Won’t There Be a Morning Kiss Today?

Lin Yang vaguely realized that maybe it was period hormones; or maybe Xu Zhitong’s kisses were so gentle right now that she’d become a little unlike herself.

For all these years, whenever her period came around, she had always been able to calm herself down, order a warm drink ahead of time, take two pills, and stick on a heat patch.

That way, when her period actually arrived, it wouldn’t hurt so badly that she threw up like it used to.

She could also carry on doing everything as usual.

Being fussed over, soothed, and coaxed into drinking sweet porridge—that kind of experience was already a memory from a very long time ago.

So long ago that Lin Yang thought she had forgotten it. But the moment she experienced it again, the memory came surging back like a tide, almost drowning out what little reason she had left.

Lin Yang gave up on herself and looped her arms around Xu Zhitong’s neck, tilting her head back to kiss her, as if drawing in Xu Zhitong’s warmth and love.

She felt that she should really like this kind of kissing; their faces pressed close, cheeks brushing.

The kisses came in fragments, light and tender, carrying the damp warmth of each other’s breath and bodies.

Even the strength of the embrace was careful and considerate.

It felt like a kind of soothing comfort.

Lin Yang didn’t let her stop for a very long time.

On the contrary, it was Xu Zhitong who couldn’t quite hold on and wanted to stop.

The lover in her arms was too soft, too compliant, and it left Xu Zhitong dizzy and dazed; all she could remember was to keep warning herself not to be too forceful, not to go too deep.

But the sensation was far too real. Her fingers, curled around Lin Yang’s shoulders, could feel the warmth of her lover’s skin through the silk pajamas.

Their breaths tangled, saliva was swallowed, and every place their bodies touched seemed to be slowly melting.

Xu Zhitong seemed to be moving on instinct, wanting to touch more. Her hand slid from behind Lin Yang’s waist, gliding upward over the smooth fabric.

Only when the movement accidentally brushed the clasp at the back did she stop, and her mind cleared for a moment.

Xu Zhitong swallowed, pulled back a little, and caught her breath.

In her arms, Lin Yang, affected by the movement, lifted her head slightly and blinked awake in a daze.

A layer of mist seemed to fill those unfocused eyes. Her slightly parted lips glistened with an ambiguous wet sheen.

Xu Zhitong bit her lower lip lightly.

Damn it.

Stop thinking about it.

Lin Yang just wanted a little closeness because she was on her period; that was normal.

She couldn’t take advantage of her when she was like this.

Otherwise, when Lin Yang came to her senses, she definitely wouldn’t get even a little mercy.

Xu Zhitong’s face was hot and her heart was racing. She forced herself to suppress the throbbing in her chest, licked her lips, and said, "Do you want me to hold you a little longer?"

The moment the words left her mouth, she realized her voice was a little hoarse.

The inexperienced Xu Zhitong couldn’t help feeling shy, and gave a soft cough.

Lin Yang didn’t answer. She took a few shallow breaths, then leaned against Xu Zhitong’s arm.

The sofa was so big, yet the two of them were still huddled together.

But with a sofa this large, they really should be lying on it together, kissing, embracing, and then...

Xu Zhitong’s heartbeat nearly went haywire again. She lowered her head and held Lin Yang, and when she did, she could smell the scent of her hair at the crown of her head.

“...”

Why was everything tempting her? She was still just a little girl who couldn’t really withstand temptation, TT.

Xu Zhitong tried to distract herself. “Um, this sofa was bought pretty well.”

“...” Lin Yang didn’t speak.

Xu Zhitong said, “When we decorated our place, was this sofa something I bought?”

She felt like it had probably been her; only she would have wanted such a big sofa.

“...”

Lin Yang still didn’t answer.

Xu Zhitong touched Lin Yang’s obedient hair and asked in a sticky voice, “Why aren’t you talking to me?”

“...”

Lin Yang breathed quietly in Xu Zhitong’s arms.

Only after Xu Zhitong went to poke her shoulder and the nape of her neck did she murmur, “Nonsense.”

So cute.

Xu Zhitong nodded with complete seriousness—though in reality she was trying very hard to shift her attention.

Sure enough, she had bought it herself.

As for what her amnesiac self had intended by buying such a huge sofa, there was no need to think too hard about it.

Of course.

Lin Yang was lying on the sofa so naturally, and had even lain into her arms and kissed and embraced her on this sofa.

So practiced.

It had to be something they often did when they were on good terms before.

Though maybe not as... proper as she was.

As Xu Zhitong thought about it, she almost went off the rails again.

When the person holding her drifted off, the embrace became less comfortable.

Lin Yang pushed at her.

Then she propped herself up on the sofa and sat up.

Her face was still somewhat red. She lifted a hand and wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of it.

Her gaze swept over Xu Zhitong, who didn’t know what she was thinking.

Lin Yang said softly, "It’s getting late. I’m going to take a shower. Do you want to watch TV here?"

The dreamy imaginings were interrupted. Xu Zhitong sat up in confusion as well and turned to look at the television, which hadn’t even been turned on tonight.

It took her two seconds to realize Lin Yang was about to leave.

Xu Zhitong said regretfully, "No... then you should rest early."

Lin Yang said, "Mm. You should sleep early too."

She had already sat up, legs tucked to one side, waiting for Xu Zhitong to make room for her.

Naturally, Xu Zhitong wouldn’t make Lin Yang "climb over mountains." She hugged a pillow and quickly stood aside.

She tugged at her wrinkled shirt. At first she was still looking at Xu Zhitong, but after a while she lowered her head.

Xu Zhitong tried as hard as she could to avoid looking at Lin Yang.

But it was hard not to notice the way Lin Yang stepped onto the carpet. Her feet were very white, and her toes were painted with champagne-colored nail polish.

Like a pervert, her gaze suddenly felt scorched again, and she hurriedly looked away, not even fully understanding the sudden moment of absent-minded longing just now.

Xu Zhitong said quietly, "Goodnight."

Lin Yang said, "Mm. Goodnight."

-

The next morning, Xu Zhitong had to force herself awake with an alarm.

She had really... gone to bed quite late last night.

She had returned to the room early, but then sat on the bed and spent half the night studying the materials in the cloud drive.

Xu Zhitong was very good at starting from zero and at cramming at the last minute.

She began with the most basic foreplay.

In the end, just the first video about foreplay was enough to make Xu Zhitong watch for one minute, then stop and switch to another app to calm down for ten minutes.

She was truly too restless.

Xu Zhitong was almost desperate.

Was she some kind of major lecher?

Why could she look at such ordinary stick-figure diagrams in a tutorial and still end up imagining herself and Lin Yang?

Shouldn’t Xu Zhitong’s memories be nothing but those of an innocent seventeen-year-old good girl?

Xu Zhitong pressed the screen off for the fifth time, sat cross-legged on the bed, and reflected with bitter resolve.

It had to be that her amnesiac self had been too filthy-minded.

Fine. And she hadn’t even left her a bit of muscle memory, forcing her to study all this in the middle of the night on her own.

It took more than three hours for Xu Zhitong to finish one video about foreplay, and then she had to get up and take a second shower.

Still, she’d learned a lot.

By the end, Xu Zhitong was so flustered her face was burning.

The person who made the video was a genius, too. Although they were only pointing at a blank sheet with stick figures, they even used two little pointer sticks.

One had a mouth sticker stuck on the tip, the other had a hand sticker.

So that’s how that could be done...

Why didn’t they say so earlier!

Xu Zhitong’s mind was all over the place, and she rolled around until very late before falling asleep. Even then, she slept uneasily, her dreams seductive and damp.

In the early morning, she got up and took another shower.

When she came out, still steaming hot, and wiped at her half-wet hair, she looked at herself in the mirror, her face flushed red.

No matter how she looked at it, she didn’t seem normal.

Xu Zhitong turned on the cold tap, washed her face with cold water, and slapped both cheeks a few times.

Okay, calm down.

Only then did she go out to make breakfast for Lin Yang.

Period symptoms could make a person sleepy, and Lin Yang got up later than usual too.

Xu Zhitong kept the porridge she had cooked warm in the pot, then leaned over the coffee table to make up for the important business she had missed last night.

Replying to tips.

Handling new commercial promotion invitations.

Listening to songs she needed to learn, buying accompaniment tracks for new songs.

Making date-planning guides.

When she was in her teens, Xu Zhitong hardly knew anything about Jiangshi.

Mommy and the others were never home, and without an adult to take her around, plus the fact that she couldn’t meet Lin Yang anywhere except the library, Xu Zhitong only occasionally went shopping in bookstores and malls.

Jiangshi had two amusement parks; they’d gone there during spring outings and autumn outings, so that was a pass.

A temple? That could work. Red maples and ginkgo trees; the photos in the guide looked beautiful, and it would definitely suit Lin Yang.

Xu Zhitong casually saved a lot of photography guides.

Escape rooms? Script murders? Skating? Picnics? Go-karts?

Jiangshi actually had so many fun things to do. Xu Zhitong bookmarked the guides one by one.

Hot springs...

Would that mean having to wear a swimsuit, or...

Xu Zhitong bookmarked that too.

She spent over an hour on her date-planning guide before hearing the sound of Lin Yang’s guest room door opening.

Click.

Lin Yang actually locked the door when she slept.

Xu Zhitong looked over from the living room and happened to see Lin Yang wearing a dark green silk nightdress. It was still short, the neckline a little low, almost revealing the curve of her chest.

Over it she wore a matching bathrobe in the same color. The sash was tied loosely, if at all; the long lace ends hung down over her thighs and shifted toward the center as she walked.

In an instant, Xu Zhitong’s head filled with indecent thoughts.

At the end of yesterday’s foreplay video, the little pointer stick with the mouth sticker had stopped right around where the sash was hanging.

The tutorial had ended there, and the next section had begun. Xu Zhitong hadn’t learned that part yet.

But precisely because she didn’t know, it was even easier to imagine things.

Xu Zhitong shot to her feet, clutching her little notebook, and coughed. "Good morning. I... I’m going to change my clothes."

Then she darted back to the room.

Lin Yang raised an eyebrow, looking at the master bedroom door Xu Zhitong had shut, then at the coffee table where she had just been sitting.

Empty.

It was like she was hiding something from her.

Lin Yang clicked her tongue softly.

Xu Zhitong was huddled in the bedroom.

She listened carefully, and only after hearing that Lin Yang had finished changing and started washing up did she come out as if nothing had happened.

Lin Yang had already changed out of the nightdress and into a cream-colored set of loungewear, brushing her teeth in front of the mirror.

Her long hair draped over her cheeks; her face puffed slightly from the toothpaste foam. Hearing Xu Zhitong move around, she turned her head from the sink and glanced at her.

Xu Zhitong immediately put on a sweet, obedient smile.

She went into the kitchen, filled a bowl with porridge, put the washed berries onto a small plate, and warmed a glass of milk for Lin Yang.

Everything was arranged neatly in front of the dining table, looking and smelling wonderful.

After Lin Yang finished washing up and came out, she saw the exquisite breakfast on the table.

But instead of sitting down right away, she looked straight at Xu Zhitong for a while longer.

She felt that Xu Zhitong seemed to be hiding something from her.

After stepping closer, Lin Yang looked at Xu Zhitong, who was stiffly refusing to lift her head, and thought for a moment.

Then, as if teasing her, she said, "You’re being so good to me?"

Xu Zhitong muttered, "Of course."

“...Mm?”

Lin Yang sounded a little suspicious. Her tone rose slightly at the end, with a faint hook to it, and it made Xu Zhitong’s heart tremble hard.

Xu Zhitong didn’t dare move.

Why did this feel like being caught red-handed while reading a spicy novel?

She admitted that after last night’s study session, she really had developed a lot of thoughts about Lin Yang that she had never clearly understood before.

She didn’t want that! She wanted to remain a pure, good girl!

And even if she had learned a few things already, she still shouldn’t be thinking about her wife like this at every moment, everywhere.

That wasn’t something a decent person should do.

But the thoughts in her head just wouldn’t stop.

Xu Zhitong was so guilty she felt like the hair on her body might stand on end.

She looked at the tabletop and not at Lin Yang, her gaze landing on the marble pattern of their dining table.

It really was beautiful.

Soft footsteps sounded beside her.

Lin Yang’s home slippers, with her toes exposed, appeared in Xu Zhitong’s lowered field of vision.

Then they lifted.

One of Lin Yang’s knees came up and settled, neither lightly nor heavily, onto Xu Zhitong’s thigh.

Xu Zhitong almost jerked her head up in panic, eyes wide as she looked at Lin Yang.

Lin Yang narrowed her eyes slightly and looked at her.

Then she asked, "What’s wrong... don’t you want a morning kiss today?"

“...”

“！！！！！！”

Xu Zhitong seemed to go straight from great sorrow to great joy.

What was that supposed to mean?

So all her indecent thoughts had been justified after all.

Had she really been eating so well in the past? Was Lin Yang this proactive too?

Putting her leg up on her like this first thing in the morning.

Asking her for a kiss...

Her amnesiac self must have been a fool to end up at the seven-year itch stage.

Xu Zhitong swallowed hard and looked at Lin Yang in disbelief.

After washing her face, Lin Yang’s skin was translucent and pale, with a faint blush of morning pink, like a peach covered in soft fuzz.

Her eyes were very dark. Looking down at Xu Zhitong, her long hair fell forward, and the backlight made her pupils seem even blacker.

Xu Zhitong’s mind blanked for a second. After their eyes met, it almost felt like she was being drawn into Lin Yang’s gaze.

Fools have no wife.

Xu Zhitong firmly believed she could not be a fool, so instinctively she took Lin Yang’s hand and said in a muddled rush, "How could that be?"

She lifted her face and pulled Lin Yang toward her.

Lin Yang had probably not expected Xu Zhitong to move like that, and was tugged into a half-turned posture, falling onto Xu Zhitong’s lap.

Softness pressed against Xu Zhitong’s thigh, but Xu Zhitong couldn’t spare any attention for it right now.

She could only focus on looking into Lin Yang’s eyes.

With one hand, she let go of Lin Yang’s wrist and wrapped it around her lower back; with the other, she reached behind her and pressed at Lin Yang’s shoulder, drawing her gently toward her.

In the morning light, beside the table where sweet porridge and milk gave off their fragrance, birds were singing outside the window.

After a while, Lin Yang slowly placed a hand on Xu Zhitong’s shoulder.