“If you insist on liking me, I’ll treat you like a stray dog by the roadside and give you a good kick~”
Song Qiuyu murmured, clutching him tightly like a drowning person holding onto a floating log, or like someone who’d lived too long in the cold desperately seeking warmth, refusing to let go.
“We’ll always be fine, I’ll take care of you, be really, really good to you… I won’t ever again…”
As she whispered these words, her nose tingled and she couldn’t control herself—tears started falling.
Jiang Xiao’s never-ending confessions of love these days, mixed with his earlier despair and self-destruction, all surged violently through her mind.
They easily stirred her already drunken, muddled brain into even more chaos.
Maybe the window to the balcony was open, and the snowy wind blew in.
Suddenly her hands and feet turned cold, and her sobs grew even harsher.
Jiang Xiao found himself completely at a loss.
He patted her back, hurriedly grabbed a few tissues, and gently wiped her tears.
His lips grew clumsy and stammering; after opening and closing his mouth for ages, he couldn’t even force out half a word.
He’d never imagined himself being so awkward.
When the person he liked cried in his arms, he had absolutely no idea what to say to comfort her.
He tried stroking her hair and hugging her tighter, but just as he was about to pull her close, he clearly felt her trembling.
This idiot!
She could hug him however she wanted, but the moment he tried to hold her, she’d become scared and anxious, wanting to push him away!
Sometimes, Jiang Xiao really wanted to be a little rough with her, just push her down directly.
But what was most frightening was—even if they did things they shouldn’t, crossing the line from friends…
Song Qiuyu, this girl, would still shamelessly forgive him for the sake of friendship, refusing to try dating him.
“Jiang Xiao, I really won’t mess with you anymore, I beg you…”
“…Mmph!”
Jiang Xiao pinched her lips shut.
“You’re drunk. I’ll take you back to your room to sleep!”
“Don’t, mmph, I… still want to go to the Theme Park!”
“?”
“I’ve never been to a Theme Park. I want to take you to whack moles, ride bumper cars, and play ghost chases!”
“??”
“We can do so many fun things together, we can even ride horses, run along the tracks, woo-hoo…”
Jiang Xiao stared at her speechlessly and messed up her hair.
“When you wake up, I’ll find time to take you, all right? For now, let’s go to sleep.”
“No, I don’t want to sleep, mmph!”
Jiang Xiao was starting to feel tired, but when he saw her sitting on his lap, clinging to him with that adorable fondness, he couldn’t control the pounding of his heart.
He didn’t want to just be friends with her anymore.
Nor did he want to keep things so proper and innocent between the two of them.
He wanted to pull her into his desires, make her drown in them, make her feel for him what he was feeling now.
But he still needed the right opportunity—a true hunter knows how to wait for the best moment to pull the trigger.
The only thing he worried about was whether his patience would hold out much longer.
“Fine, no sleep, no sleep, but you have to let go of me first, I need to clean up the table!”
“Jiang Xiao, I can help you clean up~”
“Are you looking down on me?” “That’s right!”
So, drunken Song Qiuyu, as if eager to prove herself, immediately let go of him and started seriously tidying the table.
But how could a drunk girl possibly clean up properly? The result was obvious.
Still, while Jiang Xiao was dealing with the aftermath, this little drunkard kept buzzing around him like a puppy—though she wasn’t exactly causing trouble, she’d occasionally lend a hand, actually helping out sometimes.
At that moment, she seemed to have turned into a Little Planet, orbiting around him.
But from a physics point of view, he was also orbiting around her.
This meant they were both revolving around each other.
The more they cleaned up, the happier they felt.
After the first snow came a heavy rain.
In the city where snowflakes floated, a thick mist quickly filled the air.
Cold raindrops tapped ceaselessly against the window glass, leaving clear trails behind.
On this Christmas Eve, there were lovers twisting together in bed, , and there were others—just a man and woman huddled on a narrow Sofa under a Blanket.
Naturally, the latter pair could only be Song Qiuyu and Jiang Xiao.
After dozing for a while, Jiang Xiao furrowed his brow and opened one eye, unable to fall asleep.
He looked down at the girl still clinging to him, held his breath, and gently brushed a few strands of hair from her cheek with his finger.
Then he tilted his head, admiring this sweet, endlessly lovable sleeping face.
Her eyes were softly closed; her perfectly-shaped lips were slightly parted as she breathed in and out. Her delicate cheeks glowed rosy against their fair complexion.
He suddenly wondered how she’d react upon waking up.
After all, his intention all along had been to send her back to her room to sleep—she was the one who insisted on holding onto him, refusing to let go.
He could have taken her to his bed, but after considering, he just grabbed the Blanket and let them squeeze together on the Sofa.
If Song Qiuyu woke up to find herself in his arms, in his bed… her reaction…
Honestly, he was a bit curious to try.
He secretly pinched her warm cheek, savoring the way she nestled trustingly in his embrace.
He longed for morning, yet didn’t want the dawn to come too soon—he wanted to stretch out this time together a little longer.
Just then, Song Qiuyu hugged him even tighter.
His heart raced.
The rain kept falling until dawn, only then pausing for a brief moment.
“Mmm…”
Song Qiuyu lazily hugged what she thought was her pillow, nuzzling it with her cheek.
Her slender legs tightened around it, lips slightly parted, letting out a moist little murmur.
So warm.
The bed was especially cozy this morning, so comfortable, she didn’t want to get up.
It even smelled so nice…
But why did the scent seem so much like Jiang Xiao’s?
And why did it feel a little cramped? Her butt seemed to be pressing against a Phone, making her uncomfortable.
Next time, she shouldn’t take her Phone to bed.
Reminding herself, Song Qiuyu slowly opened her blurry eyes, her expression changing little by little.
Once she realized what she was hugging wasn’t a pillow, but Jiang Xiao—
Song Qiuyu froze.
With so much information to process, her mental gears overloaded, smoking and jamming to a halt.
Then she noticed the hard object beneath her hips, and her pupils shook as she snapped back to reality, scrambling backwards from Jiang Xiao’s lap—she practically wanted to jump three feet in the air…
But the Sofa wasn’t big enough for her to retreat far. In an instant, her seat slipped out from under her and she was about to fall, the back of her head heading straight for the table’s corner.
“Careful!”
Jiang Xiao had been pretending to sleep, but now he couldn’t keep it up. With quick reflexes, he grabbed her waist and pulled her back.
Off balance, Song Qiuyu fell right into his arms.
“Uh…”
Feeling Jiang Xiao’s firm chest and the strong thump of his heart, Song Qiuyu’s mind went blank.
She took a few deep breaths, trying to regain her thoughts.
Bracing her hands on the Sofa, she quickly scooted to the edge, sat at the corner, nervously fixed her hair, and looked anywhere but at him, not knowing what to do.
After struggling for a while, she blurted out, “Did I just sit on…”
“My Phone.”
Jiang Xiao fished his Phone out of his pocket.
Song Qiuyu’s eyes widened as she turned to look at him.
As if she’d just seen the first light of dawn, her eyes sparkled.
She patted her chest, letting out a relieved breath.
Jiang Xiao looked at her with utmost seriousness, not a hint of teasing in his tone: “What else did you think?”
“It’s nothing, but how did we…”
Song Qiuyu shook her head rapidly, refusing to admit that fleeting, embarrassing thought.
She wanted to ask more, but her hangover struck just in time, her head throbbing so badly she had to press her hand to her forehead.
“Wait here, I’ll go make you some hangover soup!”