Lu Zeyan had a cold.
Just a mild one.
But Xu Yinyin reacted like he had been stabbed in the lungs by a ninja.
The Moment He Sneezed
She gasped so loudly in the living room, the maid ran in thinking someone had fainted.
"Did you just sneeze??" Yinyin asked, panicked.
"Yes. It's just a cold—"
She was already running up the stairs. "CODE RED. EMERGENCY. CEO DOWN."
Ten minutes later, she returned wearing a white lab coat, three surgical masks, and carrying a tray of ginger tea, cut fruit, vitamin C, two fluffy blankets, and a thermometer.
Zeyan blinked. "Are you... roleplaying a hospital?"
"I'm Nurse Yinyin. And I don't take cold symptoms lightly."
He stared at her for a long second.
"…You're insane."
She tucked a blanket around his legs. "No, I'm in love. There's a difference."
Later That Day
Zeyan tried to open his laptop to respond to work emails.
Yinyin slapped it shut.
"Nope. Not while you're recovering."
"I'm not dying, Yinyin."
"You sneezed three times. That's almost a coma."
She Made Him Soup
It was salty.
So salty, in fact, that halfway through the first spoon, Zeyan paused and looked at her.
She blinked. "Do you love it?"
"…It tastes like betrayal."
She pouted. "That's the ginger."
At Night
He lay back in bed while she rubbed his temples dramatically with eucalyptus oil she bought from an online ad five minutes earlier.
"You're lucky I love you," she whispered.
He turned his head slowly. "Am I?"
She nodded seriously. "I don't even like people who sneeze."
And Then Came the Soft Part
She crawled under the blanket beside him.
Rested her head on his chest.
Listened to his heartbeat.
"You always take care of me," she whispered.
He ran his hand through her hair.
"That's because you're chaos."
She smiled. "And now I get to take care of you."
Silence.
Then she looked up at him and said quietly:
"So this is what it feels like… to be loved by someone who actually stays."
He didn't reply.
He just pulled her closer and kissed the top of her head like a promise.
"I'm not going anywhere."