Chapter 91: She Had to Completely Control This Kiss.
There is a term in psychology called the “Proust effect,” which refers to the use of a certain smell, sound, or taste as a carrier to trigger strong and vivid memories, pulling people back to a specific scene and emotion like a time rewind.
When she had entered the door and smelled the peach-flavored fruit wine that Chu Wantang was drinking tonight, Huai Xing had already thought of the night of their last meeting five years ago. She remembered Chu Wantang’s pleading tone, her crystal-clear teardrops, and her promise to give her her own mother’s violin.
And now, it was not just smelling.
She was about to taste this peach-flavored fruit wine again in the same way she had before.
Huai Xing closed her eyes, her mind extremely clear at this moment. She knew clearly what she was doing, and she also clearly felt the softness of Chu Wantang’s lips.
Should she go a step further? She was hesitating. Was it still too late to retreat now?
Would Chu Wantang remember tomorrow? She was thinking, because she had actually never seen Chu Wantang drink so much.
The answers to both questions had not come out. The woman whose lips she was pressing against took the initiative to stick out the tip of her tongue and trace the shape of her lips.
Hot, moist, flexible, with a hint of peach wine fragrance.
It was both strange and familiar.
Huai Xing’s long lashes were trembling slightly. She let go of the slender, fair, and delicate wrist she was holding, and just as she was about to retreat, Chu Wantang subconsciously wrapped her arms around her waist, and her tongue also took the opportunity to enter her mouth, pressing against hers.
Huai Xing’s other hand, which was propped on the sofa, had its knuckles slightly bent, and she pressed them tightly on the sofa fabric.
The peach flavor in her mouth was a little stronger than just now, but it was a little lighter than drinking it directly, and also a little sweeter. It was much better than drinking it herself.
But it was as if she couldn’t hear anything, only the sound of their intertwined breathing and her own racing heartbeat.
Chu Wantang seemed to be looking for a water source, sucking and sucking. Her hand stroked Huai Xing’s jaw, trying to deepen the kiss.
But the next second, her plan fell through.
“Thirsty?” Huai Xing said, pulling down her hand and breaking free from her embrace. She stared at her increasingly rosy lips, reached out her hand to stroke them lightly, and then asked.
Chu Wantang’s eyes were half-closed, and she nodded lightly.
Huai Xing propped up her weak body and said in a low voice, “Wait for me for a moment.”
There was only wine on the coffee table, no water. But this apartment, with a monthly rent of twenty thousand, had everything. She took a glass and went to the water dispenser to get water.
In the interval of waiting, she did not turn her head, but the scorching gaze in the living room was always on her, and she could feel it.
This water dispenser was so slow.
Huai Xing’s brows furrowed, and her fingertips, which were pressed against the cold counter, were tapping at a high frequency impatiently.
A dozen or so seconds later, a glass of water was ready. She first tilted her head back and took a sip to swallow, feeling that the temperature was suitable, and then she walked over with it.
The distance between the two of them shortened. She did not rush to sit next to Chu Wantang, nor did she directly give Chu Wantang water. Instead, she issued a new command. “Sit up straight against the sofa.”
Hearing her words, Chu Wantang’s figure swayed a little. She propped herself up and pressed her back against the sofa, her somewhat heavy legs stretched straight forward, looking as if she were really sitting very properly.
She lifted her head and tilted her face up. Her eyes still looked as if they were not sober, but her eyes clearly said that she was listening obediently, looking forward to her approach.
Huai Xing couldn’t help but make a swallowing motion.
Then, she spread her legs, her knees falling to the sides, and sat lightly on Chu Wantang’s body.
She held a little water in her mouth, and as she lowered her head, she placed the water glass on the coffee table, making a crisp sound that no one cared about.
The floor-to-ceiling window reflected their figures, one high and one low, one kneeling and one sitting.
The water slowly passed into Chu Wantang’s mouth, and along with it, her soft tongue.
Her left hand was on Chu Wantang’s slender shoulder, and her right hand was on Chu Wantang’s jade-like neck, her fingertips gently caressing it.
And on her mouth, she did not give Chu Wantang a single chance to take the initiative. She had to completely control this kiss.
All her breath passed over, and the anger and helplessness she had felt for not being able to forget Chu Wantang also passed over.
It was not a lingering and romantic kiss, but a somewhat intense kiss with a hint of pique. She would occasionally bite the person’s lips, and her tongue was always entangled with Chu Wantang’s, plundering Chu Wantang’s breath.
She had not forgotten who had taught her how to kiss.
Their drooping hair collided and swayed. Chu Wantang’s throat rolled frequently. She swallowed everything. Even if her consciousness was not clear, she also knew to bend her knees so that the person on top of her would not fall off.
And she held the person a little tighter, a little tighter, wanting to pour all her longing from these five years into it.
The second time she was fed water, Huai Xing deliberately held a little more. Afraid of choking Chu Wantang, her speed was still relatively slow. But Chu Wantang was obviously a little eager, wanting to find her tongue.
The consequence of this was that a little water flowed from the corner of her mouth, down her chin, her neck, and wet their hair, and her own pajamas.
Huai Xing glanced at the water stains on her chin. She didn’t know if she was dizzy from tasting a little wine. She slowly approached and stuck out the tip of her tongue to lick.
It was useless. The water stains looked larger and larger under the warm light.
She lifted her head slightly, lifted her eyelids, and looked at the woman’s still-tilted face.
Every inch of her skin seemed to be soaked in a translucent morning dew, and also as if it had been kissed by the moonlight a thousand times, with a warm and moist soft light. Her skin condition was no different from before, and time seemed to be reluctant to leave a single trace.
Huai Xing thought for a moment, and regardless of whether Chu Wantang could understand or not, she still parted her lips and corrected softly, “It’s not different.”
She slowly lowered her head, and before she covered Chu Wantang’s lips again, her long lashes trembled, and her voice was even lower, only she could hear it, adding a form of address that could not be said to others, “Jiejie.”
This time, she kissed very gently.
…
After she had properly placed the person on the sofa to sleep, when she came out of Chu Wantang’s apartment, Huai Xing looked at the stopwatch on her phone and fell into silence.
She had not pressed the countdown, so no timer had sounded, but she could clearly see how long it had taken from the moment she had hugged Chu Wantang until she had come out now.
A full hour and a half, and most of that time was spent kissing Chu Wantang.
Under the pretext of feeding her water, the two of them had drunk three glasses of water together.
Her lips and the root of her tongue were a little numb from the “feeding,” and there seemed to be a residual peach flavor in her mouth.
The sigh in her heart did not stop. When she reached the eighth floor, the elevator doors opened to the sides. Just as she was about to step out of the car, she saw Lu Xianyue standing at the elevator entrance.
Their eyes met, and they were both stunned for a moment.
Lu Xianyue looked at the number displayed on the LED screen, cleared her throat, and said, “This elevator came down from above, classmate Xiao Xing.”
“I was discussing something with Director Chu,” Huai Xing said, her expression unchanged.
Lu Xianyue pointed out, “Your hair is a little wet, and your clothes… why are they also a little wet?”
“The water spilled,” Huai Xing said, maintaining her composure. She thought that this was probably the lying experience she had had when facing her friends before. She asked back, “Aren’t you at Sister Shiwei’s now?”
Looking at the bag Lu Xianyue was carrying, she threw out another question. “What are you carrying back?”
“I came back to get something I bought before but haven’t used yet… uh, it’s not for children. I won’t say any more. She’s still waiting for me in the garage,” Lu Xianyue said, only remembering after she had entered the car. “Wait, you have much more experience than me. Why am I still saying ‘not for children’?”
Huai Xing stood outside the elevator, heard this, and smiled, waving her hand. “Alright, you can continue to play. Have a good weekend, Xianyue.”
Lu Xianyue smiled hehe. “Good night.”
“Good night.”
After blinking a few times, Huai Xing returned to her own apartment. She had lived here for five years, and she was very familiar with every place.
It was precisely because she was familiar that she felt safe. She fell onto the sofa with some exhaustion, placed her arm on her forehead, and her other hand’s fingertips uncontrollably caressed her own lips.
After a long while, she took another shower, glad that she was still on her period, which allowed her to still have some reason.
Stop, stop. Don’t think about it anymore.
Huai Xing closed her eyes, forcing herself not to think about these things.
And she also forced herself not to think about Chu Wantang.
Just like in the past five years.
—
The weather on the second day after the plum rain season was still clear, and the sun was slowly sweeping across the city.
In a certain apartment in Chengshan Mansion, the woman who had been sleeping on the sofa woke up with a flutter of her long lashes. She adjusted to the light, then turned to the side and looked at the clean coffee table, a little dazed.
She had gotten up twice in the middle of the night, but she just didn’t want to go to the bedroom on the second floor to sleep. She had been sleeping on the sofa that Huai Xing had arranged for her with a blanket. It wasn’t so cold at night now, and she wouldn’t feel cold with a blanket.
Now that it was light, she was still in a daze.
Her alcohol tolerance was not bad. At least she wouldn’t go crazy after drinking. She could also think and answer when someone spoke. And the few bottles of wine last night were not enough to make her black out.
So, she remembered everything.
She remembered Huai Xing asking her if the movie was good, remembered Huai Xing wiping her tears, remembered Huai Xing “feeding” her water, remembered the hot, lingering, and unknown-length deep kiss with Huai Xing…
But it was not so clear, as if it were covered with a blurry filter, but it was enough, enough to make her happy and cover up the sadness of yesterday.
The smile on her lips couldn’t be put down. After a long while, she finally took out her phone and sent a message to Huai Xing, asking seriously: [Xingxing, have you decided on the menu?]
It was now ten-thirty in the morning. If nothing unexpected happened, Huai Xing should be awake, right? But when she came out of the bathroom after taking a shower, the other end still had not replied.
She held her phone, lowered her eyes, and hesitated for a while before she still called Huai Xing.
This time, Huai Xing answered. “Hello.”
Just these two words could also awaken Chu Wantang’s memories of last night. She listened to the pleasant female voice she had missed and said, “I sent you a WeChat message but you didn’t reply. I’m calling to ask about the menu.”
Huai Xing’s tone was as usual. “I’m sorry, Sister Wantang. I’m not coming to eat tonight. I have a temporary job in the afternoon and I have to be busy until the evening.”
Chu Wantang’s heart was in her throat, and her breathing stopped. “Then what about tomorrow? Is that okay?”
“Tomorrow should be okay.”
“Okay.”
After hanging up, Chu Wantang paced in the living room. She could hear Huai Xing’s voice but couldn’t see her, and she didn’t know what Huai Xing was thinking. This made her a little flustered.
And, they had not mentioned what had happened last night. Was it a tacit agreement?
A tacit agreement that it was a drunken mistake, just a dream.
But she couldn’t tacitly agree. She wanted more than just this. Her feelings for Huai Xing were only more than before, not less.
And all of this had also been reflected last night—
At the end of the kiss, her consciousness was still a little scattered, but she had taken the initiative to pull Huai Xing’s hand down and parted her lips to express her request. “I want you… I miss you so much…”
She would get aroused when she kissed Huai Xing five years ago, and she would also get aroused five years later.
She had been thinking of it day and night for a long time. It was very normal for her to have a strong physiological reaction.
The water that had been fed in seemed to be flowing out from somewhere else.
What greeted her was only Huai Xing’s withdrawal. The kiss did not continue. She was helped by Huai Xing to lie down on the sofa, and then a female voice without any warmth sounded. “You should get some sleep. Good night.”
Her head was heavy and she had no strength to chase after her. She could only watch as Huai Xing cleared the coffee table and her figure disappeared from the living room.
She took a deep breath. Chu Wantang sat down on the sofa in a dejected manner. If she had had the strength to control her thoughts and desires last night, would everything be a little different? At least Huai Xing would not have a “temporary” job now.
In Huai Xing’s eyes, had she… pushed her luck again?
The thought of this idiom made her think of the scene in the reception room of the Lu family’s old matriarch’s birthday banquet, of Huai Xing’s attitude towards her at that time, and of the “if it were Sister Suisui, the word ‘borrow’ would not have appeared” that had frozen her.
At this moment, she also recalled her conversation with Huai Xing last night.
-I’m sad to see her with someone else.
-You won’t be sad in the future.
Why would she not be sad in the future? Was it because she thought she would slowly get used to it?
No, she would never get used to it.
