Chapter 231: Tell Me

Shichen looked down at the drawing beneath Zhiyi’s hand.

He remembered starting it at the kitchen table while she worked across from him, moving papers aside whenever she needed somewhere to put her cup.

He had meant to draw the room. By the time she left, he had barely bothered with anything beyond her chair.

"That was before you were hurt," Shichen replied, keeping the book open for her. "You were working at the table, and I was waiting for you to finish so I could ask you something. I started drawing while I waited."

Zhiyi studied the page again, her hair falling forward as she leaned over it.

He had drawn that too, along with the way she tucked it behind her ear without looking up. Seeing her repeat the movement made him want a pencil, although he doubted he could have held one steadily with her examining his work this closely.

"You could have interrupted me," Zhiyi said. Her finger hovered above the pencil in the drawing before she looked at him. "Was it something you needed that day?"

"I asked you afterward," Shichen assured her. He smiled when she continued watching him, clearly waiting for the rest. "I wasn’t sitting there suffering. I liked having an excuse to stay."

Beside her, Zeyu leaned forward to see the page properly. Shichen had shown him plenty of drawings over the years, usually by leaving a book somewhere his friend would find it.

This time, he felt warm beneath his collar while Zeyu looked from the drawing to Zhiyi.

"You even got the pencil," Zeyu said, smiling at her. "You hold it like that when you’re thinking. I’ve watched you reach for another one while the first was still in your hand."

Zhiyi glanced at the hand resting on the book, then smiled as though she had remembered doing exactly that.

Shichen relaxed a little. He had been so busy wondering whether she would mind that he hadn’t let himself enjoy the fact that she was interested.

She asked to hold the sketchbook, and he passed it over, helping her settle its bottom edge against the blanket.

Her fingers moved carefully along the paper without touching the darker shading. She spent longer on it than she had on the buildings, looking at the face and then the unfinished table around it.

"May I keep this drawing?" Zhiyi asked. She lifted her eyes to his, waiting while he took in the question. "I’d like to put it in our room."

Shichen’s first thought was that he could do a better one. He could finish the hands, clean up the marks near her shoulder, and give her something he had meant to show someone.

But she was still looking at this drawing, and he didn’t want to talk her out of liking it.

"Of course you can," Shichen replied. "Let me take it out properly so we don’t tear the edge. I’ll find something to put it in."

Zeyu offered to look for a folder while he took their glasses to the kitchen.

Before standing, he bent close enough for Zhiyi to say something near his ear. Whatever she told him made him smile, and he squeezed her hand before gathering the glasses.

Shichen watched him go, then turned back to find Zhiyi holding the book toward him. He took it onto his knees and worked the page free along its perforated edge.

She watched his hands while he loosened a stubborn corner, her own hand resting near his wrist without getting in the way.

"Have you drawn anything since we came here?" Zhiyi asked. "Other than things we needed for the shelter."

"A few things," Shichen replied. He placed her drawing on the table and opened the book farther back. There was a sketch of Jingwei asleep in a chair and another of Zeyu bent over his workbench. "Mostly when someone sat still long enough. I haven’t had much patience for it lately."

Zhiyi looked at the drawing of Jingwei, smiling at the book lying open on his chest. Shichen remembered trying to finish before his friend woke.

For 30 minutes, he had worried about getting a hand right instead of thinking about the entrance, and he hadn’t realized how much he needed that until afterward.

"I’d like to watch you," Zhiyi said, turning toward him. "You always bring me something once it’s finished. I don’t often get to see you making it."

Shichen reached into the back of the book for the pencil clipped there.

He had brought it out of habit, but now he rolled it between his fingers, pleased that she wanted more than a quick look through the pages.

"What would you like me to draw?" Shichen asked. He glanced around the room, considering the lamp and the folds of the blanket before looking back at her. "I could start with your hand, if you don’t mind leaving it there."

Zhiyi rested her hand on the sofa between them. He moved his chair closer so he could see without leaning over her, then began with a few light lines.

The room had grown quieter after dinner, though he could still hear water running in the kitchen and Zeyu talking to someone beyond the doorway.

At first, Zhiyi kept trying to look around the edge of the book. Shichen angled it toward her, and she settled back, watching the pencil move.

He explained what he was doing when she asked, but after a while, she simply watched him. He could feel her attention whenever he lifted his head.

"You’re looking at me now," Shichen said, smiling as he paused above the page. "Have I got pencil on my face?"

"There’s some near your jaw," Zhiyi replied. She raised her hand before he could reach for it. "Stay there. You’ll only spread it with your fingers."

Shichen leaned closer, expecting her to brush it away and return to watching the drawing. Her thumb moved gently along his jaw, and he forgot about the pencil resting against the paper. She was close enough that he could see the fine strands of hair beside her cheek.

When her hand began to move away, he caught it loosely, his fingers resting around hers. He meant to thank her, but she looked at his mouth, and he found himself looking at hers.

Zhiyi stayed close, her hand warm in his. "Shichen, were you about to kiss me?" she asked softly. "Because I’d like you to tell me before you decide not to."