Lu Xiamei's call only went through at 11 p.m that evening. She was lounging on a divan in the master bedroom when it finally stopped ringing and her manicured nails gripped her phone more tightly as she heard the person on the other end speak.
"Ma, what is it?"
Her son's voice was soothing, balming her soul and easing some of her anxieties immediately. The prickling beneath her skin, which she had felt all afternoon ever since that good-for-nothing came back just to humiliate her, died down a little and she no longer felt like tearing at her skin.
"Xixi," she said, trying to keep her tone light. "You've had a busy day?"
There was a rustling noise on the other end of the line and she heard discreet conversation but it was too muffled for her to make out its contents despite her best efforts. Was Xixi still outside? It was already so late but perhaps he was still awake and completing his assignments. Her son, who was her pride and joy, had never disappointed her. Not only was he strong at academics, but he also was good at solving her problems for her. He was never one to be without a clever idea.
"Ma, I'm still working at the moment. Is there something you needed?"
There was. Despite her best efforts to ignore it, Wen Rui's return to the household earlier in the day made her nervous. Was that useless son of a bitch intending to fight back now? After so long? She couldn't pinpoint what exactly it was about him that left her so unsettled. Maybe it was the straightness of his posture or the elegant way in which he'd strode through the house like he was its rightful owner. It made her feel like something about him had changed.
But how was she supposed to explain this to her son?
"That person came back today," she said, not realising that she had started to fiddle with the ties of her bathrobe. Wen Guoyan was still overseas on a 'business trip' but she had no illusions about his true nature, he was probably somewhere in a beach resort at the moment fucking a young, nubile body. She'd long since forgotten about the love she'd had for him but that was no longer the point. She had something else that she wanted and his son by that woman wasn't going to be the one to steal it from her.
She finally caught her son's full attention.
"Oh? Tell me what happened."
Lu Xiamei elaborated. She couldn't resist flavouring the story with a bit of extra detail, making sure to focus on how that Wen Rui had obvious intentions to embarrass her and insult both Lu Chenxi and herself. But she also didn't forget to mention her fears.
"He acted strangely," she said at last, chewing on the bottom of a plush lip. It was about time to go for a repeat for her fillers since it had been nearly ten months since she'd gone back to her doctor. And Wen Guoyan would be home soon, if she looked her best for him, maybe it would be easier to tug him onto her side if and when Wen Rui came to kick up another fuss.
"Strange? How so?"
Lu Xiamei couldn't place it either. "I don't know," she confessed. "It's just a feeling that I got, he behaved like a different person, or not really. More like—" More like he was his old self again, that pretty little prince that she'd only had the right to watch from afar with jealous eyes.
That was it. That was the problem. She knew what it was about the meeting today that threw her off so badly now. She hated how he'd looked, confident and poised, like everything, including her son and her, were beneath him. She wanted to break this little young master and turn him into that wretched creature that didn't deserve all the luxuries that his mother had stolen from her.
"You're worrying about nothing, Ma." Lu Chenxi's voice was so soft that Lu Xiamei had to strain to hear his words. "I'll look into it but what can he do without Father's support?"
She heard the soft clicking of a keyboard through the receiver and her heart slowly settled back into its place.
"That's true, that's true," she murmured, running a hand through her thick curls. "Ma overreacted, my Xixi is so smart, you'll take care of everything, right?"
"Of course, Ma. Is there anything else?"
There wasn't but Lu Xiamei didn't want to put down that quickly. She missed him, how long had it been since he'd come back home to visit him over the weekend? But he'd already told her that his workload was too heavy this term and if he wanted to continue remaining a prestigious student, he had to buck up.
So she wasn't going to distract him more than necessary.
"There's nothing."
"Okay, good night, Ma, try and get some rest."
The line died. She put her phone aside and looked out of the window.
——————————
[You can, but I don't want you to.]
Zhou Ye's words lingered. They hadn't spoken for the rest of the meal after that, silently eating the dumplings so stiltedly that poor Uncle Qi had come over gingerly to ask if everything was okay. Wen Rui had complimented him on the food, which he'd enjoyed for real. But he hadn't known how to continue that conversation with Zhou Ye. Or if continuing it was even necessary.
He didn't bring up leaving again.
The rest of the weekend was spent trying to focus on the script. He blazed through the novel overnight, pondering and ruminating over the character Chen Wen for most of the day, even going so far as to splash soup all over himself when the fishball he'd been lifting to his mouth via chopsticks slipped off and careened back into the bowl.
Zhou Ye hadn't said anything to that, just wordlessly stood up and went to fetch him a kitchen towel.
Despite not chatting much though, he no longer felt that strangling awkwardness in their interaction. It felt like—dare he say it? It felt like they could even be friends.
The thought pleased him more than he'd like to admit.
Monday morning came too soon. Wen Rui had to head back to the company to resume training. Now that his medical leave by Dr Li was officially used up, he no longer had any excuse to go easy during dance practice. Not that he intended to. It was off-season now but who was to say whether they would have any events arranged during this period? The last thing Wen Rui wanted to do was become national news again for messing up a dance routine on stage that fans would expect him to know by heart.
There was no one else around at the moment. Zhou Ye probably headed in to work at 5 a.m or something, almost as industrious as the court officials of ancient times. And Auntie was in the kitchen, presumably fulfilling her other housekeeping duties. With no one to witness his bad manners, Wen Rui poured the remainder of his glass of milk into his mouth, cheeks puffing out like a goldfish. He was about to clear the table for the housekeeper in a bid to train himself to become more independent when Zhou Ye walked into the dining room without ceremony.
Wen Rui sprayed milk over all nearby surfaces, including Zhou Ye and himself.
To Zhou Ye's credit, he didn't even flinch, just took a measured step back to avoid most of the damage.
"Have you ever been to Singapore?" he asked casually. "You've just done an admirable impression of the Merlion."
Wen Rui coughed and thumped himself on the chest to try and bring up the milk that was now making its way steadily down the wrong pipe.
"Y-you—" he stammered. "I—" he pointed an accusing finger in Zhou Ye's vicinity, more precisely, at Zhou Ye's bare chest.
"I? You?" Zhou Ye repeated. His tone wasn't mocking but Wen Rui could detect the underlying amusement in it. He neatly sidestepped the flecks of milk all over the floor as he headed over to the mini-fridge in the corner that specifically stored bottles BlingH20. He grabbed a random one, disregarding that it was a limited edition version with Swarovski crystals forming crystal raindrops on the frosted glass, and drank straight from the mouth.
Water trickled from his mouth to run in rivulets down the side of his neck. Wen Rui caught himself staring and nearly choked again. He forced himself to pry his eyes off Zhou Ye's defined collarbones—
[Wait. What am I doing? He's a man, I'm a man. Nothing to look at in the first place, why am I behaving like this—]
He forced himself to admit, grudgingly, that it was an inferiority complex. Zhou Ye…was very fit.
But that was no excuse to waltz into the dining room shirtless. This was a sophisticated society, Wen Rui wasn't having any of it.
"Must you…" he muttered stiffly, waving a vague hand in Zhou Ye's direction. "Wear so little to fetch water?" Zhou Ye had come from the personal gym that was on the ground floor of the penthouse. Wen Rui hadn't visited it yet but after catching such an eye full, he was starting to wonder if he should. He already lost out to Zhou Ye in so many other aspects, he couldn't let Zhou Ye have six whole packs more than him.
"Are you complaining?" Zhou Ye asked.
Wen Rui gaped. "I—" he hesitated, then hated himself for hesitating. "Of course, I'm complaining! Why wouldn't I complain—"
"Oh?" Zhou Ye's low voice interjected. If his expression weren't so deadpanned, Wen Rui would even suspect that he was being cocky. He gave Wen Rui a thorough one over, from the nervous shuffle of his feet all the way up to the steady red bloom on the tips of his ears.
His lips twitched. "Are you sure? Because it sure doesn't look like it."