Capturing My Demon King Costar

MY COSTAR DOESN'T CARE

There's nothing Yao Shen can say to defend himself in the face of Xin Hulei's words.

"Well, I said what I had to say."

He rummages through his shorts and gives Xin Hulei the clay vial with Yan Shuyi's memories.

"Can you take me back to my apartment now?"

He feels Xin Hulei's warm touch on his shoulder, but doesn't look up into his face. Moments later, the dimly lit backroom is replaced by his dimly lit living room.

He steps away from Xin Hulei. "Thank you."

Xin Hulei remains silent, but even his silence feels to Yao Shen like admonishment.

"Even if you don't want to talk with me again, I'm still going to find a way to remove your seal."

He turns away from Xin Hulei, walking towards his bedroom. "Excuse me for not seeing you to the door, I don't think you want to, anyway." A small petty part of Yao Shen wants to add that it's not as if Xin Hulei needed permission to get into his house.

He walks into his bedroom and closes the door behind him with a thud. Not waiting to see if Xin Hulei leaves.

After some time, his grumbling stomach forces him to get out of bed.

He peers out his bedroom door, but as expected Xin Hulei is nowhere to be seen. Yao Shen tries to convince himself he's not disappointed.

He makes a quick instant noodle dinner for himself. It's bland and unappetizing, but he doubts that even the best of Xin Hulei's dishes would have tasted good at the moment.

After his lukewarm dinner he takes a bath and then climbs into bed.

Despite how tired he feels, he knows sleep won't come easily.

Tired of turning and twisting in bed, he picks up his phone from the nightstand. One of the reasons he came back was to check if Bi Jialu or anyone else had gotten in touch with him because of work.

He has no new messages from Bi Jialu, but several unread ones from Xin Hulei. All dated from early in the day.

[Xin Hulei: Jincan and Heimao are very annoying]

[Xin Hulei: I wish you were here, at least you would distract Jincan]

[Xin Hulei: you aren't replying, busy?]

[Xin Hulei: Is everything alright?]

Seeing the messages spaced several hours apart makes Yao Shen's heart clench painfully. Xin Hulei clearly spent great part of his day worried about him.

[Xin Hulei: do you want to come over today?]

Yao Shen doubts Xin Hulei will be asking him that question again any time soon. The realization makes something sour climb up his throat.

[Xin Hulei: I'm worried about you, I'm coming over]

That's Xin Hulei's last message, afterwards he must have come over to Yao Shen's house and decided to wait for him, seeing as his mobile and all other belongings were still inside the apartment.

In the end it was Xin Hulei's concern for him that brought Yao Shen's house of lies tumbling down.

He could laugh at the irony. Instead he spends hours looking up at the water-stained ceiling until he eventually falls into a restless sleep.

---

The next day he considers going back to Youdu to try and find the Black and White Impermanences, but he barely has the strength to get out of bed, let alone handle something more strenuous.