Chapter 51

At the instant their eyes met, it was almost as if they could feel each other’s breath between their teeth. Lin Baixin’s breathing came quick and shallow; Yu Min’s was steady and even, with no sign at all that she was drowning.

Lin Baixin had panicked so badly that she missed the finer details. Her other hand was still supporting a soft, vulnerable place on Yu Min’s body; it was the last place she should have been touching.

The girl’s slender body was warm. Even after coming out of the water, her heat still burned against Lin Baixin’s hand. Lin Baixin felt it, and only when she realized what she was holding did it hit her like a branding iron. But perhaps because she’d been underwater too long, her nerves seemed to have turned to mush in the pool. For a few seconds, her body refused to obey reason. Reason told her she should fling Yu Min off immediately, but she couldn’t make herself move. All she could do was tighten her throat and speak in a stiff voice.

“Let go.”

Yu Min didn’t. Instead, she wound herself even tighter around her, as if afraid that the moment she loosened her grip, she’d sink again.

This time, Lin Baixin didn’t push her away. She only called her name, a low sound in her throat.

“Yu Min.”

Yu Min answered after a beat, softly. Water kept streaming from the damp strands clinging to her collarbone, running down into the hollow pressed against Lin Baixin’s front and distorting it slightly. Hearing Lin Baixin call her, Yu Min paused a moment longer before moving closer still; her face was almost touching Lin Baixin’s.

“My leg cramped up,” Yu Min said in a small voice, frowning as she hugged Lin Baixin. “Wait a second; don’t move yet. It hurts...”

Lin Baixin froze. “Which one?”

“My left leg.”

The leg hooked around Lin Baixin had been the right one.

If it was a cramp, then the earlier sinking suddenly made sense.

Lin Baixin was still skeptical, but there was no way to verify it. She could only take Yu Min at her word.

“Sorry,” Yu Min said in a voice only Lin Baixin could hear. Only then did she loosen her hold a little, reluctantly releasing some of the tension.

Lin Baixin kept her head level, never looking down, never lowering her eyes. Her gaze seemed nailed in place above Yu Min’s neck.

The strange sensation kept burning her; after a while, she finally let go first and stopped supporting Yu Min.

Once her hand was gone, Yu Min had no choice but to cling to her even more tightly, as if trying to make up for a leak in a problem set.

Still holding Lin Baixin, Yu Min looked as though she had grabbed a lifesaving rope. At a moment like this, she couldn’t care about anything else; whether anyone around them noticed was no longer her concern. Only when the pain in her leg eased a little and she could move more freely did she relax her grip slightly, though she still refused to let go of Lin Baixin.

“I think it’s better now,” Yu Min said, as if she couldn’t sense anything odd about their position. Her expression was straightforward, earnest; she really did look as though she had simply cramped up. “But it still feels a little uncomfortable. My calf feels like there’s some force turning around inside.”

That was a symptom of cramping, and Lin Baixin knew it. As Yu Min spoke, her warm breath brushed lightly over Lin Baixin’s lips; Lin Baixin felt awkward, hesitated, then leaned back a little.

Unfortunately, there was a pool wall behind her. She couldn’t dodge; no matter how far she tilted back, she couldn’t retreat.

Half a minute later, Yu Min finally let go and released her.

Holding onto the pool wall, Yu Min didn’t look like she had been lying to Lin Baixin at all. It really was a cramp. Without support, she couldn’t stay steady for long and soon shifted to lying by the edge, both hands braced on the deck.

Noticing that her face was a little pale, probably from holding her breath earlier after falling into the water, Lin Baixin’s heart softened in the end. She relaxed and said gently, “Don’t stay in the water. Go up and rest for a while.”

Yu Min was carefree and unconcerned. She wiped water from her face. “I’ll go up in a bit.”

Lin Baixin was forceful; she brought Yu Min onto the deck, then fetched a clean dry towel to drape over her, along with a bottle of water. She twisted it open and handed it to Yu Min. “Rest properly. Don’t get back in the water.”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry.” Yu Min looked up and accepted all her concern without reservation. Seated in the chair, she stretched out her long, clean legs and tapped the floor with her toes. “It was just a cramp, not a big deal. Nothing much.”

“Don’t go back in and cramp up again,” Lin Baixin said. “If it happens again in a bit... like that, it’ll be dangerous.”

“It probably won’t. I’m not that unlucky,” Yu Min said, still completely unguarded. “I just wasn’t paying enough attention just now; I noticed too late. Luckily you were with me. If nobody had noticed, I’d have been done for.”

Lin Baixin frowned. She figured Yu Min had probably pushed herself too hard while playing ball. Worried, she thought it over and still ordered Yu Min not to go back in, at least for the next half hour. Otherwise, what if it happened again and no one noticed?

“You’d be watching me,” Yu Min said after taking a sip of water. She looked straight at Lin Baixin, her eyes open and clear, without any other meaning in them. “I’m not scared.”

Being looked at like that always stirred something hard to put into words. Lin Baixin turned her gaze away, unable to tell exactly what that feeling was; for no reason at all, she simply didn’t want to meet Yu Min’s eyes.

“I can’t keep watching you every second either. If I hadn’t been here just now, you...” Lin Baixin trailed off. Rarely did she try to lecture anyone, but halfway through she lost momentum. Yu Min had just been through danger; saying it like that sounded as if she were blaming her. Lin Baixin hesitated, her lips moving without words. After a couple of seconds, she changed course. “Anyway, without my permission, you’re not allowed back in.”

Yu Min didn’t have to keep swimming. She’d already had enough fun; staying on the shore without going back in was fine too.

Out in the water, Lin Qi and the others had long since stopped playing ball. A bunch of them were fooling around, swimming back and forth across the pool. Lin Qi was like a nimble fish, diving under and springing back up. They were racing one another to see who could swim fastest, with the loser having to treat everyone to drinks tonight.

In the end, Senior Xiao Zhou lost, and Lin Qi came in first.

Lin Qi cheered, howling twice in triumph before turning to boast to the bar owner and going over to collect her praise. And the bar owner, generous with her favoritism toward her girlfriend, kissed her on the spot.

“Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? What are you two doing? We’ve drunk enough water already, and now you’re suddenly feeding us a mouthful of dog food. No thanks, we’re refusing. We’re not eating it.”

Someone started teasing them and led the others in heckling Lin Qi’s group. Lin Qi wasn’t shy at all; being watched only made her bolder. She took the bar owner’s face in her hands and kissed her again, giving everyone a live demonstration.

They were laughing and making a scene, but Yu Min wasn’t watching them. Her gaze was on Lin Baixin, observing how Lin Baixin reacted to the sight.

Lin Baixin didn’t have much of a reaction. She seemed used to it, or maybe she simply didn’t think there was anything wrong with her friend’s sexual orientation.

For the second half of the game, Yu Min didn’t join in at first. She listened to Lin Baixin and only got back into the water after half an hour.

Lin Baixin stayed an audience member the whole time; she didn’t take part in either half. No matter how Lin Qi and the others tried to drag her in, she refused to go. She didn’t like the game and wasn’t interested.

Yu Min was surrounded by Lin Qi and the others. The girl was the center of the group; even though she wasn’t familiar with most of them, everyone liked her. A lively, sunny girl like that didn’t even have to do anything to be likable.

When someone was hit by a volleyball and it struck Yu Min instead, Yu Min hadn’t even had time to call out in pain before the others rushed over, hearts aching for her.

After they got out of the pool, Senior Xiao Zhou, who had hit Yu Min with the ball, specially called Yu Min over and treated her to ice cream. She also added Yu Min on WeChat and told her, “If anything comes up, tell me. Sorry about that just now, little sister. Don’t hold it against me.”

Yu Min didn’t hold it against her. She accepted the ice cream Xiao Zhou bought and very obediently finished it in one go. Then she chatted politely with Xiao Zhou for a while.

Xiao Zhou was only two years older than Yu Min and was also a student at X University. It was only after Lin Qi introduced them that Yu Min learned Xiao Zhou was actually a senior in her own department.

“What a coincidence. I’d already heard Lin Qi and the others mention you, and I was thinking maybe we could meet one day. Look at this; today we actually ran into each other. Keep in touch often, junior. If you’re free, you can come find me to hang out. We’re at the same school, so everything’s convenient.”

Xiao Zhou was a rich second generation; originally, she had also been a customer at Lin Baixin’s and the others’ shop. Over time, they gradually started hanging out together more and more.

In terms of orientation, Xiao Zhou, like Lin Qi, also liked women.

Maybe out of guilt, Xiao Zhou took special care of Yu Min for the rest of the time. She even handed the menu to Yu Min first when ordering, thoughtfully asking about her tastes and preferences. Yu Min didn’t know what to order, so Xiao Zhou simply picked a whole table full of dishes based on her tastes, which led Lin Qi and the others to joke that it was “unfair” and that she was playing favorites too obviously.

Xiao Zhou laughed. “Mingming is my junior, and she’s also the youngest one here. Of course I have to favor her; who else am I supposed to favor?”

She didn’t like being called “sis” by Yu Min, so Xiao Zhou corrected her. “Just call me Xiao Zhou. We’re about the same age; there’s hardly any difference. Calling me sis makes it too distant.”

Yu Min nodded and called her again.

“Xiao Zhou.”

Xiao Zhou’s eyes curved, and she answered, quite pleased with it.

Xiao Zhou sat on Yu Min’s left, with Lin Baixin on the other side. In truth, Lin Baixin wasn’t very familiar with Xiao Zhou. Xiao Zhou was a customer brought in by Lin Qi, and Lin Qi was the one who usually dealt with her. Lin Baixin couldn’t really get a word in and had no intention of inserting herself. She glanced quietly at the two who were chatting so happily; half-lifting her eyelids, she swept her gaze across their faces, first Xiao Zhou, then Yu Min. Her expression remained blank.

Fruit juice had been poured into the cups on the table. Lin Baixin picked one up and took a couple of sips. At that moment, Lin Qi beside her looked at her in confusion. Lin Baixin didn’t understand, and Lin Qi gestured at her again, clearing her throat in a strange little way.

“What?” Lin Baixin asked.

Lin Qi covered her mouth with her hand and said in a low voice, “You’re drinking Mingming’s. You picked up the wrong cup.”

Lin Baixin paused. Her face remained fairly calm as she lowered her eyes to look; she had indeed taken the wrong one.

“Mm.” She answered, but she did not put the cup down.