"Men and women should have a proper distance between them," She pressed her palms on his chest and pushed him away.

His brown eyes stared at her intensely, "But we are friends, aren't we?" He asked, ever so innocently.

She opened her mouth to speak something but no words came out of her mouth.

"You said it's fine for friends to sleep together and it's perfectly normal. Remember?" He blinked.

It certainly sounded like something she said. She bit her bottom lips and thought back to the time when they were in Shanghai for his business trip.

Back then, they were not on speaking terms and he had taken the initiative to talk to her. They went to the terrace where he had informed her about his mother's disease and they talked about a lot of things.

They spent the whole night on the terrace, sharing the same blanket and she did not realize when she dozed off while looking at the stars.

The next morning when they woke up snuggled in each other's embrace, she was pretty casual about it and she had even said that it's common for friends to sleep together.

"But-"

"But what? Do you have something you want to say?" He raised an eyebrow and hugged her once again.

But that was what I said before we shared that mind-crashing heart-stopping crazily hot kiss. That was not what we were supposed to do.

She gulped her words looking into his curious eyes. It was better not to trigger his memories from last night. It was saving her from all the embarrassment she might have felt.

"It's nothing."

"So you agree with me, right? Friends should hug more often," Saying that, he once again stuffed her in his arms like a fluffy pillow.

Not being able to budge him with her strength she bit his chest.

Since he was not wearing a shirt, her teeth did work pretty well as his grip on her slightly loosened.

Taking advantage of the moment, she sat up on the bed and moved away from him, "We are no longer friends. You should remember it first," she scoffed and turned around to get off the bed.

A gasp escaped her lips when he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him in one swift move. She ended up lying on top of him. Her hair fell over his shoulder framing their faces like a sheer curtain as sunlight passed through the gaps between her tresses making them have a good look at each other in the sprinkling golden rays.

"Mei," He tucked the loose strands of her hair behind her ear and hugged her tightly before burying his face in her neck, "I have been living alone all this while...I don't remember how long it has been. But I have never once felt empty all these years, unlike these two months which made me feel like I have dropped a part of me somewhere. It was not my intention to hurt you but I ended up doing it anyway..." He let out a drawn breath.

She shivered at the sensation of his hot breath stroking the nape of her neck but for once, she did not struggle in his embrace.

She let him hold her as he wanted. Afterall...

It would be a big fat lie if she said she didn't miss him during this time.

She would be lying if she said she hadn't scribbled his name on her study desk absent-mindedly. She would be lying if she said that she hasn't missed complaining about every little bad thing that happened in her day to him and getting coaxed and pampered by him later.

She was not a professional liar so she would not bother trying to lie about these things that anyone around her could see. She did miss him. Not a little. But a lot.

"I wanted to come back to you within the first week itself but I had preponed all the work and I was stuck there. I've been thinking of you during the morning coffees, evening works," He let out another frustrated sigh, "Hell, you've been hovering on my every goddamned thought in between. I missed you so much. Forgive me this time, please?"

She chuckled as her eyes slightly teared up. She blinked rapidly, "What if I don't?" She sniffed near his shoulder blade.

He paused, "Mei, you can't be so stingy. Just this once. Let's go back to how we were, okay?" His deep voice had a hint of affection and doting in it.

As he was raising his hand to stroke her back, his fingers grazed past her waist and the woman in his embrace burst out laughing.

"T-That tickles," She rolled down from his embrace.

His gaze flashed at the sudden discovery he made.

She held the blanket trying to cover her body properly but it had only reached her thighs when he quickly held both her hands before pinning them above her head.

Her eyes widened as she looked through the evil intentions in his eyes, "You can't be thinking of doing that," She muttered through gritted teeth.

"Doing what?" Jun Zixuan smiled as his gaze roamed towards her curvy waist, His finger drew a straight line causing her body to arch up, "This?" He asked while his pace increased as he drew small irregulars shapes on her waist through the flimsy robe she had donned, "Or this?"

"N-No...Hahaha..." Tears rolled down from the corner of her eyes as he continued tickling her, "Zi-Zixuan, you...Hahaha...Stop."

The corner of his lips tugged up as he watched her smiling and laughing like crazy.

"Hahahaha...F-Fine...I.." She panted, "I forgive you-" She breathed out, and finally, the man stopped, getting what he wanted.

Forgiving him was not difficult. Not after what she came to realize a few days ago.

"You are crazy," She mumbled, sitting on the bed as she patted her chest and adjusted the sleeves of her satin robe, "And stubborn."

He chuckled, pinching the tip of her nose, "Less than you."

She swatted away his hand, wiping the tear from the corner of her eyes. Her stomach was still hurting from all that tickling.

'Knock Knock'