Song Qiao’s body was completely stiff, her brain even blank for a mont, and her facial expression looked foolish.
For an instant, it felt like she was caught doing sothing wrong by the man all of a sudden.
But when the mories of previous incidents at the filming site and on the car surged in her mind, her consciousness snapped back to clarity, and her face turned pale as she instinctively started to struggle.
Seeing this, the man rely furrowed his brows imperceptibly, then turned over to press her beneath him, rubbing his head against her neck persistently, his voice deep and husky, betraying a sense of weariness, "Qiaoqiao, don’t move."
He hadn’t rested properly during this period, focusing all his energy on work to the point that the total hours of sleep over the past few days hadn’t surpassed twenty hours, barely sleeping three hours each day.
Finally having the woman by his side in bed, where he could hold her to sleep, he felt a comforting sense of security that settled his heart. He had managed to sleep just a few hours, but still felt a bit sleepy, especially with the natural scent of the woman’s body filling his senses, making him want to continue sleeping.
The man’s incredibly affectionate gestures made Song Qiao even more rigid, her limbs stiffening awkwardly.
Perhaps sensing her discomfort, Lu Jingchen, who was initially ready to continue sleeping and had closed his eyes, suddenly opened them again. His profound gaze reflected her sowhat pale face, furrowing his brows before flipping to sit beside her, embracing her into his arms with a very gentle voice, "What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell? Should I call the family doctor over now?"
Although he phrased it as a question, it sounded as if he was certain she felt unwell. He reached for the phone beside him, ready to call the doctor over.
Song Qiao, as though suddenly waking from a dream, fixed her gaze on the man unlocking his phone. She reached out to snatch the phone from him, her voice hoarse from crying herself to sleep and not having drunk any water yet, "I... I’m fine, not... not uncomfortable, just need to use the washroom..."
Upon hearing her words, Lu Jingchen paused in confusion, then humd in acknowledgnt and let her go, "Hmm, Mother Chen must have prepared the al by now, let’s go down to eat later."
Song Qiao did not respond and imdiately got out of bed by flipping off the covers.
But perhaps it was because she had maintained the sa position for too long, her feet felt numb. She cried out softly, failing to steady herself and suddenly plunged towards the floor.
The man’s gaze had been fixed on her all along. Seeing her about to fall, his pupils contracted, but her leap off the bed had been too quick for him to react in ti to catch her – only to hear a distinct ’thud’ as she hit the floor.
"Qiaoqiao!" Lu Jingchen’s face paled as he threw the covers aside and got out of bed, kneeling beside the woman who had fallen, reaching out to lift her up.
However, when Song Qiao saw the man’s outstretched hand, she scrambled up in a panic, retreating to avoid his touch as if suddenly frightened.
The distinct joints and slender fingers of his large hand suddenly halted mid-air, and the room fell into a deathly silence.
Ti seed to stand still until, at last, the man moved. As if he couldn’t see the resistance in the woman’s expression, he lifted her across his lap, sat her on the bed, then knelt down in front of her to take her pale foot onto his knee, beginning to knead and massage it.
"I... I’m okay, you don’t need to do this..." After a while, Song Qiao slowly ca back to her senses, her voice hoarse as though parched for a long ti, trying to reclaim her foot.
But the man instantly grasped her intention, tightening his hold to prevent her from moving, raising his eyes to et hers. His dark, profound pupils seed flooded with restrained emotion,
Song Qiao was once again frightened by his gaze, stiffening her body and no longer daring to move, obediently allowing him to massage her still numb foot.
A few minutes later, Song Qiao felt her foot was much better, but seeing that the man had not ceased his movents, she hesitated before finally speaking up, "I... I’m fine now, you don’t need to continue..."
The man’s hands paused, and he indeed let go of her foot. His head was still bowed, barely showing his facial expression, yet she could just see his forehead throbbing intensely, as if he was holding back so unspoken emotions.
Song Qiao watched him silently for a mont before finally standing up, stepping around the man and heading to the bathroom.
There was a large mirror inside the restroom. After stepping in, Song Qiao looked at her reflection with an exceedingly pale complexion and blinked, seemingly unable to react. It seed like the pale-faced woman in the mirror was herself. She didn’t know how long she had stood there until the familiar ringtone of a phone brought her back to reality. She glanced toward the door; the ringing continued without any other sounds coming from outside.
After turning on the faucet and splashing her face with water, she dried it off with a clean towel before walking out of the restroom.
The phone was charging on the nightstand. When she had gotten up, she hadn’t noticed a phone there, so it must have been Lu Jingchen who plugged it in for charging. She scanned the room and he was nowhere to be found—apparently, he had stepped out.
Their lifestyle as a couple had already changed. Ever since the incident at the wedding, Song Qiao knew clearly that they could not return to the past nor did they have a future.
The phone stopped vibrating, and the ringing ca to an abrupt end. Song Qiao regained her senses and walked over to pick it up just as another call ca through.
Looking at the number displayed, it was from Elder Mu. She quickly answered and said affectionately, "Grandpa, what’s up? Why are you calling ?"
On the other end, Elder Mu sounded in good spirits as he began, "Qiaoqiao, when do you get off work this afternoon? An old friend of mine is visiting today, and he will be staying for dinner tonight. I want to introduce you two. Also, I asked Aunt Zhang to buy a lot of your favorite dishes. Have the driver pick you up after work."
Song Qiao was startled, belatedly rembering that she had been brought back by Lu Jingchen. Song Xi was still at the filming site with only little Li accompanying her, and Song Qiao had no idea how things were. She was worried that the actresses who were jealous of Song Xi might find trouble with her in her absence.
After a silence of a dozen seconds, Song Qiao finally said, "I’ll just take a cab back after work. There’s no need for a driver to pick up."
"Alright, alright. Then be careful on the road, and rember to tell grandpa the taxi’s license plate number."
Song Qiao agreed and chatted with Elder Mu for a few more sentences before hanging up.
Right after the call ended, her phone started chiming with continuous ’beeps’ of missed calls and text ssage alerts. Song Qiao glanced at the numbers; they were from Lu An’an and Song Xi, with ssages also from both of them.
Casually scrolling through, both expressed worry. Having learned that she was taken back by Lu Jingchen, Song Xi was concerned that he might have done sothing to her, so she called and ssaged to check in.
As for Lu An’an, she was unable to reach Song Qiao at lunch and thought sothing might have happened, so she had called several tis and sent nurous ssages.
After a quick scan, Song Qiao directly called Song Xi back.
As soon as the call was answered, a girl’s voice said, "Hello, hi!"
The voice was very familiar. Song Qiao listened carefully and realized it was the assistant she had arranged for Song Xi a few days before. After pouring herself a glass of boiled water and taking a sip, Song Qiao spoke to the person on the other end, "This is Song Qiao."
The person on the other end seed surprised, taking a good while before nervously speaking, "Sister Song? Are you okay? Just now, Sister Song Xi was calling you nonstop, worried sothing had happened to you. She was nearly too anxious to shoot her scenes. The director just called her to film, do you need to get her for you right now?"
Hearing this, Song Qiao couldn’t help but feel touched. Song Xi had indeed been genuinely worried about her lately. After thinking for a mont, she said, "No need, just let her know that I’m fine when you see her. I didn’t answer her calls because my phone was dead."
The assistant acknowledged, expressing understanding.
Song Qiao gave her a few more instructions and then hung up the phone, before calling Lu An’an back.
After she finished the call and just as she set down the phone, she heard footsteps coming from behind her.
Over the past few months of living together, Song Qiao had grown accustod to Lu Jingchen’s footsteps and scent. She could recognize him approaching from a distance, so without even turning her head, she knew who it was.
The man stopped two or three steps behind her. In truth, he would have preferred to step forward, embrace her, and sll the natural scent of her body that brought him peace of mind. However, rembering how she reflexively dodged his touch just a short while ago, his sharply contoured features tensed up due to so inexplicable emotion, and after a long pause, he spoke, "The al is ready. You didn’t eat lunch; co downstairs and eat now."
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