Autumn Takes Golden Leaf

Chapter 9: Morning! Rise and Shine!

A/N: sorry. U guys prbs got a notification that says chap 8 was updated. I just fixed the title. And also sorry for the long wait.

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Morning came a lot sooner than expected. The curtains were slightly open, letting the bright blinding rays of sunlight in.

Ye Xiu opened his eyes to the slight of Zhou Zekai's face close to his. He knew that Zhou Zekai was handsome, hell, he was named the number one most popular Glory player for a reason. But he never really took in the soft curves of his face before. He looked... peaceful.

It was feeling a bit too warm and so he tried to flip over to the other side. The arm wrapped tightly around his body didn't help. He didn't want to wake him up but at the same time, he really need the coolness of the pillow.

After a few minutes of twisting around, he was finally facing the other direction.

The two arms around his waist tightened as the other snuggled his face to his neck. He could feel the warm puffs of air tickle his skin. It took all of his efforts to not burst out laughing. He squirmed around a bit.

"A-Xiu..." Zhou Zekai whispered into his left ear.

"Haha... sorry, did I wake you up?" Ye Xiu said softly, breaking the peace around them.

Zhou Zekai shook his head. "No, I just wanted to stay with you a little longer." Ye Xiu knit his fingers with the hand wrapped around him.

"Mm... me too." He quickly checked the time. It was 7:25 am. He sighed. "As much as I would love to stay here all day long, I have to get going. Ye Qiu is probably going to throw a hissy fit if I don't show up to work." Ye Xiu said as he lugged his body up from the comforts of the bed.

Zhou Zekai had proceeded to make them both some breakfast while Ye Xiu was busy getting dressed. The smell of scallion pancakes wafted through the air.

The two enjoyed their nice simple breakfast, making small talk. Zhou Zekai offered to drive Ye Xiu back over to the Ye Residency.

He bid a farewell and headed back inwards to dress in a proper work attire. Black coat, maroon tie, white collared shirt, and light blue vest.

Honestly, it was such a hassle but it was necessary. Or so Ye Qiu made it seem everytime he attempted to go in wearing anything remotely more casual. Why was his brother like this again? Sigh.

He called for the driver to bring him over to his office. Half of his time was split between planning his speech for the event and signing nondescript documents. He couldn't help but want to include Ye Qiu in his plans.

By the end of the day, there was a neat stack of carefully read-through and signed documents along with a typed out transcription of what he was going to say and do. Might as well have some fun right?

He still had 1 day to set everything up.

Ring ring. Ring ring. Click. It was Mucheng.

"Yes?"

"Sooo... how was the date?!" She screamed excitedly.

"Hm... guess." He said back with a half smirk.

"Omg. Did you guys do it!"

"Sigh. No, too tired."

"Damn it. I owe Chu Yunxiu a 20." She said over the phone slightly mutteredly.

"You bet money on my date?"

"Uh yeah? That's what friends are for!" She laughed.

Su Mucheng continued to pester him about the date. Everything was all fun and happy until he brought up a certain bitter topic.

"You know, it really wasn't your fault. Ever. He... was just being his goofy idiotic self." She said quietly.

"I... sigh. He was a good friend. An idiot sometimes. But a loveable idiot." He pressed his lips together.

"You know, if he were here. He would be very proud of you. Heck, I bet he would join in on the bet." She joked, trying to lighten the mood.

"I bet he would." Ye Xiu replied. He would do something like that huh?

They had a few more exchanges of jokes here and there before Mucheng said that she needed to go.

Following that call, Ye Xiu made a few more calls. One asking for permission to move about during the event from the association and one to clue in Ye Qiu.

He would rather have his brother prepared than sputter last minute even if it was more amusing
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To be continued...