Chapter 84: A Fever?
After getting up and washing, Su Yuqing stepped out of her room. The moment her lovely eyes glanced at Chen Mo, she immediately lowered her head.
Her cheeks were flushed, and she looked bashful.
Chen Mo saw her acting this way but didn’t think much of it. After all, some rather impulsive things had happened last night, so it was only natural for things to be a little awkward and shy when they saw each other this morning.
But Chen Mo had gotten it completely wrong.
After confirming that he wasn’t angry last night, Su Yuqing had already calmed down considerably.
But after she fell asleep, she had a dream that was so captivating, she couldn’t wake up from it.
It wasn’t until Chen Mo’s knock roused her that she awoke. The moment she did, every detail from the dream was still vividly etched into her mind.
It was as if she had personally experienced the whole thing in real life.
As a result, she now blushed so fiercely at the mere sight of Chen Mo that it looked like her cheeks might burst.
"I had a sudden craving for something doughy today, and I remembered we hadn’t eaten those two boxes of soup dumplings I bought earlier. I pan-fried them with a bit of egg. Give them a try."
Su Yuqing looked at the soup dumplings, their skins fried to a light golden-brown and coated in egg. They looked surprisingly appetizing.
She picked up her chopsticks, lifted a soup dumpling to her mouth, and took a bite. "This is really good," she said with a smile.
Then she immediately added, a little embarrassed, "I should have been the one to get up early and make breakfast, but you ended up doing it instead. I promise I won’t oversleep tomorrow."
"What’s with all this ’you’ and ’me’? There’s no need to draw such a clear line. Whoever has time can do it. If you’re sleeping soundly, you should sleep in. It’s no big deal," Chen Mo said with a smile. "At worst, I’ll just dock a little from your pay at the end of the month."
A faint sweetness bloomed in Su Yuqing’s heart when she heard Chen Mo say there was no need to distinguish between them.
As she ate her breakfast, Su Yuqing subconsciously glanced up at Chen Mo. The instant her eyes landed on his lips, she shyly looked down again.
Suddenly, she felt a cool touch on her forehead and realized Chen Mo had gently pressed the back of his hand against it.
Noticing Su Yuqing was still flushed, Chen Mo couldn’t help but wonder if she’d caught a cold and was running a fever.
As the back of his hand made contact, he felt her forehead was burning up.
"Did you catch a cold?" he asked with concern.
Su Yuqing shook her head. "No, I don’t think so."
Despite her words, she could still feel how hot her cheeks were.
’But the heat is from my dream last night. It was so mortifying that I feel like I’m on fire just thinking about it.’
"Then why is your forehead so hot?" Chen Mo reached out and touched her cheek. "Your face is burning up, too. Are you sure you’re not feeling sick?"
"I’m not." Su Yuqing shook her head, her face turning an even deeper shade of red.
"Don’t try to tough it out if you’re not feeling well," Chen Mo said, concerned. "It’s fine if we take the day off. I’ll help you catch up on any classes we miss."
"I’m really not sick," Su Yuqing said shyly, unable to explain the real reason.
"Really?" Chen Mo gave Su Yuqing a skeptical look.
He folded his hands on the table, rested his chin on them, and quietly watched Su Yuqing as she nibbled at her breakfast.
His stare only made her grow more bashful.
Seeing her reaction, Chen Mo smiled, stood up to clear the dishes, and averted his gaze.
By the time he had finished washing his own dishes, Su Yuqing had finally finished eating and walked over with her bowl and chopsticks.
"I’ll wash those," Chen Mo said with a smile, taking the bowl and chopsticks from her. "You look like you’re overheating. Go sit down and cool off."
This time, Su Yuqing didn’t insist. She simply retreated behind Chen Mo and quietly watched his back.
For some reason, just watching him do chores from behind filled Su Yuqing with an inexplicable sense of peace and happiness.
She was reminded of when her mother was pregnant with her little brother. Her stepfather wouldn’t let her mother do any chores, always rushing to wash the dishes himself.
Back then, her stepfather would be happily humming a little tune, even while doing his chores.
He was just like Chen Mo right now—humming a little tune as he did the work, completely unbothered.
He had hired her to be his housekeeper, so he could have easily pushed all these chores onto her. Instead, he was rushing to do them himself.
Su Yuqing felt a thrill at this display of "boyfriend energy," but she also felt very embarrassed.
’They’d already signed the contract, but most of the time, Chen Mo was the one taking care of her, not the other way around.’
She was determined to change this situation, starting today.
After he finished washing the dishes, placed them in the sterilizer, and washed his hands, Chen Mo turned around to see Su Yuqing staring intently at him. Her eyes weren’t focused, however; she seemed to be lost in thought.
"Yuqing? Yuqing!" He had to call her name twice before she finally snapped out of it.
"What’s with you this morning? First the fever, now you’re spacing out." Chen Mo suddenly leaned in close, touching Su Yuqing’s forehead again.
This time, he pressed his own forehead against hers.
The thinking was that a man’s body temperature is slightly higher than a woman’s, so if her forehead still felt hot to him, she most likely had a fever.
This time, however, she didn’t feel particularly hot to him.
It was only as he pulled back that Su Yuqing’s temperature began to skyrocket.
’Because this was the exact proximity they’d been in countless times in her dream.’
’Only, in the dream, it wasn’t their foreheads that had been touching.’
Convinced that Su Yuqing was really fine, Chen Mo figured she must have just slept in and wasn’t fully awake yet, which explained why she seemed so dazed.
Chen Mo didn’t think any more of it. Seeing it was about time to leave, he headed to school with Su Yuqing.
The campus was always full of life in the morning.
Students, brimming with youthful energy, were filing onto campus.
When Chen Mo and Su Yuqing entered the classroom together again, everyone suddenly shot them looks of astonishment.
Chen Mo was confused. ’What’s with everyone?’
’They didn’t react at all when we walked in together yesterday, so why the big fuss today?’
Zhao Yuanyuan could barely contain her excitement. As soon as the pair sat down, she asked, "I heard you two are living together! Is it true?!"
"You ’heard’ something again? Where do you get all your gossip?" Chen Mo asked Zhao Yuanyuan, perplexed.
"It was Wang Lulu! To be closer to school, she recently moved in with her aunt in your complex. She saw the two of you go home together last night. Look, she even took a video. It’s already spread everywhere."
Zhao Yuanyuan took out her slightly battered phone and played a video.
Sure enough, a young man and woman were walking side-by-side under a streetlight in a light drizzle. It was clearly Chen Mo and Su Yuqing. The video even captured the moment they went inside together.
It was then that Chen Mo suddenly remembered: Wang Lulu’s aunt lived right across the hall from him.