Chapter 10#
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Zhou Yun went to bed early and woke up at 7 the next day, running over to knock on their door. She knew that with the two of them shut in one room, nothing good could have happened, so she didn’t go inside—just asked through the door what time they were leaving.
Half a minute later, Zhou Yan came out, wrapped in a crumpled bathrobe that looked like it had been thrown on the floor and stepped on. He closed the door behind him and told Zhou Yun to keep it down, telling her to go down to the buffet restaurant for breakfast first.
Zhou Yun gave a flat “oh” and pointed at the door to ask what about Song Zhiyan.
“He’s sleeping, not awake yet,” Zhou Yan said. “I’ll order room service for him later.”
“Then I’m not going either. My leg hurts.” Zhou Yun sat on the sofa and rolled her eyes. “Running up and down is such a pain.”
“Didn’t Liang Yi say your leg was fine now?” Zhou Yan looked at the leg exposed below her nightgown. The scar from surgery had already faded, showing no sign it had ever been injured. “Still hurts?”
“It hurts. It just hurts.” Zhou Yun’s mood came and went as she pleased. She picked up the TV remote and threatened her brother. “Ask me again and I’ll turn on the TV. Don’t blame me if I wake someone up.”
“…Then just order whatever you want.” Zhou Yan was speechless too. “I’m going back to sleep.”
“Pervert,” Zhou Yun snorted coldly.
“Psycho.” Zhou Yan closed the door.
When he got back to the bedside, he realized Song Zhiyan was awake—he hadn’t opened his eyes, but he’d revealed himself by flinching away when Zhou Yan reached over to hug him.
“What are you dodging for?” Zhou Yan deliberately held Song Zhiyan tighter and bit his lip in retaliation. “Don’t make me mad.”
“…I-I’m not dodging.” Song Zhiyan hadn’t been fully awake just now; of course he’d be scared when someone suddenly came over to hug him. But he knew Zhou Yan wouldn’t believe that if he said it directly, so he could only stammer out an excuse. “Didn’t you throw this bathrobe on the floor last night? I-I’m not wearing any clothes yet—if you get me all dirty, I’ll have to take another shower…”
“Then we’ll shower together,” Zhou Yan pushed his tongue into Song Zhiyan’s mouth, kissing him while reaching a hand down. “One more round.”
Song Zhiyan didn’t want to, but he was no match for Zhou Yan’s strength. In the end, he let himself be half-pushed into it, and only after they’d done it once in bed did Zhou Yan carry him out to shower.
Zhou Yun was sitting at the dining table eating breakfast and glanced over from a distance. Song Zhiyan had his back to her and didn’t see, but Zhou Yan did—and stepped into the bathroom, slamming the door shut just before Zhou Yun raised her phone to take a photo.
It was almost 8:30 by the time they finished showering. Two freshly delivered breakfast plates were laid out on the table, ordered by Zhou Yun. She stood nearby with her hands on her hips, looking impatient, supervising them as they ate quickly so they wouldn’t hold up her fun plans for the day.
Zhou Yan finished faster than Song Zhiyan. After eating, he went into the bathroom for a bit, where the faint buzz of an electric razor drifted out. Song Zhiyan glanced over and remembered that during their kiss just now, he’d complained about Zhou Yan’s stubble prickling him. He wondered if that was the reason—then silently buried his head and took a big bite of his sandwich.
“What are you doing, face all red like that.” Zhou Yun looked at him with disdain. “Morning exercise wasn’t intense enough? Now you’re fantasizing about my brother in your head?”
“…cough cough.” Song Zhiyan struggled to swallow what was in his mouth and changed the subject with obvious guilt. “Why are you up so early today?”
“I wake up at this time every day.” Zhou Yun picked up a french fry and chewed on it. “Even when I’m home, there’s nothing to do once I’m up, so I might as well stay in bed.”
Song Zhiyan gave an “oh.” “Why won’t they let you go out?”
“Afraid I’ll suddenly lose my mind on the way, I guess.” Zhou Yun curled her lips in a smile, her cherry-colored lipstick making her beautiful face look even paler. “I mean, locked up at home I still managed to go jump off a building. If I went out and jumped off a car or a bridge, that’d be news material right away.”
Song Zhiyan had heard about this before, so he didn’t look too surprised—he just naturally followed her lead and asked, “Can I know what… condition you have?”
“Princess syndrome, haha.” Zhou Yun poked Song Zhiyan’s nose. “Why’s a little brother like you asking so many questions? Hurry up and eat. If we can’t get out the door by 9, I’ll change today’s itinerary to a visit to your mom’s place.”
Song Zhiyan had no choice but to stop asking. He sped through the rest of his sandwich and went back to the room to get ready.
The three of them set off right on time at 9, took a cab across most of the city to reach the shuttle station inside the Happy World resort area, then after transferring rode for nearly another ten minutes before finally arriving at the amusement park entrance, ready to have their tickets scanned.
With the shopping experience at the mall yesterday, Song Zhiyan wasn’t surprised that Zhou Yun had chosen to come to an amusement park. But he couldn’t help thinking that with his heart condition, he probably couldn’t ride any of these rides that went up in the sky and plunged into the water as far as the eye could see.
“First the Drop Tower, then the Ten Loops and the motorbike coaster, then the U-shaped slide and the Giant Pendulum… yeah, let’s get through the ones that might make you puke before eating.” Zhou Yun had a sun hat with bear ears on her head, bought just now from the shop at the entrance, and chattered excitedly as she walked. “If you two are scared, you don’t have to ride, but you have to wait for me down below. You can take photos of me too, heehee.”
When she was in a good mood, she had a bit more liveliness than usual. Even though she still liked bossing people around, the smile on her face was as sunny and cute as a girl next door—the kind that could easily soften anyone’s heart.
“I…”
“He’s not riding.” Zhou Yan made the decision for Song Zhiyan with a blank expression. “If you’re scared, then don’t ride.”
The implication was: don’t ask him to accompany her.
“Who’s scared? So boring.” Zhou Yun couldn’t be bothered with him and went to queue up with her own combo ticket. “You two wait outside for me then. Don’t go running off on your own date now—if I can’t find you, I’ll unbuckle my safety harness up there.”
That sounded alarming. Zhou Yan ignored her, but he still took Song Zhiyan’s hand and led him over to a railing on the other side where Zhou Yun could see them, and stood there. When they’d held hands, Song Zhiyan hadn’t noticed—by the time he realized, Zhou Yan had already let go, saying something like “there were too many people just now, afraid we’d get separated” as an explanation of sorts, without even looking at him.
Song Zhiyan interpreted this strange, out-of-character gesture from Zhou Yan as retaliation for Zhou Yun forcing him to fake-kiss last night.
So when the coaster slowly climbed to the highest point of the track, paused, then plunged downward at full speed, and Zhou Yan tilted his head and kissed him amidst the screaming that swelled from far to near—Song Zhiyan only froze for a moment before accepting it, and wanted to use the gap between breaths to tell Zhou Yan that the coaster was going too fast, so there was no way Zhou Yun could see them.
Besides, they were both wearing baseball caps.
But Zhou Yan didn’t give him the chance. The deep, lingering kiss didn’t end until the coaster came to a stop. The instigator turned back around as if nothing had happened, watching the exit doors about to open, while the one who’d been bullied buried his face under the brim of his cap, the ears left exposed burning red-hot.
“So fun, so fun! Even more thrilling than jumping off a building!” Zhou Yun was delighted enough that she didn’t even mind having seen what they’d done. She grabbed one of each of their arms and dragged them along. “Hurry up, we’ve got to go queue! Kiss again over at the Ten Loops!”
Today was pretty sweet, heehee.