sleepless cinderella ☆ d.sc | ✔

04

"Bye."

After hanging up, you started down at your phone screen, blinking blankly.

"Did I hear that correct?" Yukhei cut in. "Are you staying the night at Sicheng's?"

"Guess so," you sighed, turning your phone back off. "You know, in the guest room, or on the couch, or whatever."

"Right."

☆

You thumbed the doorbell again, wondering what was taking Sicheng so long. He'd texted you his address as well as letting you know that he was home after filming took a little longer than expected. And yet you'd been standing in front of the door to his condo for five minutes. The bag on your shoulder was starting to feel uncomfortably heavy as you readjusted it impatiently.

Right as you were about to ring the doorbell for probably the fourth time, you heard the sound of the locking mechanism clicking and shifting. The door was swung open by a disheveled-looking Sicheng.

"Are you done?" He arched an eyebrow up and under the messy fringe falling over his face. There were distinct bags under his eyes, and you swore there was a line of dried drool trailing down the side of his mouth.

"Oh," you retracted your hand from the doorbell. "Yeah."

Sicheng stepped back from the door, opening it wider for you. With eyes already scanning the interior, you gratefully stepped into his home. It was a large condo, one of the only two on this floor of the building. Meaning that it was probably three times as big as your own apartment. And judging by the stairs behind the living room, he had a second story too.

All the furnishings were modern and probably no more than a couple years old. The glimpse of his kitchen that you got showed sleek stainless-steel appliances, stunning marble countertops, and deep brown cabinets.

You followed him into the living room, where you were greeted by furniture almost as lavish and plush as those in the VIP lounge. But a little more practical, as you found yourself less terrified of getting your shoes and drinks anywhere near it.

Sicheng stopped at the beginnings of a hallway coming off the living room. He opened the door to one of the rooms, gesturing you in, "This is one of the guest rooms. You can set your stuff down, settle in. I'll have dinner ready in a few minutes."

And with that, he left you.

You stepped into the room. It was a nice room, not too fancy, but definitely nicer than yours back in your own apartment.

Placing your bag down on the bed, you decided to take out some of your toiletries and put them in the bathroom. You assumed that the other door in your room that wasn't the open closet door must be the bathroom.

You were correct, and left your things in there. Returning to the bedroom, you sat down on the bed. Then flopped back onto it. As you stared up at the ceiling, you let out a deep breath.

You were really going to stay the night at Dong Sicheng's place, huh?

When you wandered back out to the kitchen, you saw Sicheng at the stovetop, pouring out portions of noodles and broth.

"Were you cooking or napping when I arrived?" You questioned.

He startled just a little before glancing at you over his shoulder, "Cooking."

"Then why do you have dried drool on your face?"

He quickly went to rub at his chin and around his mouth, muttering, "Maybe I took a short nap."

Sicheng turned the stove off and grabbed both bowls. He nodded towards the kitchen table for you to sit down, then set your own bowl down in front of you. Utensils were already placed, and you waited patiently for Sicheng to sit down.

He didn't yet, returning to the cabinets to grab a couple glasses.

"What do you want to drink? I've got water, chardonnay, if you really want, and chocolate milk."

The contrast of chardonnay and chocolate milk was funny to you, and you answered with some amusement, "Just water, please."

He filled up both glasses with water, placing one in front of you, and one in front of his own seat catty corner to yours. As he sat down, his face held mild confusion when your expectant gaze was still on him.

"Why aren't you eating?"

"I was waiting for you?" You replied with similar confusion. "Why is that weird for you?"

"I don't know, I guess I just haven't eaten with someone like this in a while."

Despite his words rocketing through your brain, he simply shrugged and picked up his spoon.

With that, the two of you began eating in near perfect silence. You were overflowing with questions, but none of them were really related to your article. Most of them just focused on what the hell was happening. You two were having a sleepover, and it didn't feel that weird.

Sicheng finished his bowl before you, sitting back in his chair as he patiently waited for you to finish your own. You were out of noodles, and just had a few more sips of broth.

After you'd drained the broth and brought your bowl back down from your lips, you glanced over at Sicheng. He had a small smirk on his face as he watched you, and you rolled your eyes.

Thinking that he was amused—or maybe disgusted—by your drinking the broth, you exclaimed, "You just did that too!"

"But I didn't have soup dribbling down my chin," he snickered as he stood up and started clearing the table.

You wiped at your face with your napkin, slightly embarrassed, "At least it wasn't drool."

"Are you going to put that in the article or something?"

"Maybe," you teased. "I will... at least never let you live it down."

"Great," he shook his head as he cleaned the bowls and utensils.

You briefly glanced at the time, a little after nine. Sicheng shut off the faucet and turned back to you, clasping his hands together in front of him.

"I know you want to continue the interview, but I really want to catch up on a show."

At his sheepish request, you couldn't help but smile a little, "That's okay, I have a little bit of work to do."

His own grin flashed across his face for a moment before he went to lead the way to the living room. You fetched your laptop from your guest room before moving back out to the living room. Could you do your work in your room? Sure, but for some reason you wanted to stay in proximity to Sicheng. You were sure it was just awkwardness with being in someone's house for the first time.

As you organized some notes, replied to an email from your professor, and scrolled down social media occasionally, Sicheng was absorbed in his show. It was some crime drama that you were pretty sure Xuanyi watched, but you knew hardly nothing about. You didn't know enough to even keep up with the couple episodes he watched, giving up after your first few attempts to try to process what was happening.

You guessed that Sicheng had gotten caught up, or tired, as he exited out of the streaming service and stood up with a yawn. Between episodes, he had gotten the both of you a cup of tea, and now grabbed his empty one as well.

"Alright, sleep sounds fantastic to me," he declared, cracking his back as well.

"Oh uhm, would you mind if I stayed out here for a little longer?" You requested somewhat self-consciously, looking between him and your laptop screen. "I'll mute the TV, and wash my cup when I'm done."

Sicheng seemed hesitant, but agreed anyway, "Sure, I guess. Don't crash out here, okay? The sun will come through those windows directly on your face and wake you up at like 6 in the morning."

"Okay, thanks."

With a short nod, Sicheng turned down the lights a little before departing from the living room, leaving you to your own devices.