What the Two of Them Were Thinking

With his eyes sore, Lu Yan clicked the send button on the email.

The moment the progress bar finished, he felt as though a tremendous weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

The screen's glow fell across his face, while the solid warmth in his arms reminded him that none of this was a dream.

Aemeath was fast asleep. Even in her dreams, her slender fingers still clutched the hem of his shirt tightly.

"Little worrier..." Lu Yan murmured, a smile on his lips that he hadn't even noticed himself.

He carefully shifted his body, trying to pick her up without waking her.

Aemeath seemed to sense the shift in her center of gravity. She nuzzled against the crook of Lu Yan's neck and made a sound like a newborn kitten, but she never opened her eyes.

Lu Yan held his breath, slipped one arm beneath her armpits and the other behind her knees, and lifted her into his arms.

It was a wonderfully curious sensation. Aemeath's body was fleshier than it looked, and felt comfortable to the touch.

Step by step, he moved toward the little bed with its pale blue sheets and gently laid her down.

The moment he pulled the blanket over her, Aemeath curled up restlessly, as though she had lost her source of warmth.

Lu Yan tucked the pink kitten-shaped cushion they had bought at the supermarket into her arms.

Aemeath instinctively hugged it tight, and her expression grew peaceful again.

He stood beside the bed, studying Aemeath in the moonlight.

He actually had a lot of savings. He had little social life, didn't smoke or drink, and was even restrained about spending money on games.

What he had saved over the past few years was already enough for him to return to his hometown and buy a fairly decent house in town.

The only reason he had stayed here was that he was used to things remaining unchanged, and the everyday bustle of the old residential complex made him feel he was still alive.

And now, there was a girl who belonged to him alone.

He bent down and placed a gentle kiss on Aemeath's forehead.

"Good night, my Aemeath."

Lu Yan turned off the light, took a thin blanket, and silently lay down on the narrow sofa.

Aemeath hadn't been asleep. She had woken the moment Lu Yan picked her up.

But she hadn't opened her eyes. She had simply indulged greedily in Lu Yan's tender embrace, savoring the feeling of being treated like a treasure.

When Lu Yan lay on the sofa and his breathing grew even, Aemeath opened her eyes in the darkness.

She turned her head to look at the person on the sofa.

Aemeath murmured softly in her heart, A-Yan really is an idiot.

There was a bed right there, yet he insisted on treating her like royalty while squeezing himself onto that rock-hard sofa.

That tenderness, humble to the bone, made Aemeath shiver beneath the covers and quietly curl her toes.

Aemeath began thinking about what to do next.

She knew Lu Yan had a lot of money. During those two minutes of searching earlier, she had also taken a peek at his bank account.

That string of numbers was indeed substantial to an ordinary person, but to Aemeath, it was utterly insecure.

He had earned it by working hard on his drawings and currying favor with Miss Lin.

If only A-Yan didn't have to talk to that woman for money.

Aemeath shifted slightly beneath the covers.

I have to make money. Aemeath stared at Lu Yan's sleeping face, a flash of fervor in her eyes.

Not for a living, but to keep him.

She would become Lu Yan's sole provider.

When everything this man needs—his food, clothing, housing, transportation, and the very foundation of his existence-depends on what I give him, he'll never be able to leave me again, will he?

A-Yan, I'll take good care of you, she whispered in her heart.

Aemeath didn't close her eyes that night.

Like the most loyal and dangerous of watchers, she greedily counted Lu Yan's breaths in the darkness.

The sofa really was hard, and Lu Yan didn't sleep soundly.

He, too, was thinking about their future.

Aemeath's presence was both a salvation and a source of enormous psychological pressure for him.

He had always been frugal. He didn't buy designer clothes or like eating at expensive restaurants, and his only hobbies were drawing and playing games.

The several hundred thousand yuan he had saved over the years had originally been set aside for his retirement.

But now that Aemeath was part of the household, he needed to rent a two-bedroom apartment in the city.

What color does Aemeath like? Almost everything she bought was pink, so I should add some to the decor.

I really like watching her eat... I need to set aside a special fund just for snacks.

He was afraid Aemeath would find life here too boring, afraid she would discover that he was really just an ordinary person, not the savior who had saved the world.

I need to be more lively, Lu Yan thought.

He needed to make an effort to socialize and take on more commissions, so he could give Aemeath a better life.

His greatest worry was that Aemeath was too powerful—so powerful that she would see this place as nothing more than a temporary refuge.

If one day she grew tired of this peaceful life, what would he do?

Whenever Aemeath gave him that obsessive look, or called out "A-Yan," his heart fell for her all over again, beyond his control.

I have to work harder. As long as she doesn't look down on me, that's enough, he thought.

But he didn't know that Aemeath had long since identified him through his frequency. Otherwise, how could she have done something so intimate?

He simply felt that if he became good enough, Aemeath wouldn't leave.

Two people desperately lacking a sense of security, in the same room, were imagining all sorts of things in completely opposite directions.

One wanted to keep the other from leaving by "providing for" her; the other wanted absolute possession through "keeping" him.