The next day was a rest day, meaning no classes.
Having gone to bed late the night before, Xia Miao still hadn’t woken up even when the sun was high in the sky. Curled up inside the boy’s blazing-hot embrace, she felt a bit too warm and had unconsciously kicked the covers away. Clinging purely to his warmth instead, she felt infinitely more comfortable.
In all his memories, Lu Yan had never experienced sleep this deep and peaceful. For once, he enjoyed a lazy lie-in until nearly noon, when Xia Miao woke up feeling hungry. As she squirmed in his arms—tugging at his hair one second, brushing against his eyelashes the next—she ended up waking him.
Cracking his eyes open a sliver, he mumbled in a sleepy haze:
“What are you doing?”
Fully rested and bursting with energy, Xia Miao propped herself up on the bed, wiggling her back around.
“Watch my performance. What does this look like?”
“A maggot.”
Xia Miao’s fist shot right out.
“It’s a cute little bear, you jerk!”
Taking a punch to the face first thing in the morning left Lu Yan feeling rather aggrieved. He desperately wanted to point out that her performance looked precisely like a maggot, but looking at Xia Miao’s tousled hair and the threatening sparks of fire in her eyes, he wisely chose to keep his mouth shut.
“I’m starving,” Xia Miao announced.
Sitting up in bed, one of the thin spaghetti straps of her nightgown slipped down her shoulder, revealing an even greater expanse of fair, smooth skin. The soft cleavage at her chest was faintly visible, paired with her lazy, just-woke-up demeanor and a rare dazed expression on her pretty face. To use a trendy phrase, she radiated an intoxicating blend of innocence and allure.
Lu Yan’s gaze became completely glued to her, staring in a daze as a fire raged deep within his body.
The two of them locked eyes in a stare-down. Suddenly, the boy lunged forward, tackling her down and pinning her beneath him. Staring straight at her with unblinking eyes, he desperately wanted to reach out and touch her skin, yet his fingertips hesitated, terrified of overstepping and angering her.
They were so close now that they could feel each other’s breath.
Her long hair spilled across the mattress like a cascade of black moonlight, and her white nightgown was light and thin. Because his knee was wedged right between them, she couldn’t close her legs, and the boy’s gaze grew scorching hot, taking on a rare, aggressive edge.
Xia Miao had been right before: he possessed a terrifying sense of physical power. At least with her hands pinned beneath his grip, she stood zero chance of breaking free.
A surge of nervous tension washed over her.
“What… what are you trying to do?”
His Adam’s apple bobbing, Lu Yan answered in a raspy, husky voice:
“I… I don’t know either.”
He had a vague inkling of the things that went on between men and women, but all that “knowledge” had been gleaned entirely from the Japanese adult films he’d stumbled upon in the old gardener’s room.
Calling it “studying” wasn’t quite accurate; back then, he had only glanced at the old gardener’s collection out of pure curiosity. The shrill cries of the women and the crude roughness of the men had simply disgusted him. Such aesthetically bankrupt garbage was far less entertaining than watching blood splatter during a slaughter.
Yet right now, here he was, actually wanting to do those exact same things with Xia Miao.
And yet he couldn’t. Xia Miao was entirely different from those women.
Where, exactly, was she different?
Her gaze made his heart flip out of control.
Her touch drove him to the brink of ecstasy.
Her kisses filled him with boundless joy.
In short, every single thing Xia Miao did possessed a devastating attack power, stripping away all his defenses in an instant.
She’s too powerful, Lu Yan thought. She has to be the most terrifying person in the entire world. There’s no way I could ever beat her.
In other words, he had completely chickened out.
As an adult, Xia Miao couldn’t possibly misunderstand the blazing fires burning in the boy’s eyes. Her own heart hammered uncontrollably against her ribs. She was practically prepared to give in halfway and just let him have his way—after all, she was quite curious to experience what it was like. Yet, after waiting for a long, drawn-out moment, he simply hovered above her, completely frozen without making a single move.
Growing slightly impatient, she nudged him with her foot.
“What on earth are you trying to do?”
“I… I…” Stuttering through his words, Lu Yan finally mustered up his courage. “Can I kiss you?”
Xia Miao stared at him.
“That’s it?”
Blushing fiercely, he nodded.
“That’s it.”
After a brief moment of silence, she conceded:
“Go ahead.”
With her permission granted, Lu Yan slowly lowered his head. That dark, purplish mouth—resembling something touched by venom—peeked out from a gap in his bandages, revealing its normal, human size. The closer he got to her, the more nervous he became.
The moment his lips brushed against the corner of hers, a tiny chwip sound echoed in the quiet room.
How strange. They had shared far more intimate kisses before, yet this clumsy, elementary-schooler pecking style made both of their hearts hammer like thunder.
Sparks flickered brightly in Lu Yan’s eyes as his gaze grew sticky and affectionate.
“Miaomiao… can I sleep with you again next time?”
Whether it was because this was the first time he had ever called her by her full name, or because his vibrant, budding adolescent crush made him look so thoroughly alive, she unexpectedly found herself feeling shy.
Twiddling her thumbs, Xia Miao mumbled bashfully,
“If you behave yourself, maybe.”
“I’ll be on my best behavior,” he promised eagerly. “Can I have one more kiss?”
Clearing her throat, Xia Miao darted her eyes away.
“Go on then.”
Having slept in late, they completely missed the cafeteria’s meal hours.
Xia Miao ended up buying two sweet rolls from the campus convenience store, handing one to Lu Yan before unceremoniously giving his shin a kick.
“This is all your fault! If you hadn’t insisted on sleeping in, I wouldn’t have missed lunch!”
Since there were no classes today, she wasn’t wearing her school uniform. Instead, she had slipped into a simple overall dress, tying her long hair back into a bouncy ponytail secured with a red satin ribbon bow that Lu Yan himself had tied for her. Paired with a pair of pristine white sneakers, she radiated youthful vitality.
At this point, Lu Yan wouldn’t dare talk back or fight a single word. His eyes remained permanently glued to her figure, his inner monologue overflowing with quiet adoration: She’s so pretty. No matter how she dresses up, she’s just breathtakingly pretty.
Taking a bite of her sweet roll, Xia Miao grumbled,
“I’m still starving. The convenience store doesn’t even carry instant noodles, and we have to wait hours for dinner.”
Lu Yan held out his own roll toward her.
“Miaomiao, I’m not hungry. You can have mine.”
Giving him a sideways glance, Xia Miao reached out and patted his stomach.
“It’s completely flat. You need to eat too.”
Blinking, Lu Yan replied,
“It doesn’t matter if I eat or not.”
“No way, you’ll feel terrible once hunger kicks in.” Xia Miao grabbed one of his hands, intertwining her fingers with his as they strolled forward together. “I don’t want to watch you put up a tough front. You haven’t eaten a single thing since last night either. Even if it’s just a simple roll, whatever bite I have, I’ll definitely share half with you.”
Lu Yan insisted again,
“I’m really not scared of being hungry.”
Lifting her chin, she scolded him with feigned annoyance:
“How many times do I have to tell you? Starving yourself is bad for your health! If you end up getting sick, guess who’s the one who’s going to hurt?”
Lu Yan stood frozen in place with a blank stare.
A second later, Xia Miao gave a little huff, donning a proud, haughty expression.
“Don’t get the wrong idea, though. Me saying I’d hurt doesn’t mean I’m head-over-heels in love with you right now, you know. I still only like you a tiny bit! So you better eat up, put on some meat, and maybe—just maybe—I’ll like you a little more.”
Staring down at the sweet roll in his hand, Lu Yan felt his vision blur slightly for reasons unknown. A moment later, his grip on Xia Miao’s hand tightened fiercely, as if he were holding onto her very existence for dear life.
Taking a bite of the pastry—which happened to be pineapple-flavored and overwhelmingly sweet—he tucked her hand right inside his own hoodie pocket, whispering softly:
“I’ll make sure Miaomiao likes me a whole lot more.”