Seventh Year Of Separation chapter 37
Comfortable?
Gu Jiahe looked at him puzzledly, “Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” Li Zhao nodded, glancing at the bed in the room. “There’s space to sleep.”
Gu Jiahe’s mind was in chaos. He thought to himself, of course there’s space; although this hotel might not be high-end, the beds were all king-sized. Back in the small room they used to share, even the queen-sized bed was cozy enough for them. Not to mention, back then they even occasionally played human Jenga…
The maintenance worker in Gu Jiahe’s room tried for half an hour but couldn’t fix the air conditioner.
The front desk asked him if he wanted to switch to another room; there should be one available upstairs.
Glancing at the time and not wanting to be bothered further, Gu Jiahe declined. He didn’t want to move his luggage again, after all.
Five minutes later, Gu Jiahe went to the next room with a blanket.
Li Zhao’s room door was open, and Gu Jiahe gently pushed it open.
The air conditioner in this room was working fine, much more comfortable than his own.
Li Zhao should have finished washing up; the main light in the room was off. Gu Jiahe glanced up and saw him sleeping on one side of the bed, leaving half of it for him.
Gu Jiahe carefully lay down from the side, leaving a gap of about ten centimeters between them. He sighed, his back to Li Zhao, his eyes fixed on a faint light in the darkness.
He felt Li Zhao’s breathing wasn’t steady either, indicating he wasn’t asleep either.
After a while of silence, Gu Jiahe spoke first, “Is work at the office busy lately?”
“It’s alright,” Li Zhao’s voice came.
“The Ningcheng acquisition project…”
“Is wrapping up.”
There was a rustling sound, and Gu Jiahe felt the mattress sink slightly. Li Zhao seemed to have turned over, facing his back.
Then he asked, “How about you? Busy lately?”
Gu Jiahe couldn’t help but complain a bit, “Just finished preparing a document for Wu Mou. The R&D department is setting up a new center, so there’s a lot going on. Numerous contracts need reviewing, and we have to redo a set of compliance procedures. My head is about to explode.”
After rolling over, Li Zhao’s voice was now very close to him.
Gu Jiahe felt his breath; Li Zhao seemed to chuckle lightly before speaking, “Want me to continue working as your legal consultant? Old client, I’ll give you a twenty percent discount.”
Gu Jiahe’s mood relaxed with the conversation, and he laughed back, “Can’t afford you. Your income alone can cover two or three of my salaries.”
“You haven’t even asked for the price, how do you know you can’t afford it?”
“Li Zhao.” Gu Jiahe suddenly called his name.
“What’s up?”
“Thank you for coming back with me,” his voice was very soft.
Li Zhao seemed to move slightly but didn’t respond in the end.
Gu Jiahe remembered that if it were before, upon hearing “thank you,” Li Zhao would definitely nudge him with his elbow, teasing him for being overly polite.
Silence returned between the two.
Time passed slowly, and Gu Jiahe glanced at the phone on the bedside table; it was almost midnight. But strangely, he felt no drowsiness.
He gently locked his phone screen again, afraid of disturbing the person behind him.
Then, just as he put the phone back on the bedside table, a voice sounded from behind him.
“Can’t sleep?”
Gu Jiahe shrunk his body, softly replied, “Maybe I slept too much in the train during the day.”
“Oh, I see,” Li Zhao paused for two seconds, “Need any help?”
Gu Jiahe’s brain suddenly went blank, what did he mean?
“Help?”
“Yeah. I learned some sleep induction techniques, remember?”
It had been ages ago. Gu Jiahe only then remembered what he was talking about.
Back when they were in college, Gu Jiahe had some sleep issues, not severe, but he had difficulty falling asleep. Often, while Li Zhao had been asleep for a long time, Gu Jiahe was still staring at the ceiling with his eyes wide open.
One night, Li Zhao woke up in the middle of the night and found him still counting sheep, so he discovered this small problem of his.
A few days later, Li Zhao found some sleep induction classes from somewhere, saying that following them could help insomniacs fall asleep quickly, insisting on trying it out on Gu Jiahe.
Gu Jiahe didn’t believe it at first, but he was really caught off guard. After a few attempts, his sleep speed did indeed improve significantly.
However, later, he saw Li Zhao’s computer screen and discovered that the sleep induction was not aimed at adults like him; it was for new parents on their children.
Children don’t know how to soothe themselves to sleep and can only rely on external forces. It left him speechless.
At that time, Gu Jiahe couldn’t help but sigh; humans evolve and evolve, but when they grow up, they still have to compensate for what they didn’t get as a child.
“Do you want to try?” Li Zhao’s voice was low. Gu Jiahe felt an itch in his ear.
He heard Li Zhao withdraw his hand from under the blanket.
Before he could react, Li Zhao’s hand had already reached out from under the blanket.
“Back, arch it up.”
Gu Jiahe felt as if he was under a spell, completely powerless to resist Li Zhao’s words. He slightly arched his back, his spine facing Li Zhao.
Then, unexpectedly, he felt Li Zhao’s touch. Li Zhao’s palm was warm, lightly touching his lower back. “Is it sore?”
“A little,” Gu Jiahe nodded slightly. He had been working at a hard desk for two hours at night, and his waist muscles were inevitably uncomfortable.
The next moment, Li Zhao’s palm began to massage his lower back muscles. Light and heavy, the palm wandered along his waist.
“Ah—” Gu Jiahe couldn’t help but gasp. “Right there, it’s sore.”
As he said this, Li Zhao increased the pressure. “I’ll help you relax your muscles; it’ll be much more comfortable to sleep.”
Gu Jiahe closed his eyes, feeling waves of soreness. Then, unexpectedly, his muscles really relaxed quite a bit, and he no longer felt uncomfortable lying against the mattress.
“Where did you learn this?” Gu Jiahe asked him.
“From a boxing coach.”
Gu Jiahe turned his head slightly and realized how close the two were at the moment. Li Zhao’s breath hit his neck, warm.
His ears suddenly felt a bit hot. The current position of the two was awkward; Li Zhao was holding his waist, almost chest to back.
Then, the next moment, Li Zhao actually lifted his T-shirt.
“What?” Gu Jiahe tensed up immediately.
“Let’s get to the point,” Li Zhao’s tone was very serious, devoid of any hint of playfulness.
Gu Jiahe’s heart tightened instantly, what did he mean by “getting to the point”?
He thought about it for several seconds. But Li Zhao didn’t make any other move; he just continued to use his fingertips to press down from his shoulder to neck.
Seeing him stiffen, Li Zhao said, “I’m helping you fall asleep.”
His fingertips were warm, pressing down on every bone, gradually decreasing in pressure.
“Is it comfortable?” Li Zhao asked softly.
“Mmm—” Gu Jiahe couldn’t help but hum. But his voice sounded somewhat ambiguous in the darkness.
“Hmm?” Li Zhao pressed a bit harder on his waist.
“Ah—” Gu Jiahe couldn’t help but let out another sound.
The atmosphere suddenly became a bit awkward.
With their skins touching, Gu Jiahe felt like a lamb about to be slaughtered, half of his back exposed, allowing Li Zhao’s palm to roam freely.
Every inch of his skin could feel Li Zhao’s body temperature.
Perhaps due to years of practicing boxing, Li Zhao’s palm had a few hard calluses, and the friction against his skin brought an indescribable itchiness.
Gu Jiahe could only bite his lower lip, keeping silent.
Li Zhao’s palm soon reached the edge of his pants, and Gu Jiahe instinctively tensed his muscles.
“Relax. How can you sleep so tense?” Li Zhao said.
Gu Jiahe shouted in his mind, who can relax at a time like this? He’s not eighteen anymore; he still has some dignity!
After this “sleep induction” session, Gu Jiahe became even more restless and alert than before.
“Are you asleep?” Li Zhao asked softly after Gu Jiahe remained unresponsive for a while.
“Are you really asleep?” Li Zhao asked again.
Gu Jiahe kept his eyes tightly shut, suppressing the inexplicable fire in his heart, and remained silent.
Half a minute later, he heard the person behind him chuckle lightly, releasing his hand, covering his back with his clothes, and tucking the blanket around him.
That night, in the end, Gu Jiahe forgot how long it took him to fall asleep. He listened to Li Zhao’s breathing gradually become steady, then heard the low-frequency sound of wind outside the window, followed by the rustling of leaves.
The next morning, he woke up to the sunlight. When he finally managed to open his eyes, it was already bright outside.
Li Zhao was no longer in bed; had he already left?
Gu Jiahe unlocked his phone and found that it was almost ten o’clock.
What embarrassed him even more was that he vaguely felt something strange about a certain part of his body. He gently lifted a corner of the blanket and took a peek.
Damn it! Early in the morning.
Gu Jiahe was about to sit up and rush to the bathroom to freshen up.
As he looked up and rubbed his eyes, he saw Li Zhao coming out of the bathroom, half-naked, standing by the bed and changing his clothes.
His back muscles were illuminated by the natural light outside, clearly visible.
Gu Jiahe screamed in his heart: Help!
“Get up, what are you doing dawdling?” Li Zhao urged him. “Didn’t you say you were going home to look for something at noon?”