Frightened Witless
By the time the movie ended, it was already quite late. So, Chen Yuheng decided to have his dinner out before going home, sparing him the trouble of ordering a take-out.
Below the cinema was a barbecue buffet restaurant. Even though Gu Anbao could not eat, she could still barbecue food.
The man was free and relaxed.
And so, one was happily grilling the food while the other was eating to his satisfaction.
It was already 10 in the evening by the time they got home in the car.
As soon as he stepped into the house, he began stripping off his clothes. First to come off were his oversized sports jacket and sports shorts, and then it was his inner black singlet, leaving behind only his dark-colored boxers…
Even though her face had gone red and she dared not look straight at him, she could not resist sneaking glances at his body.
It was obvious that the man had a superb figure… slender legs, ripped body, and strong arms… What she liked best were his shoulders. Just looking at them made her want to lean against them as they seemed to give off a sense of security…
Her gaze continued to climb up…
He was looking right at her with an ambiguous smile.
Having been caught red-handed, her face immediately flushed warm. She stiffly turned her head away in feigned ignorance, slowly patted her hands around in search for her charging cable before plugging it inside of herself… and stayed still.
She heard the sound of a door closing, followed by the sound of flowing water…
The man had gone to take his bath to wash off the sweat from that afternoon's tennis session.
Silently covering her face, she mumbled, "Lecher…"
…
After taking a quick shower, Chen Yuheng headed to his room to sleep.
Gu Anbao sat on the sofa in the living room to charge her battery as usual. However, when the darkness descended upon her, the earlier movie scenes somehow started playing in her head.
She kept feeling that something was lurking in the dark corners, curtain corners, under the table, behind the half-hidden room door, and behind her…
It gave her the creeps.
She knew that it was the after-effect of watching a horror movie…
What should I do?
The idea to turn on the TV to have some noise in the background and boost her courage hit her. As the remote control was placed far from her reach, she had to unplug the wire and reach for it from the other end of the sofa. Just as she was about to turn on the TV, she froze.
The noise will disturb Chen Yuheng…
Now that she could not watch TV, she got a little antsy. She even occasionally mistook Nono, who was on standby mode in the corner, for a ghost that lurked in the dark…
From time to time, she could hear a strange creaking noise from outside the window. These were things that she had never paid attention to before, but they made her especially jumpy and panicky tonight.
Can't I just properly recharge my battery?!
The robot only felt her fear growing after huddling herself up on the sofa for a while. She didn't even dare look behind her for fear of seeing a grimly pale face…
Should I go to the study and use the computer to distract myself?
She turned to look at the pitch-black study…
It was truly so dark that one could not even see their own outstretched hands…
She totally lacked the guts to enter the study and reckoned that she might as well just stay in the living room, at least the city lights shone in from outside the window.
She rummaged through her sling bag for her handphone and downloaded the QQ application which she found on play store…
Her initial worries of Chen Yuheng, Lu Lu, and the rest becoming suspicious of her when they looked through her phone gave way to her fears. All she wanted to do now was to find someone she could chat with to ease her tension and anxiety.
Upon logging into her account, she realized that there were more than 900 unread messages in her goldfish group chat. She instantly saw hope and hastily clicked in to read the messages. From the constant appearance of new messages, it was obvious that the group was quite lively now.
Her heart settled now that she felt she had companions with her. And so, the delighted robot wanted to join in the discussion. Alas, before she could send out the words 'I'm here' which she just typed out, she could not help but freeze.
The group's messages were appearing very quickly—
MavisShow: I'll go check out the place tomorrow. I live in Qingjiang City, so it's nearby.
cloud: I'll reach Qingjiang on Wednesday. Is there anyone else going as well? Shall we go together?
Sleep: Should we bring a gift for Ruan-sama when we visit her? What should we buy?
terminal stage of insanity: Coma patients can neither eat nor drink. Whatever gift you buy is useless, you might as well just give money.
MavisShow: Money's good! That's a great idea!
FsLee: Well, it's expensive at Ming Rui Hospital. I think the daily hospitalization fee for the intensive care unit is over a thousand.
cloud: I think it's two thousand plus, no?
Waiting: So how much is it for each of us?
Colorofthesky: Many people in the group are just students. There's no need for them to contribute a certain amount of money. It's the thoughts that count, after all.
zero: Who has the contact information of Ruan-sama's family?
Colorofthesky: @zero what do you want with it?
zero: @Colorofthesky let's chat privately.
ImperialConcubine: I have classes on weekdays, so I'll go next Saturday instead.
FirstMeetingBetray: @MavisShow I'm in Qingjiang, too. I'll go to the hospital with you tomorrow.
Half Bitter, Half Tart, Half Happiness: I'll be there next Saturday.
Viv&Yu: Wednesday for me, @cloud.
…
Gu Anbao swiftly deleted the words she had typed out and went offline, lest someone realized that she was online!
What's going on…
How did everyone know that I've become comatose?
She smacked herself in the head as she recalled herself telling her older sister the title of her comic last time… It was only natural that she would go online to search the comic and get in touch with her fans…
Oh, no…
I can't talk on QQ anymore…
Soon, everyone will know that their Ruan-sama has turned comatose. How can a coma patient go online to chat on QQ? That's as good as a corpse coming alive…
She felt herself trembling uncontrollably.
Ugh, out of all things to think about, why must I think about a corpse coming alive…
That eerie feeling seems to have returned…
Right then, the TV's huge LCD screen suddenly lit up, causing the robot to jump up in fright! She stared fixedly at the black TV screen thereafter, and it was only after a long time that she realized that it might have been the reflection of car headlights passing by outside.
That jumpy feeling was awful, but she was truly terrified. And so, the robot, on tenterhooks, felt around the wall for the light switch and switched it on.
It instantly became bright in the living room.
That creepy and eerie sensation that shrouded her instantly faded away considerably, and she felt a lot more at ease now.
But… the problem was…
Am I going to keep the lights on for the entire night?
It was not the case of her afraid of wasting electricity, but rather, she was worried that… it would rouse the man from his sleep.
Looking guilty, she glanced at the door of the master room.
Chen Yuheng was in the habit of closing the door when he slept, though it was not really closed since there was a narrow gap…
It should be fine, right?
If he's in a deep sleep… even if the lights in the living room shine into the bedroom, he won't wake up, right…?
Besides, it's just a narrow gap of light…
It should be fine…
…
The door suddenly opened!
There was no warning prior to that!
It just suddenly opened!
Chen Yuheng stood behind the door in his nightclothes—a vest and a pair of shorts—and looked at the robot in the living room in surprise. "Why did you turn on the lights?"
"… I'm… scared of the dark."
He raised a brow at that since the robot had never mentioned before that she was afraid of the dark at night. After thinking about it for a bit, he realized that it was the aftermath of watching a horror film. It amused him that that sort of lousy film could actually scare her witless.
He was truly curious about how the robot's fear came about.
"Where's the guts that you had when we visited the theme park, huh?" He laughed as he regarded her.
Feeling embarrassed, she muttered, "That's not the same."
He then walked over and switched off the living room's lights.
She trembled slightly, but she soon felt the man holding her hand and leading her to his bedroom.
"?!!" What is he doing?!