Chapter 22 Melting
That day after school, Luo Xincheng stormed out of the school carrying her bag.
He was completely bewildered, unable to understand why she would glare at him so fiercely and then run away so quickly. Just two hours earlier, she had been smiling at him when she heard that he had brought her a gift.
Luo Xincheng pretended not to hear his voice and ran ahead, eventually turning into a McDonald's.
When Fu Zhiheng followed her inside, he saw her with her hands on the order counter, turning sideways as if waiting for him to come over.
"I want an ice cream cone, come and pay!"
He quickly stepped forward to scan the code and pay.
A minute later, the two walked out of McDonald's.
Fu Zhiheng looked at Luo Xincheng, who was busy eating an ice cream cone in each hand, and hesitated to speak.
"What are you looking at?" she asked haughtily, feigning surprise. "You didn't think one of them was bought for you, did you? Ha, how presumptuous!"
Fu Zhiheng shook his head. He wasn't particularly bothered by not being able to get an ice cream cone; he just couldn't understand why she was angry.
He felt completely innocent. "What did I do to you?"
Luo Xincheng glared at him and chuckled sarcastically, "How could that be? You're a celebrity in the whole school now. Freshmen and seniors all come to our teaching building to see who this IMO gold medalist is. Tsk tsk tsk, how could you possibly mess with me?"
After saying that, seeing Fu Zhiheng's bewildered look, she felt even more angry.
She struggled to hold the two ice cream cones in one hand, then used her other free hand to pinch his cheek, forcing him to look up.
"Hmm..."
He frowned uncomfortably, but still obediently raised his face.
Luo Xincheng used the remaining light of the setting sun to examine his face.
Two days before the competition, he went to the barbershop to get his hair trimmed. The slightly long ends were cut short and the hair was thinned out, which highlighted his distinct facial features.
Although he usually keeps his head down, he has fair skin, is tall and has a good physique. His school uniform is clean and tidy, and at first glance, he does have a refreshing youthful vibe.
and……
She pinched his face, looking him over from left to right. Her gaze swept over his eyes, which appeared unusually melancholy and deep due to his slightly furrowed brows, his high nose bridge, and his slightly fleshy lips that looked very kissable. Her hardened heart softened a little without her realizing it.
It really does look good, no wonder...
She was startled, realizing that her mind was wavering, and quickly pinched his cheeks to make a funny goldfish mouth shape.
"It's ugly! Not at all! They call it a hidden gem... their taste is terrible!"
Ever since the news of Fu Zhiheng winning the IMO gold medal spread, the corridor outside their classroom has become much more lively. During the long break in the afternoon alone, several groups of people asked at the classroom door which one was Fu Zhiheng.
When Luo Xincheng returned to the classroom after using the restroom, she saw several girls in their first-year high school uniforms pointing at Fu Zhiheng, who was engrossed in his homework, laughing and saying things like, "He's so tall," "He's so fair-skinned," "I can't see his face clearly but he looks really handsome," "He has such a high IQ," "A hidden gem," and so on...
She was so angry that she couldn't stand anything about Fu Zhiheng after returning to her seat.
She commented sarcastically, "It must be because all the guys at school are so unattractive that even someone with your plain and ordinary looks can be praised as handsome!"
Fu Zhiheng opened his eyes wide as if he had just realized something. "You...are jealous?"
Her eyes held a mixture of caution and anticipation.
Luo Xincheng immediately released his face, her expression ashen. "Jealous for you? You dare to be? Dream on!"
She didn't think she was jealous; her displeasure stemmed solely from the fact that too many people had seen her private belongings. That was all.
Fu Zhiheng rubbed his cheek, which was sore from being pinched, and his eyes darkened. "Then why are you so angry..."
"Who told you to be so..." She opened her mouth, but couldn't think of a word to describe it for a long time. In her anxiety, she blurted out, "Indecent!"
Without even glancing at Fu Zhiheng's disappointed expression, she turned her face away and continued talking to herself:
"Don't get too cocky. All the attention you're getting right now is just a passing fad. Once things get interesting again, everyone'll forget about you, and no more girls will be standing in the hallway watching you..."
He said helplessly, "I don't care about those things, so what's there to be proud of?"
After saying that, she added, a little unconvinced, "Before, when boys would deliberately look at you in the hallway, I didn't say anything. Last time, a freshman even confessed to you, and you said he was cute..."
He became increasingly sarcastic as he spoke, especially when he mentioned the 'cute' junior. His usually calm and handsome face turned mean and sarcastic.
Luo Xincheng looked horrified. "How did you know? You were following me?!"
He lowered his eyes and said calmly, "I just happened to be passing by and saw it."
Yeah, right.
But Luo Xincheng believed it to be true, after all, Fu Zhiheng was usually honest and upright, and she didn't think he would do something as despicable as stalking and tailing.
"Didn't I already refuse them all?"
"And he refused..." He pursed his lips in frustration, unable to resist revealing more details.
"Yes, you said you rejected him, but you said your family doesn't allow early relationships, and what did you mean by saying he was very cute when you rejected him? It wasn't straightforward at all..."
Although they were dating, Luo Xincheng was afraid that if they were too obvious to each other, the teacher would find out and then tell her mother. Therefore, to avoid any future trouble, the two of them pretended not to know each other at school.
Luo Xincheng maintains a single persona in public and is quite popular, with shameless men constantly confessing their love to her.
She rejected most of the confessions quite bluntly, but there were a few that she rejected more tactfully because the men were good-looking, and Fu Zhiheng remembered them very clearly.
Luo Xincheng hadn't expected that he would remember so much from what he'd heard back then. Although she lacked confidence, she still forced a retort in order to maintain her position, "Well, she really does have fair skin and big eyes, and she's quite cute..."
He sniffed. "Yeah, I'm not cute at all. I have an ordinary, bland face that people forget as soon as they see me. How can I compare to someone like her, someone you can't even bear to refuse..."
Luo Xincheng couldn't stand his self-pity and felt goosebumps all over her body.
"Alright, alright, I won't say anything more to you, okay?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she suddenly felt a chill on the back of her hand. Looking down, she saw that most of the ice cream cone had melted and dripped onto the back of her hand, spreading stickily.
She almost cracked her voice as she awkwardly licked the melted ice cream. Halfway through, she felt the sticky residue on the back of her hand and, taking it for granted, extended that hand to Fu Zhiheng to order him around.
"Help me clean this up!"
"hurry up!"
Her command came unexpectedly. Fu Zhiheng held her hand helplessly. Urged by her, he hurriedly lowered his head and began to lick the sweet, sticky back of her hand.
He used his warm, moist tongue to lick up the cool cream, single-mindedly cleaning every inch of the skin on the back of her hand with his lips and tongue. In no time, the cream on the back of her hand was licked clean, but the sticky feeling lingered.
The moment Luo Xincheng's skin touched his wet, slippery tongue, her mind went blank, and she was completely stunned.
When she came to her senses, she lowered her eyes and watched as the traces of cream on the back of her hand were gradually replaced by clear saliva, and her whole face burned.
"What...what are you doing...?"
Her hands trembled violently.
"I told you to use wet wipes to clean me! Who asked you to do this...!"
"Aren't you disgusted? How can you be so repulsive!"
Fu Zhiheng only then realized what he had done. Looking at the wet stains on the back of her hand, all from his licking, he felt disgusted with himself.
"I'm so sorry!" He quickly took out a wet wipe from his bag to wipe her hands, not daring to look up at her the whole time, his face and ears were bright red. "I didn't mean to, don't be angry..."
He wiped her hands repeatedly with a wet wipe before carefully raising his head.
Luo Xincheng glared at him with shame and indignation, then shoved both ice cream cones into his hands.
"Ugh! I'm not eating!"
Fu Zhiheng took the two ice cream cones and looked at her helplessly, but she was still being stubborn and deliberately turned her back to him.
He felt a little wronged, but remembering his terrible behavior just now, he didn't dare to say anything. He looked down at the ice cream cone she had eaten and silently ate it.
Upon hearing the commotion, Luo Xincheng turned around in disbelief.
Seeing that he was indeed eating, she covered her face in despair.
"I said I'm not eating it! I meant for you to throw it away, not for you to keep eating it!"
"I've eaten so much, don't you find it disgusting?"
Luo Xincheng had always thought this person was very clean, and even suspected that he had a slight obsession with cleanliness, but his actions today completely overturned the image she had of him.
This gluttonous boy is really not picky at all!
After being scolded like that, Fu Zhiheng felt like his head was about to explode.
“Waste... is not good.”
He mumbled out that sentence, then continued eating until he had finished both ice cream cones, before wiping his hands with a wet wipe.
Luo Xincheng was so embarrassed that she ran away from him, pretending that she didn't know him.
Even after he threw away the wet wipe and caught up with him, his heart was still pounding wildly and he couldn't calm down for a long time.
Fu Zhiheng carefully glanced at her shy, tomato-shaped face, knowing she was embarrassed, and the heat spread across his face again.
He felt a little awkward, but more than that, he felt a sense of exhilaration and satisfaction that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
He licked his lips, even seeming to savor the memory. "Don't be angry, it's all my fault. You can scold me however you want, just don't ignore me..."
At this point, he seemed to remember something, pulled his backpack to the front of him, and unzipped it.
Luo Xincheng subtly rolled her eyes as he pulled out a small jewelry box.
"I almost forgot, this is for you."
He handed over the jewelry box.
She feigned indifference, haughtily raising her chin. "What is it?"
He was still playing mysterious, saying, "You'll see when you see it."
Luo Xincheng couldn't stand his pretentious manner, so she pinched his cheek in annoyance. Only when he grimaced in pain did she withdraw her hand with satisfaction and then take the jewelry box he handed her.
Before opening the jewelry box, she guessed that it contained earrings or a bracelet, because those were the two pieces of jewelry she wore most often at school.
But it could also be a necklace or... a hair clip?
"Unbelievable..."
It's a ring.
I never expected it to be a ring.
She picked up the ring slowly. In the pinkish-purple sunset, the white opal on the ring looked like a pool of shattered rainbow, flowing with bright and colorful hues.
Her eyes sparkled with admiration. "So beautiful."
Fu Zhiheng breathed a barely audible sigh of relief. "I'm glad you like it."
Looking at her joyful smile, he couldn't help but ask, "May I help you put it on?"
She blinked, didn't say anything, just put the ring in his hand, and then opened her five fingers to him.
He received permission and smiled with a mixture of shyness and excitement.
Then, he held the ring around her ring finger and slowly pushed it into the base of her finger.
She stood frozen in place, only her eyes blinking as she stared intently at his face.
It was the height of summer, and the evening breeze carried an unbearable heat.
He looked really hot; his face was flushed from the heat, and large beads of sweat trickled down his forehead. The sweat lingered briefly on his chin, along his taut jawline, before finally brushing against her trembling fingertips and falling to the ground, leaving a dark stain.
For a moment, she even felt that he would melt like an ice cream cone that she hadn't had time to eat.
"……alright."
He swallowed hard for no reason, looked up at her, his eyes were bright and watery, reflecting her blurry outline.
"Great, the size is just right."
His eyebrows were curved, and his voice was incredibly gentle.
Luo Xincheng spread her five fingers, feeling her ring finger being restrained. The strange feeling in her heart was like a surging tide, layer upon layer, trying to drown her.
"……Thanks."
Luo Xincheng was speechless for a moment, touching the ring on her hand, wanting to say something but unable to utter a word.
"How...how did you know my finger size?"
He touched his nose, looking a little guilty.
“While you were taking your afternoon nap, I measured it with a ruler and roughly calculated it out.”
Luo Xincheng clicked her tongue in amazement, "In the middle of the day, instead of sleeping, she's measuring my hand with a ruler..."
She started making suggestive remarks again, "You didn't secretly kiss me again, did you? How cunning, doing this while I was sleeping..."
Fu Zhiheng quickly retorted, "No! I would never do such a thing. Not all classmates take a nap. What if someone sees us?"
She suddenly seemed to have found a loophole, and with a playful smile, she moved closer to his face.
"You mean, if everyone's asleep and no one sees, you'll steal a kiss?"
He opened his mouth awkwardly, "Don't talk nonsense..."
She poked his chest triumphantly, the ring on her ring finger gleaming brightly. "Whether it's nonsense or not, you know it in your heart."
"...No way."
He raised his hand and grasped the hand that was poking at his heart, his voice growing softer and softer until it sounded like he was murmuring to himself.
"I won't steal a kiss."
He clasped his hands together, enveloping her hand, and gently massaged it.
"If you're going to kiss, do it openly and honestly."
As he spoke, he leaned down to meet her gaze, blinking slowly, his soft eyelashes brushing against her heart.
"May I?"
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