Untouchable Love

Duan Heng stared at the message from Nan Pei, completely stunned. He wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him or if Nan Pei had made a typo. He rubbed his eyes and stared at the line for a long time.

But the truth was, he hadn’t misread it, and Nan Pei hadn’t retracted the message.

[Can’t you cook it yourself?]

Such a short sentence, yet it seemed full of disdain and contempt. Besides shock and disbelief, Duan Heng felt a deep sense of frustration—he had finally put aside his pride to send Nan Pei his first voice message, only to get such a reply??

Was Nan Pei out of his mind?!

Duan Heng’s fingers tightened around his phone, his lips pressed into a thin line as he quickly typed a few words in the input box. But no matter what he typed, it felt wrong. He paused, then quickly deleted everything.

Repeating this process several times, Duan Heng finally couldn’t hold back and threw his phone to the other side of the bed. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, feeling like if he typed a few more words, he’d poke a hole through the screen.

After a moment, Duan Heng suppressed his irritation, frowning as he looked at the phone, repeatedly pondering what Nan Pei’s words meant. The person who usually followed him around and clung to him had actually sent such a dismissive message?

Could it be… Nan Pei was in a bad mood?

At nineteen, this was the first time Duan Heng found himself lost in thought over a message from someone else. He hadn’t realized that his emotions could be so easily influenced by Nan Pei.

In the Huo family kitchen, Huo Yao watched the chat box, seeing the “typing” indicator from the other side. After a while, the typing stopped. It seemed like the person was too angry to know how to respond.

Huo Yao couldn’t help but curl his lips. But there was no humor in his eyes. It was more like a trace of mockery.

Nan Pei was skilled at cooking noodles, and soon the kitchen was filled with an enticing aroma. Even though it was the simplest food, Huo Yao’s mood improved significantly.

After cooking the noodles, Nan Pei served two bowls on the table and turned to Huo Yao, saying, “It’s ready. Wait a bit before eating; it’s too hot now.”

“Thank you, philanthropist,” Huo Yao nodded, casually handing the phone back to Nan Pei, “You’ve worked hard.”

Nan Pei took the phone, intending to see what Duan Heng had said, but when he saw the screen, his eyes widened in shock—

What did Huo Yao send??

“You can’t cook it yourself?!” Nan Pei was dumbfounded, then glared at Huo Yao, “Huo Yao! I didn’t tell you to reply to Duan Heng like that!”

“What?” Huo Yao looked at him innocently, “Didn’t you ask me to see if he could cook noodles?”

Nan Pei: “…Who asks like that normally?!”

This was going to ruin his character!

Nan Pei looked at the chat box, seeing that it had been ten minutes since Huo Yao sent the message, and Duan Heng still hadn’t replied. Nan Pei began to suspect he might have been blocked by Duan Heng.

He quickly and carefully edited a message to send—

[Xiao Duan, I was busy just now.]

[If you can’t, I can teach you to cook or order takeout for you.]

Trying hard to make the previous message seem normal.

Luckily, the message was sent without a red exclamation mark.

On the other side, Duan Heng was playing a game with a cold expression. His phone vibrated twice, and he glanced at it expressionlessly, then paused.

The icy coldness in his eyes instantly melted away. He felt an absurd sense of relief—Nan Pei still cared for him; it was just a misunderstanding on his part.

After a while, Nan Pei finally received a reply from Duan Heng.

Duan Heng: [No need.]

Nan Pei couldn’t decipher Duan Heng’s emotions, only feeling that he probably didn’t care about this matter, and he let out a sigh of relief.

Huo Yao stood nearby, looking as if nothing had happened. Although Huo Yao claimed innocence, Nan Pei felt he did it on purpose. Was it revenge for Nan Pei standing him up before?

…That’s possible. Holding grudges much?

Huo Yao raised an eyebrow and asked Nan Pei, “What’s wrong, did the fish pond explode?”

In this situation, Nan Pei had to play along. “Not quite.” He smiled, “President Huo, let’s eat the noodles before they get cold.”

“Is that so?” Huo Yao’s tone carried a hint of disappointment.

The two ate noodles in the living room.

“Today was such a mess,” Nan Pei said to Huo Yao, “I didn’t even get to enjoy Alvin’s concert properly. I was just thinking about how to escape. Luckily, you came.”

Huo Yao was quite satisfied with the noodles, eating them with relish. He glanced at Nan Pei and asked, “Do you feel it’s a pity?”

“Yeah, I heard Alvin’s tickets are hard to get,” Nan Pei replied, “The ticket Song gave me was in the prime spot, and the price had been inflated to over ten thousand…”

Hearing this, Huo Yao paused his eating for a moment. After a moment, he said nonchalantly, “I’ll take you to meet him next time.”

“You mean Alvin?” Nan Pei was surprised, “You’re going to take me to his concert?”

“No.” Huo Yao looked at Nan Pei, calmly saying, “I’ll take you to meet him in person.”

Nan Pei was shocked, “In person? You know him?”

“I do,” Huo Yao replied casually, “He’s a schoolmate.”

Nan Pei secretly looked up Alvin’s information—A graduate from a top 3 world-ranked university…

Why did he feel like Huo Yao was subtly showing off?

Nan Pei couldn’t help but scrutinize Huo Yao, with his perfect looks, superior physique, unattainable family background, and high IQ and EQ…

Such a person should only exist in novels, right?

“Isn’t he a novel’s male lead?” Nan Pei couldn’t help but ask the system.

The system replied, “He’s really not.”

Huo Yao noticed Nan Pei staring at him and raised an eyebrow, “What, don’t believe me?”

“No, of course I believe you,” Nan Pei quickly said.

Nan Pei thought, even if Huo Yao were the male lead in an overbearing CEO novel, he’d be the top-tier kind.

Huo Yao quickly finished his noodles, wiped his lips, and teased Nan Pei, “Great cooking, shouldn’t have let you go the first two times.”

Nan Pei smiled at him, “Glad you like it.”

Huo Yao looked at his smile and said meaningfully, “I do.”

Just then, Nan Pei’s phone received a message from Duan Heng. It had been a while since the last message.

This time, Duan Heng sent a photo. In the photo, Nan Pei’s watch was placed in a clean, exquisite box lined with soft sponge.

Duan Heng’s text message followed: [I’ve kept your watch safe.]

Nan Pei was surprised; Duan Heng wasn’t usually so meticulous. Last time, when his watch was left with Duan Heng, he had just casually put it away. Why so careful this time?

Nan Pei replied: [Thank you, Xiao Duan.]

Duan Heng: [Don’t lose such an expensive watch again.]

Just as Nan Pei was about to reply, another message from Duan Heng came through: [If it breaks, selling the club wouldn’t cover it.]

Duan Heng added this to avoid Nan Pei thinking he was concerned about him.

Nan Pei stared at the message, surprised—was the watch really that expensive?

He didn’t wear it often, only occasionally to the club, and after the task, he’d put it back in his bag and forget about it.

Nan Pei carefully examined the watch in the photo: The center had floral French script, ivory in color, made of seemingly precious material, with many diamonds inlaid, and the dial’s pattern was vintage yet grand…

He had no impression of this watch. It wasn’t mentioned in the plot. Before he transmigrated, he hadn’t seen this brand.

He guessed it was a gift from someone in the overbearing CEO world.

After Duan Heng’s comment, Nan Pei searched online and found out the brand’s name was “Amour Inaccessible,” meaning “Untouchable Love,” a brand making handcrafted watches for royalty, with a staggering price.

Nan Pei thought he’d have to be extra careful wearing it next time.

Huo Yao saw Nan Pei staring at his phone and asked, “What’s up?”

Nan Pei shook his head, turning off the screen, “Nothing, just checking the price of a watch.”

After speaking, Nan Pei noticed it was getting late and said to Huo Yao, “President Huo, I’m going to take a shower now. You should rest early too.”

Huo Yao nodded. For him, it was far from rest time; he still had a lot of work to handle.

Huo Yao went to the study, opened his computer, and started handling emails.

Late at night, after browsing the last email, Huo Yao was about to leave when his fingers accidentally knocked over a box. It fell to the ground, the lid opening.

Inside was a watch. The center had floral French script, ivory in color, with many diamonds inlaid, and the pattern was vintage yet grand.

Huo Yao paused for a moment. He hadn’t taken out this watch in a long time.

He bent down, picked up the watch and box, and carefully dusted them off.

To Huo Yao, this watch was a peculiar item. It had always been in his study, yet he couldn’t remember when he bought it.

Huo Yao had asked others, but they didn’t know the watch’s origin either. It seemed to have appeared out of nowhere.

He even inquired with Amour Inaccessible’s brand, but they refused to disclose anything, citing customer privacy.

Huo Yao didn’t think he’d forget buying a watch. It must have been a gift from someone else.

But who?

Huo Yao knew this was a commemorative watch, and there was another one in the world. But he still didn’t know who had the other watch.

After cleaning the front, Huo Yao, as if guided by an unseen force, turned the watch over to clean the back.

On the back, three floral English letters were engraved—”PEI.” Like an abbreviation.

It wasn’t the first time Huo Yao had seen these letters. Each time, he wondered what they meant. This time, he stared at them for a while, still unable to decipher the abbreviation, and gave up.

“Amour Inaccessible…” Huo Yao murmured the French phrase, suddenly feeling like something was missing.

This feeling made Huo Yao frown. Untouchable love. The name of the watch was a bit too melancholic.

The sadness in Huo Yao’s heart was too strong. After a moment, he placed the watch back in the box and put it back on the shelf.