twelve
It's Friday again.
The rain had been falling all afternoon, and there were still more than twenty minutes until school let out, but the howling wind showed no signs of abating.
"Okay, I'm done. You all have a little time to study quietly." Zheng said and left the classroom.
"Senior Yan Yan," Lu Yunian leaned closer, "did you bring an umbrella?"
"No." Clearly, neither of them had the habit of going out to check the weather forecast.
“Then there’s no hope,” Lu Yunian shook his head. “With this heavy rain, I don’t know when we’ll be able to leave the school.”
"I brought an umbrella. I need to go back to the dorm later. Can I take you to the convenience store?" Tang Xuanling whispered.
"Okay, thank you for your help."
"Yan Yan!" When Lu Yunian returned to the classroom after buying the umbrella, there were only a few students left. "You're my lucky star!"
Seeing that Ning Yi'en hadn't finished yet, he sat back down and watched Ning Yi'en do her homework. "There are so many people at the convenience store, you won't be able to buy an umbrella if you're even a second later!"
"But now, we can go home safely. And the rain has lessened a lot, so hopefully we won't get wet later."
"Oh right, I'm not rushing you, Yan Yan, take your time."
Lu Yunian was talking non-stop when he suddenly remembered something, "Yanyan, you don't find me annoying, do you...?"
"Of course not."
"Then why are you ignoring me?" He moved his face toward Ning Yi'en's desk. "It's okay, I'll wait for you patiently."
He continued talking to himself, not noticing Ning Yi'en's pause in solving the problem, nor seeing the large patches of ink seeping onto the draft paper.
"I'll talk to you after I finish this problem. If you get distracted, you'll make a mistake." — Actually, Ning Yi'en had just made a small mistake in her calculation, but she noticed it and corrected it herself.
"Okay, I really wasn't rushing you." He turned his face to the left.
"Understood, Lu Yunian." Ning Yi'en looked up and lightly tapped the tip of his nose with her pen.
In that brief glance, he suddenly noticed a small mole on the left side of Lu Yunian's face, between the bridge of his nose and the corner of his nose (or something like that).
Hmm... special
Sexy and delicious
Tempting.
Ning Yi'en, don't you want to take a look at what you're thinking?
He twirled the pen impatiently a couple of times, almost throwing it away. He forced himself to keep his head down and work on the problem, but after writing only a few words, his thoughts drifted away again—
I've had close contact with them several times before, so why didn't I notice anything?
The first time our noses almost collided was before an evening self-study session during tutoring. I think I only glanced at him briefly that time; he had a very handsome face.
Another time, when she was helping to put on a band-aid, she only made eye contact with Ning Yi'en before looking away, mainly because the atmosphere was too awkward. Ning Yi'en kept looking upwards and probably only caught a glimpse of some strands of hair.
"Let's go." She definitely couldn't concentrate on studying sitting here, so Ning Yi'en closed her book and quickly packed her bag.
“You didn’t respond just now, but actually you’re already good enough,” he said to Lu Yunian.
“You don’t understand,” Lu Yunian said with a smile. “I’ve been very lucky ever since I met you. Maybe meeting you is the greatest luck I’ve ever had. In any case, you really are my lucky star.”
"Lucky star Yan Yan," Lu Yunian opened the umbrella—it was a transparent umbrella, not very big, and the two 1.8-meter-tall boys had to squeeze together to avoid getting wet.
"Stay closer to me, I don't want you to get wet, even just a little bit."
"good."
As I left the school gate, the rain gradually subsided, and for a long stretch of the road, I was under the trees.
It is a very tall and lush osmanthus tree—a golden osmanthus. By mid-September, many of the trees had already bloomed, clusters of golden blossoms bursting forth amidst the greenery, creating an exceptionally vibrant beauty.
The fragrance in the air is so strong that you don't even need to smell it carefully; just by breathing naturally, the unique scent of osmanthus will naturally enter your nose.
If you take a deep breath, it will arrive along with the freshness of the rain, making you feel refreshed.
rain
Sharing an umbrella
The faint scent of osmanthus made Ning Yi'en oblivious to the subtle, ambiguous atmosphere in the air—even though Lu Yunian kept talking about childish things.
Awkwardness and awkwardness, along with the osmanthus blossoms, filled my mind.
As if possessed, Ning Yi'en moved outward a little, perhaps only a few centimeters, at least no longer at a distance where their shoulders and arms would accidentally touch and rub against each other, which was considered a foul.
Anyway, the rain has lessened, and with the trees providing shelter, I shouldn't get too wet.
"Brother Yanyan, are you listening?" Lu Yunian tilted his head to look at him.
"Ah, I'm sorry." Ning Yi'en admitted that he was absent-minded, but he couldn't be blamed. If anyone was to blame, it was Lu Yunian himself!
"Come a little closer," Lu Yunian tugged at his backpack strap. "Do I have thorns on me, senior?"
"No." Ning Yi'en felt stiff all over, and her words came out dryly.
"Then, let's get a little closer."
Just then, I happened to pass by a grove of low trees, and the umbrella I was holding brushed against the leaves, causing a few raindrops to fall down.
As Lu Yunian spoke, he put his arm around Ning Yi'en's waist and pulled him closer to him.
It probably took less than a minute. After realizing what he had done, Lu Yunian quickly withdrew his hand.
But for a long time, Ning Yi'en could still feel the lingering warmth of Lu Yunian's palm around her waist.
Looking up, the dark clouds had gone far away with the wind. The sky was still a bit gray, but the clear blue sky after the rain occupied most of my eyes.
Some osmanthus blossoms fell onto the umbrella, their fragrance mingling with the raindrops, creating a unique and refreshing scene...
The small lake in the park by the roadside creates silvery waves when the wind blows.
Raindrops fall into the water, like butterflies fluttering across the surface, creating ripples.
Like a falling shooting star—can the wishes made to him come true?
“Ning Yi’en,” Lu Yunian looked at him with concern, “you…you shouldn’t be angry with me, right?”
"No, of course not."
"I'm sorry, I didn't know my own strength when I used it."
"It's not your fault."
But it certainly lacked any sense of proportion.
Ning Yi'en placed her hand on the spot on her waist where Lu Yunian had just laid her down.
My thoughts drifted back, then quietly faded away, and I ended up walking silently, unconsciously rubbing my fingers.
It probably took a long time to walk a short distance, probably because of the rain.
Ning Yi'en leaned against the door, his clothes and trouser legs slightly damp, but he ignored it. He simply leaned against it quietly, seemingly lost in thought, or perhaps deep in contemplation.
Did she ultimately come to any conclusions? Ning Yi'en couldn't quite recall them later.
But when I think of this rainy day, the sound of rain accompanied by cicada chirps, the fragrance of osmanthus blossoms, and the unusual sensations on my body always linger in my mind.
Ning Yi'en's Diary:
Friday, September 18
Rainy days are nice too.
Lu Yunian felt that Ning Yi'en had been acting strangely these past few days.
But he couldn't explain it.
They still went to and from school together every day, ate together, and, though not enthusiastically, would still answer each other's questions. Occasionally, Lu Yunian would borrow his homework to copy, sometimes he'd play tic-tac-toe with him when he was bored during self-study, and sometimes Ning Yi'en would bring him homemade treats from home...
Nothing had changed, but he still found it strange.
He then asked Tang Xuanling and Yan Ting, and both gave negative answers.
Tang Xuanling said that if there was anything different, it was that Ning Yi'en hadn't made jokes about things that weren't funny in a long time, or to put it another way, Ning Yi'en had been answering her questions more concisely and clearly lately.
At two o'clock in the morning, Lu Yunian opened his eyes again and stared blankly at the dark ceiling.
I wish I hadn't drunk coffee today.
As he idly pondered how to fall asleep, his phone vibrated twice.
"I'll sleep later then," Lu Yunian reached out and fumbled on the bedside table to turn on the lamp and then picked up his phone.
It was Ning Yi'en who sent him two messages.
One was around 11 o'clock, and the other was just now.
N1E: [I will be taking the day off tomorrow.]
N1E: [Remember to eat breakfast.]
Lu Yunian thought for a long time, then typed a few words like an elderly person who wasn't used to smartphones.
Not eating fish: [Received, will eat properly]
Not eating fish: [Yan Yan, you should go to bed early.]
N1E: [Get some rest.]
Lu Yunian overslept the next morning. He hurriedly grabbed his schoolbag and rushed out the door, completely forgetting that he had promised Ning Yi'en to have breakfast with him that evening.
Until I saw the brown paper bag at the door, I opened it and found a delicious-looking sandwich and a note with very familiar handwriting: "I made too many of these while researching, and they taste alright, you can eat them."
However, Lu Yunian sent Ning Yi'en quite a few messages later, and Ning Yi'en only replied in the early hours of the morning that there was no need to worry and that she would talk to him again when she returned to school, and then she never replied again.
Ning Yi'en returned near the end of her lunch break on the third day.
Although I've always taken leave before, it's never been this long; it's usually just a few classes or one evening study session.
After placing the workbook on the table, I felt a bit annoyed, so I decided not to do it and instead propped my head up to watch Lu Yunian take a nap.
He has a very handsome, rugged, and refined face.
Perhaps because he had a lot on his mind and was very tired these past two days, he became somewhat distracted.
—His eyes are deep-set, and his eyelashes are relatively long for a guy; he'd probably look handsome when he cries. His slight hump and high nose bridge are perfectly proportioned, and his mouth… Ning Yi'en couldn't quite place his name, but like the mole on the side of his nose, it all looked…
The subject of his observation suddenly looked up, interrupting his reverie.
In fact, Lu Yunian had been awake for about a minute. When he opened his eyes and saw Ning Yi'en staring at him in a daze, he did not get up immediately.
It wasn't until the hand under my head and the side of my face touching it were both throbbing and unbearably numb that I finally sat up.
Did he notice I've been watching him...?
Ning Yi'en awkwardly shifted her gaze back to her practice problems.
If Lu Yunian could only sense that Ning Yi'en's condition seemed off a few days ago through intuition, then today Ning Yi'en's condition was so abnormal that he didn't even need to sense it; just half a minute of looking at him was enough to tell that he was possessed—even though he tried his best to act as if nothing was wrong.
When Zheng Que Xun Tang saw him, he asked if he wanted to go back and rest before coming back.
But to everyone's surprise, he said he could.
"Am I really that obviously not good?" Ning Yi'en asked Lu Yunian after Zheng left.
"My goodness, her lips are really white." Lu Yunian remembered that they weren't like this when she just finished her lunch break. "Maybe I should take the day off; your health is more important."
Ning Yi'en didn't really feel anything. "It's nothing. I probably just have low blood sugar because I didn't eat much at noon."
He thanked Lu Yunian again and then continued working on his coding problems.
"Could you please stop saying thank you so often?" Lu Yunian leaned closer. "Aren't we good friends? There's no need to be so polite."
Then, as the bell rang for the next class, Ning Yi'en received a still-hot beef pie in her hand and a panting seatmate.
"Thank you..." Even before the words "thank you" came Lu Yunian's fingers, which were just millimeters away from touching his lips.
"Didn't I tell you to say thank you less often? Good friends don't need to be so formal." Lu Yunian made a shushing gesture (but not on his lips). "Okay?"
"good."
“Then you eat first,” Lu Yunian said with a triumphant smile. “I’ll keep watch on the teacher and keep watch.”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
