What Letter Was That?

Xu Xiaoxi was woken by the heat.

A broad body had her wrapped up from behind. Lin Xuan's slightly feverish warmth seeped through the two thin layers of sleepwear, and he smelled of the same strawberry body wash she used. Even with the air conditioner on, the room still felt a little stuffy.

"Lin Xuan, is your fever gone yet?"

"Don't move. It's almost better." He pulled her a little tighter against him. "Let me hold you for a bit."

Xu Xiaoxi sighed to herself. "What time is it?"

"Only nine." Lin Xuan rested his chin in the crook of her neck and rubbed against her like a clingy giant dog. "I had Aunt Wen come by this morning to clean up. She's making breakfast now, so we can eat soon. How thoughtful am I?"

A man who was 6'1" curling up behind her and acting spoiled was hard to get used to. Her heart skipped a beat. She turned over, wrapped her arms around him from the front, and reached up to smooth his hair.

"Mm."

When they walked out of the room, the mess from last night had already been cleaned up, and their clothes had been washed and hung out to dry.

The table was packed with breakfast: porridge, soup dumplings, youtiao, yogurt, sandwiches, and a plate of cut fruit.

"I didn't know what you wanted this morning, so I just made sure there was a bit of everything." Lin Xuan handed her a bowl and casually tied up her hair for her. "Eat up. You went through so much trouble yesterday. Aren't you hungry?"

Xu Xiaoxi glanced at him but didn't answer, only slowly stirring the porridge in her bowl.

"Aunt Wen and my mom went traveling, so you don't have to paint today," he said with complete confidence.

"Mm."

"Then come with me this afternoon to celebrate Ke Xinghua's birthday." As if afraid she'd refuse, he leaned over and put his arms around her waist. "Don't worry, he's from First High. There won't be anyone from Affiliated Middle School."

Even a tough woman fears a persistent man...

Lin Xuan stood at the entrance to Xu Xiaoxi's walk-in closet, looking at the neatly lined-up shopping bags below, and raised a brow. "You're not even going to open the gifts I bought you?"

She frowned. "It's too much of a show."

"They're expensive, okay?" He lifted one bag and held it out to her. "This is from the new season. I even bought two on purpose. I have the same one..." His voice got lower and lower as he spoke.

"Who said I want matching couple outfits with you?" She shot him a look, and the image of his usual over-the-top rich-boy style flashed through her head.

"These are different." He came up behind her and hugged her, lowering his voice at her ear. "I bought them based on your usual style."

Warm breath brushed her ear, making it itch.

"Fine, fine. I'll wear it." Xu Xiaoxi couldn't stand the way he kept nagging at her, so she threw caution to the wind and picked the Chrome Hearts piece Lin Xuan usually loved to wear.

When she opened the bag, it was a black hoodie without any of the flashy prints, with matching leather appliques stitched onto the sleeves. Unexpectedly understated.

"Remember to take your clothes with you when you leave," she said as she put it on.

Lin Xuan watched her pull on the clothes he had bought and curved his lips. "Okay."

In the car, Xu Xiaoxi felt a little carsick, so she wrapped her arms around his and fell asleep against his shoulder.

She didn't see Lin Xuan lower his eyes to look at her, not blinking once, his gaze so soft it was almost unbelievable.

Ke Xinghua's birthday party was being held in a standalone villa. Inside was a party house with everything: a pool, a KTV room, a billiards room, and a mahjong room.

Just after they entered, a boy wearing a birthday hat came up to greet them, smiling brightly like the sunny male lead in a novel. He had to be today's birthday boy.

"Xu Xiaoxi, right?" the sunny lead said. "I'm Ke Xinghua, Lin Xuan's childhood friend." Then he bumped shoulders with Lin Xuan.

She smiled and said, "Happy birthday," as a greeting.

"Don't look at me. I didn't bring you up to him that much. He saw my pinned chat at the top of my phone," Lin Xuan said softly.

"He hasn't talked about you much," Ke Xinghua said in a lower voice. "But I saw it in his phone."

Lin Xuan clicked his tongue.

"Hey, hey, hey, I really wasn't doing it on purpose," Ke Xinghua hurried to add. "Just sit wherever you want and have fun." With that, someone dragged him away.

"How long have you two known each other?" Xu Xiaoxi took the juice Lin Xuan handed her.

"We've been together since we were little-kid stuff, kindergarten, primary school, middle school. The girl he liked went to First High, so he even abandoned his childhood buddy for her." He laughed as if it were nothing, his eyes bright.

Ke Xinghua called Lin Xuan over to play the arcade game over there. She wasn't interested, so she let him go on his own.

"Can you manage by yourself?" Lin Xuan rubbed her hair.

"I'll just play on my phone."

"Okay. Then I'll go play one round and be back soon." Lin Xuan reminded Xu Xiaoxi, "If someone comes up to chat and you don't want to deal with them, just ignore them."

She lay on the sofa soaking up the sun, reading a comic, when suddenly a dog licked her face.

"Yiyi, stop making trouble." A familiar voice said, "Xu Xiaoxi?"

She sat up straight and saw her middle school classmate standing there in surprise, holding a dog leash.

"Xu Yuqi?"

"Yeah, that's me." Xu Yuqi scratched the back of his head, looking a little embarrassed. "What are you doing here? Do you know Ke Xinghua?"

"I'm here with a friend." Xu Xiaoxi hadn't expected to run into a middle school classmate here. Then she thought about it and realized it made sense. They were all from First High.

"How's it going at Affiliated Middle?" Xu Yuqi stroked the Pomeranian in his arms, sounding a little cautious.

"Pretty good. My classmates and teachers are all really nice." She answered on autopilot.

"Mm..." Xu Yuqi lowered his head, an inexplicable blush rising on his face. "The letter I gave you... did you read it?"

"A letter? What letter?" Xu Xiaoxi felt impatient inside, though she didn't show it. She was already thinking about how to get away.

"The day we got our graduation photos, I asked Chen Mo to give it to you. Didn't you get it?"

She froze, remembering how Chen Mo had handed her a bag that day and told her to look at it when she got home. But she had too much stuff with her, and it had been left in a taxi. Since they weren't going to the same school anymore and wouldn't have much contact, she had let it go.

"Ah..." She looked troubled. "Sorry, I had too much with me and left it in the car." Seeing that Xu Yuqi still wasn't speaking, she added, "What did you write in the letter?"

"Just..."

"What letter?" Before Xu Yuqi could get a single word out, Lin Xuan cut in. He forcibly squeezed in between Xu Xiaoxi and Xu Yuqi and sat down, his eyes fixed on Ke Xinghua.

"This is my First High classmate, Xu Yuqi," Ke Xinghua introduced.

"What did you write in Xu Xiaoxi's letter?" Lin Xuan asked Xu Yuqi, his tone calm, but so heavy it made it hard to breathe.

"Letter?" Before Xu Yuqi could answer, Ke Xinghua spoke first. "The middle school classmate you mentioned before, was that Xu Xiaoxi?"

The air turned subtle all at once.

Xu Yuqi stood frozen in place, the tips of his ears red, like he'd been exposed on the spot. Ke Xinghua's gaze kept shifting back and forth between the three of them, his expression moving from confusion to outright gossip.

Xu Xiaoxi sat in the middle, her face unreadable.

The next second, Lin Xuan reached out, caught her waist, and lifted her straight up from the sofa.

"Let's go."

"What are you doing..." Before she could finish, he had already dragged her away from where she was sitting. Her instinct was to struggle, but she didn't really put any force into it.

"Who was he?" Lin Xuan asked in a low voice.

"My middle school classmate," Xu Xiaoxi said flatly. "Don't keep holding me. People already saw."

"So what if they saw? It's not like anyone from Affiliated Middle is here." When he finished speaking, his arm around Xu Xiaoxi tightened even more. "How close are you two? And what's this letter about?" Questions kept coming one after another.

She was getting irritated, because she really wasn't that familiar with Xu Yuqi. "We're not close. The letter... I don't know what happened with it either."

"Really?" Lin Xuan took her to a corner and gently rested his forehead against hers.

"Yeah. Didn't you notice I was confused too?"

He stared at her for a few seconds, as if judging whether she was lying.

"Fine. If you're not close, then that's fine." Lin Xuan relaxed his grip a little and kissed her fingertips. "Talk to him as little as possible."

"He's just a middle school classmate. Isn't it normal to exchange a couple of polite words?"

"You can't."

He looked at her, his tone hardening for the first time. "Who knows what he's thinking."