Assistant Architect by Xi He Qing Ling

Chapter 187: Protection

______________________

Early thenext morning, Zhang Siyi was the first to 'guard' Gu Yao. Since the company GuYao works for was in the opposite direction as Borderless, they had to leavetheir house thirty minutes earlier than usual in order for Zhang Siyi to get tohis job on time. As a result, Zhang Siyi sacrificed his sleep for the sake ofhis 'little sister'.

Even atthirty minutes prior to rush hour, the subway was still jammed packed. ZhangSiyi did his best to block other people from pressing themselves against Gu Yaoso that she had a little breathing room.

Gu Yaoleaned closer to Zhang Siyi so he could hear her amongst all the noise andasked: "Is that guy still harassing you at work?"

In order tocover up his expression, Zhang Siyi moved his hand up and coughed lightly:“I'm a guy too so I have the ability to protect myself, unlike you. Ratherthan worrying about me, I am more worried about you.”

Gu Yao stuckher tongue and exhaled, giving him a raspberry: “Hey, isn't my brotherjealous?”

Zhang Siyisnorted and said: “There are many people who covet him and I'm stilljealous.”

Gu Yaolooked at Zhang Siyi with envy. Before, she always felt that two men in lovewasn't a sustainable relationship. Knowing her brother's character, she used tofret about the time when Zhang Siyi wouldn't be able to tolerate it anymore andask to break up. However, now that she has lived with them for six months, sheknew her fears were completely superfluous because she witnessed their displayof love practically every day!

On average,the number of times a week she saw her brother and Zhang Siyi hugging orkissing each other was no less than four times; on the sofa, in the kitchen,near the bathroom, on the stairs…..

.….. Ifthey were of similar height, why stand on the stairs creating a heightdifferent to kiss? Was there something special about the position?

…… Like last night after dinner, Zhang Siyi went to wash the dishes.At first, my brother stood behind him chatting. Suddenly his voice was gone andwhen I took a peek, sure enough, my brother was hugging Zhang Siyi from behindand kissing his neck.

She doesn'twant to be sneaking a peek on purpose, but watching them expressing their lovewas as addicting as a heart-throbbing scene in an idol drama.

What’smore, Gu Yu doesn't even seem to care if she was present and thus, in reality, therewasn't such a thing as 'sneaking'. The two inadvertently exposed their desireand each other's cute doting side all the time. ╮(╯_╰)╭

Gu Yaoespecially liked to listen to them bickering. Zhang Siyi rarely spoke back to herbrother. The only time when he did was when Gu Yu riled him up into an angrymess and every time, her brother only needed to take Zhang Siyi into hisembrace and kiss him to console him. When she witnessed this process each time,Gu Yao heart exploded. Of course, as much as her brother showed Zhang Siyi affection,Zhang Siyi also showed his love for her brother.

Living insuch an environment infected with sweet love, Gu Yao’s resistance to flirtingsteadily rose. Being surround by true-love all the time, she could easilyidentify the real thing. Giving gifts was no way an expression of love. Really,she also wanted to fall in love, but she was afraid that it wouldn't be as deepas her Brother and Zhang Siyi's.

Afterarriving at their stop, they exited the subway and walked outside. Across thestreet, Zhang Siyi saw a street vendor selling breakfast sandwiches. Since theyleft so early, they didn't get the chance to eat before leaving the house.Zhang Siyi asked her: "Would you like to eat one?"

Gu Yao enthusiasticallyreplied: “Okay!”

Zhang Siyiwalked over and waited in the queue. When it was their turn to order, he askedfor two sandwiches with extra bacon. As Gu Yao rummaged for her wallet, ZhangSiyi stopped her: "I'm here. What are you paying for?"

Although itwas only an eight-dollar breakfast sandwich, Gu Yao was moved by Zhang Siyi’s thoughtfulness.She really felt like she had another brother.

Afterpicking up the hot sandwiches, the two moved to the side to eat. They looked ateach other, smiled and took a bite. Zhang Siyi spoke up: "Let's savor thismoment as it isn't something your brother would normally buy from a streetvendor!"

“Yeah!"Gu Yao giggled and nodded.

Zhang Siyi walkedwith Gu Yao to the lobby of the company she worked at. Rubbing her head, ZhangSiyi smiled: "Go on in. If you need something, either call me or your brother.Although if it is urgent, I would probably be able to respond sooner since yourbrother is normally very busy.

“Iknow!” Gu Yao waved her hand to him and said: “Get to work too!”

Afterwatching Zhang Siyi leave, Gu Yao turned around to go to her office. Two femalecolleagues approached her from behind and asked: "Hey Gu Yao, who was thathandsome guy who dropped you off?"

Full ofpride, Gu Yao’s face lit up: “My second brother.”

The girl'seyes lit up: “Wow! It’s no wonder he is so handsome. Your family has goodgenes."

Gu Yao:“…” In fact, Zhang Siyi has no blood relationship with her. Herbrother was even better.

Afterpressing the elevator call signal, one of the women asked: “What does yoursecond brother do? Why did he drop you off?"

Gu Yao onlyanswered the first question: "He is an architect."

Her colleague'ssquealed in delight: “Wow! An architect? That’s amazing!

In the eyesof outsiders, the profession of architect always seems so grand. However, forGu Yao, who has been watching her father and brother over the years, she knewit was a hard, unglamorous path to follow.

Gu Yao didn'twant to bother explaining the true aspects of architecture to her colleagues. Foronce, the girl's attention was on something other than the client who pursuedher. Gu Yao felt a bit relieved.

In theevening, Zhang Siyi went to Gu Yao's office to pick her up and politely greetedher colleagues when he arrived. Like a rabbit, Gu Yao happily jumped to ZhangSiyi and grabbed his arm affectionately: "Brother, you came!"

Walkingaway, Zhang Siyi lowered his voice, leaned over and whispered: "Is that stalkerhere?"

Gu Yu held ontohim and whispered back: “Well, over there sitting in that white BMW abouta hundred meters away from us."

Raising hisbrow in surprise, Zhang Siyi stopped walking: “Oh? Since I'm here, lets goover and tell him to stop harassing you!"

Gu Yao quicklynudged him forward to continue walking: “Don’t. He has accounts with ourcompany and I don’t want to have a head-on confrontation with him.”

Zhang Siyi:“Is he there every day? What is he waiting for?"

Gu Yao wasembarrassed to tell him: “He is waiting for me to join him for dinner."

Zhang Siyi:“Didn’t you already say no? And, he's still waiting for you? What's wrongwith this guy?"

Gu Yaodepressingly said: “He told me he was going to wait because one day, Imight change my mind…."

“…..”Zhang Siyi was curious what kind of person this guy could possibly be? He lookedback at the BMW again to catch a glimpse of the guy. Zhang Siyi was a bitsurprised at what he saw. When listening to Yu Yao complain about this jerk, heinstinctively imagined the person to be a bald, fat bellied old uncle. However,at a brief glance, he could tell that the man was well dressed, had a full headof black hair, and wasn't fat.

Dragginghim along, Gu Yao energetically walked to the subway station: “Don’t look!I don't want him to notice us."

Zhang Siyi:“…”

After thetrain arrived at the station, they got on. As they found seats, Zhang Siyiasked: "How old is that man? What does he look like?"

“Thirty-something;small eyes; nose turned up like he thinks he is better than everyone…." Gu Yaomade hand gestures as she described him: "Anyways, he is very ugly."

Havinggrown up surrounded by the beauty of the Gu family, Zhang Siyi thought Gu Yao'sidea of ugly had been skewed.

He asked anotherquestion: “Have you talked to your manager about your troubles yet?”

Gu Yaoreplied: “Yes I did! Our manager said she would talk to him and will askhim to stop giving gifts to the staff members. Even if he doesn't comply, themanager told the receptionist to collect all the items. She wanted to deal withthem herself so they wouldn't effect everyone's work."

Zhang Siyinodded. In dealing with this problem, Gu Yao was more mature than he was.

As theywere discussing the stalker, Gu Yao mobile phone buzzed with a new textmessage. She showed it to Zhang Siyi and said distressed: "Look, he really sawus!”

Zhang Siyi looked at the message —— “Who is that person with you?”

_____________________________