Chapter 228: Then Ask Me Now

Hanchuan pushed Zhiyi into the sitting room, slowing beside the chair Shichen had moved.

She had changed into a loose dress, and her freshly brushed hair lay over one shoulder.

As she looked over the table, Zeyu found himself watching her face, hoping she liked what he had put together.

"I left space for your leg," Zeyu told her, stepping aside so Hanchuan could bring the wheelchair closer. "But we can move the table if it’s in your way."

Zhiyi examined the sofa before looking up at him. "Let me sit down first. It looks comfortable from here."

Zeyu caught himself reaching for the cushion and lowered his hand. Hanchuan had noticed, but he didn’t say anything while he helped her onto the sofa.

Once she was settled, he arranged the pillows under her ankle and glanced at the two controllers waiting beside the laptop.

"Have you played this one enough to impress her?" Hanchuan asked, looking toward Zeyu.

"I’ve played it before," Zeyu replied, picking up his controller with a grin. "Whether I remember enough to impress her is a completely different question."

Zhiyi reached for the nearest controller, turning it in her hands. "Then we’ll find out whether we can finish it together."

The answer made Zeyu happier than he expected.

He sat and watched while Hanchuan checked that she had everything within reach, and didn’t look away as his friend bend to kiss her.

Zhiyi’s hand briefly caught Hanchuan’s sleeve before she let him go.

"I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me," Hanchuan told her. He brushed her hair back over her shoulder and left them alone.

Zeyu began explaining the buttons from his end of the sofa, but Zhiyi looked between his hands and her own before touching the cushion beside her.

"Come closer so I can see what you’re showing me," Zhiyi said. "I can’t follow your fingers from there."

Zeyu nodded and slid closer, his sleeve brushing hers as he showed her which button to press.

Zhiyi tried it, sending her character jumping across the screen, then worked through the others while he explained what they did.

When she leaned over to look at his controller, her hair brushed his arm, and he forgot what he was saying.

She glanced up at him, waiting, and he pointed to a button he had already explained before catching himself.

"You’ve got that one," Zeyu said with a small laugh. "Let’s start playing. The rest will make more sense once you can see what happens."

Their characters appeared on opposite sides of a locked courtyard. Zeyu showed her the switch that opened the gate, and she moved onto it while he crossed. The moment she stepped away, the gate shut between them.

Zhiyi studied his half of the screen while he walked around looking for a way to let her through.

"Try the platform above the arch," Zhiyi suggested, pointing with one finger while holding her controller. "There’s something up there, but I can’t see it from my side."

Zeyu missed the first jump and caught the edge on his second attempt.

A lever waited at the top, and pulling it opened the gate long enough for Zhiyi to join him. She smiled as their characters walked into the next room together, and he smiled back before remembering that he was supposed to be showing her where to go.

After a few more rooms, he stopped trying to explain everything.

She liked testing the switches herself, and he liked listening as she worked out what they needed to do.

Sometimes she asked him to try something. Other times, she went quiet, her fingers still on the controller while she studied the screen, and he waited until she was ready.

He followed her directions across a narrow bridge and into a corner beneath a lever. Before he could jump for it, a wall rose behind him and blocked his way back.

"Could you press that again?" Zeyu asked, trying to jump over the wall. "I don’t think I can get out from here."

Zhiyi leaned back against her cushion, looking between the switches. "Wait a moment. I want to try the other one first. It might lower the platform so you can reach the lever."

She pressed the button, and the wall dropped. Unfortunately, so did the floor beneath his character, leaving him splashing in a pool.

Zeyu laughed and tried to swim toward the edge.

Beside him, Zhiyi looked over with a smile, and he let his thumb slip off the control while he watched her. By the time he looked back, his character had disappeared underwater.

"I probably could have saved him," Zeyu admitted as the game put him back at the entrance. "I got distracted."

Zhiyi rested her controller in her lap and turned toward him. "You keep looking at me instead of playing. Are you getting bored? We can do something else if you’d like."

Zeyu paused the game.

Without the music, he could hear dishes clinking in the kitchen, but he kept his attention on her. She had settled comfortably beside him, her shoulder touching his arm, and he didn’t want her to move away because she thought he wished they were finished.

"I’m having a good time," Zeyu told her. "I’ve been looking forward to this all day. You smiled at me, and I wanted to look at you for a moment. I forgot I was supposed to be swimming."

Zhiyi’s eyes moved over his face before a small smile returned to hers.

"You could have paused it sooner," she pointed out. "Then you wouldn’t have drowned."

Zeyu laughed, looking down at the controller in his hands. She had made it so easy to say that much. He wondered why he kept stopping before he told her the rest.

He put the controller on the table and turned toward her as far as the sofa allowed.

"When I was choosing the games for your box, I kept thinking about playing them with you," Zeyu said. "I wanted you to sit beside me like this. I wanted an afternoon when I didn’t have to leave as soon as I’d finished fixing something or answering a question."

Zhiyi listened without interrupting. Her controller still lay in her lap, but she had taken her hands off it, and he resisted the urge to reach for one before he finished.

"I meant to ask you on a date," Zeyu admitted. "Then I got into your room this morning and started talking about the games instead. It was easier than telling you I like you and hoping you’d want to spend time with me that way."

Zhiyi looked down at his hand resting on the sofa before placing hers beside it.

"I would have liked you to tell me," Zhiyi said, looking back at him. "I wanted to come this afternoon, but I thought you were asking because we both liked the games. I didn’t know you wanted a date."

"I should have been clearer." Zeyu turned his hand toward hers, close enough to feel her little finger against his. "I was worried you’d say no, so I left out the part I most wanted to ask you."

Zhiyi brushed her fingers over his, then let them rest there while she watched him.

"Then ask me now," Zhiyi said. "I would rather answer you than have you keep wondering."