Chapter 245: Anything I Need To Know?

Jingwei kissed Zhiyi before he could find another reason to wait.

Her hand stayed against his cheek, and when she leaned into him, he brought his arm around her back to spare her the awkward reach across the cushion.

She moved easily beneath his hand, settling close enough that he could stop wondering whether she wanted to be there.

He had imagined this all the time over the last four years. The time that he hadn’t meant to spend thinking about her.

Sometimes she would look up from a book, or reach past him for a cup, and he would have to remind himself what they had been discussing.

But not one of those thoughts had prepared him for how familiar she felt when she rested her hand on his shoulder and kissed him back.

When he lifted his head, Zhiyi stayed close. Her eyes opened slowly, and he watched her mouth curve before she spoke.

"I was beginning to think you would never do that," Zhiyi told him, brushing her thumb against his cheek. "You kept getting close enough that I thought you might."

"I kept thinking about it," Jingwei admitted. His hand rested against her back, where he could feel her breathing through the soft shirt. "Then you’d look at me, and I’d find something else to do."

Zhiyi glanced toward the tablet on the side table before looking back at him. "You checked the cameras three times while I was making tea. There wasn’t anyone on the stairs."

Jingwei laughed quietly, caught by something he hadn’t realized she was watching.

He had spent years noticing what made her comfortable, which chair she preferred, and when she wanted company without wanting conversation.

And apparently, she had been paying attention to him too.

"The first time, I was checking the stairs," Jingwei said, moving a strand of damp hair away from her cheek. "After that, I was trying not to stare while you stood in my kitchen."

"Our kitchen," Zhiyi corrected, although she was smiling now.

She rested her hand over his at her shoulder and drew it down until their fingers lay together in her lap. "You could have asked me to come back sooner."

He looked at her sitting beside him, barefoot and comfortable, with their tea cooling within reach.

Outside, rain covered the windows so thoroughly that he could barely see the neighboring building.

They had arrived at another shelter and unpacked enough to sleep, but he already knew he would remember this sofa long after he forgot what they had eaten.

"I’m asking now," Jingwei told her. He rubbed his thumb over her fingers, enjoying the freedom of doing it because he wanted to. "Come and sit with me tomorrow. Even if I’m busy, ask."

"I’ll come after breakfast," Zhiyi replied.

She shifted closer, then reached toward his face again. This time, she didn’t stop before touching him, and he turned into her palm as her fingers brushed his hair away from his forehead.

He was used to making room when someone came too close.

Even among his friends, an unexpected hand on his shoulder could make him tense before he recognized who it belonged to.

Zhiyi’s touch hadn’t made that disappear. He still noticed every movement, but now he found himself leaning toward the next one.

She kissed him before he could bend toward her.

Jingwei tightened his arm around her, and she slipped her hand behind his neck, holding him there while he forgot about the tea entirely.

By the time they parted, she had moved against his side with one knee resting on the cushion between them.

"Is this comfortable?" Zhiyi asked, looking down at where she had crowded his leg. "I can move my foot."

"You’re fine where you are," Jingwei assured her. He shifted his leg a little so she had more room, then settled back with her beside him. "I’m not ready for you to move away yet."

Zhiyi tucked herself beneath his arm, leaving her hand against his chest.

They sat that way while the rain drummed against the glass, listening to a drawer close somewhere down the hall. Jingwei could feel himself smiling, and for once he didn’t bother trying to stop.

Hanchuan came into the sitting room a while later with a glass of water.

His gaze passed over them before settling on the tablet, and he picked it up without making either of them feel obliged to move.

"Anything I need to know?" Hanchuan asked as he checked the feeds. He sat in the armchair beside the window, turning the screen away from its reflection.

"The people from the garage found a floor below the closed section," Jingwei replied. "Nobody’s come farther up. There’s still plenty of space between them and us."

Hanchuan nodded and set his water down. "I’ll watch from here. Shichen wants us downstairs early to check the vehicle lift before we bring the mobile base up."

Jingwei looked at the screen once more before leaving it with him.

Zhiyi sat up, but her fingers remained caught in his, and he stood with her rather than letting go. At the end of the hall, she stopped beside the door to her room and turned toward him.

"I meant what I said about breakfast," Zhiyi told him. She stepped closer and straightened the collar she had pulled crooked. "But you can kiss me before then if you want to."

Jingwei bent and kissed her good night, keeping her hand in his until she opened the bedroom door.

By morning, the rain had become a steady roar against the tower.

Jingwei found Zhiyi at the kitchen counter, spreading jam over a piece of toast while Zeyu searched through a bag for the garage keys.

She looked up when Jingwei approached and moved her plate aside so he could stand beside her.

He kissed her cheek before reaching for a cup.

Smiling softly, she leaned against his arm for a moment, and the simple ease of it stayed with him as they ate and gathered what they needed downstairs.

In the private garage, Shichen had opened the doors concealing the vehicle platform.

The mobile base waited nearby, dry beneath the lights, while the empty platform completed its first trip down from the protected storage bay above.

Jingwei checked the locked entrance before joining the others.

Zhiyi stood beside Zeyu, looking up through the open lift doors.

Beyond them, the platform settled level with the garage floor, leaving a broad metal surface large enough to take the vehicle they had brought through four years of Heat.

Zeyu ran his hand along the mobile base’s side before climbing into the driving compartment. Shichen moved clear and raised his radio, while Zhiyi stepped back beside Jingwei.

The engine started, filling the garage with a familiar rumble.

Jingwei took her hand as Zeyu eased the front wheels onto the platform, bringing their last way out of the city toward the long climb above the coming water.