Chapter 561 - 362: Dimples Ripple with Frosting’s Sweetness (Part 3)

She tilted her head, staring at the sliver of light under her door. She could faintly see Xue Rui’s feet blocking the light from the living room, a sure sign he hadn’t left.

Xue Rui waited for a long time. ’Has she really gone to sleep?’ he wondered.

’Then again, pretty girls usually go to bed early.’

’Lin Ruoxi excluded.’

’But should I call out to her? What if she gets grumpy when woken up?’

’This was a dilemma...’

Xue Rui was torn. The sound of frantic typing, CLACK-CLACK-CLACK, echoed from Lin Ruoxi’s room. Who knew how late she’d be up?

He kept glancing at the time. Finally, at 11:55 PM, he gritted his teeth and made up his mind. ’I’ll just get the key from Lin Ruoxi.’

’Even if she’s asleep, I can still light a birthday candle and record a video for her. She’ll be happy when she sees it.’

Just as he made his decision, he slapped his thigh and felt something hard and uncomfortable in his pocket. He reached in to touch it...

"Huh?" Xue Rui’s eyes slowly widened.

Gu Muxue’s room key had been in his pocket the whole time. There was no need to guess who had put it there...

’Well, well. So the little trickster knows how to play these games now.’

Holding the key, Xue Rui gave a thumbs-up toward Lin Ruoxi’s door. He then inserted it into the lock and smoothly opened Gu Muxue’s door.

At that moment, Gu Muxue smiled in her half-asleep state. She’d been waiting for Lin Ruoxi for a long time. ’Finally, she’s here.’

She seemed to have grown accustomed to it. If Lin Ruoxi didn’t sneak in to tuck her in, the day felt incomplete, as if something were missing.

Gu Muxue knew full well this was the power of habit.

She never tried to stop Lin Ruoxi, because whenever she fidgeted or shifted uncomfortably in her sleep, Lin Ruoxi would subconsciously apologize and start muttering to herself, which gave Gu Muxue deeper insight into her friend’s thoughts.

Xue Rui crouched down, took out the small cake, and stuck a candle in it. He stepped back out of the room to light it, but the sharp CLICK of the lighter still made his heart skip a beat.

It was so quiet at night that any sound seemed jarring.

Gu Muxue slowly opened her eyes a tiny crack. ’Lin Ruoxi is acting so strangely today. She’s been in here for a while and still hasn’t tucked me in.’

However, what she saw instead was Xue Rui, carefully holding a single, flickering flame as he slowly approached. The sight almost made her cry out in alarm.

Once her eyes adjusted to the light, she realized the flame belonged to a candle stuck in the head of a palm-sized, bear-shaped cake.

’Looks like... a chocolate cream cake.’

Xue Rui crouched by the bed with his back to her, holding the small cake in his left hand while adjusting his phone’s camera angle with his right.

The gentle light washed over her soft, elegant, oval-shaped face. Peeking through her eyelashes, Gu Muxue could gradually make out what Xue Rui was doing.

Xue Rui was so close, yet she couldn’t even hear him breathe—only the sound of a strong, muffled heartbeat.

A warmth spread through Gu Muxue’s heart. Xue Rui always knew how to create these little surprises.

’So nervous? Is he afraid of waking me?’

But now, she suddenly felt the urge to tease him. She stealthily slipped her hand out from under the covers, flashed a V-sign, opened her eyes wide, and gave the phone’s camera a sweet smile.

"Rui, peace~"

The sudden, sweet voice made Xue Rui jump in fright, causing him to lose his balance and collapse from his crouch. He instinctively tightened his grip on everything he was holding, and in that same instant, his finger pressed the shutter button.

With a flash from the screen, the two of them were captured in the frame.

The boy in the photo was just an unrecognizable blur, but the image of the girl was forever etched into his memory.

Her willow-fine brows framed enchanting eyes, and her dimples bloomed with a smile as sweet as frosting.