Chapter 14

Her eyes turned red in an instant, the color spreading from the corners. Before Yan Can could even react, tears were already falling, humiliatingly uncontrollable.

Su Ci clearly hadn’t expected Yan Can to react like that. Surprise flashed across her eyes, and at the same time, something in her chest tightened for no reason.

Had she said too much? Su Ci felt a little regretful, but the words were already out.

Just then, the bus bound for school stopped behind them. Su Ci clenched her fingertips, steeled herself, and forced herself not to look at Yan Can again.

She walked straight to the bus door. After she got on, that strange feeling eased a little, and only then did she look back.

Yan Can hadn’t followed.

Frowning, she looked outside. Yan Can was still standing where she’d left her, in the same posture she’d had while talking to her, motionless like a beautiful statue.

The door closed and the bus pulled away slowly. As she watched the girl’s back recede in the rearview mirror, a heavy, indescribable feeling settled in her chest.

Maybe it was because this was the first time she’d ever said anything so hurtful to a girl. In hurting someone else, she’d hurt herself too.

The bus was packed. The back was crammed full of people, and anyone who got on late could only stand near the front. Su Ci stood beside the driver when she suddenly heard someone in the back shout, “Someone’s chasing the bus!”

At first the voice wasn’t loud, and she thought she’d misheard. Soon, more people were shouting too.

Standing at the very front, Su Ci heard it clearly as well. They were saying a student was chasing the bus from behind. As if sensing something, her heart began to pound violently. She looked through the rearview mirror, and her pupils shrank sharply.

The person who had just looked like a statue was now recklessly running after the bus.

The noise inside the bus was loud, and the driver clearly hadn’t heard anything. He remained expressionless, focused on the road.

Yan Can wasn’t running on the sidewalk; she was following right behind the bus, out in the middle of the road. Too many cars were coming and going. It was far too dangerous.

Su Ci’s chest tightened. She turned and slapped the driver’s clear partition by the door. “Sir, stop the bus! Stop for a moment!”

The voices calling for the bus to stop grew louder and louder. The driver was still a little dazed; when he glanced through the rearview mirror, his eyes widened.

A girl in a noble school uniform was sprinting after the bus like a madwoman.

She was running so fast her hair whipped up in the wind, her skirt fluttering in the breeze, and the dark green butterfly knot at her chest trembled in the air.

It would have been a youthful, beautiful scene if it weren’t happening here.

“Driver, stop!” Su Ci slapped the partition twice more, harder this time.

By now, more people had noticed Yan Can chasing the bus, and everyone cried out in shock.

The driver shot a look in the rearview mirror and muttered impatiently, “There’ll be another one in five minutes. Why do you have to catch this one?”

He complained loudly, but still eased off the accelerator and slowly pulled over to the side of the road.

Seeing the bus stop, Yan Can immediately sped up and ran over, panting. “Th-thank you.”

She brushed aside the bangs on her forehead, revealing a pair of red, swollen eyes that still somehow looked beautiful.

She closed her eyes for a moment to ease the discomfort in her body.

With this rich girl’s body, playing a game of basketball was one thing; chasing a bus was not something she ever wanted to try a second time. She felt like she’d lost half her life.

Yan Can let out a long breath.

“Stand properly, we’re about to leave!” The driver shot her a cold look. What a lunatic; chasing a bus on a main road like that was practically courting death.

“Don’t ever do that again. Chasing a bus on the road is way too dangerous!” A middle-aged woman beside her said kindly.

Yan Can nodded obediently. “I won’t next time.”

To be honest, even she hadn’t expected herself to be so impulsive.

When she saw Su Ci turn away and not spare her a single glance, she’d felt so choked up it was like she might explode. Without thinking, she’d chased after her; by the time she came to her senses, she was already running behind the bus.

After resting for a while and feeling her body calm down, her heartbeat gradually returning to normal, Yan Can finally paid the fare at the scanner.

When she put her phone away and turned her head, she saw Su Ci standing right behind her. Yan Can opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but then she thought of that maddening remark and closed it again.

Pursing her lips, she turned her face away and refused to look at Su Ci.

But when she turned away like that, she caught sight of herself in the rearview mirror; there were tear stains on her face, and her eyes were swollen red, like a rabbit’s.

She thought it was embarrassing, so she deliberately yawned, forcing out a little physiological tear to cover up the fact that she’d been crying.

Suddenly, the bus jolted. Yan Can wasn’t paying attention and tipped backward. Su Ci reacted instantly and reached out, but before her hand could touch Yan Can’s arm, Yan Can had already straightened up.

Su Ci quietly withdrew her hand.

Because the bus was packed, it just kept rolling forward unless someone needed to get off. When it reached a turn, the bus suddenly braked hard without warning.

Everyone inside was thrown forward and back by the inertia, and Yan Can, who had nothing to hold onto, was no exception. She stumbled back two steps; before she could even react, someone behind her pulled her arm, and she fell directly against that person’s soft body.

The impact must have been hard, because she heard a very restrained, muffled groan. It was so soft that she didn’t even react right away.

She reflexively tried to pull away, because the instant she fell against that body, she caught the other person’s familiar cool fragrance, along with something soft and yielding...

“What the hell?”

“Hey! You stepped on my foot!”

“Can you even drive?”

“What’s going on?”

The passengers complained all at once.

“Sorry, a dog suddenly ran out in front,” the driver explained.

After another round of grumbling, the carriage gradually settled back down.

“You can let go now.” Once she realized the person behind her was Su Ci, Yan Can immediately straightened up and put some distance between them, but for some reason Su Ci kept holding her wrist, gripping it tightly.

Su Ci’s hand was cool, unlike Yan Can’s warmth; the slightly cold touch made Yan Can feel a little comforted for a moment.

Su Ci glanced at her and said calmly, “Hold onto this side.”

Then she let go.

Even after she released her, the feeling left behind on Yan Can’s wrist lingered, making her strangely aware of it.

She pursed her lips and frowned, looking over. Su Ci had a handrail on her side; it wasn’t too high or too low, just right for a girl to hold. Seeing her look over, Su Ci shifted slightly to the side and motioned with her eyes for her to stand there.

Yan Can didn’t move over. She also didn’t look at her, instead turning to stare out the window as if she wanted nothing more to do with her.

Su Ci could tell she was sulking, so she didn’t say anything else and turned to look out the other side.

When the bus jolted again, Yan Can accidentally stepped on a man’s foot behind her. With no choice, she steeled herself and moved to Su Ci’s side. Seeing her come over, Su Ci silently lifted her hand higher and left the lower spot for her.

Yan Can saw that and thought, Who are you looking down on? We’re obviously the same height; what’s with giving me the lower spot?!

Her strange sense of competition flared up. The rich young miss was unconvinced and reached up to grab a point slightly above Su Ci’s, then looked at her smugly.

Su Ci’s gaze moved to Yan Can’s slightly tiptoed toes, then rose to her straight, slender calves. She said nothing.

The ride was only half an hour, but less than ten minutes in, Yan Can’s arm was already sore and aching. Still, she didn’t want to admit defeat and kept holding the rail in that awkward position until Su Ci’s hand moved down by the width of two palms.

Yan Can secretly glanced at her. Seeing that Su Ci was still looking out the window, she also lowered her hand a little, placing it on the spot Su Ci had just been holding.

The bus couldn’t go directly to the school, so after getting off they still had to walk for a while. Yan Can had never taken this route before. Seeing Su Ci get off, she immediately followed.

Su Ci walked in front; Yan Can trailed behind. She was still a little sulky and didn’t take the initiative to speak to Su Ci the whole way.

The two of them walked in silence, and the atmosphere was stifling.

When they passed a steamed bun shop, Su Ci stopped.

Yan Can also stopped a few steps behind her.

She thought Su Ci was going to buy breakfast, so she pretended to be casually looking around while waiting outside a barber shop that wasn’t open yet.

“Iodine swabs, and a pack of bandages too.” Inside the pharmacy, Su Ci said.

After buying the things and coming out, Su Ci turned back and glanced at the person standing not far away. Their eyes happened to meet, and Yan Can looked away first.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Yan Can turned her head. Su Ci was standing in front of her with a transparent plastic bag in hand.

Inside the bag were not steamed buns, but what looked like cotton swabs and a box of long rectangular items.

She looked back toward the steamed bun shop, only then noticing that the shop next door was a pharmacy.

“Your leg is bleeding. Let’s take care of it.” Su Ci handed her the plastic bag.

Yan Can lowered her head and only then discovered that somewhere along the way, a cut had opened on her calf. Blood was running down her pale leg, and even her white socks had been stained red.

Her heart lurched; she nearly lost her balance, and it was only because Su Ci reacted quickly and caught her that she didn’t fall.

Even though her soul had changed, this body still seemed to have an instinctive reaction to blood.

Seeing her face turn pale, Su Ci hurriedly helped her sit on a stone stool nearby.

Yan Can still hadn’t quite recovered when Su Ci was already crouching in front of her, disinfecting the wound with an iodine swab.

Her movements were gentle. The faint, tingling itch on Yan Can’s leg made her unconsciously curl her toes.

The wound wasn’t deep; it had only scraped off a bit of skin. Because it hadn’t been treated in time, it had bled a little, but by now it had already clotted.

Yan Can tried not to look at her leg, but the sensation of Su Ci moving the cotton swab against it was impossible to ignore.

She could feel the swab moving along the line of blood from the wound, sliding all the way down her calf to the edge of the bone near her ankle, gently wiping it clean.

Every place Su Ci touched seemed to send a current through her body, numb and tingling, giving her a strange, almost intoxicating sense of relief...

That feeling was so embarrassing that her fingertips curled uncontrollably. She clenched her teeth and tried hard to resist the sensation that made her lose her composure.

“What’s your blood sensitivity level?” Su Ci’s voice came from below. She had already cleaned all the dried blood from Yan Can’s leg, leaving only a faint iodine stain on the pale skin.

Yan Can steadied herself and looked down, seeing the black crown of Su Ci’s hair. Her gaze then landed on the bridge of her nose. There was a small black mole on it; it was very neat, very attractive. Her throat bobbed, and she suddenly felt thirsty.

Perhaps because she hadn’t answered, Su Ci looked up at her in confusion. Like she’d been burned, Yan Can immediately pulled her gaze away and lowered her eyes to her own calf.

Once the blood was wiped away, the original wound was exposed; it was very small, only about the size of a mosquito bite, and it wasn’t bleeding anymore.

“Still dizzy around blood?” Su Ci said as she opened the bandage. She had seen people faint from blood before, and some could pass out from just a little of it; she didn’t know which category Yan Can fell into. “If you can’t stand it, put the bandage on. If you can’t see it, you won’t get dizzy. But the wound has already clotted, so covering it with a bandage would actually make it harder to scab and heal.”

Yan Can blinked. This seemed to be the first time Su Ci had ever said so much to her.

Warmth surged up in her chest. Yan Can forgot to stay angry and said in a muffled voice, “I’m not dizzy anymore.”

She turned her face away and added awkwardly, “Thank you.”

Su Ci gave a soft mm and said nothing else, turning as if she were about to leave.

Yan Can hurriedly called out, “Su Ci?”

Su Ci lifted the cotton swabs in her hand. “I’m going to throw this away.”

Yan Can lowered her eyes. “Oh.”

After Su Ci tossed the trash into the bin and came back, she saw that Yan Can’s complexion was a little better than before. She glanced at the time and said, “Do you still want to sit a while?”

Yan Can had noticed her checking the time just now, and knew she was in a hurry to get to school. She immediately stood up. “No need. Let’s go.”

The two of them walked together toward the school gate.

Maybe because they’d started talking more, the atmosphere now felt much more comfortable than before.

Luxury cars lined the road ahead. As they neared the school entrance, Yan Can looked at the person beside her and softly called, “Su Ci~”

Su Ci answered with a quiet mm. The sound was soft and gentle, making Yan Can’s scalp tingle a little.

She licked her lips and said in a low voice, “Can you come home with me after school?”

Su Ci stopped walking and let out a very light sigh, as if she were a little helpless.

“Yan Can.” She called her name.

Afraid of being refused, Yan Can didn’t have the courage to look into her eyes. Her gaze fell on Su Ci’s pale chin. “What is it?”

Su Ci looked at her very seriously. “Why did you choose me?”

“Huh?”

“You should have plenty of friends, right? At least it’s not like you’re short on one more than me.”

Yan Can blinked. She wasn’t sure what answer Su Ci wanted to hear, but she felt she ought to answer properly.

“Because you’re my friend. I like you, so I want you to keep me company. Isn’t that reason enough?”

Su Ci’s deep gaze rested on her, making Yan Can feel embarrassed, so she turned her face away.

“Okay,” Su Ci said. “I’ll keep you company.”

She’d like to see what exactly this rich young miss was up to.

After all, she had nothing; much less anything to lose.