After Becoming an Alpha, I Became a Charmer (GL) - Chapter 32.2

Xia Zhiyu yawned. Her mind hadn’t caught up, but her fingers were already moving. She replied lazily with two words.

XiaZhiyu: Yes, we did.

SongYourui: ???

PangJingyi: !!!

JingYan: Really???!!!

XiaZhiyu: Don’t get the wrong idea. We just accidentally wore the same robe.

SongYourui: Ooh, wow~ She wore it, and then you wore it right after? You two are experts.

JingYan: More than us real couples.

PangJingyi: I’m humbled [Fist emoji].

XiaZhiyu: It’s not that dramatic. It really was just an accident. But accidents bring unexpected good fortune. Ruan Ruan personally made breakfast today~

SongYourui: Personally made it~

JingYan: Personally~

PangJingyi: Ruan Ruan made it~

Xia Zhiyu hadn’t noticed anything wrong yet and continued to show off proudly.

XiaZhiyu: Ruan Ruan’s cooking is the best in the world. I could eat it for a lifetime.

SongYourui: Tsk, tsk, tsk. Then why don’t you get together with Ruan Ruan? If you’re together, you can eat it for a lifetime~

Song Yourui was thrilled. She sent the leading message, waiting to see how Xia Zhiyu would reply.

But before Xia Zhiyu could send her reply, Ruan Wu saw the messages.

RuanWu: Shut up.

Ruan Wu worked in the study for a while. Her feelings were indescribable when she picked up her phone and saw the WeChat messages Xia Zhiyu had sent in the group chat.

She immediately left the study and found Xia Zhiyu in the living room. She snatched her phone and quickly deleted the message Xia Zhiyu was about to send: “I also want to be with Ruan Ruan forever, but Ruan Ruan definitely won’t agree.”

Xia Zhiyu’s feelings for her absolutely could not be made public, or their friendship would be ruined.

“Ruan Ruan? Why did you come out?” Xia Zhiyu got up from the sofa. Her eyes were watery with sleepiness, and her eyelids were half-closed. She clearly hadn’t woken up fully.

No wonder she suddenly sent out the details of last night.

Ruan Wu looked at Xia Zhiyu, her face slightly embarrassed. So Xia Zhiyu already knew that I mistakenly gave her the wrong robe, and that I made her breakfast because of the robe incident.

“I’ll keep your phone for now. If you’re tired, go to sleep.”

Xia Zhiyu nodded obediently. “I slept for a while in the living room, but I seem to be even more tired now.”

Ruan Wu supported the unsteady Xia Zhiyu. “I’ll take you to the bedroom.”

“You went to sleep after midnight last night and woke up past eight this morning. You should have slept for at least seven hours. Why do you look more tired than me, who only slept for six hours?”

Xia Zhiyu leaned gently against her. “Because I had insomnia last night.”

“Insomnia? Why…” Ruan Wu suddenly stopped. Her intuition told her that Xia Zhiyu’s answer was something she definitely did not want to hear.

“I couldn’t sleep because I was thinking of you.” Xia Zhiyu still said it.

Ruan Wu’s ears turned red, but she remained calm on the surface. “Stop. No need to say it. I know you say crazy things when you’re sleepy.”

Ruan Wu helped Xia Zhiyu lie down in bed and covered her with the blanket. Seeing that Xia Zhiyu had already closed her eyes, Ruan Wu prepared to leave.

Unexpectedly, as she stood up, Xia Zhiyu grabbed her hand.

The woman, with watery eyes, asked her in a low voice, “Ruan Ruan, aren’t you going to sleep with me?”

Ruan Wu clearly heard her heart pound twice.

Her instincts told her that the current situation was very dangerous and that she needed to leave quickly. However, looking at Xia Zhiyu’s eyes, her lips moved, and she said, “Close your eyes. I’ll leave after you fall asleep.”

Ruan Wu felt like she was going crazy watching Xia Zhiyu obediently close her eyes.

After confirming Xia Zhiyu was asleep, Ruan Wu pulled her hand back and took Xia Zhiyu’s phone from the bedside table, deleting the messages Xia Zhiyu had sent in the group chat.

She was gambling that the sleep-deprived Xia Zhiyu would not remember what she had done.

Xia Zhiyu slept until nearly 1 p.m. When she woke up, she felt a sense of disorientation. She picked up the phone from the bedside table and checked the time, confirming it was the afternoon, not the evening.

Xia Zhiyu got out of bed, her body still weak. She went to the washroom to splash water on her face to wake up.

After waking up, Xia Zhiyu tried to recall what happened before she fell asleep. She didn’t remember how she got back to the bedroom at all. She thought for a long time. The last memory she had was lying on the living room sofa and checking the messages in the [Dating Training Camp] group chat. She had no memory of anything after that.

Xia Zhiyu washed her face and came out. She opened WeChat to see if she had replied in the group chat. She remembered being suddenly driven by a competitive spirit after seeing the messages and feeling like, even as a fake couple, they couldn’t lose to the three real couples.

The group chat messages stopped at Jing Yan @-ing her and Ruan Wu to come out and dispel the rumor. There were no other messages after that.

Would Song Yourui and the others give up that easily? Did they really stop chatting after no one replied to them?

Xia Zhiyu instinctively felt something was strange, but she didn’t dwell on the oddity.

She took her phone and left the bedroom to find Ruan Wu. It was already this late. Ruan Wu should have called her for lunch. Why hadn’t she called today?

Was she still working and forgot the time?

The bedroom was close to the study. Xia Zhiyu went to the study first, but finding no one there, she walked toward the living room in surprise.

No one was in the living room either, but the sound of someone cooking and stir-frying came from the kitchen.

Xia Zhiyu’s steps paused. Ruan Wu is cooking lunch?

Ever since she woke up yesterday and accidentally discovered Ruan Wu would spontaneously hug her in her sleep, Xia Zhiyu had been suspicious of Ruan Wu’s reason for making her breakfast on the first day she moved in. She had thought it was a surprise treat, but now, seeing Ruan Wu making breakfast again today (after the wrong robe incident), Xia Zhiyu guessed that Ruan Wu’s motivation for cooking was probably guilt.

Because she felt guilty, she chose to compensate with cooking.

So, why is Ruan Wu making her lunch now? What did she do this time? What could she have done in just a few hours that made her feel guilty?

Xia Zhiyu suddenly remembered the abrupt stop in the group chat messages.

Could it be related to that?

I must have said something inappropriate when my mind was hazy, and Ruan Wu deleted the evidence while I was sleeping.

Xia Zhiyu suppressed her curiosity and walked into the kitchen. Her tone was joyful. “Ruan Ruan, what a wonderful day! You’re personally making me lunch! I’m so lucky to wake up to delicious food.”

Ruan Wu’s body stiffened when she heard her voice. She felt relieved when she heard no anomaly in Xia Zhiyu’s voice, feeling that Xia Zhiyu probably didn’t remember what happened. Her body slowly relaxed.

“We just happen to have ingredients at home. It would be a waste to leave them,” Ruan Wu said, not turning back to look at Xia Zhiyu. Her voice was calm. “I just started cooking. Go wait in the living room first.”

Xia Zhiyu said, “Ruan Ruan, I just remembered I forgot to handle a work file, but I didn’t bring my laptop home. Can I use yours?”

Ruan Wu’s portable laptop contained relatively minor files. There was nothing she needed to hide from Xia Zhiyu, so she nodded in agreement immediately after Xia Zhiyu asked. “The laptop password is my birthday.”

“Okay. I’ll go to the study.” Xia Zhiyu finished speaking and left the kitchen. Ruan Wu looked back at her retreating figure and thought: Xia Zhiyu didn’t even ask what month or day my birthday is. She must have memorized it and carved it into her heart.

Xia Zhiyu went to the study, unlocked Ruan Wu’s laptop, connected her phone to the computer, and after some operations on the computer, the deleted chat history was easily recovered.

Xia Zhiyu quickly scanned the messages. Her cheeks flushed slightly. What was I doing? I was acting like a child showing off a piece of candy, bragging about what Ruan Wu did for me. I even revealed the incident about the wrong robe. No wonder Ruan Wu had to delete those messages.

After reading the deleted messages, Xia Zhiyu vaguely remembered some things.

She remembered typing a message after Song Yourui suggested she and Ruan Wu stay together.

That message wasn’t among the recovered chat logs. Ruan Wu must have stopped her and deleted the message before she could send it.

Xia Zhiyu couldn’t recall the exact message, but she could guess the general content.

It was probably something along the lines of agreeing with Song Yourui that she really wanted to be with Ruan Wu forever.

She wondered what Ruan Wu’s expression was like when she saw that message.

Xia Zhiyu disconnected her phone from the computer, removed all traces of her use, logged out of her company email to handle the one email she had left to check on Monday, logged out, shut down the computer, and returned to the living room.

Xia Zhiyu guessed that Ruan Wu had already told Song Yourui and the others about deleting her chat history, or it would be too suspicious. However, she needed to test them.

Xia Zhiyu opened the group chat.

XiaZhiyu: I was really tired this morning. I fell asleep after reading your messages and didn’t have time to reply.

XiaZhiyu: But Ruan Ruan and I are genuinely just sleeping on the same bed (Shy). I don’t care about the rumors, but Ruan Ruan must feel embarrassed. See? She hasn’t wanted to reply to you all this time.

Song Yourui and the others suddenly saw Xia Zhiyu’s message. They realized that Ruan Wu was right and Xia Zhiyu didn’t remember the morning’s events. They immediately rushed to their private group chat to discuss how to reply without giving anything away.

SongYourui: It would be strange if the group chat suddenly went silent. We need to come up with a good excuse.

PangJingyi: Xia Xia’s message isn’t the problem. That’s normal between good friends. But Ruan Ruan secretly deleting the messages isn’t normal.

JingYan: Of course, it’s not normal. Ruan Ruan’s feelings for Zhiyu are clearly not just friendship. She’s just deceiving herself.

SongYourui: The most important thing now is to determine what Zhiyu’s true feelings for Ruan Ruan are. It would be bad if her secret crush isn’t Ruan Ruan.

JingYan: We should find a chance to talk to her about it when we go out next month.

PangJingyi: Why don’t we just talk on WeChat? Why face-to-face?

SongYourui: If we talk in the group chat, Ruan Ruan will see it and stop us. It would also be strange to ask her such private matters in a private message. Only by meeting her in person and seizing the opportunity to ask can Ruan Ruan not stop us, and it won’t seem weird.

PangJingyi: [Thumbs-up] I would never have thought of this. You’re the smart one.

I always say what’s on my mind. Being too direct can certainly make things awkward sometimes.

Song Yourui was the first to come up with an excuse.

SongYourui: It’s okay. Ruan Ruan isn’t really angry. She just didn’t want to deal with our boring chatter because she was busy working. We’re all used to it.

SongYourui: Then I went out for a walk with my husband and forgot we were even chatting in the group. I don’t know why everyone suddenly stopped talking.

PangJingyi: Hahaha, Jiang Xue and I were watching a horror movie while chatting. I was a bit scared, so I chatted with you to distract myself. Then Jiang Xue hugged me, and when I wasn’t scared anymore, I stopped chatting.

JingYan: I also accidentally fell asleep. But unlike Zhiyu, I was tired because my boyfriend and I did something naughty last night. [Blush]

SongYourui: Wow~ As expected of a couple who is about to get married. I’m so envious.

PangJingyi: Envious, envious.

The three of them cooperated seamlessly. If Xia Zhiyu hadn’t seen the complete chat log, she would have believed them.

XiaZhiyu: I, the single one, should be the most envious.

XiaZhiyu: Thank you so much, Ruan Ruan, for giving me a chance to pretend to be a couple. It let me truly experience what dating feels like.

SongYourui: Ruan Ruan is so soft-hearted and kind. That’s why she has so many admirers. Speaking of which, Zhiyu, you’re great too. I told my husband yesterday that it would be great if you and Ruan Ruan were a real couple. What’s the fandom term for it? Shipping a couple. You and Ruan Ruan would be a wonderful couple to ship.

The truth is, Ruan Wu is only soft-hearted and kind to Xia Zhiyu, and no other Alpha.

XiaZhiyu: Ah, I can’t chat with you anymore. Ruan Ruan is cooking. I’m going to check if it’s ready.

Xia Zhiyu could tell that Ruan Wu didn’t like them discussing this hypothetical relationship in the group chat. Thinking about it, Xia Zhiyu could sympathize. Ruan Wu never planned to date. Agreeing to the charade with her was already a big concession.

Ruan Wu was already so good to her. She should be careful and not put Ruan Wu in an awkward position.

Xia Zhiyu walked into the kitchen. Ruan Wu had just finished the last dish.

Xia Zhiyu walked over. “I’ll serve the dishes. You go to the dining area and wait for me.”

Ruan Wu said, “We’ll do it together. It’s just serving dishes.”

“Okay, whatever you say,” Xia Zhiyu replied.

Ruan Wu was surprised, hearing a hint of spoiling in her tone. She glanced at Xia Zhiyu.

The two carried the dishes out together. Xia Zhiyu said, “I won’t talk nonsense in the group chat anymore.”

Ruan Wu’s heart skipped a beat. Her mind went blank for a second.

She thought Xia Zhiyu had discovered she deleted the chat history.

Just as Ruan Wu panicked, Xia Zhiyu continued, “Your friends are real couples. We’re just pretending to be a couple. We shouldn’t take it too seriously. We need to maintain a boundary, or it will cause trouble for both of us. Don’t you think?”

Ruan Wu knew Xia Zhiyu meant she was afraid of causing trouble for Ruan Wu. Ruan Wu was indeed worried, but she was worried about hurting Xia Zhiyu, which was completely different from what Xia Zhiyu thought.

“Are you…” Ruan Wu hesitated, debating whether to ask her directly.

Xia Zhiyu sat down and smiled at her. “I only realized it when you didn’t reply in the group chat. You didn’t tell me before because you were afraid of hurting my self-esteem, right? It’s okay. I care more about your mood. I’ll only be happy if you’re happy. After all, we agreed to be inseparable until Zhao Sheng and the others go to jail, and emotions are contagious.”

Ruan Wu heard every one of Xia Zhiyu’s sentences and thought she was about to confess at any moment.

Fortunately, she didn’t in the end. Ruan Wu felt relieved but also guilty. She could reciprocate the kindness of others, so she didn’t feel uncomfortable. But Xia Zhiyu was different. Xia Zhiyu only wanted Ruan Wu’s affection, and the only thing Ruan Wu couldn’t do was reciprocate her love.