Hand-Cut Lemon: We talk about almost everything. I tell him about my work frustrations and the problems I encounter in life, and he tells me about interesting or fun things. I always felt like I understood him.

Bionic Wonder House: Based on your description, I personally feel that it’s more like… he understands you better.

Hand-Cut Lemon: Sigh, I’ve realized that too.

Bionic Wonder House: With him asking you that… did you tell him about the dreams?

Hand-Cut Lemon: No, everything in the dreams happened in reality. How could I possibly tell him about that?

Bionic Wonder House: Understood. Please, continue.

Hand-Cut Lemon: …I was a bit panicked at the time.

Yu Ning turned her head slightly, avoiding Ling Wangjin’s gaze, and said instinctively, “I haven’t run into any trouble lately.”

Once she it said, she caught a glimpse of his still-wet jacket in his peripheral vision. Thinking of her own predicament—trapped here by the heavy rain—she inexplicably felt a pang of awkwardness.

So, she added weakly, “This current trouble doesn’t count.”

Ling Wangjin laughed. He used his arm to gently press Yu Ning’s hands, which were tucked under his jacket for warmth, against his body.

“Really?”

Yu Ning’s hands pressed against his waist. Even though he was soaked, his body felt scorching hot.

She rubbed Ling Wangjin’s waist.

“Really, I’m fine.”

He didn’t continue to press her. Instead, he reached out and draped his arm around her shoulders.

“Your hands are freezing. Would you like a cup of hot milk tea?”

She had been preoccupied with thoughts of the dreams and him, but now, prompted by his reminder, Yu Ning remembered she could have a hot drink to warm herself up.

Yu Ning: “Okay!”

As soon as she agreed, she watched Ling Wangjin scan the QR code on the milk tea shop’s door with his phone and hand the device over to her.

Yu Ning ordered a hot original milk tea. “What about you?”

Ling Wangjin: “Lemon water is fine.”

Because it was just the two of them, the milk tea was made quickly. Yu Ning looked at the wet patches on his shoulders and clutched the cup, sipping rapidly, wanting to finish it quickly so they could head to a hotel.

Ling Wangjin: “Don’t rush.”

He seemed to see right through her thoughts and said with a smile, “The rain and wind are both strong right now. We’ll have to wait a little longer.”

Yu Ning slowed her pace. She looked up at him. Ling Wangjin peeled back the packaging on his straw, but only halfway, leaving the pointed end exposed. He then gently poked it into the lid of the lemon water cup.

The tip of the straw pierced the cup. He pinched the corner of the packaging, and as he pushed the straw forward, the packaging rotated and compressed into a ball.

Finally, the straw was pushed into the cup, while the packaging had been compressed and folded into a ‘flower.’

It looked just like the colorful decorative bows used for gift wrapping—the kind that forms a flower the moment you pull the thin ribbon.

Yu Ning’s attention was instantly captured. She began to fiddle with her own straw packaging, rubbing it for a long time, but only managed to create a paper ball; it didn’t look like a flower at all.

Ling Wangjin watched her and smiled, then held out the little paper flower in his hand for her.

Yu Ning toyed with the paper flower for a moment, lifted her raincoat, tucked it into her pocket, and continued drinking her milk tea with satisfaction.

Bionic Wonder House: Does he usually do things like this?

Hand-Cut Lemon: Do you mean making paper flowers?

Bionic Wonder House: No, I mean creating little surprises to make you happy.

Hand-Cut Lemon: Now that you mention it, it seems like there are quite a few. Thinking about it carefully, where does he find the energy? Working, coming home to keep an eye on me, and then putting effort into these surprises… won’t he die from exhaustion?

Bionic Wonder House: …Some people cannot be judged by common logic. Let’s continue.

After finishing the milk tea, the rain eased slightly. Although it was still pouring, it was less dense than before—the earlier downpour had been thick enough to kick up water mist from the ground. Now, it was sparser, and the wind had died down.

“I doubt the rain will stop anytime soon,” Ling Wangjin said, picking up the broken umbrella from earlier. He held the handle for a few seconds, then asked the shop clerk for a bag. He wrapped the sharp, broken end of the handle, and threw it into the trash can.

After finishing, he turned around, wiped his hands again with an alcohol wipe, and walked up to her. He gently pulled at the brim of her raincoat hood, stretching out the sides so they wrapped around the lower half of her face.

Ling Wangjin: “Let’s go.”

Hand-Cut Lemon: Actually, at that time, I was still half-doubting. I really didn’t think he would do something like in the dream… installing a tracker.

Bionic Wonder House: Listening to your description, it really doesn’t seem like it.

Yu Ning felt confused. With his arm around her shoulders, her entire body was pressed against his chest.

Her view was largely obstructed by the hood of her raincoat. She only felt herself being held firmly in his arms, listening to the pitter-patter of the rain and his calm, steady breathing.

The cold and irritability faded away. Yu Ning reached out and wrapped her arms around his waist. Struggling slightly to lift her head through the restriction of the hood, she looked up at the umbrella shielding them.

Ling Wangjin had brought a large umbrella, one big enough to cover two people, yet the edge of the umbrella was still heavily tilted toward her.

Yu Ning: “The umbrella is too slanted. Move it a bit more toward your side.”

He said “Mm,” but the umbrella remained stubbornly tilted toward her side.

Yu Ning: “Are you just not taking my words to heart at all now?”

Whether it was the matter of the tracker or this moment, she had already been troubled by the things in her dreams. Her heart was stifled with frustration, and this minor annoyance was like a spark landing on dry tinder; her anger flared up instantly.

“Of course not.” The hand on her shoulder patted her gently.

As he spoke, he shifted the umbrella back slightly, but that minor adjustment didn’t make much difference to the already lopsided canopy.

However, with that small movement, he loosened his grip on her shoulders.

Yu Ning was finally able to lift her head from his chest and see his face.

Half of his face was covered in water droplets, and his shoulders remained soaked. Yet, as she looked at him, Ling Wangjin gazed back at her with gentleness and calm.

He reached out and pulled the hood back over her head, which had slipped back when she turned.

“I’m already soaked. It’s better for one person to be wet than for both of us to be.”

Yu Ning felt a pang of guilt.

Hand-Cut Lemon: Seeing him drenched like that, and knowing I was picking a fight with him because of some indescribable things from my dreams… I felt truly, incredibly guilty.

Ling Wangjin: “We’ll be at the hotel soon. We can take a hot shower then.”

“Ning-ning.” She heard Ling Wangjin call her name softly. The hand on her shoulder gradually applied pressure, pulling her back into his embrace, against his chest. “Don’t be angry. I know you’re just worried about me.”

Yu Ning: “How did you find me?”

She hadn’t told him she was at the milk tea shop, yet he had found her just like in the dream.

“You didn’t want me to come looking for you, but the rain was so heavy and the roads were flooded. I guessed you would eventually try to wade back.” Ling Wangjin said, “The subway station is closed, and you weren’t at the place where you had dinner. The only main road out is Yanghu East Road. I thought you would struggle for a while.”

Ling Wangjin: “You might have waded for a stretch, but once you realized you couldn’t get through, you would have turned back to find the nearest place with a power bank to charge your phone. You didn’t answer my calls earlier, so I figured your phone might be out of battery.”

Yu Ning lowered her head, feeling embarrassed.

Ling Wangjin: “I knew if I followed Yanghu East Road, I’d eventually find you. It just took some time to search along the way. I’m sorry for being a bit late.”

Bionic Wonder House: You believed him?

Hand-Cut Lemon: It makes a lot of sense, right!

Bionic Wonder House: …

Hand-Cut Lemon: He even guessed that my phone was out of battery, just like in the dream! And he found me much later than he did in the dream—that must have been because of the time he spent searching for me!

Bionic Wonder House: You believed him, and then what?

Hand-Cut Lemon: Wuwuwu, I was tricked by his sweet talk.

Yu Ning was never very strong-willed to begin with, and she didn’t really want to believe that her boyfriend would do something like install a tracker.

After hearing his explanation, she immediately felt it all made perfect sense. She happily leaned her head against his shoulder, and her hands, which had been pressed against his waist due to her earlier irritation, began to rub up and down as they usually did.

They stayed glued to each other all the way to the hotel.

Yu Ning happily changed clothes and showered, then hugged his waist, resting her palms on his abdominal muscles, and fell asleep feeling satisfied and happy.

Hand-Cut Lemon: And then, in my dream, I dreamt that he was trying to sow discord between me and my friends.