Sheng Xian thought about how he just found her inexplicably silly, leaving him at a loss for words: "..."
She wasn't just silly, she was completely shameless.
Seeing that she was fully awake now, Sheng Xian brushed aside her comment, "Go home early."
After that, he turned around intending to leave, just as he was about to step forward, he felt a light tug at his clothes from behind.
He turned his head, looking down to see her hand clutching his shirt.
Her skin was very white, her fingers long and slender, and her neatly rounded nails were painted with milky white nail polish. A gold bracelet encrusted with tiny diamonds was worn on her delicate wrist.
His gaze was just about to travel up from the bracelet when she spoke, "You don't have to bring me home, but you can give me a ride home."
Sheng Xian lifted his eyelids, and his eyes fell straight onto her face.
She was shorter than him, looking up at him with eager eyes, "I didn't drive today."
Sheng Xian watched her unmoved.
Lu Jingyan tugged at his shirt, giving it a gentle shake.
After a standoff, Sheng Xian conceded, "Where do you live?"
…
"Do you know what my name is?"
"I'm Lu Jingyan, Lu Jingyan's Lu, Lu Jingyan's Jing, Lu Jingyan's Yan."
"Oh? Is this your car?"
"Your license plate is nice, let me take a picture."
"..."
Lu Jingyan himself didn't realize he could talk so much.
Sheng Xian largely ignored her, but she wasn't embarrassed, just kept talking nonstop.
Talking too much isn't tiring, but it makes you thirsty.
Lu Jingyan looked around in Sheng Xian's car, couldn't find any water, and reluctantly closed his mouth.
There was still some distance to their destination, Lu Jingyan looked here and there, finally fixing his attention on Sheng Xian's face.
Some people look good at first glance but shouldn't be scrutinized, while others may not catch the eye initially but grow on you.
And Sheng Xian was the type that dazzled from the first look and kept getting better the more you looked.
Lu Jingyan had seen many good-looking people, but he was the kind that made her want to possess him like no other.
Even after several encounters, Lu Jingyan was still utterly captivated.
Beautiful.
Truly too beautiful.
So beautiful that she really wanted to touch him.
Lu Jingyan was so lost in his striking looks that she didn't notice her hand, already reaching uncontrollably towards Sheng Xian's face.
Getting closer and closer, just as her fingertips were about to touch his face, he suddenly spoke, "What are you doing?"
"Touching..."
In between her words, he tilted his head, dodging.
Lu Jingyan's hand missed its mark, and she blinked, snapping back to reality. Realizing she had nearly blurted out something, she quickly stopped the word "you" at her lips: "Touch, touch... muah."
Sheng Xian: "..."
Lu Jingyan: "..."
The two stared at each other for a few seconds, before Lu Jingyan realized the car was already at her residence.
She cleared her throat and spoke very seriously, "Thank you for driving me home, mwah."
"..."
"Mwah just means to show affection; don't overthink it."
"..."
Lu Jingyan leaned his face close to Sheng Xian's, "Or do you actually want a real kiss?"
Sheng Xian turned her head away, "Get out of the car."
"Such a pretense." Lu Jingyan muttered softly as he unbuckled his seatbelt. As she was about to push the car door, she suddenly turned her head, "Brother, want to come in for a bit?"
Sheng Xian raised her hand smartly and unbuckled her seatbelt.
Before he could come around to pull her out of the car, Lu Jingyan, smiling, added, "Next time, I'll take you home."
After Lu Jingyan spoke, she pushed open the car door. Before she got out of the car, she seemed to think of something, leaned over to the car window, and blew on it twice.
The night was a bit cold, her breath quickly fogged up the glass, and she quickly drew something on the window with her finger, left a 'goodbye', closed the door, and walked away.
Sheng Xian reversed the car to turn around, and through the mirror, he saw the heart she had drawn on the window with her breath slowly disappear under the warm air of the air conditioner.
...
Maybe it was because of Bo Mu, but Lu Jingyan had a nightmare that night.
In her dream, she frantically screamed for help, but no one came to aid her even as her throat gave out; despair and darkness suffocated her, and just when she thought she'd die in the dream, she woke up.
The room was very quiet, so quiet that she could hear herself breathing heavily.
The light on the bedside soothingly illuminated the entire room; she just lay in bed for a while and then raised her hand to touch the damp hair by her ear.
She got out of bed, washed her face, and then completely lost all sleepiness.
With her bare legs, she sat in the chair by the window and lit up a cigarette.
She hadn't had such nightmares in a long time.
These dreams weren't fabricated by her; they were real events that had happened.
They were nightmares that she desperately wanted to forget but couldn't.
Deep into the night, Lu Jingyan smoked one cigarette after another until the pack was empty, then she hugged her legs and buried her face in her knees.
Just when she thought she'd spend the night as before, unable to sleep until dawn, her phone suddenly rang.
It was a WeChat message.
She clicked on it and saw a red notification at the top.
Sheng Xian had accepted her friend request.
...
Sheng Xian returned home and prepared his lessons for a while, finishing almost at two-thirty in the morning.
Back in his bedroom, he single-handedly undid the top two buttons of his collar and pulled his shirt up over his head, tossing it casually into the laundry basket in the dressing room before stepping into the shower.
Hot water cascaded down from the roof, and within a short while, the bathroom was filled with steam; he thought of her, leaning over a table by the café's floor-to-ceiling windows.
After leaving the shower, he picked up his phone.
A few more unread texts had arrived from her two hours earlier. He also had a new notification in WeChat's contacts, again from her.
Sheng Xian stared at the screen for two seconds, then clicked and accepted her friend request.
Sheng Xian dimmed the room's lights, ready to put down his phone and sleep, but the phone vibrated in his palm.
Looking down, it was a message from her.
Lu Jingyan, "Tell me, brother, are we going through the motions, or are we going to be together?"
PS: Today's update is complete; see you daily, and remember to vote, (*^▽^*)