“Don’t look!” Zhu Ran grabbed the restless hand and suddenly realized. “Huo Boyan, did you deliberately make me wear this shirt?”
He wondered why someone as attentive as Huo Boyan would take his clothes without leaving pajamas. Turns out he’d intentionally left a shirt to bully him like this!
Huo Boyan shamelessly admitted, “Actually, I didn’t want to leave the shirt either.”
Zhu Ran: “…”
Shocked and lost for words, he watched as Huo Boyan’s shamelessness escalated. His hands slid the shirt up from the bottom. “From now on at home, how about no clothes?”
Zhu Ran froze, then loudly declared, “Huo Boyan, if you keep this up, I’ll get mad!”
Seeing Zhu Ran’s firm opposition, Huo Boyan didn’t dare push further. He coaxed him patiently and, before dinner, fetched a set of pajamas for Zhu Ran to change into.
During dinner, Zhu Ran put on a Cantonese film as background noise. He hadn’t planned to watch seriously—just for the sound—and picked one with a festive title. Unexpectedly, it was called Sweet Honey (甜蜜蜜), but the plot left Zhu Ran sobbing uncontrollably.
Over a span of ten years, the male and female leads kept crossing paths and missing each other, exhausting every effort yet unable to break free from their shackles.
From Hong Kong to New York, after countless misses, they finally reunited on a foreign street.
But it was already ten years later.
When the movie ended, Zhu Ran saw the English title—Almost a Love Story, almost a love story.
The tears he’d finally stopped welled up again. He couldn’t bear to imagine such a parting and reunion with Huo Boyan.
Huo Boyan wiped away his tears and kissed his forehead. “Don’t be sad. At least we won’t break up.”
It was so embarrassing—Zhu Ran didn’t know why he’d cried so hard. Maybe he always felt like his current life was stolen, that he didn’t deserve such happiness.
Unable to console him with words, Huo Boyan used actions instead. He stripped away Zhu Ran’s thoughts with a deep kiss, immersing him in surging desire so he could no longer dwell on other worries.
Zhu Ran’s tears finally stopped, but those halted tears soon surged from elsewhere, wetting their bodies.
Huo Boyan didn’t go all the way this time. Last night had already made Zhu Ran suffer enough; he didn’t dare indulge himself again.
Satisfied and pampered, Zhu Ran finally felt better and bonelessly nestled into Huo Boyan’s arms. Though Zhu Ran was usually icy and stubborn as an ox—prone to outbursts when pushed—only Huo Boyan knew how soft, sweet, and adorable he was in the heat of romance.
Especially right after intimacy, when Zhu Ran was as obedient as a well-behaved Little Dog, eyes damp at the corners as he nuzzled into his embrace, clingy as could be, doing whatever he was told.
Huo Boyan held Zhu Ran in his arms and began talking about their future plans.
Though he loved teasing Zhu Ran with words, his actions were always thoughtful and steady. Rather than empty sweet nothings, he preferred to act. Generally, he wouldn’t say much until things were set.
But today, Huo Boyan made an exception and started planning their future.
Huo Boyan wanted to start living together with Zhu Ran as soon as possible. He also mentioned that once Zhu Ran’s mother softened her attitude, they could go abroad to register their marriage. Although it wouldn’t guarantee legal rights back home, at least it would put Wang Ruyun at ease and show her that they weren’t just playing around.
Huo Boyan also remembered that Zhu Ran had one more year before graduation. He said that he happened to have a new project in A City, and once he wrapped up his current affairs, he could shift the focus of both his work and life to A City. There would be no long-distance relationship.
Huo Boyan had planned out his entire life, and Zhu Ran’s figure appeared in every single one of those plans.
Zhu Ran buried his face in Huo Boyan’s chest, unable to stop himself from wanting to cry again.
He recalled how, before they had confirmed their relationship, he had come up with countless reasons to keep Huo Boyan at arm’s length—like an app that required users to agree to a “User Agreement for Dating Zhu Ran” before launch.
All those long-winded, stinky footnotes that no one ever bothered to read actually boiled down to one core question: Even with all these restrictions I have, are you still willing to use me?
Only now did Zhu Ran understand what he had truly wanted to say back then: I’m not a perfect person. I have flaws and unavoidable circumstances, along with plenty of worries and doubts. Even so, are you still willing to be with me? If you choose to be with me, you can’t leave me just because of these things.
Huo Boyan had read him like a book and given him his answer.
As Zhu Ran listened to Huo Boyan’s plans, he felt that happiness was so close at hand. Even the most severe crises seemed like no big deal in Huo Boyan’s eyes.
At least in that moment, he truly believed that nothing could separate them.
