Reluctantly Willing

Xiu Yijian still lived in Gu Jun’s villa and Gu Jun treated her like a ghost. An Xiaoyan had been resting at home for half a month. When he came downstairs with his crutches, he happened to meet Xiu Yijian, who was having her afternoon tea.

He had no intention of communicating with Xiu Yijian. Just as he was turning around to go upstairs, Xiu Yijian stopped him.

“You are An Xiaoyan, am I right?”

“Hmm.” An Xiaoyan turned around and nodded.

“I think we have something to talk about.”

“Miss Xiu, if there’s anything you wish to talk about, you can wait for Mr. Gu to come back and talk to him. There’s no use in discussing it with me.”

Xiu Yijian ignored this excuse. She felt that since it was impossible to engage with Gu Jun, An Xiaoyan could be her foot in the door.

“An Xiaoyan, Gu Jun likes you, did you know that?”

An Xiaoyan had already taken a few steps but stopped in his tracks upon hearing that. He replied softly, “Miss Xiu, you must be joking. Mr. Gu likes you. He’s never gone to the movies or dined with others, nor had he ever taken the young master out for others to see.”

What he meant was that if Gu Jun did not like her, he would not have done these things. Gu Jun never liked to waste his time on trivialities.

“How do you know all this?”

“The young master told me so when he came home.”

Xiu Yijian sneered. “Looks like that child is really close to you. Did you know that when we went to the movies and had dinner together, it was old Mr. Gu who arranged it all? And, Gu Jun brought along Guo Guo and made him sit in between us. Do you think that you can really call it a date when someone brings along a child?”

An Xiaoyan did not know much about dating. In his opinion, Gu Jun’s willingness to entrust Guo Guo to someone said a lot; this person must be a very trusted.

“I don’t understand such things, Miss Xiu. Since you live here now, Mr. Gu must like you very much.”

Xiu Yijian could not help but shout, “If he likes me, why would he sleep in your room every day?”

An Xiaoyan stiffened up for a while, and he did not know why either.

“If you have something to ask, you can wait for Mr. Gu to come back and ask him. I’ll go upstairs.”

Behind him, he heard Xiu Yijian blurt out, “An Xiaoyan, whether you believe it or not, Gu Jun must like you.”

Back in the room, An Xiaoyan could not calm himself down for a long time, and Xiu Yijian’s words lingered in his mind.

Gu Jun likes you, did you know that?

He did not know, and he did not believe it either.

He felt that he was just Gu Jun’s enemy and Gu Jun did not like him, but the recent gentleness from Gu Jun was perplexing. Perhaps it was simply a shred of sympathy, looking at his leg. Maybe Gu Jun had broken his leg once, thus he felt some empathy.

When Gu Jun returned home, the nanny secretly told him that Miss Xiu had spoken to Mr. An today, and did not know what they talked about. Miss Xiu’s voice was very loud.

Gu Jun realized that he was negligent. When a man and a woman lived in the same house, something like this was inevitable. It was not that he did not believe in An Xiaoyan, but he was afraid that Xiu Yijian might steer the conversation a certain way in order to learn what she wants.

Retrieving the surveillance videos from the study, the conversation between the two could be heard very clearly.

“Gu Jun likes you, did you know?”

His secret, which had been hidden for a long time, was exposed by others, and his difficult words were so casually spoken out by a woman.

But when An Xiaoyan said that Xiu Yijian was the one Gu Jun liked, Gu Jun was unhappy. He was a little glad that he had not already confessed it.

Turning off the surveillance video, he swiveled his chair to face the garden behind him. The workers were mowing the lawn.

Gu Jun realized that he had never let An Xiaoyan go to the back of the villa.

Now that Xiu Yijian had seen through him, Gu Jun had no intention to hide it. He continued to sleep in An Xiaoyan’s every day. The two of them simply shared the pure cotton-padded quilt and slept together, and Gu Jun had no intention of doing anything else.

“An Xiaoyan, don’t talk to Xiu Yijian even when you’re obviously not busy. Don’t listen to what she says.”

“Hmm, I know. Rest assured, Mr. Gu, I will not come in close contact with her.” An Xiaoyan thought that Gu Jun was worried that he would say too much to Xiu Yijian. After all, I am living under the same roof as them. If anything were to happen between me and Xiu Yijian, it would not be good, especially since Gu Jun likes Xiu Yijian.

“If Mr. Gu feels that I’m in the way, I can move out or live with the servants.”

Gu Jun turned around and hugged him from behind. “No, it’s good for you to live here.”

One day, when An Xiaoyan saw Xiu Yijian sitting downstairs, he hurriedly turned his back and went upstairs. Xiu Yijian hurriedly went upstairs and stopped him.

“An Xiaoyan, why are you avoiding me these days? Did Gu Jun say anything to you?”

“No, Mr. Gu didn’t say anything. I just don’t think it’s appropriate for us to talk.”

“What’s wrong? What could happen in broad daylight?”

“Miss Xiu, please respect yourself.” After An Xiaoyan finished this sentence, and before he went upstairs, Xiu Yijian pulled him back.

Although he was a man, he had been ill for majority of the year, thus his strength was similar to that of a girl. Now that he was being pulled back by Xiu Yijian, he could not move a single step forward at all.

“The reason why I am standing here to talk to you today is because I have something to ask of you, and I hope you will agree.”

An Xiaoyan stood motionless as Gu Jun had told him to ignore this woman.

“I do not meddle in anything related to Mr. Gu. Miss Xiu, if you have something to say, you should wait until you see Mr. Gu this evening.”

Xiu Yijian’s face bore a lovely expression. Her hands were tightly pulling on An Xiaoyan’s arm, and tears were about to flow. “An Xiaoyan, I know you are a good man. If you don’t help me with this, I won’t be able to stay in the Xiu family any longer. Please pity me.”

The words sounded very pitiful and An Xiaoyan was a little moved. However, with the thought of Gu Jun warning him not to come in close contact with this woman, he still firmly refused.

With regards to emotions, a woman is the most sensitive. Though An Xiaoyan may appear indifferent, his eyes were full of sympathy, revealing his true feelings in his heart.

When Xiu Yijian lifted her skirt and was about to kneel down, An Xiaoyan grabbed her.

“Miss Xiu, don’t do that.”

“An Xiaoyan, what I ask of you is just your words. As long as you say it out, it does not matter whether Gu Jun agrees or not.”

Tears were rolling in her eyes, and An Xiaoyan could not withstand the sight of it and he said, “I will try.”

As soon as she heard An Xiaoyan’s promise, Xiu Yijian’s facial expression changed immediately. She wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes and restored her usual dignified look.

An Xiaoyan spent the whole afternoon thinking about how to tell Gu Jun about it. He was afraid that Gu Jun would be angry after he knew that he had came in contact with Xiu Yijian.

All afternoon, his nerves were all tensed up, afraid that he would miss out Gu Jun when he came home.

However, when Gu Jun finally came back from work, An Xiaoyan did not know where to start.

During dinner in the evening, Gu Jun sat in the master’s seat. An Xiaoyan and Guo Guo sat on the right hand side of Gu Jun while Xiu Yijian sat on his left hand side.

Xiu Yijian kept staring at An Xiaoyan, but An Xiaoyan kept on dodging her stares. She knew that An Xiaoyan would not be able to speak in a timely manner, but she was not in a hurry.

Gu Jun watched An Xiaoyan bow his head while eating his dinner and feeding Guo Guo from time to time. He took the initiative to put a prawn in his bowl.

An Xiaoyan thought that Gu Jun wanted him to give the prawn to Guo Guo. After peeling the prawn with his own hands, he placed the prawn outside of Guo Guo’s mouth.

Just when Guo Guo opened his mouth and was ready to eat the prawn, Gu Jun pulled An Xiaoyan’s hand over and said to Guo Guo, “Peel it yourself and eat.”

Guo Guo said angrily, “Daddy is bad1” In spite of that, his little hand reached out to take a prawn from the plate and mimicked the way the adults peel and eat their prawns.

“Next time, after you’ve peeled the prawns, you eat them. You don’t have to spoil him.”

“Okay.” An Xiaoyan obediently ate the prawn. Across from them, Xiu Yijian felt that the three of them had neglected her and was in a bad mood.

But the better Gu Jun treated An Xiaoyan, the greater her hope was.

After dinner, the nanny took Guo Guo for a walk in the garden, while An Xiaoyan went upstairs to continue reading the medical books and Gu Jun went to his study.

Recently, the more he read, the more memories were brought back in his mind. Whenever Gu Jun saw him reading, he would not say anything, but would casually flip some pages. This gave him great assurance that he could continue reading.

There were several veterinary books on the shelf too. He was unsure who placed those books on the shelf.

An Xiaoyan was curious. Opening the first page of the book, he saw a ginger cat, very small in size. He recalled his ginger cat, named wonton, which he adopted in the hospital.

Thinking of his ginger cat, he thought of Liu Cheng, wondering about his current situation. Upon his return to the villa, he attempted to call Liu Cheng on his mobile phone secretly. However, he could not get in touch with Liu Cheng, despite his numerous calls.

While deep in thought, he did not notice that there was someone behind him.

Gu Jun was observing the facial expression of An Xiaoyan from behind. He hesitated as he did not wish to interrupt the beauty of An Xiaoyan in his natural habitat, an image that he was addicted to.

“What are you thinking about?”

An Xiaoyan said gently, “Nothing, nothing important.”

“In the future, if there’s anything you wish to tell me about, don’t hide your feelings inside you. Just tell me directly.” Gu Jun was worried that An Xiaoyan would always bottle up his feelings and suffocate himself emotionally one day.

“Okay, I was thinking about the ginger cat just now.” An Xiaoyan thought Gu Jun was commanding him to answer truthfully. He dared not mention the two words “Liu Cheng”, afraid that if he were to say those words, Gu Jun may punish him.

“Which one?”

“The one in the hospital.”

Gu Jun recalled that he had abandoned it. “Did you like it?”

An Xiaoyan kept silent.

“An Xiaoyan, look at me, tell me the truth.”

An Xiaoyan looked at him obediently and nodded slightly.

Unexpectedly, there was no anger and Gu Jun simply said, “In two days’ time, I’ll have someone bring one over. It would be fun for Guo Guo to play with a cat at his age.”

“Thank you, Mr. Gu.”

Gu Jun took out his pajamas from the wardrobe and went into the bathroom. Since Xiu Yijian would not be leaving anytime soon, he had moved everything next door to An Xiaoyan’s room and made the bold move to openly stay in An Xiaoyan’s room.

Gu Jun did not have a habit of soaking himself in a bath tub, except when he wanted to relax after a tiresome day. Usually, he would just take a quick shower.

In the middle of his bath, the bathroom door opened. An Xiaoyan stood at the door and held onto the wall. His upper body was naked and he was wrapped in a bath towel.

“What are you doing in here?” He hadn’t forgotten that An Xiaoyan’s leg was still injured and could not get wet.

An Xiaoyan bit his lip and took a long time before he said, “I have come to give you a rubdown.”

Gu Jun’s heart felt so sweet, as if he had just eaten honey. It was An Xiaoyan’s first time taking an initiative. However, in consideration of An Xiaoyan’s health, Gu Jun said in a relaxed tone, “Wait ’til your legs are better as your legs can’t get wet now. Go.”

The door closed slowly. Gu Jun did not see the disappointment in An Xiaoyan’s eyes. An Xiaoyan closed the door and sat on the bed. Is using my body the only way I can make a request?