Chapter 39

“Su Ci?” Zhao Panpan patted her shoulder. “I got you a new bib number.”

Su Ci had lost hers. She remembered dropping it around here and had planned to come back to look for it, only to find that Zhao Panpan had already brought her a replacement.

“Thanks,” Su Ci said.

“No problem. Turn around; I’ll pin it on for you.” After fastening it, Zhao Panpan followed the direction Su Ci had been looking. “Are you going to find Senior Yan Can?”

The two of them were talking here when Yan Can glanced over from that side and smiled, waving at them.

Zhao Panpan raised a hand and waved back, just about to go over and chat for a bit, when she heard Su Ci beside her say, “I’m going to warm up.”

With that, she turned and left.

Zhao Panpan looked at her, then at the very enthusiastic Senior Yan Can still waving from over there, and in the end chose to follow Su Ci.

Watching Su Ci’s retreating back, Yan Can muttered, “She just left like that.” Then she brushed at the nonexistent dirt on her butt and said to Xia Xia, “They’re my... friends.”

Xia Xia nodded. It wasn’t clear whether she had understood or not. Yan Can said, “I’m going to cheer someone on. See you later.”

Xia Xia gave a quiet mm and stayed seated where she was. Yan Can wasn’t stupid; of course she knew what Xia Xia’s question from earlier really meant. If someone else had asked her, her answer would have been yes. But if it was Xia Xia...

Then she should just be left alone for a moment.

Yan Can lowered her eyes, gave her a long, searching look, and left.

“Su Ci, don’t rush. Registration hasn’t even started yet.” Zhao Panpan had to quick-step with her short little legs to catch up after being left behind a good distance.

Su Ci usually didn’t show much on her face, but when Zhao Panpan had patted her shoulder earlier, she had clearly seen a flash of hurt in Su Ci’s eyes.

Even now, her back looked lonely.

“Su Ci, are you unhappy?” Zhao Panpan caught up and asked, wiping sweat from her forehead.

Su Ci stopped. She turned back and looked at Zhao Panpan. “Do I look... unhappy?”

Zhao Panpan thought to herself, You practically have I’m having a hard time written on your forehead.

“Just a tiny bit.”

Su Ci frowned and said with some difficulty, “...No.”

After a pause, she added, “Let’s go.”

That day, Su Ci took first place in the girls’ 3,000-meter race for the second-year group. Her classmates were all cheering for her; by rights, Su Ci should have been happy too, but she wasn’t. She felt absolutely nothing and looked calm to the point of detachment.

Zhao Panpan thought, This person is definitely unhappy. But why?

What could possibly make Su Ci unhappy? She couldn’t figure it out.

After school, Zhao Panpan was packing up her bag at her desk when she looked up and saw Senior Yan Can standing at the classroom door. She knew the two of them were going to head home together again, so she slung her bag over her shoulder and, as she turned sideways, saw Su Ci’s eyes clearly brighten.

Su Ci only seemed to show obvious emotional shifts in front of Senior Yan Can.

Well, that made sense. After all, Su Ci and Senior Yan Can were close.

“Su Ci, I’m heading off first.” Zhao Panpan greeted her. As she passed Yan Can, she quietly whispered in her ear, “Senior, remember to comfort Su Ci later.”

Yan Can: “?”

She blinked a couple of times and watched as Su Ci came walking over with her bag on her back. The two of them went downstairs together. Halfway down, Yan Can shot Su Ci a few looks; when Su Ci sensed her gaze and looked over with those light-brown eyes, Yan Can remembered Zhao Panpan’s words and said, “Did Zhao Panpan make you angry?”

Su Ci: “?”

Yan Can: “She just told me to comfort you.”

As she spoke, she reached for Su Ci’s hand. The stairs were full of students heading home at the time, and Su Ci instinctively dodged. “Don’t mess around,” she said softly.

Afraid Yan Can might do something else, she added, “Zhao Panpan was talking nonsense. Ignore her.”

Yan Can gave a quiet oh, but she didn’t give up on taking her hand. Su Ci dodged twice and still couldn’t avoid it; once Yan Can caught her, neither of them let go all the way out of the school gate.

Holding on the whole way, Yan Can could feel her palm growing slick. She let go and wiped her hand against the hem of her skirt, then kindly took Su Ci’s hand and rubbed it against her own skirt as well.

Su Ci looked at her hand, which Yan Can was holding against the edge of her skirt. Through the thin layer of fabric, the other girl’s body heat and softness came through clearly, so clearly that Su Ci’s heartbeat skipped out of rhythm. She steadied herself and said, “I’m not coming tomorrow. I have something to do.”

During this period, whenever Su Ci had free time, she would come to Yan Can’s house. She called it tutoring, but in reality both of them knew full well that not much serious work got done; the improper things, on the other hand, were plenty.

Yan Can gave a quiet mm, letting her know she’d heard.

Su Ci was a little surprised. She had thought that with Yan Can’s personality, Yan Can would ask what she was doing. She pressed her lips together and looked out the window.

Maybe because the sports meet had drained too much energy, Yan Can looked very tired. Before long, her head started bobbing little by little.

Seeing that, Su Ci moved a little closer. Yan Can’s head tipped again; this time it landed on Su Ci’s shoulder.

As if she thought the position was uncomfortable, her fluffy head rubbed against Su Ci’s shoulder again. A few seconds later, she found a comfortable spot, her brows relaxing, and soon she fell into a deep sleep.

When Yan Can woke up, the car was already parked in the garage. She yawned and then felt a weight on her shoulder. Turning her head, she realized Su Ci had fallen asleep at some point, her fluffy head pressed against Yan Can’s neck; a few strands of hair brushed her skin, making it faintly itchy.

Su Ci looked much less cool and distant when she was asleep; she seemed especially well-behaved. Yan Can looked at her and felt a great deal of tenderness bloom in her heart. She didn’t even want to move, afraid of waking her.

But after a while, Yan Can’s whole body had gone numb. She glanced at the time; it was almost seven.

“What time is it?” Not long after, Su Ci woke up too. Her voice was a little hoarse as she rubbed her eyes. When she looked at Yan Can, her eyes were covered with a thin layer of mist. Yan Can thought she looked adorable just after waking up, and casually rolled her shoulder. “There’s still a quarter of an hour until seven.”

Su Ci gave a quiet oh and put her hand on the door handle, about to get out. Yan Can grabbed her wrist; meeting Su Ci’s puzzled gaze, she pressed a very light kiss to her forehead.

“Nothing. I just thought you were really cute and wanted to kiss you,” she said, watching Su Ci’s reaction.

Su Ci didn’t react much. She obediently closed her eyes, but Yan Can still didn’t move.

The kiss didn’t come for a long while, and Su Ci opened her eyes, looking at her a little strangely.

Yan Can seemed to be thinking about something; she was staring at her, clearly distracted. Su Ci called softly, “Yan Can?”

Only then did Yan Can come back to herself and smile. “Get out of the car.”

While doing homework, Yan Can kept getting distracted.

“Would you like girls?”

When Xia Xia had asked her that, the face that had appeared in Yan Can’s mind was Su Ci’s.

If it were Su Ci...

If it were Su Ci...

Yan Can swallowed. If it were Su Ci...

“Can’t solve this problem?”

A cool, pleasant voice pulled Yan Can back from nine heavens away.

Yan Can turned her head. Su Ci’s profile was right next to her; they were very close. If she tilted just a little more, she could kiss her cheek.

Su Ci’s gaze fell on the math problem beneath her pen. Her eyelashes were long and dense; when she lowered her eyes, they cast a small shadow beneath them. “This problem... mm...”

Yan Can took her earlobe into her mouth and gently rubbed it. Su Ci’s ears were a sensitive spot; every time Yan Can mouthed her ear, she went weak all over and lost the strength to resist.

The pen in her hand dropped onto the worksheet with a faint sound. Su Ci frowned slightly in discomfort, but she still didn’t push Yan Can away.

Yan Can lightly worried the ear with her teeth, sucking and licking. Su Ci’s ear felt swollen and numb. She suspected Yan Can must know her sensitive spot was her ear, which was why this person kept tormenting it.

Yan Can held on for quite a while before letting go. Staring at the earlobe she’d made slightly red and swollen, her throat bobbed. She said, “Su Ci, there’s something I want to ask you.”

Su Ci’s breathing still wasn’t completely steady. She looked up at her, a thin mist still lingering in her eyes.

Yan Can’s heart thudded wildly. She swallowed, licked her lips, and said a little nervously, “Would you like girls?”

Her voice was very soft.

If Su Ci’s lips hadn’t moved, Yan Can would have suspected she’d imagined it.

Time seemed to stretch out; every second of waiting made Yan Can feel as if she were being roasted over a fire.

Yan Can hadn’t expected this question to take Su Ci so long to answer.

She was a little deflated. “Forget it. You don’t have to answer.”

Su Ci blinked very lightly and asked, “Why are you asking this?”

Yan Can smiled. “Nothing. Someone suddenly asked me that this afternoon.”

Su Ci thought back to earlier, when Yan Can had said she didn’t like girls. She lowered her eyes; after a moment, she looked up at Yan Can and opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something. But the instant she thought of the sentence she’d heard that afternoon, just thinking of it...

She turned to look out the window and said softly, “What we have now is pretty good.”

Turning back, she looked at Yan Can and said lightly, “You think so too, don’t you?”

What did that mean? Yan Can frowned.

Had Su Ci seen through the fact that she was about to confess, just like she had seen through Xia Xia wanting to confess to her that afternoon?

So the meaning was that they couldn’t have a further relationship.

But holding hands, hugging, and kissing could still continue as usual; that was what it meant?

Yan Can kissed Su Ci’s cheek and carefully watched her expression.

No reaction. No resistance.

Got it. Su Ci meant that they couldn’t have a further relationship, but they could do the things that belonged to a further relationship.

What kind of arrangement was that? Wasn’t that just being friends with benefits?

Yan Can was a little irritated.

That night, the frustrated Yan Can pinned Su Ci on the desk, kissed her hard for a long while, then viciously bit through her lower lip. By her ear, in a commanding tone, she said, “You’re only allowed to be like this with me. Of course, for fairness, I’ll only be like this with you too.”

Su Ci’s fingertips pressed over her split lower lip. Lowering her eyes, she gave a very soft mm. “Okay.”

The next morning, Yan Can woke up and immediately sent Su Ci a message, asking when she would finish work. She wanted to go to the bookstore to buy some materials and have Su Ci help her pick them out.

Su Ci: Probably tonight.

Yan Can: You’re working the whole day today?

Su Ci didn’t reply; she didn’t reply until the afternoon.

Yan Can found it strange. It was a weekday, not the weekend; how busy could a restaurant possibly be?

Just as she was about to get in the car and head over, Su Ci’s message came through first:

Not in the city. Something came up.

Yan Can sat up straight on the rug. She opened her location and saw the little circle representing Su Ci in A City. Could she have gone to visit a patient again?

She enlarged the map with two fingers; the screen showed A City XX Hospital.