My Husband's Eyes Have Been Looking Different Lately After Our Marriage of Convenience - Chapter 43

Chapter 43: “Did you miss me?”

Was this a suitable time?!

Song Ai slapped a hand over Lu Tingyun’s face and pushed him away. The other man probably knew better than to keep joking at a time like this, so he didn’t stop him. To prevent the man from grabbing him again and refusing to let him go, Song Ai immediately ran out of the elevator.

Lu Tingyun stood inside without moving, merely nodding slightly toward him. “I’ll come find you after I’m done with work.”

The phrase sounded a lot like “I’ll pick you up after school.”

Song Ai had a momentary hallucination that he was back in kindergarten, waiting for a parent to pick him up. However, he wasn’t about to nod obediently like a primary school student; he simply urged, “Just go already.”

“Alright.” Lu Tingyun agreed, yet he didn’t reach out to press the door-close button. He just stared unblinkingly at Song Ai until the elevator doors slowly slid shut.

Song Ai felt weird being stared at like that. But remembering Lu Tingyun’s earlier mention of feeling “insecure,” and to prove he wasn’t a “scumbag,” he stood there like a wooden post, letting him look until the doors were completely closed.

He didn’t know why, though.

Even though he had just hurried the man to leave, the moment Lu Tingyun completely disappeared and Song Ai saw his own reflection on the elevator doors, his expression seemed to turn a bit lonely.

He had watched his friends date; their partners couldn’t bear to be apart for a single second. They called it separation anxiety. In the past, he had scoffed at it. Now, he began to doubt himself.

Am I getting separation anxiety too??

Song Ai was nearly dazed by the thought. He quickly wiped his face and turned his head back.

…

Worried that Wang Ruijing might do something drastic if left alone, Song Ai and Li Shang decided not to leave for the next few days—at least not until they helped him handle the funeral arrangements.

It was easy for Li Shang; a quick phone call home served as his report. Song Ai, however, had to check with the Lu family first.

It was then that he suddenly realized he didn’t have Lu Tingyun’s contact information—no phone number, no WeChat, no email, not even QQ!

Is this how people really date?

With no other choice, Song Ai had to call Butler Wu and ask him to pass on the message. Regardless, he was staying in J City and wouldn’t leave; missing a night or two at home shouldn’t… be a problem, right?

That was what he thought, but someone else didn’t see it that way.

Noticing that Song Ai hadn’t returned for two days, Lu Haichuan paid a visit in person.

Lu Tingyun had just finished handling company business and intended to go home to wash up before looking for his spouse. To his surprise, the moment he stepped through the door, Butler Wu reported: “Your father is here.”

Lu Tingyun knew his father’s temperament well and had guessed he would come sooner or later. After a moment of deliberation, he simply said, “Have someone tend to him first. I’ll be there shortly.”

About half an hour later, Lu Tingyun pushed open the study door. The middle-aged man stood with his hands behind his back in front of the floor-to-ceiling window. When he turned around, his brow was deeply furrowed.

“Why are you only coming over now?”

“Father taught me that before meeting an elder, one should wash up and straighten one’s attire to show proper etiquette. I just returned from the company and wasn’t clean, so I took a shower and changed first.”

“You remember that,” Lu Haichuan snorted coldly. “Yet you’ve forgotten every other thing I’ve taught you.”

Lu Tingyun lowered his eyes and remained silent.

Lu Haichuan finally got to the point: “You said last time you wanted to take Song Ai on a business trip. I didn’t agree at first, but you insisted it was his credit for the Shen family matter, so I had nothing to say. But this time he hasn’t been back for two days and two nights. Don’t you owe me an explanation?”

“I know where he is,” Lu Tingyun said, offering no explanation other than that.

“You know?” Lu Haichuan said dismissively. “Then tell me, where is he right now?”

It was either the hospital or the Wang residence. But Lu Tingyun knew his father wasn’t asking just to learn Song Ai’s location. Thus, he stayed silent and didn’t answer.

“You only know he’s still in J City, but you don’t know the specific location, do you?”

It was an interrogative statement. His father indeed knew more about Song Ai’s location than he did. Lu Tingyun’s fingertips curled slightly, but he still didn’t say a word.

Lu Haichuan continued, “I taught you that no matter what you do, you must have total certainty. Even the slightest oversight can lead to total defeat. Tingyun, I am very disappointed in your recent performance.”

“By ‘total certainty,’ Father, do you mean that bracelet?”

Lu Tingyun finally spoke, his sentence also carrying a tone of certainty.

He had been pondering this for a while: what method was being used to monitor whether Song Ai returned or not? Was it surveillance cameras like those used on him before? Or were there spies planted in the manor?

If it were cameras, his father wouldn’t just be here questioning him. If it were the second option, given that Song Ai hadn’t returned for two days, even the most capable spy couldn’t possibly track Song Ai’s specific location and inform his father.

Ruling out those two possibilities, only a GPS tracker remained. And the carrier for that tracker had to be the electronic bracelet on Song Ai’s wrist—the one he never took off, whether sleeping, showering, or even making love.

Having his secret suddenly exposed, Lu Haichuan’s first reaction was surprise, followed by anger. “He told you?”

“No,” Lu Tingyun shook his head. “I guessed it.”

“Hmph!” Lu Haichuan sneered. “Do you think saying that will clear him of blame?”

At this, Lu Tingyun fell silent for a moment. Although his father was targeting Song Ai, Lu Tingyun felt a sense of suffocating empathy because he had grown up under such constraints himself.

Fortunately.

The old Lu Tingyun would have been dominated by this feeling of suffocation. The current Lu Tingyun would not.

“Father,” he said in a muffled voice. “I know your concerns. You require Song Ai to return every day because you’re worried the Song family will abscond with the funds, and you want to keep a hostage just in case.”

“But the Song family has already invested all their capital into the factory. If they really intended to run, they would have planned their escape before the investment. To this day, the Song family’s actions are enough to prove their determination to stage a comeback. Why is it necessary to be guarded to this extent?”

“Furthermore, Song Ai is innocent.”

He looked directly at his father, the childhood fear in his eyes gone at some point.

Lu Haichuan stared at his son blankly. His emotions shifted from anger to shock, and finally to a deep confusion, all because he suddenly realized his son’s shoulders were now higher than his own. He pursed his lips tightly, his breathing gradually becoming heavy.

This heaviness wasn’t because he agreed with his son’s words or realized his own mistake; it was the sudden realization that he could no longer control everything as he had in the past. The old general had aged.

Receiving no response, Lu Tingyun knew it was impossible to change his father’s mind so easily. He took a step back and said, “I guarantee that nothing will happen with the Song family. I also hope you will withdraw your surveillance of Song Ai and not give him a second bracelet.”

With that, Lu Tingyun turned and left the study.

…

Coming out of the funeral parlor, Wang Ruijing was still absent-minded. Most of the funeral tasks were complete; after today’s memorial service, Mrs. Wang’s body could be sent for cremation.

Li Shang accompanied Wang Ruijing to the entrance to receive guests. Song Ai found a place to rest. His body was weak and prone to fatigue. Having been busy since the afternoon without a break, he truly couldn’t stand any longer.

The spring breeze was gentle. He leaned lazily against the back of his chair, closing his eyes. It didn’t take long before he started to feel drowsy.

Until a hand that felt cold to the touch was placed on his face.

“Are you tired?” It was Lu Tingyun.

Song Ai opened his eyes. He really didn’t have the energy to slap the hand away, so he simply tilted his head to the other side.

Lu Tingyun smiled and advised, “Why don’t you go back and sleep? There shouldn’t be much left for you to do here.”

Song Ai shook his head weakly. If it were anyone else, he might consider it, but Wang Ruijing and Li Shang were the only two friends who had always stayed by his side. Especially at a time like this, he couldn’t be absent.

Knowing he couldn’t persuade him, Lu Tingyun didn’t say much more and simply sat down beside him.

“Finished with your company business?”

“Mm. Finished around noon. I was afraid you’d dislike the smell of sweat on me, so I went back to take a shower first.”

“…” Song Ai rolled his eyes. “If you’re so bored that you have nothing to do…”

“Did you miss me?”

Lu Tingyun’s sudden question nearly made Song Ai’s brain crash. But before he could answer, the man continued on his own, “I missed you so much.”

Song Ai suddenly felt his breathing become somewhat labored. From childhood to adulthood, he confessed many times. He had heard words much more blunt than this, yet why was he stumped by this single sentence??

Lu Tingyun didn’t give him time to adjust, lightly touching the back of his hand resting on the armrest. “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

“…” Song Ai truly didn’t know what to say. Finally, he gave a dry “Oh” as a response to the man’s longing.

Lu Tingyun stopped teasing him and asked something else. “Are you in a bad mood? Or just too tired?”

Song Ai lifted an eyelid. “What?”

“I saw your complexion wasn’t great when I came over just now.”

Song Ai said nothing, letting his eyelid drop again. He was rarely sentimental and used to being carefree; reasonably, even an event like this shouldn’t affect his mood too much, but…

“I thought of my dad,” the youth said, baring his thoughts for the first time. Perhaps he had indeed suppressed too much, and it had reached a point where he could no longer bear it alone.

“He passed away very early. I didn’t really understand the concept of death back then. I only knew my mom was like a spinning top, always moving… thinking about it now, she must have been like Old Wang’s dad, busy handling the funeral arrangements.”

The youth’s voice became very muffled, sounding heartbreaking. “I only realized today that there are so many procedures to go through when a person passes away.”

“Actually, I can’t really remember what my dad looked like anymore. My mom put all his photos away because she would cry every time she saw them. If she couldn’t help but wipe away tears just looking at a photo, then back then… did she cry even harder than Old Wang?”

“When people are alive, their bodies are so hot and warm. Why is it that after they die, there’s no temperature at all? So cold, so stiff.”

As he spoke, a crystal tear dripped from his chin. Lu Tingyun used the back of his hand to wipe it away, his heart feeling as bitter as Song Ai’s.

“Bodies don’t have blood flowing, so they lose heat. Death cannot be reversed, but the living can carry on their warmth.”

Lu Tingyun was rarely swayed by others’ emotions. He was consistently calm and rational; even if he felt something, it remained on the surface and never easily entered his heart. Except for the person in front of him.

By the time he realized he was being influenced, he found that the influence was already so deep that a single tear was enough to draw out all his compassion.

Not wanting Song Ai to dwell in grief for too long, he lifted the other’s wrist. Before Song Ai could react, he took off the bracelet.

“You don’t need to wear this anymore,” he said. “Song Ai, you don’t have to return to that cage every day anymore.”