Chapter 8 The Power Outage
"Are you all right?"
Chen Heng looked at my face and asked.
The swelling and pain on my face were still spreading. Thinking of the calculating look in my mother's eyes just now, I felt mortified. I only turned my face away and stayed silent.
"My mother was worried about you, so she asked me to come out and check.
"I didn't mean anything by it."
He seemed to see through my behavior and hurried to explain.
"It's fine. Anyway, nothing could be worse than this."
I lifted my chin slightly toward him. "I'm going back to put some medicine on. Don't tell Aunt Zhan I got hurt."
Chen Heng nodded and turned back to the Nursing Home.
I returned to my place, took out ice, and pressed it to my face.
While waiting for the swelling to go down, an unknown number called in.
"You didn't come back with your mother?"
That voice. I knew it too well.
Who else could it be but Zhou Yang?
These past few days, he had been busy attending all kinds of events with Ruoyu. The news and trending searches were full of their ambiguous interactions.
At the same time, he kept sending me those conciliatory messages from new numbers.
And now, it seemed he couldn't spare the time to come find me himself, so he must have tried to have my mother come as a go-between to get me to return.
I skipped past his question and went straight to the point. "Have you signed the Divorce Agreement?"
He hung up at once, without answering my question.
I stared at the screen for a few seconds, let out a cold laugh, and blocked that number too.
In the days after that, I went on as usual, teaching the elderly at the Nursing Home to play the Piano.
At the same time, I stayed with Aunt Zhan as "Xiao Yan." Aunt Zhan had clearly brightened up a lot.
Chen Heng came by from time to time. Because Aunt Zhan smiled more, his attitude toward me gradually changed. He even started chatting with me about everyday things.
The heavy, damp gloom in my heart slowly faded with these simple, warm days.
The day before Christmas Eve, I came home after an event at the Nursing Home, and suddenly there was another Power Outage.
I went for the ladder out of habit to check the electrical box outside the door, but my foot slipped on the ladder. My body tipped backward at high speed.
But the next second, I fell into a warm embrace.
"Are you all right?"
It was Chen Heng.
"I... I'm fine."
I hurried to steady myself, but twisted my ankle again.
Chen Heng caught me once more. "Don't move yet. Avoid secondary injury."
In the dark, he held my hand tightly.
And I, because of the pain in my foot, had a light sweat forming in my palm.
Perhaps sensing my discomfort, he simply scooped me up in his arms.
"I-I'm fine, you d-don't need to..."
But he seemed not to hear me. He still held me and started toward the house.
Maybe it was because we had both just been startled.
With my ear against his chest, I heard his heartbeat speeding up.
And under the night, looking at his profile, somehow I felt a little hot and flushed myself.
"What are you two doing?"
Suddenly, a familiar voice rang out.
Chen Heng and I both turned toward the sound at the same time.
Zhou Yang stood in the doorway, staring at us coldly.