How Did You Confess?

Lin Yang: “……”

Xu Zhitong: “……”

The scene fell quiet for a moment.

The woman was so righteous it was almost uncomfortable; Xu Zhitong nearly believed she really was making a move on Lin Yang.

Lin Yang reacted first.

She looked at the sales assistant beside them, who had just taken out her phone, and said, “Sorry, could you give us a minute?”

After the assistant left, she went around the woman in front of her and walked over to Xu Zhitong’s side.

All she said was, “Don’t mind her. I don’t know her.”

Xu Zhitong: ?

You don’t know her, and yet you’re calling her Xiao Yang?

What do you mean, “fated”?

Hello?

Xu Zhitong glanced at the woman a couple more times. The woman had clearly heard that too; her expression went blank for a moment, but she didn’t argue further.

So she really was a suitor.

Back when they were in school, Xu Zhitong had seen plenty of Lin Yang’s admirers.

At the time, Xu Zhitong still thought of herself as Lin Yang’s number one best friend.

She knew Lin Yang, like her, wasn’t interested in romance at all, so whenever someone stopped them, Xu Zhitong would stand by with a smile.

After those people finished flirting and confessing, Lin Yang would turn them down with easy indifference.

She never even bothered with polite lines like “you’re very nice”; she would only say things like, “Sorry,” “I’m not interested,” or “Don’t waste your time.”

Sometimes Xu Zhitong had to smooth things over, nodding along and saying, “Yeah, exactly. We’re only in our first or second year of high school; our goal is getting into university. Wouldn’t it be better to study seriously together?”

Then, a little smugly, she’d drag Lin Yang away.

Over the years they’d spent studying together, it seemed she had seen more of Lin Yang’s confessions than anything else.

For some reason, there had been very few people who confessed directly to Xu Zhitong.

She didn’t really care about that. She only thought that, after so many years, she was still standing to the side, watching Lin Yang get chased by admirers.

But now her identity and mindset were completely different from before.

It felt strange.

She couldn’t bring herself to stay out of it like before, or fan the flames; but if she stepped in openly, she didn’t know what right she had to do that.

How annoying.

What did this woman have to do with anything between them as wife and wife?

The mood had been perfect; if this woman hadn’t interrupted, she’d already have been looking at Lin Yang’s pretty collarbone.

As it turned out, the woman really had no sense of timing.

When Lin Yang tried to take Xu Zhitong and leave, the woman stubbornly followed after them again and blocked their way.

She looked Xu Zhitong up and down, then at the shopping bag in her hand, apparently suspicious of their relationship.

Her gaze paused on the silk scarf at Xu Zhitong’s waist. She probably noticed the small styling details and drew her own conclusion.

The woman quickly turned to Lin Yang and asked, “You’re not single anymore?”

Xu Zhitong: …

Oh, now you know?

She pursed her lips in slight annoyance and looked down at the floor tiles beside her.

Inhale. Exhale. Deep breaths.

They were in a secret relationship; she couldn’t just declare ownership in broad daylight.

Xu Zhitong worked hard to adjust her mindset.

In the eyes of an irrelevant admirer like this, whether Lin Yang was single or not wasn’t some deliberate tease or attempt to keep people on the hook.

It just meant they weren’t important enough to be told.

Sure enough.

Lin Yang said coolly, “Miss An, that has nothing to do with you.”

Cold and terse.

Xu Zhitong secretly snorted with satisfaction.

See? This was how her wife dealt with strangers who wouldn’t leave her alone.

Miss An froze, then looked like she was about to laugh in anger. “Nothing to do with me…? Fine. Let me introduce myself again. My name is An Zishan, second daughter of the An Group. I’ve been pursuing you for more than a month.”

The An Group was the actual controlling shareholder behind the country’s largest supermarket chain.

With that background, An Zishan had never chased anyone for more than a month.

And yet every one of her tactics had failed the moment they met Lin Yang; they were treated as if they didn’t exist.

She knew that if Lin Yang could open a small coffee shop here, she must have a decent background and plenty of money too.

She had even thought at the time: perfect. As long as their family backgrounds weren’t too far apart, her parents wouldn’t interfere if she wanted a free romance or an arranged match.

“This month, I’ve practically been coming to your shop every day. I didn’t accept the other gifts, but I sent flowers from every flower shop in the city, and I even asked friends in the circle to promote you. And you say you don’t know me?”

An Zishan did have reason to be proud. A beautiful, wealthy, and proactive woman like her usually never lost at love.

So when Lin Yang brushed her off so lightly, especially in front of a possible rival, her face heated with anger.

“……” After a brief silence, Lin Yang said, “Miss An, there’s no need to speculate about my relationship with my friend. Thank you for the flowers; they were lovely, but I already have someone I like. There’s no chance between us, so don’t waste your time.”

It was light, almost casual; but compared with the icy, no-room-for-argument rejections she’d given back when they were in school, it was much gentler.

It reached Xu Zhitong’s ears and made her pause.

Xu Zhitong blinked, unable to help thinking: why was the rejection so tactful?

That question even left her a little dazed.

So after Lin Yang finished and walked off, Xu Zhitong was still standing where she was, staring blankly at An Zishan.

Even An Zishan seemed a little broken by such a gentle rejection.

Her expression was obviously irritated; her face was even flushed with anger. When she saw Xu Zhitong looking at her, she lifted her chin and huffed, forcing herself to sound proud. “What are you standing there for? Go keep her company while she shops.”

At least she had listened to Lin Yang and treated Xu Zhitong as some sort of friend.

Xu Zhitong: “…Mind your own business.”

Grinding her teeth, she turned and hurried after Lin Yang.

Her chest felt oddly heavy.

She didn’t know why.

Was Xu Zhitong feeling lost because she’d run into a rival in love? But Lin Yang had clearly turned An Zishan down, even if her tone had been gentle.

Even if she had called herself a friend, she had also clearly said she liked someone else.

She hadn’t left the other woman any hope.

All Xu Zhitong felt was that emotions she couldn’t quite understand were churning in her head.

She accompanied Lin Yang through two more stores, but her attention couldn’t settle on the clothes at all.

When Lin Yang asked her how this outfit would look on her, she nodded without really thinking.

Lin Yang held up the clothes against her body, and she just stood there, letting herself be arranged.

Like a robot.

Lin Yang handed her card to the sales assistant, then turned and looked at Xu Zhitong twice.

Normally, Xu Zhitong would have noticed that look immediately, turned back, and met her eyes bright and engaged.

But now, Xu Zhitong was plainly distracted.

Lin Yang narrowed her eyes.

The sales assistant finished packing the clothes and handed them over; Xu Zhitong took them on her own initiative.

Then she stood there and didn’t move.

After a while, Xu Zhitong finally looked at Lin Yang sluggishly.

“What is it?”

“……” Lin Yang said gently, “Are you tired?”

“Not really.”

Lin Yang’s gaze darkened a little.

She pressed the tip of her tongue lightly against the inside of her cheek, puffed her cheeks slightly, then let out a breath.

“I’m tired. Let’s go sit in the lounge for a bit.”

Xu Zhitong looked blank. “Oh, okay.”

The VIP lounge in this mall was on the third floor and required walking through a long viewing corridor.

Since it was a workday, there was no one around along the way. When Xu Zhitong rounded a corner, she saw that, not far behind them, An Zishan was still following.

How long had she been tailing them?

Xu Zhitong had been so out of it just now that she hadn’t even noticed her presence.

“That Miss An is still behind us,” Xu Zhitong whispered.

Lin Yang paused. “Why care about her?”

Pretty rude.

Although Xu Zhitong knew Lin Yang was usually unfailingly casual with her, she still thought: why wasn’t she this rude to An Zishan? Why was she being so gentle with An Zishan?

Shouldn’t Lin Yang be cold to everyone except her?

The thought was far too strange. Xu Zhitong knew she shouldn’t care about something like this.

Her head was a mess, yet she suddenly felt wronged to the point of tears.

She bit her lip, not even knowing what she was saying. “Is she going to the lounge too? Then maybe we should all get something to drink together.”

Lin Yang immediately found that ridiculous. She stopped and turned to look at Xu Zhitong.

The two of them met eyes. Lin Yang let out a cold laugh and said, “You want to chat with her?”

Xu Zhitong snapped clear for a moment and answered quickly, “No.”

Lin Yang lifted her eyes at her and said coolly, “Then you’ve been distracted ever since you saw her. Why don’t I go ask for her contact info and send it to you?”

Xu Zhitong’s eyes widened a little. It took her a long while to realize what Lin Yang was saying.

She almost didn’t know how to answer. “You, you…”

Lin Yang said nothing; her face remained expressionless as she looked at her steadily.

Xu Zhitong panicked. Stammering, she said, “Why are you doing this? How could I possibly be interested in her? I’m just, just a little confused, because back then you used to reject people so decisively… but you were so gentle with her, and I was thinking…”

Thinking what, even Xu Zhitong couldn’t say.

Her reason told her this was a trivial matter, so she didn’t understand why she cared so much.

Lin Yang didn’t speak.

Xu Zhitong softened first; even her nose was turning sour. In a small voice, she said, “Yangyang, don’t be like that… After I lost my memory, my emotions get weird sometimes. What I just said was total nonsense. I was wrong, okay?”

“……”

Lin Yang’s expression eased somewhat. She loosened her tightly pressed lips and let out a faint breath.

After looking at Xu Zhitong’s faintly reddened eyes for a while, Lin Yang lifted a hand and smoothed the stray hair by her ear.

“You’re going to cry over this already?” Lin Yang said helplessly. “How old are you, Xu Zhitong, little kid?”

Xu Zhitong sniffed and muttered sulkily, “Hmph.”

Lin Yang couldn’t help laughing.

She pinched Xu Zhitong’s nose, stepped closer, tilted her face up to look at her, and asked, “Want a kiss?”

Xu Zhitong glanced around. The corridor leading to the VIP lounge was quiet and empty, and An Zishan was nowhere to be seen.

A little nervous, she said, “We’re still outside.”

Lin Yang tilted her head. “Do you want one or not?”

Xu Zhitong: “I do.”

Even though Lin Yang had been the one to make the offer, she only lifted her face slightly and stood there without moving.

Xu Zhitong lowered her head and quickly pecked her twice.

Just like that, she was coaxed back into a good mood.

The earlier turmoil vanished completely.

Xu Zhitong took Lin Yang’s hand, fussed with it a little, and laced their fingers together.

Why was she getting jealous of An Zishan at all?

If Lin Yang had spoken to An Zishan gently, it was at most because there were some business ties between them; they were adults now.

Besides, An Zishan’s introduction had been something about being the second daughter of a group; she seemed pretty impressive.

And anyway, she was the one who’d succeeded in confessing.

She didn’t know how she and Lin Yang had gotten together in the memories she’d lost.

It had to have been her who confessed first, right?

Xu Zhitong quietly convinced herself.

She kind of wanted to ask Lin Yang how the two of them had gotten together.

It had to have been very sweet.

Only, after causing such a scene, if she asked Lin Yang that now, would she look too pleased with herself?

Thinking of that, Xu Zhitong huffed again.

When they walked into the lounge, she was muttering a tune from an old Cantonese song. She didn’t know the lyrics well, so she sang it in a messy, garbled jumble.

Lin Yang heard it and laughed. After the staff led them to a viewing sofa by the floor-to-ceiling window, she lightly kicked Xu Zhitong’s calf.

Xu Zhitong obediently made a sealing gesture over her mouth.

The server brought out tea and snacks.

Xu Zhitong took a blueberry cheesecake and used her fork to nudge at it in tiny bites.

Lin Yang finished replying to messages on her phone and looked over at her. “Feeling better?”

Xu Zhitong nodded. “Mm. Much better.”

What had just happened had been inexplicably silly to begin with; she’d already put it behind her.

Lin Yang gave a small, amused smile. “Little jealous pot.”

Xu Zhitong was already feeling smug. “No way. Why would I be jealous of all those people who failed their confessions?”

She was the only one who’d actually made it to the top, after all.

What did it matter whether Lin Yang was kind or cold to those failed admirers?

Lin Yang only liked her.

Xu Zhitong decided she could afford to be a little more smug. She swallowed another bite of cake, and even her mood turned sweet.

Then she asked expectantly, “Yangyang, how did I confess to you back then?”