After exchanging a few more simple words, he finally hung up the phone and started focusing on work.

...

Upon returning home in the evening, as soon as he opened the door, he saw the pair of dolls on the sofa. Somehow, his mood suddenly turned gloomy. He roughly tugged at his tie, tossed his briefcase onto the sofa, and went straight to his room.

The force of closing the door was a bit excessive, resulting in a loud noise.

When he came out again, he was wearing home clothes and was drying his hair with a towel.

The phone was relentless in ringing; he picked it up and glanced at the screen, where the name "Xia Yuan" was displayed. He frowned and sat on the sofa.

He did not answer the call.

The call was automatically disconnected, and a few seconds later, it started ringing again.

The ringtone lasted a long time, just about to be automatically disconnected again, before his fingertip moved slightly and pressed to answer.

He didn’t speak, and Xia Yuan remained silent on the other side of the phone. After what seemed like forever, Xu Kun finally rubbed his brow and said, "If you don’t speak, I’ll hang up."

"No, no..."

Xia Yuan hurriedly said, "I was just afraid of annoying you, so I didn’t speak."

"You’ve called me more than a hundred times this month, and now you say you’re afraid of annoying me. Don’t you think it’s a bit late? Just tell me, what do you want?"

Xia Yuan lightly bit her lip, tightened her grip on the phone, and muttered after stammering for a while, "Isn’t it because you don’t answer my calls, otherwise, would I call you so many times?"

Because her voice was a bit soft, Xu Kun didn’t hear clearly, and frowned as he asked again, "What did you say?"

"No, nothing... Umm, how long have you been back from your business trip?"

"Didn’t Qin Yin tell you?"

Xu Kun said indifferently.

When Qin Yin called her this morning, he happened to overhear.

With her head lowered, she smiled faintly, "Since you knew that, why didn’t you answer my calls? Do you know that’s very wasteful of electricity?"

"Xia Yuan..."

This seemed to be the first time Xu Kun called her this way. Before, when she was staying at his apartment, he would rather not call her name if possible.

Now, again...

Xia Yuan held the phone dazedly, waiting for what he would say next.

"Previously, I took you in because you had nowhere to go as a young woman, but now that you’re home, don’t call me anymore."

"Why?"

She said in a confused manner, "Since you let me stay in the apartment for so long, we should count as friends, right? What’s wrong with friends keeping in touch?"

Xu Kun pursed his lips, leaning against the sofa, "Friends, huh?"

"Yeah, aren’t we? Or have you never considered me a friend?"

Xu Kun remained silent.

Between them, they should count as friends!

"Umm, when do you have time? How about I treat you to coffee?"

"No need."

Xu Kun refused, "I’m busy with work just after returning. Let’s talk after a while when I have time. I have things to handle now, so if there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up first."

Xia Yuan wanted to say more, but hearing his tone, she swallowed back her words, spoke in a somewhat dejected manner, "Okay then, we’ll speak when you have time."

"Mhm."

He hung up the phone, tossed it aside, and leaned on the sofa for a while, until his stomach began protesting with hunger. Only then did he pick up the phone to start ordering food delivery.

As his finger swiped across the screen, contemplating what to eat, he suddenly thought of when Xia Yuan first stayed here...