Seventh Year Of Separation chapter 53
Love Contract
Cough. Li Zhao pushed him back into the passenger seat, looking quite calm. “That’s not the case.”
“Oh, okay then.” Gu Jiahe fastened his seatbelt. “I’ll just go ahead and buy the classes then.”
Li Zhao started the car. “Where to?”
“Back to my place.”
“Oh, so you’ll just keep living there?”
“Yeah, still paying rent.” Gu Jiahe spoke truthfully. He felt it would be a waste to leave it empty when he still had to pay rent every month.
Li Zhao didn’t say anything, just pressed down on the accelerator a bit more.
The car drove onto the wide elevated bridge. After returning to work, the roads in the northern city became busy again. Li Zhao drove on, stopping and honking the horn several times. Even a deaf person could tell he was in a bad mood.
The car arrived at the entrance of Gu Jiahe’s community. Li Zhao stepped on the brake and turned off the engine.
Gu Jiahe unbuckled his seatbelt and waved at him. “I’m heading back.”
But as he turned around, Li Zhao grabbed his wrist. “Don’t you have something to say?”
“What do you mean?” Gu Jiahe was puzzled.
After a few seconds, Gu Jiahe chuckled. “So you’re jealous, right?”
“Believe what you want.” Li Zhao didn’t look at him, keeping his eyes lowered.
“Is this still my Zhao ge? Why are you so fragile?” Gu Jiahe sat back in the passenger seat, cupping his face with both hands and pinching it.
Li Zhao dodged his hand, avoiding his touch.
“Come on, it’s just a coach. Isn’t he your friend too? If you want, I can ask him to assign me another coach.” Gu Jiahe said.
“That’s not what I meant.” Li Zhao shook his head.
He rubbed his nose with his knuckles. “I don’t know, I’ve had a feeling lately.”
“What feeling?”
“Feeling like you don’t have any worries.” Li Zhao finally looked up at him.
After their conversation, Gu Jiahe took the initiative to pursue him. But perhaps the process was too smooth, and Li Zhao unexpectedly felt a bit insecure. Gu Jiahe seemed like a floating duckweed, resilient but with no ties. Even when he finished a lawsuit with his own biological father, he only wiped away his tears in secret.
This should have been a happy occasion, but for some reason, he always felt a trace of anxiety in this ordinary happiness.
Gu Jiahe sighed softly and asked, “Are you worried that I’ll leave again?”
Li Zhao’s pupils slightly contracted.
Seeing this, Gu Jiahe knew he hit the mark. “You’ve never lacked confidence like this before, have you?”
Li Zhao’s Adam’s apple rolled. “…I don’t know, I’m afraid.”
Gu Jiahe’s voice got stuck in his throat, and he fell silent for a moment.
The two had never had an open and honest conversation about what happened during their time apart.
He only knew that Li Zhao had been looking for him for a while, but to no avail.
Li Zhao knew he had stayed in the hospital for a long time because of the injury to the back of his head.
But during these six years and more, every detail was a memory too painful for both of them to touch.
In Gu Jiahe’s apartment, there were still books he bought to solve his emotional problems at the time. In countless dark nights, he tried to solve the dilemma of his emotions with rational scientific methods. He just didn’t know that Li Zhao had also suffered in the same way.
Perhaps that empty reservoir was just a small slice of his life.
In Li Zhao’s heart, there might exist a vast swamp with no bottom in sight.
The atmosphere in the car became a bit cold for a while.
Seeing that Li Zhao hadn’t spoken, Gu Jiahe reached out and touched his face, jokingly saying, “How about this, ge, let’s sign a contract.”
Li Zhao asked, “What contract?”
Gu Jiahe said, “I’ll be the first party, and you’ll be the second party. The first party promises not to initiate a breakup in this relationship.”
Li Zhao chuckled. “Sure.”
Li Zhao could tell with just a thought that this kind of contract was not legally protected.
But being protected by Gu Jiahe’s heart wasn’t bad either.
He smiled and said, “There should be a penalty for breach of contract.”
Gu Jiahe: “Name your price.”
Li Zhao: “Five million.”
Gu Jiahe crossed his arms and glared back, “Why don’t you just rob me?”
After the Chinese New Year, there wasn’t much work to do, and Gu Jiahe was quite relaxed.
Just a few days after returning to work, the HR manager came to find him early in the morning.
Gu Jiahe saw her rushing over with a smile on her face, seeming to have good news.
Gu Jiahe asked, “Why are you so happy?”
“The outing funds we talked about last time have been approved! This weekend, we’re going to the theme park in the west suburbs. Can you contact Lawyer Li and the two interns?”
Gu Jiahe nodded, “Sure.”
He had actually forgotten about this. They had discussed it on the way back from Lingang, but he didn’t expect it to materialize so quickly.
That night, he called Li Zhao to inform him about the plan.
Li Zhao readily agreed.
Gu Jiahe asked, “Wouldn’t you find it childish to go to a theme park?”
Li Zhao replied, “It’s free. Why not go?”
Gu Jiahe laughed. When did this guy start acting like him?
After the arrival of spring, the weather in North City became better day by day, with more sunny days.
On Saturday morning, the weather was beautiful, with a rare clear blue sky.
Gu Jiahe was wearing a light blue hoodie and jeans as he boarded the company bus.
A colleague in front turned to look at him and jokingly said, “Wow, Manager Gu, you look really young today.”
“What are you talking about? I have always been young. You ’95s shouldn’t use your age as a benchmark,” Gu Jiahe laughed and didn’t respond further.
He lowered his head and opened his phone, sending a WeChat message to Li Zhao, “We’re setting off. How about you guys?”
Two minutes later, Gu Jiahe’s phone lit up.
Unusually, Li Zhao actually sent back a photo.
It was a shot from the driver’s seat, with him showing half his face and two interns sitting in the back, making a V sign. They all seemed to be in good spirits.
Below was a message: “We’re about to set off too.”
Gu Jiahe tilted his head at the photo. Recently, Li Zhao seemed to be regaining his old self, reminiscent of their high school days.
When the company bus arrived at the theme park entrance, Gu Jiahe happened to see Li Zhao’s car pulling into the adjacent parking lot.
Before Li Zhao could get out of the car to greet him, He Xiao ran over to Gu Jiahe.
“Manager Gu…” He Xiao ran over and grabbed his shoulder.
Li Zhao followed behind her, shaking his head in resignation, “Hey, who’s your boss?”
Gu Jiahe laughed at the situation, “This kid is close to me.”
Only then did he realize how strange his words were, quickly stopping himself from saying more.
He Xiao seemed oblivious and took out a map of the park she had prepared in advance. “Later, let’s go and ride the roller coaster.”
Gu Jiahe asked, “The roller coaster?”
“Yeah, it’s going to be crowded at noon, so we should ride this first. We can take our time with the less thrilling rides later.”
Before he could react, He Xiao had already pulled him towards the park.
While running, Gu Jiahe glanced back and saw Li Zhao shaking his head helplessly, leading Wen Qi to catch up with them.
The theme park was indeed crowded on weekends. He Xiao’s strategy was very effective. They were among the first to board the roller coaster, taking less than ten minutes from start to finish.
They were quickly guided onto the ride by the staff. Gu Jiahe sat closest to the center. He Xiao initially wanted to sit next to him, but Li Zhao suddenly stepped over her and sat in that seat.
“I’ll sit next to him,” Li Zhao gestured to her with a matter-of-fact tone.
He Xiao and Wen Qi exchanged glances behind them, reaching a silent agreement: these two have something going on.
The roller coaster started extremely fast, and before Gu Jiahe could react, the car shot out, reaching an initial speed that left no room for breath.
He tightly held onto the safety lock in front of him, feeling the early spring wind hitting his face painfully.
The roller coaster quickly climbed to the highest point of the track and stopped for about three to four seconds without moving. Gu Jiahe even wondered if the machine had malfunctioned and they would be stuck at this height.
In the next second, the car suddenly plunged downwards.
“Ah!” Gu Jiahe couldn’t help but scream.
Suddenly, he felt his right hand being grabbed. As he looked to his side, he saw Li Zhao holding his hand.
Gu Jiahe felt his heart beating even faster after the recent descent.
Thump, thump, thump—it felt like it was about to burst through his throat.
The two of them sat on the rapidly moving roller coaster, with their unknowing colleagues sitting behind them.
And their hands were clasped together.
Li Zhao’s hand continued to hold Gu Jiahe’s until the roller coaster gradually slowed down and moved towards a straight track before finally stopping.
“That was so thrilling! Let’s ride it again!” He Xiao raised her hand eagerly after the ride stopped.
“Cough, cough, I’m done. You guys go ahead,” Gu Jiahe quickly unfastened his safety lock and waved his hand.
“What? You’re not riding anymore?” the two youngsters were somewhat surprised.
Gu Jiahe’s face was pale from the fright. He quickly walked away, “Have fun, you guys!”
“What about you, Lawyer Li?” He Xiao asked as Li Zhao got off the ride.
“Same for me,” Li Zhao replied and followed Gu Jiahe away.
As Gu Jiahe approached the entrance of another ride, he couldn’t help but dry heave a couple of times in a corner, patting his chest before finally managing to slow down his heartbeat.
“Are you okay?” Li Zhao handed him a bottle of water.
“I’m fine,” Gu Jiahe shook his head. “I just need to catch my breath.”
He stared at the ground, feeling it spinning for a while before finally becoming static.
“Let’s just go for some milder rides,” Gu Jiahe suggested, raising his hand.
After saying that, the two of them walked along the park’s path towards deeper areas.
After turning a couple of corners, Gu Jiahe saw another ride without a queue and led Li Zhao inside.
At the entrance, there was a stall selling disposable raincoats. Li Zhao asked if he wanted to buy one, but Gu Jiahe directly refused.
“Why would we need raincoats for a sightseeing car ride?” Gu Jiahe’s principle was not to waste a single penny unnecessarily.
But when he sat in the so-called “sightseeing car,” he realized why there were people selling raincoats at the entrance.
Because, this “sightseeing car” was actually a 5D ride! It sprayed water from the ceiling!
Unfortunately, he was seated on the side where the water sprayed.
Before he could react, a shower of water came pouring down from his left side, and he couldn’t dodge it.
Both of them were still strapped in, unable to move.
Gu Jiahe was forced to endure a shower of rain, and his light blue hoodie was soaked, turning into a gradient color.
In short, the experience was extremely unfriendly.
After getting off the ride, Gu Jiahe immediately found a corner and squatted down, feeling the atmospheric pressure in that area was extremely low.
“Get up quickly and go to the restroom,” Li Zhao’s voice came from above.
“What for? I…” Before Gu Jiahe could finish, Li Zhao pushed him into the nearby restroom.
He dragged him into the nearest stall and slammed the door shut.
He stood in front of Gu Jiahe, the two of them very close to each other.
Gu Jiahe was confused. “What are you doing?”
Li Zhao didn’t answer but instead unzipped his jacket, revealing the black shirt underneath and some noticeable muscle contours.
“What? ge! There are people outside…” Gu Jiahe subconsciously grabbed the door frame and glanced outside.
“What are you thinking?” Li Zhao turned his face towards him. “Wear my jacket.”
…
Gu Jiahe instantly wanted to wash away his dirty thoughts.
“Isn’t this inappropriate?” he asked, looking up.
“Why would it be inappropriate?” Li Zhao had already taken off his jacket and handed it to him, “Put it on.”
“Aren’t you cold?” Gu Jiahe asked.
“Not at all,” Li Zhao shook his head.
Two minutes later, they walked out of the stall. Gu Jiahe was wearing a noticeably larger gray jacket, while Li Zhao carried Gu Jiahe’s wet hoodie on his arm.
And Li Zhao himself was wearing a plain black shirt, looking like he belonged to a different season compared to the others in the park.
As they walked, Gu Jiahe kept glancing back to see if any colleagues were following. Fortunately, the park was too big, and everyone had already dispersed to enjoy themselves. For the time being, they didn’t see any familiar faces.
“We’ll go to the visitor center later to borrow a hair dryer to dry your clothes,” Li Zhao said.
Gu Jiahe nodded in agreement.
The theme park was crowded on weekends, and neither of them liked queuing up in crowded places, so they found a small restaurant to sit down and have some drinks.
Li Zhao chose a seat by the window, where the sun could shine directly on him.
Gu Jiahe went to order drinks, leaving Li Zhao alone at the table.
“Hey?! Lawyer Li, you’re here too?” A familiar voice suddenly came from the other side of the restaurant.
Li Zhao looked up and saw He Xiao.
She hurried over to him.
He Xiao glanced at his clothes and asked, puzzled, “But Lawyer Li, aren’t you cold? It’s only around ten degrees today. Where’s your jacket?”
Before Li Zhao could answer, He Xiao turned her head and saw Gu Jiahe approaching from behind with two drinks in hand.
Their eyes met instantly.
And Gu Jiahe was wearing Li Zhao’s jacket.