Chapter 24
He Xi walked out of the elevator and walked for a while, still feeling a little uneasy.
As the elevator went up for a few dozen seconds, the feeling of unease grew stronger.
When she arrived at Zhao Lin's door, she didn't care about anything else. She knocked on the door for a long time but there was no sound from the people inside the house.
She entered the password with trembling hands and tried twice without any clue. The beeping door lock alarm made her even more upset.
Outgoing voice calls automatically hang up after a boring repetitive beep, over and over again.
He Xi's hand trembled again and again on the three short numbers, and finally moved away, clicked the voice button and tried again.
The long ringing extinguished the last bit of hope, and just when He Xi was about to hang up, she heard a faint cry.
"elder sister……"
She almost cried with joy, and regardless of the sweat on her forehead, she forced herself to remain calm.
"Zhao Lin, tell me the door code."
Her voice was trembling without her even noticing, and after she finished speaking, she held her breath and waited for a response from the other end of the phone.
There was a rustling sound of breathing in the receiver, sometimes louder and sometimes weaker.
"Zhao Lin——"
He Xi became anxious after not hearing anyone speak for a long time, so she shouted into the phone. In an instant, the entire empty corridor was filled with the echo of her suddenly raised voice.
The people in the house seemed to be startled. After she repeated what she had just said, they mumbled out a string of numbers after a while.
The door opening reminder sounded, and He Xi rushed to the bedroom.
The scene before her shocked her so much that she took a step back. She stared blankly at the fragment that was about to scratch Zhao Lin's arm again. She hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed his wrist to stop it.
"Let go."
Her grip was nowhere near as strong as a boy's. In the blink of an eye, blood began to appear from her skin, turning it bright red.
He Xi didn't care about anything else. She twisted Zhao Lin's fingers and threw the broken glass away. She stared at the boy for a few seconds, sighed, picked up the medicine box nearby, and carefully bandaged the wound next to her.
During this time, Zhao Lin seemed to slowly regain consciousness. His eyes were red, and he stared at He Xi silently, letting her control him.
The dark gauze curtains gradually blocked out the orange-yellow sunset, making the room seem a little dim.
He Xi felt the skin under her hands burning hot. She glanced over and her eyes met the boy's.
"You have a fever. You need to rest."
At this point, how could she not notice the illness of the person in front of her, and the situation was probably far beyond her imagination.
She tied the gauze into a knot and stood up to clean up the mess in the bedroom, but as soon as she took a step, someone grabbed her ankle tightly.
"Don't tell my grandma."
Zhao Lin didn't expect her to come back. Everything in front of him was out of control, and his usual disguise mask collapsed.
"No, you should rest in peace first."
He Xi could hear the awkwardness and helplessness in his tone, so he just replied softly without saying anything else. He turned around and went to the bathroom to get the cleaning tools.
There were broken pieces of glass scattered all over the floor. She felt a little shaken in her heart and swept every corner of the bedroom very carefully.
When she reached the foot of the bed, her gaze followed the boy's bent long legs upwards, meeting Zhao Lin's misty black eyes, and she leaned against the side with her knees hugged.
Suddenly, the tension between the two of them seemed to disappear completely, leaving only the silent and awkward atmosphere in the room.
He Xi lowered his eyes quietly, "Change your clothes and lie down on the bed."
She said it casually, not expecting the person in front of her to move, but who would have thought that a while after she finished speaking, the person beside the bed actually stood up by holding the bed.
Seeing the boy walking straight to the bathroom, she hurriedly said, "Be careful with your wound, don't let it get wet."
The sound of the door closing seemed like a response to her instructions. He Xi paused, shrugged helplessly, and continued cleaning.
After tidying up the living room, she tiptoed to the bedroom and took a look. She saw a thin figure curled up on the bed. When she listened carefully, she heard long breathing sounds.
She let out an unconscious sigh, glanced at the time, and turned to the kitchen.
At first glance, the kitchen stove was empty. Not giving up, she opened each cupboard and looked through them, and found that they were indeed empty.
He Xi frowned and sat back down on the sofa. Not long after, his stagnant thoughts began to flash back, and the scenes from that afternoon until now fluttered in his mind like snowflakes.
“It’s crazy.”
Thinking of Zhao Lin's reactions, her face turned red and white, and her brain was completely unable to process the current situation.
Time passed minute by minute, and He Xi finally woke up from his dream when the school bell rang again.
She left a note on the coffee table, tiptoed behind the door, and rushed out of the community.
*
Zhao Lin was awakened by a series of rapid knocks on the door.
He held his forehead and stood up, looked around the bedroom before he got out of bed.
"Wait a moment."
There was a constant clanging sound outside the door, so he quickened his pace and pushed the door open.
"Hello, takeout."
The delivery man in blue casually handed over the bag, looked down at his phone and read out a four-digit number.
Perhaps because no one took the bag he handed out for a long time, the man quickly raised his eyes and said, "Brother, even though it's not a big deal, it's still a girl's concern, right? Take it."
Zhao Lin ignored the teasing of the person in front of him, pursed his lips and reached out to take the thermal bag.
The four-digit number at the end made him know very clearly who ordered the meal. The warm steam in the bag spread all the way up along his arm, and the feeling of loss when he just woke up was gradually soothed by the mist.
He leaned casually on the sofa, staring at the note in his hand and reading it over and over again.
"I'm going back now. I've ordered some takeout porridge for you, which will be delivered on time. Remember to eat it while it's hot and then take your medicine."
Zhao Lin's tense nerves gradually relaxed, and he raised his arms to cover his eyes as if he had lost all strength.
"Does this mean you don't hate me that much?"
He pulled the corners of his mouth and after a while he showed a slightly bitter smile.
He knew that his emotions had been going wrong years ago, but so what? No one cared, including himself.
"I'll say this one last time. If you really want to stay in Lancheng, then never come back! I'll just treat you like your crazy mother and die out there!"
The hysterical curses were followed by the sound of a cell phone smashing into pieces against the wall.
Zhao Lin dropped his phone as usual and walked into the bathroom without waiting for the buzzing sound in his ears to disappear. Cold water poured over his head, but it took a long time to neutralize the restlessness in his heart.
He knew he was on the verge of losing control, but because of one or two people, he was willing to coax himself into being a normal person.
Before meeting those wary eyes, he had secretly sized her up countless times. A faint smile, a coquettish look, doubt, a hint of anger... He imagined these scenes over and over again, all of which could relate to him.
Unfortunately, things don't always go as planned.
He forgot that the mask he had worn for so long had become ingrained in his bones and blood, and any awkward changes would only backfire.
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