When Bright Moon Encounter the Dark Clouds

“Hey bro, what’s so funny?” I teased.

Raising his face to me, Wu Yu fixed his seemingly intimidating gaze at me and said nothing. After what felt like an eternity, he abruptly moved his hand along the bed while leaning toward me. Having sat close to the bed, I became petrified at that moment as I sensed his scent approaching me. It was the scent of a man’s warm, muscular body. My heart raced frantically as I sat there in agony, feeling the dangerous aura coming from him. He said nothing, but I was beyond tense on the inside. However, I still managed to put on a nonchalant front while turning my face away.

A rustling noise came from behind me before I caught a glimpse of Wu Yu putting on a T-shirt.

“I’ll go wash up,” he said as he stood up.

“Oh.”

He opened a side door in his small place, revealing the blazing morning sun outside. Grabbing his toothbrush and towel, he squatted before an outdoor tap to start washing up. I looked at him with the sun shining on his gray T-shirt. He seemed to have really embraced his laborious life, as his current appearance barely reminded me of that clean-cut, studious-looking man on that ship. Yet, from time to time, the shadow of that gentle and adorable man would appear behind those eyes when he lowered his face to smile.

After washing his face, he put his head under the tap, washing his hair and trying his best to avoid the wound on his head. Finally, he dried his head with the towel and came back to the room. He looked at me and said, “All done. Have you had breakfast?”

“Not yet. I came as soon as I got the information.”

He let out another brief smile. “Let’s have some food. We can talk there.”

Under the watchful gazes of his coworkers, I held my flushed face and followed Wu Yu out of the shop. “Are you going to skip work again? Will it be okay?”

“I worked through the night, so I need to rest today. It’ll be fine.”

I stopped dead in my tracks and looked at his face. Sure enough, there were dark circles under his eyes, which caused my heart to ache. “Let’s not eat then. Why don’t you go back to sleep some more?”

“It’s fine. I don’t want to keep you waiting.”

A feeling of guilt and warmth crept into my heart. For some reason, I blurted out, “Then I won’t sleep in in the future so as to not let you wait.”

He let out a chuckle before he calmly said, “You’re a lady. You can sleep for as long as you want.”

I think he’s not in a bad mood anymore, right?

We came to a small restaurant close by, and I suddenly felt a peculiar urge. Let me explain. Although I had eaten at such restaurants before, I never had the chance to order a variety of seemingly delicious foods. Yet, I had the urge to do so every time I saw the piping hot dishes that came out from the kitchen, hoping to try everything.

Since Wu Yu was with me today, I thought I would satisfy my urge and order six to seven dishes. “Will you be able to finish this much?”

As if he could read my mind, he shot me a glance and said, “Order whatever you want. I’ll try my best to finish everything.”

Joy filled my heart. In the end, the two of us did clear everything we ordered.

Leaving the shop, the hot noon sun hung above us as we walked back toward the shop slowly with our tummies filled. I decided to open my umbrella and asked Wu Yu, “Why don’t you come closer?”

“No need.”

I took a look at him carefully and said, “You really are darker than before.”

“Really? I don’t really care.”

“You look better with a little less tan.”

“You didn’t seem to like me when I wasn’t this tan.”

There was a unique sense of emptiness on the road, with clouds floating overhead and few pedestrians walking on the road. I had no idea why he would say that, but I felt as if my heart had been gently touched. How did you know I didn’t like you? These words came up my throat before I quickly swallowed them down, realizing that I could not say this out loud. When did I come to the conclusion that this man was straightforward? I realized now that he was not at all easy to read or deal with. In fact, he shook me to my core and caught me off guard with only one sentence.

I did not know if he said it intentionally or accidentally, but he was definitely smart and bold.