Wall and Door

...

In the dimly lit room, a long-haired girl sat quietly at the head of the bed. Holding a Pikachu plushie in her arms, she stared blankly at the night scenery outside the window. It was already the early hours of the morning. In the next room, Tang Keke was already fast asleep, but Bai Yuyou still couldn't fall asleep.

It seemed that ever since that conversation on the rooftop, Bai Yuyou had been suffering from insomnia for a long time. Most of the time, she wouldn't fall asleep until dawn, and then, after finally managing to sleep for an hour or two, she had to get up again.

"..." The girl thought about a lot of things, about all the little moments she had shared with Ye Shuang. She reached out and placed a hand over her chest; the slight stinging sensation felt as though it was tearing at her soul.

Ye Shuang doesn't want me anymore.

This thought kept lingering in her mind, leaving Bai Yuyou in a daze all day, completely unable to muster the energy to do anything.

"Beep, beep."

Suddenly, Bai Yuyou seemed to notice something. It was the sound of the downstairs door unlocking.

She quickly walked to her bedroom door, but just as she was about to go out, her fingers gripping the doorknob paused, and finally dropped weakly.

Wearing her pajamas, she stood there all alone.

...

Downstairs, Ye Shuang stood in the entryway, staring somewhat absentmindedly at the nearby sofa. Normally at this time, Bai Yuyou would be waiting for him to come home. Even though Ye Shuang knew it was very late, he couldn't help but feel a sense of loss in his heart for some reason.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Ye Shuang walked over to the water bar with slightly unsteady steps and poured himself a glass of hot water.

After sitting down on the sofa, he slowly drank the water. Lying next to him was Yi Wan, who was clearly very sleepy but still seemed to be trying hard to keep its eyes open to keep him company.

Seeing Yi Wan's eyes occasionally close and open again, Ye Shuang couldn't help but smile. He reached out and rubbed its chin.

"Go to sleep, you don't need to stay up with me."

With that, Ye Shuang stood up and headed upstairs. Having rested for a moment, he couldn't quite tell if he was still drunk. His mind was filled with all sorts of thoughts, and by the time he snapped back to reality, he was already standing at Bai Yuyou's door.

Ye Shuang: "..."

He reached out his hand, but slowly lowered it.

Little did he know, on the other side of the door, Bai Yuyou was also standing there in a daze.

Neither of them knew what the other was doing.

Without them realizing it, a door had already come between them.

Open, or kept locked tight; it seemed neither had the courage to open it.

It was like a wall.

Until Ye Shuang pinched the bridge of his nose, sighed, and returned to his room to take a shower.

And just a few seconds after he left, Bai Yuyou finally reached out and opened the door. Taking a step or two, she walked to the top of the stairs and looked down, but she didn't see Ye Shuang on the first floor. When she heard the noise coming from the room to the side, the girl lowered her eyes and eventually turned around to go back to her room.

...

The night passed in silence.

Early morning.

Because he had been drinking, Ye Shuang only slowly sat up after hearing the alarm from the smart speaker next to him.

The familiar dizziness made Ye Shuang wonder if his alcohol tolerance had dropped, especially since Fugui and Chen Hai hadn't gotten drunk last night.

"Dimao Genie, what time is it?" Ye Shuang asked aloud.

"Master, it is now 9:00 AM."

"Ugh." Ye Shuang rubbed his temples, feeling not only sleepy and dizzy but also like his throat was on fire.

"Dimao Genie, play a song for me."

"Okay, now playing a VIP sample clip for you. Open the Dimao Genie app to enjoy the full song..."

"Don't I have a music VIP?" Ye Shuang looked over.

"Master, the app VIP and the speaker VIP are different."

Ye Shuang: "..."

He then opened the app to take a look and found that this speaker required three different VIP subscriptions just for one music app.

After a few seconds of silence, Ye Shuang threw the speaker into the trash can and lay back down.

Letting out a long breath, Ye Shuang found that even though he was exhausted, he couldn't fall asleep.

He had no choice but to get up and wash up.

At this time, Yuyou and the others should have already gone to school. He splashed his face with water in front of the mirror and noticed that he looked quite haggard after drinking.

Opening the door, Ye Shuang went down to the first floor.

Bai Yuyou and Tang Keke had indeed gone to school, but Ye Shuang noticed the breakfast on the table.

It was naturally prepared by Bai Yuyou.

A simple fried egg with toasted bread and soy milk, all covered with plastic wrap, bearing the white traces left by condensation.

There was also a small note.

[Breakfast. We went to school.]

Bai Yuyou loved to leave emoticons in her messages. If it were up to the girl's usual habit, the note would probably say:

[(。•ω•。)ノ♡ Here is breakfast, we're heading out first!]

Something like that.

Ye Shuang knew exactly what was going on. He sat down and peeled off the plastic wrap. It was still slightly warm to the touch. Ye Shuang picked up the bread, sandwiched the fried egg, and started eating.

"Delicious..." Ye Shuang couldn't help but let out a long sigh. To think she used to be a kid who didn't even know how to eat instant noodles.

At this moment, Ye Shuang's feelings were mixed. He silently finished the breakfast in his hands before washing the plate clean.

He could have gone to the academy today, but Ye Shuang chose to go to the company instead.

Processing the documents at hand, Ye Shuang threw himself entirely into his work, as if trying to numb himself this way—until even his assistant, An Shiyu, noticed something was wrong.

Of course, it wasn't that An Shiyu noticed something from Ye Shuang's expression. It was purely because Ye Shuang had become so diligent that An Shiyu's workload had increased as well.

"Hey, are you okay? Why are you going at it so fiercely, like you popped some pills?" An Shiyu leaned in close to Ye Shuang and waved her hand in front of his face. "Oi?"

"..." Ye Shuang looked up slightly. Seeing An Shiyu's concerned look, he simply shook his head and said,

"It's nothing."

"..." An Shiyu was a bit suspicious, but she didn't press the matter. She stood up, patted the hem of her skirt, and plopped down on the office desk, her pantyhose-clad legs slender and straight. "If you're in a bad mood, just go out for a walk."

"Go out for a walk..."

"Yeah, go for a walk in Egypt."

"You call that a walk...? Forget it, work is more important."

"You even signed in the wrong place, and you're saying work is important," An Shiyu said, picking up a document from the desk. "I can tell your mind isn't on work at all."

Taking the document An Shiyu handed him, he realized that he had indeed signed his name in the wrong spot on one of them.

"Sorry..." Ye Shuang smiled apologetically, though he now realized that his current state wasn't exactly suitable for handling these documents.