Chapter 45#

Chapter 45 Side Story — Twenty

Mo Zi’s body was slowly recovering, and she was transferred from the ICU to a general ward. The smile on Xiao Jun’s face grew more and more, but the mental state of Pei Hao and Mo Xi was getting worse. Mo Xi had been taking cold showers for almost a week, and his cold was getting worse. Coughing and a runny nose were minor issues; yesterday he started to have a low fever, his head was dizzy, and he couldn’t write a single line of code after staring at the computer for half the night. When he went back to the guesthouse to sleep this morning, the air conditioner wouldn’t turn on, and his whole body was cold. Wrapping himself in two quilts was useless, and his face felt hot in waves.

Mo Xi called the front desk and asked why the air conditioner was broken. The girl replied calmly: “It’s normal. Wait a bit longer, someone will come to fix it tomorrow. Or change to another room tomorrow? It’s fully booked today.”

“Damn!” Mo Xi, who had a good temper for ten thousand years, was also anxious. He thought, get lost, he must change to another place to live tomorrow. Mo Xi forced himself to go out and buy a box of fever reducers, took a few pills, wrapped himself in the quilt, and fell into a deep sleep.

In the evening, Pei Hao waited in the hospital until eleven o’clock, but Mo Xi still hadn’t come. Usually, he arrived at nine o’clock, and his phone was turned off when called. He felt something was wrong, greeted Xiao Jun, took a taxi to the place where Mo Xi lived, and knocked on the door for a long time before the person inside slowly opened it to let him in.

Mo Xi had a groggy dream. In the dream, there was a chaotic universe and blurred earth. He was chased everywhere by a bunch of disgusting-looking monsters. While fleeing for his life, he suddenly heard a “thump thump” knock on the door outside. He climbed out of bed in a trance, his head very heavy. It took him a minute to distinguish between reality and dream, and then he realized that the person knocking on the door outside was Pei Hao. As soon as he stood up, he felt weak all over and couldn’t find a fulcrum, almost falling down. From the bedside to the door, just a few steps away, he felt like he had walked for a long time.

As soon as he opened the door, his legs went weak, and he quickly grabbed the chair next to him and sat down.

“What’s wrong with you?” Pei Hao was startled looking at the pale person in front of him.

Mo Xi looked up, his face covered with fine beads of sweat, and the shirt on his back was soaked. He changed to a posture where his back wouldn’t stick to the chair and opened his mouth uncomfortably: “Not feeling well.”

Pei Hao stepped forward and touched his forehead. It was burning hot, and his whole face was flushed red. His heart tightened, and he immediately put a coat and shoes on Mo Xi, picked him up cleanly in his arms, and went straight to the hospital.

The doctor said Mo Xi had a severe cold and a fever of 40 degrees, and needed to take medicine and get an IV immediately.

After Pei Hao fed him the medicine, he called Xiao Jun and said there might be no one with Mo Zi tonight, so Xiao Jun went to keep watch for another night.

Mo Xi slept for a long time. He vaguely remembered that Pei Hao had been holding his hand by the side, said a lot of things, and seemed to have leaned over and kissed him, but he wasn’t sure if it was reality or hallucination, so he just treated it as if it never happened.

When he woke up, it was already noon the next day. The high fever had subsided a lot. Although his whole body was still sweating, his mind was much clearer than last night. Pei Hao was lying by his bed, eyes slightly closed, breathing shallowly, and one palm was still under the hand where he was getting the IV. Once when he had a cold before, he said the hand getting the IV was cold, so Pei Hao put his hand under it until he finished the infusion. He didn’t expect him to remember such a small thing.

At this moment, Pei Hao under his eyelids, with hair scattered over his furrowed brows, had a pale face, not much better than him, the patient.

Mo Xi unconsciously wanted to smooth his furrowed brows, but his fingers stopped abruptly a foot away from the center of his eyebrows. What standing did he have to do such an intimate action to Pei Hao? They were nothing now.

He retracted his hand and patted his forehead hard. He was really confused by the fever.

Pei Hao was awakened by the movement on his head, opened his eyes lazily, saw Mo Xi hitting his head, and looked at him worriedly: “Headache?”

“A little.” Mo Xi turned his face away, not daring to look directly into his eyes.

“Then I’ll go call the doctor.” Pei Hao stood up and prepared to go out.

“Don’t!” Mo Xi grabbed the corner of his clothes, pulled him back, and then found an excuse: “I want to drink water.”

“Okay.” After speaking, Pei Hao went to mix a cup of warm water for him, shook it a few times, and fed it to his mouth personally. While feeding, he still remembered his headache, “If your head hurts, I’ll go find the doctor.”

“No need for now.” Mo Xi waved his hand, his eyes drifting.

Halfway through drinking the water, Pei Hao received a call. He briefly replied with a few “mm”, then reported the ward number, and hung up quickly.

Mo Xi asked him: “Who is coming?”

“Colleague, sending materials over.” Pei Hao said.

Mo Xi suddenly remembered that today was Monday, and Pei Hao should go to work. He turned to ask Pei Hao: “Aren’t you going to the company?”

Pei Hao propped his forehead with one hand and smiled: “What do you think? Who will take care of you if I leave?”

“Oh,” Mo Xi lowered his head and muttered to himself, “Won’t die anyway.”

When Chen Xu went to work in the morning, he heard that Pei Hao had asked for a week’s leave from the company, and suddenly felt that this week was particularly long. While he was listlessly editing documents, he suddenly received a text message from Pei Hao asking him to send some materials to the hospital, and instantly the whole person came alive.

He thought Pei Hao was sick, so he carefully selected some fruits and snacks on the way to the hospital. He didn’t know Pei Hao’s private circle of friends, nor did he know if he had a partner now, or even if Pei Hao liked men. He only knew that he seemed to have fallen out with his family, so he came to their company. If no one cared about Pei Hao during this time, did he have a chance to take advantage of the situation?

The ward was on the sixth floor. When Chen Xu walked to the door carrying heavy fruits and materials, he froze there. Pei Hao had his back to him, holding a cup of water and feeding the person on the hospital bed. On the bed was a handsome boy in his early twenties. He couldn’t see Pei Hao’s expression clearly, only heard his gentle laughter. The usually cold Pei Hao was smiling gently at that person.

The boy on the bed seemed to notice him, nudged Pei Hao, looked at where he was standing, and asked: “Your colleague?”

Pei Hao turned his head, greeted Chen Xu to come in, saw him carrying so much food, and was a little surprised in his eyes: “Why did you buy so many things?”

“I thought you were sick,” Chen Xu touched his head embarrassedly, covering his awkwardness and embarrassment with a smile, “Anyway, I brought them, just give them to your friend.”

Pei Hao brought him a chair and said half-jokingly and half-seriously: “Take them back, lest Sister Fu says I accepted bribes.”

Actually, these fruits didn’t cost much. He just didn’t want to get too close to others in the company, especially Chen Xu. Pei Hao always felt that there was something indescribable in Chen Xu’s eyes recently when looking at him, but Chen Xu was very restrained, and he couldn’t be completely sure if the guy had thoughts about him in that way.

“Oh.” Chen Xu was a little frustrated. Pei Hao always rejected him in various ways, seeming unwilling to have any connection with him outside of work. He always thought Pei Hao was cold and distant to everyone, until today he discovered that he could also smile so brightly at someone.

“These are the materials you wanted.” Chen Xu took out a pile of papers from his bag and handed them to Pei Hao.

Pei Hao took them, flipped through them in his hand, confirmed they were correct, smiled faintly at Chen Xu, and said: “Thank you.”

The moment Chen Xu looked up, he rarely met Pei Hao’s smiling eyes. His heart beat suddenly accelerated, and his mind went blank. He was stunned for a few seconds before coming back to his senses and saying no need. After speaking, he touched his face with the back of his hand and found it was a little hot from shyness.

Chen Xu looked at the ground guiltily, praying that Pei Hao wouldn’t see through his little thoughts.

Pei Hao didn’t notice these details at all, but Mo Xi’s face on the bed suddenly darkened. Chen Xu’s fleeting emotions were captured by his eyes without missing a single one. That green and love-filled look, he seemed to see himself seven years ago. Carefully holding the lover on the tip of his heart, madly adoring but finding it hard to speak out. He understood this feeling better than anyone.

Less than five minutes after Chen Xu entered the door, Mo Xi was sure that he liked Pei Hao. Just like the afternoon when Mo Xi first met Pei Hao, it took less than five minutes from noticing to confirming that he fell in love with Pei Hao.

Love at first sight, a glance for ten thousand years, wishful thinking, then being ignored, hurt, and finally spending a few years or even decades to forget.

This was his humble love.

Logically speaking, whoever liked Pei Hao should have nothing to do with him, but Mo Xi felt a burst of irritability for no reason. He knew he shouldn’t be like this, but he couldn’t control it. Pei Hao chatted casually with Chen Xu for a few sentences, turned around and found Mo Xi sitting there with a cold face without speaking, so he reached out to touch his forehead and asked worriedly: “What, headache again?”

Chen Xu’s eyelids jumped. Pei Hao’s gentle and intimate attitude towards this person made him a little envious, and even a trace of jealousy.

“I’m fine, just a little sleepy,” Mo Xi sorted out his emotions, changed his expression, smiled at the young boy in front of him, and said, “You guys chat slowly, I’ll sleep for a while.”

“Okay, rest well.” Chen Xu nodded. For some reason, he felt that the person on the bed didn’t seem very happy to see him.

Chen Xu didn’t chat with Pei Hao for long before leaving, because Pei Hao’s full attention was on the person on the bed. After saying a few words to him, he would turn his head to take a look, confirming that the person was sleeping well and nothing else was wrong. Until he went out, Pei Hao was still tucking the quilt for that person, and his eyes didn’t move to his side at all.

If he hadn’t greeted him first, Chen Xu would have suspected that he had recognized the wrong person. When had he ever seen Pei Hao care so much about someone else?

That night Chen Xu didn’t sleep well. Thinking of the look in Pei Hao’s eyes when looking at that person, he faintly felt that he had no chance. But he still held a little hope. What if that person was his brother?

He decided to find a chance to figure out the relationship between Pei Hao and that person.