Hearing You Say Love chapter 26

Bewitched

Zou Beiyuan found a house for Joyce near the gym, hired someone to clean it, and accompanied him to buy some daily necessities. Everything was settled by eight o’clock in the evening.

An hour ago, Su Ming had messaged him saying he was back in Chengdu. He was busy at the time and didn’t reply, but now he sent a voice message to Su Ming as he got in the car: “My coach is here, I was busy just now. Have you eaten yet?”

Su Ming quickly replied: [I’ve eaten. Are you done?]

Zou Beiyuan: “Yeah, I’m getting ready to go back now.”

Seeing the time, Su Ming realized it was their usual running time and pretended to be pitiful: [I’m so tired from driving today, I don’t want to run. Can we take a break today?]

Recently, Su Ming often found various excuses to be lazy. For example, the day before, his excuse was that he ate too much at dinner and couldn’t do intense exercise. The reason yesterday was that it was nearing the deadline, and he had to work overtime to draw.

Zou Beiyuan was extremely strict with his training, but he was relatively lenient with Su Ming. Even the voice message he sent back unconsciously carried a touch of tenderness: “Okay, no running today. You should rest early.”

Su Ming: [I still need to draw T^T]

Zou Beiyuan: “Didn’t you just submit a draft?”

Su Ming: [Drawing something else. Proud.jpg]

Zou Beiyuan couldn’t help but laugh; he knew what Su Ming was drawing.

On the way back to Tianhe Mansion, Zou Beiyuan called his grandmother.

“Happy Teacher’s Day, Teacher Song!” Zou Beiyuan continued the good mood from chatting with Su Ming, his voice full of laughter, “Did you receive the gift I sent you?”

Yesterday, Zou Beiyuan ordered some nutritional supplements for his grandmother and had them sent directly to Yishi.

“I received it this morning,” his grandmother sounded very happy too, “I told you not to buy those; I can’t finish them. Today, one of my students came to visit and brought me the same thing.”

“Alright, I’ll buy something else next time.”

Grandma let out a sigh, “It’d be better if you brought home a girlfriend earlier, that’s more important than buying anything.”

Here we go again.

Zou Beiyuan helplessly reminded her, “Teacher Song, I’m only 21.”

“You’re almost 22, aren’t you?” Grandma said, a bit annoyed. “Your mom had you by the time she was 22.”

Zou Beiyuan replied dismissively, “Times have changed…”

“No matter how much times change, people still need to get married and have children.”

“Yes, that’s true.”

“Who knows how long you’ll stay this time,” Grandma sighed. “That student who came to see me today is great in every way, with a good character and knows how to take care of others. If he were a girl, I’d introduce him to you. Maybe I’ll ask your aunt to keep an eye out at her workplace…”

Zou Beiyuan quickly interrupted, “I’ll find someone myself, don’t worry.”

“Have you really not met a girl you like after being out there for so long?”

“Really, I haven’t.”

“What about the second girl from the Jiang family? Don’t you two get along well?”

“You mean Jiang Mengyu? We’re just friends. There’s no way anything could happen.”

Clearly, he just wasn’t interested in girls.

Grandma sighed again, “Your mom passed away early, and your dad kept pushing you into that boxing thing, no one really cared for you as a child. Now, being alone out there, I still hope there’s someone to take care of you, someone to talk to when you’re lonely and to cook for you when you’re hungry.”

Zou Beiyuan thought to himself, There is someone like that, but unfortunately, he’s a guy. But he said aloud, “How can you say no one cares for me? Aren’t you the one who cares for me the most?”

“That’s different.”

Zou Beiyuan reassured her, “I’ll find someone sooner or later. Are you really worried I won’t be able to find a partner?”

Grandma still wasn’t convinced and nagged a little more, mostly about how she worried he had no one to take care of him. Zou Beiyuan listened patiently, making casual replies until he was almost home and finally hung up the phone.

After parking and going upstairs, it was nearly 9 p.m.

Zou Beiyuan pressed the doorbell of 1602.

Su Ming had just finished showering, his hair tied up in a short ponytail, without his glasses on, and a pleasant citrus scent on him.

Since that night when they stayed at the Hilton, something between them had changed, though neither could quite put a finger on what it was.

The most obvious change was that Zou Beiyuan increasingly treated Su Ming’s place like his own home.

After letting him in, Su Ming returned to his easel, while Zou Beiyuan changed his shoes and poured himself a glass of water.

The cup was something they had bought together at the supermarket not long ago, a matching set to Su Ming’s.

In the living room, by the floor-to-ceiling windows, Su Ming had cleared a space for his oil painting, so the place had been a bit messy lately.

Su Ming didn’t hide the fact that he was preparing a gift for Zou Beiyuan, so Zou Beiyuan had witnessed the entire creation process of this painting.

On the canvas was him in a boxing match, the painting nearly finished. Su Ming’s style was very realistic, different from the quick sketch he’d done that day, this time even the details were handled meticulously.

At first, Zou Beiyuan felt a bit embarrassed being painted, but Su Ming was serious and composed about it.

There were even times when Su Ming asked him to take off his shirt so he could accurately capture the flow and texture of his muscles.

Of course, Su Ming also touched him while observing, purely to make the painting more realistic. It wasn’t because he wanted to touch him on purpose—definitely not.

Standing behind Su Ming, Zou Beiyuan watched as he carefully detailed the texture of his skin with the brush, feeling as though Su Ming were painting directly on him.

At that moment, Su Ming suddenly stopped and looked up at him.

Zou Beiyuan was standing directly behind him, so when Su Ming tilted his head back, it rested against Zou Beiyuan’s abs. Zou Beiyuan lowered his head and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Su Ming didn’t do anything else, just stared at him intently, as if studying him.

The room was quiet, and in the distance, the giant screen of a mall flickered with multicolored lights, casting vibrant reflections on Su Ming’s face through the floor-to-ceiling windows.

In Su Ming’s bright, beautiful eyes, Zou Beiyuan saw his own reflection.

Maybe it was the lights or Su Ming’s gaze that bewitched him, but he found himself cupping Su Ming’s face.

As he leaned down, he felt Su Ming tense up for a moment, so his lips barely brushed Su Ming’s nose before he stopped.

Suddenly snapping back to reality.

“You got a little paint here.” Zou Beiyuan’s voice was hoarse.

He rubbed a nonexistent stain off Su Ming’s face, stood up straight, stepped back a little, and cleared his throat. “There, it’s all good now.”

Author’s note:

Su Ming: Someone, please push me into his arms…