NOVEL NEXT 28
Chapter 28: Opinions
When Ellis woke up, the afternoon sunlight was streaming into the room, casting a brilliant golden hue everywhere.
Stepping barefoot onto the floor, he felt its warmth, realizing that since he had left, Siming had already entered the winter heating season.
Why hadn’t he felt this warmth upon his return?
Ellis suddenly recalled his last memory, holding Xi Tian and saying something.
He gazed out at the scenery through the window: the tree trunks bare, the grass withered and yellow where it had once been lush and green.
Near the fence, a rectangular space had been cleared under the large tree, surrounded by green tiles slightly raised above the ground.
This was the small garden that Xi Tian had mentioned wanting to create when they first moved in, and it had already taken shape.
Ellis found his slippers and noticed that his flip-flops had been replaced with soft, plush slippers.
The underfloor heating was on; wouldn’t these slippers be too warm?
Ellis wondered faintly.
He felt an urge to thoroughly inspect this home where he had been away for a month.
There were two faint marks on the bedroom door frame. Ellis compared their height, realizing they matched Xi Tian’s height. The later growth phase really did make him taller, even if it was just the smallest visible change.
He woke up in the bedroom, but his last memory was on the sofa. So it really was Xi Tian who had carried him to the room…
The thought of being carried by Xi Tian, who was physically weaker, left Ellis feeling subtly awkward.
The living room was messier than before he left, in a state that Xi Tian considered orderly enough but Ellis felt needed tidying.
In the kitchen, all the various utensils were spotlessly clean, exactly where they had been before he left.
Opening the fridge, Ellis noticed that the vegetables and meats he remembered were gone, replaced by many cans of instant food and dried rations. In the refrigerator were teas, coffees, and fruit juices.
He wandered around the house, straightening up any decorations that didn’t sit well with him.
Overall, the house hadn’t changed much, but there were subtle deviations from his memory.
Xi Tian emerged from the study with a half-filled glass of water in hand, yawning as he walked into the kitchen and greeted Ellis, “Awake?”
“Mm,” Ellis nodded, watching Xi Tian pour the water from the glass into the sink, then instinctively take out the kettle from the side and start heating water.
Xi Tian walked over to Ellis and noticed he was barefoot. “Why aren’t you wearing slippers?”
“Too hot.”
“Really? I find them fine,” Xi Tian said, looking down at his own fuzzy slippers. “The flip-flops are on the bottom layer of the shoe cabinet; you can go find them and wear them.”
Ellis indeed went to find his slippers and put them on. The dusty scenes from the battlefield did not cure his cleanliness obsession; instead, there were signs it had intensified.
Ellis clearly questioned the recent scene, “Why did you pour out the water?”
“You can’t drink it!” Xi Tian replied matter-of-factly.
“Why can’t you drink it?”
“The temperature was too cold; it wouldn’t be comfortable to drink.”
The kettle soon buzzed, signaling the water had boiled.
In a short time, Xi Tian had clearly only filled the kettle with a small amount of water.
Xi Tian picked up the kettle, poured the boiling water into a cup, steam rising vigorously from the cup. He quickly screwed on the lid, blocked the sink with it, turned on the tap, filled it with water, and carried the now scalding cup, tied with a strap from the inside out, into the sink, his face serious as he stared at the terminal.
Ellis watched with curiosity and approached to adjust the angle slightly, observing that Xi Tian was timing something.
What kind of operation was this?
Xi Tian explained, “This way, the hot water cools down faster. Three and a half minutes is just the right temperature I want.”
“Uh…” Ellis didn’t know what to say. In the past, he would have complimented him a bit, but now he couldn’t say a word.
Three and a half minutes passed quickly. Xi Tian hooked his index finger into the strap and pulled the cup out of the water. “If you’re hungry, you can order takeout first, or check the fridge for something you like. I asked the doctor, and he said you shouldn’t be hungry.”
Ellis paused visibly, saying, “Okay.”
He took a few steps, thought of something, and stopped again. “If you’re bored, you can come to the study and watch a movie. I bought headphones when I came back. Before, because I was the only one using them, I never thought about using headphones.”
Xi Tian was Xi Tian. Despite his gentle personality and lack of arrogance in his words, this did not change the fact that he was Xi Tian.
The longer they spent together, the more Ellis could see that Xi Tian also had the independent spirit typical of males.
He did what he wanted to do and didn’t care about what others thought.
During the war, several sleepless nights replayed snippets of life in his mind.
Xi Tian was much better than other male zergs, but since they moved in together, his independent spirit was evident everywhere.
He had decided on the location and purchase of this house entirely on his own, including the allocation of rooms and the placement of home terminals, without ever asking Ellis’s opinion.
Even in the morning, Xi Tian had taken a photo with the nurse, as he wanted, then immediately followed the nurse out as he went to ask the doctor, without saying a word to him.
Ellis knew that this experience of life and death in the war had changed many of his thoughts. Faced with life and death, those little entanglements he had with Xi Tian before were not enough. Instead, he began to find problems not only with himself but also “crossed boundaries” to find problems with Xi Tian.
The reason it’s considered crossing boundaries is that in etiquette class, females are often taught to “find the problem in themselves when something goes wrong,” encouraging self-reflection.
However, even though Ellis thought about these things, he didn’t plan to say anything about it.
Better to let sleeping dogs lie; Xi Tian was already good enough, he should be content.
Finally, Ellis found some high-sugar fruits from the fridge, sat obediently opposite the home terminal, wearing headphones, nibbling on the fruit.
He wanted to wait for Xi Tian to eat together.
Xi Tian draped one of the two blankets over Ellis.
Having seen enough blood and gore, he didn’t want to watch visually stimulating films anymore; he just wanted something light and soothing.
He found an interesting title on the recommendation list, unexpectedly a female paired with a sub-female, but thankfully the characters and storyline were great. Ellis was absorbed for over an hour, completely immersed in it.
Xi Tian sat down beside him, still wrapped in his blanket. Ellis, feeling too warm, used it as a cushion underneath.
Xi Tian handed him several sheets of paper, which Ellis looked at with emotion, his eyes slightly red.
“What’s this…?” Ellis tried to suppress his emotions, looking skeptically at the papers in his hands.
“Wedding planning steps.”
“Oh, a wedding,” Ellis repeated, then suddenly became serious, “A wedding??”
“According to the original plan, we should have been husbands by now. Now that you’re back, we naturally need to put this on the agenda. Before you came back, I thought of several plans, but none felt as right as the one that came to me when I saw you.”
The papers were five pages long, all handwritten, detailing the wedding preparations, ceremony procedures, and even sketches of the wedding venue layout.
A warmth spread through Ellis’s entire body, dispelling the unreal feeling he had since returning to Zerg star.
“We… we’re getting married?”
Ellis lowered his head, rubbing his forehead, trying not to let the emotionally stimulating feelings overwhelm him.
Xi Tian stretched his arms, embraced him, smiling warmly, “We are getting married.”
“Take a look and tell me if there’s anything you’re not comfortable with,” Xi Tian pointed at the papers.
“It’s… it’s all good.”
Ellis bit his lip, hands clenched into fists pressed against his mouth.
He hastily flipped through the papers, but the words on them just couldn’t read smoothly.
Ellis regretted why he blamed Xi Tian for not asking his opinion. Clearly, during their courtship, engagement, and even their first time together, Xi Tian always asked for his opinion, taking care of his emotions.
“At this time, you must be hungry. I’ll order takeout.”
Xi Tian was about to get up, but Ellis grabbed the hem of his clothes, preventing him from getting up.
“Male lord, hold me for a while,” Ellis’s voice was low, “I want to hug you.”
Xi Tian sat back down and embraced him.
After a while, Xi Tian ordered takeout, and at the dinner table, Ellis told Xi Tian about his experiences on the battlefield one by one.
This included losing his friend Angie, returning to zerg star because of the inclusion of a male zerg in the team, and finally Owen choosing to stay on H612.
At night, they embraced each other to sleep, just like they used to.
Author’s note:
This chapter describes Ellis’s visual description of Xi Tian’s problems and Ellis’s own issues. If things continue smoothly, they are okay as partners, but they won’t be soulmates who truly fit each other.