"The lights are off now."
"Mm…"
The bedroom went dark. The two lay in bed, back to back, separated by a blanket.
Mengran was wrapped tightly in the blanket, with only her head exposed; the rest of her was completely cocooned.
She squeezed her eyes shut, but soon opened them again — she simply couldn't fall asleep.
Her attention was entirely on her back — on Zhou, who was on the other side of the bed.
Any slight movement from Zhou, even just turning over, would make her body flinch slightly, and she would then wrap herself tighter.
She kept replaying everything that had happened since she met Zhou.
He really hadn't done anything suspicious.
He hadn't talked to her much and had always maintained a certain distance.
That's why she had let her guard down. She didn't suspect anything.
But now, the distance between them was maybe only twenty centimeters.
If Zhou turned over dramatically, he could end up right on top of her…
In that tense state, thirty minutes passed.
Mengran heard the sound of steady breathing.
She knew Zhou was probably asleep now, and her nervous heart finally settled a bit.
She let down her guard slightly.
She didn't even remember the last time she had slept well.
So, after she relaxed, sleepiness soon overtook her, and her eyelids grew heavy.
Before long, she was fast asleep — deeply asleep.
She even had a dream, a dream of her parents slowly walking away…
"!!"
When she opened her eyes and suddenly sat up, she realized it was already morning — daylight had filled the room.
It was around 6 a.m.
A flood of memories rushed into Mengran's mind, bringing her back to the present. She remembered where she was.
She looked to the side and saw that she was alone in bed.
Zhou was no longer in the bedroom.
Then, she heard some noise coming from outside — it sounded like someone was cooking in the kitchen…
Mengran sat up. She was still wearing the clothes Zhou had given her the day before — she hadn't changed.
As she walked out of the bedroom, a delicious aroma from the kitchen drifted to her nose, instantly awakening her sleepy stomach.
She looked toward the kitchen and saw Zhou wearing an apron, cooking.
She walked over. As she reached the kitchen doorway, Zhou turned around, and the two locked eyes.
"Ah… Good… good morning."
Mengran greeted him softly. Zhou glanced at her, then nodded and responded quietly,
"Mm."
Mengran looked at the dining table in front of her.
There was a lunchbox containing freshly cooked food from Zhou.
At that moment, she remembered Zhou usually brought his own meals to school — he didn't eat the cafeteria food.
In fact, he was probably the only one in class who did that.
"You're making lunch… Why do you bring your own food? The school's meals are okay, aren't they?"
Zhou answered simply, "I'm an ethnic minority. I have dietary restrictions."
"Really? No wonder… You do look like it."
Mengran was a little surprised. She looked closely at Zhou's face and realized he really did have some minority features —
a high nose bridge, double eyelids, features that almost looked foreign.
She had never noticed before.
"I've made breakfast. You should eat."
Zhou pointed to the side, where steaming breakfast was ready.
Mengran's stomach, already awakened by the aroma, growled even louder when she saw the food.
"Mm…"
She nodded softly and sat down at the dining table.
But she didn't start eating right away.
She waited for Zhou.
Only when he finished cooking and sat down did she pick up her chopsticks.
As they ate, Zhou asked,
"Are you going to school today?"
"Well…"
Mengran thought about her schoolbag — it was still at school.
She hadn't taken it when she left the day things went wrong. It had been left in her desk.
She really should go back to school.
She couldn't just let everything go and give up on herself.
But…
Mengran looked at her uniform, still hanging up to dry — it wasn't completely dry yet.
Her condition was still poor, her eyes were swollen, and she didn't even have clothes to wear…
"I… need to go buy some clothes today. So, I might not go to school until tomorrow…"
"Oh."
Zhou nodded. Then he took a key from his pocket and tossed it in front of her.
"House key. Come back after you're done shopping, or I won't be able to get in."
Mengran looked at the key and understood — Zhou was worried she might sneak away with nowhere to go.
She picked up the key and replied softly,
"Okay… got it…"
She thought, I can't stay in Zhou's home forever, right?
He had kindly let her stay, but she couldn't just live there without any thought.
But she didn't have enough money to rent a place either…
Right now, going back to school was the most important thing.
She couldn't drop out and go work — her parents wouldn't want that, even in heaven.
So aside from accepting Zhou's offer and staying for now, she really had no other choice…
Her good friend Tong Yining — she couldn't bother her and her parents…
Zhou, on the other hand, lived alone. It was relatively more convenient.
After breakfast, Zhou quickly packed his things and left the house.
He didn't say anything else to Mengran before leaving.
As Mengran looked at the now-empty home, she couldn't help but feel surprised —
Zhou really trusts me this much… letting me stay here alone.
Mengran decided to help tidy up the place a bit — after all, she was staying there, so she had to do something.
Once she was done, she'd go out to buy clothes, take a proper shower, and get herself cleaned up.
She started by tidying the bedroom, opening the windows for fresh air.
Then she swept and mopped the living room.
When she reached Zhou's workout area and saw the dumbbells in front of her, she immediately felt a headache…
She had to move those things before she could clean properly.
So she rolled up her sleeves, walked over, gripped the dumbbell bar with both hands, and took a deep breath,
"1…2…3!"
"Ugh—"
Mengran moved the dumbbell aside, her face turning red from the effort.
"These are so heavy… how does Zhou lift them? If I had known, we should've put him in the tug-of-war team last year…"
As class president, thinking about these things had become second nature.
This was one of the reasons she had to return to school.
Twenty minutes later, while wiping down a cabinet, Mengran's eyes caught something in the corner next to it —
a cardboard box.
Inside were many papers that looked like letters, along with some small boxes.
She squatted down, pulled out one sheet, glanced at the contents, and her eyes flashed with surprise.
"Are these… the love letters and gifts Zhou wrote for Tong before?"