Chapter 46:Like A Fleeting Moment.

Contrarily, Li Yunxi heard the boy turn over in bed to face him. He moved closer and snuggled to his chest. Li Yunxi took it as an okay and snaked his arm around Gu Shan's tiny waist pulling him closer.

The following morning Li Yunxi was the first one to wake up. He crept out of bed making sure not to wake up the sleeping boy. It was six in the morning so he had at most two hours to prepare for work- one hour to get ready and another one to get to the workplace. First,he cleaned the house and arranged everything placing it where it should be. When he opened the kitchen cupboards he noticed the stored jars of honey in the top shelf. His eyes lingered on the three jars of honey. Since what happened the previous night,he would never be able to look at honey the same way. A mischievous smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he finally withdrew his gaze from the honey jars.

*****

Gu Shan tossed over in bed. Missing the unique warmth that had been engulfing him the whole night, he tapped his hand all over the place looking for the source of warmth and squinted his eyes open and only widened them seeing the other side of the bed empty. He looked around in confusion and then decided to check the living room. He wrapped the thick quilt around his slender body and dragged himself to the living room.

"Gu Shan?! Why are you awake? You should sleep more,"Li Yunxi said affectionately.

"Come here,"Gu Shan said sleepily.

With confusion etched across his face,Li Yunxi approached him carefully taking slow and steady footsteps.

"What do you want?"

Gu Shan gestured him to settle on the couch and he complied to the boy's demands cluelessly.

"Lie down,"Gu Shan ordered.

Immediately he lay down,Gu Shan perched himself beside him covering them with a quilt. Gu Shan placed one of his legs over Li Yunxi's body and clung on to him like a koala.

"Is something wrong?"

Gu Shan shushed him,"Let's sleep."

"I have to go to work. If I sleep more I'll be late."

"Just ten minutes,"Gu Shan pleaded.

Li Yunxi laughed at how childish Gu Shan was being. Gu Shan closed his eyes snuggling to the warmth provided by Li Yunxi. Li Yunxi couldn't sleep. He was afraid the moment he would close his eyes,he might wake up to missed calls from his colleagues and the last thing he wanted was dragging them down.

Li Yunxi made a rough estimate of the duration and when he thought the allocated duration was over,he slowly woke up from the couch not wanting to disturb the boy.

"Shan,Shan wake up,"Li Yunxi woke the boy up half an hour later.

"What?" Gu Shan asked sleepily.

"Get up. Let's take breakfast together."

"Mm,"Gu Shan groaned in annoyance as he slowly detached the warm quilt from his body. He got up from the couch stretching himself to the fullest before finding his way to the kitchen/dining room.

Li Yunxi had already set the table for the two of them. It was a simple breakfast comprising of steamed buns and warm soy milk. Li Yunxi assumed the boy was used to fancy breakfasts but he was relieved and glad seeing the boy enjoying the meal- biting large chunks of the steamed buns while sipping his soy milk from time to time.

"Slow down or you'll choke,"Li Yunxi warned him.

Li Yunxi ate his breakfast hurriedly determined to leave as soon as possible.

"I have to go. I don't know if I'll be able to catch the bus," he said worriedly.

"Let me drive you,"Gu Shan suddenly blurted out.

"Huh?!"Li Yunxi yelped in surprise.

"I'll drive you,"Gu Shan emphasized.

The boy didn't bother to change his clothes. He was still wearing his favourite silk pajamas when he drove Li Yunxi to work. Since he didn't have to get out of the car no one else would be able to see his outfit.

"You're really crazy,you know that?"Li Yunxi chuckled checking out Gu Shan's pajamas.

"Yeah I'm usually in pajamas when I'm at home and don't have any guests."

"Okay. I'll see you in the evening,"Li Yunxi said getting off the car. As he walked inside,Gu Shan's gaze never left his receding figure fill he disappeared after crossing the threshold of the restaurant's entrance.

Gu Shan then drove away,back to the apartment.

*****

For the one week that they had already spent together , they developed some sort of routine - cooking and taking meals together, watching together, playing games,story telling,Gu Shan driving him to work every morning even though he hated mornings and occasionally Gu Shan slept over at Li Yunxi's place cuddling all night, nothing more serious than that.

"So are you going back to your uncle's place tomorrow?"Li Yunxi asked one time while they were having dinner.

"A week is already over?"Gu Shan questioned in disbelief.

"A week and a half to be exact."

"Time really flies so fast,"Gu Shan commented."My uncle might call anytime soon so maybe I might leave tomorrow,"he uttered with uncertainty.

Li Yunxi decided to change the subject. He didn't want Gu Shan to go but he didn't have any right to stop him so he could only avoid the topic for now even if he was the one who brought it up.

*****

The following evening,as Li Yunxi opened the door to his apartment,he sighed wearily letting himself be welcomed by the silence engulfing the apartment. If it were in the past few days, he'd be welcomed by loud music playing on the audio player, something Gu Shan did to entertain himself.

He dropped the shopping bag he was carrying and plopped himself on the couch . Every happy scenarios with the boy felt like a fleeting moment to him. He wished he could relive the past few days again.

For the few minutes Li Yunxi spent recalling about that events of the past week , unawarely ,he dozed off on the couch.

"Dad,this medicine is bitter,"thirteen year old Li Yunxi whined refusing to take a sip of the medicine his father had decocted.

"Son,if you take this I promise I will buy you that audio player you wanted."

"Really? "Li Yunxi asked delightedly,"But dad,why do you insist on me taking these traditional medicines? Can't we get pills from the clinic? They are way tastier than this. Could it be that you're using me as one of your specimen for testing the effectiveness of your medicine?"

"Silly boy,how can you think of me like that? These medicines are better than those sweet pills you're demanding,"his father,Li Yunrui argued.

"This is a modern era who's gonna take those medicines of yours?"Li Yunxi asked making a disgusted face.

"You,"Li Yunrui said accompanied by a derisive laughter.

Li Yunxi's father loved to tease him even in the most serious situations. To Yunxi,he was the most important man in his life. Li Yunrui was a proud and a principled man. He was a kind and loving father even after suffering the most painful heartbreaks in the world. He was strong and determined.

"Hmph!,"Li Yunxi scoffed,"Next time I won't take your bitter medicine again ," Li Yunxi said sulking.

"Finish this. You won't have to drink it again,"Li Yunrui promised.

Li Yunxi grabbed the bowl of medicine and gulped down the medicine in one go. He pursed his lips together to prevent himself from vomiting due to the bitter taste on his tongue - guess that was how he developed his good gag reflex.

Sometimes he felt like screaming whenever the bitterness seeped into the pores of his soft tongue. It felt like torture but one thing he was glad about was that the medicine was effective. His body was strong and healthy and he rarely got sick like other kids in school. Most of his meals consisted of pickled vegetables combined with herbal supplements. Whenever his father introduced a new medicine decoction, he'd make sure to list all the benefits just to get the boy to agree to take the medicine. It was a special trick of his own.

"Why don't you go and take a shower?"

"Why? Are we going out?"Li Yunxi asked eagerly.

"You don't have to take a shower only when you're going somewhere."

"Fine old man. I'll go and take a shower,"Li Yunxi said sarcastically.

When Li Yunxi came out of the bathroom,his father had already picked an outfit for him. It was one of his favourite outfits he usually wore whenever they were going out and he immediately realized they were going out. After he got ready he went to the living room where an already dressed up Li Yunrui was waiting for him and they left the house together afterwards. They headed towards an electronics shop where he had once seen a specific audio player that captured his heart. His father kept his promise of buying him the audio player. It was the happiest day of his life.

"Yunxi-ge , Yunxi-ge,"a soft distant male voice called out several times. Li Yunxi shook his head relentlessly fighting back the distraction caused by the voice.