas to his eyes and stared at tying it. He even complained that his sitting posture was not low or close enough, so he changed to sitting cross-legged on the spot.

"Uh, you." Jiang Songhe grunted.

"Don't talk." Jonathan looked a little agitated, tapped the patient's lower back twice with his toe as a warning, and then, ignoring the patient's condition, scooted forward again, "You're bothering me."

With his entire front placket held in someone else's hands, his retreat was limited. Jiang Songhe gritted his teeth, cutting off a gasp. Once the breath had cleared his lungs, he shifted impatiently, cursing and swearing, completely devoid of politeness: "You fucking...did this on purpose?"

Just as the button was about to be fastened, Jiang Songhe moved it, causing it to come loose. Jonathan glared at him and said, "You fucking! Don't move!"

"Then hurry up!"

"Why are you yelling? I've already tied it up if you don't move!"

"wipe."

"Shut up."

...

Five minutes later, the last one was finally tied on.

Jonathan's eyebrows relaxed, and he said proudly with a sense of accomplishment, "Taking care of people is nothing difficult. I can do it too."

"Ha!" Jiang Songhe gritted her teeth and replied affirmatively, "You're really something!"

“Next…” Jonathan got up while reaching for his pajama bottoms.

“That’s all.” Jiang Songhe seized the opportunity and used all her strength to push Jonathan aside. “Don’t take any more.”

Jiang Songhe rolled over to the side, pretending to roll herself up in the blanket: "Put your pants there, you go downstairs to sleep."

Jonathan was very unhappy about being thrown down, and without saying a word, he flipped Jiang Songhe back over and tried to undo his belt. Jiang Songhe refused, determined to hold onto her principles even at the cost of her life.

One was weak, the other exhausted. At first, they exchanged a few words, but later they ran out of energy and just stood there awkwardly, glaring at each other.

Gurgle.

Someone's stomach growled, breaking the icy atmosphere.

Jiang Songhe wasn't sure who it was and was wondering when she saw Jonathan's face turn red. He was the first to leave the battlefield, lying down in a state of near collapse. Then he rolled to the side, turning his back to Jiang Songhe.

It's a little funny, a little cute.

It feels somewhat familiar.

"Hahahaha?" Jiang Songhe was suddenly amused by the "imperfection" in the physical reaction of her perfect idol in both reality and her dream, but the joy turned to sorrow and a stomachache. "Hiss—"

It turns out the trembling hands were from hunger. After flying for so long, I rushed here after landing and haven't eaten since, so of course I'd have low blood sugar. Whatever the motive, it all boils down to Jiang Songhe.

Jiang Songhe's stomach was also empty, but he felt a soft, fluffy ball growing inside his stomach, tickling and tugging at his chest. He lay on his side, looking at the little beast's back, and asked, "Are you hungry? What do you want to eat? There aren't many ingredients in the fridge, I'll order takeout for you, and it'll be delivered..."

"At home."

The last two words were words Jiang Songhe hadn't spoken in a long time, and due to unfamiliarity and estrangement, he spoke them very softly as if testing himself.

Jonathan's shoulders twitched, but he didn't respond. Instead, he seemed even angrier and curled himself into a ball with his limbs.

Jiang Songhe thought that the way he asked the question was not quite right. Jonathan was very concerned about whether he was perfect, and asking him directly if he was "hungry" might have sounded like he was being pointed at, and had a somewhat mocking tone.

But I don't know how else to make amends. Should I say, "I'm hungry, want to eat something together?" But I have to follow the doctor's orders and abstain from food and water for three days. That excuse seems too fake.

"Jiang Songhe," Jonathan called out, but didn't turn around.

"Hmm?" Since no expression could reveal her emotions, Jiang Songhe could only observe from the smallest details. A blush gradually crept onto Jonah's little exposed skin, her earlobes, and her neck.

When Man was trapped in the elevator, Jonathan's appearance with a high fever due to injury flashed before his eyes. Jiang Songhe quickly remembered the bandage that was exposed on Jonathan's forearm when he was in the hospital, and his breath hitched immediately.

He propped himself up, pressed the person's shoulders down, and examined him closely.

Jonathan's eyebrows trembled slightly, his thick eyelashes fluttered, and his thin lips were tightly pressed together, looking very uncomfortable. Jiang Songhe raised his hand to feel Jonathan's forehead temperature, but was stopped by his hand.

"Jiang Songhe, I, I...I...I..." Pearl-like white teeth grazed the soft petals, revealing a glimpse of white beneath the semi-transparent fabric, then blossoming into a small red flower, the scab-like color forming the stamen. "I miss you."

His breath caught in his throat for a long time, and then he gasped for air. Jiang Songhe felt his alveoli were about to overload, as if they would explode at any moment. His whole body stiffened, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw his hand wrapped and inlaid with a piece of porcelain white, which moved downwards to touch his heart, which seemed to be pounding.

"Say it again, okay?" Her originally porcelain-white face was now flushed, and her eyes, beneath her thick eyelashes, sparkled brightly.

Jiang Songhe stiffened her neck and asked in a hoarse voice, "Say...what?"

“You said it at the hospital.” Jonathan licked the scab on his lower lip with the tip of his tongue. “Think about it carefully.”

Memories from the "Well of Death" flooded back into the crevices of my mind like a tidal wave.

"I...want to see you."

"I want to talk to you!"

"I want to know if your injury is getting better! I want to know how many people you've played games with! I want to know if you're just playing around with me too! I want to know if you're thinking about me too..."

"I like you."

...

Which sentence was actually said in reality?

How many people were present at the time?

And what was the attitude with which I said it?

The unknown causes panic, panic causes loss of control, and loss of control causes self-loathing.

Jiang Songhe was completely stunned and couldn't bear the whip of shame for a moment, so she uncontrollably uttered terrible words: "I was having a dream at that time, and my mind was not clear."

He was such a jerk, so utterly despicable, that he couldn't bring himself to say "You've forgotten about it."

Jonah's narrow eyes seemed to have X-ray vision, clearly understanding what was about to be said. The blush on his face faded, and his burning gaze died down. He pulled Jiang Songhe's hand away from his heartbeat and dragged it to his lips, going in the opposite direction.

He took a big bite.

Then throw it away, turn your back again, pick up a pillow, and start hibernation mode.

It's like a small animal seeking shelter from the winter choosing new prey for warmth and to store food.

Jiang Songhe reluctantly considered changing to a supine sleeping position without a pillow.

"What's this?" The little beast snapped out of hibernation mode, picked up a velvet box from where the pillow had been, and asked its old prey.

The square box is clearly designed for storing jewelry, but it's too elaborate and formal for everyday wear.

The little beast looked it over from every angle, its brows furrowed, then raised an eyebrow and asked a nonsensical question: "The person you dreamed about back then was probably someone else, wasn't it?"

Jiang Songhe is not good at short answer questions, but he is fairly good at true/false and proof questions.

“No,” he said. “Why don’t you open it and take a look?”

The little beast scoffed dismissively, "Let's just look."

The box was opened, revealing a platinum necklace coiled like a silver snake inside. Apart from its condition, it was exactly the same as the one Jonathan wore around his neck, even the lettering on the clasp was identical.

Of course, this refers to the state before it was violently torn and deformed.

"It's a bit late," Jiang Songhe said in a deep voice. "Happy birthday."

Jonathan sat up to face Jiang Songhe, changing his holding of the box from one hand to both. He held the necklace and stared at it for a long time, then glanced at the flip clock on the bedside table, counted on his fingers for a while, and finally smiled again.

"Not too late~ Maner is seven hours behind Jingting, so it's still February 6th~"

Jiang Songhe looked at Jonathan's fox-like eyes, which were curved into crescent moons, and thought, "Like a child, she's already forgotten how angry she was?"

"Can the birthday person make a wish now?"

"Can."

"I want Jiang Songhe to kiss me soberly, earnestly, and proactively."

"..."

"Hurry up, time waits for no one."

Tap, tap, tap, tap...

The numbers on the clock are refreshed page by page.

At 6:59, Jiang Songhe grasped Jonathan's shoulder. Based on his experience as a sparring partner for a week, he turned his head, pressed his lips closer, closer, and closer still—

Ta-da!

There was a knock on the door, and a rough voice drifted into the bedroom: "J, the VCR is too late."

"..."

"Wasin! You're going to live in the basement!!!"