Mr. Zhongli, we can't slack off anymore!

His grey-green eyes above me widened slightly for a moment, like ripples spreading across a calm lake after a pebble has been thrown in, before he gently lowered them.

That gesture carried a kind of resolute tenderness, as if it were crossing an invisible boundary.

The terrible thing still happened.

Elhesen's body was very heavy, pressing completely against me. His strong pectoral muscles were pressed tightly against me, making it very difficult for me to breathe. My body was completely immobilized, and I could only passively bear his weight.

His body heat radiated through his thin pajamas, so intense that even the surrounding air seemed to thin out.

"Elheisen...does it really have to be this way?" I regretted it a little, my voice breaking as my chest was constricted. This feeling of being completely restrained made me instinctively uneasy, as if I had lost control of my body.

It turns out that the really bad thing he was talking about was being his mattress.

That's really bad!

Could someone die?

I couldn't help but struggle a little, but it was all in vain.

"Ten minutes." He gave me a goal to look forward to, his voice muffled in the crook of my neck, carrying warm breath.

This deadline felt like a lifeline, giving me a glimmer of hope amidst my suffocating feeling.

"Five minutes, please..." I bargained, trying to buy myself more room to maneuver.

Didn't he mean that I have to be his mattress for ten minutes every day?

This possibility filled me with a sense of despair.

"Seven minutes. No objections." He gripped my hand tightly, our fingers intertwined, a strength that was both unyielding and strangely comforting.

Our palms were pressed tightly together, and I could feel the warmth and slight dampness from his palms.

"I can't do it for seven minutes every day..." I have my own bottom line, but I just don't have the confidence to back it up.

He didn't reply, only breathing steadily, his warm breath rhythmically brushing against my neck, as if he were asleep. This posture of complete trust gradually calmed my unease, replacing it with a strange sense of intimacy.

......

After a while, I felt that the time had come. But I couldn't see a watch around me, and I didn't count the seconds in my head. My chaotic thoughts made me completely unaware of how much time had passed.

"It's time, isn't it?" I reminded him.

"Not there yet." He buried his face in my neck, his voice muffled, with a hint of lazy hoarseness.

This answer made me wonder if he was simply lying.

......

"Hoo..." After a while, I was so sleepy that I started yawning, and my heavy eyelids began to droop: "Aren't we there yet?" Sleepiness washed over me like a tide, making my voice muffled.

"Not there yet." I got the same answer, but his arm tightened slightly, silently stopping me from asking any further questions.

......

This time, I counted down to seven minutes in my mind, one second at a time, and deliberately delayed the count by one second for fear of miscounting: "Seven minutes are up, Elhesen." I pushed him but couldn't budge him at all; his strong shoulders were as solid as rocks.

However, his muscles felt really bouncy to the touch! This unexpected discovery made me want to touch them a few more times.

"Mmm," he replied, but showed no intention of getting up. Instead, he adjusted his position to make himself more comfortable on top of me.

“Get up, you’re so heavy,” I protested.

This feeling of being completely covered was both reassuring and terrifying; conflicting emotions swirled within me.

"Seven more minutes." He broke the agreement without any remorse. His blatant cheating made my eyes widen, and I couldn't believe my ears.

"No... I don't want to suffocate to death in my sleep. The tragic ending I imagined filled me with fear."

My calves twitched restlessly a few times, as powerless as insects caught in a spider web.

"Lu Ren." He called me very seriously, which made me involuntarily quiet down.

"Hmm?" I felt like he had something important to tell me, and my heart started racing, filled with a mix of anticipation and nervousness.

"I admire you."

"what?"

I was praised? This sudden compliment stunned me, and a warm feeling welled up inside me.

Okay, I'll give you seven more minutes. This compromise was almost subconscious.

......

After I counted to seven again, time seemed to stretch out like a long sugar thread, each second feeling exceptionally long.

"I like you."

Okay, just the last seven minutes...

His confession filled me with sweetness, and all my complaints vanished in an instant.

I even took the initiative to wrap my arms around his back, turning this heavy embrace into a two-way snuggling.

......

Seven minutes later.

I'm more curious whether he'll actually say those three words.

This anticipation made my heart tighten slightly, and I even became careful with my breathing.

“Elhesen? Already…” I whispered, but the initial resistance was gone from my words; instead, there was a hint of lingering affection that I myself didn’t realize.

"I'm going to take a shower." He looked up, sweat already dampening the hair on his forehead, a few strands of gray hair clinging to his full brow. His eyes held emotions I couldn't decipher.

"Is it wrong to do really bad things?" I don't understand.

What is the suffering I just endured compared to this?

“…” He let out a sigh, a suppressed and helpless sound in his voice: “I didn’t do anything.”

After saying that, he stood up decisively, put his shirt back on, and walked out the door without looking back.

Huh? You didn't do anything?

Then what about all that time I spent as a mattress?

A feeling of being mocked spread through my heart.

*

"Which one do you want?" It was breakfast time again, and Al-Hysen asked me, holding two sauces in his hand. His expression was calm and normal, as if the abnormal behavior he displayed last night was just my imagination.

"Hmph." I turned my head away, deliberately avoiding his gaze, using this gesture to express my dissatisfaction.

That's outrageous! They tricked me yesterday!

El-Hysen, you scoundrel!

I was fuming inside, my fork unconsciously stabbing at the fried egg on the plate.

"I'm already full of anger. I'm going on a hunger strike!"

"Just because I didn't do that really bad thing to you?" he asked, raising an eyebrow slightly with a hint of mockery in his expression.

"It's because you made me make you a mattress!" I corrected loudly.

I get so angry just thinking about it! My cheeks are slightly flushed with excitement.

"Oh." He immediately lost interest, and that bland response left me with nowhere to vent my anger, like punching cotton.

Doesn't he intend to apologize at all?

I became even angrier, and the fork in my hand almost poked a hole in the plate.

“I want to separate from you!” I announced loudly.

“No.” He rejected my decision.

*

"He's really gone too far!" I complained to Kavi, who had just returned, in the afternoon, my voice filled with grievance and anger. Finally finding someone to confide in, I poured out my heart like a floodgate had been opened.

"Did he do something really bad to you?!" My words immediately dispelled Kavi's fatigue from the day, and his expression instantly turned serious, a protective flame igniting in his warm orange eyes.

“No!” I said firmly, a reply that eased Kavi’s tense shoulders a little.

"Phew..." Kavi breathed a sigh of relief.

"But he made me be his mattress!" I said, finally venting the grievances I'd been holding in all day.

The accusation froze Kavi's expression instantly; his mouth gaped slightly, as if he were too shocked to speak by the absurd fact.

"What! A mattress! That bastard!" Kavi's imagination was not as simple as I described. His cheeks flushed red with anger, and his fists clenched involuntarily.

“I’m never playing with him again! Kavi! Let’s isolate him together!” I said angrily, though this childish suggestion gave me a sense of vengeful pleasure.

“Alright, let’s unite against him! Let’s call it the Anti-Elhesen Alliance!” Kavi agreed, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

Al-Hysen, sitting a little further away from us, adjusted his noise-canceling headphones, completely blocking out our childish plot.