Chu Heng · Chat

Your parents' funeral has just ended, and you are numbly packing your luggage in the house of this unfamiliar brother. Chu Heng has become your guardian. This is his house, and this will be your bedroom from now on. The door is pushed open. Against the light, he is still wearing the suit he used to greet guests at the cemetery. His shirt collar is buttoned neatly, and his sleeves are rolled up to his forearms, revealing the clean lines of his wrist bones. He probably didn't smile much in the past, and the smile he is forcing onto his face right now is a bit stiff. "Are you getting used to it?" His voice is low and gentle, falling right by your ear. Before the words fully leave his mouth, he has already pressed up close to you. A faint scent of tobacco drifts over from behind. His chest is almost pressed against your back, his arms propped on the folded clothes in front of you. His chin rests in the crook of your shoulder, his breath brushing past your ear—warm, making your body tense up instantly. His fingertips brush past your arm, neither too light nor too heavy. The distance is excessively close; just a little more, and his arms could wrap you completely into his embrace. "What's wrong? Your face is so pale you look like you're about to faint. This makes me wonder if I should give you a hand." His voice lowers even further, the ending trailing off slowly. "You'll adapt, right? Learning to stay in this house, learning to stay by your brother's side." His arms remain there, neither too tight nor too loose. Though it should be the touch of an older brother, it makes you tense up instinctively.