It was completely dark when Fu Sinian returned to his apartment. As soon as he got home, he inquired of the servant about Xu Zijin’s condition. When he knew that she was in good spirits today and now she was asleep, he heaved a sigh of relief.

He stood at the door of the master bedroom for a while, then turned around and went to the guest room.

…

Xu Zijin hadn’t seen Fu Chen for several days.

These days only Aunt Gu stayed with Xu Zijin for company. She looked calm, but actually, her uneasiness deepened day by day.

She couldn’t sleep at night without him. The dark night was like a monster flinging itself at her, dragging her into the depth of fear. She huddled up in the quilt. Her mind kept flashing back to those bad memories. A sense of dread took hold of her and tormented her every minute and every second. She always lay in the bed, staring out the window until the daybreak.

Xu Zijin kept tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep. Suddenly, the door of her bedroom was pushed open by someone from the outside. Her body instantly tightened on high alert.

She heard the soft footsteps coming towards her. Then a man sat down on the edge of her bed. She caught a whiff of Fu Chen’s faint perfume and her tense face relaxed into a radiant smile.

However, when she recalled what had happened in his study that day, she became nervous again.

She buried herself in the quilt, her heart beating fast and wild. Xu Zijin wanted to speak to him, but didn’t know what to say and how to break the stifling silence between them.

She opened her mouth and wanted to say something, but the words fled from her numb tongue and instead she remained silent. She had envisaged the scenes of their meeting thousand times, but she never expected that he would slip into her bedroom at night.

Fu Sinian knew that Xu Zijin was awake. Maybe she didn’t want to see him, but it didn’t matter because she was still by her side anyway. He wouldn’t ask for more, as long as he could have a look at her from time to time.

After a while, he stood up and was going to leave. Just then, Xu Zijin suddenly reached out and clutched the sleeve of his coat. “Don’t go!” she begged. “Please, don’t go. I’m scared…”

Fu Sinian stood stiff like a sculpture because he didn’t expect that she would beg him to stay.

An awkward silence filled the room. They both remained speechless.

Just now when Xu Zijin realized that he was going to leave, she subconsciously stopped him. Now she faced him but was at a loss what to say.

Finally, Fu Sinian broke the silence. He gently rubbed her head and said softly, “Did I wake you up just now? I’m leaving. You can go on sleeping.” He paused and continued, “Don’t worry. I’ll always be there for you.”

“No! I want you to stay here with me!” Xu Zijin tightened her grip on his sleeve, her face full of unease and fear. “I… I… You…”

After a moment’s hesitation, she couldn’t fight back her desire of him and whispered, “I can’t sleep without you.”

She couldn’t sleep not only because of fear of the past, but also because he was not by her side.

Fu Sinian was stunned. He never expected her to say such a thing.

After hesitating for a moment, he took off his coat, lifted the quilt and lay down beside her.

He occupied half of the bed which was much large for her. Due to his body temperature, the quilt soon warmed up. Xu Zijin nestled in his arms and found an inner sense of security.

Fu Sinian stopped frowning.

In fact, these days without her by his side, he couldn’t sleep either. He could fall asleep only by taking sleeping pills.

But when he held her in his arms and smelt the faint perfume she wore, he felt pleasantly drowsy.

Strangely, listening to his quiet and regular breathing, Xu Zijin felt wide awake.