Chapter 21: The Yearning of Twenty Summers

In *Inception*, there is a rule that when someone becomes weightless, they wake from the dream.

So... had that guy figured out that I was pretending to sleep?

Lying on the guest-room bed, hiding beneath the covers and lost in thought, the girl, Shen Yuna, brooded over everything that had just happened.

Sleeping with her head on the desk had been uncomfortable, so after barely an hour, she had actually already woken up.

But the moment she opened her eyes, she saw Director Xia sitting nearby, silently staring at his computer as he edited a document.

The earnest concentration in his eyes made his profile especially attractive. She merely wanted to steal a few more glances, so Shen Yuna continued holding the same position as when she had been asleep, blinking as she watched Xia Xing's every move.

Unexpectedly, as though they shared some kind of telepathy, Director Xia finished his work at that very moment and turned to look at her.

Sensing that something was wrong, Shen Yuna immediately squeezed her eyes shut, trying to fool him by pretending to be asleep.

Who could have guessed that Director Xia... after trying several times to wake her without success, would simply pick her up and carry her straight into the guest room, where he placed her on the bed with its mattress already laid out?

Shen Yuna tried her best to act as though she were asleep, but her performance was obviously still far too clumsy.

The instant she became weightless, she instinctively shifted all her weight against Director Xia, and for safety's sake, her hands naturally wound around his neck.

Although she had kept her eyes tightly closed, too afraid to face him directly, Shen Yuna could tell from the sudden pause in his movements and the violently pounding heart beneath her that he had already seen through her little trick.

But since neither of them knew how they ought to face the other, the two fully conscious people tacitly began pretending not to understand.

Shen Yuna kept her eyes shut, pressing her face against his tank top and feeling the warmth radiating from his slightly raised muscles, along with the rhythm of his heartbeat.

Xia Xing, meanwhile, felt the softness and lightness in his arms and hurried nervously into the guest room.

He gently set the girl down, pulled the blanket over her, plugged in Shen Yuna's phone, and then fled at top speed as though escaping the scene.

That Director Xia... truly felt different from all the colleagues, friends, and classmates she had known before.

He was remarkably attentive in all the little details of daily life, poised and generous when handling work, and even considerate of other people's feelings.

But when it came to intimate relationships... he was extremely strange, carrying a contradictory air that was both mature and childish.

He could tease someone without meaning to. The amusement that occasionally surfaced during meetings, the sudden closeness beneath that hat at the Night Owl Night Market, the coy yet receptive way he had responded when Shen Yuna tugged at his sleeve while they were shopping...

All of it really made Shen Yuna want to tease him a little.

No, rather than merely teasing him, it was more accurate to say that she could not help wanting to test the waters along this dangerous boundary.

And in the moment he had just lifted her into his arms, Shen Yuna finally reached the conclusion she had always been afraid to face.

---

Although nothing major seemed to have happened, without realizing it, Shen Yuna had begun looking forward to running into him by chance and imagining that the two of them might share experiences belonging exclusively to them...

But what was he thinking? He must also be troubled, just like her, over how the two of them should continue getting along, right?

From her initial curiosity about the seemingly stern Director Xia, to her repeated discoveries of the amusing sides of him, and finally to wondering what he was thinking...

Everything had happened so naturally that she could not help suspecting he might be an expert at romance.

Was he? No, surely not...

Or was he?

Hiding beneath the covers, the girl twisted the ends of her hair around her finger, turning them in circles as she sank into the belated troubles of a twenty-year-old.

---

It really was a night that made sleep impossible.

When Xia Xing had held Shen Yuna in his arms, she had been like a little furnace, warming his chest until it burned.

That strange feeling kept him awake for a long time.

So he rose early, intending to use the sleepless hours to make breakfast for the three of them.

It was only five-thirty in the morning. He had plenty of time to make mistakes and start over.

But after washing up and putting on an apron, he opened his door and happened to come face-to-face with Shen Yuna, a tuft of hair standing straight up from her head.

The two of them stood in their respective doorways. Their gazes met, and they spoke at the same time.

“Did you sleep well last night?”

“Why are you up so early?”

“I recover most of my energy after sleeping for a little while.”

“That’s good. I slept better than I do in the dormitory.”

They both noticed the dark circles beneath the other’s eyes. Once they realized that the other was lying as well, they exchanged knowing smiles.

The relaxed atmosphere dissolved the awkwardness between them.

“You don’t even have toothpaste in the guest room.”

Turning her face aside as though she intended to borrow toothpaste from Xia Xing’s bedroom, Shen Yuna cast a sidelong glance at him in his apron.

A young man dressed in a tank top and an apron, with long arms and legs and smooth, well-defined muscles, would score highly by any standard.

“There’s a new tube here.”

Xia Xing took a fresh tube from the cabinet, but Shen Yuna waved it away.

“Why open another one? That would be such a waste.”

Nimbly squeezing the half-used toothpaste onto her toothbrush, Shen Yuna brushed her teeth while pushing Xia Xing toward the kitchen.

After the bridal carry the previous day, she had gradually found the courage to make more intimate gestures toward him.

Her hand landed on Xia Xing’s waist, where she could feel the firm, substantial solidity of his body. With her cheeks puffed full of toothpaste, she mumbled something about making breakfast.

Pushed along by a girl whose body carried the scent of oranges, Xia Xing did not resist.

Using the pots, pans, and dishes they had bought the day before, Xia Xing followed a tutorial and attempted to prepare his first breakfast.

After washing up, Shen Yuna did not obediently sit in the dining room and wait. Instead, she silently took up a position beside Xia Xing, occasionally helping him with one thing or another.

Xia Xing had just cracked an egg into the frying pan before turning to prepare the lettuce and bread. Shen Yuna immediately took the spatula from him and flipped the egg, which was on the verge of burning.

When Xia Xing turned back and noticed what she had done, his heart seemed to miss a beat. For one fleeting moment, he experienced the feeling of domestic life.

As the girl swept back her falling hair, she focused her attention on the milk heating on the other side. With her pale hand, she scooped up a spoonful and tested its temperature.

Just right.

Noticing Xia Xing’s gaze, Shen Yuna, who had already decided the previous night to try drawing a little closer to him, pretended to remain calm as she helped him arrange all the prepared breakfast on plates.

“What is it? Why do you keep staring at me?”

“Sorry... I don’t know. I just got lost looking at you.”

Just as the kitchen was filled with warmth, Park Semin, who had spent the night lying in the living room, slowly woke up.

He rubbed his eyes, which had not yet fully recovered, and looked toward the kitchen at the man and woman who appeared remarkably close.

Once his vision came into focus, Park Semin let out a howl.

“Xingchan, what the hell are you doing?”