If things don’t work out later, Old Lin can always change the password again.
“Yeah, thanks, Sister Qin.”
The passcode to Lin Huayan’s own front door was the date from nine years ago, the day they’d celebrated their birthdays together.
She figured that the meaning of that date, its significance to her and Lin Huayan—no third person would ever know it now.
And now, she had one more piece of evidence in her hands that Lin Huayan liked her.
She felt both happy and sad.
“Well then, Sister Qin, I’ll drive her home first.”
“Go ahead.”
After Lou Yixuan got in the car, Qin Fengru didn’t head back to the hotel right away. She stood by the roadside, scrolling through her Moments.
No “visible only to recent contacts” setting.
Qin Fengru scrolled back to the end of last month, to the sushi photo Lou Yixuan had posted—the exact same one she’d eaten in Lin Huayan’s dorm.
The truth she’d hunted for months suddenly came to light.
She could finally give Auntie’s earnest entrustment from last night a proper report first thing in the morning.
—Fengru, Auntie knows you have a wide social circle and lots of friends. What Auntie wants to ask is, for any gatherings Huayan can join, please bring her along more often. You finally have company again—Auntie is so happy for you. Auntie is getting old and doesn’t ask for much. As for Huayan, as long as Huayan likes her, no matter who it is, Auntie will treat her well. If it’s another girl, even better—Auntie likes girls too, just like she likes Huayan, just like she likes you. Fengru, you get what Auntie means, right?
And just one night later, the daughter Auntie had waited 38 years for had her heart taken. Whether it was a shock or a joy was still up in the air.
Gender wasn’t an issue, but did Lou Yixuan match up well with Old Lin? Was the age gap too big?
She’d seen plenty of straight couples with older wife/younger husband or older husband/younger wife—gaps of over twenty years weren’t rare. An eleven- or twelve-year difference was just average. The worry was whether Auntie and Uncle could digest it so quickly.
But anyway, what will be, will be.
Better to have company than none at all. She believed Uncle and Auntie would come around to thinking like her.
Plus, whether they said it or not, the idea that love was a woman’s fountain of youth made total sense. Over the past few months, Old Lin had been nurtured into looking at least five years younger overall!
Finally acting like a woman.
“Old Lin, oh Old Lin, you’re eating real well.” Qin Fengru gazed in the direction the car had vanished and sighed. “Call you a wooden lump that doesn’t sprout or bloom? Well, you don’t strike until you do—and when you do, it’s earth-shattering. You even chomped down on the tender grass right under your nose. From log to rabbit—you’re something else. Don’t let me down now, Teacher Lin, Teacher Lou.”
…
Lou Yixuan drove the drunkard to the complex, then up the elevator, stopping in front of unit 17-2 in the four-unit stairwell.
“We’re at your place, Teacher Lin…”
The door lock was both keypad and fingerprint. Lin Huayan could open it with her print, and it would be rude for Lou Yixuan to input the code herself in front of her.
After all, the code hadn’t come from the homeowner herself—it was Qin Fengru who’d sent it without Lin Huayan’s permission. How could she use it?
If Lin Huayan were truly blackout drunk, she couldn’t have gotten her up here anyway.
From her actions, she seemed perfectly sober—at least enough to know how to walk, even if unsteadily.
Lou Yixuan’s arm was still around Lin Huayan’s waist.
After a pause, she asked, “Which fingerprint did you register?”
“Use the code.”
“…” So she can talk. I thought she’d play mute the whole way.
Lou Yixuan’s right arm held her up, her left carried the bag and bouquet. Freeing a hand to punch in the code was no easy feat.
But Lin Huayan was being stubborn, refusing to budge.
So cute. Really cute.
Each had their own little schemes, and they stood there for several minutes. Until the door to neighboring unit 1 opened, and the neighbor auntie stepped out with two black trash bags.
“Teacher Lin’s back? You’ve been coming more often lately—are you finally moving in?”
“Mm.” Lin Huayan stood ramrod straight, but her voice was weak and listless.
“Auntie, we had a little wine at lunch—Teacher Lin’s a bit dizzy now,” Lou Yixuan explained on her behalf.
“Oh, oh, it’s the weekend— a bit of wine’s fine. Hurry and help her inside. I’m heading down to toss the trash.”
Once the neighbor headed to the elevator, Lou Yixuan said again, “Teacher Lin, both my hands are full. Could you do the honors and open the door?”
As the words landed, she heard a faint “hmph”?
Then Lin Huayan raised her hand, lit up the keypad, and slowly punched in the six-digit code, one number at a time.
“…”
Heaven help me, what is Lin Huayan doing?
Did she drink fake booze? Was it watered with “cuteness” instead?
Lou Yixuan’s mind was full of mental screams.
Any “one door apart” boundaries? Long tossed to the heavens.
Thanks to her height advantage, Lin Huayan’s left arm on Lou Yixuan’s shoulder wasn’t tiring at all. Once the door opened, she even pushed a bit, guiding Lou Yixuan inside.
The moment they entered, Lou Yixuan set everything down on the entryway cabinet.
She figured now that they were home, Lin Huayan would let go—but Lin Huayan clung stubbornly, escalating by shoving her against the wall. She pinned Lou Yixuan’s shoulders with both hands, staring motionless for a moment before cupping her face.
Lou Yixuan was the startled one.
Was Lin Huayan going to kiss her?
Was something she’d never dared dream of actually happening?
No.
She’d overthought it.
Lin Huayan only held her face and stared for a bit before stepping back to lean against the cabinet.
Like a deflated balloon, her rigid posture softened, but she still had strength to undress herself.
She shoved the thick overcoat into Lou Yixuan’s hands. “Hang it up.”
She kicked off her heels, opened the shoe cabinet barefoot, and pulled out two pairs of fuzzy slippers—clearly different sizes and styles. She slipped into the simple oversized one.
Without a word, she turned and headed into the master bedroom.
Leaving Lou Yixuan hugging the coat in the entryway, tugging at her scarf with her right hand and fanning herself desperately to cool down.
But this inner “heat” wasn’t something a bit of fanning could dispel?
She was practically burning up.
Lin Huayan, on the other hand, acted like nothing happened—tease and flee.
Glancing around the layout, Lou Yixuan hung the coat in the entryway wall cabinet’s coat rack, then unwound her scarf and hung it on a wooden hanger.
She didn’t wander into the rooms, staying obediently in the entryway.
Calming her mind. Cooling her fire.
But after Lin Huayan entered the bedroom, there was zero sound. Unable to relax, Lou Yixuan slipped into the other pair of slippers.
Perfect fit.
Brand new.
The kind no one had worn.
She wore size 36; Lin Huayan was 37, Qin Fengru about 37-38. So whose were these milky-white fuzzy ones with bunny ears? Who had Lin Huayan prepared them for?
Lin Huayan was an only child—no talk of cousins or anything. Did she have a bestie besides Qin Fengru?
Surely not for her mom?
Lou Yixuan couldn’t bring herself to believe these were specially for her. Lin Huayan, who clung so hard to “room door” boundaries, prepare house slippers for her?
Pushing aside stray thoughts, she tiptoed toward the bedroom Lin Huayan had entered.
The door was wide open. The person on the bed hadn’t changed, still in her red sweater, lying on her side at the edge.
Someone so neat-freakish must be utterly exhausted to do this.
Lou Yixuan stepped in, squatted by the bedside, and asked, “Still awake? Want me to help you with a bath before sleep?”
Her “help with a bath” meant waiting by the door until Lin Huayan finished, then leaving.
Lin Huayan clearly misunderstood.
The half-drunk, half-awake Lin Huayan immediately turned her face into the pillow at those words, replying clearly, “No.”
Cute again.
Lou Yixuan was thrilled, dying to pin her down and kiss her fiercely.
But taking advantage isn’t the way of a gentleman.
Endure.
Seeing Lin Huayan still conscious, Lou Yixuan straightened. “Then I’ll head out. You rest first—shower after you wake up.”
Times had changed.
The mistakes of the past were still fresh.
Even if the situation mirrored the past exactly, she couldn’t act recklessly again.
But before she reached the door, a faint sob came from behind.
Lin Huayan… was crying.
That broken whimper pierced Lou Yixuan’s heart unbearably. Helpless, she turned back, sat on the bed’s edge.
She leaned down, cradled Lin Huayan’s head in her arm for a pillow, gently wiping her hot, damp eye corners with warm fingertips while softly combing the messy strands at her temples.
Only once she felt the tears stop did she ask, “Why are you crying? Or rather, what do you want me to do?”
She wanted Lin Huayan to voice her true feelings.
To express her emotions and needs, instead of bottling everything up, playing the cold-hearted, emotionless strongwoman.
Fine at work—but not in life.
Lin Huayan’s cheeks flushed red, her post-rain eyes rare in their pitiful vulnerability, ripe for the taking in her true-or-fake drunken haze.
Tearfully, she stared at Lou Yixuan, gaze locked on those full, soft lips, one thought looping in her mind.
Kiss her.
Want to kiss her so bad. Taste her again.
Taste the outside… and the inside.
Unbidden, she recalled that October day, that moment in Lou Yixuan’s car.
That day, Lou Yixuan had said she was beautiful. They’d joyfully shared delicious beef, watermelon-flavored throat lozenges.
That day, Lou Yixuan had been beautiful too.
That day was her birthday—the one she’d anticipated because of Lou Yixuan.
Heaven, earth, and man in harmony.
If something had happened then, if that day could have meant even more—it would’ve been the perfect beautiful accident.
But Lou Yixuan hadn’t kissed her.
She’d thought she held no attraction for Lou Yixuan, that Lou Yixuan didn’t like her.
But today in the car…
Just minutes ago, Lou Yixuan had kissed her again.
Not enough.
The kiss she craved wasn’t just a lip brush.
As if reading her unspoken intent, Lou Yixuan’s lips curved in a smile, a sigh escaping. “Want to kiss me? Or want me to kiss you?”
Lin Huayan’s head spun fuzzily, unable to process the words, too unashamed to care. Instinctively, she gripped Lou Yixuan’s arm tight, refusing to let her go.
“You won’t say, so then…”
Before the words finished, Lou Yixuan kissed Lin Huayan’s lips again.
Slowly, gently touching. Lightly, shallowly probing.
If she had to compare this kiss, compare Lin Huayan’s lips—it was watermelon-flavored ice cream.
Cool before sucking, then melting sweetly in her mouth once held.
Irresistible.
Lin Huayan squeezed her eyes shut in tension, heart pounding like drums, vibrating her chest and eardrums, reason crumbling.
Gradually, breaths grew rapid and heavy. Her grip on Lou Yixuan’s arm tightened, enough to cause a faint ache.
Lou Yixuan sucked her upper lip, tongue tip pressing in, flicking like a carp’s tail.
Sweeping each of Lin Huayan’s teeth, marking them with her scent and claim.
She’d snuck two throat lozenges before getting out of the car—watermelon-flavored.
Eight years ago, picking up Lin Huayan, she’d eaten two after getting in, fed her two more.
So every French kiss between them was refreshing, sweet watermelon.
Had Lin Huayan fallen for watermelon lozenges because she missed their kisses?
The answer was right here.
No need to puzzle it out.
The teasing “Teacher Lin, relax—you’re hurting me” dissolved into silent sighs as Lin Huayan parted her lips willingly.
The car kiss had been urgent.
Constrained by the setting, she’d only brushed Lin Huayan’s lips—not even touching her teeth.
But at this moment, Lin Huayan’s parted lips revealed a matching urgency of her own—no, perhaps even more intense than Lou Yixuan’s.
Lin Huayan was seducing her.
Inviting her.
Welcoming her.
But what about boundaries? Where were Lin Huayan’s boundaries?
This kiss, separated by eight years, unfolded under the influence of alcohol, just like their first one.
She desperately wanted to know: without the booze, would Lin Huayan ever kiss her? Would she ever gaze at her with eyes brimming with such deep affection? Would she ever…
Let her run wild. Let her fall completely.
Desire could strike without warning, without reason—but its retreat always had a reason that could be named.
Lou Yixuan ruined her own mood. The instant their soft tongues brushed, she pulled back.
