Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 65856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 65856 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 329(@200wpm)___ 263(@250wpm)___ 220(@300wpm)
“I don’t know. Maybe. I guess.” Yichen’s eyebrows rose higher and higher up his forehead as Huli spoke until the fox threw up his hands. “I don’t know what I did to make Gege hate me.”
“Hate you?” Yichen repeated. “Didn’t he order these things for you?”
“Yes!”
Yichen shook his head as he pushed off the wall and strolled into the room. He stepped over the flotsam that covered the floor and inspected the different new things that were tossed here and there.
“He got you clothes?” A surprised noise escaped him as he poked into a box. “And some very nice soaps. Those are his favorites.” Yichen straightened and stared at Huli. “I think there’s been some kind of misunderstanding. Why do you believe he hates you?”
“Because this is his way of telling me he doesn’t want me wearing his clothes and using his shampoo. If I have my own things, I won’t have to use his. He doesn’t love me!”
Yichen closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “If I didn’t have to deal with this same logic from Rei, I’d say you were being insane on purpose.”
Huli frowned at the vampire, but a new, niggling feeling was growing in his chest that was decidedly uncomfortable. Had he overreacted? Was this not what Xiao Dan was trying to tell him? It would be very bad if he was wrong.
“I’m not insane…on purpose,” Huli declared in something of a pout. He was confused.
“Xiao Dan is sitting in the dark in the green parlor, looking like his heart has shattered.”
Huli gasped and jumped to his feet, ready to race straight to his poor suffering vampire, regardless of the fact that he was the reason Xiao Dan was suffering.
Yichen moved a step faster and jumped in front of Huli, blocking his path. “Pay attention, Huli. This is an important lesson in relationships.”
“I don’t have time for your lessons. Zhang-ge needs me.”
With a roll of his eyes, Yichen placed a hand on Huli’s shoulder and gave him a shake. “I’m trying to save you from making this situation worse, as well as future misunderstandings.”
Oh. That might actually be a good idea.
“Calmly go into the parlor, sit next to him, and ask him to tell you why he bought all those things. Listen to his answer. And I mean really listen to him. Afterward, tell him how you feel about those gifts. Okay?”
That seemed too easy. Of course, Huli’s first instinct was to charge into the room, leap into Xiao Dan’s arms, and blanket him in apologies, but Yichen’s idea might be good too.
“You…you’ve been doing this relationship thing for a long time with that elf, right?” Huli inquired.
“Decades. I’ve made most of the big mistakes. Let me save you from a few of them.”
That was an excellent idea.
He nodded. “Thank you. I will go talk to Xiao Dan.”
Yichen released his shoulder and stepped out of the way. “Good luck.”
Huli didn’t run, but it was a brisk walk through the house and down the corridors to the right parlor, where he found Xiao Dan as Yichen had described. The room was dark, with only some thin light slipping in through the open doorway. Xiao Dan sat on a cushion before a low table, but there was neither tea nor a book in front of him, which was his preferred way to start the evening.
It took every ounce of Huli’s restraint not to throw himself at Xiao Dan. He walked into the room and sat next to the vampire with the slumped shoulders.
“Gege?”
“Huli?” Xiao Dan raised his head and flashed him a tiny smile. “I’m so sorry—”
The fox reached out and took one of Xiao Dan’s hands in his, squeezing his long, cold fingers. “Gege, will you please tell me why you ordered those things for me?”
Xiao Dan stared at him for a second and then dropped his gaze to the table. One of those strong shoulders lifted in a halfhearted shrug. “I wanted you to be comfortable. To feel like you belonged here with me.”
Huli risked a small kiss to the top of Xiao Dan’s hand. “I belong wherever you are. And I am a fox. I’ve spent most of my existence sleeping in a burrow in the ground.”
“True.” Xiao Dan drew in a shaky breath and released it slowly. “I think I also liked the idea of opening my bureau and seeing your clothes folded next to mine. I wanted your clothes hanging beside mine in the closet. Your toiletries positioned next to mine on the bathroom counter. The times you were away cultivating and gaining your nine tails, I never knew when you would return. Decades passed between our meetings. Sometimes, I was afraid that you’d never return. That you’d find someone more interesting than me and wouldn’t come back. But if I see your things next to mine, I feel better. I know you’ll return to me.”