She went out with her phone and came back with a flyer.
The dorm was at its liveliest at night. Standing on the balcony, you could hear someone in a nearby dorm humming an off-key song.
At her roommates’ request, Sui Mi had brought back some snacks from off campus on her way in.
She pushed the door open and had just stepped one foot inside.
Qin Shuangshuang, who had been sprawled on her bed, sprang up like a carp flipping over, gripping the bed rail, her tone extra warm. “Our Manman is back~”
“It’s your grilled cold noodles that are back.”
Sui Mi set the food down on her desk, bluntly calling her out.
Qin Shuangshuang grinned and hopped off the bed in a couple of moves.
“Same thing, same thing.”
She complained loudly.
“That bowl of noodles tonight was really bad. Light, bland food really doesn’t suit me. I need something savory and spicy.”
Sitting down at her desk, she pulled out her phone.
“Manman, I’ve transferred you the money.”
Sui Mi didn’t turn around, just waved a hand to show she’d heard.
As she moved, a corner of a colorful flyer peeked out from her pocket, appearing and disappearing.
Qin Shuangshuang, holding her bowl of grilled cold noodles, took a bite of the sauce-brushed wrap and squinted to get a better look, mumbling: “What’s that… a skateboard? You’re planning to learn skateboarding?”
Sui Mi slapped a hand over her pocket: “…”
She took a deep breath, put on a stern little face, and said coldly.
“Yes.”
“That board, swung hard enough, should be able to knock someone out painlessly with amnesia, right?”
Qin Shuangshuang: “?”
Sui Mi corrected herself: “Painfully, with amnesia.”
That way, Xi Jianbai would completely forget tonight’s accidental, awkward contact.
Or maybe tomorrow she should just go whack Xi Jianbai with a club!
Sui Mi was briefly tempted, but when the hand reaching into her pocket for the flyer brushed against a flat box of band-aids, she shamefully abandoned that plan.
Her almost-ex-husband was such a good person.
He’d walked her to the entrance of her dorm building, and even given her a box of band-aids.
Even with his cold expression and flat tone, he hadn’t forgotten to remind her to take care of her wound.
Sui Mi took out the box of band-aids.
She was about to toss it in the corner of the desk when her fingertip touched something small—a slip of paper on the back of the box.
She flipped it over.
It was a half-printed receipt.
The ink was faint, its corner stuck under the label on the back of the box, quietly hiding itself, escaping the fate of being discovered and thrown away.
Under the bright dorm lights, she could just barely make out the header on the receipt.
It was from the pharmacy next to the Cantonese restaurant.
Purchase: one box of band-aids.
Time: 6:30 in the evening.
Sui Mi stared at that line of faded ink, suddenly frozen.
That was the time Xi Jianbai had left the table midway, saying he was going to the restroom.
So.
Her dazed gaze fell on the box of band-aids in her hand.
…So it wasn’t luck that he happened to be carrying them. It was thoughtfulness—he had quietly prepared them in advance.
Fresh out of the shower, lying down in a soft, cozy bed—one of life’s greatest pleasures, always.
Back in college, Sui Mi had also picked up one of her old little habits.
Before bed, looking at things an adult should look at.
Today’s choice: manga.
The tablet’s large screen displayed every detail the artist had deliberately drawn with perfect clarity.
A powerful grip, soft flesh pressed out between fingers.
Damp sweat soaking through clothes.
Leaning against a soft pillow plushie, Sui Mi kept a straight little face, unhurriedly zooming in and out with two fingers.
At the good parts, she would even flip the screen face-down with a slap, close her eyes, and take a long, deep breath.
She pressed her lips together again and scrolled back up to continue her serious appraisal.
By the time it was nearly midnight, she finally extinguished her screen with satisfaction.
Before sleeping, she even savored it a little more, still wanting more.
Perhaps that was the reason.
Sui Mi dreamed again.
Just like last night—a dream both real and illusory.
As her vision gradually sharpened, she saw the familiar layout of Cafeteria One.
But this angle, this fogged-up glass window—
Tap.
Nearly soundless footsteps landed.
A tall figure pressed up against her from behind, intimately, his body completely enveloping her.
The young man was always burning hot, scalding to the touch, even though his face was cold as ice, frost like fallen snow gathered between his brows—yet inside him there seemed to burn an eternal, raging flame.
No, that wasn’t right either.
In last night’s dream, Xi Jianbai hadn’t worn a cold face at all. His pale eyes had shimmered with a smile that was either satisfied or wicked, and he had kissed her so hard that his thin, pale lips had taken on a blood-stained flush of color.
And this time.
In the faint reflection from the window, Sui Mi watched him bend down with unhurried ease.
Like some enormous beast of prey pretending to be docile, he sheathed his claws and fangs, feigned gentleness, and pressed his face into her hair, breathing in deeply.
The rigid man who disliked her scent in real life had become an insatiable scent-sniffing fiend in her dreams.
His high, straight nose bridge slid into her black hair, drifting downward, gently nuzzling past her soft, snow-white ear, then moving to nuzzle Sui Mi’s cheek.
He was so close that his breathing had sunk into an abnormal rhythm, as if with every breath he was inhaling deeply, greedily drawing in every trace of her scent.
…How could she be having such an absurd dream?
Could it be that she liked this version so much that her brain simply disregarded reality and kneaded the cold, distant Xi Jianbai into this?
Sui Mi couldn’t figure it out.
As Xi Jianbai nuzzled her cheek, her hair was dragged along and tickled her, making Sui Mi instinctively tilt her head away.
“…”
The breathing by her ear paused.
“Baby.”
Xi Jianbai’s lips curved faintly, and he leaned in again as if nothing had happened. “Why isn’t Baby slapping Husband today? Is it because Husband behaved well?”
His hoarse, low voice wrapped around a laugh, pressed close to her ear, murmuring secret sweet nothings.
“You only dodged so late.”
“Baby’s face has been nuzzled red by Husband.”
“…”
So clingy.
Was this right? It definitely wasn’t!
But… this was her dream.
What’s wrong with dreaming a little?
Sui Mi’s lashes trembled and trembled, and she simply played along, asking, “Behaved well?”
She thought for a moment. “The bandage?”
Xi Jianbai raised his brows slightly. “Why would Baby think that?”
“That’s just what Husband should do.”
His thin lips roamed over Sui Mi’s cheek and ear, licking and biting, the sharp points of his teeth grazing her skin and bringing a faint sting.
Sui Mi couldn’t figure it out, and being flustered by his clinginess until her face grew hot, she simply reached out and pushed Xi Jianbai’s face away.
She asked, “Then what good behavior are you talking about?”
The young man’s lower face was covered by Sui Mi’s palm and pushed away.
His cold brows and eyes lowered slightly, long lashes casting shadows that trembled faintly on the back of her hand.
Slowly, he smiled.
His pale eyes curved into an arc, curling up the dark undercurrents at the bottom of his gaze, rippling with an ambiguous, flickering light.
His lips parted and closed slowly, closing his teeth around Sui Mi’s fingertip.
The tip of his tongue curled lightly.
Leaving a damp, scalding trace.
Xi Jianbai stared straight at Sui Mi, his teeth holding her finger, his voice sticky and sweet like a good child begging for a reward.
“Baby, I didn’t barge in and kiss you in front of everyone.”
“Didn’t pin Baby against the wall.”
“Choke Baby’s neck.”
“Only look at me. You’re only allowed to look at me.”
“Baby will be kissed until her mouth can’t close, until her tongue won’t pull back.”
“You’ll only be able to pant in my arms.”
“Everyone will know that I belong to Baby.”
Dreams are just that magical.
The low, husky voice drifted down, and the grime-covered glass window suddenly turned clean and clear, as if washed by water.
In the empty cafeteria, countless indistinct figures appeared in the blink of an eye.
Students getting their food and eating, kitchen staff working behind the counters.
And Guan Teng, standing in front of the vending machine, picking out what to buy.
Just as noisy and lively as every day in the past.
As if at any moment someone would casually turn their head and see the two of them tangled together behind the window.
Sui Mi couldn’t tell whether it was from his bites or from being frightened by the scene he described, but her body trembled almost imperceptibly, shaking in small spasms.
Xi Jianbai looked down at her.
Flushed cheeks, a panicked expression, lips unconsciously bitten tight.
Beneath her lifted long lashes, her almond eyes were hazy with moisture, so wet it seemed tears would spill over.
Xi Jianbai had had many dreams about Sui Mi.
In them, he would hold nothing back—dark and filthy, inflicting those violent, shadowed thoughts upon her.
Usually, those dreams ended with a slap from Sui Mi and a look of disgust in her eyes.
Which was only natural.
After all, Sui Mi was so sweet, so good—when she smiled, her eyes curved into crescents, and the way she looked at you was clear and bright, a pure, gentle radiance.
What she liked was the flawless, luminous moon.
Not the dark and wretched Xi Jianbai.
“…”
Her trembling fingers clutched at his collar.
The girl tilted her face up, her almond eyes brimming with shimmering water, the corners reddened, naturally wearing an innocent, aggrieved expression.
She pressed her lips together.
Her voice was sweet and soft, tinged with a hint of stuffiness, as she asked in a tiny voice:
“Then… can people see us right now?”
“See us kissing?”
Tears glimmered on Sui Mi’s lashes, fluttering, and she said with pink cheeks, embarrassed:
“…That would be way too exciting.”