Bionic Wonder House: Why do I feel like I’m listening to a romance novel?

Hand-Cut Lemon: Huh?

Bionic Wonder House: Never mind, keep going.

Hand-Cut Lemon: When I saw him that day, I felt both happy and sad.

I was happy he came, but sad that he had come.

Hand-Cut Lemon: I can’t describe the feeling. I was so annoyed that I wanted to pick a fight with him, but once the words reached my lips, I couldn’t say a thing. I just didn’t know what to do with him.

Bionic Wonder House: Sigh… it’s certain now that he installed a tracker.

Hand-Cut Lemon: Yeah.

Hand-Cut Lemon: I felt so depressed. In that environment, with him running all this way through the wind and rain, I just couldn’t bring myself to ask him about these things.

Hand-Cut Lemon: …I want to know what he’s thinking.

Yu Ning looked up at him.

In weather like this, even the most capable person would find it hard not to get soaked.

Yet, all her doubts and irritation vanished the moment she saw his drenched shoulders and the droplets of water still clinging to the hair on his face.

“I wanted to come.” Ling Wangjin smiled as he closed his umbrella, stood outside the door to shake off the water, and then placed the umbrella into the bin inside the milk tea shop. “The rain is so heavy, I was worried.”

“The roads are all flooded, it’s dangerous.” Yu Ning frowned. “Didn’t I send you that news report?”

“I saw it.” He took a pack of tissues from his inner jacket pocket, pulled one out, and wiped the water stains off Yu Ning’s face. “But I still wanted to come find you.”

Yu Ning turned her face away. “Don’t bother wiping me, you’re wetter than I am.”

As she spoke, she set aside the broken umbrella she had been holding.

She snatched the tissues from Ling Wangjin’s hand, pulled out two more, spread them out, and slapped them onto him with a Pah.

“I’m sorry.” His voice was soft, muffled by the sound of the heavy rain drumming against the ground.

Yu Ning frowned and looked up, wiping the water from his shoulders with the tissue while standing on tiptoe, trying to hear him clearly. “What did you say? Speak up.”

A warm, gentle kiss landed on her cheek.

“I’m sorry for making you worry.”

Yu Ning’s cheeks burned. That kiss felt like a spark, setting half her face on fire.

She raised her hand in annoyance and slapped his shoulder. “You’re doing it again!”

Ling Wangjin laughed, leaned over to offer his shoulder, and wrapped her in a light embrace.

Yu Ning hugged his waist back, frustrated that she was such a sucker for this.

The two held each other for a moment before she remembered the shop clerk was inside, and she felt a sudden sense of embarrassment.

As if he knew exactly what she was thinking, Ling Wangjin let go.

“Look here.” He took Yu Ning’s hand. “I came prepared.”

Yu Ning followed his gaze downward.

Hand-Cut Lemon: He was wearing rain boots and carrying a backpack, and inside the bag were a new pair of rain boots and a raincoat.

Bionic Wonder House: He’s well-prepared.

Seeing this, the last embers of anger in Yu Ning’s heart were extinguished.

“Good thing they didn’t get wet.” Ling Wangjin took a dry towel out of his backpack. “Use this for now.”

Yu Ning took the towel and wiped her face haphazardly, then turned to wipe him down.

“You certainly prepared well.”

Ling Wangjin pulled out a second towel. “Just in case. Are you cold?”

Bionic Wonder House: Don’t tell me he also prepared a change of clothes?

Hand-Cut Lemon: Not that; the bag wasn’t big enough. But he’s always like this, preparing for everything in advance. Sometimes it makes me angry, but I just can’t stay mad at him.

Yu Ning let him help her put on the raincoat. Before the shoes she had taken off were even warm in her hands, Ling Wangjin crouched down, took them from her, and carefully slid the rain boots onto her lower legs.

Bionic Wonder House: Being taken care of like this… isn’t it a bit too meticulous?

Hand-Cut Lemon: It seems… a bit much. I hadn’t really noticed before.

As for the shoes she had taken off, he packed them into a bag and tucked them into his pack. Then, he took out a wet wipe to clean her hands, followed by his own.

Finally, he stood up and pulled the hood of the raincoat over Yu Ning’s head.

Yu Ning: “Why aren’t you wearing a raincoat?”

She had been watching him bustle about and noticed he was only wearing a jacket.

“It hinders my movement.” Ling Wangjin scanned her face and pulled the brim of the hood down a little further. “Raincoats stick to your body once they get wet.”

Yu Ning didn’t speak, her gaze lingering on him as she used the towel to wipe the water droplets off the outside of his jacket.

Ling Wangjin: “Are you angry?”

She still didn’t respond.

“Actually, this jacket is waterproof too.” He opened the jacket to reveal the black T-shirt underneath. “It’s dry inside.”

Yu Ning reached out without thinking.

The weather was damp and cold, but the inside of his jacket was warm and dry.

Ling Wangjin: “See?”

As he said this, he held her elbows, allowing Yu Ning’s palms to be completely wrapped by the warmth of his jacket.

“Why are your hands so cold?”

Yu Ning: “From the rain.”

Ling Wangjin: “Why didn’t you wait for the rain to stop at the place where you were eating? Or call me to pick you up?”

Yu Ning: “I…”

She paused, then followed the script from her dream.

Yu Ning: “You looked so busy… I wanted to come back on my own. I couldn’t catch a car, and the road was flooded.”

Bionic Wonder House: So you actively told him about your movements?

Hand-Cut Lemon: It felt like a normal conversation… now that you mention it.

Hand-Cut Lemon: Ah!!! Ever since I started having those dreams, I feel like everything he does and everything he says has a purpose!

Bionic Wonder House: What happened later? Did you express your suspicions to him?

Hand-Cut Lemon: …It’s complicated.

Yu Ning tucked both her hands under Ling Wangjin’s jacket to wait for the rain to let up.

Ling Wangjin: “There’s a hotel nearby. We’ll go there once the rain eases.”

Yu Ning: “Let’s just go straight back when the rain stops. No need for a hotel, let’s not waste money.”

“The floodwater won’t recede for a while.” He looked out at the curtain of rain. “I walked that stretch of road; the water is quite deep. It’s not safe to walk.”

“If you knew it wasn’t safe, why did you come?” Yu Ning muttered to herself, thinking about how he had driven and waded through the water, and that the car couldn’t possibly have made it through the deepest part of the flood—it would have stalled halfway. “I could have found a hotel myself.”

“Is that so?” Ling Wangjin laughed. “Why do I get the feeling you would have just waded home?”

Yu Ning, caught in her own thoughts, didn’t answer.

“The subway station on Yanghu Road is closed.” He said slowly. “I passed by to check on my way here.”

Ling Wangjin: “You sent me the news to show me, worried that I’d be in danger wading through the water. Why couldn’t you think that I was also worried you’d be in danger wading through it?”

His tone wasn’t harsh, and he sounded very gentle, yet Yu Ning felt a pang of guilt. She no longer had the heart to test him about whether he had installed a tracker.

“In weather like this, you’re still running around.” He frowned slightly. “It’s too dangerous.”

Yu Ning lowered her head, burying her face in his chest. “…I’m sorry.”

He gently wrapped his arms around Yu Ning’s shoulders. “You can come to me whenever you run into trouble. You don’t need to overthink it. It’s definitely easier to handle problems when two people are together.”

Yu Ning nodded, regretting even more that she had run out in this terrible weather just to test him.

Bionic Wonder House: Hearing that… I feel like there’s a hidden meaning behind his words.

Hand-Cut Lemon: My boyfriend is quite sensitive. It’s also possible that I was just too obvious about my suspicions during the time I was having those dreams…

“Ning-ning.” Yu Ning looked up when she heard him call her name.

Ling Wangjin lowered his head and said in a gentle, soothing voice.

“Have you been having any trouble lately?”