It was almost eleven, and he could barely stay awake... Chi Yining fought to keep his heavy eyelids open as he worked on the last drawing.
Knock, knock, knock!
A knock sounded at the door.
Who would knock on his door in the middle of the night? Had they gotten the wrong room?
Only when Chi Yining reached the door did he realize it had no peephole...
Should I open it? What if someone has an emergency and needs help? But... it's so late. This is a little scary. They're not even saying anything. Are they waiting for me to ask?
Knock, knock, knock!
The sudden knocking startled Chi Yining again.
He gritted his teeth and finally asked, "Who is it?"
"Yan Guiyun." The voice outside was cool and resonant.
It's that Yan Guiyun. What does he want with me this late?
Chi Yining finally opened the door and slowly poked half his head out. "Need something?"
"The water heater in my room is broken, so there's no hot water. I'd like to use yours."
Dressed in a white bathrobe, Yan Guiyun held a towel in his hand. His pecs... ahem. He looked at Chi Yining with the corners of his mouth slightly raised, leaving Chi Yining unsure how to refuse.
Whatever. I already showered before eight anyway.
"Sure, come in."
"Thank you."
Yan Guiyun was staying directly across from Chi Yining, also in a blind spot for the cameras, as he had specifically requested.
But he hadn't expected to finish work and get ready for a shower, only to discover that the water heater was broken.
That had caught him off guard, but he clearly didn't have time to wait for someone to repair it. He could only steel himself and knock on the door across the hall, hoping its occupant hadn't gone to sleep.
He hadn't expected it to be Chi Yining again.
As coincidences went, when he was at the airport, his signal had suddenly become poor for some reason, so he had simply left the departure gate's waiting lounge and sat outside.
Not long afterward, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a fair-skinned young man sitting beside him in a daze. He had sat there motionless, staring into space for nearly an hour.
By coincidence, when he arrived at this dating show, he discovered that the young man was also a guest.
Even more coincidentally, the young man was staying right across from him...
As soon as he entered the room, he caught a cool scent of mint.
"The bathroom's over there."
Yan Guiyun watched as Chi Yining finished speaking expressionlessly, then turned and walked straight to the sofa area without lingering.
The bed hadn't been touched either, and everything in the room was neatly arranged. Chi Yining was dressed very simply, too.
Without dwelling on his puzzlement, Yan Guiyun walked into the bathroom.
None of the bottles of body wash in the bathroom were mint-scented either.
Half an hour later, Yan Guiyun emerged with water dripping from his hair and rubbed it a few more times with the towel.
He glanced around the room as he came out.
There was no one in sight. What could Chi Yining have gone off to do this late at night? Had he fallen asleep on the sofa?
Only after Yan Guiyun slowly approached did he discover that the little fellow really had fallen asleep on the sofa.
With his black wolf cut, white long-sleeved top, and black casual pants, he was curled up on the sofa like a kitten, hugging a tablet with its screen off.
Yan Guiyun glanced at the clock hanging in the room. Eleven thirty. It was very late.
The next day
Chi Yining felt around beside him. Where was he? He seemed to have gotten so sleepy on the sofa last night that he had fallen asleep.
His hands felt the texture beneath him. A bed?
Chi Yining groggily opened his eyes and discovered that he was lying in bed.
He had even been tucked in...
Who was it? Did Yan Guiyun carry me here? He was the only one who came into my room, so it must have been him.
The domineering CEO is surprisingly kindhearted. He actually didn't shun me for being hated all over the internet...
After slowly sitting up, he looked at the round white clock on the wall. It was already nine!
Did I miss breakfast...?
Chi Yining yawned and climbed out of bed.
After washing up, he uploaded all three pictures to both platforms.
He also linked his phone and logged in so he could see orders come in in real time.
After finding and eating that last bag of little cookies, Chi Yining finally managed to dawdle his way to ten o'clock.