54: Chapter 54 I want you

"Ningning, I haven't been in a relationship before. I don't know how to date. My work is dangerous, my hours aren't fixed, and I could be called out or get into an accident at any time."

"I can't give you a normal relationship. I can't be with you every day, I can't reply to messages immediately, and I might not even be able to be by your side on your birthday or our anniversaries."

"You are beautiful and smart; you could have better options. Do you really want to choose me? I want you to think it over carefully, and think it over under the assumption that The Apocalypse won't happen."

Xu Wanning replied directly, "I have thought it over."

He replied, "You haven't."

"Then how should I prove it to you?" Xu Wanning sighed. *Sigh, he still lacks a sense of security.*

"No need to prove it."

Lu Chengyue's words were contradictory, and Xu Wanning didn't know what he actually meant. "Then what do you want?"

"I want you to be safe, happy, and joyful, and not get hurt because of me."

She understood. He was worried that one day he would die first. Regardless of whether The Apocalypse comes or not, as a Firefighter, he would always be fighting on the front lines.

Especially with the government aware of it, they might be incorporated into the regular army and then stand on the front lines against zombies, with danger surrounding them at all times.

"Then what about you? What do you want?" Xu Wanning sent a voice message. She knew Lu Chengyue's unease, but she didn't want to miss out on this just like that.

Since they clearly liked each other, why worry about the future? At least if they had each other now, there would be no regrets.

This time, it took Lu Chengyue a long while to reply, still in text: "I want… you."

Xu Wanning's heart pounded wildly. *Great, I finally waited for it.*

But before she could reply, the message was retracted.

"I saw it," Xu Wanning quickly sent back.

"Saw what?" Lu Chengyue pretended to be dumb.

"I saw whatever it was you retracted." Playing dumb wouldn't work.

"Nothing." Lu Chengyue wouldn't admit it.

"You said you wanted me." Xu Wanning poked through it directly, not giving him a chance to shrink back into his hole.

"Your eyes are playing tricks on you." Standing on the parade ground, Lu Chengyue's face was exceptionally red. He hadn't expected himself to reply with such a message; it was too shameful, too explicit.

"Nope, I took a screenshot." Xu Wanning giggled foolishly and sent the screenshot over.

Lu Chengyue clenched his fists, at a loss, his face completely red. Fortunately, it was late at night, and no one could see. "Go to sleep."

Xu Wanning pressed her advantage, "If you said it, you have to admit it. A-Yue, are you blushing again right now?"

This was the first time she called him A-Yue. She didn't know how he would react, but she was looking forward to it.

After a short while, Lu Chengyue sent a voice message. When she clicked on it, there was a long sigh, followed by the sentence, "Ningning, you really are… killing me."

There was no anger in his voice, only the helplessness of being backed into a corner with nowhere to escape, and within that helplessness was a joy that was almost overflowing—scalding, intense.

Xu Wanning hugged her phone and lay down. *Hehe, does this count as confirming our relationship?*

No! With A-Yue's stubbornness, he might try to escape later. She sent a video call invitation.

Lu Chengyue subconsciously answered it, but only realized what he'd done when Xu Wanning, lying on her bed, appeared on the screen.

In the camera, Xu Wanning was wearing white pajamas, slightly loose, making it even more fatal in its subtlety.

"A-Yue, why is it so dark over there? I can't see you at all." Xu Wanning leaned toward the screen, but could only see a blurry shadow.

"I'm… I'm outside." As her pretty face drew near, he subconsciously stepped back. "You… you…"

He stammered for a long time but couldn't get the rest of his words out.

Xu Wanning burst into laughter, "Hello there, boyfriend~~~"

Lu Chengyue covered his nose. *This won't do.* "I… I haven't confessed yet."

"Oh." Xu Wanning pouted. "Then go ahead and confess. I'm listening."

Lu Chengyue's breathing became heavier and heavier. He knew that if he didn't take that step now, Ningning would never pay attention to him again. He clenched his fists tightly and psyched himself up in his mind, "Ningning, I… I like you. Are you willing to be my girlfriend?"

After speaking, his body was tense with nervousness, and he even held his breath.

"I am willing." Xu Wanning's voice was light and happy. *Great, he didn't dodge this time. If he had dodged again, she would have really been angry.*

Lu Chengyue finally let out the breath he had been holding. "Hello… hello, girlfriend."

"Hehehe." Xu Wanning laughed.

Lu Chengyue couldn't help but laugh along.

"Who's there? Hurry back to sleep!" The squad leader's stern voice rang out from upstairs.

Lu Chengyue looked up, then quickly looked at Xu Wanning apologetically, "Ningning, I have to go back."

"Okay." Xu Wanning winked at the camera and hung up the video call.

Lu Chengyue forgot how to walk back to the dormitory; he was moving his same-side arm and leg, extremely stiff.

Xu Wanning fell asleep happily. In her dream, she returned to the first year of The Apocalypse. She was killing zombies with her sisters, and Lu Chengyue arrived with his comrades, joining them to repel the batch of zombies.

— —

Waking up early the next morning, Xu Wanning subconsciously opened her phone and discovered that Lu Chengyue had actually posted on his Moments. She clicked on it and was stunned.

It was a photo—the one they took yesterday—with the caption 'Girlfriend'.

The comment section exploded.

"WTF??????"

"Old Lu, you're awesome!"

"You actually have a girlfriend?"

"When did this happen?"

"Hello, sister-in-law!"

"Son, Mom didn't wait in vain. Well done."

"Wishing brother and sister-in-law happiness!"

She took a screenshot, saved it, and backed it up.

Today was still the Fire Station open house. Originally, Xu Wanning hadn't planned on going, but since they had just confirmed their relationship, she should go.

After the morning session ended, they should be able to go out on a date in the afternoon, right? "A-Yue, are you off in the afternoon?"

"Yeah, I'm off." Lu Chengyue replied while brushing his teeth.

"Let's go on a date." A-Yue only responded to direct approaches; if she beat around the bush too much, he wouldn't understand.

Lu Chengyue's hand stopped brushing his teeth, and the tips of his ears turned red. A… a date?

"Yeah, don't you want to go on a date with me?" Xu Wanning teased him on purpose.

"Where do you want to go?" Of course Lu Chengyue wanted to; his dream last night had been quite spectacular.

"You decide." Xu Wanning wanted to see what his idea of a date would be like.

Lu Chengyue simply called her, "I'm not very good at deciding."

"Then what do you usually do when you're off?" There were only so many options for a date, right?

"Sleeping, training, watching documentaries." The more Lu Chengyue said, the less confident he felt, afraid that Ningning would think he was boring.

"What kind of documentaries?" Documentaries were fine too; they could watch them together.

Lu Chengyue scratched his head, "Firefighting documentaries."

"Never mind then. Let's do something normal couples do, like watching a movie, eating, or going shopping."

If they really watched firefighting documentaries, they'd just be tense, and there wouldn't be any romantic atmosphere.

"Whatever works." Lu Chengyue didn't understand these things; following Ningning was definitely the right choice.

"Then let's go watch a movie first." She didn't know what good movies were playing recently, but she hoped to see a good one.

"Okay." After hanging up, Lu Chengyue's cheekbones lifted, completely unable to control himself.