In September, filming for the movie "A Handful of Snow" wrapped up.

Xie Guan returned to B City from the Z Province Film and Television Base, completely exhausted. When he landed at the Capital Airport, he felt as if he had survived a catastrophe and been reborn. If it weren't for all the other passengers from the same flight watching, he might have just lain down on the spot and refused to move.

From joining the cast of The Rising Tides of the Azure Sea in April to the movie wrapping up in September, Xie Guan had spent a full five months in grueling, high-intensity work. The movies he acted in were all painstakingly crafted, scene by scene; the director was no hack and was extremely strict with the actors in every aspect. To avoid messing up, he had remained in a constant state of nervous tension, not daring to let his guard down even during the few short breaks he got. Now that it was all over, the taut string in his mind suddenly loosened, and the accumulated fatigue of five months immediately came crashing down on him with a vengeance.

"Ah..." Xie Guan dove headfirst into the car. "I can't take it anymore."

Seeing he was dead tired, Huo Mingjun kindly offered his thigh as a pillow. Xie Guan shifted into a more comfortable position, his body feeling weightless and his mind blank. He whined coquettishly, "Mingjun, I'm tired..."

A pair of hands landed on his temples, massaging them with just the right amount of pressure. "Mm, you've worked hard."

Huo Mingjun's voice seemed to hold a deep, suppressed laugh. Xie Guan forced his eyes open to glance at him, but his gaze crashed into the depths of Huo Mingjun's dark eyes, and he immediately looked away with the haste of a guilty thief.

The two of them were currently in an awkward, difficult stage. Xie Guan and Huo Mingjun were both well aware of each other's feelings. In practice, their actions had long crossed the line of 'friendliness' and were heading straight for 'intimacy'. However, that last paper-thin barrier had yet to be broken. It clung stubbornly to the window frame of their friendship, like an appendix that served no real purpose but couldn't just be casually removed.

It always felt like something was still missing.

Xie Guan was very good at self-reflection. While filming on set, he had thought about it and felt that the problem might lie with him.

——He liked Huo Mingjun a lot, but not enough to be 'in love'.

For two physically healthy, mentally sound, and mature men, no matter how much their hormones were raging, it was impossible for them to fall in love like junior high students, where a spark ignites a wildfire, love comes at a moment's notice, and a little bit of a good impression leads to a confession and holding hands.

They had too much to consider—and that was all secondary. The most important thing was that neither Xie Guan nor Huo Mingjun were people who fell in love easily.

For people like them, at their age, once they fell in love, it was very likely for a lifetime.

Therefore, Xie Guan had to be cautious. He found it difficult to distinguish how much of his feelings for Huo Mingjun was born from gratitude, just as he sometimes couldn't help but wonder how much of Huo Mingjun's care for him was a projection of feelings from that past event ten years ago.

But these concerns didn't mean there were no real feelings between them. Xie Guan did like him. It was a mix of the rapport between close friends, the respect and reliance one would have for an older brother, a fondness born of pure admiration, and a tiny, scorching, brilliant, and unconcealable flutter of the heart.

It was a liking akin to how one likes all beautiful things in the world—he wanted to be close, wanted to stop and linger, wanted to reach out and touch... but there was no desire.

The desire for possession, the desire for control, and that unspeakable desire.

It's hard to say that love and lust are completely separate. The illiterate surnamed Xie didn't understand what 'platonic love' was. He only knew, from the most primitive and simple instinct, that wanting to pounce on the person you liked and have some... this-and-that, indescribable things happen, was the natural course when feelings ran deep enough.

But he didn't want to do... this and that... to Huo Mingjun.

Xie Guan thus concluded that there was still a chasm between him and Huo Mingjun, albeit one only as wide as a small creek. They had to take it slow, not rush, not be impulsive, and let time slowly fill it.

Perhaps it was because Huo Mingjun's thigh was too comfortable to rest on, and even came with a built-in massage function, that Xie Guan's thoughts drifted off and he closed his eyes and fell asleep. In his dream, he unconsciously turned over and wrapped his arms around Huo Mingjun's waist.

Huo Mingjun wore an ambiguous smile, his thoughts unreadable, letting Xie Guan hold him while his hands never stopped their movements.

The driver in the front kept his eyes fixed on the road, trembling with apprehension, not daring to glance at the rearview mirror for fear of getting a sty.

Xie Guan was truly exhausted this time. He didn't even stir when Huo Mingjun carried him out of the car, up the stairs, and into the bedroom.

The room's furnishings were just as they had been when he stayed here last month, as if it had been cleaned and tidied every day, always waiting for his return.

Huo Mingjun turned the grass-green, crab-shaped soft pillow over so that it was staring blankly at the bedroom's wall, then leaned down and placed a light kiss on the corner of Xie Guan's lips.

When Lin Yao saw Huang Cheng standing alone in her office, she was about to go crazy. "Where's Xie Guan?"

"He was too tired, so he went back to rest after getting off the plane."

Lin Yao stared at him suspiciously. "Which 'home' did he go back to?"

Huang Cheng said stiffly, "Mr. Huo came to pick him up personally. Little Xie got in the car with him voluntarily."

"Vol...un...tarily..."

Lin Yao was suddenly struck with the frustrating feeling of a mother whose son has grown beyond her control. She couldn't be blamed. It was just that every time Xie Guan landed, Huo Mingjun would snatch him away. His movements were too fast, his defense too tight; she, his agent, couldn't even manage to see him in time. And now, he had directly sent Huang Cheng to 'inform' her—not even to 'discuss'—that Xie Guan would be taking a vacation for the rest of the year and wouldn't be accepting any more film offers.

Lin Yao gritted her teeth resentfully, thinking, 'Damn it, who the hell is Xie Guan's agent, me or you?!'

The more she thought about it, the more something felt wrong. Before, she had been seventy or eighty percent suspicious of their relationship; now, she was one hundred percent certain. With the way Huo Mingjun was so protective of him, if it wasn't true love, could it be fatherly love?

"Huang Cheng, let me ask you," Lin Yao said, "Are Xie Guan and Boss Huo... dating?"

"No." Huang Cheng shook his head firmly.

Lin Yao: "Huh?"

Huang Cheng thought for a moment, then cautiously added, "But they will be soon."

Lin Yao: "..."

Xie Guan slept until nine at night and was literally woken up by hunger.

He staggered out of bed, wavering between the two options of "find dinner first" and "find Huo Mingjun first." In the end, he made the earth-shatteringly difficult choice: eat first.

Huo Mingjun's house was too big, and he was too lazy to walk to the study. So, with great cleverness, he pocketed his phone, found the dinner left for him in the kitchen, and called Huo Mingjun while he ate.

"Hello."

"You're awake?" The call was answered quickly. Huo Mingjun glanced at the time on his computer. "I had the housekeeper leave dinner for you. Get up and eat something."

"Eating now," Xie Guan said. Hearing that the background noise on the other end didn't sound like the study, he asked, "You're not home?"

"At the office, have to work overtime on something." He casually teased Xie Guan, "What, you woke up and got scared because you couldn't find me?"

Xie Guan: "Get lost."

After a pause, his sleep-rusted brain slowly began to creak into action. "Why are you working overtime again? Have you been very busy lately?"

"It'll be over soon," Huo Mingjun said, a hint of a smile in his eyes. "Don't go to sleep tonight. Wait for me to come back."

The apartment had a private elevator that opened directly into the home. As soon as Huo Mingjun entered, he saw Xie Guan sitting on the sofa, eyes glued to the screen, holding a bowl of cherries. He was flanked on his left and right by two crabs, looking like an uncrowned Crab King of magnificent stature.

In the deep of night, amidst the countless lights of the city, there was one lamp left on for him, and someone waiting for him beneath it.

This house had finally become a 'home'.

"You're back," Xie Guan waved his pincers... no, his hand, at him. "Are you tired? Want a cherry?"

Under the rigid and strict rules of the Huo family, there had never been a scene where someone dared to come back from outside and eat without first changing their clothes and washing their hands.

Huo Mingjun walked over and plucked a large cherry from between Xie Guan's fingertips with his mouth. "Mm, pretty sweet."

His lips had barely brushed against his fingertips, so fast it was like an illusion. Xie Guan wasn't sure if he had actually been touched, but the nerve endings in that finger were already on the verge of spontaneous combustion from the dual stimulation of sight and imagination.

"Ahem," he quickly ate a cherry to calm his nerves and changed the subject, his voice lacking conviction. "What did you want to tell me?"

Huo Mingjun looked at him with an affection like one would watch a crab swimming in a pot of slowly heating water. "You've been filming for half a year, and it's finally wrapped up. I'm planning to take you on a vacation. Is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

Xie Guan was so startled he dropped his cherry. "What did you say?"

"You've worked hard lately, so I'm taking you out to relax," Huo Mingjun said patiently. "Did you hear me clearly?"

"Relax... huh," Xie Guan hesitated. "Where are we going? Just... you and me?"

Huo Mingjun leisurely asked back, "Or else? Who else did you want to bring?"

I want to bring bodyguards, Xie Guan thought, trembling. Because your motives don't seem very pure...

Huo Mingjun seemed to be doing it on purpose. He didn't continue the topic, only symbolically asking for his opinion before making a firm decision and shooing him back to the bedroom to sleep.

A few days later, Xie Guan went to the company to see Lin Yao to discuss work and report his plans. They finished their talk in the evening. As he left the company and was about to have Huang Cheng drive him back, Huo Mingjun happened to call. He said he was going to look at a factory building and would be passing by their company, so he'd pick him up on the way.

So Xie Guan sent Huang Cheng off first. About ten minutes later, the familiar Rolls-Royce appeared at the street corner.

Xie Guan opened the door and got in, greeting the driver, Zhong Heguang. He sat down next to Huo Mingjun and glanced out the window. "You didn't bring bodyguards today?"

Huo Mingjun: "An incognito visit."

Xie Guan gave him an 'Are you nuts?' look. "An incognito visit in a Rolls-Royce? You rich people really know how to have fun."

Huo Mingjun smiled and whispered in his ear, "They're all following behind. It's just for show."

"What kind of factory is worth you, the great chairman, coming to see in person?" Xie Guan also lowered his voice, an indescribable unease in his heart. "Are you planning something? It's not dangerous, is it?"

"It's fine," Huo Mingjun patted the back of his hand. "We're just going to take a look at the factory. If it were actually dangerous, I wouldn't have brought you."

The Rolls-Royce drove smoothly towards the suburbs.

The destination was a standalone three-story factory building in the eastern suburbs of B City. It used to be a wood processing plant that later went bankrupt due to poor management. The plot of land had been eyed by Hengrui Group, which wanted to build a private sanatorium there.

The factory representative was already waiting at the entrance. Huo Mingjun and Zhong Heguang both got out of the car. Xie Guan wanted to follow, but Huo Mingjun pushed him back into his seat. "It's hot outside, don't come out. Wait for me in the car, I'll be back in a bit."

Xie Guan wasn't a company employee, so it wasn't appropriate for him to act rashly at a time like this. Even though he felt something was off, he could only follow Huo Mingjun's arrangement.

Huo Mingjun's group paused at the entrance for a moment before walking into the factory together.

Several black cars carrying bodyguards approached from different directions, silently surrounding the dilapidated, island-like factory. A dozen or so bodyguards in black slipped into the factory courtyard through a small gate.

Ten minutes later, a strange buzzing sound suddenly came from the distance.

Xie Guan's head shot up.

He looked towards the dusty-gray three-story old building, and an ominous premonition, like the calm before a storm, suddenly rose in his heart.