Let's Go to a Hotel

A week after returning to work at the pet hospital, Yu Yaochen came again.

Gu Yuechen had been chatting with a customer at the time. He glanced at Yu Yaochen, then turned his attention back to the customer.

The customer held a Chinchilla cat in her arms, and the air was filled with shed cat fur. Yu Yaochen frowned slightly and went to wait by the entrance.

Seeing this, Gu Yuechen curled his lips in a mocking smile.

Only after the customer left with the Chinchilla did Yu Yaochen come over and stand before Gu Yuechen's workstation.

Gu Yuechen deliberately avoided looking at Yu Yaochen's face. He opened a spreadsheet on his computer and said blandly, "Doctor Pei hasn't come by in a long time. You should go to Cloud Gate Group to find him."

"I came to see you." Yu Yaochen's voice was noticeably hoarse. "What time do you get off work today? Can we have a proper talk?"

"There's nothing for us to talk about."

Panic flashed across Yu Yaochen's face. "Yuechen, I..."

A colleague came out from the back and said to Gu Yuechen, "Yuechen, call Bubu's owner and have him come pick Bubu up."

Bubu was a Golden Retriever.

Gu Yuechen nodded. "Okay, I'll call now."

Only then did the colleague notice Yu Yaochen. Surprise appeared on his face, and he hurried over.

"Boss's wife, why are you here?"

Yu Yaochen's expression turned cold. "Sorry, but I don't like being called the boss's wife."

The colleague looked somewhat embarrassed.

At the staff gathering before, they had called Yu Yaochen the boss's wife too. Yu Yaochen had not corrected them then, and he had even smiled at them, so they had assumed he accepted the title.

Yu Yaochen had also visited the pet hospital several times afterward. Whenever they saw him, they called him "boss's wife," and he had never seemed unhappy.

What had suddenly changed today?

Not wanting to offend Yu Yaochen, the colleague immediately changed how he addressed him. "Mr. Yu."

Yu Yaochen's expression eased slightly, and he slowly nodded.

"Are you here to see Doctor Pei?" The colleague tried to find another topic to break the awkward silence.

"No, I came to..."

Gu Yuechen suddenly cut him off. "Mr. Yu came to collect Doctor Pei's belongings."

Then he gave Yu Yaochen a distant yet polite smile. "Please wait a moment. Once I finish the call, I'll get them for you."

Yu Yaochen quietly clenched the hand hanging at his side into a fist.

Gu Yuechen was drawing a line between them. He did not even want to be friends with him anymore.

With other people around, Yu Yaochen did not make things difficult for Gu Yuechen. After saying thank you, he went to stand in a corner.

"Mr. Yu, you can wait in the break room, or go to Doctor Pei's office." The colleague said warmly, "Doctor Pei's office has been kept. We have the cleaning lady tidy it every day."

Yu Yaochen glanced at Gu Yuechen, his gaze full of complicated emotions, then followed the colleague to Pei Huanyi's office.

An hour later, the Golden Retriever's owner arrived. Gu Yuechen led the dog out of the observation room, then exchanged a few pleasantries with the man.

After the customer left, Xu Rui suddenly came over to Gu Yuechen and handed him a file.

"Yuechen, the boss..." Xu Rui paused and changed his wording. "Mr. Yu came."

The news that Yu Yaochen did not like being called the boss's wife had spread throughout the pet hospital in less than an hour.

"Mm, I know." Gu Yuechen put away the file and added, "He came to collect Doctor Pei's belongings."

"I see." Xu Rui glanced toward the corridor behind him and lowered his voice. "He seems to be in a bad mood. He's even colder than he was at the staff dinner. Xiao Liu got shut down by him."

Xiao Liu was the most sociable person there. He was especially good at talking and knew exactly how to flatter the higher-ups.

For a colleague like that to get shut down by Yu Yaochen came as a surprise to everyone. They were all guessing whether Yu Yaochen had argued with Pei Huanyi.

"I said before that he looked hard to get along with." Gu Yuechen quietly slapped the label of difficult to get along with onto Yu Yaochen.

"Maybe he's just in a bad mood." Xu Rui suddenly remembered something and looked up at Gu Yuechen. "By the way, when you said you'd cut ties with him before, was that true?"

Gu Yuechen laughed. "Of course it was fake. How could a rich and powerful young master like him really be friends with me? We weren't friends to begin with, so what ties were there to cut?"

Xu Rui felt that something was off, but he could not put his finger on it.

He could not chat there for long, so he soon returned to his post.

Gu Yuechen stalled until it was nearly time to get off work before leisurely entering Pei Huanyi's office and locking the door behind him.

Yu Yaochen had long since run out of patience. The moment he saw him, he immediately stood up, walked over, and took Gu Yuechen's hand.

"Yuechen, I came today because I want to tell you something." Yu Yaochen took a deep breath. His gaze gradually became firm, and he curved his lips into a smile. "I'm not planning to go abroad anymore. I'll stay here from now on. I want to..."

Gu Yuechen knew what he was about to say and immediately interrupted him.

"Chenchen, have you lost your mind?" Gu Yuechen frowned, his expression stern. "The wedding is only five months away. You're calling it off now?"

"I never loved him in the first place. He feels the same."

A wave of revulsion rose in Gu Yuechen's heart at those words.

It was bad enough that Yu Yaochen wanted to cheat, but he was even smearing Pei Huanyi's name.

Pei Huanyi was such a wonderful person. For Yu Yaochen, he had given up the career he loved and gone to work for Cloud Gate Group for free.

Yet Yu Yaochen, for the sake of his own selfish desires, was actually denying the love Pei Huanyi had given him.

It was truly disgusting.

Gu Yuechen pulled free of Yu Yaochen's grip. Yu Yaochen froze, staring at him with pain in his eyes.

"I'll treat everything you said as nonsense." Gu Yuechen casually picked up a fountain pen from the desk and handed it to Yu Yaochen. "This belongs to Doctor Pei. Take it and leave. Don't come again. Don't make me hate you."

Ignoring Yu Yaochen's deathly pale face, Gu Yuechen opened the door and walked out. He ran into Xu Rui, who was about to leave work.

He stepped forward, wrapped an arm around Xu Rui's waist, and blinked at him. "Xu Rui, let's go watch a movie. My treat."

Delight appeared on Xu Rui's face, and he nodded vigorously. The two of them walked out together.

Yu Yaochen stood in the doorway of the office.

For the first time, gloom showed in his eyes as he stared fixedly at their retreating backs.

The movie made Gu Yuechen drowsy. Once it ended, Xu Rui suggested they have dinner together.

Gu Yuechen was not in the mood. He lied and said his head hurt a little and that he wanted to go back early to rest.

Xu Rui looked worried. "Do you want to take some medicine?"

"No need. A nap should probably fix it."

Afraid that he was in too much pain, Xu Rui did not dare keep him any longer and immediately pulled him out of the cinema.

It had begun to rain outside, and they had no way to leave. Xu Rui braved the rain to make a trip to a convenience store and came back with two umbrellas.

Gu Yuechen took the umbrella and softly said, "Thank you."

"Let's take a taxi together." Xu Rui said, "I'll have the driver take you home first, then take me home."

Just as Gu Yuechen was about to speak, the phone in his pocket vibrated.

He took it out and glanced at it. It was a message from an unfamiliar number.

[I'm waiting for you at the apartment entrance.]

Gu Yuechen frowned, then put away his phone and gave Xu Rui a sweet smile.

"Okay."

Half an hour later, the taxi stopped at the fake address listed on Gu Yuechen's résumé.

Gu Yuechen did not hurry to leave. He bent down and waved at Xu Rui inside the car.

"Text me when you get home."

"Okay." Xu Rui's expression was gentle. "Get some rest early. If the pain gets too bad, don't tough it out. Take some medicine."

Gu Yuechen nodded.

After the car drove away, Gu Yuechen turned around and met Yu Yaochen's unfathomably deep eyes.

Yu Yaochen's clothes were soaked by the rain, and his face was frighteningly pale. He simply stood there, silently looking at Gu Yuechen.

Gu Yuechen moved his lips, but before he could make a sound, Yu Yaochen suddenly stepped forward and hugged him.

"I'm going crazy..." Yu Yaochen's voice trembled softly. It was impossible to tell whether he was shivering from the rain or from sadness. "Yuechen, I really can't take it anymore. Don't treat me like this..."

Gu Yuechen let him hold him. A moment later, a cruel, malicious smile curved his lips.

"Your clothes are wet. Let's go to a hotel."