“It’s far worse than what you did!” Huo Qijun saw through his thoughts and offered an explanation. He was actually a bit curious about why Lin Wei’s cooking skills were so remarkable, but asking would only reveal how little he had cared about Lin Wei in the past—though that was the truth.
Although Lin Wei had always been available to him before, their interactions now contrasted sharply with the cold distance that characterized their past. He believed that he hadn’t changed, which left only one conclusion: Lin Wei had deliberately kept his distance back then.
If it hadn’t been for Huo Qijun’s reckless jealousy pushing Lin Wei to reveal his secret, perhaps Lin Wei would have remained in that stagnant state, silently watching from a place that was neither too far nor too close.
He didn’t know whether the current state of affairs was good or bad for them. A mistaken step had nudged Lin Wei forward, yet this closer relationship seemed to only accelerate the depletion of feelings that seemed unidirectional, just as Lin Wei had said, “Emotions are unpredictable. If one continuously does not receive a response, one day they will awaken and realize it’s really just not worth it, right?”
Lin Wei had developed a favorable impression of Yu Yu, someone he had only met once, not because of an instinctual drive to escape unreciprocated feelings, but because he felt a need to find someone to pursue, didn’t he?
After all, how could Yu Yu compare to him?!
But this wasn’t right!
Huo Qijun was somewhat deceiving himself. He felt that if Lin Wei were to give up on him and like someone else, that person should at least be exceptional in every way.
In that moment, he involuntarily empathized with his mother’s controlling nature regarding his romantic choices. Although familial love and friendship were entirely different, some things ultimately led to the same conclusions.
Once again, Huo Qijun rationalized his gloom, suddenly feeling righteous: “I want to eat the food you make!”
He decided to pull Lin Wei’s thoughts back; he couldn’t let Lin Wei find someone randomly to avoid feelings because, given Lin Wei’s personality, he would surely regret being irresponsible to both himself and others once he came to his senses in the future.
Little did Lin Wei know that during that brief half hour, Huo Qijun had been tormented by conflicting thoughts. Hearing him say that, Lin Wei pondered and finally replied, “Alright, I’ll cook tonight.”
Anyway, he hadn’t planned to go to the office today; he had the time.
Even the system couldn’t bear to watch anymore: [Master! Are you being too nice to him? I can’t shake the feeling that the situation is somewhat off!]
[What’s off?] Lin Wei asked.
[Don’t you think Huo Qijun’s reaction is very strange?] The system hesitated to conclude: [He doesn’t seem homophobic, but rather is resisting all the decent males that have been around you…]
It didn’t dare directly imply that it felt Huo Qijun might have been inadvertently influenced by its master; after all, this was a romance world, and who would believe that the male lead had turned gay?
[Actually, I’ve sensed some of his reactions are illogical too.] Lin Wei sighed internally: [All those precautionary measures I took earlier seem to have been useless. He still thinks I like him and unconsciously sees me as a possession, generating this inexplicable possessiveness.]
Unlike Huo Qijun, who was narcissistic, Lin Wei didn’t think that Huo Qijun would change his orientation and come to like him over a misunderstanding. Besides, given Huo Qijun’s overbearing and awkward nature, this somewhat protective instinct made more sense.
However, it couldn’t be entirely Huo Qijun’s narcissism; in this small world, Lin Wei had very few male friends, and among those few, he treated Huo Qijun best due to their tasks. So even after his several denials, Huo Qijun was still misled.
It wasn’t too concerning. Earlier, he had been worried that Huo Qijun would distance himself to avoid suspicion, which would not be beneficial to their task.
Since Huo Qijun didn’t have such thoughts and he didn’t genuinely want a boyfriend in this small world, Huo Qijun could be possessive without it affecting the task.
The system was vaguely convinced, but: [If that’s the case, isn’t he somewhat…]
[You mean to say his mindset is too selfish?] Lin Wei chuckled and replied: [If he weren’t selfish in such matters, he would have long since let go of Xiao Qing in the original work.]
Huo Qijun was not the perfect male lead; if he were, they wouldn’t have needed to intervene in this small world at all, and Lin Wei had come to terms with that.
[Alright!] The system quickly accepted this, as it had seen its fair share of less-than-stellar male leads. However, this was the first time it encountered someone expressing this kind of possessiveness towards its master, which left it momentarily bewildered.
As Lin Wei and Huo Qijun left the restaurant, he had no intention of going back to Huo’s company but instead stopped and asked, “I won’t head over. What do you want to eat tonight?”
Huo Qijun nearly blurted out “whatever” but paused before stating, “You’re the doctor, so aren’t you the one who decides what I should eat?”
“Just don’t be picky when I’m done!”
“I won’t!”
“You’d better not!” Lin Wei laughed and waved goodbye before leaving.
Back at the company, Huo Qijun first pretended to work seriously for a while. Soon after finding an excuse from work, he called for Yu Yu to come over.
“President Huo.” Yu Yu was visibly nervous upon seeing him, though he managed to hold it in.
Huo Qijun was known for his cold demeanor, and it was common for subordinates to feel tense around him, which he usually didn’t mind. However, today was different; he easily noticed that Yu Yu was scared of him.
Was he really that terrifying?!
Huo Qijun’s face darkened, but he didn’t dare vent his anger elsewhere since it was Lin Wei who wanted to get to know Yu Yu.
Furthermore, he had to learn from the lessons his mother had taught him when dealing with Xiao Qing, not to let Lin Wei’s excessive protective instincts have any room to breathe!
“Why are you so nervous? I’m not going to eat you!” Huo Qijun thought of how well he reasoned, but when he spoke, he still couldn’t help being snappy. After casually assigning a few tasks, he abruptly asked, “What did Lin Wei want from you this morning?”
Yu Yu had just begun to relax a little during their back-and-forth until he was nearly startled by Huo Qijun.
“Nothing, nothing at all.” Yu Yu instinctively blinked rapidly, the guilt he felt was evident: “We just exchanged contact information.”