Disobedience To Control chapter 57

Are You Not Interested?

Spring was coming to an end, and the weather was getting hotter. Yang Xiaobei finally went back to the hospital for a comprehensive check-up. Song Siheng didn’t enter the consultation room but stood outside waiting for him.

Fu Xuehua seemed to completely forget what happened in the operating room and calmly went through all the examination reports: “The recovery is going well. If there are any discomforts in daily life, you can come for a follow-up consultation.”

Yang Xiaobei immediately nodded repeatedly and dashed off.

Fu Xuehua watched his retreating figure and turned to the intern beside her, saying, “Young people indeed have good physical strength.”

May arrived, and Li Ke returned to the company, a whole week earlier than Song Siheng had anticipated.

Song Siheng noticed that Li Ke had deliberately cut his hair short and changed into a shirt and trousers that he had never seen before.

“Feeling better?” Song Siheng opened the office door for him.

Li Ke quickly stepped aside to let Song Siheng enter first, then nodded slightly, “Much better.”

After Li Ke sat down, he opened his computer bag and took out his laptop, eagerly asking Song Siheng, “Any meetings scheduled for today? Shall I go over them with you in advance?”

“No rush, you just returned, take your time to adjust,” Song Siheng walked back to his seat. “Xu Zhu from HR has already made arrangements.”

Li Ke’s fingers paused for a moment, then he quickly got up from his chair, “You haven’t bought coffee yet, I’ll go get it for you…”

“Oh.” Song Siheng hadn’t had a chance to stop him before he had already left the office.

Fifteen minutes later, Li Ke came back with a cup of iced coffee.

“It’s hot out, so I got you an iced one, double shot.” With that, he placed the paper cup on Song Siheng’s desk and then turned back to his own seat.

“By the way, Jin Shuming is planning to launch a new product next month. Shall we go over the production plan?”

“Li Ke,” Song Siheng stopped him from continuing, “I already said, it’s your first day back, take it easy.”

Li Ke was stunned, and after half a minute, he reacted and rubbed his nose with his palm, “I understand.”

“We have a budget meeting at ten. You’ll come with me. Xu Zhu has already arranged it. Just listen in and take notes for now.”

“…Okay.” Li Ke finished speaking and lowered his eyelids, his fingers pausing on the keyboard without moving.

The ten o’clock meeting wasn’t too complicated, mainly discussing the plans for the new production line and the need to create a new budget for it.

As usual, Li Ke sat in the seat next to Song Siheng, and the other executives greeted him one by one when they saw he had returned to work.

The meeting wasn’t long, and Li Ke’s fingers were busy typing notes throughout.

Half an hour later, as the meeting concluded, Song Siheng turned to him, “Did you understand everything?”

Li Ke nodded, “Yes. I’ll have a separate discussion with the CFO later.”

Song Siheng furrowed his brows slightly, “The CFO just confirmed that in the meeting, and he was also present.”

Li Ke hesitated for a moment, then looked up and saw the CFO sitting across from him, adjusting his glasses and looking at him.

Li Ke quickly nodded apologetically, “Sorry.”

After the meeting, Song Siheng walked at the back of the crowd, with Li Ke beside him.

It wasn’t until the other executives had returned to their offices that Song Siheng stopped in his tracks, turned around, and blocked Li Ke’s path, “Do you want to take some more time off?”

Li Ke stubbornly shook his head, “I’m fine.”

“You really are fine.”

Li Ke was somewhat surprised, looking up at him.

“But I think you should take some more time off, go on a trip or find something else to do. It might be better that way.”

Li Ke stood still, his gaze losing focus. After about ten seconds, he looked back at Song Siheng, “Give me a few days to ease into it. Maybe I haven’t fully adapted since I just returned.”

Seeing his determination, Song Siheng didn’t insist further, patting his shoulder, “Alright.”

After work that day, Song Siheng received a WeChat message from Yang Xiaobei.

“I’m done with my training. What about you?”

Since Yang Xiaobei had his stitches removed, his daily life had become much easier. He had mentioned to Song Siheng once that he wanted to end his medical leave and move back to the dormitory, but Song Siheng had refused.

Song Siheng wasn’t particularly altruistic; he had just made a promise to Yang Xiaobei when he was admitted to the hospital, vowing to compensate him. Sending him back to the dormitory to live alone was obviously not the attitude of someone fulfilling a promise.

Moreover, it was difficult to discern the truth from Yang Xiaobei’s words. In case he really sent him back to the dormitory and he disappeared again, it would be a loss outweighing the gain.

But why was he afraid that Yang Xiaobei wouldn’t contact him? Song Siheng couldn’t figure out the reason himself. There had been too many things happening during this period, and he didn’t want to delve into it anymore. Going with the flow seemed fine for now.

However, there was one thing that both of them tacitly avoided.

Although Yang Xiaobei went through a major surgery, they were both still young and spirited. Sharing a bed every day, it was impossible for them to completely keep their hands to themselves.

But Song Siheng had become increasingly busy with work recently, and considering that Yang Xiaobei’s body still needed a long time to recover, he couldn’t afford any mishaps, so he could only pretend to be indifferent.

On this end, Song Siheng quickly replied to the WeChat message: “I’m done too. Do you want me to pick you up?”

“No need, I’ll take a taxi back.” It was the familiar tone again.

Song Siheng clicked his tongue and replied, “Stay put, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

Twenty minutes later, on the roadside near the rehabilitation center, under a tall tree, a person leaned against the trunk, head down and wearing headphones.

Song Siheng stepped on the brakes, lightly honking the horn.

Beep—

The person under the tree finally looked up and glanced over in this direction.

Their eyes met, and Yang Xiaobei smiled, walking over with ease, and smoothly opening the passenger door to sit in.

“Didn’t you say you’d take a cab?” Song Siheng asked as he fastened his seatbelt.

“Didn’t you say you’d come pick me up?” Yang Xiaobei replied, shaking his head.

“What did the rehabilitation doctor say today?”

“It’s alright, there aren’t any problems with the basic lightweights now.” Yang Xiaobei took out a stack of monitoring reports. “Jogging is also fine, but I’m still not sure about fast running and jumping.”

“Listen to the doctor, take it slow, no rush,” Song Siheng stepped on the gas pedal, and the car moved back onto the main road. “By the way, did he say when you can start swimming?”

Yang Xiaobei suddenly froze for a moment, then replied after a few seconds, “I can swim now.”

Song Siheng made a right turn with one hand, turning the car into the right lane. “Right, there’s a clubhouse underneath our neighborhood. They have a swimming pool, and it should be open in the evening. Do you want to try it out? Get a feel for it?”

But Yang Xiaobei remained silent for about half a minute.

Song Siheng took advantage of the red light to turn his head and look at him. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, let’s go then.” Yang Xiaobei lowered his head and smiled.

At the clubhouse pool that night, there was only one resident floating in the shallow area with a swimming ring, while the fast lane remained empty.

“Just right, not many people here,” Song Siheng patted his back. “Are you going to change into swimming trunks?”

“Aren’t you coming?” Yang Xiaobei looked at him.

“I’ll pass. I’ll watch you from above.” Song Siheng said as he found a chair by the poolside and sat down.

Five minutes later, Yang Xiaobei changed into his swimming trunks. Under the bright lights, the long scar on his body looked somewhat glaring.

He walked to the edge of the pool, took a deep breath, and stared at the deep blue water, remaining silent for a long time.

“What’s wrong?” Song Siheng asked when he saw he hadn’t moved.

Yang Xiaobei shook his head slightly. “Nothing.”

Then he stretched his body a few times, and the scar twisted along with his muscles.

This time, instead of jumping into the water as usual, Yang Xiaobei slowly waded into the water along the pool’s edge. He tightened his swimming cap and then closed his eyes.

Splash—A sound of water splashing, and Yang Xiaobei submerged himself.

Song Siheng saw his slender body floating in the water for a moment and breathed a sigh of relief.

However, just three seconds later, as Yang Xiaobei was about to raise his right arm and prepare to turn his shoulders, he suddenly slapped the water and grabbed the float, popping out of the water.

“Huh—huh—” Yang Xiaobei’s breath was rapid, followed by a few violent coughs.

Song Siheng quickly stood up and reached out to pull him up. “Are you choking?!”

Yang Xiaobei didn’t respond, nor did he grasp his hand. After taking several deep breaths, he dove back into the water again.

But the result was the same a few seconds later. He burst out of the water again, grabbing the float.

“What’s wrong?” Song Siheng asked.

Yang Xiaobei shook his head. “I’ll try again.”

And so it went, repeatedly diving into the water, repeatedly surfacing, water splashing and dispersing.

This repeated over a dozen times.

Twenty minutes later, Yang Xiaobei abruptly tore off his swimming cap and threw it onto the shore with a slap.

The spotlights shone on his head, and the water droplets sparkled. He shook his head to shake off the water droplets, his Adam’s apple rolling several times, but he didn’t speak again, just silently climbed out of the pool.

“I’ll go change.” Yang Xiaobei left with only this sentence, walking back to the locker room alone.

Song Siheng didn’t linger and followed him into the locker room. The exhaust fan above was whirring, and the locker room was dimly lit by two yellow ceiling lights.

Yang Xiaobei picked up a white towel nearby and vigorously rubbed his head.

The large locker room was filled only with the sound of towel rubbing.

“Haven’t recovered yet? Or too tired?” Song Siheng walked past him, casually took the towel from his hand.

“I don’t know.” Yang Xiaobei shook his head slightly. “Let’s go back to sleep.”

Song Siheng nodded. He had spent the whole afternoon at the rehabilitation center today, and his body might indeed be a bit tired.

Yang Xiaobei walked ahead with his familiar sports backpack on his back. The light from the street lamp shone from one side, intermittently illuminating his shoulders.

Song Siheng walked behind him with his hands in his coat pockets. Neither of them spoke again.

The door at home opened, and Yang Xiaobei sat on the dining chair for a while, heating up a cup of milk for himself.

Song Siheng glanced at him and then went to the bathroom to take a shower. When he came out after washing, Yang Xiaobei was still sitting there alone, unusually quiet.

Until the bedroom light dimmed, Song Siheng finally heard the sound of the bedroom door opening and closing.

Then the blanket was lifted from behind, carrying a faint smell of lemons. A warm figure slowly approached, without any preamble.

Song Siheng cleared his throat, wanting to turn around and continue the previous topic, wanting to ask him what was wrong earlier and why he couldn’t swim. But after a rustling sound, the person behind him reached out his arm and pressed it against his back, resting his head on his neck.

Song Siheng felt the texture of his skin, and with a glance, Yang Xiaobei wasn’t wearing a shirt.

Then, a muffled voice came, “After all this time, don’t you want to do it at all?”