Chapter 2: Contact Details
Ning sighed, switched off her phone, and turned to Leo.
“I planned to chase the aurora tonight. I thought I could make do sleeping in the car, so I didn’t book anywhere.”
Leo was about to answer when his phone rang. As if remembering something, he glanced at Ning. “Could you answer that for me? Put it on speaker. I’m driving.”
She did not hesitate. Picking up the phone from the center console, she answered.
Alan’s voice came through at once. “Leo, I got the car safely back to the shop. Don’t worry.”
Leo thanked him. Alan said he was busy, and the call ended.
Ning returned the phone to its place and was about to resume searching for cabins when Leo stopped her again.
“If you don’t mind, you can come to mine.”
Ning turned to him. “Yours?”
—
When the SUV stopped in front of a cabin, Ning was still a little dazed. She opened the door and got out. Leo had already stepped out and unloaded their luggage.
She reached for the handle of her suitcase, but he got there first, lifted it with easy familiarity, and looked at her with a dazzling smile.
“I’ve got it.”
With only those words, he headed for the cabin door. Ning watched his back and silently followed.
He knocked twice. No one answered. Leo took out his phone and called someone while Ning stood quietly beside him, her attention caught by the snowy night around the cabin.
She raised her camera, found the right angle, and took a photograph.
By then, Leo had ended the call. He stepped back and searched the snow-covered ground until he found a wooden post half buried in white. Just as Terry had told him over the phone, the key lay behind it.
As he bent to retrieve it, Leo noticed Ning standing in the snow with her camera raised. He looked away, opened the door quickly, pushed both sets of luggage inside, then found the thermostat and set the underfloor heat to a comfortable temperature.
Ning hurried in, excitement still bright on her face, apparently pleased with the photograph she had taken.
She looked around the living room in confusion. “Where’s your friend?”
Leo shrugged helplessly, smiling. “I was abandoned.”
“What?” Her hand paused halfway through removing her scarf.
“They already left for the next stop.”
So tonight, the cabin held only her and this man?
That was fine. More people might have made things even more awkward, Ning told herself.
They said nothing further. After settling their luggage, Ning sat on the bed in her room, where the snow-covered mountains and a lake were visible outside the window. The snowfall seemed to be growing heavier, so she picked up her phone and went to the living room.
Only a sliding glass door separated the living room from the kitchen. She could see Leo standing inside at once.
Ning walked to the kitchen entrance and watched his back. “Jiang Yi? Um... could you give me your friend’s contact information?”
Leo stopped tossing noodles with a fork, turned, and leaned against the island. With his head slightly tilted and one brow raised, he looked at her.
Before he could speak, she added, “I haven’t paid for the repairs.”
Leo said nothing. He picked up two plates of noodles, carried them to the dining table, sat down, and finally looked at her. “Come eat something first.”
Ning nodded and took the chair opposite him.
Leo watched her without blinking. Ning tapped her phone twice, placed it on the table, and slid it toward him. “Sorry to trouble you.”
He picked up her phone. In a few seconds he entered his own number and saved it as Jiang Yi Leo, then handed the phone back.
“This is my Chinese number. It’ll be easier for you to reach me.”
Ning frowned as she thought about it, then accepted the phone with a nod.
—
At the end of November, the Arctic Circle was about to enter polar night.
When Ning woke, she felt as though she had stepped into a dreamlike fairy tale. The blue outside wrapped around every ordinary thought, every concern and emotion, burying them until only calm remained.
That feeling lasted only until the cold reached her.
She got up, put on her coat, and quietly made her way to the living room. Leo was crouched by the fireplace, feeding in logs one by one.
He turned at the sound behind him. “You’re awake?”
“Why is it so cold in here?” Ning came closer and crouched beside him.
Leo added another log. As the fire grew, warmth drew Ning forward, wanting to get closer.
Leo instinctively put an arm around her shoulders to stop her. “Don’t get so close. Be careful.”
The words had barely left him when a tongue of flame leaped from the fireplace. Both of them fell backward onto the soft carpet.
Ning slowly released the breath she had been holding and turned her head toward him. She met Leo’s eyes—burning, direct, and carrying something she could not read.
“There’s a problem with the underfloor heating,” he said. “I already contacted the landlord.”
Only then did Ning realize they were still lying on the floor. She sat up at once. The doorbell rang; the landlord had arrived.
Leo glanced at her profile, then got up to answer the door.
The landlord checked the controls, and five minutes later the heating was working again.
In her room, Ning was on a video call with Man.
“Ning, what did you say that man’s name was?” Man suddenly demanded, so loudly that Ning moved the phone away from her ear.
“Jiang Yi,” she answered helplessly.
Man repeated the name under her breath, then squealed. “Leo. He’s Leo!”
Ning was confused. “How do you know his name is Leo? I only told you his Chinese name.”
“Leo Jiang! An F1 driver—the undisputed demon king of racing. Half a month ago, he won the world championship again. He’s universally acknowledged as gorgeous, inside and outside the sport. In racing, he’s ridiculously handsome...”
Man launched into a frantic stream of facts while Ning tried to sort through them.
At that moment, someone knocked on the door. Leo’s voice came from outside. “The heating is back. I made an extra breakfast. Want to come out and try it?”
The second he finished speaking, Man exploded with undisguised curiosity. “Whose voice was that? Was that Leo? You’re with him right now? Is he going to appear in your travel vlog? Hello? Ning?”
“I have something to do. I’m hanging up.”
Ning threw out the words and ended the call. The world finally became quiet again.
She walked to the door. When she opened it, her eyes met Leo’s.
Without thinking, Ning studied his face, letting her gaze travel from his brows to his lips. Man’s words suddenly echoed in her ears: the demon king of racing... ridiculously handsome...
“Miss Cheng, is there something on my face?”
Her mouth answered before her brain could stop it. “A little handsomeness.”
Leo’s eyes flickered, and he laughed, speechless. That laugh only made him more charming.
Ning realized what she had said. A flush raced across her cheeks to the tips of her ears. Mortified, she covered her face, stepped back, and shut the door again, leaning against it as she lightly patted her own cheeks.
“Why did you say that?” she muttered miserably.
Man was a master of sweet talk. Ning had spent too much time around her and apparently been infected.