ACBAM 40: Moving In

When Su Shijin woke up the next morning, half of the bed beside him was already empty.

It wasn’t until he had gotten up and finished washing that he saw Gu Weiyang standing before him, dressed in a short-sleeved shirt and athletic shorts, drenched in sweat.

The alpha’s body was like a little furnace. He was just standing in front of Su Shijin, a wave of heat rolled over him, carrying a faint trace of pheromones that made Su Shijin instinctively take two steps back.

But he was afraid that his stepping back might hurt Mr. Gu’s feelings, make him think he was being avoided, so Su Shijin considerately pretended he was just going to get him some tissues. He walked over to the coffee table, pulled out two, and handed them to him, asking, “Did you go for a morning run?”

Gu Weiyang took the tissues, wiped his sweat, and gave a low “Mm” in reply.

As if worried the smell of sweat on him might bother Su Shijin, Gu Weiyang went back to the bedroom to grab a set of clothes he’d brought along, saying, “I smell bad, I’ll take a quick shower first.”

Su Shijin naturally had no objections. Though he didn’t actually find anything unpleasant about Mr. Gu’s scent, the heat mixed with his pheromones was overwhelming. The alpha’s hormones practically slammed right into his face. It wasn’t until Gu Weiyang left the room that Su Shijin finally felt he could breathe again.

Gu Weiyang didn’t take long in the shower. About ten minutes later, he came out in clean clothes, carrying a faint trace of steam and a light peach fragrance.

Catching the scent of the same body wash he himself used lingering on Gu Weiyang, Su Shijin, after a night’s delay, finally sensed, a bit belatedly, that the two of them somehow felt closer now.

Using the same bottle of body wash, and sharing the same bed.

Su Shijin rubbed at his ears, which for some reason felt a little hot.

—

By the time they arrived at the dining room, Grandpa was already seated at the table having breakfast.

Su Shijin wasn’t sure if it was just his imagination, but he could have sworn Grandpa’s face instantly fell when he saw them, as if he really didn’t want to be seeing them at this moment.

When Gu Weiyang met Grandpa’s gaze, the old man’s mustache seemed to twitch upward, his expression full of, “How could you be so useless?”

He didn’t need to think to know Grandpa was displeased that he hadn’t seized the opportunity.

For him to show up so promptly for breakfast clearly meant that nothing had happened last night.

But there was nothing to be done. After waiting all these years, if Gu Weiyang lacked anything, it certainly wasn’t patience.

Before Su Shijin was willing to take that step with him, Gu Weiyang couldn’t bring himself to force anything.

Otherwise, wouldn’t that mean gaining his body but losing his heart?

Gu Weiyang was greedy. Having come this far, he wanted both.

After breakfast, Grandpa took a fishing rod and two large buckets to head to the river, and Gu Weiyang went along with him. Su Shijin stayed home, found a lounge chair, and lay there reading for a while, savoring the rare leisure. It wasn’t until noon, when Gu Weiyang returned with Grandpa, carrying the buckets and fishing rod, that he lazily got up from the chair.

Lunch was, as always, prepared to suit Su Shijin’s taste. Grandpa seemed to think his grandson couldn’t get enough to eat working as a veterinarian, so every time Su Shijin came home, he practically wished he could make him eat more. Preferably without leaving even a drop of sauce on the plate.

But no matter how good his appetite was, Su Shijin still couldn’t finish the entire spread Grandpa laid out.

Fortunately, this time there was Gu Weiyang—everything Su Shijin couldn’t finish ended up in his stomach. The table of dishes Grandpa had the kitchen carefully prepared was actually eaten clean between the two of them, which put Grandpa in an excellent mood.

After lunch, Su Shijin got ready to leave.

Grandpa didn’t insist on keeping them longer. He only handed Gu Weiyang an extra-thick red envelope through the car window once they were seated.

“First meeting gift. Make yourself proud from now on,” Grandpa said, wearing an expression full of unspoken meaning as he patted Gu Weiyang’s shoulder, leaving Su Shijin completely bewildered.

On the way back, Su Shijin couldn’t help wondering what Grandpa had meant by telling Gu Weiyang to “make himself proud.”

Did he mean in his work? Or something else?

He could have sworn Grandpa had glanced in his direction when he said it, but seeing how focused Gu Weiyang was on driving, he thought about it and decided not to ask.

Gu Weiyang drove straight to Su Shijin’s place and dropped him off.

In fact, Gu Weiyang had originally planned to take him straight back to his own place. After all, they had agreed from the start that he would stay there after being discharged from the hospital but in the end, Gu Weiyang didn’t dare make the decision on his own.

All the way there, he wanted to ask when Su Shijin planned to move in, but worried that he might not want to anymore, he ended up holding the question in all the way until they reached the front of Su Shijin’s building.

As Su Shijin unbuckled his seatbelt, Gu Weiyang’s fingers tapped aimlessly on the steering wheel. Anyone who knew him well would have realized he had something on his mind, but unfortunately, he and Su Shijin weren’t that close yet, so the small gesture went completely unnoticed.

Even after Su Shijin had gotten out of the car, the question lingering on Gu Weiyang’s lips—When are you moving in?—still never made it out.

It wasn’t until Su Shijin got out of the car and noticed Gu Weiyang still sitting inside that he leaned down curiously toward the driver’s seat and asked, “Mr. Gu, aren’t you coming up for a bit?”

Mr. Gu thought to himself, If he’s inviting me up, then it sounds like he’s not planning to move in after all.

Su Shijin said, “The moving company I booked won’t be here for another hour, so you…”

“I’ll get out right now.” Gu Weiyang picked up where he left off, parked the car, shifted into P, and decisively unbuckled his seatbelt before getting out.

When he had come over yesterday morning, he had been too busy making sure Su Shijin ate a good breakfast.

Now, stepping inside again, he finally noticed that the place really had become a lot emptier. Though most of the cardboard boxes were piled up in the bedroom and study.

Su Shijin’s study wasn’t large, but the bookshelf held quite a few books.

Pointing to one of the boxes, he said, “I need to bring these books over. Do you have space for them at your place?”

“Yes. There’s a small room next to my study that’s empty so you can use it as your study,” Gu Weiyang replied. “It’s on the first floor.”

The second floor of Gu Weiyang’s place was mostly taken up by the master bedroom and walk-in closet, with just one extra guest room.

He had always believed that the workspace and living space shouldn’t be mixed, so he had placed his study on the first floor. Opening the French windows led straight to the back porch, with direct access to the rear garden.

“Put your things wherever you want, just follow your own habits. You don’t need to ask for my opinion,” Gu Weiyang said, worried that Su Shijin might feel like he was only temporarily staying there without any real sense of belonging. “Even if you take a liking to my study and kick me out to work in another room, that’s fine too.”

Su Shijin couldn’t help the slight curl at the corner of his lips. “I’ve already taken your bedroom—better leave the study to you.”

Gu Weiyang chuckled, looking very much like, What’s that matter? I could give you the whole house if you wanted.

An hour later, the movers arrived.

Since Su Shijin had already packed everything neatly into labeled boxes, all they had to do was carry them out, saving the movers quite a bit of effort. In just a few minutes, all the boxes had been moved downstairs.

Fifteen minutes later, Gu Weiyang drove into the villa community with the movers. Once they had carried all of Su Shijin’s belongings into the first-floor living room, the reality of living together with him finally sank in for Gu Weiyang.

“Don’t rush to unpack yet. I’ll have someone come tomorrow to reorganize the walk-in closet, and the study too. There’s some clutter in there that needs to be cleared out.” Seeing Su Shijin about to move things toward the elevator to take them upstairs, Gu Weiyang reached out to stop him. “If you don’t mind, I’ll help you unpack tomorrow.”

Su Shijin naturally didn’t mind, but asked, “Wouldn’t it be too much trouble for you?”

Gu Weiyang, in a very good mood, replied, “Not at all.”

After all, this was what he, as Su Shijin’s alpha, ought to do.

They were finally, officially living together.

If Gu Weiyang had a tail, it would right now be wagging so hard behind him it might as well be spinning like a propeller.