The two carried the chairs back into the coffee shop, and just then, the rain started falling right on time.
Wen Zhixia stood at the shop entrance, looking at the rain outside that was pouring down like a waterfall. At this hour, it probably wouldn't stop until she got off work.
Shen Jiachen was also standing at the store entrance, looking at the rain with her, and said with emotion, "I didn't expect to see such heavy rain at almost the end of October."
Wen Zhixia was thinking about how to get back to school later when she heard Shen Jiachen's words and subconsciously replied, "Yeah, it seems like we only see rain like this in the summer."
Shen Jiachen turned to look at her: "How are you going to get back later?"
"Let's take a taxi." Wen Zhixia snapped out of her thoughts: "It's raining so hard, aren't you going home?"
Shen Jiachen's car was parked across the street. It would only take a minute or two to cross with an umbrella, but he followed Wen Zhixia back into the shop: "It's raining so hard, I'll wait a bit longer."
Wen Zhixia ignored him and went to the kitchen to finish up. With such heavy rain, no one would come.
While she was cleaning, Shen Jiachen quietly helped her arrange the chairs and stools. When Wen Zhixia glanced at him, he used the same lame excuse he had given her earlier.
With someone's help, it was much faster; everything was ready before 10 o'clock.
Wen Zhixia packed up Shen Jiachen's strawberry cake: "Senior, you really should go back."
The rain outside was still pouring down. Shen Jiachen pursed his lips, but Wen Zhixia seemed to know what he was thinking. She placed her umbrella next to the cake and said, "You can use my umbrella to leave. I'll just use one of the spare umbrellas in the store later."
Shen Jiachen's gaze fell on her umbrella, and he knew that he really had no reason to stay. He hummed softly, reached out and picked up the umbrella and the cake: "Then... I'm leaving."
Wen Zhixia nodded: "Bye-bye."
"...Bye-bye." Shen Jiachen said goodbye reluctantly.
Wen Zhixia watched his dawdling figure as he walked in the rain with that ordinary umbrella, looking like a pitiful, lost little dog, which was truly heartbreaking to see.
However, Wen Zhixia quickly realized what she was thinking. She patted her face and wondered what she was thinking.
Not long after Shen Jiachen left, it was already ten o'clock. Wen Zhixia turned off all the lights, picked up the spare umbrella in the store, and went outside.
The electronic roller shutter door slowly descended. Wen Zhixia watched as the door pressed tightly against the ground before turning around and opening the umbrella in her hand.
Before she could even open it, a person stood in front of her. She couldn't see the person's face, but she knew who it was just by looking at their clothes.
She looked up at Shen Jiachen and asked, "Why are you back again? Did you leave something behind?"
Shen Jiachen stood in the rain with an umbrella, shook his head and said, "It's late, it's not safe for you to take a taxi alone."
Wen Zhixia looked at him, and Shen Jiachen gazed into her eyes as well, continuing, "You take a taxi, and I'll follow you in my car until you enter the school, then I'll go back."
This was the perfect solution that Shen Jiachen had just come up with. If he offered to drive Wen Zhixia back to school, the destination seemed too far away. But with such heavy rain and it being so late, he was worried about letting Wen Zhixia take a taxi back to school alone. Besides, what if she couldn't get a taxi?
So after thinking it over, he came down again.
“You don’t have to do this.” Wen Zhixia looked up at him slightly. “Before I met you, I also took a taxi back to school by myself.”
“You said it yourself, that was before you met me.” Shen Jiachen smiled. “After you met me, I don’t want you to take a taxi back to school alone.”
He paused for a moment, then said seriously, "You can treat me like air, like I'm invisible. Don't feel pressured; I'm willing to do all of this."
The heavy rain pattered against the umbrella, making a muffled sound. The eyes of the person under the umbrella shone brightly, like dazzling stars in the darkness.
“You…” Wen Zhixia wanted to say something, but didn’t know what to say.
Shen Jiachen didn't urge her, he just smiled.
Ever since she met him, Wen Zhixia felt that the corners of his mouth had never turned down.
Looking at the pouring rain, she took out her phone to call a taxi, only to find that there were more than two hundred people ahead of her in line, and it would take more than an hour to get one.
She looked up at Shen Jiachen, only to find that he consciously looked away, avoiding eye contact.
Wen Zhixia pursed her lips, put away her phone, and looked at Shen Jiachen: "Can I ride back in your car?"
Happiness came so suddenly?
"Of course!" Shen Jiachen turned around abruptly and agreed without thinking. However, after saying it, he probably felt that his voice was a bit too loud, so he lowered his voice a little: "Of course."
His tone couldn't hide his happiness.
Wen Zhixia said, "It's not easy to get a taxi now."
"I know, I know," Shen Jiachen flashed his bright white teeth. "I promise I'll get you back to school safely and soundly!"
He took a step towards Wen Zhixia and moved half of the umbrella over her head: "Let's go!"
Wen Zhixia glanced down at the umbrella in her hand, and for some reason, she didn't open it, and walked into the rain with Shen Jiachen.
Normally, she would find the umbrella spacious enough for her to use by herself, but today it felt unusually crowded.
Shen Jiachen subtly tilted the umbrella towards her, his eyes fixed firmly ahead, but inwardly he prayed that the rain would last longer.
If the school were closer, he and Wen Zhixia could walk back, like taking a stroll.
He secretly glanced at Wen Zhixia out of the corner of his eye, but Wen Zhixia's attention was fixed on the ground and in the rain, not on him.
Shen Jiachen felt a little dejected; he wanted Wen Zhixia's attention to fall on him.
Wen Zhixia had no idea what Shen Jiachen was thinking. She didn't dare to turn her head to look, afraid that if she did, she would meet Shen Jiachen's star-like eyes.
She wasn't quite sure what her true thoughts were either. Logically speaking, she had already politely declined Shen Jiachen's offer, so even if Shen Jiachen tried everything he could, she should have ignored it.
But when she met his smiling eyes, she... lacked the willpower to resist.
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