Contractual Cohabitation GL - Chapter 24

Affection is a very marvelous feeling. Even in the dead of this silent, dark, and cold night, one’s heart is enveloped by this warm sensation, bringing both tranquility and a sense of excitement.

After standing for a while in the quiet living room, Jing Xiaonan finally put away the newspaper and ascended the stairs. Upon reaching the bedroom door, she judged from the dim light leaking from beneath the door seam that Ye Luochen was still awake, so she raised her hand and knocked on the door.

After only a brief wait, the door was opened from the inside, and Ye Luochen stood in the doorway, wearing comfortable, casual home clothes.

Without makeup, Ye Luochen looked peaceful and real. Her unadorned face deepened her refined and ethereal temperament, not in the least inferior to her meticulously dressed appearance. The domestic setting made her lose that sense of distance and aloofness characteristic of a Ye family daughter, and looking at her like this, Jing Xiaonan had a very strong urge to take her into her arms right this moment.

However, the calmness in Ye Luochen’s eyes reminded her of the original purpose of her knock.

“I’m sorry for making you worry.” Trying hard to suppress a certain desire in her heart, Jing Xiaonan clearly said, “I didn’t intend to make you wait up for me this late. Today’s matter was sudden, and I was quite anxious at the time, so I lost my composure a bit. Gao Jiong and I waited at the hospital all night for Qin Yan’s examination, and we didn’t even have the appetite to eat. Plus, the signal at the hospital was almost zero, so I couldn’t make a phone call, which is why…”

She paused, closely watching the subtle changes in the other person’s expression, even the slightest hint, Jing Xiaonan awkwardly rubbed her hands, “Of course, I’m not saying this to make you forgive me, I just hope you’re not angry anymore.”

Hmm, so there was no signal at the hospital. No wonder the few calls she made went straight to the message that she was out of the service area. Listening to her earnest explanation and seeing her look so afraid of being met with a cold face again, Ye Luochen’s gaze softened considerably without realizing it. After Jing Xiaonan finished speaking, she finally asked:

“You haven’t eaten since noon?”

“Uh!” Jing Xiaonan was prepared to answer any other accusation, but she hadn’t expected Ye Luochen to focus on this point. She was stunned for a moment, then nodded: “But I did eat quite a lot at noon.”

“Mhm. Then in the future, if you encounter such a situation again…”

“I will definitely come back early!” Before she could finish, the promise rushed out of the other person’s mouth.

Ye Luochen looked at her steadily for a few seconds, then withdrew her gaze and gently shook her head: “I just wanted to say that you should remember to call home and let me know.”

She was taken aback again by these words, and her chest filled with an expanding warmth. Jing Xiaonan earnestly promised, “Mhm! Okay, I remember.”

Nodding with downcast eyes, Ye Luochen said no more. Jing Xiaonan saw that the coldness was gone from her meek expression, indicating she was clearly no longer angry with her. However, her posture of holding the door while standing inside the room neither looked like she was seeing off a guest nor was she inviting further conversation. Thinking that it was probably almost midnight, Jing Xiaonan wisely retreated a few steps and said, “Then, why don’t you rest first, good night.”

Seeing the long-haired person inside the door nod, Jing Xiaonan turned to leave, but stopped after taking two steps. Her eyes were a little unfocused, her mind fixated on Ye Luochen’s pair of collarbones which she saw in the one second before the door closed.

It wasn’t that she hadn’t seen collarbones before, but she couldn’t recall ever seeing one more attractive than this. Shaped like exquisite works of art, they were smooth and distinct beneath the translucent skin, symmetrical like butterflies ready to spread their wings, presenting a beautiful curve that framed the deep hollow beneath her shoulders. Sexy, alluring.

She walked a few more steps in a daze before snapping back to her senses, taking a deep breath and shaking her head from side to side. How long had it been since she had such a specific desire for someone? Yet even before, the feeling had never been so easily awakened. It was just collarbones, right? Jing Xiaonan comforted herself, but her ears still turned red in an embarrassing lack of self-control.

Sigh, she probably wouldn’t be able to sleep for a while, so she might as well go to the study and work for a bit.

She flipped open her laptop and pressed the power button, and as the computer booted up, she quickly checked her phone. Gao Jiong had messaged her to say that Qin Yan had gone to bed, and the doctor said her condition wasn’t serious and she didn’t need someone to stay overnight, so she had left the hospital and rented a room at a nearby inn to rest. This way, if there was any emergency, she could quickly rush back to Qin Yan’s side.

This arrangement reassured her, so she clicked on her email to deal with various work matters.

The property sale in Sydney had been completely and properly handled. Long Yue expressed gratitude and satisfaction, and they had agreed to continue their cooperation next time. The progress at Kang Huang was slower due to the absence of CEO Kang, but it was generally stable and there would be no major changes for the time being. The proposal for jointly managing the subsidiary with Maple Leaf had been approved by the board of directors under Ye Luochen’s push, and they were currently negotiating with the Australian milk powder manufacturer. Everything was going smoothly. Jing Xiaonan adjusted her sitting posture with satisfaction, the sense of achievement making her quite happy. The company’s business was gradually flourishing, and it was time to prepare to hire a batch of people to expand the law firm.

She worked absorbedly in front of the computer, and after an unknown amount of time, she suddenly heard a knock on the door. Holding a Parker pen, she continued writing and sketching on the document, saying loudly without raising her head: “Come in.”

The person outside the door seemed to hesitate for a moment before twisting the doorknob and entering. After finishing the next word in the paragraph, Jing Xiaonan finally swiveled her leather chair to look towards the door. Her gaze fell on Ye Luochen, who was standing elegantly in the doorway, holding an iron tray with three white porcelain bowls of food.

Uh! She immediately sprang up from her seat, only then realizing she wasn’t at the company. She paused awkwardly, walked over to take the tray from Ye Luochen’s hands, and smiled sheepishly.

Ye Luochen didn’t mind at all. She glanced at the supper in the bowls on the tray with her eyes and gently said, “Would you like to try?”

“Mhm!” Absorbed in her work, she hadn’t noticed, but after Ye Luochen brought in the tempting aroma of the food, Jing Xiaonan realized just how hungry she was. Happily looking down at the supper the woman had prepared for her, she took a few steps, sat cross-legged on the lounge chair, placed the tray on her lap, and with watering mouth, picked up the chopsticks.

There wasn’t much supper in the white porcelain bowls: three delicate shrimp dumplings, half a bowl of eight-treasure congee with longan, and two ping-pong-ball-sized glutinous rice balls (tangyuan). Every time she tasted Ye Luochen’s cooking, Jing Xiaonan discovered that she truly had decision paralysis; the few different foods, all with good presentation and fragrant taste, made her want to shove them all into her mouth at once without any regard for her image.

She picked up a shrimp dumpling, put it in her mouth, and chewed. Her eyes immediately lit up, and Jing Xiaonan nodded emphatically. Still chewing, she reached for a glutinous rice ball, eager to bite into it. At this moment, Ye Luochen, who was standing at the door looking at her gently, suddenly stepped forward a couple of steps with a hint of worry, and called out softly: “Slow down, be careful, it’s hot!”

“Ha~ Ssss-Ha!!” It really was hot! Jing Xiaonan opened her mouth and gasped, urgently taking in several breaths of cold air to cool her mouth. Fanning the air in front of her mouth with one hand, it was so hot! But as she fanned, the silly person suddenly froze, stopped her movements, looked up at Ye Luochen, and became very quiet.

“Did it burn you?” Seeing her like this, Ye Luochen bent down slightly with concern, trying to examine her thin, slightly upturned lips in the dim light. Before she could clearly see anything, she was abruptly hugged around the waist, and the next second, a fuzzy head was buried in her chest.

“Luochen…” With a slight nasal tone, it sounded a little wronged. After calling her name, Jing Xiaonan couldn’t say anything more. She closed her beautiful peach-blossom eyes. All this… this supper was made by you just now…

Ye Luochen’s body instantly stiffened at the embrace, but not because of the strenuous, half-bent posture. In the twenty-seven years since she was born, she had never been held so intimately by anyone or any animal other than William. After realizing what was happening, her little face flushed instantly, and she moved her body, trying to struggle free.

But the struggling stopped after she heard that soft “Luochen.” Just that soft call gently stroked a string in her heart that had been deeply hidden for twenty-seven years, resonating for a long time. She was half-bent, her slender body being embraced by the other person, who sat on the lounge chair holding her. The scent naturally emanating from Ye Luochen’s body was very pleasant, somewhat like an unknown flower fragrance, faint and intoxicating.

After a long while, Ye Luochen stroked Jing Xiaonan’s back, her smile never so gentle: “Alright, be good, eat some more while it’s hot. Sleeping immediately after eating can cause indigestion.”

“Mhm.” Letting go of the woman with a light sigh, Jing Xiaonan lowered her head to continue enjoying the supper, but she chewed listlessly and couldn’t fully taste the deliciousness from before. She lifted her neck, looked at Ye Luochen with “little raccoon” eyes for a while, moved to the right, and then patted the space she had cleared.

Ye Luochen understood, walked over, gracefully smoothed her nightdress with both hands, and sat down beside Jing Xiaonan. With someone accompanying her while she ate, and the food being so delicious, Vice President Jing, usually so poised and charmingly convincing in the business world, held the bowl obediently like a primary school student who had just started school, spooning the congee into her mouth, spoonful by spoonful.

Ye Luochen sat beside her, carefully observing her, taking in her sweet way of eating, feeling a warmth in her heart. This was at least the second time, and it was hard not to notice such a clear change in Jing Xiaonan’s demeanor. In the business world, Vice President Jing could talk and laugh with ease, full of strategy, and her refined smile made people forget her age and even her gender. But this Jing Xiaonan was the person she was familiar with—a flesh-and-bl00d person who could be happy or sad, a girl in her early twenties who needed to be cherished and loved.

After finishing all three bowls of supper without leaving a drop, Jing Xiaonan pursed her lips in dissatisfaction: “There were so few glutinous rice balls and shrimp dumplings.”

Only such a foodie owner could raise such a foodie kitten, Ye Luochen thought, unconcerned, and replied: “It’s too late, and you should rest soon. Both glutinous rice balls and shrimp dumplings are not easily digestible, so you shouldn’t eat too much. I originally only planned to cook congee for you, but knowing you must be very hungry since you hadn’t eaten for so long, I compromised and made a small amount of the others.”

Alright, Jing Xiaonan nodded, very naturally reached for Ye Luochen’s slender, fair hand. Immediately, the familiar, slightly cool touch spread from her fingertips to her palm. Her eyes curved into a smile, and apart from a faint, barely noticeable fatigue, her overall mood was very good.

“Luochen, the company doesn’t seem to have any urgent matters to deal with this weekend. I’ll take you out for a break, how about it!”