Gu Yu gazed at the hazy, unfocused look in those eyes and the flushed, rosy cheeks, concentrating hard. Was Jiang Bomu really drunk? Why was she suddenly spouting drunken nonsense?
But then, she suddenly realized she could actually look Jiang Bomu straight in the eye now.
Perhaps the milk she’d been drinking over the summer had taken effect, causing her height to shoot up while she slept. The two-centimeter difference had become a mere 0.01 centimeters. But what about the distance between their hearts?
Every time Jiang Bomu rejected her, the distance grew a little more, until the final straw that broke the camel’s back appeared, leaving an insurmountable chasm between them.
The chasm was hard to bridge, and Gu Yu didn’t want to go back to the past anymore.
The cautious, timid way she acted around Jiang Bomu always made her forget her initial, pure feelings. She didn’t want to continue like this.
Her hesitant expression immediately turned calm. Gu Yu deliberately didn’t answer, placed the blanket on the sofa, and watched Jiang Bomu’s expression coldly.
Having not received the answer she wanted for so long, Jiang Bomu furrowed her brow and took a step closer to Gu Yu. She wanted to hold her hand but didn’t quite dare, just stood there obediently with her head lowered, like a child who had done something wrong.
In the past, Jiang Bomu had treated her the exact same way—always equivocating, refusing to answer, leaving her standing there anxious and uneasy while the person responsible acted nonchalant.
Gu Yu did the same to her now, but there was absolutely no sense of vengeful satisfaction. It felt like a sharp rose thorn was pricking her heart—a fine, dense, dull pain.
She understood clearly that she still liked Jiang Bomu. Even though Jiang Bomu had done so many things to disappoint her, she still liked her, a kind of liking engraved into her very bones.
“Jiang Bomu, you really are hateful,” Gu Yu said, her voice catching slightly. “I was already prepared to adapt to a life without you. Why did you have to come and disturb me?”
Jiang Bomu’s consciousness wasn’t very clear. She could only blearily make out the words “hateful” and “disturb” and instinctively thought she was in the wrong, murmuring an apology.
“Xunxun, I didn’t mean to. I just… missed you a little.”
Gu Yu was stunned. She eyed her suspiciously. Had drunken Jiang Bomu suddenly become so straightforward?
“In that case,” Gu Yu reined in her wildly pounding heart and asked as calmly as possible, “Do you like me?”
Jiang Bomu moved another step closer, fixing her dazed yet deeply affectionate gaze on her, but didn’t open her mouth.
Even drunk, she wouldn’t answer. Gu Yu smiled self-deprecatingly. What exactly was she hoping for?
She lowered her eyes, her erratic heartbeat gradually calming. She was ready to urge Jiang Bomu to go to sleep, but then her face was cupped by a pair of warm hands. In an instant, a jolt like electricity swept through her, sending shockwaves crashing through every limb and bone.
Jiang Bomu kissed her.
The fresh, crisp scent of pineapple exploded in her mouth. Her lips were sucked until they tingled with numbness, dancing with the tip of a tongue.
Gu Yu sank into the kiss, seizing the initiative and biting down on Jiang Bomu’s lip bead as if to vent her anger. Jiang Bomu hissed softly, and even the breath she exhaled seemed laced with a sexy, stirring moan.
Driven nearly insane by her torment, Gu Yu wrapped her arms tightly around Jiang Bomu’s waist, pulling her close. In the tangle, her hand touched the warm, soft skin of her waist without any barrier. She couldn’t help but caress it a few times, her fingertips moving upward, but then she suddenly came to her senses. She immediately pulled Jiang Bomu’s top back down and retreated two steps.
Jiang Bomu was still lost in the moment and asked reflexively, “Xunxun, why aren’t you continuing?”
The lipstick on her lips had been mostly eaten away by Gu Yu, leaving only faint smears of pale red on her fair, supple face, blending with the blush on her cheeks, like twilight painting a canvas on her skin.
Gu Yu hurriedly averted her eyes, steadying her breath and heartbeat before saying coldly, “We’re not lovers.”
Jiang Bomu looked at her, bewildered. “But that kiss just now…?”
“It was just an accident,” Gu Yu said, her expression becoming clear and detached. She asked airily, “Isn’t that your usual line? Can it be that you’re allowed to play with fire, but I, a mere ordinary person, can’t even light a lamp?”
Jiang Bomu felt dazed for a moment, remembering her past stubborn and conflicted self. She lowered her head gently and spoke unsteadily, “Xunxun, back then, I just wasn’t sure of my own feelings. Can you give me a chance?”
“I gave you countless chances,” Gu Yu said, tilting her face up slightly, tears welling in her eyes. “Did you ever treasure them?”
“I…”
“Is it only when I’m about to leave you that you finally understand your own feelings?” Gu Yu sneered, looking at her. “Sister, your love sure comes late.”
Jiang Bomu was speechless.
“Go to sleep,” Gu Yu said, quickly wiping the corner of her eye, sounding light and breezy. “What’s the point in arguing about this? Anyway, it’s all in the past now.”
These words made Jiang Bomu even more panicked. It felt like Gu Yu was about to leave her. She carefully took Gu Yu’s hand and asked softly, “Xunxun, have you fallen for someone else?”
Gu Yu frowned and glanced at her. What a bizarre question. She simply didn’t respond.
Jiang Bomu grew more despairing. She bit her lip and finally asked, “Is it Xia Li?”
Gu Yu: “…”
Drunk Jiang Bomu was truly strange.
Reaching this conclusion, Gu Yu dismissed her words as drunken ramblings and pushed her towards the bedroom without any explanation, saying as she closed the door, “Let Wan An keep you company tonight. Good night.”
The door closed. The person and the cat exchanged a glance. The cat jumped into the wardrobe to hide; the person remained standing still.
Jiang Bomu didn’t want to come all this way, not get an answer, and then rush back home. Her love rival was right across the way, and she herself was about to join a film crew. She couldn’t just ignore this. Even if there were no feelings of liking right now, with them seeing each other day in and day out, what if feelings developed over time? Wasn’t that exactly how Xunxun’s feelings for her had come about?
She sat on the edge of the bed, pondering what to do. But her mind was a chaotic mess, incapable of logical analysis. She had no choice but to seek help from her cousin.
[I came to find her, but she treated me…]
Jiang Bomu couldn’t think of the right word momentarily and accidentally hit send. She frowned ruefully, retracted the message to re-edit, thought about it, and then deleted the whole thing.
Forget it. Her cousin was so busy; she shouldn’t disturb her.
She hadn’t expected Bo Shiyue to see the retracted message. She asked: [Treated you how?]
Jiang Bomu didn’t know how to explain either, so she just said: [Nothing.]
Seeing she didn’t want to talk, Bo Shiyue didn’t press further and simply comforted her: [Then don’t overthink it.]
Jiang Bomu fell back onto the bed. Gu Yu’s scent instantly enveloped her. She turned over, her eyelids growing heavy.
A dreamless night.
When she woke, daylight was pouring in, and birds were chirping outside the window, composing a cheerful, chaotic melody.
Jiang Bomu sat up, feeling a throbbing ache in her forehead. She rubbed her temples and lifted the covers to get out of bed.
Wan An was sleeping at the foot of the bed. Hearing the movement, it cracked open its sleepy eyes, jumped off the bed warily, and ran away swift as the wind.
Jiang Bomu sighed. Little ungrateful brat.
Ignoring Wan An, she pushed open the door and saw Gu Yu busy in the kitchen. The frying pan was sizzling loudly. Gu Yu cautiously poured the egg mixture in, then retreated far away, just like Wan An.
As the aroma of frying eggs drifted into her nostrils, Jiang Bomu felt, for a fleeting moment, as if she were back in the summer.
They ate a simple breakfast as usual. She would urge Gu Yu to drink her milk, and Gu Yu would drink it with a reluctant look, then show her the empty glass with a proud, radiant smile.
But Gu Yu no longer drank milk. The fridge was filled with an assortment of beverages, yet there was no milk.
The traces of her existence would slowly fade from Gu Yu’s heart with the fleeting passage of time, replaced by someone else.
Immense panic gripped her. Jiang Bomu didn’t dare think deeper. She walked forward and wrapped her arms around Gu Yu from behind, resting her head on Gu Yu’s shoulder and nuzzling against her dependently. Only this closeness could stave off the fear.
Gu Yu stiffened for a moment, then casually scooped the fried egg out. “It’s done,” she said with a smile. “Hurry up and eat.”
Jiang Bomu obediently sat down but then saw Gu Yu return to the bedroom and grab a few books.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
Gu Yu glanced at the time, just as she changed into a pair of running shoes easier for moving quickly. She said hurriedly, “I have to go to class. I’m going to be late. Once you’re done eating, just go back to Yuning. Travel safely.”
Originally, she had wanted to spend a little more time with Jiang Bomu, but she hadn’t expected her to sleep so long. Perhaps this was for the best, sparing herself the reluctance to part.
Indecision leads to disaster.
“I’m going with you to class too.”
After what happened yesterday, Gu Yu wouldn’t be surprised by anything she said. She kept her head down, tying her shoelaces, her tone helpless. “You’re a celebrity.”
Jiang Bomu walked towards her, her faint shadow enveloping Gu Yu’s figure.
“No one says a star can’t accompany the girl she likes to class.”
