Chapter 37
My wet hair was still dripping with water, and the cold water droplets slid down the ends of my hair into the back of my neck, making me shiver.
I was holding a hair dryer, trying to save my long hair that had been soaked in the hot spring but had not been dried in time, when Rie Tanaka ran over with my buzzing cell phone.
"Kiriyama, the phone! It's been ringing several times!" Her face still had a slight blush from the hot spring bath, and she handed the phone to me. "Is it President Atobe?"
Atobe? So late? My heart skipped a beat, and a sense of foreboding came over me.
After taking a look at the name jumping on the screen, I immediately made a gesture to Tanaka to keep quiet, took the phone and quickly walked to the quiet corridor outside the room before pressing the answer button.
"Hello?"
The voice coming from the other end of the phone was Keigo Atobe, a person I had never heard of before.
Low, suppressed, with a trembling that he tried hard to control but still couldn't completely conceal? It was as if something was violently colliding in his chest, on the verge of losing control.
"Come out." Just two words, concise, cold, and with an unquestionable commanding tone.
I was stunned for a moment, looking at the heavy snow still falling outside the window. The night was dark and the accumulated snow reflected the faint light.
"Now? It's snowing so hard outside, where are you going?"
"The gym," he said, his voice tense. "Now."
As soon as he finished speaking, the phone was hung up abruptly, leaving only the busy tone echoing in his ears.
The gym? Late at night?
I held the phone, my fingertips were cold.
The extremely depressing and eerie atmosphere on the phone, like the calm before the storm, made me feel more uneasy.
What could make him use this tone?
Not caring about my dripping hair, I hurriedly put on a thick coat and snow boots, told Tanaka that I had something to go out for, and plunged into the cold snowy night outside.
Walking on the thick snow, one step deep and one step shallow, I walked to the gym attached to the hotel.
I pushed open the door, and sure enough, the lights were on inside, but there was no one there, save for the low hum of the air conditioner. The air was filled with the mixed smell of cold instruments and disinfectant.
Atobe Keigo sat on a rowing machine, his back to the door. He wore a dark sports suit, his hair appearing somewhat dull under the pale light. He lowered his head slightly, his hands resting on his knees, his shoulders tense.
Even from a distance, I could clearly feel the low pressure and unhappiness emanating from him, which was almost condensed into substance.
Very, very unhappy.
"Atobe?" I called out tentatively, cautiously approaching. "What's wrong with you? What happened?"
Hearing my voice, he looked up sharply.
His eyes were surprisingly sharp under the light, filled with emotions so complex that they were difficult to distinguish.
Angry, anxious, confused, and even a little bit... hurt?
He pursed his lips, his jawline was as sharp as a knife, staring at me without saying a word.
I felt uneasy at the look in his eyes, and I stopped involuntarily, looking at him with a questioning look on my face.
As if he had finally made up his mind, he abruptly stood up and strode towards me. His towering figure, carrying a powerful, oppressive presence, instantly enveloped me. He stopped in front of me, so close that I could clearly see the furrowed brow and the suppressed storm in his eyes.
He opened his mouth, his Adam's apple rolling as if he wanted to say something, but he swallowed it back. This repeated several times, and the irritation and impatience on his face grew stronger. His thin lips pursed tighter, his breathing became faster, and his chest rose and fell slightly.
I was even more confused and a little annoyed by his hesitation and obvious struggle with himself.
He called me out of my warm room in the middle of the night and made me run to this cold gym with wet hair, just to watch him perform a pantomime here?
The atmosphere was suffocating and oppressive.
In order to break this weird deadlock and divert attention, I cleared my throat and decided to say something else: "Um... Atobe, I have a favor to ask of you."
He still stared at me with sharp eyes, as if waiting for my next words.
I carefully chose my words, "Xiaokong...could you please help take care of her? Aunt Yuko is very nice, but Xiaokong seems to be particularly clingy to you."
"Take care of Xiaokong?" Atobe's pupils suddenly contracted, as if he heard something unbelievable.
He took a sudden step forward, his voice rising sharply with ignited anger and sharp questioning, "Why? Are you leaving it alone?! Where are you going? You don't even want Xiaokong anymore?!"
His sudden outburst and uncontrolled questioning left me completely bewildered. He grabbed my arm with such force that it hurt even through my thick coat.
He was breathing rapidly, his chest heaving violently, his hot breath almost spraying on my face, his eyes fixed on me, filled with intense emotions that I could not understand.
"What are you crazy about!" I was also ignited by his unreasonable anger. I struggled to break free from his grip, and my voice was filled with anger. "What do you mean I don't want it anymore? I'm just going back to visit my family! Just for the Spring Festival! Aunt Yuko is taking care of it alone, and I'm afraid she won't be able to handle it!"
"Besides, Xiaokong is close to you! What's wrong with asking you for a favor?"
"Visiting relatives?" It was as if these two words suddenly nailed Tebe to the spot. The rage on his face froze instantly, replaced by a huge, almost stagnant confusion.
He unconsciously loosened his grip on my hand, and the storm in his eyes seemed to have been paused, leaving only pure, unbelievable astonishment. "...Just visiting relatives?"
"What else?!" I shook his hand off angrily, rubbing my pinched arm. I was almost amused by his fickleness. "This year, Chinese New Year falls in January. I took a leave of absence to go back and spend the New Year with my family. I'll be back after the Spring Festival!"
"My enrollment is still at Hyotei, and my studies aren't over yet! I'm only in the second year of junior high, brother!"
"Come back...?" Atobe murmured these two words, as if he had finally confirmed something.
The terrifying gloom and anger on his face receded quickly like the tide, and the tense lines of his body relaxed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Then, an extremely abrupt and somewhat silly smile bloomed on the corner of his mouth without any warning.
The smile grew wider, and one could even vaguely see his white teeth. He seemed to have been relieved of a heavy burden, or to have heard some great news. His whole demeanor brightened, and even the corners of his eyes and eyebrows were tinged with a relaxed smile.
The speed and drasticness of this transformation are simply jaw-dropping.
I watched his expression change from hell to heaven at the speed of light, and watched him smile at me like a fool, and I felt a surge of evil fire rising up.
Late at night! With wet hair! Walking in the snow in sub-zero temperatures!
Just to watch him perform his moody face-changing skills here?!
I was so angry that veins on my forehead were throbbing. I couldn't hold it in any longer, so I rushed over and pushed him hard in the chest with all my strength: "Atobe Keigo! Are you sick?!"
He was caught off guard by my push and stumbled back a step, bumping into the equipment behind him with a dull clang. But the smile on his face did not diminish at all, instead it was filled with a hint of innocence and joy.
"You're not sleeping at all! You called me to this damn place!" I pointed at him, my voice shaking with anger. "Just to tease me?! Is it funny to see me running out here with wet hair?!"
Atobe stood firm, raised his hand and touched his tall nose bridge, with a rare, almost embarrassed smile. He cleared his throat, his eyes wandering for a moment, finally landing on my wet hair, his voice a little unnatural and vague:
"...Ahem, nothing. I just... suddenly missed Xiaokong a little." He paused, as if trying to find a more reasonable excuse, "I wanted to ask... do you have any videos of him playing recently on your phone?"
“…”
Want to watch Xiaokong?
I stared at his handsome face, which was filled with the expression "I'm talking nonsense, but I'm right," and felt a surge of anger rushing to my head. The rage mixed with the sense of absurdity completely rendered me speechless.
"Atobe Keigo——!!!" I gritted my teeth and almost yelled his name, "Are you sick!!!"
Turning around, with a burning rage and dripping wet hair, I rushed out of this gym filled with a weird atmosphere without looking back, slamming the door, and completely isolating the guy who was still grinning inexplicably and his lame lies in the cold equipment and lights behind me.
The cold snowflakes immediately hit my face, and my wet hair was blown by the cold wind, instantly piercing my scalp like countless ice needles.
I wrapped my coat tightly around me and rushed towards the dormitory building. The snow crunched with every step I took, and I wished I could treat the snow under my feet as that bastard's face.
"Kiyama! Wait!"
The sound of hurried footsteps approached from behind me, but I ignored them and walked even faster.
The next second, a thick, high-quality coat, still warm from my body temperature, was pulled over my head, instantly shielding me from the biting wind and falling snow. The loose garment almost enveloped my entire upper body, revealing only a pair of eyes wide with anger.
"What are you doing!" I stopped abruptly, yanked off the coat that clearly belonged to Atobe Keigo, and stuffed it back into his arms. The movement was so big that the water droplets splashed onto his face.
"Give it back to you! Don't you think I'm troublesome enough? If a classmate sees us..." I lowered my voice, warily scanning the surroundings, which were half-lit by the streetlights and the snow, and said in a warning tone, "I can't wash myself clean even if I jump into the Pacific Ocean!"
Atobe seemed to have completely ignored my protest. His smile didn't fade, but instead, my anger only made it seem even more cheerful. His eyes shone startlingly bright in the snowy night.
Without saying anything, he unfolded his coat again, and with an irresistible, almost clumsy stubbornness, he wrapped the coat, which carried his fresh scent, tightly around my head again, and even tried to use the hem to cover the ends of my wet hair.
"Get dressed!" His voice was unquestionable, but his movements were a bit flustered. "With your hair wet like this, walking in the snow with the cold wind blowing, are you going to catch a cold?"
While he clumsily tried to wrap me up like a silkworm chrysalis with only my eyes exposed, he began to mutter to himself, his tone as relaxed as if the tension in the gym had never happened. "Come back soon after visiting your family. Don't delay too long."
"Xiao Kong is such a forgetful guy. If he doesn't recognize you anymore, you won't even have a place to cry..."
"Atobe Keigo!!" I was so furious at his illogical "concern" and the act of forcibly wrapping my head that I retorted with gritted teeth while struggling to get rid of the annoying coat.
"Xiaokong will never forget me! What do you care! Let go of my head!!!"
He used his height and size to easily suppress my resistance, like he was dealing with a disobedient cat. The sleeve of his coat was tangled around my neck, and I frantically tried to pull it away, feeling like my lungs were about to explode.
After finally breaking free, I glared at him fiercely. If looks could kill, he would probably be riddled with wounds by now.
I no longer cared about my image. Holding my head that was wrapped in a mess, I ran towards the brightly lit dormitory building without looking back. I just wanted to get away from this crazy guy immediately and completely!
Behind him, Keigo Atobe stood in the falling snow, looking at the back of the man with his hair tied up in a mess and fleeing like a frightened rabbit. Instead of feeling any regret, he raised his hand and touched his chin, the corners of his lips couldn't help but rise up, and his deep eyes were filled with unprecedented, pure joy.
Even this cold snowy night seemed to soften a little because of his current mood.
"Bang!"
I almost broke open the door of my room and rushed in with a cold body, wet hair and a face full of resentment.
"Kiriyama! You're back? Are you okay? President Atobe is looking for you..." Tanaka Rie came up to me with concern, but before she could finish her words, she was frozen by the low pressure emanating from my body.
She looked at my messy hair, wrinkled coat, and the face that was full of "keep away from strangers" and tactfully swallowed the second half of the question. She cautiously gave me a look that asked, "Are you okay?"
I responded to her with a look that said, "Don't ask, or you'll die."
I grabbed the hair dryer on the bedside table, plugged it in, turned it up to full power, and began to blast my head, which had been ravaged by Atobe, with a blast of hot air. The whirring hot air and the loud noise filled the room, as if venting my anger that had nowhere else to go.
Tanaka shrank his neck and wisely chose to keep his mouth shut. He silently crawled back into his bed and pretended to study his phone.
After finally drying my hair, the noise helped to vent some of the anger in my heart. Exhausted, I threw myself into the soft blankets, closed my eyes, and simply wanted to completely format this ridiculous experience tonight.
Just two seconds after I lay down, the screen of the phone next to my pillow lit up silently.
I grabbed it and took a look at it irritably.
Sender: Keigo Atobe.
【Misty mountain.】
[Sorry. I was inconsiderate. I didn't expect you to come out with your hair still wet.]
[Are you feeling unwell? Have you caught a cold?]
[Do you want me to ask the hotel kitchen to prepare some ginger tea or cold medicine and send it over? ]
His tone was unprecedentedly gentle, even a bit cautious and tentative. This sudden change in tone almost made me think my phone was infected.
I stared at the screen, his murderous face in the gym and his silly smile afterwards automatically replayed in my mind, and I felt my temples starting to throb again.
My finger hovered over the screen, wondering whether to block the message or reply, "Thank goodness you're still alive," when another message popped up:
[As an apology, I will reimburse your round-trip airfare to China, upgrades, and all other expenses.]
【Enjoy your vacation and receive the highest salary. 】
“…”
I looked at the words "air ticket reimbursement" and thought about how miserable I was when he wrapped me up like a dumpling in the snow. A surge of evil fire mixed with a feeling of being bribed by a "sugar-coated bullet" rushed to my head.
Give a slap and then a sweet date?
Atobe Keigo, who do you take me for?!
I was so angry that I poked my finger at the screen so fast that I almost broke it:
【Huh! President Atobe is really generous! 】
[The best treatment, right? Okay!]
I want first class! I also want the most expensive Wagyu beef set meal on the plane! Double order!!
The message was sent successfully. I stared at the screen, imagining his expression when he saw this message, which was full of sarcasm and "extortion", and I felt a little relieved.
Almost the next second, the phone screen lit up again. This time, there were only two words:
【receive. 】
It's followed by a little smiley face :).
Through the cold phone screen, I seemed to clearly hear the low and joyful chuckle of some bastard on the other end of the phone. I slammed the phone screen face down on the pillow and pulled up the quilt to cover my head.
Atobe Keigo——!!!
I roared silently under the quilt.
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