FIO CH11

Chapter 11: Staying Alone or Sharing Worries

The car window slowly rolled down. Lu Fangchi, seated in the driver’s seat, said to the alpha outside the window, “I’ll probably be working late. You’ll have to sort out dinner yourself. No need to wait for me.”

“Got it,” Zhou Zheng nodded and waved his hand.

The car window rolled up, the engine started, and the vehicle moved forward, disappearing from sight. Only then did Zhou Zheng lower his hand and turn to walk upstairs.

Upon arriving home, Zhou Zheng chose to take a shower first to wash away the dust from his body. After stepping out of the bath, he didn’t dry his hair but instead, with damp hair, went to the liquor cabinet to pick out a bottle of wine. Carrying the wine, he walked to the kitchen, opened the refrigerator, took out some ice cubes, poured the wine into a glass, and swirled the brownish-red liquid around. He brought the glass to his lips and took a few sips.

Tsk, it’s astringent.

Zhou Zheng frowned and tilted his head back to take a few more gulps. Only when the liquid in the glass had decreased by two-thirds, his earlobes began to redden and heat up, and his mind felt drowsy, did he walk towards the study.

He turned on the computer and began to create a mind map. Since he used to do it frequently, this task was not difficult for him and even felt like second nature.

First, he drew a circle and filled it with Lu Fangchi’s name. With the name as the center, he extended branches outward, focusing on personality, work, family, preferences, and orientation.

Lu Fangchi had a gentle personality and stable emotions. He rarely got angry in life and was tolerant of Zhou Zheng’s demands while he was sick, making him a very pleasant person to be around.

The list of his strengths was so long that Zhou Zheng had to stop and switch to black font to analyze the drawbacks. It might be more accurate to say the disadvantages of this personality in their relationship.

Compared to the speed at which he typed the advantages in red font, the frequency of adding black font slowed down significantly. Zhou Zheng pursed his lips and chose his words carefully: strong sense of boundaries and distance.

In simpler terms, it meant he was hard to get close to and difficult to confide in.

Even if Zhou Zheng didn’t want to admit it, he couldn’t ignore the fact that Lu Fangchi had initially been reluctant to take him in and had strictly defined their sleeping arrangements.

Of course, this was understandable, and it was up to Zhou Zheng to make more effort.

Next came work and family. Zhou Zheng didn’t know much. He only knew that Lu Fangchi was in the same industry as him, working in gaming. But now, with his memory loss, he had forgotten everything about what kind of games they made and what their business was.

As for family, Zhou Zheng tapped his fingers on the table, truly drawing a complete blank. Lu Fangchi had never mentioned it, and there were no clues like family photos. It was probably not a harmonious relationship, but it was also not wise to make assumptions based on this single fact.

So in the extended circles for work and family, Zhou Zheng put question marks.

When it came to preferences, there was plenty to write about. He favored light and delicious food, with a preference for green vegetables over nightshades. When he ate something he liked, he would close his eyes in satisfaction. If he didn’t like it, he would quietly move his chopsticks away and never touch it again.

He liked fruits like mangoes and kiwis but didn’t want to peel them. If they were easy to handle, he would eat them happily. Cherry tomatoes appeared frequently, probably because they were convenient, but judging by his expression, he was indifferent to them, eating them without much enthusiasm.

There were also some small details that contrasted sharply with his cold exterior. He loved to sleep in and would stay in bed until noon on his days off. He was very homebound, enjoyed playing games, and rarely went out except to take out the trash, like a lazy little cat.

Zhou Zheng typed quickly on the keyboard, his eyes twinkling with amusement. With each string of words he typed, corresponding images popped up in his mind: Lu Fangchi’s slightly upturned lips, eyes curved like crescent moons, lightly furrowed brows, and lowered eyelashes.

He kept reducing the font size until there was no more space in the circles, and then he stopped.

His gaze fell on the last circle—orientation.

Zhou Zheng hesitated for a moment before typing “yes.”

“Could you accept being with an alpha?”

What was Lu Fangchi’s answer at that time? Zhou Zheng tapped his index finger on the table with one hand while propping his chin with the other, trying to recall.

He didn’t reply immediately but thought for a moment before saying, “Well, I suppose so?”

This ambiguous answer didn’t satisfy Zhou Zheng, who pressed further, “What do you mean?”

The more anxious Zhou Zheng became, the slower Lu Fangchi’s response. After a long pause, he managed to squeeze out a few words: “It means what it says, I guess.”

His attitude was far from certain.

Zhou Zheng: “Be more specific.”

Perhaps this question really stumped Lu Fangchi. He didn’t notice Zhou Zheng’s agitation and paused for a long time before admitting, “To be honest, no one has ever asked me this question before, and I’ve never thought about it myself. All my past relationships were with omegas.”

Hearing this, Zhou Zheng’s heart sank.

“So I thought about it,” Lu Fangchi continued, “and I can accept it. As I said, as long as there’s liking involved, it’s fine.”

Zhou Zheng’s emotions were like a roller coaster, plunging and then soaring.

Acceptance was enough; acceptance meant there was a chance.

However, the answer “as long as there’s liking” was very vague. How could Zhou Zheng make Lu Fangchi like him?

Zhou Zheng sat up straight, folded his arms, and scrutinized the mind map on the screen in front of him.

Ultimately, his finger landed on the work circle, and he decided on the first step of his pursuit plan—close and prolonged proximity, effective contact to share worries.

He bolded the font and drew three stars.

During the ride back after dinner, Lu Fangchi received a work-related call. After hanging up, he seemed calm, but the gradually increasing speed of the car indirectly reflected that his inner state was not as tranquil as it appeared.

According to his recent overtime schedule, Lu Fangchi was highly likely to be working early and leaving late again, hardly crossing paths.

That meant he would have to stay alone, with his culinary skills going to waste. Zhou Zheng, who had now come to terms with his feelings, was naturally unwilling to sit idle.

OK, then it would start from tomorrow.

At this moment, he was too dizzy. The celebratory alcohol had fully taken effect. Zhou Zheng felt as if a thousand pounds were on his head, his eyelids magnetically drawn shut, and the words on the screen began to blur and double.

The alpha mustered the last bit of energy to shut down the computer, close the lid, and rise to his feet. He walked into the bedroom with a floating gait, still mindful to take only one side of the bed, leaving a large portion for Lu Fangchi.

Before falling asleep, Zhou Zheng took a deep whiff of the quilt, catching a faint trace of Lu Fangchi’s scent, and then closed his eyes.

He slept soundly through the night. His biological clock rang on time in the morning. Zhou Zheng’s eyelids fluttered, and he woke up.

Without opening his eyes, he reached out to the side and touched a cold surface.

Only then did Zhou Zheng open his eyes. The bed looked exactly as it had when he went to sleep, with no signs of anyone having slept in it, and the quilt was still folded.

He hadn’t come back all night? Zhou Zheng flipped over, reached for his phone on the nightstand, and took a look.

It was seven in the morning. He checked WeChat and saw no messages.

Lu Fangchi wasn’t much of a chatterbox, and they hadn’t reached the point of reporting to each other yet.

Zhou Zheng twirled his phone and sent a message to Xiao Liu: “Are you there?”

Xiao Liu replied instantly: “Yes, sir.”

While Zhou Zheng was still typing, his phone “dinged” with several messages.

Xiao Liu: “Boss, have you remembered anything yet?”

Xiao Liu: “When are you coming back to work?”

Xiao Liu: “Oh my gosh, it’s seven in the morning and I’m already up and getting ready for work. Unbelievable.”

The overwhelming sense of work was too strong.

Zhou Zheng: “No, I don’t know, thank you for your hard work.”

Xiao Liu: “It’s not hard work, it’s just tough fate.” [Rose]

Zhou Zheng got down to business: “Do you know where Lu Fangchi’s company is?”

Xiao Liu, whose hopes had been dashed, became aloof and unwilling to say more than necessary, simply sending a location.

Zhou Zheng: “Thanks.”

He put down his phone, got up, washed up, and prepared to leave the house.

Lu Fangchi blinked his sore eyes, feeling dizzy and heavy-headed. He put down the mouse and reached for his pack of cigarettes.

He found it empty; he had only had half a pack left, and after smoking one every so often during the all-nighter, it was gone.

He had to settle for coffee to stay awake, downing three large cups of Americano throughout the night. It seemed like he had developed a tolerance to caffeine and couldn’t stay alert.

Perhaps he had reached his limit. Lu Fangchi took off his glasses and began to rub his temples.

After a brief respite of a couple of minutes, a knock sounded at the door.

Without opening his eyes, Lu Fangchi responded, “Come in.”

The door creaked open, and footsteps approached, but there was silence for a while.

Lu Fangchi didn’t rush the visitor. He kept his eyes closed and continued to rub, moving his hand from his temples to gently scrape his eyeballs, performing an eye exercise.

Suddenly, another pair of hands covered his head, skillfully massaging his temples and even reaching the back of his head, with just the right amount of pressure, causing a tingling sensation on his scalp.

Lu Fangchi opened his eyes and met Zhou Zheng’s upright and handsome face.

A flicker of surprise crossed his eyes. “How did you get here?” Lu Fangchi asked.

Zhou Zheng didn’t stop his ministrations, massaging while speaking: “You didn’t come back all night. I came to check on you and brought you some food.”

Lu Fangchi “Hmm”ed in acknowledgment, then closed his eyes again after recognizing the visitor.

After about ten minutes of massage, Zhou Zheng urged Lu Fangchi to eat. He opened the lunch box and placed it on the coffee table. The aroma immediately wafted out, stimulating the appetite.

Lu Fangchi got up and walked over to the sofa, sitting down but not forgetting to bring his laptop, placing it beside him and occasionally reaching out to tinker with it.

Seeing the young man eating while fiddling with the computer, Zhou Zheng commented, “You’re really busy, huh?”

Lu Fangchi nodded and explained, “The game went viral after its release, and we’re rushing the schedule. It was manageable until two programmers fell ill, and now I have to cover for them.”

Zhou Zheng nodded, rubbed his nose tip, and casually mentioned, as if joking, “What do you think of me helping out?”

“Huh?” Lu Fangchi didn’t understand.

“I mean, I could help you,” Zhou Zheng quickly added, fearing rejection, “for free, no charge.”

Only then did Lu Fangchi look up at Zhou Zheng and said with a smile, “I’ll pay you a thousand a day.”

Lu Fangchi finally put down the computer and began to eat earnestly. After satisfying his hunger and thirst, he started to feel sleepy. If he kept pushing, he might suffer a heart attack or sudden death.

He sank into the sofa, his eyes half-closed, and said to Zhou Zheng, “I’ll take a short nap. You go back and drive my car, or take a taxi. My keys are in the first drawer. You can get them yourself.”

He didn’t take the previous offer seriously at all.

Zhou Zheng wanted to bring it up again, but Lu Fangchi had already closed his eyes and was breathing evenly, fast asleep.

He must have been exhausted; his extremely pale skin made the dark circles under his eyes stand out even more.

Zhou Zheng swallowed his words, tiptoed to the cabinet to find a blanket, covered the young man with it, and then sat on the adjacent sofa, picked up the laptop from the coffee table, and began to study the screen.