It fell from his fingertips

The large bedroom was completely quiet.

Tang Luoqing stared nervously at Zhou Jinbai, who was asleep on the bed.

At this moment, Zhou Jinbai's face was slightly pale, but his cheeks were flushed with an abnormal flush. The thermometer next to him showed 38.5℃, but it had dropped by 0.5℃ compared to half an hour ago.

Tang Luoqing secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, her phone, which she had casually placed on the bedside table, rang. Afraid of disturbing Zhou Jinbai's sleep, Tang Luoqing tried to pick up the phone and silence it, only to find that her right hand, which was normally convenient for reaching for the phone, was being held in the palm of the sleeping Zhou Jinbai.

She looked down and tried to break free, but Zhou Jinbai was very strong even when he was asleep, and Tang Luoqing couldn't break free at all.

Helpless, she could only turn to the side as much as possible, pick up her phone with her left hand, and immediately put it on silent before she noticed that the call was from Zhou Yanchen.

Tang Luoqing unconsciously frowned, glanced at Zhou Jinbai to make sure he wasn't woken by the phone ringing, then hesitantly answered the call, lowering her voice to ask, "What's wrong?"

Zhou Yanchen on the other end of the phone: "I miss you, can't I call you?"

Tang Luoqing: "...Of course."

There was silence on the other end of the phone, and Tang Luoqing didn't know what to say for a moment.

It seems that she doesn't know when it started, but she and Zhou Yanchen went from talking about everything to being relatively silent now.

Silence on the phone is more awkward than having nothing to say face-to-face.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhou Yanchen finally spoke slowly: "Luo Qing, do you... have someone else you like?"

Upon hearing this, Tang Luoqing's breath hitched, and she involuntarily looked at Zhou Jinbai, who was still holding her hand tightly even while asleep on the bed with his eyes closed.

She gripped her phone tighter: "No. And..."

After a slight pause, Tang Luoqing, her heart aching, continued, "This... is the question I should be asking you. You... really have absolutely no feelings for Su Leqi?"

This time, there was silence on the other end of the phone once again.

However, this silence was unusually short. After a moment, Zhou Yanchen denied it, saying, "Of course not. I just consider her a childhood friend. After all, we grew up together."

Despite the answer, Tang Luoqing inexplicably gleaned something from that brief silence.

She didn't dwell on the topic, but changed the subject: "Are you really not coming back at the end of the month?"

Zhou Yanchen on the other end of the phone said, "There's still some time until the end of the month. I'll arrange my time and try to go back."

Hearing a completely different answer from last night, Tang Luoqing guessed that Zhou Yanchen had probably remembered what day it was at the end of the month.

The two chatted briefly for a few more minutes before hanging up.

Tang Luoqing placed the phone back on the bedside table and gazed at Zhou Jinbai once more.

Looking at the man's handsome face, she raised her hand, her fingers about to touch his face, but then stopped in mid-air, not getting any closer.

Tang Luoqing curled her fingers and withdrew her hand.

But having her right hand held like that for too long wouldn't work; she couldn't do anything.

Fortunately, Zhou Jinbai woke up not long after.

The man slowly opened his eyes. Once his vision cleared and he saw Tang Luoqing's face, a look of surprise appeared in his eyes: "Luoqing? What are you doing here?"

"You're awake? How are you feeling?"

Tang Luoqing asked anxiously, "Does your head hurt? Is anything else bothering you?"

When she had a fever, she felt weak all over and had a headache. She wondered what it was like for Zhou Jinbai.

Seeing Zhou Jinbai shake his head, Tang Luoqing breathed a sigh of relief before continuing, "We had arranged to go out to paint today, but you fainted as soon as you opened the door. I touched your forehead, and it was very hot, so I helped you back to your room. I gave you some fever reducer, and your fever is going down now."

Zhou Jinbai still seemed very weak. Hearing Tang Luoqing's words, he nodded and said in a low, hoarse voice, "Thank you. I thought you would hate me and not care whether I live or die."

"How could that be?"

Tang Luoqing's tone was a little urgent: "You saved me twice and helped me so much before, how could I possibly hate you? I would never abandon you to your fate, you're overthinking it."

Realizing that Zhou Jinbai was still holding her wrist, she struggled slightly and looked away awkwardly, saying, "Um, could you please let go of me first?"

Zhou Jinbai seemed to only realize what he was doing at this moment. He slowly released his grip and apologized, "Sorry, I had a fever and was slow to react."

Tang Luoqing withdrew her hand, stood up from the bed, and took a step back: "It's alright. Um, if you're alright now, I'll head back first. We can schedule another time to paint when you're feeling better, okay?"

As soon as she finished speaking, Tang Luoqing looked up at Zhou Jinbai.

Zhou Jinbai had already propped himself up and sat up in bed, leaning against the bed to meet Tang Luoqing's gaze. He raised his arm to shield his eyes, as if that would make him feel more comfortable.

After a few seconds, Zhou Jinbai removed his arm and took a breath: "Okay, thank you for your help today."

Tang Luoqing quickly nodded, walked to the bedside table, picked up her phone, and whispered, "Then you should get some rest."

He turned and left.

After leaving Zhou Jinbai's bedroom, Tang Luoqing picked up her art supplies from the sofa, left his house, and returned to her own home.

For the next half day, Tang Luoqing was somewhat absent-minded.

She sat at her desk, looking at the half-finished drawing in her hand, but had no inspiration to continue, or perhaps, no mood to continue.

Her thoughts kept drifting far away, and the scene of Zhou Jinbai fainting on her kept replaying in her mind.

I wonder how he is now, has his fever gone down?

Tang Luoqing picked up her phone, opened her WeChat chat with Zhou Jinbai, and was about to type when a sentence suddenly flashed through her mind.

"Do you... have someone else you like?"

Tang Luoqing was startled, and her phone fell onto the table with a thud, startling Naitang, who was rubbing her tail against the little fish on the drawing paper.

Tang Luoqing stared at the name "Zhou Jinbai" at the top of her phone screen, feeling an indescribable panic.

She swallowed hard, her heart pounding.

Just then, a call came in from an unknown number. When Tang Luoqing answered, Assistant Shen's voice came from the other end.

"Ms. Tang, are you with Mr. Zhou? I can't get through to him on the phone. I have an important document that needs his signature. May I ask where you are painting? Can I come over to see Mr. Zhou?"

Tang Luoqing was stunned. Her first thought was, "Has Zhou Jinbai fainted again?"

Without time to think, Tang Luoqing casually replied, "He has a fever. Wait a moment, I'll go check on him."

After hanging up the phone, Tang Luoqing quickly walked out of the study, across the living room, opened the door, and rushed towards the door across the street without thinking.

But the next moment, Tang Luoqing's raised hand didn't knock on the door, but instead hit a man's chest.