Seventh Year Of Separation chapter 36
Stay with Me Tonight
Li Zhao used to play soccer often after class, a habit he maintained until he entered university.
Gu Jiahe would often go to the law school’s football field in the afternoons when he had no classes to find him.
What Gu Jiahe remembered most deeply was Li Zhao running towards him against the backdrop of the setting sun, shaking the sweat off his head, and then the two of them sitting together as the sun set, with Gu Jiahe hearing Li Zhao’s breathing right by his ear.
From that time on, Gu Jiahe felt as if his heart had been crawled over by countless ants.
For some unknown reason, one afternoon he recorded that audio.
Their first time happened when they were freshmen in college. It hadn’t been long since they got together, and they hadn’t rented the little house to live together yet.
One late autumn afternoon, Gu Jiahe took an hour-long bus ride to Li Zhao’s school to wait for him after class.
When Li Zhao came out of the university gate, it was only three o’clock in the afternoon. Li Zhao grabbed his hand and hailed a taxi. He didn’t say where they were going, and the car turned into the city center and stopped at a hotel.
When they got out of the car, Gu Jiahe asked him, “What are we doing here?”
Li Zhao mysteriously replied, “To make you happy.”
Before Gu Jiahe could react, Li Zhao had already locked the hotel room door behind them.
He pressed him against the door and kissed him, starting by kissing his lips. Then, somehow, he gently pried open Gu Jiahe’s teeth.
Gu Jiahe had no strength to resist, letting Li Zhao hold him tightly against his chest, his body trembling slightly.
Until they collapsed onto the soft bed, Li Zhao lifted his hand, took off his T-shirt, threw it onto the nearby chair, and then used his thigh to push apart Gu Jiahe’s legs.
He blindfolded Gu Jiahe with his shirt. His actions went from gentle to unrestrained.
At that moment, the sun had not yet set outside the window, and the sunlight streamed into the room through the curtains. Gu Jiahe could even feel a hint of brightness through the T-shirt fabric. This feeling of daytime intimacy made his head dizzy.
For a moment, all his other senses became unusually sensitive. Gu Jiahe even felt a tingling sensation rushing from his spine to the top of his head.
Looking back now, before meeting Li Zhao, he seemed to not pay much attention to such things.
But Li Zhao gradually shaped his sexual orientation. He ignited his sensory fuse.
So much so that later, although he didn’t say it clearly, he felt like he was more prone to be immersed in intimate affairs than Li Zhao.
There were even times when Li Zhao would come back exhausted after class and sit on the edge of the bed reading. Gu Jiahe would watch his back and couldn’t help but get up, wrap his arms around his waist from behind, and gently nuzzle his back with his head.
Li Zhao would lift his head from his book and ask him what was wrong.
Gu Jiahe hesitated for a long time before uttering two words: “I want.”
The throbbing of youth at eighteen. Surprisingly, it resurfaced today at the age of twenty-eight.
What’s going on?
At this moment, Gu Jiahe felt goosebumps all over in the darkness of the night.
He didn’t sleep well that night, the dreams were strange and explicit.
He was preparing to return to Pingcheng for the weekend. After buying the high-speed train tickets, he decided to mention it to Li Zhao on the morning of departure day.
As a result, on Saturday morning, Li Zhao came directly to his building downstairs in his car.
Gu Jiahe walked over when he saw Li Zhao’s car window open.
As a result, Li Zhao unlocked the car directly and asked him to get in.
Gu Jiahe shook his head, “No need, I’ll just take a taxi.”
“The train leaves at 11:15, right?” Li Zhao picked up his ticket from the glove compartment.
Li Zhao actually bought a ticket for the same train.
“I’ll be gone for three or four days…” Gu Jiahe had arranged to go to the insurance company on Monday to adjust some policies, so he couldn’t come back on the weekend and had to stay in Pingcheng for two more days.
“I took annual leave. Get in the car.” Li Zhao’s tone brooked no argument.
Li Zhao drove Gu Jiahe to the high-speed train station.
When Gu Jiahe got on the train, he realized that Li Zhao had actually bought the seat next to his.
“How did you know I bought this seat?” He was somewhat shocked.
“Didn’t you send me the ticket?” Gu Jiahe suddenly remembered that when he mentioned returning to Pingcheng to Li Zhao that day, he had taken a picture of the high-speed train ticket.
Seeing Gu Jiahe’s bewildered look, Li Zhao turned to him, “So it wasn’t specifically for me.”
“I wouldn’t post something visible only to one person on my friend circle.” Gu Jiahe said before looking out the window with his hands in his pockets.
“What if it was posted to a specific group? How could someone end up taking the right seat?”
Gu Jiahe didn’t want to continue this dumb conversation, so he put on his headphones and leaned against the window to look outside.
The space in the second-class seats was small, and Li Zhao’s legs were squeezed into a tight space, his knees touching Gu Jiahe’s thigh.
Gu Jiahe could only move to the side.
Li Zhao wore a cotton shirt inside and a gray cashmere coat outside.
The air conditioning on the high-speed train was hot. Less than ten minutes after departure, Li Zhao stood up and took off his coat, hanging it on the hook.
Gu Jiahe looked up and saw Li Zhao’s arms outlined by the shirt.
That feeling came back again. He quickly lowered his head, trying to focus his attention on the music in his headphones.
But before he could finish listening to one song, Li Zhao touched his arm.
“Hmm?” Gu Jiahe took off his headphones and looked at him.
Li Zhao held up his phone. “Out of battery.”
Gu Jiahe took a look and saw the charging socket under his own seat.
“Give it to me.” Gu Jiahe took Li Zhao’s charger as he couldn’t move freely, and plugged it into the charging port under the seat. His posture was a bit awkward, bending over with his back arched.
When he got up, half of his body leaned against Li Zhao’s seat armrest. The distance between the two was only about ten centimeters.
Li Zhao’s gaze was fixed on Gu Jiahe’s left side of the neck.
“What’s wrong?” Gu Jiahe felt his gaze and touched his neck.
“Nothing.” Li Zhao turned his head away, leaning back against the seat and closing his eyes.
A few minutes later, Li Zhao hadn’t fallen asleep yet, and his shoulder was suddenly hit hard.
Opening his eyes, Li Zhao saw Gu Jiahe wearing headphones, resting his head on his shoulder, his eyelashes casting a shadow on his lower eyelids. Perhaps due to fatigue from work, Gu Jiahe’s lips appeared a bit pale.
This guy fell asleep without Li Zhao noticing, and his unstable center of gravity made him sleepily lean in all directions.
Seemingly aware of Li Zhao’s movement, Gu Jiahe’s eyelashes trembled lightly, and he twisted his neck in his sleep.
Three seconds later, Li Zhao leaned fifteen degrees to the right, lowered his shoulder, letting Gu Jiahe lean against him.
The high-speed train from North City to Pingcheng took more than five hours, and the two went from day to dusk.
Gu Jiahe didn’t sleep well last night, feeling drowsy and sleepy all the way.
When they were about to arrive, Li Zhao woke him up. Gu Jiahe rubbed his eyes and looked at Li Zhao, who was gently massaging his shoulders.
“What’s wrong?” He asked Li Zhao.
“Nothing.”
Outside the window was a vast plain, and the lights of the city could be seen in the distance gradually illuminating.
When the two of them walked out of the high-speed train station with their luggage, it was already dark outside.
Gu Jiahe went to the taxi stand to get a cab to the hotel he had booked.
After getting into the car, Gu Jiahe waved goodbye to Li Zhao. “I’ll go to the hotel first.”
Gu Jiahe didn’t plan to go home. The old house had been uninhabited for too long and was no longer suitable for living. Whenever he came back, he would go to his grandmother’s place. This time he came back in a hurry and didn’t inform her in advance to avoid causing her trouble.
Unexpectedly, Li Zhao followed him and put his suitcase in the taxi’s trunk, sitting in the back seat with him.
Gu Jiahe looked puzzled. “Aren’t you going home?”
“No, I didn’t tell my parents.” Li Zhao shook his head.
His return this time was also impromptu, and he didn’t inform his family in advance.
The taxi soon started and drove onto the road. There weren’t many hotels in Pingcheng, so Gu Jiahe found one not far from home in the downtown area.
When they entered the hotel lobby, Gu Jiahe went to check-in.
Handing over his ID card, Gu Jiahe said, “Hello, my surname is Gu. I made a reservation.”
The front desk checked the reservation information in the system and helped Gu Jiahe with the check-in.
“One double room. Here’s your room card.” The front desk handed the room card to Gu Jiahe.
After thanking them, Gu Jiahe remembered that Li Zhao didn’t have a place to stay.
He turned around and saw Li Zhao taking out his ID card and placing it on the front desk.
“I also need a room.”
Soon, the front desk handed him his room card as well. Gu Jiahe saw that the two rooms were adjacent. His room was 606, and Li Zhao’s was 608.
Li Zhao took the room card and put it in his pocket. The rooms were on the sixth floor, and the two entered the elevator one after the other.
“Want to have dinner?” Li Zhao asked in the elevator.
Gu Jiahe shook his head. “I’m not hungry. I’m tired from the journey. I’ll rest for a while first. You can go downstairs to eat.”
Li Zhao didn’t say anything else, nodded, and got off the elevator.
Gu Jiahe didn’t know what was going on today. He felt particularly exhausted. Could it be because of the dream last night?
Thinking of this, his heart skipped a beat. He quickly stopped his thoughts from going further.
He said he would rest for a while, but actually lying on the hotel bed, he didn’t fall asleep for a long time. After about an hour, there was a knock on the door, and he sat up from the bed. He looked through the peephole and saw Li Zhao standing at the door.
“What’s up?” Gu Jiahe opened the door.
Li Zhao wore a windproof jacket and handed a paper bag from behind. “Takeout.”
Gu Jiahe looked down and saw a bowl of osmanthus sweet rice soup emitting steam.
“Thank you.” he nodded and took it.
Li Zhao didn’t say anything and opened the door to the next room, walking in.
Gu Jiahe sat by the window in the room and finished the bowl of osmanthus sweet rice soup.
The sound insulation of this hotel room was average. Sitting in the room, he could still hear the footsteps outside. However, the room next door remained quiet as if Li Zhao wasn’t staying there at all.
Gu Jiahe turned on the TV in the room, trying to distract himself.
His phone was placed on the bedside table, and it suddenly lit up. He opened it and saw a message from Wu Mou, asking him to prepare a document quickly for the meeting on Monday morning.
Gu Jiahe rubbed his temples. He was supposed to be on vacation, but Wu Mou wouldn’t let him off.
He could only sigh and take out his laptop from the suitcase, starting to work under the desk lamp by the window.
He sat there until past ten o’clock, confirming the document was correct before sending it to Wu Mou via email.
After he finished washing up and lay down on the bed, covering himself with the blanket, the air conditioner in the room suddenly made a clattering sound and stopped working.
Gu Jiahe got up from the bed, tiptoed to look at it, and reached out to touch the air outlet. The old wall-mounted air conditioner completely stopped heating.
In December, once the air conditioner stopped, the room gradually became cold and damp within a few minutes.
Gu Jiahe tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Unable to bear it any longer, he called the front desk again to complain.
Five minutes later, someone from the front desk came and knocked on his door. After apologizing, they said they would ask the maintenance worker to come and check.
The maintenance worker who came in behind him started checking with clinks and clatters.
Gu Jiahe stood outside the door wearing a thin T-shirt. The temperature in the corridor was lower than inside the room, and he was shivering from the cold.
At that moment, the door of the next room suddenly opened.
Li Zhao heard the noise and poked his head out. “What’s going on?”
Gu Jiahe rubbed his hands together, exhaling a breath of warmth. “The air conditioner in my room is broken.”
Li Zhao glanced at the condition of his room and said to him, “Come over.”
“Hmm?” Gu Jiahe didn’t understand what he meant.
“Come sleep in my room,” Li Zhao said.