The man’s voice sounded heavy, as if he was having a rough time.
Ning Li was stunned. She could tell from his voice that something was not right.
She carefully asked, “Second Brother, are you okay?”
Lu Huaiyu clenched his fist. He looked down at the sketch that was laying on his book. Suddenly, the suffocating feeling started to dissipate quickly and even the ringing in his ears faded.
It’s her. It was her…
Without a reply from Lu Huaiyu, Ning Li was even more concerned.
“Second Brother, where are you now?”
A moment later, Lu Huaiyu said, “Rongyue Mansion.”
He leaned back slowly. The redness in his eyes slowly faded as he started to calm down.
“I’m fine. I didn’t sleep well earlier.”
Ning Li knew his daily routine.
He had not gone back to the Lu family mansion but had headed to Rongyue Mansion instead.
At this hour, he had to be alone.
After some slight hesitation, Ning Li said, “Second Brother, should I come to see you?”
She had a feeling that Lu Huaiyu was not feeling well.
Lu Huaiyu squinted his deep eyes. A hint of insatiable greed flashed over his eyes.
The girl was too naive. She had no idea how tempting her idea sounded to him.
He softly licked his lips and said after a while, “There’s no need.”
Stunned, Ning Li had not expected such a straightforward rejection.
Even Lu Huaiyu realized he had been too blunt. He then softened his tone, closed his eyes and added, “It’s okay. Be good.”
If she came over, he was not sure if he could control himself.
His voice sounded as if he was right next to her ear, which caused her heart to skip a beat.
She softened her voice as well and said, “Mhmm, okay.”
She thought about it and added, “Second Brother, you should go and rest now.”
She still tended to behave like an obedient child whenever she was with him.
She listened to everything he said and believed every word that he uttered.
She lowered her guard completely in front of him, like a rabbit exposing its soft tummy and allowed him to toy with her as he pleased.
Lu Huaiyu took a deep breath. “Okay, good night.”
“Good night, second brother.”
Lu Huaiyu continued to stare at his phone even after the call had ended.
He started tapping on the screen before a soft and meek voice sounded.
“Second Brother.”
The voice echoed in the spacious and quiet living room, filling his ears.
He got up. As he walked towards the bathroom, he unbuttoned his shirt.
His back was drenched in his own sweat, which caused the shirt to stick to his back and highlighted his perfect body.
His black hair was also wet. His messy bangs concealed his brows and eyes.
“Second Brother.”
The voice echoed repeatedly and every time he heard it, he felt as if he could almost see those crystal clear eyes looking at him.
He took his shirt off and tossed it aside.
The man had a perfect body, with a straight, broad back and a strong, lean waist.
He had well-defined abs which led to a perfect V line. Every aspect of his body was without flaw.
“Second Brother.”
Lu Huaiyu turned off the recording and sighed heavily.
He muttered, “Lili…”
…
Ning Li had a rough night.
When she woke up in the morning, she recalled her call to Lu Huaiyu last night. After a slight hesitation, she called him as soon as she woke up.
No one picked up.
15 minutes later, Ning Li called again but still, no one picked up.
She waited until it was 10.00 a.m. before calling again and still, Lu Huaiyu did not answer the call.
She stared at the phone quietly and frowned.
Lu Huaiyu should have woken up by now.
She had made a few calls and even sent him messages, but there was no reply.
After a while, she decided to go to Rongyue Mansion herself.
After quickly tidying up her things, she went out.
…
Meanwhile, in the penthouse’s master bedroom, the curtains were tightly closed, preventing any light from coming in.
On the bed lay a large figure.The phone beside it lit up several times before going dark again.
After some time, the figure finally moved and got up.
Lu Huaiyu got out of bed and went to open the window.
The sunlight shone through the window, enveloping him with warmth.
He squinted his eyes at the light, which did nothing to alleviate the grogginess that he was feeling in any way.
He put his hand to his forehead, noting that it was hot to the touch.
There were some fever-reducing pills in the cabinet beside the bed. He took one out and had it with a glass of water.
His phone lit up again.
It was Cheng Xiyue this time.
Frustrated, he declined the call before noticing that it was a little past 10.00 a.m.
There were a ton of missed calls and messages from many different people.
Before he could even catch a breath to go through all the messages, Cheng Xiyue called him again.
This time, he answered it.
“What?”
Only then did he realize that his voice sounded hoarse as he spoke.
Cheng Xiyue did not seem to notice it because he had something else in mind.
“Second Master, what took you so long to pick up?!”
Lu Huaiyu massaged his temples.
“I stayed up late. What’s wrong?”
Cheng Xiyue almost passed out when he heard the nonchalance in Lu Huaiyu’s voice.
“Lu Huaiyu! Second Master Lu! Mr. Lu! Do you know what is going on? How is it that you are still so calm?! Did you know that everyone out there is talking about you being gay?!”
Lu Huaiyu froze. “What did you say?”
“Do you really not know? The incident last night at LaTuie, did you forget all about it?”
Even though Cheng Xiyue was far away in Yunzhou, yet even he knew about this, what more the folks in Jingcheng.
His entire social circle was talking about it.
“Everyone knows that you have a book with the sketch of a…a…boy!”
Cheng Xiyue felt like he was about to lose his mind.
“What is going on?!”
Everyone knew he was Lu Huaiyu’s best friend, and that Lu Huaiyu had spent a whole year in Yunzhou.
When the rumour had gotten out, Cheng Xiyue’s phone had been bombarded with calls and messages, asking him for authentication of the news.
But how would he know anything?
After a while, Lu Huaiyu just said, “It’s only a rumour. Don’t pay any attention to it.”
His headache was still tormenting him, so he really did not want to think about what other people were saying about him.
Cheng Xiyue did not know how to continue. Of course, he knew it was not true, but many others thought otherwise.
“You—”
“I’ll talk to you later.” Lu Huaiyu hung up the phone before Cheng Xiyue could finish speaking.
He then proceeded to start deleting all the messages that he had received without replying to them.
Suddenly, a name caught his attention.
It was Ning Li. Ning Li had called him three times, but he had not answered any of them.
On top of that, she had even sent him messages.
He had intended on replying, but his voice had become so hoarse that he could not speak. So, he discarded the thought and decided to send her a message instead.
[I just woke up. Don’t worry, I’m fine.]
…
Ning Li had just arrived at the gate of Rongyue Mansion and gotten out of the cab when she received his message.
She heaved a sigh of relief. Just as she was about to reply, a man’s voice came from beside her.
“So, Lu Huaiyu spent the night here? Are you sure?”
Surprised, Ning Li turned towards the owner of the voice.
