Lu Ao found himself missing Song Zhou a little.
The feeling was not intense; it merely surfaced now and then in his idle moments.
Lu Ao lay back in a deck chair, letting the sea breeze lull him slowly to sleep.
His thoughts drifted far, far away.
Deep in sleep, he had a dream.
In the dream, he arrived at a small courtyard. In one of its rooms, Song Zhou sat at a desk, working.
There was no one else in the room, yet Song Zhou still held his back straight and sat with impeccable posture. Beneath his clothes, his lean outline was visible.
Looking at his back, Lu Ao somehow thought of those old-fashioned young masters from movies. Perhaps they all shared that same conservative, gentle air.
Song Zhou, working in the courtyard, sensed something unusual. Thinking an employee had come to see him about something, he looked up—only to see Lu Ao.
Song Zhou looked at him. "Why are you here?"
"Hm?" Lu Ao walked over and leaned in to examine the document on his desk. "Boundary Gate Repair Material Application List—what is this?"
Song Zhou closed the file so he could not see it. "This is an internal secret of the Anomalous Personnel Affairs Regulatory Agency. Outsiders are not allowed to see it."
"Fine. It feels pretty real, though," Lu Ao muttered. He sat on the desk facing Song Zhou and studied him closely. "You're not much different from outside the dream."
Song Zhou now understood what was happening, and his eyes curved with a smile. "You know you're dreaming?"
"Of course I do," Lu Ao replied. "If I wasn't dreaming, how could I suddenly see you?"
"Then why are you seeing me in your dream? Could it be that what fills your thoughts by day appears