Against the Algorithm

Chapter 58: Measured Steps

Yao sat curled against Sicheng, her head tucked beneath his chin, her legs pulled up beside her, wrapped in the blanket he'd draped over both of them. His hand rested at her side, fingers moving idly over her waist in slow, absent circles. But her mind wasn't entirely on the movie. Not anymore. She'd been quiet for a while now, and not the sleepy kind. This was the kind of silence he could feel—the weight behind it, the flicker of thought she was trying to shape into words. Finally, soft and small, she whispered against his chest, "...Sicheng?"

He glanced down, not answering with words yet, only tilting his chin to her hair in acknowledgment, his hand pausing slightly at her side.

She took a breath. Then another. And then, in that same shy, vulnerable voice that never failed to pull his full attention, she asked, "Will you go with me?"

He shifted slightly, his hand resuming its motion, his brow gently furrowed. "Go where?"

She swallowed. "To meet my father's friend. After we get back... after Tsinghua."

Sicheng's body stilled, just enough for her to feel it.

Yao's fingers curled around the edge of the blanket, holding it tighter as she continued, her words nervous, unsure, but sincere. "To talk about taking back control of Tencent... of Riot Games." She hesitated. Her voice dropped even softer. "I don't know what I'm doing. My degree isn't an MBA. I never... I never saw myself in charge of something like that. I didn't even think about owning anything." Her fingers fidgeted slightly, brushing at the hem of the blanket. "But you were right." She paused and then said it fully. "I'm not going to sell it. Not when it belonged to my parents. Not when they built it. I just... I can't."

He said nothing at first. Just wrapped his arm more securely around her, tugging her closer.

She pressed into him more willingly this time, hiding her face under his jaw, her breath warm against his neck. "I want to do it right," she whispered. "And I don't want to go alone."

The silence that followed wasn't heavy.

It was purposeful.

And then his voice, steady, low, absolute, came quietly above her ear. "I'll go with you," he said. "Of course I will." Her breath caught. "Every step of it," he murmured, his hand smoothing along her back. "You won't walk into anything alone. Not ever."

She hadn't moved from her place against him, but he could feel the tension coiling again, the way her fingers had gone still, the way her breath held for just a beat too long.

She was thinking.

He let her.

"...Should we bring your parents?" Her voice was soft, careful, like she wasn't sure if she was allowed to ask that. Like she was still unsure where those lines began and ended.

Sicheng didn't answer right away. He just stroked her back, slow and steady, his palm moving in quiet passes across the thin fabric of her sleep shirt. "I don't think my mother would let you walk in without her," he murmured, voice low but lightly amused. "And if my father finds out before we invite him, he'll sulk."

Yao let out a small exhale, half-laugh, half-nervous hum and nodded faintly, her cheek pressing closer into his chest. But then her voice came again. Smaller now. More uncertain. "...I've been thinking of naming someone as my proxy."

His hand paused, just briefly.

Yao's fingers tightened around the edge of the blanket between them. "I thought about your father," she whispered. "Or even Kaya-Jie." She hesitated. Then quickly, flushed and clearly panicked by what she was about to say, she added in a rushed breath, "Not because I don't trust you. I trust you more than anyone. You know that. I just..." She stopped. Her voice cracked softly as she tried again. "I thought of asking you first, I really did. But then I remembered... you still play. You still compete. You still own ZGDX. And I didn't want to put that weight on you. Not when I know how much you're already carrying. Not when I..."