EOD Chapter40

Lu Zhao’s biological clock woke him up at 6:00 AM sharp. The moment he tried to roll over, a source of intense heat from behind locked around his waist; Zhou Zefeng’s entire body was pressed flush against him, leaving absolutely no space between them.

Lu Zhao finally understood why he had spent the entire night dreaming that he had turned into Sun Wukong and was pinned tightly beneath the Five Elements Mountain.

Lu Zhao rubbed his eyes and tried to pry Zhou Zefeng’s iron-like arm off him, but it felt like being trapped inside a roller coaster with an outdated, jammed safety harness. Therefore, he attempted to shift his lower half instead, but he was suddenly met with a hot, rigid mass pressing firmly against the root of his thigh.

Right at that moment, Zhou Zefeng woke up.

“The sun isn’t even up yet…” Zhou Zefeng mumbled, already trying to drag Lu Zhao back into his chest.

Knowing full well that this was prime time for a morning round and that staying put would inevitably lead to getting drilled again, Lu Zhao forcefully broke free from Zhou Zefeng’s restraint. He rolled over to the far side of the bed, and suddenly realizing his own nudity, snatched Zhou Zefeng’s blanket to cover himself up.

“What are you hiding for?” Zhou Zefeng’s voice carried a raspy, low morning gravel. “I saw every single inch of you last night.”

Lu Zhao grabbed a random dress shirt from the side without a word, threw it over his shoulders, and stood up.

Zhou Zefeng had initially intended to tease him, but seeing Lu Zhao act like this made him panic a little. He grabbed Lu Zhao’s hand. “You’re not regretting it, are you? Are you trying to run away right after sleeping together?”

Lu Zhao turned around, shooting him a thoroughly speechless look. He pointed to his own mouth, forcing out a raspy, friction-filled voice from the depths of his throat, “I just don’t want to talk.”

Even so, Zhou Zefeng still felt aggrieved. Who doesn’t share a little morning intimacy after a night like that? The way Lu Zhao was acting made him look exactly like a heartless, love-’em-and-leave-’em bastard.

Zhou Zefeng crawled out of bed too, wrapping his arms tightly around Lu Zhao’s waist like a koala, following his exact footsteps all the way into the bathroom. Even while Lu Zhao washed up and changed his clothes, Zhou Zefeng refused to let go. Feeling entirely helpless, Lu Zhao asked, “Do you have class this morning too?”

Zhou Zefeng shook his head, mentioning his class didn’t start until 10:00 AM.

Lu Zhao dug out a set of clothes for Zhou Zefeng to wear, then said, “Go back to sleep for a bit then. I have to go to work.”

For a split second, Zhou Zefeng felt intensely like a kept, pampered housewife. Once he finished changing, he said, “Let me drive you to work then.”

“Drive me? It’s still my car, isn’t it?” Lu Zhao pulled two slices of bread from the cabinet and dropped them into the toaster.

“I have a driver’s license.”

“And after driving me to the hospital, you’d have to come back on your own? It’s still early, go back to sleep.”

Lu Zhao sat down at the dining table to eat his breakfast. He produced a spare key and placed it right in front of Zhou Zefeng. “When you leave for class, remember to add some kibble for Xuebing.”

Zhou Zefeng nodded. He watched Lu Zhao finish his breakfast, grab his coat and car keys, and head out the door. From the moment they woke up to the moment Lu Zhao left for work, only a mere half hour had passed.

After Lu Zhao left, Zhou Zefeng went upstairs to fold the blankets. He then took the dirty laundry, washed it, and hung it out to dry before adding kibble to Xuebing’s bowl. By the time he finished everything, it was barely 8:00 AM. Sitting on Lu Zhao’s sofa, he held back as much as he could before finally sending a message: [Have you arrived?]

Lu Zhao’s shift started at 7:00 AM, so he should have been sitting in his clinic for a while now. After a brief pause, Lu Zhao replied: [I’ve arrived.]

Zhou Zefeng and Xuebing, who were standing not far away, stared at each other, and he suddenly felt there wasn’t much difference between the two of them.

After sleeping with Lu Zhao, aside from getting a key, their relationship didn’t seem to have changed much from before.

Moreover, it suddenly hit Zhou Zefeng that he was a student with nothing to his name, while Lu Zhao was a successful doctor with an established career. With them being together, Zhou Zefeng was eating Lu Zhao’s food and staying at Lu Zhao’s place; no matter how one looked at it, Zhou Zefeng was the one benefiting more.

To Zhou Zefeng, Lu Zhao was the cream in his cream cake; an absolutely indispensable part. But to Lu Zhao, Zhou Zefeng felt more like the strawberry on top: it was great to have, but perfectly fine without. Lu Zhao had so much he could offer Zhou Zefeng, yet what Zhou Zefeng could give Lu Zhao had always been so little.

Zhou Zefeng continued texting Lu Zhao: [Miss you so much]

Lu Zhao replied: [Be good]

Knowing Lu Zhao was busy, Zhou Zefeng stopped disturbing him.

Throughout the entire day, Zhou Zefeng kept checking his phone. He wanted to text Lu Zhao but feared interrupting his work, though in the end, he broke down and sent messages anyway.

[It’s a new stray cat at our school; it looks so weird [Image]]

[I don’t know why, but the malatang at the cafeteria today is crazy spicy]

[The sky today looks way too beautiful, look up quick]

Zhou Zefeng’s messages didn’t sink into oblivion; Lu Zhao replied to every single one of them. He even took a photo of the blue sky and white clouds visible from his window and sent it back to Zhou Zefeng. It wasn’t until near dusk that Zhou Zefeng sent another one: [[Image] The sunset is really so beautiful]

[Lu Zhao, what kind of relationship do we have now?]

The instant Zhou Zefeng hit send, he regretted it and wanted to recall the message. But by the time he snapped out of his daze, the two-minute recall window had already expired, and it was too late to take it back.

He went to the cafeteria for dinner, then accompanied his straight-A roommate to the counselor’s office to handle the procedures for moving out of the dormitory. After filling out a pile of forms, he finally packed his bags in the dorm. He didn’t have many belongings, managing to fit everything into just one suitcase and a backpack.

By the time he finished all of this, Lu Zhao still hadn’t replied to him.

Zhou Zefeng suddenly detested his own opportunism. When he had taken advantage of the situation and decided to move out of the dorms, his plan had been to play pity to move into Lu Zhao’s house, knowing Lu Zhao would definitely agree. But now that things had truly reached this stage with Lu Zhao, he felt a shortage of courage, a lack of ground to stand on, and honestly, a complete absence of nerve.

In this relationship, he was at a disadvantage, yet he had been demanding and taking whatever he wanted the entire time.

And yet, everything he had demanded, Lu Zhao had given him. So, did that count as Zhou Zefeng being that most unique strawberry in Lu Zhao’s heart as well?

/

At 8:00 PM, Lu Zhao finished a gathering with his colleagues. Opening his phone, he noticed unread messages, but his vision was blurring, making it impossible to read the text clearly.

After hiring a designated driver to take them home, the driver found Lu Zhao sprawled across the back seat, limping as a sack of potatoes and seemingly dead asleep. Helping him sit up, the driver asked, “Brother, do you need me to help you upstairs?”

With great effort, the young driver managed to get Lu Zhao out of the car and up to his front door, only to find a tall young man standing right outside. He momentarily doubted whether he had gotten the wrong floor.

“Bro…” The driver barely uttered a syllable before being cut off by the guy standing nearby.

“You’re not allowed to call him brother!” Zhou Zefeng stepped over, taking hold of Lu Zhao to prop him against his own frame. Seeing Lu Zhao’s eyes rimmed with red, he squeezed his arm and said fiercely, “It hasn’t even been a single day and you’re already acting like a top again?”

The driver was utterly bewildered. He tapped Zhou Zefeng and asked, “You two know each other?” Before Zhou Zefeng could even answer, the driver added, “Remember to leave a five-star review!” and bolted into the elevator.

Zhou Zefeng was instantly mortified to the core. He grabbed Lu Zhao’s hand and pressed his finger to the scanner to unlock the door, then helped him over to sit on the sofa. “Do you feel sick? Want some water? Let me make you some honey water.”

As soon as he finished speaking and turned to head toward the kitchen, Lu Zhao wrapped his arms tightly around him.

With flushed cheeks, Lu Zhao narrowed his eyes, locking his arms around Zhou Zefeng’s waist and nuzzling against his chest. “Let me hold you for a bit.”

“Are you conscious right now?” Zhou Zefeng froze, wrapping his arms back around Lu Zhao.

Lu Zhao nodded.

Zhou Zefeng reached into his backpack and pulled out a stack of documents; including property certificates, bank cards, and the like. “Lu Zhao, do you remember me telling you that my mom left me a house in the suburbs? Actually, I have another one that I bought using my trust fund. And I have a car too, though it’s not as nice as yours and I don’t drive it much; it’s parked at my dad’s place. My credit cards have plenty of money on them too, which I barely touched while abroad. Plus, I’ve been trading stocks since high school, and there are a few…”

Lu Zhao’s ears were buzzing, and he couldn’t help but reach up to cover them.

Zhou Zefeng pulled Lu Zhao’s hands down, forcing him to face him as he spoke with absolute solemnity, “Lu Zhao, I am very much worth loving. Won’t you really give it a try?”

“Zhou Zefeng, are you freaking out of your mind?!” Lu Zhao forced himself to stay alert, and after listening for so long, the meaning finally clicked. A surge of anger instantly flared up inside him.

“The moment I got off work, I freaking got dragged into a colleague gathering and forced to down so much alcohol. I barely got a few bites of food! A mantis shrimp that huge got snatched up by others the second I looked away! I am absolutely starving to death, and the moment I get home, you start rattling on without end. I just asked to hold you and you keep spouting nonsense. Do you think I freaking like you because of any of that stuff? What kind of person do you take me for?…”

Zhou Zefeng was left completely stunned by the outburst, but his mind sharply picked out the core keywords.

“Lu Zhao, you like me?”

“Isn’t that freaking obvious?!”

Before Lu Zhao could even finish his sentence, his mouth was thoroughly sealed shut by Zhou Zefeng.

“The sunset really was beautiful.”

“I like you too.”

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