Chapter 47: First Kiss

Gu Yu didn’t know how to kiss.

But Jiang Bomu’s lips were soft. Unlike her cool, aloof features, her lips were warm, reminding Gu Yu of the maltose candy she ate as a child. She couldn’t help but lick, seeming to actually taste a bit of sweetness.

Before her clumsy attempt could probe deeper, the person across from her stepped back twice, quickly turning around, leaving only a slightly trembling silhouette.

But Gu Yu wasn’t disappointed. She smiled and said tenderly, “Sister…”

“Xunxun, this was just an accident.”

Jiang Bomu cut her off without hesitation, dousing her like a bucket of cold water. Gu Yu felt drenched and miserable. She said unwillingly, “Then how do you explain that kiss?”

“An ambiguous atmosphere, the provocative lyrics, the dim lighting—all of it can make one lose clarity,” Jiang Bomu’s breathing steadied. She turned around. “Xunxun, I’m seven years older than you, yet I failed to restrain my actions. I am very sorry.”

Gu Yu found it absurd.

She thought this was proof Jiang Bomu had feelings. She was ready to confess. But the other party showed no sign of acknowledgment, cold and detached like a heartless playgirl. And she was still trying to demand an explanation.

“So, you took my first kiss, and all you have is a simple apology?” Gu Yu looked at her steadily and re-emphasized, “That was my first kiss.”

Jiang Bomu averted her gaze.

“Dangerous Party” was singing its last line right then—”Enjoying the swaying rhythm / I’m not dangerous”

But to Jiang Bomu, Gu Yu was truly a bit dangerous.

“I’ll find a way to make it up to you,” Jiang Bomu still didn’t look at her. “Should we go home?”

“Why go home?” Gu Yu grabbed the microphone and said fiercely, “I haven’t sung nearly enough!”

The melody of “Dangerous Party” faded into its final note. What followed was the next song she’d queued up. “Love Lost Alliance.”

Gu Yu, amid the cheerful melody, thought self-mockingly, what an apt song title.

Ignoring whatever Jiang Bomu was doing, she immersed herself in the song. She kept singing until she reached the line: “Ultimately, what is she thinking? Should I keep on guessing? Or is it better to just forget it all?” She finally decided to glance at Jiang Bomu. But someone knocked on the door. She exhaled and went to open it.

The server placed the fruit platter and drinks on the table. Gu Yu thanked him, didn’t resume singing, and casually opened a can of milk beer.

“Beer?”

The person beside her spoke very softly. Gu Yu didn’t want to respond, but her mouth had a will of its own. She still answered. “No.”

“Then what is it?”

Annoyed at herself for not giving her the cold shoulder, Gu Yu tossed her a can and said irritably, “See for yourself.”

Jiang Bomu pressed her lips together and looked at the ingredients list. But the lighting was dim. With trembling hands, she turned on her phone’s flashlight and read word by word.

Water, fresh milk, white sugar… Indeed, not a beer.

She breathed a sigh of relief, put the milk beer back in its place, and listened to the music primly.

By the time the song ended, Gu Yu had finished an entire can. Suppressing her anger, she went to queue more songs, pouring all her frustration into her voice.

After three songs in a row, her voice started getting hoarse, occasionally cracking. Gu Yu opened another can of milk beer and gulped down half of it.

“Drink a little less.”

Gu Yu laughed humorlessly. Milk beer to her was just a yogurt-flavored drink, not intoxicating at all. Why drink less? Why listen to her?

She’d been about to put it down, but hearing this, Gu Yu drank every last drop and said coolly, “Didn’t you want me to forget that kiss? Right, the more I drink, the more I flush out your taste.”

Jiang Bomu had no words.

Gu Yu opened another can.

Jiang Bomu tried to stop her again, but Gu Yu just gave a self-deprecating smile. “This one’s for you. You should flush out the taste too.”

She pushed the milk beer in front of her, even feeling whimsically poetic, shaking her head as if declaiming. “How to forget a kiss? Only with milk beer.”

“I don’t want to drink it.”

Jiang Bomu turned her face away, her voice trembling slightly. “I don’t like alcohol.”

She knew the ingredients contained no alcohol, but the character for “beer” was in the name, and it still made her uncomfortable. She even thought, if Gu Yu had drunk this before singing “Dangerous Party,” she definitely wouldn’t have lost control.

The background music was loud. Gu Yu didn’t catch the tremor in her voice and sneered coldly, “Scared I slipped something in here?”

Jiang Bomu said dryly, “No.”

Gu Yu waited for an explanation, but waiting and waiting, there was only silence again.

Always like this. She didn’t even bother to casually make up some excuse to placate her.

Gu Yu smiled bitterly. For the first time, she felt the urge to be aggressive.

And she acted on it.

Gu Yu looked directly into Jiang Bomu’s eyes and asked, “Why don’t you drink alcohol?”

Jiang Bomu answered softly, “Drinking harms the body.”

Gu Yu didn’t believe it, but it was a decent start. She recalled Jiang Bomu’s earlier words and said, “Didn’t you say you wanted to make it up to me? Play three rounds of Truth or Dare with me, and I’ll forget that kiss.”

“…How do we play?”

“Rock-paper-scissors. The winner asks a question. If you don’t want to answer, drink a can of milk beer.”

Jiang Bomu thought for a moment, then nodded.

First round. Jiang Bomu won.

She let out a small sigh of relief but realized she didn’t really have anything to ask. After a long moment, she finally asked, “When we first met four years ago, why did you run?”

Gu Yu paused for a beat, then opened a can of milk beer.

Jiang Bomu: “…” It was just a casual question. Was it that hard to answer?

But she really was quite curious about it. Since Gu Yu showed no intention of answering, she had to let it go.

Second round. Jiang Bomu won again.

As Jiang Bomu breathed relief and racked her brain for another question, Gu Yu, beside her, asked coolly, “Aren’t you even the slightest bit curious about me?”

Jiang Bomu answered honestly, “No, it’s just that when you suddenly tell me to ask a question, I have trouble thinking of one on the spot.”

Gu Yu’s heart finally felt a little better. She stopped pressing and queued up “Above the Moon” to show off her vocal prowess.

When she finished singing, Jiang Bomu finally asked, “Can we still maintain the same relationship we had before?”

Gu Yu took a deep breath and asked in return, “What relationship was that before?”

She was a bit worried Jiang Bomu meant the very beginning.

“…As older sister and younger sister, sharing a bed, without intimate actions.”

“Of course we can,” Gu Yu smiled slightly. “That’s what I hope for too, even though you stole my first kiss.”

Sleeping together was the goal. As for the “older sister and younger sister without intimate actions” part, Gu Yu didn’t care. Couldn’t they have intimate actions after they became lovers?

Jiang Bomu asked, embarrassed, “Why are you still bringing that up?”

Gu Yu reacted quickly. “The third round hasn’t started yet, so I haven’t lost the memory.”

Jiang Bomu: “…”

Third round. Both wore solemn expressions. The most crucial round. Each wanted the other to lose.

In the end, the winner was Gu Yu.

Practically the instant she confirmed her win, she asked, “What do you feel for Lin Sijia right now?”

Jiang Bomu paused. “I thought you were going to ask why I don’t drink beer.”

“I wanted to at first, but now I’m more curious about you and Lin Sijia.”

To Gu Yu, why she didn’t drink beer wasn’t important. Everyone had their likes and dislikes—just like she didn’t mind beer but detested the nauseating smell of smoke, Jiang Bomu must be similar.

Better to ask about the relationship question she cared most about.

Jiang Bomu didn’t answer immediately but said instead, “I want to request a song.”

Knowing she likely didn’t know how to operate the system, Gu Yu moved closer and opened the search function. “Which song?”

“What I Miss.”

As Gu Yu typed the initials, she wondered—Last time, she was still asking for the song title, and now she knows how to sing it so quickly?

The intro wasn’t long. Jiang Bomu stared at the lyrics and raised the microphone, humming along softly. Her voice was smooth, tinged with a faint melancholy.

Gu Yu listened quietly until the chorus erupted. Jiang Bomu’s voice suddenly rose, singing with heart-wrenching depth.

“What I miss / Is saying everything with no restraint / What I miss / Is dreaming together / What I miss / Is after all the fights / Still wanting the impulse to love you…”

Every word, every line, a graceful, mournful elegy.

Gu Yu was stunned for a long time. Was this song making Jiang Bomu recall her past with Lin Sijia?

How ridiculous. When Jiang Bomu asked for the song title, she’d been secretly thrilled, thinking their tastes aligned. Little did she know she was just sewing a wedding dress for someone else.

The song was 289 seconds long. For 289 seconds, Gu Yu’s heart was dead as ashes. She was fully prepared for Jiang Bomu to say, “I still like Lin Sijia,” prepared to bury her own love deep in the ocean.

The music stopped.

In the quiet of the KTV room, Jiang Bomu spoke softly. “Almost everything that appears in this song, we did. And like the song says too, we parted. I was the one who initiated it. I’ve never regretted it.”

Gu Yu didn’t want to hear how earth-shattering or epic their story was. She pressed her lips together and asked, “What I asked was: how do you feel about Lin Sijia right now?”

“How should I put it…” Jiang Bomu seemed to struggle, but didn’t hesitate long. “When I can’t see her, I treat her as a stranger. When I see her, there’s a momentary ripple in my heart. But I know, it’s not love.”

The love of youth was like the wind, impossible to catch.

Jiang Bomu knew clearly her affection had long since faded with the wind. Yet even knowing she no longer liked her, hearing that name still made her breath catch.

She didn’t know when she’d be able to face it calmly. She only knew her fondness for Gu Yu was growing day by day.

But held back by various reasons, she didn’t dare take a single step forward.

She was twenty-seven. She wouldn’t be as impulsive as she was at twenty, recklessly falling for someone and believing love could conquer all.

Seven years had taught her steadiness. Or rather, had worn down her edges and extinguished her passion.

Time was a good medicine for healing pain, but it had side effects—overthinking, indecision, weighing the pros and cons of every action.

In other words, thinking too much.

“So you don’t like her anymore, right?”

Gu Yu suddenly spoke. Jiang Bomu looked over and nodded lightly.

Whether she liked her or not, in the end, what did it matter? She sighed inwardly. Xunxun, it’s impossible for us.

She couldn’t recall exactly which day it was, but she had seen adoration in Gu Yu’s eyes, only to watch her carefully tuck it away. She’d felt a brief surge of joy, only to realize the next moment: they were impossible.

There were just too many real-world factors to consider. She couldn’t let herself be trapped in a utopia built by her own hands.

Gu Yu was Grandma Qiao’s granddaughter. To an elderly person, their granddaughter liking a woman was an utterly abhorrent thing. And this woman was someone she herself had brought into the entertainment industry. No elderly person could withstand such a blow.

She couldn’t be the villain who repays kindness with enmity.

She looked at Gu Yu calmly.

At most, ten more days of persistence. After ten days, September 1st.

Gu Yu had just stayed too long, mistaking dependence for a fluttering heart. Once school started again, she would meet more exciting people and experiences.

They would forget.

Both of them would forget.