Lemon Soda Candy - 98
A major international conference in their field was being held for two days out of province. The speaker lineup was a constellation of luminaries, and her advisor wanted to bring her and a few seniors along to broaden their horizons. The first day of the conference just happened to fall on their anniversary.
Chen Luobai encouraged her to go. He said it was a rare opportunity, that anniversaries came every year, and if they missed this one, they could always pick another day to celebrate. Besides, he had work that day too and would be stuck late at the office. So Zhou Anran went.
The organizers had arranged the hotel accommodations. Zhou Anran was originally supposed to share a room with a senior.
But a certain someone quietly paid out of pocket to upgrade her, along with several of the seniors, to better single rooms. The seniors couldn't stop singing his praises now.
Not having to share a room was certainly more comfortable. Zhou Anran slept soundly through the night, until her alarm woke her at seven the next morning.
The moment she checked her phone, she saw two messages from Chen Luobai, sent at half past six.
C: [Happy first anniversary.]
C: [Up yet?]
Zhou Anran's lips curved into a smile. She held her phone in both hands and typed back.
Zhou Anran: [I'm up.]
Zhou Anran: [Happy first anniversary.]
Less than a minute later, a video call request came through.
Zhou Anran answered.
From the look of it, Chen Luobai was in their home gym.
He seemed to have just finished a workout. The tall man, wearing only black athletic pants, leaned lazily against the treadmill with his torso bare. A fine sheen of sweat covered his forehead and neck. One drop traced a path down the long, pale column of his throat, sliding over the sharp definition of his abs.
A montage of blush-inducing images flashed through Zhou Anran's mind. She touched her ear.
"Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"
Chen Luobai raised an eyebrow, faintly amused. "It's not like I'm calling someone else. What part of me haven't you seen?"
After years of knowing and loving him, Zhou Anran understood his personality perfectly. She knew the more shy she got, the more he'd play it up. She decided to ignore the suggestive undertone, schooling her face into a stern look. "You'll catch a cold if you don't put something on after a workout."
Chen Luobai laughed. "You're not even home and you're still managing me?"
"I can't?" Zhou Anran asked.
"Of course, you can." The man obediently straightened up. "I love it when you manage me."
They both had busy days ahead. Chen Luobai went into the walk-in closet to throw on a shirt, they chatted a few more minutes, and then hung up.
The first day of the conference lasted the whole day.
After the morning session, Zhou Anran went to lunch with her seniors.
The organizers provided the meal, a buffet with an impressive spread.
Zhou Anran picked out a few dishes, and after sitting down, instinctively snapped a photo to send to Chen Luobai, just like she always did.
He must have been busy. It took him several minutes to reply.
C: [Is it good?]
Zhou Anran swallowed a bite of steak: [It's alright.]
C: [I'll order you delivery for dinner then.]
Zhou Anran: [No need. It's not bad, really.]
Zhou Anran: [I'm eating with the seniors again tonight. We'll probably be discussing the conference.]
C: [Okay, I'll order you a late-night snack when you're done.]
Zhou Anran: [We'll see when I'm done.]
Zhou Anran: [What about you? Have you eaten?]
He sent a photo of his own lunch shortly after.
The tray looked like it was from the Supreme People's Procuratorate cafeteria.
She had eaten there a few times; the food was decent, definitely better than the buffet she was currently facing.
Reassured, Zhou Anran switched topics: [Will you be okay at home by yourself tonight?]
Of course, it wasn't like they had been glued at the hip every single second since getting married. But tonight was their first anniversary. It carried a different weight.
C: [Not okay.]
Zhou Anran offered a solution: [If you get bored, maybe go hang out with Zhu Ran and the others?]
C: [Without you there, my sister might not welcome me.]
C: [And on a day like today, what's the point of seeing anyone else?]
Zhou Anran's fingers paused on the screen. A hollow ache bloomed in her chest.
Zhou Anran: [What do we do then?]
She still had sessions first thing in the morning. There was absolutely no way she could go back to be with him tonight.
Chen Luobai: [Just soothe me to sleep tonight.]
A smile tugged at Zhou Anran's lips again: [Okay. I'll soothe you to sleep tonight.]
After the afternoon session ended, Zhou Anran and a few seniors discussed the topics until nearly nine o'clock in the evening.
Back in her room, she saw that Chen Luobai had sent her several messages. She'd had her phone on silent during the discussion and completely missed them.
The first one came at exactly 8:00 p.m.
C: [Done? Want me to order you a late night snack?]
The second was at 8:11 p.m.
C: [Not done yet?]
The third at 8:32 p.m.
C: [I went ahead and ordered the snack. Should arrive by 9:30.]
Zhou Anran: [All done now.]
Zhou Anran: [What did you order?]
She waited a moment, but no reply came. Maybe he had gotten busy too.
Zhou Anran checked the time. Still a quarter hour before 9:30. She set her phone down and went to the bathroom to take off her makeup.
After washing her face and changing into slippers, she picked up her phone again. The pinned contact at the top still showed no new reply.
Now that she was idle and alone in the room, the hollow feeling from noon rushed back, suddenly acute and piercing.
She wondered what he was doing right now, if he'd eaten dinner properly.
He couldn't still be at work, could he?
Zhou Anran was just about to send him another message when the doorbell rang, cutting through the silence.
She looked up, surprised.
Was it the delivery he'd ordered?
But weren't deliveries usually brought up by those little robot carts, with a phone notification? Was the robot overloaded with too many guests tonight? Or had he ordered so much food the robot's little belly couldn't hold it all?
Or maybe one of her seniors needed her for something?
Since she was in an unfamiliar city, Zhou Anran kept her caution and called out, “Who is it?”
"Room service." The answer came through the door.
The voice was unmistakably familiar.
After all those years of secret admiration and focused attention, all those time spent in intimate closeness, day and night, there was no mistaking it, even if it's just four short words.
Zhou Anran hurried to the door and pulled it open.
There stood Chen Luobai, dressed in casual clothes, just as she'd suspected.
It was a simple black-and-white outfit, but with his height, long legs, and perfect proportions, he made anything look good. And that face, no matter how many times she saw it, still hit her with a jolt of pure, startling handsomeness.
The person she'd been longing for had appeared before her like magic. Overwhelmed by surprise and joy, Zhou Anran abandoned all restraint and threw her arms around him.
The senior in the room next door heard the commotion and peeked out to see what was happening. But after one glance at the scene, she gave a light cough and tactfully retreated back into her room.
Only then did Zhou Anran feel the heat rush to her face. She pulled him into the room.
"What are you doing here?"
Chen Luobai locked the door behind him with one hand and pulled her back into his arms with the other.
“I read the stars last night. Had a feeling my wife might be missing me.”
Zhou Anran: “...”
She let out a soft laugh. "Since when did you become a fortune-teller?"
Chen Luobai pinched her cheek. "Just tell me if I was right or not.”
"You're right." He'd traveled all this way to see her. Zhou Anran wasn't about to deny it. She wrapped her arms around his lean waist and looked up at him. "Didn't you have to work late today? How did you manage to get away?”
Chen Luobai: "Found a way to wrap things up early."
Zhou Anran: "Then why didn't you tell me?"
"I wasn't sure I could pull it off," he said. "If I couldn't make it, I didn't want to disappoint you."
“Have you had dinner?” The worry from earlier, now she could ask him in person.
Chen Luobai: “I ate on the plane.”
Airplane food was unlikely to be anything special. Being edible was already a win.
Zhou Anran asked him, "Should I accompany you to get some more food? The snack you ordered, is it almost here?"
"The snack—" Chen Luobai paused. Then, in a single motion, he scooped her up with one arm.
"I am your snack."
Zhou Anran: "...?"
Chen Luobai carried her to the bed and laid her down, his long legs braced against the bed frame as he looked down at her. “How do you want me?”
Zhou Anran felt her face burn. She nudged him gently with the tip of her foot. "Isn't this false advertising?"
"How is it false advertising? Tell me, did I or did I not deliver myself to you by nine-thirty sharp?” With practiced ease, Chen Luobai smiled and caught her slender ankle. "Besides, who was it this afternoon that said she'd soothe me to sleep? I'm here now. So soothe me."
...
Candlelight flickered. Shadows swayed.
It was hard to say who ended up as whose late-night snack.
In the end, when the real food finally arrived, it was nearly midnight. Along with the snack came a small cake, topped with a tiny "1" candle.
In the wavering glow of the candlelight, next to an unwrapped gift box, a beautifully handwritten card lay open. Its message reading:
"Happy First Wedding Anniversary to Chen Luobai and Zhou Anran."
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