Then You Swear

The order went through, and the estimated delivery time was 20 minutes.

Xu Zhitong put her phone away and looked at herself in the mirror. Even with a thick layer of foundation on, the blush on her face was still visible.

Nervous...

She took a deep breath, turned, and walked out of the bathroom.

She stepped onto the soft carpet and walked to the bed, leaning over to look, only to be startled.

Somehow, Lin Yang had opened her eyes.

She was hugging a pillow and staring blankly out the window.

Noticing Xu Zhitong’s approach, Lin Yang blinked slowly, then turned to look at her. Her black-and-white eyes were misty, still carrying the confusion of drunkenness.

She parted her lips gently. “Xiao Tong?”

There was a hint of uncertainty in her voice too, as if she hadn’t expected Xu Zhitong to be in her room.

Xu Zhitong said, “Mm... You’re awake?”

Then she wouldn’t need help changing clothes.

Xu Zhitong couldn’t tell whether she felt regret or relief.

Maybe relief. After all, she was very conservative; she still wasn’t ready to be completely naked in front of Lin Yang.

Lin Yang gave a very soft mm.

Still hugging the pillow, she rolled over to face the outer side of the bed where Xu Zhitong was standing, propping herself up a little and tilting her head to look at her.

In a low voice, she said, “Come closer.”

Xu Zhitong said, “Okay.”

Though she didn’t understand why, she crouched down and moved closer to the bed, bringing her gaze level with Lin Yang, who was leaning against the headboard.

Lin Yang’s focus was still a little unfocused.

Her long lashes fluttered in confusion as she slowly looked at the very close Xu Zhitong for a while.

The rehearsal had included a trial makeup session. The makeup artist was a famous celebrity artist from Hai City, hard to book and there entirely thanks to Lin Yang’s money.

As expected, the finished look suited Xu Zhitong very well. It deepened the contours of her brows and eyes, with meticulous eye makeup and a full eyeliner line.

Xu Zhitong wasn’t used to heavy makeup. She must have rubbed her eyes without thinking, which made the makeup smudge a little.

That made the color beneath her eyes look even darker, like the faint circles she’d had when they first met after the memory loss, revealing the faint gloominess of their owner.

So pitiful, Xiao Tong?

Lin Yang thought of what Yu Yaojiao had said to her tonight, and couldn’t help thinking that.

Alcohol slowed her thoughts.

After a few seconds, or maybe a few minutes, Lin Yang asked out of nowhere, “Are you happy?”

What a strange question. Xu Zhitong blinked in confusion. “Happy. As long as you’re with me, I’m very happy.”

Lin Yang smiled.

Alright. She couldn’t ask for an answer.

The doctor had said Xu Zhitong’s amnesia was mainly psychological.

Maybe before she lost her memory, Xu Zhitong really had been as unhappy as Yu Yaojiao said.

So much time had passed; Xu Zhitong was probably very different from the girl she’d been in middle school, in every way.

Lin Yang had no way of knowing what the adult Xu Zhitong was really like.

She had originally thought Xu Zhitong was living well now, that everything in her life was just the way she liked it and was used to; work, socializing, daily life, everything.

But then she suddenly learned that Xu Zhitong hadn’t been living that well.

Lin Yang felt regret. If she had gotten involved in Xu Zhitong’s life earlier—even if the Xu Zhitong before the memory loss would not have wanted a middle school classmate she’d fallen out with years ago interfering—maybe she could have made Xu Zhitong’s life a little better?

Xu Zhitong had lost her memory, and the Xu Zhitong after the memory loss was happy just having her company.

Then she would be willing to make Xu Zhitong happier; she could stay with Xu Zhitong forever.

Lin Yang’s thoughts were a chaotic mess, nearly tangled into a ball of yarn.

The more she thought, the redder her eyes became.

Her cheeks were flushed, her eyes were red too, and she looked both dazed and faintly sad.

To Xu Zhitong, that was a little disconcerting.

Xu Zhitong said softly, “What’s wrong...”

Why did she look like she was about to cry again?

Had adult Lin Yang become a crybaby?

Xu Zhitong put one knee down on the carpet, shifting into a more comfortable position that also let her get closer.

She leaned in and asked, “Is it because of me that you want to cry?”

Lin Yang said dizzily, “No.”

After saying that, she blinked, and the moisture in her eyes quickly spilled over.

It slid along the side of her face and disappeared into the pillow.

Xu Zhitong felt a little sad.

She and Lin Yang’s situation should already have been mostly settled, right? Lin Yang had even taken the initiative to kiss her before going out today.

It must have something to do with Lin Zhao.

She didn’t know what Lin Zhao had said when Lin Yang rushed over to see her, to make Lin Yang go and “drown her sorrows” with Yu Yaojiao like that.

How annoying, Lin Zhao.

Back when they were best friends, they knew each other inside and out.

For girls in their fifteenth or sixteenth year, what they knew, what they could say, what they worried about, were basically all family matters.

Xu Zhitong always liked talking a lot: about the past, about the future, about friends, about family; from her mommy and mami all the way to her cousin, whom she only saw once every New Year’s holiday until the year before last.

Lin Yang talked less in comparison, probably because she didn’t have much to say. Her family ties had always been thin.

Her mami had broken up with her mom when Lin Yang was little, leaving them and going back to Gangcheng.

Because of that, Xu Zhitong had always felt that Lin Yang’s mom, Madam Lin, had transferred her hatred for her mami onto Lin Yang herself.

Anyway, that was how Xu Zhitong saw it.

Whenever Madam Lin faced Lin Yang, she was always cold and merciless, as if Lin Yang were nothing more than a tool with a blood connection.

Yet she spoiled Lin Zhao terribly.

Xu Zhitong roughly knew that Madam Lin was raising Lin Zhao as a successor.

Madam Lin would even go to Lin Zhao’s parent-teacher meetings herself.

But the one who came to Lin Yang’s parent-teacher meetings was always that poker-faced secretary.

The young Xu Zhitong didn’t understand it; the current Xu Zhitong still didn’t understand.

Besides, if Lin Zhao had grown up being doted on like that, being so obviously favored, why had she still turned out crooked?

The last time they met, Xu Zhitong had already thought Lin Zhao was strange; she was equally baffling in the livestream room, and today she even went offline to pester Yu Yaojiao.

Yu Yaojiao was such a cute, good-tempered person. Even in the influencer circle, where interests were often tangled and ugly, plenty of people liked her and always wanted to hang out with her.

If she had actually lashed out at Lin Zhao, Lin Zhao must have said something terrible or done something too much.

So bad.

Lin Yang, even with Xu Zhitong by her side these years, had still gone abroad alone for both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees and hadn’t made many friends. It must have been hard.

As an adult, who knew how much Madam Lin would make her suffer.

And they still had to keep their relationship secret and underground.

Xu Zhitong felt sorry for her, mixed with a little righteous indignation, and even felt like crying herself.

She didn’t know why; seeing Lin Yang’s tears made her want to cry too.

Xu Zhitong sniffled along with her and muttered, “Did your sister say something bad again? I thought she seemed pretty bad even after she grew up.”

Lin Yang made a confused “Huh?” as if she hadn’t heard what Xu Zhitong said.

She tilted her head; the champagne-colored shawl and her tea-brown hair both slid from her shoulder, revealing her slender, attractive shoulder.

Resting on one elbow on the bed, she sat up a little and leaned toward Xu Zhitong. After a pause, she very lightly kissed her.

A kiss flavored with salty tears and whiskey.

Just a touch, then it was gone.

Xu Zhitong froze in place, then nervously licked her lips. She thought maybe she’d guessed right; this was the reward she’d earned.

Feeling encouraged, she reached to the edge of the bed and carefully used the back of her hand to wipe Lin Yang’s tears.

Xu Zhitong said, “Just ignore her. Anyway, we can both work and make money on our own. Even if I’ve lost my memory, I’ll always treat you especially well. We can live happily together, just the two of us. How about that?”

Lin Yang let out a soft laugh.

She smiled with curved eyes, very prettily. There were still tear tracks at the corners of her eyes that couldn’t quite be wiped away, but she seemed very happy to hear that.

Lin Yang asked, “Really? You’ll always be good to me?”

“Mm.” Xu Zhitong felt endless courage swelling in her chest. She looked at Lin Yang seriously and reached out to tuck the loose strands of hair behind her ear.

Lin Yang smiled again. When she smiled, she would lift the tip of her nose a little, and the corners of her watery eyes would curve.

She looked at Xu Zhitong too, then softly said, “Then swear it.”

The halo from the bedside lamp was round and warm.

It fell across Lin Yang’s beautiful, flushed, tear-streaked brows and eyes.

Xu Zhitong felt as though a kind of reverence had lifted her up into the air.

She stared, stunned, her lips parting.

At this moment, she knew nothing. Nothing about the past few years, nothing about what the future would bring.

But in her eyes, there was only Lin Yang.

Xu Zhitong’s throat tightened almost painfully. After a long while, she said solemnly, “I swear, I’ll always be good to Lin Yang.”

Lin Yang broke into a smile.

She smiled and tipped her face back a little, then lowered it again to look at Xu Zhitong in front of her, and reached out with an intimate expression to touch Xu Zhitong’s cheek.

“I’ll always be good to you too, Xiao Tong.”

Xu Zhitong seemed to be staring dumbly.

It took her a while to blink.

They hadn’t said they liked each other, and they hadn’t said they loved each other.

But Xu Zhitong felt inexplicably shy, and her heart was beating so hard it seemed about to leap out of her chest.

She lowered her head in haste, looked at her fingers, and took a small breath. “Okay.”

Lin Yang pinched Xu Zhitong’s earlobe, making her lift her face, and asked, “Want to kiss?”

Xu Zhitong said, “...Ah, ah, okay.”

Even though yesterday’s confession and kiss had both been so proactive, at this moment she suddenly turned into a complete blockhead.

She sat stupidly by the bed while Lin Yang braced herself on the edge of it, one hand gathering up the long hair that was about to fall, the other gently supporting her face.

A quiet, very long kiss led by Lin Yang.

Xu Zhitong’s hands even stiffened where they were supporting her, while Lin Yang kissed and sucked softly at her lips, bringing a warm, ticklish sensation, and at the same time stroked her jaw, her ears, all the way to the back of her head and neck.

Every place Lin Yang’s fingertips passed over turned hot and numb.

Every breath was filled with Lin Yang’s scent. The white tea perfume she usually wore had already faded after a day, leaving more of the lingering alcohol flavor between their lips and teeth, sweet with dried fruit and a faint floral note; it made Xu Zhitong almost dizzy.

Her heartbeat was about to burst out of her chest.

Like, like, like, very much like...

Happiness.

—Happy times were always short-lived.

Xu Zhitong’s phone suddenly rang in the room.

She froze for a second, and the warm softness on her lips withdrew. Lin Yang seemed to have sobered up a little and leaned back against the headboard.

It took Xu Zhitong a long while before she finally lowered her head and pulled out her phone to answer the unfamiliar call.

“Hello? Your takeout was delivered to the hotel robot. Please receive it and leave a good review, thanks.”

A strange woman’s voice came through the receiver, with a noisy howling wind in the background.

Xu Zhitong: “...”

Before she could say anything, the call was hung up.

Her neck felt a little stiff. After a long while, she finally looked at Lin Yang.

Lin Yang seemed to have already grown quite sleepy. She yawned drowsily and withdrew her gaze from Xu Zhitong’s phone.

“Did you order a late-night snack? Then go eat it,” Lin Yang said, her voice still a little hoarse. “I’m going to wash up too and get ready for bed. Don’t eat too much, or you’ll be puffy tomorrow.”

Xu Zhitong: “...”

The little person in her heart started jumping off a building for the eight-hundredth time.