“Mhm, mhm, and then?”
After listening to Ci Wenjun recount what happened last night, Fu Qi couldn’t help but click her tongue in amazement.
They had known each other for over five years, after all; she truly never expected her good friend to have this kind of romantic history. If she hadn’t realized her friend’s state of mind was off lately, and subjected her to a rigorous interrogation using both threats and enticements, she probably wouldn’t have found out even if she were six feet under.
At this mention, Ci Wenjun shook her head in defeat.
“No way! You’re such a vibrant, breathtaking beauty! And right in front of her, she was completely unfazed!”
Fu Qi was so excited she was dancing around, the tail end of her voice pitching upward in exaggeration.
Stung by this make-a-fuss-over-nothing attitude, Ci Wenjun felt a faint blush dye her cheeks. With shyness poorly masked in her eyes, she averted her gaze. Fortunately, the office had excellent soundproofing, so people outside had no idea what their dear boss was doing inside.
Fu Qi wore an expression of sheer wonder. The usually cold and serious high-altitude flower had altered her usual demeanor entirely, taking on the posture of a shy little girl. It was truly an eye-opener.
“Is there something wrong with her?”
Fu Qi asked with a somewhat troubled expression. After all, talking behind someone’s back about which aspects their partner might be lacking in wasn’t very polite, but she simply couldn’t fathom how anyone could reject Ci Wenjun, especially when Ci Wenjun, this massive iceberg, had made the first move!
Who on earth wouldn’t want an iceberg to melt?
Yet Ci Wenjun was being all evasive, holding back half and revealing the other half, driving her crazy with suspense. She had a strong gut feeling that Ci Wenjun was still holding things back and definitely hadn’t told her the whole story.
As if Ci Wenjun would ever tell Fu Qi the real truth.
“No! She is not cold at all.”
Ci Wenjun instinctively retorted. By the end of her sentence, her shyness was hard to conceal, and her voice grew faint as her brain involuntarily replayed those memories of London: that fine-drizzling rainy day, the night she was locked onto by a hunter, a warm palm pressing against her waist, delicate fingertips plucking at her heartstrings.
Chu Yu, she was the best hunter, possessing boundless patience, taking her time. Pity that she was not a good prey; she surrendered quickly under the hunter’s teasing, not even leaving enough time to satisfy the hunter’s sadistic desire to toy with her. The hunter only had to crook a finger, and she would weep in a way that broke one’s heart.
Forgive me, Xiao Yu.
I’ve missed you so much. Not a single moment has passed since we parted that this body hasn’t longed for your solace, hungered for you. My yearning for you never stops.
She wept, stray tears still clinging to the corners of her eyes, her lovely eyes flashing with a mesmerizing luster beneath the dim, warm light.
Such a deceitful pair of eyes. At that time, that was what Chu Yu had thought.
Ci Wenjun was adept at using her peerless face and her deceptive eyes to seduce her, only to push her into the abyss.
She had fallen for it once; she didn’t want to fall for it a second time.
Ci Wenjun was a bad woman who had abandoned her eight years ago, and in London, she hadn’t been able to resist temptation either.
But she couldn’t do it again after that.
She couldn’t fall into the exact same trap a second time.
Otherwise, she’d simply be too stupid.
She’d be laughed at to death.
Chu Yu curled herself into a ball, huddling inside the sofa. The sofa wasn’t large, being a single-seater, and this posture made the space feel even more confined, making movement somewhat difficult.
Yet she was so accustomed to it, so much so that her mind wasn’t on the action at all, driven entirely by habit.
The sofa was for one person. Strictly speaking, everything in the home was for a single person.
Ever since Ci Wenjun, she had never bought anything meant for two.
How strange. She wasn’t someone prone to drowning in the past, but Ci Wenjun was different.
She was a special person, special to the point of love at first sight.
And all the harder to forget.
Chu Yu was half a wealthy kid.
At least, that was how she used to feel.
Her family had modest savings, and she had never wanted for food or clothing since she was little.
Her grandparents passed away early, and her maternal grandparents weren’t very close either.
When she was eighteen, her parents passed away in an accident, leaving behind a generous inheritance and some stocks. That same year, she also inherited the provisions of her grandparents’ pre-mortem wills. Combined, her net worth was fabulously wealthy.
Yet she had no heart to contend for power and profit; she only wanted to guard her own small plot of land. She rejected all the ill-intentioned extended relatives and collateral branches, and traveled alone with her backpack to Shenzhen, which was also the location of her university.
She bought a house in Shenzhen, but because of renovations, she couldn’t move in right away.
So she rented an apartment instead.
Life was boring. The departure of her parents hadn’t been able to make her grieve for long. Truthfully, she didn’t even know if she had ever grieved at all.
Yet she had indeed shed tears in the lonely middle of the night.
So she figured she must have been grieving after all.
Her acquaintance with Ci Wenjun also began in that sweltering midsummer.
After the semester started, she lived alone outside. Without familiar friends and in an unfamiliar campus, she successfully walked into the wrong classroom on this particular day, and through the arrangements of fate, even sat right next to Ci Wenjun.
Ci Wenjun back then was vastly different from now.
Gentle, introverted, somewhat timid, and prone to blushing like a little rabbit.
Almost the moment she stepped through the door, she found herself uncontrollably drawn to Ci Wenjun.
She was like a jasmine bud on the verge of blooming, making Chu Yu unable to help herself from wanting to subject her to some mischievous thoughts.
This was the first time in her eighteen years of life that she realized so clearly that she truly wasn’t a good person.
Otherwise, why would she harbor such intense malice toward someone she had just met, someone she had only laid eyes on unilaterally?
This malice made it hard for her to control herself, yet it excited her all the more, filling her with abnormal thrill. She didn’t even have time to look around the classroom, sitting down right beside Ci Wenjun with a clear target in mind.
Perhaps out of a sharp perception of danger, the exact moment she sat down, she clearly saw Ci Wenjun, who was still earnestly reading, give a violent start as if startled by her.
The classroom was rowdy, with some playing around and some sleeping. There were others reading diligently like Ci Wenjun, but not many, as most sat in the front rows, and few sat in the back rows clutching a book like her.
She didn’t conceal her gaze, but she didn’t stare unblinkingly either, given that the person beside her genuinely looked quite timid.
She liked her. She wanted to make her cry.
Such a pretty person must look exceptionally beautiful when crying.
She knew it; she had always been a bit unhinged. It was just that the first eighteen years of her life had been too boring, with no opportunity to let loose, so she had simply donned a well-behaved, gentle skin for herself.
But now, things were different.
Before long, the person beside her rustled about, writing something in a notebook, and then pushed it over to her.
Written on it was: Classmate, are you in Economics and Management Class 1222?
Chu Yu raised an eyebrow, as if she hadn’t expected this timid, little-rabbit-like girl to take the initiative to pass her a note.
Yet at the content, a trace of a bad thought crossed her mind.
She shook her head at Ci Wenjun, the corners of her mouth pressing straight on her still-youthful face.
Seeing this, a flash of understanding crossed Ci Wenjun’s eyes. As expected, she thought. When on earth did their class get such a pretty little girl?
After two years, no matter how unfamiliar one was, they should have some impression, especially of someone with such outstanding looks.
So cool!
Thinking this, a surge of warmth rose on Ci Wenjun’s face.
Nobody knew that Ci Wenjun had been gay since childhood.
“Classmate, you probably went to the wrong classroom. This is our major’s professional course.” The girl’s voice was light and clear, like spring water in a mountain forest, refreshing the heart.
Just as she had guessed, a faint look of dismay surfaced on Chu Yu’s face.
Having been a good child for over a dozen years after all, some habitual thinking hadn’t been corrected yet.
Ci Wenjun couldn’t bear to see the dejected expression on the girl’s face.
She blurted out subconsciously,
“It’s okay, classmate. The teacher won’t say anything, just pay attention next time. University is very free. Just treat it as skipping class today.”
Listening to the girl’s somewhat nervous words of comfort, a trace of a smile appeared on Chu Yu’s face.
She had only temporarily fallen into her habitual misconception, forgetting that university was different from high school.
University professors wouldn’t scold you into a bloody pulp just for being late.
Chu Yu had done very well in high school, and she was also very well-behaved, being law-abiding and trouble-free, but she had seen plenty of teachers criticizing rowdy kids.
Though she had never experienced it personally, just hearing and watching it made her feel suffocated.
“Thank you for comforting me, Senior. I’m fine.”
She flashed her customary smile at Ci Wenjun, but upon closer inspection, one would find it a bit more solid than her usual smiles, being a smile straight from the heart.
Seeing the girl’s genuine smile, Ci Wenjun breathed a small sigh of relief internally.
As long as she was fine. Such a pretty little girl ought to be carefree, and for a tiny trace of displeasure to appear on her face would be an unpardonable sin.
“By the way, Senior, what’s your name?”
The girl changed the subject quickly. Ci Wenjun’s smile had only just emerged when she heard the girl ask.
At this, a hint of hesitation flickered in her smile.
She didn’t feel they had any need to exchange names; it was a chance encounter, and barring accidents, they wouldn’t have any intersection afterwards.
“Can I not know your name, Senior?”
Seeing that Ci Wenjun hadn’t answered for a long time, a look of disappointment appropriately surfaced on the girl’s face, along with a tiny bit of subtle awkwardness, being neither too much nor too little, just enough for someone to perceive it without feeling abrupt.
Ci Wenjun instinctively shook her head, intolerance leaping to her heart first.
“No, not at all.”
It was just a name, nothing that couldn’t be said.
“Ci Wenjun.”
Looking into the girl’s eyes, her face felt a bit warm as she repeated it.
“My name is Ci Wenjun. And you?”
Courtesy demands reciprocity.
“Chu Yu.”
From then on, the intersection belonging to Chu Yu and Ci Wenjun began.
Far removed from what Ci Wenjun had initially imagined, their future was far from being as simple as just a mere intersection.
A grand dream, thoroughly exhilarating.
When Chu Yu woke up, she realized she had dreamed of Ci Wenjun again.
In fact, she had long since grown accustomed to dreaming of her.
Especially after meeting again, that delicate tactile sensation of having tasted the sweet marrow meant she just couldn’t get enough of it.
Just as she had said, she had always known that Ci Wenjun held a fatal attraction for her.
Letting out a long breath, exhaling all the turbid air from her chest completely, she leisurely propped herself up, sat up, and lazily leaned back against the sofa. Between wakefulness and sleep, she thought to herself that this nap hadn’t been very comfortable.
Outside the window, a fine drizzle had started falling again.
How strange. It rains in London, and it rains in Shenzhen too. There’s rain everywhere.
This rain truly goes on endlessly.
She walked over to the window and pulled back the heavy curtains. The custom-made curtains had excellent blackout properties, and the moment they were pulled open, the sound of the rain outside instantly became much clearer. Standing before the huge floor-to-ceiling window, the world suddenly seemed to clear up.
She stared silently at the rainy scenery outside for a long time, then suddenly, as if recalling something, she turned around.
She walked back to the bedroom.
The floor-to-ceiling window in the living room specifically adopted a fresh-air system for aesthetic reasons, so there were no windows that could be opened.
But the bedroom had one. When she abruptly pushed the bedroom window open, even if it was just a narrow crack, the biting chill rushed right at her, carrying a drizzle as fine as silver needles that stung her face slightly.
It’s so cold!
Yet after a short while, she silently closed the window.
She casually grabbed an umbrella from the entryway and went out. The exact moment she stepped out the door, she hesitated for a moment, then hurried back into the bedroom to grab a coat.
In such cold weather, people caught colds very easily.