Chapter 38: New Year’s Trip

After returning that Christmas Eve night, Fang Run kept her lips sealed about where she had gone, telling absolutely no one.

She had eaten an apple that was perfectly whole and undamaged, but she still clung to her old habits, wanting to bury everything deep in her heart.

Secret, delightful, and yet filled with uncertainty.

Everything about Pei Luo—once, she was too shy to tell. Now, she was afraid of losing face again.

A secret crush wasn’t shameful in itself. What was truly mortifying was being jolted awake by a harsh blow just when you were brimming with smug confidence.

Having experienced it once, Fang Run did not want to go through it a second time.

Wen Ran seemed to have her suspicions, probing overtly and covertly. However, Fang Run’s mouth was far too tight, yielding no useful information whatsoever, so Wen Ran could only wave the white flag and retreat.

That beautiful, pristine apple was like a switch, reconnecting her to Pei Luo.

They still didn’t meet, but in their spare moments, they would occasionally exchange a few chats.

This balance was delicate, like close friends, yet carrying an intangible ambiguity, like a frog being slowly boiled in warm water.

Fang Run didn’t want to relive that sense of disappointment. Even if she could discern hints of emotion beyond that of a sister in Pei Luo’s words, she still chose to stay clear-headed, shrinking into a very safe shell of her own making.

Facing Fang Run’s timidity and retreat, Pei Luo showed no outward reaction, only slightly increasing the frequency of their chats.

Fang Run realized that they could actually talk together until one in the morning.

Pei Luo had recently bought a pot of narcissus flowers. It clearly wasn’t the right season to grow flowers, yet she insisted she would raise it until it bloomed.

Fang Run offered encouragement outwardly, but couldn’t help imagining what Pei Luo would look like watering the plant.

Finals week was a bit dull. Besides reviewing coursework, she also needed to practice her basic skills constantly.

Fang Run moved between three points in a line, but she didn’t fall behind, steadily advancing. She felt very confident about the final exams after New Year’s.

The previous period of bad luck had been broken, and she finally felt a bit more comfortable, the great stone lifted from her heart.

In short, everything was slowly getting better.

Soon, the New Year’s holiday arrived. The moment the notice arrived in the group chat, a cheer erupted in the classroom. Even the teacher couldn’t help shaking her head lightly, a smile floating on her face.

The New Year’s trip they had planned for so long was finally on the agenda.

Wen Ran had booked the hotel and plane tickets in advance. On Friday night, she didn’t go back to her own dorm but dragged her suitcase to Fang Run’s place to stay, calling it saving on a taxi fare.

The bed usually slept in by one person now had an extra guest. Though it wasn’t exactly cramped, it wasn’t spacious either.

Fang Run hadn’t really shared a bed with others much. Luckily, though Wen Ran’s mouth never rested, her hands and feet were well-behaved, making no unspeakable boundary-crossing moves.

Good sisters sleeping together naturally wouldn’t fall asleep too early; they needed to share some behind-closed-doors whispers.

“I wonder if we’ll have any romantic encounters,” Wen Ran daydreamed. “Maybe there’ll be a group of gorgeous sisters in bikinis waiting for me by the pool.”

Fang Run held back, but ultimately couldn’t resist reminding her: “This time we’re going to the North City Ski Resort, not a beach on a tropical island. Wearing so little would freeze you to death.”

She paused, then added: “Aren’t you still harboring thoughts of rekindling things with Zhang Zhang? Being so fickle isn’t very moral.”

Wen Ran let out a strange cry and covered her mouth. “Alright, alright, I get it, Little Moral Model. Can’t you even let me run my mouth for a moment?”

Fang Run swatted her hand away and said slowly, “Fine, continue then. I’m sleepy.”

As her words fell, the phone by her pillow glowed faintly.

Fang Run’s eyelids, which hadn’t yet fully closed, suddenly lifted. Just a second ago she was claiming to be tired, but in the next moment, she unlocked her phone and looked at the new message.

Pei Luo:

【Photo】

[I think it might be dying]

It was the pot of narcissus flowers the other had taken a liking to and brought home. In the photo, it was wilted and droopy, looking utterly lifeless.

Dejected and sickly—truly an appearance of approaching death.

Fang Run pondered, then replied:

[Try putting it by a sunny window, and don’t set the room temperature too high.]

Pei Luo replied with an “okay.”

A few seconds later, she sent an animated sticker of a little rabbit hugging a radish and nodding thank you.

The corner of Fang Run’s lips curved up. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse and met a pair of deeply resentful eyes next to the screen, scaring her so much she nearly cried out.

“What are you doing?” she asked in a startled, hushed whisper.

Wen Ran’s face was pressed right against the edge of her phone, her eyes illuminated eerily by the screen light.

Wen Ran: “When I talk, you say you’re sleepy. What little vixen lives in your phone? The second a message comes, you’re instantly bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, your fingers dancing excitedly as you reply?”

“Just now you were standing on the moral high ground condemning me. Now, shouldn’t it be my turn to poke your forehead and lecture you?”

Fang Run opened her mouth, wanting to retort.

The little vixen living in her phone was the same person she had liked before. From any angle, this was not a situation needing condemnation.

However, after thinking it over, she obediently shut her mouth again.

Wen Ran had always been enthusiastic about giving her ideas before. Who knew what kind of bizarre shriek she would let out if she found out Pei Luo was chatting with her now?

The Christmas Eve matter would probably be impossible to keep secret then.

Fang Run kept a watchful eye. If she and Pei Luo actually still had a chance, then telling her good friend after they confirmed a relationship wouldn’t be too late. At least it would be more dignified than slapping her own face again.

The previously ignored Wen Ran seemed to have finally found her high ground, lecturing until Fang Run listened to a few sentences and then fell asleep from sheer drowsiness.

The next day, on the way to the airport, Fang Run was brimming with energy, while Wen Ran was as exhausted as an old dog.

Passing security, long waits, boarding, takeoff.

After that whole routine, even Fang Run felt a little tired.

She and Wen Ran hadn’t managed to buy adjacent seats. The other was two rows back, completely out of sight, with no possibility of chatting to pass the time.

Fang Run took out the steam eye mask she had prepared, planning to rest for a bit.

In the next second, however, she caught the scent of the perfume from the person beside her. It was a familiar fragrance.

Fang Run paused her movements, hesitantly lifting her eye mask and turning her head to the side.

Pei Luo was sitting beside her, expression perfectly calm. Meeting her gaze, Pei Luo greeted her without changing expression: “Long time no see. Good morning.”

That composed demeanor made Fang Run involuntarily suspicious.

Yesterday when they chatted, she had indeed revealed her itinerary to the North City Ski Resort. Pei Luo hadn’t asked much, quickly shifting the topic.

She thought the other didn’t really care. Who knew they would meet here.

A plane has so many seats. The probability of ending up in adjacent seats by pure chance was pitifully small.

And yet it was this tiny probability that led her and Pei Luo to meet.

Amidst her surprise, a sliver of doubt also rose in Fang Run’s heart.

Pei Luo adjusted her seat angle and offered a timely explanation: “I had a last-minute field inspection in North City. The secretary couldn’t book first class. As it happened, someone changed their ticket, and I snagged a seat.”

She looked at Fang Run with an ambiguous glance, pushing up her glasses frame: “I just didn’t expect it to be such a coincidence.”

Such a coincidence, Pei Luo hadn’t expected either.

Knowing Fang Run was going to North City for two days, Pei Luo, who had originally planned to meet her to watch a musical, could only give the tickets to Sheng Nuoyi and tell her there was no need to go to North City for the field inspection.

For this, Sheng Nuoyi even teased her, saying she was like a slave-driving boss who had finally grown a conscience and learned to be considerate of her subordinates.

Pei Luo paid it no mind, and went ahead to book a seat on the same flight as Fang Run. As it turned out, someone changed their ticket, and she was lucky enough to sit right next to Fang Run.

So, as they say, sometimes it really is fate.

Fang Run’s lips lifted into a faint curve. She didn’t delve into the truth or falsehood of Pei Luo’s words.

Since the other had come under the banner of work, she couldn’t say much else.

However, with an acquaintance beside her, she had no desire to sleep anymore.

“Who’s taking care of the narcissus flowers?” Fang Run thought for a moment, then asked casually.

Pei Luo seemed to place great importance on that half-dead pot of narcissus. On a business trip, she might not make it back in time for watering and airing out.

She took off her eye mask, but accidentally snagged it in her hair. Pulling it hurt quite a bit.

Fang Run couldn’t help hissing softly, unable to see where it was caught, fumbling to pull it free.

“Let me do it,” Pei Luo spoke up.

Fang Run stopped and nodded her agreement.

Pei Luo’s fingers touched hers, warmth exchanging. Fang Run’s eyelashes fluttered twice, and she withdrew her hand, sitting obediently.

The other’s movements were very gentle, not pulling at her. She could only feel her hair being lightly moved.

Because she was helping her, Pei Luo leaned her upper body over, the distance between them greatly reduced, looking much more intimate.

Fang Run lowered her eyes. The spark in her heart that had been extinguished for a while seemed to faintly show signs of rekindling.

She lifted her eyelids, stealing an inconspicuous glance at Pei Luo.

From this angle, she could see the other’s clear and elegant jawline, sharply defined, her skin as fair as cream.

Pei Luo’s aura was too strong, often causing people to subconsciously overlook her outstanding appearance, but it was by no means something not worth mentioning.

On the contrary, the closer one got, the more mesmerizing it became.

Fang Run felt her cheeks growing slightly warm. Realizing what she was thinking, she hurriedly came back to her senses and raised her head.

Just at that moment, Pei Luo leaned in closer for a better look at her hair. Thus, her little head bumped right into the other’s jaw.

Pei Luo let out a muffled grunt, but endured the pain to pull that strand of hair free, thus successfully rescuing Fang Run.

She held the eye mask in her hand, using the other hand to gently rub the bumped spot on her jaw, her expression unchanged.

“Done,” Pei Luo handed her the eye mask, saying softly, “Next time remember to tie your hair up first.”

Fang Run took the eye mask a bit sheepishly, asking, “Does it hurt a lot? Sorry, I didn’t see you coming closer.”

Pei Luo lowered her hand and shook her head. “It’s nothing. It won’t hurt after a moment.”

“So it still hurts now?” Fang Run asked again.

Worry and regret surfaced in her eyes: “Sorry, sorry.”

A string of apologies, cute and obedient.

Pei Luo’s heart felt as if lightly brushed by a feather, ticklish and tingling.

The girl wore light makeup today, her eyeliner not flicked too high, giving her a much gentler look.

It made one inexplicably want to tease her a little, like using a cat teaser wand to play with a cat.

Pei Luo pressed her lips together, leaned a bit closer, and lowered her voice: “If Little Run blows on it, it won’t hurt anymore.”

After speaking, she didn’t retreat, but waited right there.

Fang Run pursed her lips slightly, looking at her with a touch of displeasure.

These were clearly words to fool a child, yet the other spoke them righteously, without the slightest hesitation, obviously coaxing her.

But the instinctive grunt from Pei Luo just now hadn’t seemed feigned. And a while back, she had even eaten the apple the other brought through the snow. For sentiment and reason alike, she shouldn’t refuse.

Fang Run only struggled for a few seconds before giving up resisting, willingly becoming the coaxed child.

The girl turned her head, her lips gently blowing air towards Pei Luo’s jaw. A faint, cool hint of mint passed over, fresh and very pleasant.

“Does it still hurt now?” Fang Run looked up, gazing at her seriously.

Pei Luo had only brought it up casually, not expecting her to actually respond.

After a brief moment of stunned silence, she smiled, her eyes filled with unresolvable tenderness: “It doesn’t hurt anymore. Little Run is truly amazing.”