The dusk of late autumn is like an overturned palette, painting the sky into a magnificent orange and deep purple.
The rooftop of the main building of the Department of Physics at Guanghua University is empty and quiet at this moment.
Mu Xinrong stood alone beside the concrete guardrail at the edge of the rooftop, with his back to the entrance.
He lowered his head slightly, holding a bouquet of flowers tightly in his hand. Not the usual sunflowers or daisies, but a bunch of warm, velvety red roses.
Each flower is plump and juicy, and in the twilight light, it presents a deep and rich dark red, like solidified blood.
The rich aroma lingers at the tip of the nose, with a hint of sweetness and a hint of barely noticeable sourness.
He gripped it so tightly that the tiny thorns on the flower stem almost dug into his palm, causing a slight stinging sensation. However, this pain strangely calmed his chaotic heartbeat a little.
He took a deep breath, the cool air rushing into his lungs, trying to suppress the frantically beating deer in his chest.
What to say?
"Youye, let's start over?" Will it scare him if it's too straightforward?
"These flowers...are for you?" Wouldn't that be too tacky? Would someone as aloof as him like roses?
"I..." Mu Xinrong closed his eyes in annoyance.
He could talk about those difficult physics formulas in the library, but now he was as clumsy as a primary school student when facing a bouquet of flowers.
He rehearsed his opening remarks over and over again, his palms sweating from nervousness, wetting a small area of the dark green wrapping paper.
The fragrance of roses mixed with the coolness of the autumn wind entangled him and his chaotic thoughts.
The afterglow of the setting sun stretched his lonely shadow very long, casting it on the gray and rough concrete ground, revealing a sense of silent uneasiness.
Just then, extremely light footsteps were heard behind me.
Mu Xinrong's body tensed instantly! As if the pause button had been pressed, even his breathing stopped for a moment. It was him...it had to be him!
The message sent by Ye Qingliu only contained the word "rooftop", the time, and a symbol representing Chao Youye.
The footsteps stopped not far behind him. No one came closer, and no one spoke.
The air seemed to freeze, leaving only the faint whimper of the wind passing across the empty rooftop and the beating of his own heart.
Mu Xinrong turned around stiffly.
Chao Youye was standing just a few steps away. He was wearing a simple white turtleneck sweater and dark trousers, and his figure looked a little thin in the twilight.
The evening breeze ruffled the fine black hair on his forehead, revealing his smooth forehead and a pair of violet eyes that looked particularly deep in the twilight.
His eyes calmly swept across Mu Xinrong's nervously pale face, across his slightly trembling body, and finally... landed on the bouquet of roses in his hand that were so bright red that they almost burned his eyes.
That gaze was calm, yet it seemed to carry a tremendous weight, instantly crumbling the courage Mu Xinrong had worked so hard to build up! He felt his cheeks burning, almost on fire, and the hand holding the bouquet trembled even more violently.
A wave of shame and retreat washed over him. What would Youye think? Would she find him ridiculous? Childish?... overconfident?
"I...I..." Mu Xinrong opened his mouth, his throat seemed to be blocked by sand, his voice was dry, tight and broken.
He frantically tried to hide the flowers behind him, but his clumsy movements only made them more obvious.
He lowered his head, not daring to look into Chao Youye's eyes again. He stared at the pair of canvas shoes on his feet, wishing he could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.
The rose in his hand seemed to have turned into a red-hot iron, burning him so much that he wanted to throw it away immediately.
It's over... I screwed it... He must think I'm weird...
Just as the suffocating silence was about to overwhelm Mu Xinrong with her own embarrassment—
It moved towards Youye.
He didn't say anything, but just took a step, one step at a time, extremely slowly, towards Mu Xinrong.
His footsteps were very light, making almost no sound on the rough concrete floor, but it felt like he was stepping on Mu Xinrong's wildly beating heart.
Mu Xinrong's heart was in his throat! He subconsciously took a small step back, his back pressed against the cold, hard concrete guardrail, leaving him with nowhere to retreat.
He could only watch as Chao Youye approached, watching his handsome face become clearer and clearer in the twilight, and watching his panicked and embarrassed shadow reflected in his violet eyes.
Chao Youye stopped in front of him. She was so close that Mu Xinrong could smell the familiar, crisp, clean aroma of soapberry mixed with the cool autumn breeze.
He lowered his eyes slightly, his gaze still fixed on the bouquet of roses that had been deformed by Mu Xinrong's grip, and he looked at it for a long time.
Then, slowly and very gently, he raised his hand.
The hand, with distinct joints and long fingers, looked particularly white in the twilight.
It did not touch the bouquet of roses, but with an almost cautious tentativeness, gently and gently held Mu Xinrong's cheeks, which were hot with embarrassment and slightly trembling with nervousness.
The moment the cold fingertips touched the hot skin, Mu Xinrong's whole body trembled violently, as if struck by a weak electric current.
He suddenly raised his head and looked into Chao Youye's close, bottomless eyes.
The touch of those hands was slightly cool, but the strength was extremely gentle. With an unquestionable firmness, they gently lifted Mu Xinrong's drooping cheeks, forcing him to meet her gaze without escape.
Dusk fell, and the light on the rooftop was dim. Chao Youye's violet eyes were like gems immersed in a deep pool, reflecting the last glimmer of orange light in the sky. In them, there surged a complex and heartbreaking emotion that Mu Xinrong had never seen before.
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