Chapter 87
Zhuang Chi received a kiss.
The moment she heard Gu Ximian say it was mistletoe, she had already realized the intention behind her deliberately placing the plant there, and what was about to happen.
In Western Christmas tradition, one cannot refuse a kiss from another while standing under the mistletoe.
Zhuang Chi indeed did not avoid the kiss, and of course, it wasn't just because of this custom.
Gu Ximian's kiss was clumsy. She clearly had no experience, merely pressing her lips forcefully against hers, with a strength that was almost like a collision. Zhuang Chi subconsciously let out a soft hum of pain. Gu Ximian froze, then, as if finally coming to her senses, slowly eased the pressure.
Their lips parted slightly, but she didn't pull back. Instead, she lifted her eyes to look at Zhuang Chi. Her moist gaze was veiled in a light mist, carrying a hint of a daze. Gu Ximian looked at Zhuang Chi and said softly, "Did I bump into you?"
They were too close, so close that Zhuang Chi could see her dense, long eyelashes and feel her breath. Her heart pounded like a drum. Zhuang Chi found it inexplicably difficult to speak. Her lips were still tingling slightly, but all she could remember was the soft warmth of Gu Ximian's lips, which had just touched hers.
She didn't speak, but Gu Ximian wasn't annoyed. Instead, she chuckled softly. She seemed to have seen something in Zhuang Chi's eyes, and as if to get a clearer look, she moved a little closer. The touch of their noses brought a subtle tickle, and the distance between their lips was tantalizingly close, as if they were already touching, yet the next moment, she suspected it was just an illusion created by their mingling breaths.
Such proximity made it nearly impossible to think of anything else. Zhuang Chi gazed at Gu Ximian, unable to pull away, as if she could see the moon in those eyes, drawing forth the tides in her heart.
"...I don't know," she murmured in reply, her voice a little hoarse. "I only remember... it was very soft."
Zhuang Chi's answer was exceptionally honest. She heard Gu Ximian let out a soft, breathy laugh after a moment of silence, which sent her heart into a flutter. The next moment, Gu Ximian placed her hands on her shoulders. For an instant, Zhuang Chi thought she was about to receive another kiss—but she didn't. Gu Ximian used her shoulders for support and slowly pulled away.
"If you have something you want to say... or do," Gu Ximian said softly, taking half a step back and looking steadily at Zhuang Chi, "then come find me by the river."
Her perfectly applied lipstick was now slightly smudged. Zhuang Chi's gaze swept over it, and she was lost in a daze for a moment. But in that instant, Gu Ximian had already turned around. The flutter of her skirt was like a dancing white butterfly, and then she was gone. Her steps were quick, like Cinderella rushing home before midnight, leaving only a glass slipper for the prince.
Gu Ximian walked out of the hall. Zhuang Chi subconsciously started to follow, but as she took the first step, she abruptly noticed that everyone who had been dancing on the dance floor had stopped. She stiffly raised her head and scanned the room. After meeting the eyes of who-knows-how-many people, she belatedly raised a hand to cover her crimson face.
It was more than ten minutes later when she finally escaped the entanglement of the crowd at the ball. Bombarded with teasing and questioning remarks, Zhuang Chi couldn't utter a single word and practically fled in disarray.
She ran out in a panic. After exiting the doors, she shivered as a cold wind hit her. The temperature at the end of December was already very low, not to mention it was now past nine in the evening. Zhuang Chi suddenly remembered that Gu Ximian's gown was off-the-shoulder; she must have been much colder than Zhuang Chi was now when she went outside.
Zhuang Chi was unwilling to delay any longer and sprinted all the way to the river. She didn't have time to change, of course. The cloak on her back filled with wind and billowed behind her. Everyone she passed on the way cast astonished and curious glances at her. In this outfit, even the usually magnificent St. Blaisedon didn't seem out of place, but rather like a perfectly suited stage.
Perhaps it was an Alpha's tireless stamina. The path to the river was long; Zhuang Chi remembered being utterly exhausted when she had rushed back from there with Ling Jing initially. This time, however, she felt no fatigue at all by the time she reached her destination. From a distance, she saw the figure that she couldn't get out of her mind. She was draped in a coat, loosely wrapped around her body. Zhuang Chi felt a small sense of relief. As she slowly exhaled, a thought suddenly popped into her head: Maybe I should have brought a bouquet of roses.
...How cheesy. She was amused by her own thought. It seemed Gu Ximian heard her, as the person who had been staring blankly at the river surface suddenly turned her head towards her. Her eyes seemed to hold the moonlight, making Zhuang Chi's breath catch.
There were no roses, and no confession. Zhuang Chi just walked over slowly. The long distance she had run seemed to have been covered in the blink of an eye, yet now, the last ten meters felt like they took a very long time to cross. She walked up to Gu Ximian. The first thing she saw was the pale color of her lips. In the end, she unfastened her cloak, knelt down, and draped it over her skirt. "...On such a cold day, this dress offers no warmth at all."
Gu Ximian quietly watched her actions and chuckled lightly. "I felt it when I came out. I'm not stupid."
"Then why didn't you change?" The cloak was too long, so Zhuang Chi folded it in half and carefully covered Gu Ximian snugly with it. She said in a gentle voice, "Since you went back to get a coat, wouldn't it have been warmer to change your clothes?"
Gu Ximian seemed to shake her head slightly in resignation. She suddenly raised her hands and cupped Zhuang Chi's face. Her hands were very cold. Zhuang Chi flinched and subconsciously raised her own hands to warm them. As she covered the back of Gu Ximian's hands, she heard her sigh, "...Since you came all this way, why are you still so unromantic?"
"When a girl is willing to endure the cold to wear a gown, she naturally has her reasons." Gu Ximian spoke earnestly, but her gaze drifted downwards as if she were a little uncomfortable. She said in a small voice, "...Didn't you say I was very beautiful today?"
Gu Ximian's last words struck Zhuang Chi's heart with a soft blow. Zhuang Chi tightened her grip on Gu Ximian's hands, wanting to press them against her warmer neck, but Gu Ximian refused, worried about chilling her, and tried to pull her hands back. In the end, Zhuang Chi held on, cupping them securely in her palms.
"Gu Ximian," Zhuang Chi called her name, her voice soft and warm. "This gown is of course very beautiful, but that's not why I complimented you. You have always been very beautiful. It has nothing to do with what you wear."
Her expression was so serious as she said this, her eyes fixed on Gu Ximian without blinking. What bright eyes, Gu Ximian thought. They were even more striking in the darkness of the night, making all the surrounding light seem to dim.
She wanted those eyes to always look at her with such brightness, yet she also wanted to see them veiled in a hazy mist, the clear light of her gaze softening and diffusing slightly, but of course, still focused only on her—just like in the hall earlier, after the kiss.
"So let's find a warmer place first, okay?"
Zhuang Chi didn't know what Gu Ximian was thinking. She only felt that Gu Ximian's hands were cold and her body looked so frail. The Christmas Eve wind was a bit strong, and with every gust, she worried it would sweep Gu Ximian away. Even though she knew it was a baseless worry—at most, the wind would just make her cold—but letting her get cold was not an option. Zhuang Chi wouldn't allow it. She held Gu Ximian's hands tightly in her own and sought her agreement to move somewhere else. But Gu Ximian didn't speak. After looking at her for a long while, she still showed no intention of getting up, shaking her head and saying, "No."
"Did you chase after me just to tell me to go somewhere warmer?" Gu Ximian said, her eyelashes fluttering up and down, a convincing look of grievance appearing on her face. "Then you might as well not have come. No wonder you made me wait for so long."
Zhuang Chi was taken aback and hurriedly explained, "No, that's not it. I was going to follow you right away, but I... I was stopped by the others. They all crowded around and wouldn't let me leave, kept asking me..."
She stopped abruptly. Gu Ximian looked at her shyly pursed lips and asked, feigning ignorance, "Asking you what?"
They asked a lot of things. From "Why did you suddenly kiss at the ball? What's your relationship?" to "Why did Gu Ximian leave right after kissing you? Don't tell me you broke up?" Just as she was starting to feel a nameless anger, the questions took a strange turn, like "Can we interview you about how it felt to be forcibly kissed?" and "That's mistletoe, right? I want to go stand under it too." This scared Zhuang Chi so much that before she fled, she hastily pulled the mistletoe down, afraid that there would be unknowing victims because of it.
...But now that Gu Ximian was asking, it felt like there wasn't a single thing she could say. Anything she said would be strange. Zhuang Chi blinked stiffly, feeling her face burning even in the night wind. She belatedly realized that Gu Ximian was teasing her, and that even the hint of grievance from before was probably not genuine. Gu Ximian's acting skills weren't very superb today, something that should have been easy to spot, yet Zhuang Chi seemed to have regressed a little herself, getting flustered so easily.
And whether it was Gu Ximian's acting getting worse or Zhuang Chi being so easily fooled, it was likely for the same reason, a reason they both knew in their hearts.
To be honest, there hadn't been much time to think properly since it happened. But from the moment she was kissed, Zhuang Chi had understood the meaning behind the act.
Choosing the Christmas Ball, and even preparing mistletoe in advance... thinking back now, it was probably premeditated from the moment she said she would help decorate the hall, Zhuang Chi thought. It seemed she had also secretly left herself an escape route. Kissing someone standing under the mistletoe could barely count as a reason. If things didn't go as she hoped, perhaps she could force a separation between the act and the concept of "love."
But Zhuang Chi knew. If Gu Ximian hadn't been willing, she would never have received that kiss, no matter how lush the mistletoe she stood under was.
With this seemingly sudden kiss, looking back at all the past events, it suddenly felt like there had been traces all along. A sourness rose in Zhuang Chi's throat. She smiled at Gu Ximian and answered, "They asked me if you like me."
Gu Ximian didn't respond immediately, but Zhuang Chi could feel the hands she held in her palms tighten slightly, her fingers curling unconsciously. The expression on the face before her was not nearly as honest as those hands. Her voice seemed to float, beating around the bush as she replied, "...And then? How did you answer?"
She's so cute. Zhuang Chi suddenly wanted to lower her head and kiss her cool fingertips,
What a frivolous thought. After a moment of self-reflection, Zhuang Chi ultimately didn't do it. She just shook her head lightly. "I didn't answer."
"There was no need."
Without words, others couldn't discern the meaning of the action. But Zhuang Chi was different from others. She understood that Gu Ximian seemed to have a habit of speaking without words, answering questions with questions, and beating around the bush, refusing to say what was truly on her mind. That was just Gu Ximian's personality. For her, frankly voicing her feelings was perhaps more difficult than any other action. She had chosen the most direct method to convey it to Zhuang Chi.
A confession doesn't have to be spoken. It can also be a kiss.
Zhuang Chi had never been in a relationship before. She had always been a well-behaved student. She had received some advances and love letters, but none had left a deep impression. It wasn't that she was completely uninterested; she had once wondered what it would be like to be confessed to by someone she liked. To be honest, her ideas back then didn't match today's situation. But regardless, whether it was different from her past expectations or unclear in the eyes of others, Zhuang Chi could no longer imagine a better confession than the one she had just received.
Zhuang Chi sniffled lightly, feeling the emotions she had temporarily suppressed rearing their heads irrepressibly in her chest. She felt like she had everything right now; at this moment, she was the richest person in the world. And she didn't know if the words she was about to say would make her lose it all.
"...Gu Ximian, before we talk about today, I have to confess something to you first," Zhuang Chi began, her tone solemn. "I have a secret that I've been hiding from you."
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