First Meeting

The footsteps stopped beside her.

Xu Zhitong pretended to be absorbed in the coffee in front of her, the latte art already half ruined by her own drinking.

In her field of vision, the hem of a skirt shifted over a pair of fair calves.

Xu Zhitong held her breath, almost ready to face judgment.

"Sister Xiao Yang, could you take a look at this?"

A staff member came over looking for Lin Yang.

Xu Zhitong let out half a breath, thinking Lin Yang’s attention would be pulled away.

But then she heard Lin Yang say calmly, "Wait a moment. I’ll be over in a bit."

After the staff member left in confusion, Lin Yang lowered her eyes and raised a hand, tapping lightly on the tabletop with her fingertips.

The solid wood table was thick; taps like that shouldn’t have made much sound.

And yet it still made Xu Zhitong jump.

Her hair felt like it was about to stand on end. Clutching the coffee cup handle, she forced herself to stay calm and didn’t dare look up.

Was it that obvious?

She was still wearing sunglasses in the coffee shop, after all.

Her whole body was hidden except for her hands and chin, and the hand with the ring was tucked behind the cup.

Sigh. Her wife really did understand her too well.

Lin Yang was just about to sit down when she heard the door open again. She turned around and leaned back against the table, both hands moving behind her to brace herself between her hips and the table edge.

It was a naturally protective gesture, one that almost completely shielded Xu Zhitong behind her.

The lawyer, Jiang, had taken a very short call and was already on her way back. She gave Lin Yang an apologetic smile. "Something came up; I have to go. I’ll treat you to dinner next time."

Lin Yang said, "Whenever you’re free, just call me, sis."

Jiang picked up her bag and waved with a smile. "I’m off. See you."

Lin Yang pressed her palm to the edge of the table, intending to pull her hand back and wave goodbye to Jiang.

But Xu Zhitong, behind her, quietly pressed down on her thumb resting against the tabletop and rubbed it twice.

Lin Yang paused. Her expression stayed perfectly normal as she turned and gave Jiang a nod instead.

Jiang left like a gust of wind.

Only after her figure disappeared did Xu Zhitong dare to take Lin Yang’s hand boldly in both of hers.

She had been completely soothed by Lin Yang’s earlier gesture; now she tugged at Lin Yang’s hand directly, drawing her attention back, and tilted her head up to look at her.

In a deliberately sweet voice, she asked, "Sister, can I order coffee?"

Lin Yang froze.

She turned back. One hand was on the table, and Xu Zhitong had already grown bolder, touching her manicure and fingertips.

Xu Zhitong lifted her face. She was still wearing sunglasses and a cold-weather cap, revealing only the clean, attractive lines of her lower face.

The corners of her mouth were lifted, the tip of her nose slightly scrunched, and she looked oddly pleased with herself.

Even through the sunglasses, one could almost see the smile in her eyes.

Lin Yang: "..."

She drew her hand back and sat down opposite Xu Zhitong, taking a careful look at her outfit.

Middle of the afternoon, covered from head to toe, and even in the shop she refused to take off her sunglasses.

Meeting Lin Yang’s gaze, Xu Zhitong took another sip of coffee with a self-satisfied air and said, "Tastes good."

Lin Yang said, "It’s the middle of the afternoon. You’re wrapped up like this in the shop; the staff are going to think I brought some huge influencer in to shoot promo content."

Shoot promo content?

Xu Zhitong said, "Sister, I’m not like them. I’m free; please make use of me."

As she spoke, she took off her sunglasses and blinked very earnestly at Lin Yang.

"..."

Even though Lin Yang had been the one to bring up the topic, she was suddenly the one who couldn’t quite take it.

The ease she’d had while socializing with outsiders earlier vanished without a trace.

Lin Yang cleared her throat. "We’re in public."

Xu Zhitong replied obediently, "Oh, okay."

Then let’s talk when we get home.

Seeing that she had settled down, Lin Yang got up and went to the counter, asking the staff to pour her a fresh cup of warm water and bring over a small plate of pastries.

She pushed the pastries in front of Xu Zhitong and took a sip of the warm water herself. "Try them."

Xu Zhitong did as she was told; everything was delicious and suited her taste perfectly.

Of course it did. She was the boss’s wife, so naturally the shop would have food she liked.

Only after Xu Zhitong had tasted more than half of them did Lin Yang ask, "How did you find your way here?"

Xu Zhitong swallowed the blueberry on top of a cheesecake.

"I searched using the pictures in your Moments."

"Ah..." Lin Yang smiled. "So smart."

At that, Xu Zhitong gave a pleased little hum.

She didn’t say that when she used the map app to hail a taxi, she discovered that the version of herself before the amnesia had already favorited this coffee shop in the app.

Saying that would make her sound silly.

Xu Zhitong was curious. "Who was that just now?"

Lin Yang said, "Lawyer Jiang. Kind of a friend."

Lawyer. Friend.

Xu Zhitong couldn’t help feeling a little sour, but she was too embarrassed to show jealousy in front of Lin Yang; it would make her seem childish.

She endured it again and again before finally asking, "Are you two pretty close?"

Lin Yang looked at Xu Zhitong and raised a brow. "Mm. She wants to introduce someone to me."

Xu Zhitong’s eyes widened.

Before she could really panic, Lin Yang cut her off. "But I told her I already have someone, and I showed her my diamond ring."

"...Hmph." Xu Zhitong was displeased. "I saw her give you a card. What was it?"

Lin Yang paused.

She had an urge to hide it.

To be fair, she didn’t really want to take Xu Zhitong to the hot spring.

A private hot spring was a little too... intimate for her.

The reason she had wanted to go out alone this time was that she felt the two of them had been far too close lately, and Xu Zhitong seemed to be pushing forward a little too aggressively in their intimacy.

Lin Yang worried that something uncontrollable might happen.

She was still thinking about how to brush it off.

Xu Zhitong immediately grew restless. Could there be something between them that she wasn’t allowed to know?

She sat for two seconds, then stood up and went to get Lin Yang’s bag.

Bringing the bag back to their table, she saw that Lin Yang made no move to stop her, so she opened it and rummaged around.

Very naturally, she pulled out the card. It only listed contact information and a membership number; looking it up online turned up nothing.

Xu Zhitong asked, "What is it?"

Lin Yang said, "...It’s a hot spring resort."

She knew that her hesitation had made Xu Zhitong bristle a little, so she had no choice but to soothe her. "Lawyer Jiang knew I had someone, so she handed this over and told us to go have fun when we’re free."

Oh—

Xu Zhitong felt a little better.

Then she asked, "So you don’t want to go soak in a hot spring with me?"

Her eyes were fixed straight on Lin Yang.

Lin Yang couldn’t handle it at all. She pressed her lips together and said, "No... It’s just that I’m worried your body isn’t in great shape right now. If you soak, you might get dizzy."

Xu Zhitong said quickly, "Then I’ll just soak for a little while. I’ve never been to a hot spring before."

As she spoke, she braced one hand on the table and leaned closer.

Dressed so coolly, yet looking so obedient as she tilted her head up at Lin Yang.

Lin Yang: "...Mm."

If Xu Zhitong had never been to a hot spring before, then she really couldn’t refuse her.

Lin Yang lowered her head, added the contact as a friend, and asked Xu Zhitong, "When do you want to go?"

Xu Zhitong immediately started checking her schedule.

Operations had already set her livestream timetable and her video submission plan.

After thinking it over, Xu Zhitong asked with apparent innocence, "Can we do Saturday?"

Lin Yang: "..."

That was three days from now.

She struggled. "There aren’t any swimsuits at home. We’d have to buy some, right?"

Xu Zhitong’s eyes were bright. "Then let’s go to the mall later. Does this place sell swimsuits? Oh, what kind of swimsuit do you wear for a hot spring? I’ll look it up."

With that, she pulled out her phone and started searching.

Not a trace of procrastination; her execution was extremely high.

Lin Yang: "..."

Even though the coffee shop’s central air-conditioning was running steadily, she still felt herself warming up; she was almost too embarrassed to sit still.

Lin Yang felt a little flustered, yet she couldn’t get angry at Xu Zhitong.

After all, Xu Zhitong thought they’d been a couple for years.

If she admitted that, she had to admit to the rest of the intimacy too.

Lin Yang silently drew in a breath, feeling only that this was self-inflicted.

"Fine. Sit here for a bit; I’ll go arrange some things."

She fled as if escaping disaster, getting up and going over to the bar to try a new seasonal brew the barista had made.

The shop was quiet, and the staff crowded around curiously as well, each taking a small cup of the new drink from the barista. One of them asked, "Sister Xiao Yang, is that your friend? That outfit is so cool. Is she a celebrity?"

Lin Yang said, "Yeah, not a celebrity."

The barista said, "A celebrity came two days ago. A female idol from a really popular girl group, actually. She ordered all the shop’s bestselling drinks to take back and said she was treating the members and staff."

A staff member laughed. "The manager wasn’t even here that day, and it wore A Ran’s hands out. When has our shop ever had such a huge order? I was busy packing for half the afternoon."

The barista said, "She said she was going to post it on social media."

Lin Yang glanced at the chat window with her assistant. There had been nothing in the public-opinion monitoring reports about the coffee shop. "It probably hasn’t been posted yet."

The staff member clasped their hands together. "I hope she doesn’t post it. Our shop is fine just like this; better to stay hidden in plain sight. How nice."

The barista smiled. "Xiao Chen’s been worn out these past few days just from that Miss An alone."

Staff member Xiao Chen looked helpless too and complained to Lin Yang, "Sister Xiao Yang, that Miss An really is something. She comes and sits here all afternoon, asks me every half hour whether you’re coming to the shop. Thank goodness she didn’t come today, or it’d be a real headache."

Lin Yang said helplessly, "Thanks for your trouble. I’ll give you a raise."

She had always handled pursuers coldly; a line or two was enough to put an end to their hopes.

But this Miss An was probably the most persistent one she’d had in all these years.

Then again, after Xu Zhitong, Lin Yang felt that maybe she’d lose all patience with anyone else’s initiative.

Lin Yang finished the last sip of coffee. The aftertaste carried a faint, almost imperceptible scent of magnolia.

The first place where she had met Xu Zhitong also had a very large magnolia tree planted there.

It was the first snow of winter; they were doing volunteer work at a nursing home. Near the end of the event, Lin Yang stood in the doorway looking down at her phone to confirm that the driver had reached the entrance.

She put on her earmuffs and gloves, opened her transparent umbrella, and stepped into the snow.

Suddenly, a burst of hurried footsteps came from behind her.

A clear voice called anxiously, "Excuse me, classmate, could you please wait a moment?"

Lin Yang turned back in confusion.

At that time, Xu Zhitong’s hair was still that obedient black; it was still not long, tied into a little knot at the back of her head.

She wore a very long black down coat, and her eyes were very large.

She was the girl who had just been singing New Year’s songs onstage earlier; the elderly residents all really liked her.

She hurried over in small steps, almost unable to stop on the snowy ground, then came to a halt in front of Lin Yang and panted softly.

Maybe she had just come out of a heated room, because her face was red and her eyes were bright.

She asked, "Classmate, I’m from the junior middle school division of No. 1 High School. Can I add you as a friend? My name is Xu Zhitong. What’s your name? Are you from No. 1 High School too? I just heard you asking the teacher what the high school division of No. 1 High is like. We might even be classmates in the future..."

She rambled on incoherently, holding up her phone. On the screen was QQ’s add-friend interface; she wanted to add Lin Yang’s QQ account.

Lin Yang looked at her and froze.

The swirling winter snow fell onto Xu Zhitong’s head and eyelashes. Because she was waiting for Lin Yang’s answer, time dragged on; then a magnolia petal drifted down and landed on Xu Zhitong’s shoulder.

Xu Zhitong’s lashes trembled wildly, not knowing what she was nervous about. Even the petal startled her. She turned her head to pick it up in her hand, then smiled at Lin Yang again.

She said, "I just saw you feeding the cats in the corner. It’s called Zhizhi, and I feel... I feel like we should be able to become very good friends."