Assistant Architect

Chapter 85: Lovesick

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Not paying attention to anything, Zhang Siyi spent the week in a daze. In order to get his project back on track, he sought the help from Ji Feiyu and his other colleagues. Lu Qiao also returned from his holiday. Even though he had a goal and was working towards it, he continued to feel listless and unfocused.

Without motivation, every day he functioned like clockwork; wake up, go to work, draw, come home, sleep: rinse and repeat. Zhang Siyi has experienced Gu Yu’s absence before without issues. Often, Gu Yu was away for long periods for business. So why in only a couple days, does Zhang Siyi feel like his soul is lost? There was nothing different about him now from the past except for one thing and that was easy to answer. Zhang Siyi didn’t have to ruminate much. I like my Boss who is a man. Zhang Siyi slumped at his desk.

Even the completely average Zhu Hongzhen found Zhang Siyi behavior out of the ordinary. Eating lunch together, he saw Zhang Siyi slouching in his seat, aimlessly poking the rice with his chopsticks in his lunch box. Ten minutes later, Zhu Hongzhen finally asked: “What is the matter with you!? You have been in a daze for two days!”

Like a terminally ill patient, Zhang Siyi softly made a sound: “Mmm...”

Reaching out his hand, Zhu Hongzhen waved it in front of him. He guessed: “Are you lovesick?”

Zhang Siyi: “......”

Nodding vigorously, Zhu Hongzhen had no doubts: ”You have the same lovelorn symptoms of a friend of mine from my previous workplace.”

“Auntie Four is lovesick!?” Hearing part of their conversation, a passerby sat themselves at the table for lunch: “Four, when you talk about love, how come we didn’t even know!?”

Since many colleagues have already heard about Zhang Siyi love out loud and knowing how fast gossip spreads, it was too late to refute. The lunch room broke out in discussion over Zhang Siyi state of being:

“Is it the beautiful woman who came to the office after Christmas last year?”

“Wow, that’s a good job of secrecy, isn’t it?”

“I’m so jealous!”

“But how many months has it been? It’s a little too soon for that!”

“When love is short, it’s not so deep.”

“I prefer the long-lasting type, like water eternally flowing......”

“Early acknowledgment, early relief. Don’t be sad!”

“Aunt Four hasn’t looked quite right these last couple of says. He is our A-Group mascot!”

“Quickly, Aunt Four, go cheer up!”

“Well, we haven’t seen Boss in a few days. Who else feels sad?”

“When will Boss come back?”

Zhang Siyi: “...”

Since lunch is over, by now, everyone in the company thinks Zhang Siyi is lovesick. After the photography contest, Zhang Siyi became famous within the company. When people hear his name, they can imagine the photo of him sleeping like a child. In fact, imagination wasn’t necessary. Representing the style of Borderless, along with the other outstanding photographs from the contest, there was a huge poster of him hanging up at the company entrance!

Everyone is looking at him at a distance with sympathetic eyes. Zhang Siyi really wants to argue and explain himself, but no one has taken the initiative to ask him directly about it.

In the afternoon, feeling depressed, Zhang Siyi went downstairs to the convenience store to buy something to drink. Also, he wanted some fresh air. Being with everyone staring at him in the company was suffocating. As he walked towards the landscape frame, he saw someone deeply in thought.

Carrying a briefcase, Gu Yu was standing at the entrance, looking up at the new poster hanging in the foyer.

Zhang Siyi wasn’t paying attention to what he was looking at. It only took a glimpse of Gu Yu’s figure to make his heart start to race in panic. Having been upset previously by Gu Yu’s “Hmm”, he never replied to the text message and not having a definitive reason to contact Gu Yu, Zhang Siyi’s texting remained dormant. He felt so awkward in the absence of communication between them that he wanted to rush past Gu Yu.

Zhang Siyi even harassed Gu Yao. In retrospect, he felt he had made a big deal out of nothing. He was afraid that his curiosity about Gu Yu would alert his sister. As a fault for his feeling for Gu Yu, Zhang Siyi didn’t want any problems to occur.

Neither Zhang Siyi texted, nor did Gu Yu and thus a whole week passed by in technological silence. Although there was a longer period, seven or eight days, during the New Year’s, after he received ‘little-fox-kiss’ by Gu Yu, without contact, he didn’t feel any psychological pressure because Zhang Siyi wasn’t aware of his own feelings at that time.

But now it’s different. Was he in so deep that he couldn’t live without Gu Yu? For how long could he endure? Steadfast, he stubbornly held onto his principles, however at the moment Gu Yu appeared, all his patience was just self-torture and meaningless!

Zhang Siyi’s dead soul suddenly flowed with life. Every cell in his body trembled excitedly. His mood couldn’t be described by words, for at this moment, from the depths of his spirit, a singular thought enveloped his mind and soul, echoing.

I like him. I like him. I like him. I like him.......

In his peripheral vision, Gu Yu noticed someone, so he turned to look and was startled at seeing Zhang Siyi in front of him. He watched Zhang Siyi slowly approach him smiling at him and nodding in greeting, and then slowly walk right passed him.

In the eyes of Zhang Siyi, time also seemed to slow down. What felt like forever, he walked foolishly down the hallway until he could no longer heard Gu Yu and mechanically moved into the elevator.

After the elevator door closed, Zhang Siyi crouched down in the narrow space and covered his throbbing chest, gasping for breath.

Fuck, Gu Yu is back!

Isn’t it a couple days before he comes back to work? Zhang Siyi specially went to the personnel department to inquire about his return. Why did he come back to the office two days early?

With his drink in hand, Zhang Siyi rushed back to his desk and saw the lights on in Gu Yu’s office. I should have known. I didn’t want to be angry with Gu Yu. Ah, what should I do, so nervous......

When Gu Yu returned, he began to call in everyone one at a time to his office to assess the current work situation. First, Ji Feiyu was called, followed by Gu Rui, and then Be Lele...... After an hour, Zhang Siyi saw a message pop up on his computer.

Gu Yu: “Come to my office and bring me the latest work you have done.”

Holding his drawings, Zhang Siyi quickly stood up and went towards Gu Yu office while brainwashing himself. Now in the company, Gu Yu is just your Boss. He did not cook dinner for you. You didn’t spend time with him over New Years. He has nothing to do with people who are called Gege and you didn’t spend a night playing Truth or Dare! Ok! Calm!

Taking a deep breath to adjust his frame of mind, Zhang Siyi knocked on Gu Yu’s office door. When he went in, he began to look down at the floor, but when he sat down, he couldn’t stop himself from staring at Gu Yu’s face.

Gu Yu reached gently for the drawings and looked down. While reviewing them he asked: ”Are there any problems with the office building?”

Zhang Siyi: “Well, I asked Ji Feiyu for help. He suggested further development of the design since the preliminary scheme has been determined. Lu Qiao is working on the façade and I am working on the floorplan.”

In this ‘early-expansion’ stage of development, it is common to further evolve the layers and details in the overall plan, but not to the extent of a construction blueprint.

Like always, Gu Yu circled areas on the drawings and made notations. Continuing his evaluation calmly for several minutes, he didn’t seem like he was in any rush to talk about the plan’s problems. Instead he suddenly said: “I heard that you are lovesick.”

Zhang Siyi: “......”

Turning bright red, Zhang Siyi quickly replied in defense: “I’m not! They are just joking!”

Gu Yu: “Oh. Is that so? But you don’t look so good.”

“......”

Zhang Siyi felt angry again, but being in close proximity of Gu Yu, his feelings were short lived. Looking at Gu Yu’s smile was like a breath of fresh air, filling up the energy necessary for his soul. Ah, I really want to stay in the room with Gu Yu... (o////o)

After reviewing the problems on the drawings, he returned to the topic at hand: “You have never drawn blueprints, right? How about you try to draw them yourself this time?”

Zhang Siyi was stunned: “Ah?”

Borderless is biased towards design, so unless there is a very special need to follow-up the initial design, there is rarely an opportunity to draw blueprints. It isn’t cost effective. Almost always, the degree to which the plans are finalized are only in the ‘early-expansion’ phase of drawing. Normally, there is a construction company that Borderless partners with to complete the blueprints.

Gu Yu lowered his eyes and began to list all the problems in the blank space at the edge of the drawing. He continued: ”This is your first project after all. Don’t you want to do it yourself from start to finish?”

With each of his hands on his knees, Zhang Siyi rubbed them under the desk and exclaimed: ”But, I have never drawn blueprints!”

Gu Yu looked up directly into Zhang Siyi’s eyes with a smile: “There is a first time for everything.”

Paying attention to the details on Gu Yu’s face like his beautiful eyelashes and the light reflected on his head, in a daze, Zhang Siyi stupidly replied with: “Ok.”

Gu Yu finished with his notes and handed the papers back to him. Looking over the work schedules of the groups members, he said: “After Lu Qiao finishes the façade, I want to transfer him to another project. You can learn a lot from Du Rui. I’ll have her help you with the blueprints. I’ll let her know in advance.”

Again, Zhang Siyi blankly replied with: “Ok.”

Gu Yu drummed his fingers on his desk and asked: “Is there anything else?”

Zhang Siyi was motionless for a few minutes, before shaking his head and said: “Uh, no.”

Gu Yu smiled at him and softly said: “Ok. Go out and get to work.”

Face hot, Zhang Siyi fled his office with his drawing. Was he staring at Gu Yu like a lovesick idiot? Aaaah! So embarrassing!

Being so influenced by Gu Yu, Zhang Siyi collapsed on his desk like a dead fish, feeling hopeless.