Chapter 241 - Huff...Huff...

"Huff... Huff... Huff..." 

The sound of panting reverberated through the gym room. 

Pap!

Pap!

Pap!

The only other sound accompanying the sound of panting was the sound of heavy footsteps running across a surface. 

Han Ye glanced at the monitor of the treadmill as he continued to run at 15 kilometers per hour. 

"5 more minutes to one hour," he thought as he focused on running. Perhaps it was because he had been too busy and had been neglecting his exercise schedule, but his stamina had dropped quite a bit. This used to be easy for him to complete, but for some reason, his legs felt heavy, like there were bricks tied to them. 

5 minutes later, Han Ye groaned when the speed of the treadmill gradually slowed down to a brisk pace. 

"Oh my God! Someone please kill me..." he murmured as he placed both his hands on the sides of the treadmill to stable himself. His heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest, and he was pretty sure that his lungs were dead. And so were his legs. 

After another 5 minutes of a brisk walk, Han Ye pressed the "STOP" button and got down from the treadmill. It was already quite late at night, so there were only a few people at the gym, which was part of the facilities provided by the apartment. 

Han Ye did some warm down exercises as he thought about what Xiao Lei told him earlier. He had texted Luo Guangying and Callum earlier to ask for a lunch meetup tomorrow. He hoped that those two would be free to talk tomorrow. Otherwise, Han Ye would not have any other free time.  

Han Ye had to do the preparation work for the grave visit next visit. Besides, he had to contact Wu Yuexue's parents and convince them to come to the ceremony. After all, this would be the official day their daughter would be placed at the columbarium. 

After their retirements, Wu Yuexue's parents migrated overseas a few years back. Han Ye had been trying to call them, but they avoided his calls. He had sent them letters and emails, but they never responded to it as well.

DX had told him to ignore Wu Yuexue's parents, but Han Ye felt that, regardless of what they thought of him, he was still their son-in-law, and they were still his parents-in-law. As such, he should still be filial piety toward them. If not for himself, he should do it on behalf of Wu Yuexue.   

Once Han Ye was done with his warm down exercises, he went to check his phone. "Ah, a message," he thought. 

It was a message from Luo Guangying. 

[I'll come and pick you and Callum up for lunch tomorrow.]

Han Ye quickly typed back a reply before putting the phone back into his pocket. As he walked back to his unit, he wondered if he should rearrange his timetables for next week. Before he knew it, he was standing in front of his unit. 

Beep!

Han Ye frowned when the keypad lock beeped and the words "Error - 2 more tries" popped up on the small screen. "Did I press the wrong number?" 

He tried again. 

Beep!

Han Ye sighed. "Did the machine break down?"

He read the words "Error - 1 more try" on the small screen and contemplated whether to try again. "Did Zihan change the password again?" he murmured softly. It wasn't impossible for Lu Zihan to change the password, but there was no reason for him to change now, and if he did change, he would have said something in their group chat. 

Han Ye did not want to try again because it would be a hassle 

Han Ye glanced at his Garmin sports watch. "It's late. Should I knock?" he thought. He did not bring his keys out since he was just going to the gym. 

He eventually decided to just give Lu Zihan a call since he was worried that An Xin might be there. As he was about to make a call, the door was opened. 

"Oh, great. I was about to-" He did not manage to say anything because he was shocked to see the person standing in front of him. What was weirder was that she was in a pair of simple shorts and a t-shirt with "Imperial High School" written on it.

"What are you doing at my place?" he asked with a curious expression. 

"More like, what are you doing standing in front of my place?" Xiao Lei asked with a raised eyebrow. She was about to sleep when she heard the first beep and decided to check it out. She then saw Han Ye, who was dressed in a sweat-stained NIKE shirt, through the peephole.

She was going to open the door then, but she decided that it would be much more fun to watch him make a mistake. Unfortunately, he seemed to hesitate after the second one, and when she saw him pulling out his phone, she knew it was time for her to open the door. 

"What do you-" Han Ye saw the inside of the house and his eyes went slightly wider. He then took a step further and looked higher, where the number plate was. "Oh. Ohhh... Sorry. Did I wake you?"

"Yes," she said shamelessly. "I was having a great dream, only to be interrupted." 

"You heard the beep?" 

"Of course. It's so loud." 

Han Ye raised a brow. "That..." 

He wanted to say something, but in the end, he decided against it. He scratched the back of his head awkwardly as he tried to think of what to say.

"I will-" Han Ye said.

"Do you-" Xiao Lei said at the same time. 

Both of them were about to say something, but they stopped when they heard the others. After a moment of awkward silence, Xiao Lei broke the silence.

"Do you need help to get back to your own unit?" 

Han Ye blinked stupidly and shook his head. "I guess I was too tired after that gym session and didn't notice that I was standing in front of your door." 

"Erm, alright." 

"I'll see you at the office tomorrow morning?" Han Ye said.  

"Yeah," Xiao Lei said. Han Ye would be going to work at 6 a.m. tomorrow to prepare for a meeting at 8 a.m., but he told Xiao Lei that he did not need her there. She then shook her head and said, "I have to take Zhihao to school in the morning." 

"I thought he's taking a few more days off?" 

"We had a talk earlier. Well, he talked, I listened. He wanted to go back to school and go back to his normal life." She sighed and continued, "And I feel like it would be good for him to go back as well. The faster he's back to his normal schedule, the better it would be for him. I don't want him to keep thinking about it. And at his school, there's a counselor as well, which I hope can help him." 

Han Ye nodded. He agreed that it would not be good for Xiao Zhihao to remain at home for a long time. "Alright then. I'll send a message to HR."

"Thanks." 

"K. Bye." Xiao Lei closed the door behind him before thinking, "Maybe I shouldn't have slammed the door on my boss' face." 

She looked through the peephole. Thankfully, he was gone. As she walked back to her bedroom, she sighed loudly and mumbled, "Is it going to be weird between us from now on?" 

Xiao Lei did not notice that Xiao Zhihao's bedroom door was ajar, and he overheard what she was mumbling to herself earlier. If she did, she would have seen the look of anger in his face. 

....