Became a National Couple with My Ex Chapter 59: Stay with Me Now

She had only been straddling him and kissing for a short while before she started to second-guess herself and tried to delay things by saying, "Maybe I should take a shower first."

Bian Xu had just showered before coming over. He saw right through her flimsy excuse, but still played along and said, "Then let’s go together—might as well do it in the bathroom."

Liang Yixuan hesitated for a second, then said she had already showered at the dance center earlier and decided not to go after all.

In this house, of all the places, the bathroom was the one that made Liang Yixuan feel the most exposed.

She had grown up around mirrors. Facing one instantly triggered her to scrutinize her posture, and in moments like that, the habit could drive her insane.

Seeing how quickly she changed her mind—faster than flipping a page—Bian Xu laughed so hard his shoulders shook.

The room lights were off, but the door wasn’t closed.

Light from the living room streamed in through the open doorway, casting a warm yellow glow across the floor. It lit up a crumpled trench coat and jeans, along with a tangled sweater and undershirt.

Feeling a light fabric being gathered in his hand, Liang Yixuan shivered and instinctively arched her back.

Bian Xu kissed down the length of her slender neck, freeing one hand to explore her back. When she whispered, "In the front," he instantly understood, lowered his head, and gently tugged with his teeth.

The clasp came undone. Lace fluttered to the ground.

Bian Xu buried his head against her.

Liang Yixuan trembled as she wrapped her arms tightly around him.

She felt like a fish drifting in a hot spring, heat rushing through her in waves. Her breathing grew shallow, her eyes misted with a hazy glaze.

Bian Xu’s slacks gradually soaked through. During a lull between their movements, he heard her voice above him: "That’s enough…"

"So soon?" he looked up with mock surprise, smiling as he reached for her again. "Let me check."

……

Liang Yixuan collapsed, sweaty and exhausted, into the softness of the bed.

A pair of hands gently lifted her ankles, parting her knees.

In the next moment, she arched her neck and let out a low, uncontrollable moan.

The lyrics of《Rosabella》echoed faintly in her ears—

"Then grant her dreams to wander free,
Let endless shivers nourish her,
Teach her to raise her swan-like neck,
And express with honest, burning passion."

When she was carried to the bathroom for a shower, Liang Yixuan hung limply on Bian Xu’s body. Her arms and legs were like long, soft noodles.

Dancing took far more physical effort, yet somehow she was always left drained around Bian Xu.

She used to wonder why—but today, the answer suddenly became crystal clear: Even an athlete who can run a ten-thousand-meter marathon will turn to water, to clay, into something completely soft and formless in front of the person they truly love.

Warm water poured down from the showerhead above, washing away the sticky sweat on her skin.

Bian Xu held her from behind and suddenly asked, "Were you scared today?"

Liang Yixuan was caught off guard. "No…"

He had clearly held back earlier, perhaps because it had been a long time.

"What are you thinking about?" Bian Xu turned off the water and reached for a clean towel to wrap around her, gently drying her body. "I meant when you took your colleague to the hospital."

Liang Yixuan stayed quiet.

She had said earlier that she was feeling a little emotional—truthfully, she had been scared.

But after what they just shared, most of that emotion had been soothed and dissolved.

"A little bit," she admitted, turning to look at him. "She’s the principal dancer in our company. We still don’t know the final diagnosis, but if it really is an ACL tear…"

"You thought about yourself?"

Liang Yixuan nodded.

This kind of accident wasn’t the first—and wouldn’t be the last. Like athletes in a competition arena, countless dancers have fallen on the stage they love. Some never get back up. And even if they do, it’s rare to return to the top.

Few dancers are lucky enough to retire at their peak. Yet ironically, most don’t even want that kind of luck.

Unless they're forced out by injury, no one willingly leaves the stage just because they’ve reached a certain age. Even when they know they’ve peaked and that everything ahead is downhill, they still choose to keep dancing for as long as they can—until their bodies won’t let them anymore.

From the moment a dancer becomes a principal, the countdown on their career begins.

Liang Yixuan could feel every bit of the despair Li Pei experienced today.

"Why’d you bring that up all of a sudden?" she asked.

"I wanted to tell you something." Bian Xu slipped a bathrobe over her shoulders, tied the belt, then turned her body so they were facing each other.

Liang Yixuan looked up at him, eyes full of quiet curiosity.

Just when she thought he might try to comfort her—say something like "That won’t happen to you," or "Don’t push yourself so hard"—

Bian Xu slowly said: "If that day has to come, then the more you enjoy every performance before it, the fewer regrets you’ll have when it does."

Liang Yixuan lifted her head to look at him. In her eyes, light shimmered like stars floating in water.

She had misunderstood.

Bian Xu wouldn’t try to control her just because he was her boyfriend. Instead, he supported her with the empathy of a fellow artist.

Because he loved her enough, he was willing to embrace her dreams.

Because he was strong enough, he was able to embrace her dreams.

Liang Yixuan looked at him quietly for a moment, then nodded. She was about to hug him when she realized he was still wet. She picked up another clean towel and tried to help dry him off.

But Bian Xu grabbed her wrist and said, "Careful—playing with a loaded weapon might set it off."

"…"

He told her he’d do it himself and gently shooed her out of the room, asking her to go check if Lu Yuan had delivered dinner.

Liang Yixuan got dressed and stepped out of the bedroom. She was just about to call Lu Yuan when the doorbell rang.

She went over and opened the door to see Lu Yuan standing there, holding two large insulated food containers in each hand. He smiled in surprise. "Miss Liang, you’re home today!"

"Huh?" Liang Yixuan closed the door behind him and realized what he meant. "Oh, you mean I wasn’t here yesterday."

Lu Yuan changed shoes and walked in, carrying the containers to the dining table. As he began unpacking, he said, "Yeah. The boss always sticks to a regular schedule when you’re around. But last night, he waited so long to eat, his stomach started acting up. That’s when he asked me to bring him dinner."

Liang Yixuan paused and glanced at the clock on the wall.

She and Bian Xu had been tangled up for quite a while—now it was already past eight.

"He ate even later last night than today?" she asked.

"Yeah, it was already past nine, I think."

She opened her phone and checked the video call history. At that time, it hadn’t even hit nine yet.

But Bian Xu had clearly told her earlier that he’d already eaten dinner.

Seeing her frown, Lu Yuan quickly covered his mouth. "Did I say something I shouldn’t have?"

Liang Yixuan shook her head. "He told me he ate earlier. I’ll ask him about it later."

Lu Yuan waved his hands frantically. "Please don’t say I told you!"

"Then tell me—what time did he eat lunch yesterday?"

Lu Yuan blinked. "Wasn’t he with you yesterday afternoon?"

Liang Yixuan paused. "We split up in the morning."

"Oh… Then I guess he ate out. He didn’t ask me to prepare lunch."

Liang Yixuan frowned. "He told me he stayed home all day and was bored."

"That can’t be right…" Lu Yuan shook his head confidently—then realized he’d said too much and quickly shut up.

"You’re sure he wasn’t home?"

Lu Yuan shook his head like a rattle drum. "No, no—I remembered wrong! The boss was home yesterday."

Liang Yixuan gave him an exasperated look. "He’s not doing anything shady. Just tell me the truth."

Lu Yuan scratched his head. "Well… the reason I know he went out yesterday is because he asked me early in the morning to schedule the cleaning lady to come while you two were gone. She stayed until the evening—but she didn’t see him the whole time."

Liang Yixuan’s brows drew tightly together.

Just then, the master bedroom door opened, and Bian Xu stepped out in a bathrobe.

Lu Yuan quickly lowered his head, guilt written all over his face. He darted a look at Liang Yixuan, silently begging her not to rat him out—and even threw in an extra glance that seemed to say, "If you don’t sell me out, I’ll give you more insider info in the future."

"……" Liang Yixuan gave him a small nod— deal.

After setting the table, Lu Yuan quickly made his exit from the "battlefield."

Liang Yixuan sat with Bian Xu while he ate dinner.

It was already past her usual eating time. She didn’t eat much in the evenings anyway, so she wasn’t particularly hungry. She just picked at a few snacks while keeping him company. Once he was full, she got up to clear the table.

Bian Xu pulled her back down into her seat. "Why are you so eager to work? Weren’t you tired enough today?"

"If we don’t take care of the leftovers, they’ll go bad," Liang Yixuan frowned. "Unless you plan to finish everything."

Bian Xu sighed and shook his head. Faced with the choice of stuffing himself or cleaning up, he chose the latter. He saved what could be kept, tossed the rest, and loaded the dishes into the dishwasher.

Watching him fumble through the process a bit awkwardly, Liang Yixuan suddenly felt she might have figured something out — something that had been bothering her.

If Bian Xu had gone out yesterday for something important, there’d be no reason to hide it from her.

But she also knew he would never do anything behind her back or betray her.

So there was only one possibility left: after going to the southern suburbs yesterday morning, Bian Xu never came back home at all.

Thinking about what Lu Yuan said — that Bian Xu had been so hungry his stomach was hurting — it seemed likely he had stayed in his car the whole day without eating anything.

He must have waited near her grandmother’s house all day, not leaving her side just in case she had an argument with her mom and needed him — either to step in or simply be there for her.

He might’ve even taken the opportunity to talk to her mom privately.

And he hadn’t wanted her to know, because he didn’t want to put her in a tough spot or make her feel guilty.

Looking at him now, standing in front of the kitchen sink, busy cleaning up, Liang Yixuan felt her chest tighten, eyes starting to sting.

Just watching him from a distance didn’t feel like enough. She walked into the kitchen, stepped behind him, and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, pressing her cheek to his back and nuzzling softly.

Surprised, Bian Xu turned his head. "What’s this? You miss me already?"

"Mhm."

Hearing her muffled voice, Bian Xu quickly dried his hands and turned to face her. "What’s wrong? I’m almost done and then I’ll be with you."

"Forget the cleanup…" Liang Yixuan hugged him tighter. "Just be with me now."

"I thought you said the leftovers would go bad?"

"Then let them go bad."

Bian Xu raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Liang Yixuan, you didn’t get enough just now, did you?"

She was caught off guard, speechless.

"I was worried dinner was getting too late, so we rushed it. Turns out you weren’t hungry for food— you were hungry for me?" Bian Xu teased, pulling her into his arms.

"No one’s hungry for you," Liang Yixuan glared at him.

"What, am I not appetizing?"

She frowned. "Can you not say things like that…"

"We already did it— but I can’t talk about it?" Bian Xu picked her up and set her down on the kitchen counter. "Liang Yixuan, remember what your teacher said? This kind of activity helps improve body expression."

Liang Yixuan touched her nose awkwardly. "Why are you bringing that up again?"

"I’m not dragging up old stuff. I actually think your teacher had a point," Bian Xu said thoughtfully. "You’re definitely more expressive when you let go — especially in bed."

"…"

"So, for the sake of your career," he said with a smirk, "I’ve come up with a way to help you loosen up even more."

Liang Yixuan had a bad feeling about where this was going, but her curiosity still got the better of her. "What way?"

"You be on top," Bian Xu looked up at her, hands braced on either side of her. He made it even clearer: "You take the lead this time."