Saving the Heartthrob Frenemy-Chapter 123: ... acting pitful

Qie Xieling had made up his mind. He gave Luo Muchen his clothes that had been washed, dried and neatly folded. "We can meet up tomorrow," he said and walked past Luo Muchen trying to make this situation less awkward than it already was.

When he was leaving the room his arms were suddenly pressed against his body as he was embraced from behind. When he looked down Luo Muchen was hugging him tightly like he was afraid he would struggle.

His forehead pressed against the back of Qie Xieling’s neck he started acting pitiful. There was no way in hell he was leaving like this just after getting Qie Xieling back. What if tomorrow he wakes up with amnesia like the night they kissed and started treating him like air again?

Luo Muchen wasn’t willing to take that risk. "I ran all the way here just to see you and my mom doesn’t know where I am. If I go home or to the hotel she will know and I will be sent back. If I check in at another hotel she will see the activity on my card and find me. Please let me stay. I don’t want to go back yet," in a pleading voice.

"What if I book for you, she won’t know then? Or maybe you should use cash," he said and Luo Muchen’s heart felt a sharp pang like he had been stabbed by Qie Xieling’s words.

"She will eventually know and send someone to come find me... Do you really not want me here?" he asked sounding incredibly sad.

Qie Xieling’s heart softened and with a deep exhale he finally said, "Okay, you can stay... but in the guest bedroom."

Luo Muchen was about to celebrate when a bucket of ice-cold water was poured on him. When they reached the guest bedroom, it was neat and tidy with no bedding. The bedding must have been packed away somewhere in the drawers so Qie Xieling walked in and pulled one of them.

While he was doing that, the lights in the room suddenly turned off. As soon as the lights went off, an eerie silence filled the room. Qie Xieling’s heart started to race as his body froze in place. He was paralyzed with fear as the terror of darkness overwhelmed him. His vivid imagination was racing with scenarios of what could happen in complete darkness.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps approaching him. It was Luo Muchen walking over towards him. As soon as he reached him, he wrapped his arms around him and held him close. Qie Xieling slowly started to calm down as he felt the warmth of Luo Muchen’s embrace.

"What happened?" asked Qie Xieling and Luo Muchen who had no idea helped him up while saying,

"How about we go to your bedroom and we can call building management or something?" He knew this was no coincidence. He feared that probably the Lee family had found out about his return and attempted to finish off what they started.

Though plausible it was far from what actually happened. What happened was that Jolie had been set loose and as a nuisance to society, it messed with the power in the building. Its initial intention was to trip Qie Xieling’s condo but that would make it even more suspicious and it was easy to fix so why not trip the entire building?

"I will act like Cupid and make the stars align," it said thinking maybe it should have just messed with the entire electrical grid.

"Jolie, what are you doing?" asked a deep voice almost startling it. For a moment it forgot it was an AI and there were no ghosts and demons in this world.

"Mind your own business," replied Jolie grateful that Mittens didn’t get the same upgrade otherwise it would follow it here.

"I miss you. Come back," said Mittens trying to act all cute but a veteran like Jolie wouldn’t fall for it.

"There are some kids in the game calling you a trash AI. There are in the burial caves. Do you want to teach them a lesson?" it said and Jolie couldn’t resist.

It decided to inject malware into the system and set a timer for when both the emergency lights and normal lights would come back on. One hour should be enough to spice things up.

"I am coming. Keep them busy till I get there," said Jolie and Mittens was so excited but it contained itself. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Qie Xieling who had no idea that Jolie had been snooping around and decided to turn off the lights, had just got off the phone with the building manager his expression grim.

When he turned around he found that Luo Muchen had turned on the battery-powered night lights and he was holding a picture frame with a photo of him and Qie Xieling.

He was caressing the frame with his thumb with a complicated look on his face. "What are you doing? Your expression looks like you are at a funeral," said Qie Xieling while standing in front of him.

"This was in the bedside pedestal," said Luo Muchen showing him the picture.

Qie Xieling pulled the drawer open and took out even more pictures. There were some with the three of them and some with only the two of them. "I have a lot. I keep them on the bedside sometimes," he said placing them neatly on top of the pedestal.

Luo Muchen wanted to ask why they were inside the drawer and not on top of the pedestal but Qie Xieling took the picture frame from him and set it down before dragging them up to go brush their teeth together. Yes, he was that scared that something would jump out of the shadows and drag him into the dark abyss.

Qie Xieling crouched down and opened the cabinets below the sink basin. He took out a new toothbrush still in its packet and gave it to Luo Muchen.

"You are well prepared, aren’t you? You even had new underwear lying around. Is it because you get a lot of guests?" asked Luo Muchen his tone sour like he had swallowed vinegar.

Qie Xieling looked at him in the mirror before blurting out, "BoBo brings his own things and other than you who else would visit me here? Even my uncle won’t sleep over because there is always a girl calling him to hang out."

This reply set Luo Muchen’s heart on fire. He leaned in closer and could smell the scent of shower gel on Qie Xieling’s skin. It made him want to lean in even closer but he restrained himself.

"Will you stop messing around and brush your teeth? I have to sleep early because I have a morning class tomorrow."