Chapter 248: Only Sleeping...

Zhiyi carried her tea down the corridor after dinner, following the light spilling from Zeyu’s room.

His door stood open, and she could hear him moving something across the floor.

When she reached the doorway, she found him carrying an unpacked bag from the chair to the dresser, where another bag already occupied most of the surface.

"You can leave it on the floor," Zhiyi told him, stepping inside. "I won’t think less of you because you haven’t unpacked."

Zeyu looked over his shoulder and smiled. He had changed his shirt since dinner, and his hair was damp at the ends. "I was hoping you’d be too distracted by me to notice the bags, but apparently I need to work on that."

Zhiyi set her cup on the bedside table while he found somewhere for the bag.

She had been in his room at Xiling often enough to recognize the things he had already put out: the little wooden tray for his watch, a book with a folded receipt marking his place, and the photograph of the six of them from her wedding.

"You were distracting at dinner," Zhiyi replied, turning toward him. "You kept smiling whenever I looked at you."

"I kissed you in the kitchen," Zeyu said, coming to stand beside her. "I spent most of dinner thinking about doing it again. I probably wasn’t being very subtle."

She liked hearing him say it so plainly.

For a long time, their afternoons together had ended with him walking her back to the others, perhaps holding her hand along the way.

She had enjoyed those afternoons without needing them to become anything else immediately. Lately, though, she had begun noticing how often he let go just as she wanted to move closer.

Zhiyi reached for his hand and drew him toward the bed. It was the most comfortable place to sit, and she wanted him beside her rather than watching her from the chair he had just cleared.

"You don’t need to be subtle," Zhiyi told him as they sat. "I came because I wanted that too."

Zeyu’s smile softened.

He touched her cheek before leaning toward her, giving her time to turn into the kiss.

She rested her hand against his shoulder, feeling the warmth of him through his clean shirt.

Without the kitchen counter behind her or the sound of dinner being served, she could settle close and enjoy him without wondering when they would need to move.

His hand slipped to her waist as she leaned against him. When they parted, he remained near enough that she could see the faint crease beside his mouth where he was still smiling.

"I should close the door," Zeyu murmured, glancing past her toward the corridor. "Unless you’d rather I left it open."

"Close it," Zhiyi answered, smoothing the shoulder of his shirt where her fingers had gathered it. "You said you wanted time without anyone needing us to move. So do I."

He rose to shut the door, and she took the opportunity to move farther onto the bed.

Rain tapped against the window behind the curtains, quieter here than in the sitting room. She could hear water running somewhere nearby, then a door closing along the hall. Everyone was finding where they belonged in the new shelter.

When Zeyu returned, she had left room beside her against the pillows. He stretched out with one arm behind his head, and she turned toward him, resting her hand on his forearm.

"I kept thinking we’d have more time once the repairs were finished," Zeyu said.

His gaze moved over her face before settling on her hand. "Then there was always something else. Another check, another reason to be tired. I got used to asking you to come and play a game because I knew how to do that."

"We did have time," Zhiyi reminded him.

She traced a small scar near his wrist, one she remembered from a careless moment in the garage. "I liked the games. I still want to play them with you."

"I do too," Zeyu assured her, turning onto his side. His free hand settled on the bed between them. "But I don’t want that to be all I ever ask you for."

Zhiyi understood that well enough to move closer.

She had spent years learning the shape of their days, knowing who would join her over breakfast and whose footsteps would stop outside a room when she called.

The men had become part of how she lived. Wanting more from them had grown gradually, in moments she could no longer count.

She placed her hand over his.

"Then ask me to stay," Zhiyi said. "You keep looking at the clock, and I don’t think it’s because you want me to leave."

Zeyu glanced toward the bedside table, caught, then looked back at her. He had seemed so certain in the kitchen.

Here, with the door closed and his fingers warm beneath hers, she could see how much her answer mattered to him.

"Will you stay tonight?" Zeyu asked. He brushed his thumb along the side of her hand. "I’d like to wake up with you here."

Zhiyi nodded and leaned forward to kiss him.

His arm came around her as she settled against him, and she felt the breath he released before he kissed her back.

She had thought about staying with him before entering the room. Hearing him ask made her glad she had brought only her tea and left him the chance to say it.

After a while, she drew back far enough to rest her cheek against his shoulder. His hand moved slowly over her back, and neither of them spoke until she remembered what she had left down the hall.

"I need to get my things and tell Hanchuan where I’ll be," Zhiyi said.

She lifted her head when Zeyu’s arm loosened around her. "I’m coming back. You don’t have to look as though you’ve lost me already."

Zeyu laughed, pressing a kiss to her forehead before sitting up with her. "I’ll try to survive the walk down the corridor. Do you want me to carry anything?"

"My pillow," Zhiyi replied, holding out her hand. "And you can stop at the kitchen for your tea. You never brought it."

He looked toward her untouched cup and shook his head, smiling as he stood. Zhiyi followed him to the door, still holding his hand, then stopped before he opened it.

"There is something else," Zhiyi told him. She stepped close enough to rest her other hand against his chest. "When we come back, I don’t want you to assume I only mean sleeping."

Zeyu’s hand went still on the door handle. He turned fully toward her, and Zhiyi watched his expression change as he understood what she was asking.