Chapter 52: Tearing Open
Jiang Mi’s gaze followed Yan Wei’s figure into the depths of the VIP channel. Then, an inexplicable, sour emptiness silently filled her heart.
In just two more hours, she would also be back in Huai City. They would even step into the same hotel.
But her heart just couldn’t bear to part.
In a daze, she seemed to catch a slight pause in the figure at the end of the channel, as if that person had turned back to look at her.
But by the time she focused her eyes, all she could see was that low-brimmed black baseball cap and that black back.
She pursed her lips, unable to describe that feeling of loss.
Just then, the phone in her pocket vibrated slightly. Jiang Mi came back to her senses, her fingertips swiping open the screen. A new message popped up in the chat box she had just added a few hours ago:
[Go sit.]
Two short words instantly dispelled the thin mist in Jiang Mi’s heart, and an indescribable warmth spread through her.
Her fingertips tapped lightly, and she replied with a smile: [Mmm-hmm.]
On the other side, Yan Wei lowered her eyes and looked at the lit-up screen.
In the chat box, two repeated words, accompanied by a bouncing little emoji, jumped into her eyes. A smile unconsciously climbed onto the corners of her lips under the mask. She hadn’t even noticed this herself.
However, the next second, that curve suddenly disappeared.
A sticky feeling, like a thorn in her back, touched her nerves. Ten years of experience had made her particularly sensitive to the presence of a camera.
She didn’t look up to search, but just pulled the brim of her hat down deeper, her footsteps quietly quickening, and then she smoothly and swiftly walked into the deeper part of the channel.
The night grew deeper. It was already eight in the evening.
Jiang Mi’s gaze swept over the phone screen. She thought to herself, by the time her flight took off, Yan Wei would not have landed yet.
She thought for a moment, and in Yan Wei’s dialog box, she typed a line and sent it. Then, she switched to airplane mode.
The plane roared and rose into the clouds.
The seat next to her in business class was a quiet aunt. Jiang Mi carefully opened her phone’s photo album. With an almost-cherished feeling, she slightly shielded the screen with her hand and looked at it seriously for a few times.
An evening in Jincheng in June.
That was her and Yan Wei’s first photo together.
The memory went back to half an hour ago—
The car was parked in a secluded spot outside the airport. The two of them had moved to the more spacious back row.
“You’re leaving in half an hour,” Jiang Mi’s voice was very light.
She lowered her head slightly, her gaze on Yan Wei’s face, which was resting on her lap. “By the time I get to Huai City, you’ll definitely be asleep.”
Jiang Mi found that she was unconsciously talking more and more.
She looked down at Yan Wei. Yan Wei seemed to be enjoying this angle of leaning against her very much, and the curve of her chin looked particularly beautiful. To Jiang Mi, this was a unique position, where she could see Yan Wei’s face without any obstruction.
She held her breath and focused, her gaze carefully tracing the slight curve of Yan Wei’s closed eyelashes.
She heard Yan Wei speak:
“You can’t bear to part?”
“Mmm…”
“We’ll see each other soon.”
“I know.”
A smile spread across her face, and her hand gently landed on Yan Wei’s cheek. “Sister, can we take a picture?”
Yan Wei didn’t answer immediately, but suddenly turned over, her arms silently wrapping around Jiang Mi’s waist and back.
Her cheek then pressed against her.
That warm, breathy, light panting passed through the thin shirt and slowly spread a fine but unignorable tremor on the skin of Jiang Mi’s lower abdomen.
Jiang Mi only felt her lower abdomen tighten slightly, and a strange, tingling sensation quietly shot up her spine.
She pursed her dry lips, trying to ignore the sensation, and asked again in a low voice, “Is that okay?”
Yan Wei was still silent.
Only the hand that had been wrapped around her waist quietly slid into the hem of Jiang Mi’s top. The next moment, countless fine and indescribable itches spread across the skin of her lower abdomen.
Jiang Mi’s heart suddenly tightened, and even her glands became hot.
Jiang Mi was so uncomfortable. She bit her lower lip and said, “Sister, it tickles.”
Yan Wei’s face was buried under the rolled-up fabric.
The light under the clothes was filtered by the sun into a strange, dark, warm tone, making the exposed skin look translucent and crystal-clear, as if it had been coated with honey, luring one closer.
She lifted her head slightly, until the underwear that was closer was also lifted up.
The car was cool enough.
Jiang Mi still felt hot.
Her fingers curled slightly, and she subconsciously held onto Yan Wei’s waistline. Her fingertips, with a hint of uncontrollable force, gently sank in.
Every time Yan Wei’s teeth used force, her hand would be even more forceful.
She felt that she was being bitten until she was swollen.
It hurt a little.
She guessed that under Yan Wei’s equally snow-white waistline, the place that had been so forcefully grabbed and pinched by her must be very beautifully red.
About ten minutes passed.
Yan Wei took out a wet wipe and slowly and deliberately wiped the corner of her mouth. The tip of her ear was covered with a very faint blush, and her lips were redder than usual, with a hint of moisture. Her breathing was also not so even.
However, when she looked up, her gaze had returned to its usual faint calmness, not at all like she had been in her clothes just now.
After wiping her lips, she casually threw away the wet wipe, her fingertips unintentionally gently rubbing her own waist.
Jiang Mi met her gaze, and her heart felt inexplicably guilty. “You bit me once, so I have to return it once. That’s only fair.”
“Oh.”
Yan Wei leaned back in her chair. She actually had the urge to smoke at this moment. The sun outside was scorching, and the inside of the car was cool. That familiar, warm, milky scent, like a newborn baby’s, was still faintly lingering around.
Although she was not satisfied, and it was a pity to just have a taste, it gave her a pleasant feeling.
Every inch of that body’s silhouette and perception accurately attracted her to indulge in it.
She liked Jiang Mi’s existence too much.
A few seconds of silence spread between the two of them. Just as Jiang Mi was starting to suspect that Yan Wei was a little unhappy.
Yan Wei’s voice suddenly sounded, with a hint of unintentional laziness, “Next time, be that forceful.”
Her tone was slightly commanding.
Jiang Mi was taken aback and was about to speak when Yan Wei said again, “—If you do well, I’ll reward you with a photo.”
Jiang Mi’s heart was as if it had been forcefully squeezed by these words, and it suddenly beat wildly.
It was precisely because Yan Wei, with such a calm and emotionless expression, was saying such… heart-trembling words, that she felt such a strong, mixed feeling of nervousness, trembling… and excitement.
So Yan Wei liked it like this…
But, just how forceful did she need to be to reach the “satisfaction” she was looking forward to?
Once her thoughts extended in that direction, her heartbeat became even more uncontrollably frantic.
The more she thought, the faster her heart beat.
And then she thought of some inexplicable images.
But she didn’t want Yan Wei to find out that she was savoring it, so she immediately said, “Then there’s no reward today?”
Yan Wei turned her head, her gaze on Jiang Mi’s face.
The sunlight slanted in from the car window. Jiang Mi’s face was slightly red at this moment, and the way her eyes were sparkling actually reminded her of the pink little rabbit she had seen in the display window.
She reached out, her fingertips pinching Jiang Mi’s small, soft earlobe, her fingertips gently rubbing the delicate skin.
“You want it?” Yan Wei said softly. “It depends on your performance.”
The last sound had not completely dissipated into the air when Jiang Mi had already leaned forward and kissed Yan Wei’s lips.
The sound of a wet exchange, bit by bit, gnawed at Yan Wei. Jiang Mi was improving too quickly, so fast that even she was having a little trouble keeping up.
A brief separation allowed her to catch her breath. Jiang Mi’s forehead was against Yan Wei’s. She asked with a hint of ease:
“Sister, did I perform well?”
**
Jiang Mi’s gaze was fixed on the phone screen. The photo was of the moment when her and Yan Wei’s foreheads were touching. A soft curve unconsciously appeared at the corner of her lips. There was probably no one happier than her.
The fatigue was belated…
After waking up in the middle of it and having some fruit, she fell into a drowsy sleep again. When she woke up again, there were only a dozen minutes left before landing.
This period of time was the hardest to endure.
Jiang Mi was almost counting the seconds.
At this moment, she suddenly thought of The Little Prince.
‘When you say you’re coming at four in the afternoon, I start to feel happy from three. The closer the time, the happier I am.’
She was just like that now.
The moment the plane’s body touched the ground, Jiang Mi quickly turned off airplane mode. The notification bar was instantly filled with unread notifications.
Jiang Mi saw the familiar avatar at a glance.
It was the cover of Yan Wei’s first poster.
A long black dress, surrounded by white sea salt. She was holding a bouquet of roses in her hand, her eyes cold and distant.
Yan Wei: [Arrived.]
This was the message Yan Wei had sent two hours ago to say she was safe.
Although it was only two short words, Jiang Mi was very content. She replied with a smile: [I’ve arrived too.]
Just as she was pulling her suitcase and stepping into the corridor, a tentative call suddenly pierced through the noise:
“Excuse me… are you Jiang Mi?”
Her back suddenly straightened.
Jiang Mi turned her head and saw two girls covering their mouths and widening their eyes, confirming with each other.
She immediately raised her index finger and gently placed it on her lips. The two girls immediately suppressed their trembling voices, “It really is you! I didn’t recognize you wrong!”
“Oh my god, a living Jiang Mi!”
“Can I trouble you for an autograph? Would a photo be too much of a bother?” one of the short-haired girls asked hurriedly, then nervously looked around at the crowd.
Jiang Mi thought for a moment and said, “Okay, but there are too many people now, so a photo might not be convenient.”
“Okay, okay!”
Jiang Mi took out a notebook from her bag and asked the two of them what to write.
One of the girls said, “I want to give it to someone I like. Can you help me write a sentence?”
The first person Jiang Mi thought of was Yan Wei.
So she wrote: What a pity. Spring, summer, autumn, winter, and the fact that I like you, I can’t control any of them.
The girl asked, “Wow, Mimi, you’re so good at this. Do you have someone you like?”
The other girl poked her. “Can you ask that? A little distance, okay?”
But Jiang Mi smiled. She looked at the time. She had a feeling of “an arrow on the bowstring.” She said, “Yes. I have someone I like.”
She just wanted to go back to the hotel right away.
To see Yan Wei.
To hold Yan Wei tightly.
After leaving the corridor, she immediately sent a voice message to Yan Wei, “Sister, are you asleep?”
[No.]
Jiang Mi: [I’m in the car. It’ll be about forty minutes.]
[Mmm.]
The light of the hotel suite was in Yan Wei’s fingers.
She pressed her thumb, and as the screen went dark, her gaze fell on the half-burnt cigarette.
After a moment of stagnation, her wrist lifted slightly, and she crushed the scarlet light point into the cold white porcelain wall of the ashtray.
She stood for another moment, then sniffed the scent on her fingertips.
There was a smell of tar.
She didn’t stop as she walked through the living room.
The moment the bathroom door opened and closed, the sound of water came from inside the frosted glass.
It was already past eleven at night when Jiang Mi arrived at the hotel.
After sending a message to Zhao Jia to say she was safe, she hadn’t even fully unpacked her suitcase when she had already unbuttoned her shirt.
She didn’t have time to remove her makeup and wash up, but just quickly peeled off her sweat-stained outer clothes.
She stood in front of the mirror and tidied up briefly.
Looking at her own tense jawline in the mirror, she took a deep breath.
Probably because she knew what would happen this time, she was more nervous than the previous two times, so nervous that even her fingers were trembling…
