Assistant Architect

Assistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling

Chapter 119: Shadow

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When theyfinally arrived inside their home, Zhang Siyi wasn't given a moment to removehis shoes, as he was pushed hard against the door. Gu Yu grabbed his wrist inone hand and stroked Zhang Siyi's cheek in the other. Gu Yu's advancements tookZhang Siyi breath away.

Whilecaressing the side of Zhang Siyi's head, as if to make up for the time apart,Gu Yu forcefully kissed Zhang Siyi. After a moment of surprise, like a starvedman at a buffet dinner, Zhang Siyi quickly responded to Gu Yu kissing with aneven deeper more sensuous kiss. Desperate for each other's attention, theirlips parted momentarily for a gasp of air before tightly pressing them togetheragain. He broke free from Gu Yu grasp and held onto him tightly. As Zhang Siyi continuedto kiss Gu Yu deeper and more aggressively, Zhang Siyi felt like a different personahad taken control of him. Kissing wasn't enough.

The tworemained locked together until they heard a 'woof' and could feel Townhousenext to them. Returning to his senses, Zhang Siyi looked down at the dog andlaughed. Gu Yu also laughed.

With wateryeyes, he smiled and looked at Zhang Siyi and huskily whispered: "I missed you."

Zhang Siyi'sheart beat violently. He never knew that such a simple admission of love wouldhave such a strong effect on him. “I missed you too” Zhang Siyi saidfrom the bottom of his heart. Everyday and every night he has thought of Gu Yu.

Zhang Siyiwanted to repent for all his wrongdoings towards his ex-girlfriend because henever really thought about her. For twenty-three years, until now, he didn'tunderstand what a real relationship was and realized how irresponsible he hadbeen towards her.

HoldingZhang Siyi's face Gu Yu kissed him on the forehead then released him. He saidsoftly: “Let's eat first.”

Zhang Siyifollowed him into the kitchen like a small puppy.

Gu Yu openedthe refrigerator to evaluate their food options. Now that it had been almost aweek since their last grocery run, the food was almost all gone. He rummagedthrough the sparse items and found a pack of frozen dumplings. He asked ZhangSiyi casually: "Are you ok with dumplings?”

Even thoughZhang Siyi attention wasn't on eating at the moment, he answered: "Yes."

Gu Yu alsofound a couple of eggs and some shrimp. Together with a few vegetables, he setup a pot to boil in order to make soup. Like a married couple wanting to knowwhat their loved one was up to while they were away, Gu Yu asked Zhang Siyiabout how things have been and what he had been eating the last few days. Asthe water heated to boil, Zhang Siyi took a few minutes to answer Gu Yu.

Smelling thevinegar that Gu Yu used to dress the dumplings, Zhang Siyi was reminded of TaoFei posting on his social media and asked: "Why did you and Tao Fei wear a suitwhen you reported the project?"

Gu Yu handedone of the bowls of dumplings to him: “It's necessary on formaloccasions.”

Zhang Siyi grabbedtwo sets of chopsticks from the drawer and walked to the table with his bowl:“How come I didn't see your suit when you got back?”

"I don'tlike the extra luggage so I used a courier service." Gu Yu sat down and pickedup his chopsticks ready to eat then asked: "How did you know I wore a suit?"

“Iadded Tao Fei’s to my WeChat contacts today and saw photos of you on his socialmedia page.” Zhang Siyi didn't want to sound jealous, but he couldn't helpcomplain a little!

Listening toZhang Siyi, Gu Yu took out his phone from his pocket to see what he wasreferring to. Looking down at the phone, Gu Yu frowned.

Zhang Siyiasked: “You haven’t seen it?”

Gu Yu putthe phone on the table and as calm as ever, he said: "I've blocked him."

AlthoughZhang Siyi initially felt irritated by Tao Fei WeChat posts, when Gu Yumentioned Tao Fei being blocked, Zhang Siyi felt reassured. Laughing andsmiling he asked: "Why did you block him?"

"He postsstupid things every day. It's annoying." Gu Yu frankly said.

"……" Tao Fei’s self-portraits weredescribed as “stupid stuff” ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Zhang Siyi's darkfeelings were overthrown by Gu Yu words. What beautiful peach? He was tossedaside.

Aftereating, Zhang Siyi cleared the table and went to the kitchen to wash the dishes.He saw Gu Yu pick up his phone again and noticed his thumb move continuouslyover the screen. Zhang Siyi didn't know who he was chatting with. When he wasfinished washing the dishes, Gu Yu pocketed his phone and they grabbedTownhouse's leash.

Whilewalking the dog, the two caught up on office related issues and stopped hereand there to let Townhouse mark a tree. Suddenly while standing, Gu Yu grabbedZhang Siyi and pulled him close face to face. Gu Yu continued to positionhimself and stepped slightly to his left then leaned forward.

Zhang Siyiwasn't sure what was happening then he watched Gu Yu pull out his phone fromhis trousers and take a photo of the shadow on the ground. Zhang Siyi glanceddown and realized with pleasure what Gu Yu was doing. It looked like the shadowof the two people together under the streetlight were kissing! Feeling hot allover, Zhang Siyi never would have thought Gu Yu was capable of doing such aromantic thing.

Catching aglimpse of Gu Yu continued concentration on his phone, Zhang Siyi guessed he wasuploading the image to his social media page. Thinking he would send it toZhang Siyi alone because of Gu Yu conservative nature, he didn't react much. Hesmiled and said: "I saw you take the picture so it won't be a surprise toreceive it." As they say, love makes people do stupid things. Has Gu Yu alsobecome silly?

Gu Yugrinned at him and said: "I have made it public."

“What!?”Zhang Siyi was shocked. He quickly pulled out his mobile phone and openedWeChat. He really saw the photo taken by Gu Yu at the top of the circle offriends.

In additionto the photo, Gu Yu also wrote something sentimental: “Love has arrived.”

Zhang Siyicouldn’t believe it. He grabbed Gu Yu phone to look at it for himself andconfirm it. He really did make the image public.!

In just afew seconds, there are already a row of 'likes' below the photo. They are allfrom people Zhang Siyi doesn't know. The number of new messages at the top isstill increasing at a rate visible to the naked eye. Knowing Gu Yu'spersonality, this type of news is exceedingly exciting for people that arefriends with him.

“You’recrazy!” Zhang Siyi flushed bright red and his heart couldn't stop poundingin his chest: "You said we had to keep our relationship a secret."

Gu Yu recoveredhis phone from Zhang Siyi's grasp and said: “It’s just a shadow. No one canrecognize who the people are.”

Zhang Siyilooked at his own phone and inspected the image again. Since the image wastaken at an angle with the streetlight, their shadow was stretched out verylong. The top of the shadow was a little blurry and aside from the height ofthe people being slightly different, it was really difficult to tell who waswho. The one thing for certain, is that Tao Fei is definitely not among the twopeople in the image as the two people in the photo have short hair.

Gu Yu rubbedZhang Siyi's head and smiled: “Are you still jealous?”

"……" Zhang Siyi puffed up his face: “Whois jealous.”

Gu Yulaughed and said nothing. With Townhouse in tow, they walked back home.

After ZhangSiyi's initial surprise, he slowly calmed down. His heart floated with a sighof relief: “Aren't your parents going to see it?”

Gu Yu took adeep breath of cool air and looked up at the sky slightly. He said calmly:“They will see it sooner or later. They may not know that you are a boyfor a while. My dad is a smart person and he will be able to figure it out eventually.With time, a family can overcome anything. Don't be afraid. We will take it onestep at a time together."

"Hmm" ZhangSiyi said and looked down at the road: “Actually, your sister has alreadyguessed that you are gay.”

Gu Yu frozemomentarily: “Hmm?"

Zhang Siyislowly recounted what Gu Yao had said to him when he chatted with her about GuYu. At the end, Zhang Siyi was embarrassed to admit: “It was from her thatI found out you might like me……"

Now, Gu Yuunderstood what had happened that day and why Zhang Siyi was like a changed person.

Zhang Siyipaused and said: “She also said that no matter how you choose, she willsupport you and bless you.”

Gu Yu wassilent for a long time. With a content sigh he mumbled: "Silly girl…."

Zhang Siyiraised his hands and proclaimed: “So, you can tell your sister about us!”

Gu Yu turnedto look at him and smiled. “Stupid, she already knows.”

Zhang Siyi:"…… Huh?” Σ( ° △°)

Afterreturning home, Zhang Siyi took out his mobile phone to view the shadow pictureonce again. Unsurprisingly, Gu Yao sent a message to the trio chat group thatwas created by her brother months ago.

Gu Yu:“Congratulations!" [Snickering]

Zhang Siyi:“……” Shit! It turns out, he was the only one who’s been kept in thedark!?

Zhang Siyi:“You always knew?"

Gu Yu:“Since last month.”

Gu Yuhonestly confessed to Zhang Siyi about peeking at his mobile phone.

Zhang Siyisaid: “When I asked you before, why were you still playing dumb?"

Gu Yu:“Who was the one that was dumb?” ╮ (╯_╰) ╭

Zhang Siyi:“……”

Seeing the 100-yuanred envelope dangling in front of them, the two immediately forgot why theywere quarreling. Zhang Siyi snatched 93% of the amount and Gu Yao only was ableto get 7%.

Zhang Siyi:“Muahahaha!"

Gu Yao:“Hey! The administrator is playing favorites!"

Gu Yu lookedat the two of them in the group, smiled and shook his head. As compensation, he privately gave Gu Yao a 100-yuanred envelope. She wanted to tease Zhang Siyi and was about to take a screenshotand send it to him but her brother's message stopped her: "Don't bully your brother-in-law."

Gu Yao:“……” A 100 yuan a bribe? Ah! Whatis this sweet and sour feeling?! My heart hurts! My Brother is no longer herown brother!

Gu Yao whined:“But brother, don't you think making the photo public was being too risky?I broke out in a cold sweat for you!"

Gu Yu gaveher a red envelope and said: “You might have to provide some cover in thefuture.”

Anyannoyance she felt was easily brushed aside not by Gu Yu's sugar-coated words,but because she genuinely wanted to help her brother: "Don’t worry! Thisyounger sister will spare no effort to pave the way for you and Brother Siyi’sfuture!”

…….

Since Tao Fei had been in the company for a month, he was officially welcomed to join the company. The night before Zhang Siyi's business trip to Yunnan, Gu Yu organized another group dinner. Zhang Siyi remembered what happened during his welcome party and was eager to see how Tao Fei would fare during his.

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