ACBAM 68: Peek

Su Shijin felt guilty because he had lied, so he didn’t refuse his suggestion and agreed to watch a movie together later that evening.

After dinner, Su Shijin cleaned the table and put the dishes into the dishwasher, while Gu Weiyang stood beside him, cutting fruit.

Since it had only been a short while after dinner, Gu Weiyang didn’t cut much fruit—just a third of a cantaloupe and a third of a watermelon, then he washed some strawberries.

At this time of year, there weren’t many fruit shops around selling strawberries. Gu Weiyang had to shop around, comparing prices, before selecting the ones with the best appearance.

As for other snacks and drinks, they were all available in the snack cabinet in the media room.

Su Shijin was the first to finish cleaning up. After he was done, he leaned against the kitchen door and quietly watched Gu Weiyang busy at the counter.

Su Shijin realized that Gu Weiyang was actually very easy to please. For example, just having a meal with him or watching a movie together seemed enough.

It seemed like Gu Weiyang was happy even without any response from him in this relationship. Su Shijin couldn’t understand what he was so happy about.

After all, his omega father had once been tortured to the point of mental collapse by a marriage that lacked any response.

“Are you waiting for me?” Gu Weiyang noticed Su Shijin standing at the door and, with a smile, spoke to interrupt his thoughts.

“Yeah, is it ready?” Su Shijin snapped out of his thoughts and took a couple of steps toward him.

“It’s ready. I’ll clean up here and then come down,” Gu Weiyang said, pointing to the fruit knife and chopping board on the counter. “You can go ahead and pick a movie you want to watch.”

Su Shijin nodded and asked, “What kind of movies do you like?”

Gu Weiyang thought for a moment and replied, “I don’t really have any particular favorites. Just pick whatever you want to watch.”

Su Shijin had guessed that he would answer like that so he didn’t ask any more questions. He reached out, grabbed the fruit platter, and went downstairs.

In the end, Su Shijin chose a movie with high ratings and good reviews online. Many people said it was quite good.

During the movie, Su Shijin unusually found his attention drifting away from the screen. Instead, he subtly turned his head to look at Gu Weiyang, trying to observe if he liked this type of film.

To his surprise, every time he secretly glanced over, he ended up locking eyes with Gu Weiyang. However, before Su Shijin could react, Gu Weiyang would quickly avert his gaze, lowering his head as if pretending he was just focused on eating fruit.

Su Shijin: …

He thought he had been caught sneaking a peek but it turned out that Gu Weiyang had been secretly watching him too.

Su Shijin propped his chin up slightly to shield his face, letting out a soft laugh, but he didn’t call him out on it.

After that, Su Shijin didn’t really pay attention to what the movie was about.

Of course, Gu Weiyang probably wasn’t paying much attention either.

After all, in a movie that lasted over two hours, Gu Weiyang had spent most of the time sneaking glances at him so it would be strange if he actually remembered the plot.

Once the movie ended, Su Shijin cautiously asked Gu Weiyang what he thought of it.

As expected, Gu Weiyang had a completely blank expression, as if he didn’t remember a single thing about the movie.

Gu Weiyang tried hard to recall, but all that came to mind was Dr. Su’s beautiful face.

From the side, Dr. Su’s eyelashes seemed even longer. When he lazily leaned back on the sofa, watching the movie like a cat, there was a kind of relaxed, unguarded air about him—a different aura from his usual self.

Without realizing it, Gu Weiyang found himself looking a little longer…

“Mr. Gu?” Su Shijin tilted his head slightly, noticing the deep and unfathomable look on Gu Weiyang’s face. He waved his hand in front of his eyes to snap him out of his thoughts.

“Ah, yeah, it was really good,” Gu Weiyang quickly snapped back to reality, afraid Su Shijin might ask more about the movie. He hurriedly changed the subject. “By the way, I’ll drive you to work tomorrow. Otherwise, your car will be left outside all the time, right?”

Su Shijin had originally planned to say that it didn’t matter if the car stayed parked outside, since the parking lot over there was free and it wouldn’t be an issue no matter how long it stayed.

However, when he met Gu Weiyang’s gaze, he couldn’t help but think about the lie he told about leaving for half a month, and a wave of guilt washed over him.

“If you’re not busy…” Su Shijin hesitated before speaking.

“Not busy, it’s on the way,” Gu Weiyang said with a smile, casually turning east and west into ‘on the way.’ He looked genuinely happy as he added, “How about we leave a bit earlier and go to the dim sum place for breakfast? The one I took out before tasted pretty good. It might be even better if we eat there.”

Su Shijin felt like every time he took a step back, Mr. Gu was just pushing further, as if he was climbing the ladder. What had started as agreeing to let him take him to the station in the afternoon, then agreeing to watch a movie together, was turning into something else entirely.

Now, he had agreed to let him drive to work tomorrow morning and even go out for breakfast together.

Su Shijin wasn’t sure if Gu Weiyang had noticed how much more he was asking for, but with the guilt of lying weighing on him, Su Shijin didn’t have the heart to refuse him.

It was just breakfast together, after all. There wasn’t much difference between eating out or eating at home. He would have agreed to this even on a normal day, so there was no reason to refuse now.

“Alright,” Su Shijin agreed.

—

The next morning, Su Shijin and Gu Weiyang left early.

The dim sum place opened at six, and by the time they arrived around seven, the first-floor hall was already quite crowded.

Gu Weiyang had reserved a table on the second floor by the window, where they could see the greenery outside. The view was quite nice.

The dim sum place had a wide variety of tea snacks, but in small portions, so Gu Weiyang ordered many different dishes. Crab roe soup dumplings, small wontons, lion’s head meatballs, braised dried tofu, and so on, nearly filling the entire table.

“It’s okay if we don’t finish everything,” Gu Weiyang reassured Su Shijin. “I can take the leftovers to the office. If you really like any of the dim sum, feel free to order more.”

“Mm, this tastes pretty good. You should try it,” Su Shijin nodded, taking a bite of the butter egg tart. Finding it delicious, he pushed the remaining piece toward him.

Gu Weiyang lowered his head and took a bite. He couldn’t tell what made this egg tart different from the ones outside, but since Dr. Su said it was good, it really must be.

Gu Weiyang finished an egg tart in two bites. Seeing that Su Shijin liked it, he ordered another one.

“Do you want to take a few egg tarts to go later?” Gu Weiyang asked.

Su Shijin thought for a moment before answering, “Sure.”

After all, he had taken nearly half a month off, and there were many things that would require his colleagues at the hospital to help out. It would be good to bring a few extra tarts back.

Since there was no rush to get to work and they had plenty of time, Su Shijin relaxed, listening to the soft tunes playing in the dim sum restaurant, and slowly enjoyed the morning tea.

At times, Su Shijin would think that if life could just go on like this, without any clear direction or complications, it wouldn’t be so bad after all.

He didn’t need to know whether his feelings for Gu Weiyang were driven by pheromones or if he truly liked him. After all, as long as they could get through the remaining eleven months without any clarity, their agreement would eventually expire.

Yet why, this time, did he choose not to avoid it and instead wanted to understand what he was really thinking?

After thinking it over, it probably came down to this. He couldn’t bear to unknowingly hurt Gu Weiyang’s genuine feelings.

Although, because of his childhood experiences, Su Shijin was very resistant to forming intimate relationships with alphas and didn’t want to trust any alpha, he was even more resistant to becoming someone like his alpha father.

If Gu Weiyang’s feelings for him were sincere, Su Shijin wanted to take them seriously as well. Whether he liked him or not, at the very least, he wanted to be clear and straightforward about it, not like his alpha father, who ignored the other person’s emotions and trampled on their feelings. He didn’t want to be the kind of person who let someone invest their heart only to dismiss it with excuses and step all over it.

Gu Weiyang was very serious about this relationship, giving everything he could without hesitation, even if he didn’t receive anything in return.

It was precisely this passionate, visible affection that gave Su Shijin the courage to take this step.