Free Web NovelChapter 140: Chapter 140: Advice
***Bael’s POV***
The first thing Bael noticed when he woke was warmth.
Not the room or the blanket.
Runze.
He opened his eyes slowly and looked down. Runze was asleep against his chest, one arm draped loosely across his waist, dark hair slightly disordered from sleep. The early morning light coming through the curtains softened everything, turning the sharp edges of the room into something quieter.
For several seconds, Bael didn’t move.
There had been a time, not very long ago, when waking up beside Runze had been routine. Familiar.
Then there had been the month afterward, the separate room, the closed door, the careful distance, the uncertainty.
He had not realized until it was gone how much space that distance occupied inside his head.
Now Runze was here. Back in their room, back in his arms. Bael looked at the ceiling and felt something settle quietly inside his chest.
Relief.
Not the explosive kind. The steady kind, the kind that arrived after surviving something you had genuinely believed you might lose.
Runze shifted slightly against him. Bael automatically tightened his arm around his waist, the movement earned him a sleepy sound of protest.
His mouth twitched.
He was absurdly happy.
The realization should probably have embarrassed him.
It didn’t.
If anything, it made certain things very obvious.
For example, he no longer needed to consider how easily Runze could retreat to the guest room if they argued again.
For the past month, he had treated the distance between them like a corporate crisis, analyzing the friction, trying to find the precise leverage needed to force Runze back into the room.
The guest room existed because the estate had too many rooms, removing furniture from it would be noticed, changing the locks would be excessive, convincing Mrs. Wen to repurpose it as storage would be suspicious.
None of those ideas had ever progressed beyond brief consideration.
Mostly because he knew the problem was not the room.
The problem had been him.
Making the guest room unavailable wouldn’t stop Runze from wanting to leave. It would only force him to stay while unhappy.
The actual answer is embarrassingly simple. If he wants Runze to stop looking at the door, he has to stop giving him reasons to walk through it.
The fact that this seemed obvious now was slightly irritating, he had built companies worth billions. Apparently the difficult challenge had been learning how to talk to his husband.
Runze shifted again. This time his eyes opened. For a moment he looked disoriented, then he looked up.
Their eyes met.
The faintest trace of embarrassment crossed Runze’s face.
Bael felt an immediate and irrational urge to keep him exactly where he was.
"Morning."
Runze blinked once.
"Morning."
Neither moved.
The silence wasn’t awkward, it simply existed. Eventually Runze glanced toward the window.
"What time is it?"
"Seven."
His husband groaned softly and buried his face back against Bael’s chest. Bael considered this an entirely reasonable response.
In fact, he was tempted to encourage it.
Runze had always been difficult to wake up when he was genuinely tired. During the first months of their marriage, Bael had learned very quickly that attempting to rush him before he was ready usually resulted in a level stare and very little cooperation.
At the time, Bael hadn’t thought much about those mornings.
Now he found himself remembering them with uncomfortable clarity.
The way Runze sat at the breakfast table with his hair still slightly messy from sleep. The way he quietly read while drinking tea. Small details Bael had once taken for granted because he believed they would always be there.
For an entire month, every morning had started the same way.
He would wake up alone, the bed would feel too large, the room would feel wrong.
Sometimes he would find himself listening for footsteps he knew weren’t coming.
Other times he would wake in the middle of the night and instinctively reach across the mattress before remembering there was nobody there.
A month wasn’t a long time.
But it had felt endless.
Bael lowered his gaze.
Runze had drifted halfway back to sleep already, his breathing slow and steady against Bael’s chest.
The sight made something warm settle heavily inside him. Not excitement, not relief, something deeper than both.
Contentment.
The unfamiliarity of it was almost alarming.
He had spent years building companies, negotiating acquisitions, managing crises worth billions.
None of those things had ever made him feel like this.
Runze shifted slightly, unconsciously moving closer.
Bael tightened his arm around him without thinking.
For several quiet minutes neither of them moved. The day would eventually begin, there would be meetings, reports, responsibilities, and a dozen people waiting for his attention.
None of them felt particularly urgent. freewebnovel.cσ๓
For now, Runze was here.
That was enough.
***
By ten o’clock, the domestic routine carried them into the small study on the second floor.
Runze sat behind the desk, surrounded by drafting paper, blue inks, and three separate reference books on structural load distributions. He looked steady, his movements efficient as he worked, his dry, unbothered expression firmly back in place.
Bael sat across from him at the smaller table, a tablet in his hand, pretending to read through the quarterly logistics reports for the shipping division. He didn’t look up often, but every time Runze shifted a ruler or cleared his throat, Bael’s eyes tracked the movement automatically.
The arrangement was unremarkable.
That was exactly why Bael liked it.
The quiet between them was broken at eleven when his phone vibrated. The caller ID displayed one name.
Grandmother.
Bael answered immediately.
"Grandmother."
"Come here."
Then she hung up. Bael stared at the phone.
Across the room, Runze looked up.
"What happened?"
"Grandmother called."
Runze immediately nodded in understanding. Neither of them required further explanation. Grandmother Wuchen could summon people with two words.
Sometimes one.
Bael stood.
"I’ll be back."
Runze gave him a small nod before returning to his notes.
Bael’s gaze lingered for a second longer than necessary.
Then he left.
***
The walk to Grandmother Wuchen’s wing was quiet. When Bael pushed the doors open, she was sitting by the window with a small tea cup in her hands. Her eyes found Bael the second he walked in.
"Sit," she said.
Bael took the chair across from her, his frame looking way too big for the small room. He waited for her to speak.
"The business with the Yan family is taken care of," she started, her voice steady. "I believe it’s bearing fruit now."
"Yes, Grandmother," Bael said.
"You’re lucky, Bael."
Bael adjusted his posture, thinking she meant the business deal the Yans secured. "The alliance with the firm will be done by next quarter—"
"I’m not talking about the business," she cut him off, her tone dropping into that disappointed grandmother voice that always makes the room feel freezing. She looked him straight in the eye. "I’m talking about the boy in the study."
Bael went totally still.
"I spent months preparing myself for trouble after this marriage," Grandmother said, leaning back in her chair. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she looked at him. "I expected tantrums, arguments, and public scandals. Instead, I got Runze."
Bael felt himself tighten up, his posture stiffening as he waited for the catch, and he didn’t hide his reaction quickly enough.
Grandmother noticed immediately. A faint, sharp look of satisfaction crossed her face. "He’s intelligent, polite, and responsible. And despite everything that boy has gone through, he still tries to see the best in people. You are very fortunate, Bael." ƒгeewёbnovel.com
"Yes," Bael said. The answer came immediately, with no hesitation and no argument, it was just a plain fact.
Grandmother’s expression softened, but only a fraction. "If something goes wrong between you again, I will hold you responsible."
Bael almost smiled, that sounded exactly like her. "You think he’s incapable of starting an argument?"
"Of course he’s capable," Grandmother snorted, shaking her head. "He’s just significantly less likely to do it than you are."
"I understand," Bael said, smiling, his voice rough.
Grandmother Wuchen gave a satisfied nod and reached for her tea.
The conversation seemed finished.
Bael rose from his chair.
"I heard he finished his big exam yesterday," Grandmother said casually.
"The official results don’t come out until next Friday," Bael said, switching back to his business tone. "We’re still waiting."
Grandmother Wuchen looked at him.
"He definitely passed," she said simply.
Bael paused with one hand on the doorframe. Something in Bael eased at the certainty in her voice, then he stepped into the hallway and the heavy doors closed behind him.
He didn’t walk back to the study right away. He just stood there in the quiet corridor, his arms hanging loosely, his chest moving up and down.
The house was huge, but his world suddenly felt very small, narrowed down to one study upstairs and Runze sitting behind the desk.
For the first time in a long time, that felt less like a responsibility.
And more like home.
