Quietly, Until He Notices
The evening sun slanted across the horizon, staining the clouds crimson.
Its warm light fell across Liu Qianxiu’s face as well.
His lashes, brushed red by the sunset, lowered once. Light shimmered in his dark eyes before he quietly looked away.
A breeze slipped through the screen window.
Liu Qianxiu remained unmoved.
Mu Wan’s gaze continued tracing the clean line of his profile.
Then she straightened and smiled.
After dinner, she left his apartment.
July was approaching.
Xia City was growing hotter by the day, the air increasingly heavy with moisture.
Nanfeng Apartments had excellent landscaping. Beneath the streetlights, dense greenery crowded both sides of the paths, making it feel almost as though Mu Wan were walking through a forest.
At the entrance to the complex, she hailed a taxi.
Once inside, she gave the driver an address.
“Oujian Villas.”
The driver flipped down the vacant sign with a click and pulled into traffic.
Through the rain-streaked window, Mu Wan looked back toward the building she had just left.
Nanfeng Apartments had a high occupancy rate.
At eight in the evening, lights glowed from almost every floor.
The towers rose high into the night, and from where she sat, each illuminated window looked small and hazy, like a bedside lamp glowing softly in some distant room.
There were too many lights.
Too many floors.
By the time the taxi turned the corner, Mu Wan still had not managed to count her way up to Liu Qianxiu’s apartment.
Oujian Villas was in the southern district.
The night breeze carried the cool, salty dampness of the sea.
Mu Wan stood outside Lin Wei’s villa and rang the bell.
A short while later, the door opened.
Lin Wei appeared in a bright red silk robe.
The moment she saw Mu Wan, surprise crossed her face.
“Why didn’t you call before coming over?”
Mu Wan narrowed her eyes at the robe.
“Tell the man inside to leave.”
Lin Wei stared at her.
Mu Wan continued calmly.
“I’m sleeping here tonight.”
“…”
Lin Wei considered herself something of an artistic free spirit.
Like Mu Wan, she knew exactly how she wanted to live.
The difference was what that meant to each of them.
Mu Wan’s philosophy was simple. As long as she was comfortable, that was enough. She rarely forced anything.
Lin Wei preferred a more decisive approach.
Life was short.
Love what you wanted to love. Hate what you wanted to hate. Enjoy yourself while you could.
Men had come and gone from her life for years.
Shortly before her appendectomy, she had met a fitness trainer at a bar.
The surgery had interrupted things before they could properly begin.
Once she recovered, the two of them picked up exactly where they had left off.
Apparently, the spark had survived.
After sending the fitness trainer home, Lin Wei closed the door and went upstairs.
Mu Wan was already in the guest room.
As an interior designer, Lin Wei had designed the entire villa herself.
The first floor served as her studio, while the second was her living space, and the two floors had completely different personalities.
Downstairs was restrained and professional.
Upstairs favored a harder industrial aesthetic.
Lin Wei might have been petite at only around five foot three, but she loved strong lines, sharp edges, and bold structural forms.
When she entered the guest room, Mu Wan was pulling out the bedding Lin Wei kept for her.
Whenever Mu Wan stayed over, the two of them slept in the guest room together.
Lin Wei herself had no particular concerns about her own bed.
But too many unfamiliar men had slept there.
She had no intention of letting Mu Wan come away smelling like some stranger.
Warm light filled the room.
Mu Wan finished making the bed.
Lin Wei folded her arms and leaned against the doorway.
Then she lifted her chin.
“What happened?”
Mu Wan had bought her own apartment months ago and had not stayed here in a long time.
If she had suddenly appeared tonight, there had to be something she could not explain properly over the phone.
Mu Wan looked at Lin Wei’s slightly disheveled hair.
“Have you showered?”
“I just finished.”
Lin Wei inhaled deeply.
Her expression darkened.
“And I hadn’t even done anything yet, so this had better be important, or I swear…”
“I like Daoist Liu,” Mu Wan said.
The rest of Lin Wei’s sentence died in her throat.
She stared at Mu Wan for two full seconds.
Then she straightened.
“The Daoist Liu I know?”
“Yes.”
Mu Wan placed the pillow at the head of the bed and smiled.
Lin Wei looked genuinely stunned.
“But weren’t you already discharged? And didn’t you say Daoist Liu didn’t like you?”
When Mu Wan left the hospital, Lin Wei had been the one who picked her up.
Back then, Lin Wei had repeatedly suggested that Liu Qianxiu might be interested in her.
Mu Wan had dismissed it every time.
She had only said she wanted to thank him for bringing her back from Qingsong Pavilion.
There had been no sign of anything more.
That was barely a week ago.
How had everything changed so quickly?
And yet, in another sense, nothing had changed at all.
Mu Wan sat cross-legged on the bed.
“Daoist Liu doesn’t like me.”
She nodded matter-of-factly.
“I’m the one who likes him.”
Lin Wei stared at her.
“…”
She was clearly struggling to process the information.
In all the years they had known each other, this was the first time Mu Wan had ever spoken seriously about liking someone.
And her first real crush was apparently one-sided.
“I’m going to shower first.”
Mu Wan decided to give her some time to recover.
She climbed off the bed and went into the bathroom.
She had come over specifically because she wanted to talk with Lin Wei through the night.
Fortunately, she had no work scheduled the next morning.
By the time Mu Wan returned in her pajamas, the bedroom was dark except for the small lamp on the bedside table.
Its transparent body was designed like interlocking gears, surrounded by a ring of warm light.
Hard-edged.
Yet somehow gentle.
Lin Wei listened as Mu Wan told her everything.
There was nothing particularly dramatic about the story.
A woman who had no parents, no family waiting for her, and who had long since grown accustomed to solitude had met a man who helped her raise three kittens and cooked for her.
And somewhere along the way, she had begun to like him.
Lin Wei had spent years encouraging Mu Wan to find someone to share her life with.
Mu Wan had always refused.
Now that Mu Wan had finally found someone she wanted, Lin Wei unexpectedly hesitated.
It reminded her of the kittens.
For years, Lin Wei had told Mu Wan to get a cat.
But when Mu Wan actually brought home three newborn strays, Lin Wei’s first question had been whether she could really raise them.
Back then, Mu Wan’s answer had been uncertain.
I’ll try.
Tonight, Lin Wei asked whether Mu Wan might simply have become dependent on Liu Qianxiu and mistaken that dependence for attraction.
This time, Mu Wan did not hesitate.
“I really like him.”
She lay beneath the blanket, dark hair spilling across half her small, pale face.
When she opened her eyes and looked at Lin Wei, the bedside lamp cast a hazy glow over her dark gaze.
Lazy.
Dreamlike.
Certain.
“I’m going to pursue him.”
“What?”
Lin Wei nearly jumped.
She turned sharply and stared at her.
Mu Wan had always been relaxed about almost everything.
Apparently, once she actually wanted someone, she was more decisive than anyone.
“You’re going to confess?”
Lin Wei rolled onto her side and propped her cheek on one hand.
Across from her, Mu Wan wore pink silk pajamas patterned with little pineapples.
Under the soft light, her face looked especially vivid, her long neck and straight collarbones visible above the neckline.
Lin Wei thought about it.
“Maybe Daoist Liu likes you too.”
Mu Wan shook her head.
She did not think so.
Earlier that evening, when she had told Liu Qianxiu that his smile made her heart skip a beat, his reaction had already given her an answer.
Liu Qianxiu practiced Daoism.
He lived alone with one cat.
Before Zhouyi came into his life the previous year, he had lived entirely alone.
His nature was cool and restrained.
He liked living by himself.
He liked the peace that came with it.
He had not simply grown accustomed to solitude.
He enjoyed it.
In that respect, he really was not much different from a monk.
If Mu Wan confessed now, before he truly knew her, he would probably reject her without hesitation.
“I’m not going to confess yet.”
She shifted comfortably beneath the blanket.
“I’ll pursue him quietly first.”
Lin Wei blinked.
Mu Wan’s tone remained perfectly matter-of-fact.
“I’ll let him get to know me.”
A faint smile touched her lips.
“Then I’ll let him get used to having me around.”
Her eyes brightened.
“And when he starts liking me…”
Mu Wan smiled.
“Then I’ll tell him.”
Lin Wei stared at her.
“…”
— To be continued in Part 2 —
Eu realmente gosto do ML e da FL. Eles são bem diretos com os seus sentimentos e pensamentos, então não há aquela típica enrolação ou mal entendidos que muitas vezes cansam a leitura. E o relacionamento deles acaba sendo bem natural
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