Chapter 85 Emotional Pain

ld age!"Hearing Yan Luoxi mention their later years, Zhou Guangtao’s guilty expression softened somewhat, as if he too began to憧憬a life of shared companionship. There are only two kinds of romance tha...Chapter 85: Heartache, Li's Playboy Husband Captive Love, Pet Wife

Zhou Guangtao was wearing a dark-colored robe with the belt tightly tied around his waist. He leaned against the door frame of the kitchen and looked at Yan Luoxi, who was bustling both inside and outside.

Holding small steamed buns, Yan Luoxi turned her head to smile brightly at the dazed Zhou Guangtao, "Everything is ready; we can start eating."

"Alright." Zhou Guangtao lowered his eyelids, hiding his deep black eyes.

During the meal, Zhou Guangtao's brows were furrowed throughout, and a few times his chopsticks hovered in mid-air without being put down or pulled back. Yan Luoxi noticed that he seemed distracted.

"Did you not enjoy yourselves at Jiang Bo's villa" Yan Luoxi試探著問道。asked tentatively.

Zhou Guangtao's expression changed slightly, then he smiled, "We had a lot of fun; I just feel a bit tired."

"Was the place also flooded with water" Feeling that there was an awkward silence at the dining table, Yan Luoxi tried to break it.

"Yes, it rained heavily and some rooms on the first floor were flooded." Zhou Guangtao replied indifferently.

"Oh! It's so serious!" Pretending to be surprised, Yan Luoxi widened her eyes with an unusually vivid expression. In fact, what Zhou Guangtao described was even milder than what she had experienced last night.

Zhou Guangtao looked down at his porridge, and his long thick eyelashes fluttered slightly, casting a faint shadow on the straight bridge of his nose. He said softly, "I called you last night when it started raining heavily because I was worried that you might be scared being alone at home, but the lines were busy and I couldn't get through."

Yan Luoxi's expression froze for a moment before she replied calmly, "Last night I went to bed early. When the rain started, I had already fallen asleep and didn't feel afraid."

She did not want to tell Zhou Guangtao about her encounter with Li An or that she hadn’t come home all night, fearing it might cause unnecessary misunderstandings and worries.

Zhou Guangtao seemed preoccupied and didn't notice the changes in Yan Luoxi's expression. After finishing two bowls of porridge, he pushed away his bowl and went back to his own room.

Feeling slightly disappointed, Yan Luoxi tidied up the dishes alone, sensing that Zhou Guangtao’s behavior was a bit unusual.

They had been together for so long, but Zhou Guangtao had always treated her openly and honestly, speaking with humility and propriety. Every day when they met, he would hug or kiss her, or engage in some form of intimate interaction.

Although their relationship hadn't reached the point where they were inseparable, a young man should still have feelings for his girlfriend.

Today, Zhou Guangtao neither hugged nor kissed her, and didn’t do anything else...

Pondering this, Yan Luoxi suddenly blushed. When had she become such an insecure woman Why was she overthinking things now that Zhou Guangtao hadn't spoken to her all day Perhaps he had encountered a difficult problem at work or maybe he just felt tired from playing yesterday!

Back in his room, sitting on the chair, Zhou Guangtao finally enjoyed some quiet. However, his disorganized thoughts seemed even more confused. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes in painful self-deprecation.

He lightly tapped his fingers on the tabletop, his eyebrows furrowed in a knot, feeling a repressed gloominess. Pain welled up from within, causing slight trembling at his fingertips.

Zhou Guangtao knew he had just neglected Yan Luoxi, but he was afraid and dared not face her innocent gaze; her eyes were so clear and piercing that it seemed as if they could see through to the soul hidden beneath others' skin.

After eating, Yan Luoxi felt a bit more energetic. Although she had just recovered from a cold, she still felt somewhat weak and wanted to take a nap in her bedroom. However, since Zhou Guangtao was home today after being away for so long, she didn't want him to come out of his room and not see her there. So, she sat on the sofa watching TV while occasionally glancing at the tightly closed door leading to his room.

When the sun was about to set, Zhou Guangtao finally came out after being in seclusion for a long time. With the sleeves of his gray shirt rolled up to just above his elbow and his pants hanging straight down nearly to his ankles, he looked full of energy as he smiled at Yan Luoxi, his gaze softening.

"Luoxi, we have some free time today, let's go out for a walk. Since the company opened, I've been busy all the time and haven't taken you shopping in ages."

Seeing Zhou Guangtao finally return to his usual self after such an odd mood swing, Yan Luoxi happily jumped off the couch, linked her arm through his and pouted, "You’re being quite nice today by agreeing to take me out. You haven’t taken me shopping for ages."

"It was my fault before; I ignored you too long. In the future, I’ll make time to be with you," Zhou Guangtao said, turning his hand to hold hers in warmth.

Yan Luoxi felt a bit woozy from Zhou Guangtao's kind words and looked up at him happily; was it her imagination or did she feel that there was guilt and pity in his eyes

The two of them changed clothes and went downstairs. It was already late afternoon.

Most traces of the heavy rain from the day before had disappeared, and evening winds blew freely without obstruction, while the sunset's afterglow emitted a soft orange light that bathed nearby skyscrapers in a gentle warmth and beauty.

The air downstairs was fresh, filled with the fragrance of flowers and grass. Yan Luoxi held Zhou Guangtao's arm and couldn't help but take a deep breath; she realized that the beauty of life lies in moments like these.

"Which mall would you like to go to" Zhou Guangtao started the car and asked considerately.

Yan Luoxi didn’t want Zhou Guangtao to get too tired, so she mentioned a nearby mall. Today, it seemed as if Zhou Guangtao was determined to make amends; he got out of the car and took Yan Luoxi straight towards an elegant flagship store.

The clothes in these flagship stores were exorbitantly priced—Yan Luoxi had never shopped there before. Most of her expensive clothes were gifts from her mother.

Seeing the price tags on the clothes, Yan Luoxi secretly gasped; she felt that she was not yet at an age where she could indulge herself, especially when it came to spending Zhou Guangtao's hard-earned money. She kept saying there was nothing she liked and tried to pull Zhou Guangtao out of the store.

Zhou Guangtao understood Yan Luoxi’s intention; he ignored her insistence, put his arm around her shoulders, pointed at a light blue dress with a hint of pink in the window display, and said affectionately: "Look at this dress…" But then he saw someone outside the window who looked like He Yufan.

Zhou Guangtao blinked hard, looking out in disbelief. Under her meticulous makeup, He Yufan's pretty face was frozen; she had clearly seen him and Yan Luoxi together and couldn't even muster a smile anymore.

His expression suddenly changed; his heart was pounding so loudly that he suspected Yan Luoxi could hear it too.

As Yan Luoxi followed Zhou Guangtao's finger to look at the dress, she naturally saw He Yufan standing outside the window. "Yufan!" She happily waved her hand out of the window, her voice sweet and clear as her eyes curved into a crescent moon.

He Yufan stood in the twilight outside; through the glass window, she watched Yan Luoxi and Zhou Guangtao standing together hand in hand. The flagship store was brightly lit, casting them in a golden glow like a fairy-tale prince and princess.losing the door behind her.Sensing that she had no way to deal with Li An, she thought to herself, "If I can't provoke him, does it mean I have to avoid him"The moment Yan Luoxi tacitly acknowledged h...