Xiao Chen's voice was like an electric current, tingling and numb, gliding over her body from top to bottom. It had an irresistible magic.
Yu Na raised her arm, hooking it around his neck. She felt, endured and enjoyed this endless, sweet, soft yet fiery hot kiss.
She suddenly recalled the scene she witnessed last night at the elevator - the kissing couple. So this was what it felt like.
Sensing her increasingly uneven breaths, Xiao Chen slowly released her. The moment he let her go, it was with some reluctance. He claimed her lips once more, making an extremely ambiguous sound.
The residual heat still lingered in the kitchen.
Yu Na was too embarrassed to lift her eyes. She buried her head in his shoulders, her face as red as a ripe apple.
Unlike before, Xiao Chen did not tease her. He just quietly held her, giving her time to recover.
After some time, she finally slowly raised her head. With the back of her hand against her burning cheeks, she awkwardly said, "I...I'll go check how Qiao Rui is doing with his test papers."
Having said that, she wanted to leave as if escaping.
However, her wrist was swiftly grabbed by Xiao Chen. "What's the hurry?"
Yu Na: "..."
Xiao Chen pulled her back in front of him, examining her crimson face. Lazily, he said, "Running away after kissing me?"
"...I—"
"What do you want for lunch?" Xiao Chen ruffled her hair. "I'll make it for you."
"Anything is fine."
She tossed out those words and swiftly fled the scene.
Xiao Chen watched her hurriedly retreating back, the corners of his lips curving up slightly without him realizing, his gaze full of indulgence.
Yu Na found the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face.
Then she looked up at herself in the mirror.
She had very fair skin, albeit just fair. Without any makeup, the girl staring back at her had glowing and translucent skin, a pretty flush on both cheeks.
Her complexion was much better than before.
As Yu Na examined herself in the mirror, she couldn't help raising her hand to touch her own lips, recalling the earlier sweet moments.
She hid in the bathroom, freely letting the corners of her mouth curve up blissfully.
...
Yu Na assumed Qiao Rui was diligently working on his test papers.
She had knocked on his door for a long time without any response.
"I'm coming in, okay?"
Still no reply.
Yu Na opened the door and saw Qiao Rui lazily reclining on a swivel chair. A book covered his face while his legs rested on the desk. Wearing headphones, he swayed his body to the beat, completely oblivious to Yu Na's presence.
She grabbed the book covering his face, about to interrogate him when Qiao Rui instead curiously asked, "Oh? Done making out?"
Yu Na: ?
She cleared her throat, directly ignoring his question. "Have you finished the test papers?"
"Yup, all done." He placed the papers in front of Yu Na.
Thanks to her supervision of Qiao Rui's vocabulary memorization every day, the effects were clearly reflected in his work - greatly improved scores for cloze passages and reading comprehension.
However, his selections and essay were still a mess, especially the multiple choice questions where the accuracy was less than half, with several questions unattempted.
"Why did you leave so many questions blank?"
"I didn't know how to do them," he shamelessly reasoned. "I wanted to ask you but I was afraid my brother would kill me to liven things up between you two."
"............"
Yu Na was earnestly looking through the papers but couldn't help laughing out loud upon hearing his serious nonsense.
She knocked Qiao Rui's head. "Where did you learn to say things like that? Can't you speak like a high school student for once?"
"Learned it from your husband."
His casual utterance of "husband" threw Yu Na's mind into chaos.
She did not refute him.
She placed the test papers between them. "Stop fooling around and focus on studying."
She reiterated some grammar knowledge they had learned before, explaining things to Qiao Rui again.
Midway, the door opened and Xiao Chen walked in, ignoring Qiao Rui as he went straight to Yu Na. Bending down behind her, he grabbed her shoulders and leaned sideways, softly saying, "Come eat."
Yu Na pursed her lips and nodded, too shy to look back at him.
"Yo, what about me?" Qiao Rui sat there, baffled.
Xiao Chen glanced at him. "If you're hungry, come along."
Qiao Rui: "Tsk tsk tsk, what right do you have to look down on Brother Han? You're even more excessive when you're in love."
"..."
Xiao Chen cooked shrimp noodle soup.
Three bowls were placed on the dining table. Xiao Chen led Yu Na to the seat beside his. "You'll sit here from now on, okay?"
She bashfully nodded. "Okay."
Only after Qiao Rui sat down did he notice something amiss. Both his and Xiao Chen's bowls contained pitifully few shrimps while Yu Na's was piled with them.
"Damn, you're blatantly playing favorites!"
Xiao Chen insincerely apologized, "Sorry, didn't have many shrimps left. Didn't buy more."
Yu Na also noticed.
"Besides—" Xiao Chen reasonably explained, "She's giving you free weekend lessons without charging a cent. What's wrong with putting in more shrimps for her?" He scoffed. "So petty."
Qiao Rui: "......?"
If not for his brother constantly buying him new phones, computers and limited edition sneakers, he would've long died from anger.
"I don't think you have any right left to call Brother Han a lovesick fool."
...
After lunch, Xiao Chen kept his word and let Qiao Rui go out to play.
He was actually desperate for the boy to leave quickly.
Only the two of them remained in the house.
Xiao Chen placed the utensils in the dishwasher while Yu Na volunteered to tidy up the kitchen.
Just as she was about to wipe the table, Xiao Chen walked over behind her and took the cloth from her hand. "Go wait in the living room."
"It's fine, I can—"
Xiao Chen interrupted her. "Be obedient."
"Oh...alright."
Xiao Chen swiftly cleared up the kitchen in no time. After a brief rest, he brought Yu Na out to play.
Yu Na had been in Changwan for so long but had only gone shopping with Lin Shuan before, never visiting any scenic spots. Xiao Chen took her to less crowded places around town.
They didn't return until nighttime when Xiao Chen sent Yu Na back to Huating One.
He parked the car in the basement garage.
Yu Na softly reminded, "I'll head up first. Remember to message me on WeChat when you get home."
Xiao Chen stroked her head. "Got it."
However, when Yu Na unbuckled her seatbelt, ready to alight, she found the car door impossible to open no matter how hard she tried.
Puzzled, she looked at Xiao Chen. "The door won't open?"
Xiao Chen put on an act, inspecting the door handle. "Hmm? Really?"
She tried again. "Yeah, it won't open."
"How strange."
Lazily leaning back with crossed arms, Xiao Chen seriously said, "Could be because there wasn't a proper parting ceremony. Even my car can't stand watching any longer."
Yu Na: ???
Oh... He was playing tricks again!
He had locked the car!
Xiao Chen shifted closer. "You'll have to do something to please the car owner. Maybe then the door will magically open itself."
"..."
Yu Na dissatisfiedly pinched his arm. "You're really sly!"
Xiao Chen looked every bit smug and shameless. "Too kind, too kind."
"Thought of something that'll make me happy yet?" he asked, leaning closer.
A turmoil of emotions - irritation, happiness - churned within her, making Yu Na feel like splitting into two.
Xiao Chen had already closed his eyes victoriously.
Yu Na turned her head, shifting nearer him when she inadvertently caught sight of the mole under his Adam's apple again.
With eyes shut, Xiao Chen sensed her drawing closer to his side.
Yet completely out of his expectations, instead of the kiss he had schemed for, her lips touched his throat.
Xiao Chen's body abruptly tensed up.
