Chapter 7: You're Worried About Me

Ning Cheng looked through the windshield. The world outside had gone almost entirely white—the sky, the road, the guardrails on both sides, all of it had vanished.

"Are we... at the rest area?" she asked.

"No. The snow's too deep—the front wheels are stuck."

Leo Jiang pulled up the map and moved the red dot to check their position, then turned to look at her, his deep amber eyes startlingly bright against the warm yellow light.

He gave a faint smile. "It's okay, though. The rest area isn't far—about fifty meters on foot."

"On foot?"

Ning Cheng pressed her lips together and frowned, glancing sideways at the storm outside the window.

"We could wait in the car," Leo Jiang said, unbuckling his seatbelt. "But the wind is strong. The car might get half-buried in snow, and then the doors won't even open."

"The rest area is safer."

When he finished, he reached back to the rear seat and pulled out a black scarf and a pair of gloves, handing them to her. "Put these on. Keep the wind out."

Ning Cheng took them and lowered her head to wrap the scarf.

Leo Jiang got out first. The moment the door opened, wind and snow crowded in through the gap; he leaned halfway out and was shoved sideways by the wind.

Steadying himself, he shut the door hard and crunched around the front of the car through the snow to her side.

Ning Cheng pushed her door open. Leo Jiang held out his hand. "Hold on tight."

She froze for a second, then placed her hand in his. Once she was out, he shielded her behind him.

"The snow's too heavy. I can't see the road."

"Stay behind me, and don't let go."

He turned, leaned close to her ear, and raised his voice over the wind.

Ning Cheng nodded hard and stayed close to him, step by step.

The two of them fought through the wind and snow for three minutes before stopping in front of a wooden hut by the road, half-swallowed in deep snow.

A sign in Norwegian hung by the door, and warm yellow light spilled from the windows.

Leo Jiang pushed the door open and stepped aside to let her in first. As she crossed the threshold, warmth rushed up to meet her.

There were two or three people inside—two women and a man, all foreign faces, travel backpacks beside them. One glance was enough to tell they were backpackers.

They sat on a fabric sofa, a fire burning in the fireplace beside them.

The moment Ning Cheng and Leo Jiang came in, the three of them waved warmly.

"Hi there! It's freezing out—come warm up by the fire!"

"We only just got here ourselves."

Ning Cheng smiled and nodded, stopping in the entryway to shake the snow off her coat.

Behind her, Leo Jiang came in and shut the door, closing the storm outside.

They walked to the middle of the room, and Leo Jiang led Ning Cheng to the sofa.

The three backpackers eagerly introduced themselves, and Ning Cheng responded to each in turn.

Only from the conversation did she learn that they came from three different countries, thrown together in this hut by the sudden blizzard.

The man was called Kieran, an Australian with a natural sense of humor who could have everyone laughing within a couple of sentences.

"Forgive me if this is rude, but—are you Leo? The F1 driver?"

The moment Kieran said it, both women looked at Leo Jiang, and Ning Cheng found herself looking too.

Leo Jiang nodded politely. Kieran spread his hands, thrilled. "I knew it! I told myself I wasn't wrong!"

"Your driving was incredible. What an amazing trip—and I actually got to meet the god of racing in person!"

Kieran laughed, leaning back comfortably.

"Thank you. I hope the rest of your travels are even better." Leo Jiang answered him with a light smile.

Ning Cheng stole a glance at his profile, and the corner of her mouth curved up before she noticed.

—

The blizzard carried on for over an hour before it slowly softened into light snow.

The people in the hut each went back to their own things. Leo Jiang said a word to Ning Cheng and stepped outside to check on the car.

At ten minutes, Ning Cheng was already glancing frequently toward the door. At fifteen, she couldn't sit still any longer. She got up, hurried to the door, pulled on her gloves, and stepped out.

Once outside, she scanned her surroundings. Two seconds later she locked onto a direction and walked slowly into the snow. It wasn't as deep as she'd imagined—it only reached her calves.

She switched on her phone's flashlight. The sky had returned to a cold deep blue, and the snow had stopped.

She walked a few more steps and called his name twice. "Leo Jiang."

No answer. She pulled her scarf tighter and kept walking, eyes on her feet.

The snowfield glittered as if scattered with crushed diamonds, catching glints of light. She lifted her eyes slightly—and there it was, color in the sky.

The aurora. Green and violet leaping at the edge of the heavens, dreamlike and impossibly romantic.

Ning Cheng forgot to move for a moment. She stared up, the glow of the aurora reflected in her eyes.

Out of habit she reached toward her chest—and remembered the camera wasn't on her. It was in Leo Jiang's car.

"Ning Cheng."

A deep, magnetic voice called out to her. She looked ahead.

About ten meters away stood Leo Jiang, holding up her camera, the lens pointed at her.

"Leo Jiang?"

Her eyes lit up. Before she could walk over, he was already coming toward her, step by step, stopping half a meter away.

"I told you to wait inside," he said quietly.

She just looked at him without speaking. He looked away with a soft laugh, leaned in a little closer, his voice dropping lower:

"Worried about me?"

Ning Cheng glanced at his eyes, then looked aside. "What took you so long?"

"How's the car?"

His brow arched. He knew she was changing the subject.

"We can't leave today—the snow's too deep. We'll have to wait until tomorrow."

He answered along with her question.

They walked back side by side. Just as they reached the hut, the door was pulled open from inside and the three backpackers came out, waving.

"Leaving already?"

Ning Cheng looked at their full gear, curious.

"Yes—the snow's stopped, so we're heading out."

Once the three were gone, only the two of them were left in the hut.

Embers still glowed in the fireplace. Leo Jiang added a few logs while Ning Cheng sat on the sofa, head down, fiddling with the camera, flipping through the photos.

The moment the camera turned on, the first photo was the one from moments before—the one Leo Jiang had taken of her.

She stood in the snowfield, the dancing aurora filling the sky behind her.

For the first time, someone had captured her through a lens...

—

The next morning, after snowplows cleared the stretch of road, the two of them set off again.

A few kilometers out, Ning Cheng received an email from her partner company. She opened it and read it through carefully—an itinerary for next week.

The company was holding an event where they would unveil new upgraded camera equipment, and they needed her back for it.

Ning Cheng bit her lip as she stared at the email, her thoughts drifting farther and farther.

Her mind began replaying the scene from that morning when she'd just woken up...

There was no bed in the hut, only the sofa. She'd fallen asleep on it at some point—and when she woke the next morning, she was lying in Leo Jiang's arms, one arm around his waist.

It stitched together with the dream she'd had that night: she'd been standing in an icy wasteland, shivering, when a heater dropped down beside her. She'd thrown her arms around it and smiled, perfectly content...

And that heater, clearly, was Leo Jiang.

Ning Cheng shook her head hard to snap out of it, pressed her phone dark, and slowly sat up straight, staring fixedly ahead.

"What's wrong?"

Leo Jiang noticed the movement and asked.

Ning Cheng gave an awkward smile. "N-nothing."

"I'm just checking how far it is to the next town."

She rattled the sentence off and dropped her eyes back to her phone.

Back next week, then? Today was already Friday... three more days.

Ning Cheng stared at the time on her screen and fell into thought.

—