Chapter 32 Love Song Now, the sun is in my arms.
After things were finally settled, Ning Jiu accompanied Ning Xuan back to his rented apartment near the new bar, and then went back to Rongye Street with Yuan Liangjing.
Both of them were exhausted by the unexpected changes that had occurred that night. The last bus had already left, so they simply called a taxi to go home.
On the way back, Ning Jiu's stomach pain flared up again. She glanced at Yuan Liangjing, who was dozing off on the other side of the back seat, and was about to open her bag to find medicine when she vaguely saw a familiar figure in the changing traffic outside the window.
Joe Bolin?
She was momentarily stunned, remembering that she had told him on WeChat two hours earlier that she was busy today, and he had replied. She thought he had already gone home, but she never expected him to be waiting there.
"Stop the car, driver." Ning Jiu said without hesitation.
Yuan Liangjing was already dreaming, watching a butterfly fly across his forehead, when suddenly he felt his body lurch forward. Instead of hitting a butterfly, his forehead hit the headrest of the passenger seat.
Before he could fully wake up, he vaguely heard the girl say something to him. He wiped his face and looked up to find that Ning Jiu, who had been sitting next to him, was gone.
A heavy rain had just fallen, and the ground was still wet. It was nearly midnight, and the night market stalls on Rongye Street were set up. The shouts of the vendors accompanied the rising smoke, making it even more lively than during the day.
She pushed through the laughing and noisy crowd to look for him, but after searching half a street, she still couldn't find Qiao Bolin.
A group of male college students walked by behind her. One of the boys was attracted by Ning Jiu, and his eyes lit up. Just as he was about to say something, he felt someone bump his shoulder lightly.
He frowned and turned his head, but when he tried to look in the direction of the girl again, his view was completely blocked.
Her wrist was gently held, and the strong sandalwood scent emanating from Qiao Bolin, along with the damp smell after the rain, filled her nostrils. Ning Jiu was about to say something when she felt his grip on her hand tighten slightly.
Forgetting the bustling crowd, she subconsciously followed his footsteps across the street to the corner of the alley. Her eyes inadvertently glanced at his still damp hair, and she felt the smoothness on his wrist, realizing something.
Didn't you take shelter from the rain when it started raining just now?
"......"
His wet hair clung to his handsome forehead, and the emotions surging in his dark eyes were completely hidden by his thick eyelashes. Ning Jiu looked at Qiao Bolin, who was acting out of character, and for some reason, she remembered Qiao Jialing's appearance and demeanor just now.
She had imagined Joe Berlin's family before, but when she saw his father in person, she truly realized how big the gap was between them.
So, will George Powell become like that in the future?
For the first time, Ningjiu wavered on this issue.
She had never imagined what Qiao Bolin would be like after leaving school, was it because that future was simply too far away for them, or because—
She understood early on that their lives would most likely never intersect.
"Ning wine".
The boy's voice, which was colder than usual, brought Ning Jiu back to reality. She blinked and felt the burning heat gripping her tighter and tighter, as if he was unwilling to let go.
"What were you thinking about just now?" Jobel asked.
The drop of water clinging to the tip of his eyelashes swayed with the boy's eyelashes, instantly captivating Ning Jiu's attention. She couldn't help but marvel for the umpteenth time at how someone could have such beautiful eyes.
She knew he probably wouldn't really want to know what she was thinking.
"It's nothing, I was just too sleepy and my mind wandered a bit."
Just as Qiao Bolin lowered his eyes and pursed his lips slightly, Ning Jiu smiled and poked his right cheek, creating a cute dimple.
Before he could even laugh, she burst out laughing first.
"Qiao, I've noticed you're getting more and more temperamental," she said, half-jokingly. "I told you I'd be back late, so why are you still here? Why are you deliberately not taking shelter from the rain?"
Qiao Bolin looked up and just stared at her quietly. Ning Jiu withdrew her hand from his face, her palm sliding down to his wet shirt, where she pinched his abs slightly as punishment.
He hissed lightly, pretending to be angry, knowing she was a little upset too.
I'm worried about you.
Qiao Bolin's directness in certain areas always caught Ning Jiu off guard.
“I stayed here waiting for you to come back because I was worried about you,” he said. “I also admit that I wanted you to worry about me too, so I deliberately got caught in the rain.”
The damp coolness after the rain swirled and pulled between them, gradually rising into a subtle warmth that lingered.
"Next time you come back this late, you must tell me in advance, okay?"
Ning Jiu was somewhat repulsed by Qiao Bolin's use of such a gentle tone to express his actually forceful words.
But she suddenly realized that, without knowing when it started, she seemed to find it hard to refuse him.
Without saying yes or no, Ning Jiu was about to turn and leave when her phone vibrated; it was a message from Yuan Liangjing.
[Yuan Liangjing] Sweet wine, I'm still a little worried about your dad's condition. I'll have a few drinks with him tonight. I left the key under the doormat. Remember to come back early!
Ning Jiu replied "okay" and walked forward, with the boy silently following beside her.
The two walked from the noisy alleyway to the back of a secluded residential building. When they reached the stairs, Ning Jiu couldn't help but recall how it was when they first came here.
“I remember saying that if my uncle saw you carrying me on your back, he would probably break your legs.”
She took the key from under the carpet, opened the door, and turned around.
This residential building is located in a low-lying area, so if it rains even slightly, the stairwell is very prone to flooding.
Ning Jiu looked at the boy standing upright in the sewage-filled stairwell. Even though his upper body was soaked by the rain, he did not look disheveled at all. His shiny appearance was out of place with everything around him.
This reminded her of how Qiao Jialing looked when she entered Ningxuan Bar tonight, dressed in a suit and tie.
Slowly, she met his gaze and gave him a harmless smile.
"So what do you think my uncle will do to you if he sees us in the same room?"
Tick-tock, tick-tock.
The leaking pipes rattled outside the window, and Ning Jiu never imagined that the scene would change one day.
Last time during the typhoon, she took a shower at Qiao Bolin's house, and now, Qiao Bolin is taking a shower at her house.
He was probably using a showerhead with a water pipe for the first time. He didn't say anything when he went in, but she could tell he wasn't used to it.
It would be a lie to say she wasn't agitated, given that they were separated by only a door. More than just nervousness, a mix of excitement and anticipation burned within her, like vines clinging to her pulse, beating faster and faster.
Click.
The sound of the valve closing was heavy and clear, and Ning Jiu's turbulent emotions seemed to be stopped by a heavy hammer, instantly falling into silence.
She slowly raised her eyes, and happened to meet the gaze of the boy who was looking over her.
The shirt he was wearing before was soaked to the bone from the rain and was definitely no longer wearable. In order to prevent Qiao Bolin from catching a cold, Ning Jiu found a reasonably suitable shirt from Yuan Liangjing's wardrobe for him to wear temporarily, but now it seems that it is still a size too small.
When their eyes met, neither of them spoke immediately.
The boy's damp, tousled hair lay obediently against his temples, and the simpler his clothes, the more striking and defined his features appeared.
His eyes were calm, and neither his expression nor his movements showed the slightest aggression; he seemed unaware of Ning Jiu's tension.
“I’m done showering,” Jobel asked. “Do you want to shower?”
"......"
The bedroom lights were already dim, and now they were barely enough to illuminate the space for two people.
After taking a shower, she lay back on the bed and looked at the boy sitting on the broken stool reading a book. She joked.
"Do you want to know what I thought you looked like when I first met you?"
Qiao Bolin paused in his reading, looked up, and his thick eyelashes cast shadows on his eyelids.
They were less than a meter apart, so quiet that they could hear each other breathing.
She heard him ask.
"Like what?"
"Like the winter sun." Ning Jiu recalled the feeling at that time and still found it novel. "It was that kind of dazzling brilliance that was too conspicuous, but you couldn't feel the corresponding warmth from it."
He put the book aside and looked like he was listening very attentively.
The distance between the two people was closing without them even realizing it.
Qiao Bolin bent down slightly, lowered his head, and spoke in a somber tone.
"And now?"
"Now......"
Ning Jiu smiled, suddenly reached out and wrapped her arms around him, rubbed her face against his neck, and smelled the same bath fragrance on him as on herself.
"The sun has fallen into my arms."
A lot happened tonight, and Ning Jiu couldn't sleep, so Qiao Bolin said he would stay with her until she fell asleep and then leave.
"You can't trust what boys say."
She muttered softly, but even a line of sheep in her mind couldn't lull her to sleep. Finally, she gave up struggling and slowly extended her pinky finger, placing it in his palm.
“Let’s play a bedtime game,” Ning Jiu said. “We’ll compare the size of our hands, and the person with the bigger hand has to grant the person with the smaller hand a request.”
It doesn't sound like a fair game.
Jobel showed no displeasure. He gently grasped her little finger, which was tapping erratically in his palm, held it tightly, and then released it.
"No problem, let's start the game."
The two extended their palms, placed them together, and gently pressed them together, neither of them separating first.
Qiao Bolin's hands were longer and stronger than she had imagined, with clearly defined knuckles and a palm so wide that it almost enveloped her entire hand.
In this inherently unequal game, he naturally "lost" in the end, and Ning Jiu made her demands with a smile.
Sing me a song.
In the dim light, the boy's exceptionally beautiful eyes shone even brighter.
Qiao Bolin chuckled and bent down slightly. His voice was light and airy on the wind, yet it carried an extremely warm tone, as if it were landing right on the edge of her ear.
I want to enjoy the most beautiful scenery with you.
Watch the longest movie and listen to the most beautiful melody
It's because of you
I will be with you into the next century.
How lucky that is!
His voice was naturally melodious and pleasant. Even when he was just reciting texts in a clear and resonant voice, it always gave people the illusion of listening to love poems. Now, as he sang these ambiguous and tender lyrics, his voice slowly pressed down on him with emotion, enveloping him little by little, leaving no room for thought.
Ning Jiu never expected that because of a casual remark she made, he would actually learn this song.
She felt a faint warmth in her earlobes, and when she heard him sing the last line, the languid ending note gently caressed her ear, carrying a subtle, teasing quality that sent shivers down her spine.
Her consciousness blurred as the gentle singing began, and drowsiness crept in. She slowly closed her eyes, feeling that Qiao Bolin's singing was even more effective than melatonin.
"I knew you could sing... really well..." Even as she was almost asleep, she didn't forget to praise her own foresight, "Sure enough... it sounds so good..."
The singing paused for a moment, and the boy seemed to chuckle softly in her ear. Then she felt a damp coolness on her neck; he was gently kissing the side of her neck.
Just past midnight, the faint sound of flashing lights could be heard outside the window, and clusters of dazzling, colorful fireworks quietly bloomed in the night sky.
Her consciousness was still somewhat hazy; she could only feel the interplay of light and fire, the distant fireworks blurry like an illusion, and then suddenly so close they felt like a beating heart, as if the world had been lit up just for her.
But if Ning Jiu were to open her eyes at this moment, the first thing she would notice would probably not be the dazzling fireworks outside the window, but Qiao Bolin's face illuminated by the fireworks.
The boy had thick eyebrows and prominent eye bags. His dark eyes reflected the magnificent spectacle of fireworks, and his gaze was more intense than ever before.
Undisguised love, like a flame slowly bathed in moonlight, scalding and straightforwardly swept across her face, more like a dream than reality.
In her dream, she felt something soft brush against her lower lip, and the suppressed burning sensation vanished in an instant.
He spoke to her in his usual, exceptionally beautiful voice.
"Ning Jiu, at eighteen, has turned into a colorful drink."
-----------------------
Author's note: Xiao Jiu's birthday is December 21st.
The lyrics are from Yu Jiayun's "With You".
Yu Jiayun's album, "The Happiness Trilogy," consists of the titles "I Want," "With You," and "Together Again."
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