Chapter 79: Let Me Hug You, Just a Little Longer
The living room lights were already off, leaving the room in complete darkness.
An Yuan lay awkwardly on the couch, his legs stretched out with his feet dangling off the edge. His family's couch was spacious, but not long enough. At over 1.8 meters tall, he couldn’t fully stretch out.
He listened to the sound of running water from the bathroom, and his mind couldn’t help but imagine Chen Cheng taking a shower. The more he thought about it, the more restless he became. The blanket covering him was visibly lifted in a certain area, making it impossible for him to fall asleep comfortably.
But since he was sleeping in the living room tonight, where people could come and go at any moment, he couldn’t act as freely as he would in his own room.
The sound of running water stopped.
An Yuan looked up. Amidst the hazy steam, the faint silhouette of a girl emerged.
Even though it was autumn-winter season, and her cotton pajamas were quite thick, they were still form-fitting. In the dim lighting, her curves were subtly outlined. The gentle rise of her chest, her slender waist, and her round, perky backside.
Chen Cheng’s hips were well-shaped and firm, though not particularly large. It was the beautiful curve that tapered sharply from her hips to her waist that amplified the visual effect, creating an illusion that made it even more eye-catching.
This is torture…
“An Yuan? Is that you?”
Chen Cheng felt an intense gaze on her, one so hot it was almost scalding. She instinctively felt uneasy and folded her arms over her stomach, glancing toward the couch in the dark living room. But with the lights out, she couldn’t see anything.
“Yeah, go to sleep already.”
“Alright~ You should rest early too…”
Chen Cheng turned off the bathroom light, and now the room was completely dark except for the small lights on the appliances. It was so quiet he could hear her bare feet walking and the door closing softly.
She went back?
Now, An Yuan was alone in the living room. But he wasn’t that much of a pervert, he wouldn’t do anything under these circumstances. What if his family or Chen Cheng came out for a drink of water and caught him in the act?
He shifted around, trying to find a more comfortable position. Wrapping himself in the blanket, he lay flat and closed his eyes to sleep.
But half an hour later, he reopened them, feeling even more awake than before.
His brain wanted to shut down and rest, but his body, specifically a certain part, was still way too hyped…
Just then, the faint sound of a door opening came from the guest bedroom.
An Yuan’s eyes had already adjusted to the dark, and he could vaguely make out Chen Cheng’s figure approaching.
She leaned down slightly and whispered cautiously, as if worried about waking him up. “An Yuan? Are you sleeping? Are you sleeping?”
“I’m sleeping.”
“If you’re sleeping, why are you talking?”
“I’m sleep-talking.”
Chen Cheng let out a soft snort, then suddenly plopped herself down, right on top of his lap.
"Ouch..."
"Can you pull your legs in a little?"
Chen Cheng turned around and gave him a light slap, expressing her displeasure. But in the darkness, her hand landed directly on An Yuan’s most vulnerable spot.
“Holy—!”
An Yuan instantly curled up like a boiled shrimp, the mix of shock and pain making him jolt.
“What happened?”
Startled, Chen Cheng jumped up, instinctively hiding her hand behind her back.
Did she… just smack something soft through the blanket?
“Are you okay?”
Seeing An Yuan’s intense reaction, she felt a wave of guilt. She wanted to run away but was also worried he’d be mad, so she sat down hesitantly at the edge of the couch, looking pitiful like a child who had made a mistake.
An Yuan finally recovered and shot her an annoyed glare. “I’m the one suffering here! Why do you look so aggrieved?”
She shrank back slightly, not daring to argue.
Realizing he might’ve spoken too harshly and scared her, An Yuan sighed. “It’s fine, you just startled me. Do you even know where you hit?”
“Where?”
“Are you trying to make sure I never have kids?”
Chen Cheng froze. No wonder it had felt weird when she smacked him earlier.
Feeling utterly embarrassed, she pretended not to understand. “What are you talking about? I just randomly smacked you, that’s all…”
Chen Cheng turned her head away, sat down, and started fiddling with her phone, feeling guilty and embarrassed.
Thinking back, when they used to compare "sizes" as kids, she and An Yuan were only about twelve or thirteen. They had just hit puberty and didn’t really understand anything. She remembered that even though An Yuan was older than her by a bit, the difference wasn’t as shocking as it was now.
Recalling what she had accidentally seen in the bathroom, her face grew even hotter, and she pressed her legs together, feeling restless.
The brief silence helped ease some of the awkwardness.
Half-laying on the couch, An Yuan finally asked, "What brings you here so late at night instead of sleeping?"
"I can't sleep. I'm feeling restless."
It was the same old issue, her parents fighting again.
An Yuan rubbed the bridge of his nose, feeling a headache coming on. This kind of family drama was something an outsider couldn’t fix. Besides, he was barely an adult himself. He had no real say in the matter.
All he could do was offer some dry words of comfort. "You'll feel better after some sleep, everything will feel better tomorrow. Want a drink?"
"Auntie would find out. That wouldn’t be good."
Chen Cheng still wanted to maintain a decent image in front of his mom, not come off as some alcoholic.
"You used to have trouble sleeping all the time when you were in college, right? You’d text me at two or three in the morning."
"Yeah! One of my roommates snored so loud it was like thunder! I even bought earplugs, but they didn’t help at all." She started ranting as she remembered.
"I’m already a light sleeper, and I had 8 AM classes! Between college and graduation, I struggled with insomnia for five or six years! My dark circles were awful!"
"So that's why you kept texting me in the middle of the night and even calling me to log in and play games?"
Chen Cheng felt a little guilty, but she still defended herself. "Well, what else was I supposed to do?"
Bringing up the past did the trick, it distracted her from her family problems.
But her smug attitude was really annoying.
An Yuan rolled his eyes. "You say that like you’re proud of it."
"Oh, and like you never bothered me at night? Who was it that called me at midnight, panicking about postgraduate exams, and kept me on the phone for two hours rambling nonsense?" She suddenly burst into laughter. "And in the end, you still didn’t pass the exam and came crying to me for drinks!"
"I did not come crying to you! That’s an exaggeration!"
"An Yuan, my feet are cold."
Without waiting for a response, Chen Cheng curled her legs up onto the couch and slid her feet under his blanket.
An Yuan instantly felt two ice blocks pressing against his feet, making him shiver. "Your feet are freezing! Why aren’t you wearing socks?"
"They don’t help. If my feet sweat even a little, they’ll just be cold and damp." She reached out her hands. "My hands are freezing too. Feel them."
An Yuan grabbed her small hands and simply wrapped them in his palms. "This should help, right?"
"Eh?"
Chen Cheng hadn’t expected him to just hold her hands like that. His warmth spread through her fingers, making her instinctively want to pull away, but she couldn't.
Her cheeks started heating up. But in the darkness, where neither of them could see the other's face, she felt a little braver.
After all, they had held hands earlier when they were out shopping…
An Yuan teased, "You know, cold hands and feet are a sign of kidney deficiency. That’s what I heard."
"You’re the one with a kidney deficiency! Move over."
"Huh? Why?"
Confused, An Yuan scooted a bit further into the couch, curling up slightly to make room for her.
And then, to his shock, Chen Cheng slid under his blanket, pressing against his back and wrapping her arms around his waist.
Even though the couch was big, once two people were lying down side by side, there was barely any space left. An Yuan was completely caught off guard, unable to move or react. All he could do was feel the softness of her chest against his back and breathe in her faint scent…
Chen Cheng buried her face against his back, took a deep breath, then bit him.
"Ow! Are you half dog or something?! Why are you squeezing onto my couch?!"
"I'll leave soon..."
Hearing the slight tremble in her voice, so soft and fragile, An Yuan wasn’t sure if she was embarrassed or secretly crying because of her parents’ fight.
But in the next second, he realized she might just be messing with him.
"Hey, keep your hands out of my shirt! I swear—!"
"Please, let me hug you, just a little longer."