Huang Xiaopang slept until noon before waking up, and upon waking, found himself lying at He Kao's home.

The phone was placed beside the pillow, set to silent mode. When he checked it, there were several missed calls, all from his mother. Scrolling through, there were also several calls to He Kao and Qian Guran, with one to President E in between.

He remembered it all. To avoid today's blind date at noon, he initially planned to make up an excuse saying there was an emergency at work, and he, as a key staff member, had to personally handle it.

This excuse was too flimsy; his mother probably wouldn't believe it, so he thought of asking He Kao for help to cover the lie. But He Kao hadn't answered the phone or replied to messages, seemingly asleep.

Then he tried to reach President E, but couldn't get through either, guessing President E was also asleep. In the end, he even contacted Old Qian. Xiaopang wondered if he was out of his mind yesterday, going to the vice president of the department for such a trivial matter—was the class monitor that scary?

He wasn't exactly scared, just annoyed.

He refused to give up, so he took advantage of his mother being asleep and snuck out, ran to He Kao's place, and knocked on the door until a groggy He Kao woke up. He managed to hide here and slept until now.

While browsing his phone, he suddenly received a voice message from his mother. Upon opening it, he heard her loud voice saying, "Where did you go? Disappeared early in the morning and not answering your phone?

We agreed to meet at the Purple Peak Hotel's western restaurant at 11:30. It's now 12:00, and the girl has been waiting for you for half an hour. Even if you're not interested, you shouldn't treat her like this!

The introducer is angry, it's our office's senior sister, the one you call Aunt Long. She just called to ask what happened, where should I put this old face of mine?

I even found an excuse to explain, saying there was an urgent matter at your workplace, and as a key staff member, you had to deal with it! I apologized for a long time and promised to treat Aunt Long to a meal someday.

I mentioned the girl was your junior high school classmate, you have her contact info, and you'd personally apologize to her and arrange to meet again. Don't forget this!"

As Xiaopang listened to the voice message, he quickly lowered the volume. Upon finishing, he chuckled, muttering, "No wonder she's my mom, she thought of the same excuse as me!"

Only now did he realize he overslept, missing the chance to implement his prepared lie. Instead, his mom had already covered for him.

His mom might come looking for him at He Kao's house, so this place wasn't safe either. He immediately got ready to get dressed, only to discover he hadn't taken off his clothes before sleeping last night.

Xiaopang put on his shoes and headed out. He Kao's bedroom door was still closed. This guy was still sleeping in; he'd heard about him working overtime for three consecutive days at the E-Times District test site, finishing over a week's workload post-holiday, so he must be exhausted too.

He didn't wake He Kao, quietly sneaking out. He ordered a rideshare car while in the yard, hiding behind the door until it arrived before swiftly leaving. In the car, he didn't forget to leave a message for He Kao.

…

Gao Xue'e was awakened by the vibrating sound of the phone on the bedside table. Upon waking, she was a bit dazed, momentarily unable to comprehend why she was sleeping in this place, feeling as if she'd traveled through time.

As her consciousness gradually synced with her body, she recalled the events of yesterday, instinctively curling her body again. Then she saw He Kao lying beside the bed.

He Kao was asleep, his cheek resting on his arm, leaving quite a bit of drool, wetting the back of his hand.

The curtain wasn't properly drawn, and a ray of afternoon sunlight was shining through the gap onto He Kao's face. At such a close distance, his tiny facial hairs could be clearly seen.

He Kao's hair was covered in dust, his left eye corner and right cheek marked with bruises, and one nostril as well as his lips and chin still bore unwashed bloodstains, already dried.

The kidnappers had hit him yesterday, and Gao Xue'e was onsite. She couldn't have imagined that He Kao would later manage to free himself, rush out to grab a gun, and, right in front of her, took down two of the kidnappers...

He Kao ran so fast carrying her, hiding her in a dark room, and then went out again with his gun. Her mind was blank at the time, only praying for his safe return.

There was a flurry of gunshots outside, followed by unknown events, then miraculously, He Kao returned, taking her back to his home in a car… never before had her life been so thrilling as this night.

This was a plot you'd only expect in a movie, yet it happened to her, almost making her the female lead?

Looking at He Kao, it seemed like he hadn't even washed his face, sitting by the bed guarding through the night. For some reason, as if compelled by some inexplicable force, Gao Xue'e reached out from under the blanket, gently touching He Kao's injured cheek.

…

He Kao wasn't sure when he fell asleep; he felt as if someone was touching his face and seemed to be bothered by glaring light. Instinctively, he opened his eyes, just in time to see Gao Xue'e withdrawing her hand into the blanket.

Her wrist still bore the red mark from the straps, indicating that everything from last night wasn't a hallucination.

"You're awake?" Both of them spoke almost simultaneously, uttering the same sentence.

Gao Xue'e: "Have you been sitting here all this while… is your face injury okay?"

If Gao Xue'e hadn't brought it up, He Kao had almost forgotten about the injury on his face. He grabbed his phone to use as a mirror, taking a look and shaking his head: "It's nothing, just a bit bruised. I'll go wash my face."

Gao Xue'e: "Take a hot shower and change your clothes, wash your hair too."

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