Chen Yiran chuckled slightly, shaking his head gently.
"What's wrong? Does it taste awful?" Tianxin assumed from his gesture that he found her cooking skills inadequate.
"No, it's delicious..." Chen Yiran looked up at Tianxin's worried face, a hint of ease finally showing on his previously tight expression. "Why aren't you eating?"
"Um, I ate something at the school gate before coming here, so I'm not very hungry now." Tianxin felt a bit embarrassed. After classes running the entire afternoon, she was already famished by the time school ended.
"Oh." Chen Yiran nodded without asking anything further, and continued sipping his porridge.
The whole dining room was quiet, the only sound was the ticking of the clock on the wall.
When Chen Yiran finished eating, he casually pulled out a napkin to wipe his mouth; his previously groggy head finally felt a bit more clear.
"Let me clean up the dishes." As soon as he set down his bowl and chopsticks, Tianxin hurriedly stood up to gather them from the table and carried them into the kitchen to wash.
Chen Yiran, sitting in the dining room, watched the small figure bustling in the kitchen, an inexplicable warmth filling his heart.
He made his way to the kitchen entrance, crossed his arms and leaned against the door frame. He gazed at Tianxin's back for a while, then softly asked, "How did your exam go?"
Tianxin froze in the middle of washing dishes, glanced at Chen Yiran's deep eyes focused on her, hesitated, then gently responded, "I ranked eighteenth in my class."
"Oh." Chen Yiran nodded again, falling silent.
When Tianxin had finished tidying everything up, Chen Yiran walked to the living room, picked up the car keys from the shoe cabinet and said to her, "Let's go, I'll drive you home."
"But I..." Tianxin bit her lower lip, standing still. She had already told her parents that she wouldn't be coming home...
"Hmm??" Chen Yiran arched his eyebrow slightly, his eyes calmly focusing on her.
"I want to stay here with you. Brother Yiran, you're sick and feverish, it's not very safe for you to drive in this condition..." Tianxin hesitated for a second, then expressed her inner thoughts.
"Don't you have class tomorrow?" Chen Yiran looked at her stubborn figure, eyes filled with confusion. He remembered that their school had regular classes every Saturday.
"We're on a monthly break this week." After mustering the courage to finish her sentence, Tianxin walked straight up to Chen Yiran, started pushing him towards the bedroom, and said, "Alright, Brother Yiran, you should get some rest!"