ATLAS TRANSLATES

Eight PM Beijing time, in the company elevator – this wasn’t a place where Lu Jiaheng should be.

Yet the man’s arms held her steadily, his breath familiar, his voice curling around her ears, so familiar it almost brought tears to her eyes.

Chu Zhi still had one hand tightly gripping his arm. She stared at the shadowy metallic elevator doors, her kicking legs going still as she breathed softly: “Lu Jiaheng?”

The man chuckled lightly: “Little girl is so fierce now?”

She finally confirmed it was him.

Chu Zhi’s eyes reddened as her tense nerves and body gradually relaxed, going limp in his arms around her waist.

She had just been scared to death, her heart still not quite steady, her scalp tingling. She had already imagined countless scenarios.

Like maybe she had encountered some serial killer, and days later, the police would find her body by a river.

Chu Zhi hung her head, staying perfectly still like a doll. As these thoughts ran through her mind, the tears she’d been holding back suddenly spilled over.

Drip drop, falling onto the man’s arms that held her.

Chu Zhi’s little mouth trembled and she burst into tears with a “wah”, not loudly, but sounding extremely upset and wronged.

Lu Jiaheng was stunned. He hung up his phone and put it in his pocket, setting her down, turning her around, and then lifting her up again by her waist, like picking up a cat.

The little girl sobbed, her eyes red-rimmed, brows tightly furrowed, mouth pitifully turned down as she scolded him in a teary voice: “Wuwu Lu Jiaheng you bastard…”

“You scared me as soon as you came back…”

“I was so scared, so scared…”

“I thought I was going to die wuwuwu…”

Lu Jiaheng didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He supported her bottom, holding her upright against him, his hand gently patting her back: “Nonsense.”

Chu Zhi raised her arms to hug him, chin on his shoulder, sniffling as she rubbed her tears on him, hiccuping: “I thought I met a pervert.”

Before Lu Jiaheng could speak, she paused, then continued crying: “Actually I did meet a pervert wuwu…”

Lu Jiaheng: “…”

She cried pitifully against him. At first she was really crying tears, but later she just pushed against his chest making crying sounds, though the tears were long gone.

Lu Jiaheng indulgently held her like a child as he pressed the elevator button, going down to the underground parking lot. With a ding, the doors opened.

Chu Zhi was still whimpering pitifully.

Lu Jiaheng walked out of the elevator, realizing she was fake crying now, and looked down: “Keep crying and I’ll touch you.”

“…”

Chu Zhi went quiet instantly.

She drooped against his shoulder, arms hanging limply as she made a soft whining sound, quietly talking to herself about him—

“Is Lu Jiaheng a pervert?”

“Yes he is.”

“Is Lu Jiaheng a bastard?”

“He really is a bastard.”

“…”

Lu Jiaheng chuckled softly: “You’re that unsatisfied with me?”

“Who told you to be so scary.”

He took out his car keys, casually opened the door, and set her down.

Chu Zhi automatically climbed into the passenger seat, closed the door, and fastened her seatbelt.

Lu Jiaheng got in.

With a bang, the car door closed. Lu Jiaheng casually tossed her bag in the back, then leaned over, cupping her chin with one hand.

Before Chu Zhi could blink, his cool soft lips pressed against hers.

Their lips and teeth met as the man’s presence overwhelmed her.

His hand supporting her head moved back, gently kneading her plump earlobe, fingertips stroking the delicate skin behind her ear.

Chu Zhi was still annoyed and pushed him away symbolically twice, but the man caught her wrist with one hand, guiding it forward to rest on his shoulder.

Making it look like Chu Zhi was embracing him.

She tilted her head back slightly, feeling his tongue invade, forcefully and eagerly taking all the air from her mouth, pulling her tongue out with his.

Chu Zhi’s tongue went numb with a slight pain. She shrank back a bit and opened her eyes.

At the same time, Lu Jiaheng opened his eyes too.

His dark upturned eyes seemed able to pull people in. His large hand had somehow already slid to her chest, its warmth seeping through her thick clothes and coat with moderate pressure.

Chu Zhi’s eyes widened as her body tensed. She made a muffled “wu” sound as she shrank back, trying to grab his wrist.

Lu Jiaheng gently bit her tongue tip before pulling away.

Lu Jiaheng tilted his head to rest in her neck, letting out two soft breaths that sounded like laughter: “My Chu Chu has grown up again.”

His hand still rested on her chest, not pressing hard but overwhelmingly present.

As he finished speaking, his five fingers moved slightly, squeezing gently, unclear what he was referring to.

With a boom, Chu Zhi’s mind exploded into fireworks. She had nowhere to retreat, back pressed against the car door, her little face bright red, eyes red too, lips slightly swollen from his kiss.

Her face scrunched up like she might cry again, looking very wronged and hurt. Her fair little hands grabbed his wrist at her chest and pushed: “Take your hand away!”

Lu Jiaheng looked down at her.

Chu Zhi pitifully bit her lip, squirming uncomfortably, her ears red with embarrassment.

He sighed softly: “Why do I always feel like you’re still too young.”

“You just said I grew up,” Chu Zhi reflexively argued.

As soon as she spoke, she realized what she’d said.

Lu Jiaheng raised an eyebrow, looking at her with an ambiguous smile: “No need to grow anymore, this is just right.”

Chu Zhi was furiously embarrassed, almost exploding as she pushed him away fiercely: “You’re so annoying!”

He straightened up and leaned back against the driver’s seat, still laughing lazily: “I wouldn’t mind if they grew a bit more.”

Chu Zhi covered her face with both hands, only her red ears visible: “Shut up!”

Lu Jiaheng hadn’t told anyone he was returning to China a few months early.

Only Cheng Yi knew, because he needed him to clean his house beforehand.

When Lu Jiaheng entered, Cheng Yi was standing in the middle of the living room with a “what the hell” expression, holding a feather duster while playing on his phone.

Hearing the door open, Cheng Yi looked up to see a travel-worn Lu Jiaheng.

He dragged in a suitcase, lowered his head to take off his shoes, and collapsed onto the sofa.

Cheng Yi cursed and walked over: “Where the fuck did you go after landing? Do you know how long I’ve been waiting?”

Lu Jiaheng was too tired to open his eyes but couldn’t sleep due to jet lag. He lazily lifted his eyelids to glance at him: “You couldn’t call?”

Cheng Yi raged, throwing the feather duster at him while roaring: “Would you have answered?!”

Lu Jiaheng raised his arm to block it. The feather duster that had accompanied Cheng Yi all afternoon reached the end of its life, falling to the ground with a thud.

He rubbed his brow, yawning: “I went to the company.”

That actually surprised Cheng Yi: “You went to the company? What’s up, working so hard as soon as you’re back?”

“Mm, picking up my wife from work.”

“…”

Cheng Yi rolled his eyes.

He sat on the coffee table, looking Lu Jiaheng up and down with a strange expression before sighing softly: “Aheng, would you say you’ve fallen hard?”

Lu Jiaheng leaned back on the sofa, not speaking.

Cheng Yi said: “I really didn’t expect you to have such a long relationship. Actually when you first went abroad, I made a bet with Lin Baiyang about how long until you broke up. At the time Lin Yuqing told me to be a decent person.”

Lu Jiaheng closed his eyes and made a humming sound: “Well she finally said something sensible.”

Cheng Yi was quiet for a moment before continuing: “That day when we went out, Lin Yuqing got drunk and sat crying by the road.”

Lu Jiaheng opened his eyes.

Cheng Yi leaned forward, elbows on his knees, looking at him curiously: “I’m not too clear what happened in the years she was gone, but what does it feel like to like someone the way you two do?”

Lu Jiaheng glanced at him: “It feels exactly like what you see.”

Smiling because of this person, crying because of this person.

Just one word from her and he would do anything.

If she wanted him to die, he would hand her the knife with a smile.

It took Chu Zhi several hours to accept the fact that Lu Jiaheng was really back.

That night after returning home and showering, lying in bed, she still found it incredible that he was in the apartment separated from hers by just a ceiling and floor.

She rolled over to grab her phone, thought for a moment, sat up against the headboard, grabbed her earphones from the bedside table, and video called Lu Jiaheng.

He answered quickly, also freshly showered and lying in bed, his pajamas loose and revealing his collarbone and chest.

When he answered, Chu Zhi suddenly didn’t know what to say.

Behind him was light-colored wallpaper, dark grey pillows, with the edge of the bedside table and lamp visible – all from his home.

The two just looked at each other through the video for a while, Chu Zhi not speaking.

Lu Jiaheng tilted his head and smiled at her: “Miss me?”

Chu Zhi blinked: “Lu Jiaheng, how are Little Chrysanthemum and his idol doing?”

“…”

Lu Jiaheng said flatly: “Chu Zhi, I’m hanging up.”

The little girl made an “aiya” sound and rolled over to lie on her stomach, propping the phone up on the headboard and supporting her face with her hands propped on her elbows: “Now that you’re back, you won’t leave again?”

When she lay down like that, her pajama collar hung down, showing she wasn’t wearing anything underneath, two soft curves visible from above.

Lu Jiaheng’s eyes narrowed, his gaze deep as he paused for a few seconds before making an “mm” sound.

“Have you found a job?”

“Found one.”

“When do you start work?”

“Next week probably, I need to get over jet lag first.”

Chu Zhi kicked her legs against the bed, the soft curves under her collar moving unsteadily with her motion: “Then you—”

“Chu Chu,” Lu Jiaheng closed his eyes briefly, interrupting her.

He looked down at her in the video, licking his lips as he said softly: “Are you trying to have a passionate late night video call with me?”

Chu Zhi: “…”

Chu Zhi was dumbfounded, shocked by his shameless words, as if pushed through a door to a new world. She quickly scooted back, then thought and scooted forward again, looking at him curiously: “How do we have a passionate video call?” She raised her hand to grip her pajama collar tightly, face red as she asked nervously: “Should I… should I take things off?”

“…”

Lu Jiaheng’s head hurt: “No, stop messing with me.”

Chu Zhi grabbed her pillow to hug: “You want me to mess with you.”

Lu Jiaheng: “?”

Chu Zhi: “Keep dreaming.”

Lu Jiaheng: “??”

Lu Jiaheng couldn’t sleep due to jet lag, and Chu Zhi didn’t want to sleep, so they talked until she fell asleep with the video call still running, propped up sideways.

The young girl’s face was half-buried in her pillow, hair messy, mouth pressed crooked, long lashes lowered, sleeping spread-eagled, sweet and peaceful.

In the silence, he could almost hear her steady, even breathing.

Lu Jiaheng wanted to dig a hole straight down to her room to take off her earphones and tuck her in properly.

Early the next morning, Chu Zhi woke to see the man’s magnified profile on her phone screen.

The video call had run all night, her phone down to 6% battery. Lu Jiaheng’s end was dark – he had probably just fallen asleep. He lay quietly on his pillow in deep sleep.

Chu Zhi rubbed her eyes, admired her boyfriend’s handsome profile for a while before ending the call and getting up.

But when she got ready and opened her door to leave for work, she saw the man leaning against the elevator, head lowered.

Hearing the door open, Lu Jiaheng looked up.

He wore a shirt with a casual jacket over it, hunched against the elevator, eyes red with exhaustion and half-closed.

Chu Zhi closed her door and walked over, her heels clicking on the marble floor: “Why are you up?”

Lu Jiaheng casually ruffled his messy sleep-tousled hair, voice slightly hoarse: “Taking you to work.”

Chu Zhi wanted to hit him. She raised her hands to push him towards the stairs: “Go back to sleep quickly, I can go to work myself. You can take me after you’re over your jet lag.”

Lu Jiaheng let her push him forward a few steps before suddenly turning around to look down at her intently.

Chu Zhi felt uneasy under his gaze: “What are you doing…”

He raised his hand, his cool fingertip gently tracing her lower lip to the corner: “You’re wearing lip gloss.”

“Of course I need to wear some for work…” Chu Zhi uncomfortably pressed her lips together, looking a bit dejected, “Does it not look good?”

Lu Jiaheng curved his lips, voice soft: “Looks good.”

As he spoke, his finger slid from the corner of her mouth to grip her pointed little chin, tilting it up as he leaned down.

Just as he was about to kiss her, Chu Zhi’s eyes widened and she quickly raised her hand to smack his face, pushing him away.

Denied a kiss, Lu Jiaheng tilted his head slightly: “Can’t kiss?”

Chu Zhi shook her head: “The lip gloss will come off.”

He licked his lips: “You can reapply it.”

“Still no, Lin Tong bought me this lip gloss, you can’t kiss me,” Chu Zhi looked up at him seriously, “Only the person who bought it can kiss.”

Lu Jiaheng: “…”