Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Taking Measurements — Mm, He's So Big The car was quiet. Nan Shu wasn't fully conscious, but her subconscious still told her that even in a dream, she couldn't expose the secrets in her heart. She spoke as if talking in her sleep: "When you're not here, no one walks the dog." Xie Zeyan let out a low, ambiguous chuckle from his nose: "So, the only thing you remember is me walking your dog?" Nan Shu mumbled another quiet remark: "There's more." "What else?" "You cook really well too." "..." After hearing that clearly, Xie Zeyan laughed in exasperation. The atmosphere inside the car was peaceful. Traffic flowed endlessly outside the window, and the sound of the car cutting through the wind on the asphalt road was like white noise. While waiting at a red light, Xie Zeyan noticed the girl in the passenger seat kept shifting around, adjusting her position, as if she couldn't get comfortable no matter how she slept. He redirected the air vent that was blowing toward her and reminded her: "We'll be home soon." Nan Shu stopped moving, was quiet for two seconds, then said in a daze: "Xie Zeyan, you're so nice. You even came to pick me up." The girl's voice was soft and sweet, and Xie Zeyan's heart nearly melted. Was Cheng Kai's car air conditioning not cooling well enough? Why was it so hot in here? Xie Zeyan took a deep breath and violently pulled open the top two buttons of his shirt. His pale throat bobbed as he seemed to be suppressing something. He didn't know why Nan Shu was the one who'd been drinking, but he was the one feeling hot and restless now. After finally getting Nan Shu into the house, she collapsed onto the sofa, asking for water one moment, then whimpering about a headache the next. Once he'd finally taken care of her and watched her stumble back to her room, Xie Zeyan finally went into the bathroom and took a cold shower. • Nan Shu's mind was truly not clear. She staggered into the bathroom attached to her room and turned on the shower. She turned the handle to the left, and the water was so cold it jolted her. Then she turned it slightly to the right, and it was like freshly boiled water—so hot she couldn't help but cry out. Through two closed doors, a muffled male voice came from outside: "Nan Shu, are you okay?" Nan Shu's head hurt too much to answer. She couldn't bother with whether the water temperature was right, hastily washed up, threw on a nightgown, and left the bathroom. "Click—" She opened the door and came face to face with Xie Zeyan, who had just come out of the kitchen. The man's hair was half-damp, and he was wearing a black silk bathrobe with the sash loosely tied at his waist. In his hand was her mug, filled with warm water he'd poured for her. Nan Shu watched as a drop of water dripped down the man's sharp jawline, rolled over his sexy, prominent Adam's apple, and finally landed on his full chest muscles. Her eyes went wide. Mm, he's so big. So hot. She swallowed hard, and scenes from her own comics involuntarily floated through her mind. Her pervert nature was carved into her bones. Even though she was drunk and her mind was hazy, she could still recall the steamy scenes from the comics she'd drawn. Suddenly, a thought struck her. "Y-you, wait for me a second." Xie Zeyan didn't know what she was up to, but he stayed where he was and waited. He watched as the girl pulled a measuring tape from her room, then stumbled over to him. "What are you—" He instinctively furrowed his brow. "Taking measurements." "..." That sentence made it hard for Xie Zeyan not to overthink. He suppressed the heat rising in his chest again. She was drunk, but he was still sober. He couldn't do anything rash. He steadied Nan Shu by the shoulders and asked her seriously: "Do you know what you're doing?" "Don't mess around." "Why are you so mean?" A layer of mist quickly gathered in the girl's amber eyes. She threw the measuring tape to the ground. "Fine, if you won't let me measure, then I won't buy you a shirt." So it was for clothing measurements. Xie Zeyan smiled helplessly. "Nan Shu, can you be reasonable?" She really was an actress—able to cry on command. He picked up the measuring tape from the floor and put it back in her hand. She wouldn't take it, so he gently but firmly grasped her wrist and placed the tape in her palm. "Did I actually snap at you?" Nan Shu rubbed her wrist where he'd just held it, looking up at him with pitiful eyes. "Are you going to let me measure or not?" Xie Zeyan forced himself to ignore that gaze, a hint of red creeping up his ears. His voice even stumbled a little: "Alright then... wait for me." He simply couldn't refuse her request. Suppressing the heat in his chest, Xie Zeyan went back to his room, changed out of the bathrobe, and drank a full large glass of ice water. But the heat inside him didn't subside. Instead, when he saw the girl curled up on the sofa, her eyes hazy as she looked around, it surged up again. Nan Shu had to admit she was a little disappointed when she saw Xie Zeyan had changed out of the bathrobe—after all, that robe had been really enticing, perfectly showcasing his tall, lean figure. But the new tight elastic tank top he'd changed into wasn't bad either, outlining his full, well-defined chest muscles. Whether it was the alcohol or the male beauty, Nan Shu's drunkenness deepened. She jumped off the sofa, not bothering to put on her slippers, and eagerly rolled up Xie Zeyan's shirt hem. His well-defined abdominal muscles were exposed right before her eyes, glistening. Xie Zeyan's breathing grew heavier, and his body instinctively tensed up. He had the typical broad shoulders and narrow waist build—his waist was slim but firm, with his abdominal muscles bulging, making it quite a task to wrap a measuring tape around. Nan Shu clumsily pulled out a section of measuring tape and carefully wrapped it around Xie Zeyan's waist. The distance between them instantly closed, and the scorching breath from her breathing sprayed onto the side of Xie Zeyan's waist. Xie Zeyan curled his fingers, enduring the unbearable ticklish sensation, his Adam's apple bobbing as he urged, "Hurry up." "Oh." Nan Shu responded slowly, the thin measuring tape pressing against the man's skin. The tape was icy cold, and the girl's warm fingertips occasionally grazed and brushed against him, causing Xie Zeyan's abdomen to instinctively tighten. Nan Shu complained, "Relax a bit. How am I supposed to measure you like this? The numbers won't even be accurate." Xie Zeyan: "..." Nan Shu kept adjusting the length of the tape, finally getting it right, but her vision was blurred with double images, and she couldn't make out the numbers on the tape at all. Her eyes were practically about to press against it. Xie Zeyan felt like he was about to catch fire under that scorching gaze. "Are you done?" When he spoke, he was startled by how hoarse and burning his own voice sounded. Nan Shu looked up at Xie Zeyan, her eyes still watery and glistening. "I can't see clearly. Xie Zeyan, do you think I've gone blind?" Xie Zeyan couldn't bring himself to look directly at the girl's gaze—clear and bright, purer than the snow on an iceberg. Yet the desires he couldn't bear to expose to the light were being stirred up, burning ever more fiercely. If this continued, it would truly be the death of him. "You... stop measuring." Xie Zeyan pulled the measuring tape off his waist, and seeing the girl's mouth about to turn down again, he sighed and said, "I'll tell you the numbers, alright?" "Oh, fine then." Nan Shu's expression faltered for a moment, and she lingered in place, dawdling and unwilling to leave. But looking at Xie Zeyan's expression, it seemed he was truly set on not letting her measure him. She could only walk over to the coffee table and pull out a small notebook. "112, 73, 95." Xie Zeyan reported three numbers, and Nan Shu scribbled them down crookedly with her pen. She secretly rejoiced inside—she knew Xie Zeyan had a good figure, but she hadn't expected it to be this good. It was just a pity she hadn't gotten to measure his chest, or else she could have gotten another look... Xie Zeyan looked at the girl sitting on the floor, grinning foolishly at her little notebook, and rubbed his forehead as he asked her, "Can you go back to your room and sleep now?" "Oh." Nan Shu staggered to her feet, not noticing Huituichang's toy ball on the ground. Her foot slipped and she nearly fell, but thankfully Xie Zeyan caught her with quick reflexes. Like a drowning person grabbing at a straw on the shore, Nan Shu's hands flailed wildly, grabbing at Xie Zeyan's waist and abdomen in a chaotic mess. Damn. Xie Zeyan's neck quickly flushed a deep red, veins bulging as his blood pressure spiked. What the hell is this supposed to be? • "You've got some nerve, seriously. How did you even come up with the idea of measuring Xie Zeyan's measurements, hahahahaha." In the café, Liang Jiayi looked at Nan Shu, who was as wilted as an eggplant hit by frost, and laughed without any sense of decency. "Stop laughing at me," Nan Shu let out a heavy sigh. "Do you think Xie Zeyan will think I'm a pervert?" "Tell us something we don't know." Nan Shu wished she could find a crack in the ground to crawl into. "Maybe when I go back later, I'll find that Xie Zeyan has already packed his suitcase and left." "Did you two run into each other this morning? Did Xie Zeyan have any reaction?" Liang Jiayi asked. Nan Shu took a sip of her coffee, feeling like her life was more bitter than this Americano. "No, he didn't go to work this morning. I think I saw him in the kitchen brewing honey water, so I slipped out while he wasn't paying attention. Do you think he's angry or not?" "If he's brewing honey water for you, then he's definitely not angry," Liang Jiayi said, but her tone wavered with uncertainty. "But then again, Xie Zeyan is hard to read. I remember back in high school, didn't he talk back and make several girls cry who kept pestering him to deliver love letters?" Nan Shu buried her head even lower. "Great, the seed of friendship was just planted, and now it's been drowned by my fruit wine." "But you were drunk after all. Ignorance is an excuse." Liang Jiayi thought for a moment and came up with an idea for Nan Shu. "Here's what I think—with this kind of thing, if you're not embarrassed, then he's the one who's embarrassed. Anyway, you drank yesterday, right? Just pretend you blacked out and don't remember anything." Nan Shu mulled it over and couldn't think of a better plan. For someone as timid as her, playing dead could indeed solve ninety-five percent of problems. She grabbed her small bag and headed home, feeling anxious all the way as she entered the elevator in the residential complex. Just as the elevator doors were about to close, a hand with distinct knuckles, fair and slender, appeared in her field of vision. Nan Shu pressed the open button, and Xie Zeyan stepped in. The elevator light cast onto the man's face—his skin was fair, and the lines of his profile were clean and sharp. They exchanged a glance. Nan Shu immediately lowered her head, and Xie Zeyan said nothing either, silently moving to stand behind her. This positioning made Nan Shu feel very insecure, but she didn't dare move now. Watching the steadily rising numbers, she gave a light cough to break the awkward silence, asking knowingly: "Did you go to work?" Xie Zeyan replied flatly, "Mm." "Um... that move you made earlier, blocking the elevator with your hand, was a bit dangerous." "I know." She couldn't let the conversation drop at a time like this, so Nan Shu continued, "Why did you suddenly come to pick me up yesterday?" "I happened to pass by the airport road and saw you at the entrance of the restaurant." What a coincidence? But why did his tone feel colder than usual? Nan Shu's heart skipped a beat. She raised a hand to rub her temple, even though it no longer hurt. "I think I drank a bit too much yesterday—my head hurts so much. I have such a low tolerance for alcohol. Every time I have just two glasses, I feel like my brain's been shaken up, and I can't even remember what happened." The moment she finished speaking, the elevator fell into a deathly silence. All she heard was the man let out a cold scoff, and through gritted teeth, he said word by word: "What happened last night—you've forgotten all of it?"