For the entire duration of the car ride, Yu Wan couldn’t pull herself out of her smile.
His glance wasn’t as cold as before; rather, it was gentle. The curves on his face were elegant and smooth. Though his smile was shallow, it pushed away the night’s chilliness with ease. In that moment, Yu Wan felt her heart beat like a drum.
Their surroundings grew silent as the car entered the hotel’s underground garage. Shen Qingzhou parked the car and unfastened his seatbelt before turning to Yu Wan. “Out.”
Yu Wan mumbled a reply as she held his tea-colored eyes against hers.
Shen Qingzhou stared back. She had answered him, but she didn’t show any sign of getting off. “Do you want to stay on the car or something?”
In truth, Yu Wan had simply forgotten everything that was happening and immersed herself into a deep, murky pool of thoughts. She had never thought of herself as a dreamy person, but why did she think that Shen Qingzhou seemed perfect in every way no matter where she looked at him?
“Are you done staring?” Shen Qingzhou’s brows furrowed in concern.
“Shen Qingzhou, it’s such a pity that you don’t smile often.” Yu Wan put on an expression of “regret.” She had even forgotten to call him by his title and used his name instead.
His sternness seemed to crack a little. “Don’t worry. Just focus on dinner.”
Yu Wan tsk’ed as she shook her head. She muttered to herself, “Him and Yu Huan are all the same. All they use are their faces, not their brains…”
Shen Qingzhou didn’t hear her, but he did eject her seatbelt when he saw how slow she was. He reached over to open her door and push her out. “Out, now.”
The fabric on his clothes swished against her, and she jolted at his warm presence. “Oh, okay…”
Shen Qingzhou stared at her as she fumbled out of the car. It almost seemed comical to him– how could someone this dumb have written a bestselling mystery novel?
When they arrived at his hotel room, Yu Wan opened the fridge. There were still ingredients leftover.
“Just wait there for a few minutes. It’ll be quick.” Yu Wan took out some meat and vegetables. Shen Qingzhou could see her every move from the living room. In no time, the sizzle of food against the frying pan and the aroma of meat and cumin wafted throughout the space. Shen Qingzhou hadn’t really eaten for the entire day; he was famished.
Yu Wan jiggled her frying pan and stuck her head down to the cabinets. “Eh? Where’s the soy sauce?”
From behind, a hand holding a sauce bottle reached out. Yu Wan’s gaze reached around to meet Shen Qingzhou’s cold stare. “You put it over there in the corner.”
“Oh.” Yu Wan took it. “Thanks.”
Shen Qingzhou stepped aside and continued observing her cook. Yu Wan stole a few glimpses and kept cooking diligently.
A while later.
“Hey, give me some of that olive oil.”
“Pass me some sugar.”
“This is salt, okay? Right over there… Yep, yep.”
“How much?” Shen Qingzhou’s calm voice.
“A small spoonful.”
“This much?”
“A tiny bit more.”
Yu Wan watched the famous movie director, Shen Qingzhou, tap a spoon in the most gentle manner possible. His carefulness… almost made her laugh.
To be frank, she wasn’t very serious about him passing her ingredients, but she didn’t think that it would keep going until she was done. Moreover, Director Shen didn’t seem to mind. It was as if he had just discovered the wondrous art of cooking. His eyes shone with amazement.
“Alright, we’re done.” The meal was simple, consisting of a meat, vegetable, and soup.
Shen Qingzhou sat down and started to eat. Yu Wan sat across, watching him with her head resting on her palm.
“Oh, yeah. I tweeted something yesterday. Did you see it?”
He glanced at her. “Nope.”
“Then, you better go look. It’s kind of embarrassing to mention you and not get a reply.” Yu Wan ordered.
“Embarrassing? Really.” Shen Qingzhou wore an “it’s always been this way” expression. The edge of her mouth twitched. There probably wasn’t a shortage of celebrities who had been overlooked by the majestic Director Shen before.
“I have a lot of readers, you know. Sigh, they’re probably going to yell at me again.”
“Mm.”
“You better not forget, Director Shen. Don’t embarrass me, for the sake of my generous cooking.” Yu Wan’s words didn’t really reflect on her expectations of his response. It wasn’t like he’d ever had to hide that he was as cold as a stone.
Yu Wan went back to her room when Shen Qingzhou finished waiting. After she left, he opened an app that he hadn’t opened in over a month.
With his congested inbox, he didn’t find Yu Wan, so he searched up her username. Her pseudonym, Wei Wan, popped up immediately.
He clicked open her feed and saw her latest tweet. He looked at the comments; there were a lot who “comforted” her for the lack of response, while others “explained” his behavior.
Shen Qingzhou’s brows raised slightly. His finger reached out to press the retweet button, along with a food emoji.
Once it was sent, he lightly smiled at the thought of a certain someone’s joy.