Chapter 31: She Stopped the Thought of Trying to Kiss Huai Xing.
The envelope bouquet was placed by Chu Wantang on the desk in the master bedroom, beside the speaker Huai Xing had given her before, basking in the strands of sunlight that slipped through the gap in the curtains.
The curtains were already drawn. She closed her eyes lightly, wrapped her arms around Huai Xing again, and said in an irresistible tone that they should go back to sleep.
Huai Xing had taken a red-eye flight and had rushed back overnight. She hadn’t slept well. Now, smelling the familiar woody scent on Chu Wantang, she fell into a peaceful sleep in no time.
Only when she heard the steady breathing of the person so close to her did Chu Wantang slowly open her eyes.
What met her eyes was a sight she was all too familiar with.
Huai Xing’s entire face was fair and delicate, her quietly drooping eyelashes trembling slightly with her breathing. Her gaze moved down to her gently moving nostrils, and the corners of her lips, like petals, were curled up slightly.
What is she thinking about? Chu Wantang asked herself before realizing that she didn’t need to guess at all.
The answer was herself.
Under the influence of her drunken hints last night, the current Huai Xing was now full of her, crying for her, and smiling for her.
She had also returned early without complaint to prepare a surprise for her.
Chu Wantang’s thoughts flew. She couldn’t help but lower her eyelashes and lean closer.
When her breath was getting closer and closer to Huai Xing’s cheek, and the tip of her nose could feel the warmth from Huai Xing’s cheek, she suddenly woke up as if from a dream and pulled away from her previous state.
Reason had pulled her back. She stopped the thought of trying to kiss Huai Xing.
And returned to her original position.
Huai Xing was completely unaware. She slept very soundly, not even feeling it when Chu Wantang withdrew her arm from under her neck in the middle of the night.
When she woke up a few hours later, the fatigue from the previous night’s journey was gone, and so was the person beside her.
She was stunned for a moment, rubbed her brow, and glanced at the electronic clock beside her, only then realizing how long she had slept.
Her gaze shifted again, and she saw the envelope bouquet she had given. She got up, feeling refreshed.
But where was Chu Wantang? Huai Xing looked around outside but couldn’t find her. Only then did she take out her phone, about to send a message to ask, but it turned out that Chu Wantang had already reported her whereabouts. Two hours ago, she had said that she was going to find Su Cheng and told her to heat up her lunch in the microwave.
Huai Xing: [Okay, Jiejie.]
Huai Xing: [I’m so hungry.]
Chu Wantang looked at the reply from Huai Xing on her end and locked her phone with a blank expression.
She couldn’t drink during her period. She pressed her lips together, a little annoyed, and took the plain water on the coffee table, gulping down half a glass.
Su Cheng was trying on a new design on a mannequin, modifying it as she went, and complaining at the same time, “To be honest, I’m a little regretful that I opened my own independent studio. I didn’t get to enjoy a single day of the three-day Qingming holiday.” She hummed twice. “It’s still better to be like our great Director Chu. High salary, valued by the boss, no worries about salary, and holidays too… Hey? What are you spacing out for, Wantang?”
The sofa in the office was by the window, and both the sun and the gentle breeze would come in to take care of it.
Su Cheng loved to take a nap here, and now her friend was lying on it, not sleeping, just staring at the ceiling in a daze.
“Hey, wake up, come back to your senses,” Su Cheng said, walking over.
“First, my name is not ‘hey.’ My name is Chu Wantang.”
Su Cheng was speechless. “Huo, you and the female lead of this drama both have the surname ‘Chu,’ but can you not suddenly be so dry? I really don’t have time to joke with you.” She came to Chu Wantang’s side. “Move in a little. I’ll squeeze in with you.”
Chu Wantang moved as she was told, her gaze still on the ceiling.
Su Cheng followed her gaze and yawned after a few seconds. “What a hypnotic ceiling.”
She then became curious. “What are you thinking about? About Xingxing? Did you two have a fight? Speaking of which, I still can’t quite accept the fact that you two are together. Please, she’s in her early twenties, with delicate skin. You’re really something!”
“That sounds a bit familiar.”
“Of course it’s familiar!” Su Cheng recalled. “We used to ‘attack’ Wan Yi like this, and now you’re also… But, then again, you’re not bad like this. I really thought you two sisters were cultivating the path of heartlessness, but it turns out you’ve gone to the Hehuan Sect.”
“…Please uninstall your novel app immediately.” Chu Wantang’s temples were throbbing.
If it weren’t for their years of friendship, she would have wanted to block this friend along with Wan Yi.
Su Cheng closed her eyes. “Boring, dull, uninteresting.”
Time flowed quietly, and Chu Wantang also closed her eyes.
But she didn’t feel sleepy at all. Her mind was full of the Huai Xing who had appeared before her this morning, holding the envelope bouquet.
“Three months and twelve days, Su Cheng,” Chu Wantang finally said.
“What three months and twelve days?”
“Her birthday.”
“Are you already thinking about how to celebrate your little girlfriend’s birthday so early?” Su Cheng was so sleepy that her words were a little slurred. “I still feel it’s too surreal. That Chu Wantang would one day come to me to show off her love. How shocked would those who had a crush on you in the past be…”
Chu Wantang’s thin lips pressed together, and she didn’t give an answer immediately.
After a long while, after her friend had fallen asleep, she parted her lips again. “No.” She thought of Huai Xing’s bright smile again, and her eyelashes trembled twice, as if she were talking to herself. “I will proceed according to the original plan.”
That night, Chu Wantang’s cramps were a bit severe. She had been self-disciplined for many years, not eating cold things and exercising. Huai Xing had rarely seen her have cramps in the past few years, but this time, the pain was so bad that a layer of cold sweat broke out. She felt much better after taking her medicine.
Huai Xing sat down by the bed and asked with concern, “Jiejie, did you drink iced coffee behind my back?”
“…” Chu Wantang lifted her eyelids. Hearing the familiar question, she smiled helplessly. “No.”
Huai Xing scrolled through the information online, her brows furrowed slightly. She said as she read, “Then there’s another possibility that your recent schedule has not been good. Staying up late can also cause it.”
“Then why has my recent schedule not been good? Doctor Huai, please explain it to me.”
Huai Xing was silent, her face suddenly turning a little red. She stuttered, “A little lack of self-control in matters of love…”
In the past few days, when they came home from work, they would go to bed after eating and showering.
Because they started relatively early, they didn’t actually stay up very late, but compared to their previously healthy schedule, they had gone to bed about an hour later.
Hearing this, Chu Wantang chuckled lightly. “Is that so? It seems we’ll have to be a little more restrained in the future. For example, once a week, for half an hour… Mm, that sounds very self-controlled.” Her features were even softer under the warm yellow light. “Xingxing, what do you think?”
“Okay,” Huai Xing nodded in deep agreement.
After replying, she tried to offer another possibility. “The internet also said that it could be because of a bad mood? I saw people online say that a bad mood, anxiety, and other factors can also affect the normal function of the neuroendocrine system, which can lead to uterine ischemia and hypoxia, thus causing cramps.”
Chu Wantang asked back, “How do you think my mood has been recently?”
“Not very good.” The intimate, tender atmosphere vanished. Huai Xing looked at her eyes and answered honestly in a muffled voice, “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been drinking last night.”
“You can also drink when you’re happy,” Chu Wantang held the opposite opinion.
“Then I still stand by my previous thought. You can ask me to join you next time you want to drink. Whether you’re happy or not, I want to be by your side.”
“Go to sleep, Xiao Xing.”
Chu Wantang didn’t respond to her words and slowly closed her eyes. “You haven’t slept in your own room for a long time.”
The original form of address returned. Huai Xing was stunned for a moment, then nodded. “Okay, good night, Jiejie.”
“Good night.”
After returning to the guest room to sleep after a period of time, Huai Xing was still a little dazed.
She held the jade comb and found a familiar position, but without the familiar body temperature to envelop her, she felt a little unaccustomed.
After an unknown amount of time, she finally fell asleep.
In the following days, Huai Xing just felt that she and Chu Wantang had returned to their previous sisterly relationship. They slept in their own beds and never mentioned any ambiguous words.
Perhaps Chu Wantang had no energy during her period, and with her busy work schedule, she had no such thoughts.
Huai Xing could understand.
But she knew how long Chu Wantang’s period was. A whole week had passed, and the begonias she had sent had already withered, but the relationship between her and Chu Wantang remained the same.
It wasn’t that she had to kiss and go to bed with Chu Wantang, but the overall atmosphere just felt strange to her.
Had something happened in between? She thought back carefully and got a negative answer.
On the night of the Qingming Festival in Yuncheng, their phone call had been so ambiguous. The next morning, after she had delivered her spring letter, she had even fallen asleep in Chu Wantang’s arms. Even on the night Chu Wantang got her period, they were still flirting…
Time slipped by in Huai Xing’s confusion until the end of the month.
On Friday, the 24th, at nine o’clock at night, Chu Wantang returned from a dinner party.
After taking a shower, she went straight into the study.
Thinking that she didn’t have to work tomorrow, Huai Xing was watching TV in the living room with her glasses on, but she couldn’t concentrate on anything. She didn’t know what Chu Wantang was busy with. Recently, she had been locking herself in the study as soon as she came back and only came out very late. She knew that Chu Wantang’s profession was like that, and Chu Wantang had also locked herself in the study to design clothes in the past, so she had held the idea of not disturbing her and had never taken the initiative to bring it up.
But their recent communication was even less than when they were just sisters, which was a torment for her.
Tonight was an opportunity.
It wasn’t until around midnight that Huai Xing heard the sound of the study door opening.
Chu Wantang hadn’t expected her to still be in the living room and frowned. “Why are you still up?”
“I was just about to go to sleep,” Huai Xing said, taking off her glasses and slowly bringing the topic back. “You’ve been going to bed so late recently, Jiejie. Be careful you don’t get cramps next time.”
Chu Wantang looked tired and nodded, saying no more.
But before she could take a few steps, Huai Xing got up from the sofa and hugged her from behind, changing the form of address. “Chu Chu…”
Huai Xing’s forehead was pressed against Chu Wantang’s shoulder. She wrapped her arms around the woman’s slender waist, her voice muffled. “Even if we have to be restrained, you said once a week, for half an hour…” She dragged out her tone. “It’s almost been three weeks.”
Chu Wantang’s lashes drooped. Her palm covered the back of her hand, her fingertips caressing it.
Huai Xing didn’t hear any response and lifted her pajamas on her own, her hand on her waist and abdomen.
Slowly, she moved her hand up.
Until she held the person as before, stroking and rubbing gently.
Chu Wantang didn’t stop her, her breathing a little chaotic, but she turned her head slightly and reminded, “Stop.”
“I won’t,” Huai Xing said, pretending to be anxious. “I miss your body.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the person in front of her pulled her hand out and held her wrist.
She turned around and stared at her quietly.
Huai Xing’s wrist was held, and she swallowed nervously, meeting Chu Wantang’s scrutinizing gaze. “What’s wrong?”
Chu Wantang didn’t answer.
Her gaze swept down from top to bottom, finally landing on her moist lips. She thought for a moment, leaned over, and pecked her on the lips before pulling back and releasing her hand at the same time.
“It’s very late,” Chu Wantang said in a low voice. “Go back to sleep.”
Huai Xing then took her wrist and placed it on her own waist, looking at her directly and saying with a smile, “You said it was still early at two in the morning before. It’s only just past twelve now.”
“Do I have to make it so obvious that I don’t want to?”
The air was paused at this moment. A few seconds later, Huai Xing released Chu Wantang’s hand. “…I know.”
Before a breath had passed, Huai Xing returned to the guest room.
She locked the door, lay down on the bed, the tip of her nose sore. This distant and close, hot and cold relationship made her confused.
Outside the door, Chu Wantang heard the “click” of the lock.
Just like how she had stopped the thought of kissing Huai Xing that day, she stopped the urge to knock on the door at this moment.
And turned to the other side.
