Qiao Lu stared up at the cold roof of his room. Soundlessly, he lay blankly among the pillows and blankets that covered his bed, a chill running down his spine.
Quietly, he heaved a few hoarse breathes. His eyes were moist and foggy from sleep, while his face was a bright red. His body, however was shivering from head to toe and the inside of his throat felt as if it had been scrubbed raw by a piece of sandpaper.
Qiao Lu didn't know what to make of this, his mind felt hazy and slow, while his body felt weak and uncomfortable. He should be sick, though it was uncommon to get sick like this in this day-and-age, however it wasn't unheard of.
Sighing to himself, Qiao Lu tried to sit up and weakly made to check the time. 8:32… rather early.
Qiao Lu heaved a sigh once again and slowly got up from his bed. He shivered and put his hand to his head. Unable to accurately tell the temperature of his forehead, he could only dejectedly put his hand back down. Feeling his throat to be a bit itchy, Qiao Lu tried to clear his throat only to end up in a fit of coughing.
Now, his throat felt dry, itchy, uncomfortable, and it hurt! QAQ
Weakly, Qiao Lu staggered his way towards his desk where a cup of boiled water was. After drinking the cup of water, Qiao Lu felt a bit better, however his throat began to itch once again, leaving Qiao Lu weak and his throat sore.
Qiao Lu, "…"
Qiao Lu felt sad at his predicament. Worst yet, due to how rare it was to catch a cold, Qiao Lu didn't any medicine on hand, ah.
Luckily though, he could just go buy a health syringe from the supermarket so it wasn't too bad. Though, that meant he still had to go out and travel to the supermarket.
Qiao Lu sighed, said a word of prayer for himself, then made his way towards the entrance to his house. Slipping on a coat and a mask, Qiao Lu quickly made his way out of his house.
Slowly, Qiao Lu boarded a self-driving bus and made his way towards the supermarket. After arriving, Qiao Lu listlessly paid for the fare and made to get off the bus, only to soon after bump into a middle-aged man who wore baseball cap with a hood over it.
"Sorr-" Qiao Lu was a bit slow to respond due to being sick and only after a long pause did he manage to react, however by then, the other person had already disappeared into the crowd. Puzzled, Qiao Lu couldn't process the other's odd behavior so simply chose to give up and continued on his way towards the supermarket.
Once he had arrived, Qiao Lu made his way towards where the health syringes were kept. While making his way there, Qiao Lu saw a familiar figure. Blinking slowly, it took a moment for Qiao Lu to respond, and when he did, his cat like eyes widened in surprise. Then, he weakly rubbed his hazy eyes and looked back to make sure only to see that the familiar figure had disappeared.
"Am I hallucinating…?" Qiao Lu muttered in a low voice.
Shrugging it off, Qiao Lu slowly walked towards the check-out counter. At the check-out counter was a middle-aged lady, who looked over fondly at Qiao Lu as she waited for the robot to quickly finish scanning all of her items.
"Xiao-Lu! Great to see you up so early!" She said cheerfully, a happy smile blooming at her lips as her eyes curved into joyful crescents.
Qiao Lu paused for awhile, and after registering who the other was, called obediently, "Auntie He."
Nodding in satisfaction, Auntie He asked, "Are you not feeling well Xiao-Lu? Need any help?"
Qiao Lu shook his head gently and smiled at the other, "No, but thank you anyways."
Auntie He looked at him in worry, and was about to begin nagging when she seemed to suddenly remember something. "Xiao-Lu, I remember that one of your books seemed to have just been published, right? What was it called… A Lantern for-"
"A Lantern for The Sun?" Qiao Lu asked.
"Yes, that's it! I heard my daughter talking about how she's a fan of yours and loved your recent book. Xiao-Lu could you do me a favor, ah. You see her birthday is coming soon, and I originally planned to buy her an autographed copy of the book… however it was all sold out. So you could please autograph the book for me? I don't have it now but-"
Before she could finish, Qiao Lu weakly interrupted her, his head aching faintly from so much noise. "Of course, Auntie He. Just mail me the book and I'll be sure to sign it and send it back.
Auntie He glanced gratefully at Qiao Lu and enthusiastically began to thank him. After that, she quickly gathered up all of her purchased items and left.
Qiao Lu sighed in relief, placed his item before the robot and made to grab his wallet from his pocket.
Qiao Lu, "…"
Blankly, he thought, I should invest in a virtual smart bracelet too, ah.
Finally, Qiao Lu realized why that middle-aged man had behaved so weirdly. He also realized he should have listened to Ying Hau and bought the dammed bracelet.
Now, he was sick and he had no way of buying medicine, and couldn't even return to his own home!
Qiao Lu: QAQ
Then came a low beep and the indifferent voice of a robot, "All items have been scanned, would you like to proceed to payment?"
Qiao Lu looked tearfully at the indifferent robot, and could only answer in a resigned voice, "No-" However before he could finish speaking, a low and soothing voice said, "Yes."
Qiao Lu looked behind him in surprise, only to see the person he had thought had been a hallucination. "Ying Hau?" He called subconsciously.
"Mh." He hummed softly. "Persimmon?"
Dazedly nodding his head, Qiao Lu asked, "What are you doing here?"
Ying Chen laughed gently and answered in a light tone, "I was buying ingredients for todays stream." He paused, "It seems you're in a bit of trouble, allow me to repay you for all the kind donations."
Qiao Lu hurriedly shook his head, making himself feel dizzy in the process, and weakly said, "No… no need."
Ying Chen comfortingly said, "You're sick, so there's no need to be so polite. Besides, this is a win for me, as I finally get to meet my favorite author."
Finally, Qiao Lu realized an issue. "…How did you know?"
"I heard you and that auntie mention it, though I didn't mean to eavesdrop." Ying Chen said with a muffled and slightly apologetic tone.
Qiao Lu laughed in exasperation, waving it off with a, "Auntie He is a very energetic person and likes to speak in a loud voice. It would be stranger if you didn't hear."
Ying Chen nodded gently in response, and casually set the items he was holding in his hands in front of the robot. After the robot had finished scanning all of the items, he then proceeded to scan the metal bracelet. These actions being done in one fluid motion.
After all of that, Ying Chen quickly gathered all of the items that were now in one bag, and then quickly kidnapped the still dazed Qiao Lu and left the store.
Gently, he let go of the other's wrist once they had stopped beside a car that had been parked right by the store. Once he let go of Qiao Lu's wrist, he quickly began to search through the bag for the health syringe; the sound waking up the still dazed Qiao Lu.
"Hn, ah? How did I get here…?" He asked blankly. To which Ying Chen said in a calm tone of voice, "Ah, I brought you here." Then like a parent educating their child, he said, "You're too trusting, following strangers to weird places, ah."
Qiao Lu, "…But you're not a stranger."
Ying Chen, "Do you even know my real name?"
Qiao Lu, "…" He did not.
With a sigh of exasperation, Ying Chen mumbled, "Oh, my name is Ying Chen. Okay, now that you know my name, come home with me, ah."
Qiao Lu, "…What?"
Then, the ever gentle Ying Chen… burst out laughing. Qiao Lu looked at him in puzzled astonishment, clearly not understanding what's so funny.
Only after awhile was Ying Chen able to find his composure. "Ah, I won't tease you anymore, after all you're sick. Here, lift up your sleeve."
Qiao Lu took awhile to react, and subconsciously did what the other told him to do and rolled up the sleeve of his jacket. Looking over, he saw the health syringe in Ying Chen's hand and finally understood what he wanted to do.
"Be good now, I'll be gentle. If you're scared, you can squeeze my hand." Ying Chen coaxed, his voice mellow and soothing.
Qiao Lu watched on as Ying Chen injected the health syringe into his arm, and thought to himself: But it doesn't hurt?
Ying Chen looked at the other who was still in a dazed state and chuckled. "Sorry, I used to work as a pediatrician and unconsciously got into work mode. Hope you don't mind."
Qiao Lu shook his head slowly, saying tiredly, "I don't mind. I even thought that it's quite nice." Who wouldn't want to be taken care of and coaxed while they were sick?
"That's good." Ying Chen said with a soft smile. Then after a brief pause, with an eyebrow raised, he asked, "What happened to your wallet, did you forget it at home?"
"No, it got stolen on my way here." Qiao Lu replied insipidly.
Ying Chen gazed in surprise, then asked in worry, "Then how are going to get home? Wait no, first you should go and contact your credit card issuer. Hn, but what should you do about getting home… do you have your house keycard on you, or is it in your wallet?"
"…Wallet." Qiao Lu said dejectedly.
With a sigh, Ying Chen said, "Looks like that joke early has become a reality. Come, you can sleep at my house. Well, unless you have any better place you could stay at. So, do you?"
Qiao Lu, "No… but I could just stay at a hotel-"
"With what money?" Ying Chen asked, looking sadly at the weak and sick Qiao Lu.
Qiao Lu, "…" Very good, it seems he has been successfully kidnapped by this gentlemanly scammer.
Ying Chen laughed softly as he opened a car door. "No need to worry, I don't need your pitiful life, ah."
Qiao Lu glanced at the gentle and beautiful con-artist and comforted himself with, it's not too big of a loss to be taken advantage of by him. Then peacefully, he got into the car.
Luckily, Qiao Lu's communicator hadn't been stolen. So he could easily contact his credit card provider. After that was settled, he had to contact his landlord about his keycard being stolen, and how he needed the lock and keycard to be changed. By the time he was done with all of this, they had almost arrived at Ying Chen's house. However, to the exhausted Qiao Lu, the house couldn't be close enough.
Soon, Qiao Lu had been lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of the car and the soothing and mellow hums of Ying Chen. So when they had finally arrived, Ying Chen had to make an important decision, ah. To wake, or not to wake, that was the question.
At this moment, as Ying Chen was scooping up the other from the passengers seat, he couldn't help but to think of a passage from Qiao Lu's new book. 'He scooped the little koi dragon from the hot-spring as if he was scooping dumplings out of a bowl of dumpling soup. Yet sadly, he couldn't eat this dumpling dragon, ah.'
Ying Chen, "…" He had always wanted to ask this, but why were his metaphors always so weird in his books, ah?
To which, no one replied, because that someone was currently sleeping in his arms. In the end, all Ying Chen could do was heave a light sigh and continue on with his actions.
As Qiao Lu was being jostled around by Ying Chen's slight movements, he couldn't help but to wake up in a haze. His misted over eyes opening only slightly before they sleepily drooped closed.
The warmth of the other's embrace wrapped around Qiao Lu like a soft blanket, and made him feel safe, comforted, and soothed. Feeling happy and relaxed, the half-asleep Qiao Lu dreamily snuggled his cheek against Ying Chen's chest, and pillowed his head there.
Ying Chen felt his movements, and absentmindedly patted the other's back in a rhythmic motion; which put the already sleepy Qiao Lu right back into the land of dreams. In this dream, Qiao Lu felt light and happy, as he was surrounded by warm and fluffy clouds in which he cuddle and sleep on.
"Hn, low fever. Seems like the health syringe is working well." A low and mellow voice drifted over. Qiao Lu felt it to be familiar, as he had often heard this pleasant voice as he slowly drifted to sleep. Listening to it, Qiao Lu felt as if he could just melt from all this sweetness, a stuffy but warm feeling enveloping his heart.
It felt nice to know that if he opened his eyes, he would be able to see another person who would patiently care for him, and coax him. So while he slept, he also basked in the familiar warmth of the other's presence. Then, he thought to himself, that it would be nice if he didn't ever have to wake up to that lonely and cold room ever again.
But that was just wishful thinking, isn't it?