Chapter 53: If you keep kissing someone stubbornly, you'll get kissed in return.
Li Baidong was stunned for a moment before realizing that Xing Lan was jealous.
He lowered his head and couldn't help but slightly curve the corners of his lips into a smile.
Seeing his inexplicably happy expression, Xing Lan became even angrier. She crossed her arms and remained silent with a cold face.
“I didn’t eat that chocolate,” Li Baidong said, lowering his face and nuzzling Xing Lan’s cheek with his head like a spoiled puppy. “She put it in my bag sometime during the day. I returned it to her as soon as I found it and explained everything to her.”
Xing Lan felt a little itchy from his soft golden hair, but her expression remained unchanged, her expression cold and her tone hard.
"You've made yourself clear? Then why were you still walking with her today?"
Li Baidong blinked, softened his tone, and explained softly as if coaxing a child, "That's because she couldn't perform a crying scene well, which affected the entire rehearsal schedule."
“Brother, you know I’m the president of the club, and there are some things I have to take responsibility for. I just talked to her a bit more after everyone left, telling her that if she’s still like this in the next rehearsal, I’ll have to consider replacing her.”
"I didn't say a word else to her, really. I'd be a coward if I lied to you."
After hearing his sincere explanation, Xing Lan's cold expression softened slightly.
He didn't know why he had such a strong emotional reaction just now. Even though Li Baidong and that girl weren't even friends, it was just a normal interaction between the club president and a member, but he found it irritating no matter how he looked at it, as if he had lost his mind and had no rationality at all.
Now that I've calmed down and thought about it, I realize that I didn't even ask a single question before turning around and leaving. It was all due to a loss of emotional control and acting out of spite.
Xing Lan kept a straight face and unconsciously took a deep breath, feeling a tightness in her chest.
Why has he become so childish?
Li Baidong looked at Xing Lan, who had suddenly frozen in place for some reason, narrowed his eyes, and a hint of amusement crept into his slightly raised eyebrows. He feigned ignorance and leaned closer to ask, "Brother, are you... jealous?"
Xing Lan regained her composure and immediately said, contradicting herself, "I didn't."
Three simple words, yet the tone is so awkward.
Li Baidong chuckled softly, then suddenly used his long, slender fingers to lift Xing Lan's chin, leaned in, and pressed him into the driver's seat for a deep kiss without warning.
Xing Lan's dark pupils trembled, and her fair face instantly turned completely red.
This is the school gate, a place bustling with people and cars. It was still light out, and anyone could easily spot them kissing passionately inside the car with just a quick glance.
His heart was pounding, and the sudden kiss made it hard for him to breathe. He could only let out a soft whimper from his throat as a form of protest.
He raised his hand and placed it on Li Baidong's chest, trying to push him away, but to no avail.
Li Baidong was too big; he not only wasn't pushed at all, but instead grabbed Xing Lan's slender wrist and easily lifted her up, causing her to crash into the roof of the upper car with a "thud".
This one-sided suppression was extremely disadvantageous to Xing Lan. His mind was in turmoil, and he frowned slightly, stammering as he struggled to speak.
"Stop, stop fooling around."
"This is a school."
"..."
Li Baidong slightly opened his eyes and saw Xing Lan's face getting redder and redder. His hands were bound by him, and his breathing was rapid. His usually calm face revealed an unusual tension and helplessness.
A secret excitement flashed through his heart. He tilted his head and, instead of letting Xing Lan go after those few words of pleas for mercy, he leaned in and kissed her even deeper, greedily savoring every inch of her soft lips with his tongue. It was a delicious delicacy that belonged only to him.
Xing Lan's lips were red and wet from being kissed, and slightly swollen. The poor corner of her mouth had been bitten by Li Baidong's sharp canine teeth, and although the wound was very small, a faint smell of blood still lingered in the thin air of the carriage.
He raised his hand to wipe the corner of his lips, and looking at the faint traces of blood reflected on them, he couldn't help but gasp softly.
Once Li Baidong gets into it, he's like a dog. He can't control the intensity of his kisses. If it weren't for the innocent look in his eyes, Xing Lan would have suspected that he was deliberately trying to leave obvious marks on his lips.
"Brother, I know I was wrong." Li Baidong blinked, reached out and rubbed his shoulder solicitously, and said softly, "I will never walk alone with anyone again. Please forgive me, okay?"
The car was so cramped that it was awkward for the two of them to move even slightly.
But Li Baidong kept fidgeting.
After massaging his shoulders, she was itching to massage his legs. Just as she was about to do so, Xing Lan stopped her.
Xing Lan avoided answering his plea for reconciliation, but instead pinched Li Baidong's arm expressionlessly, looked up at him, and coldly asked, "How much longer do you plan to stay here?"
"I can't drive if you're here. It'll be dark soon, where can we go?"
When Xing Lan spoke, although her expression was still somewhat cold, her demeanor was no longer tense, and she was clearly no longer as angry as before.
The little prince, who had been waiting in the car for a long time, barked a few times in the back seat, as if urging them on.
Li Baidong stared at Xing Lan and insisted, "I will leave when you forgive me."
Xing Lan retorted stubbornly, "What do I forgive you for? You didn't do anything wrong, and I didn't blame you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Baidong lowered his eyes silently and tried to kiss him again.
Since Xing Lan was being stubborn, he would keep kissing him until he softened.
The cut corner of her lip still throbbed with pain. Xing Lan had a bad feeling and quickly turned her face away, her ears turning bright red.
"...Okay, stop kissing. I forgive you. Is that alright?"
"Thank you, brother. You're the best." Li Baidong smiled happily, then leaned down and kissed his cheek before getting out of the car and obediently sitting back in the passenger seat.
Xing Lan coughed, straightened her clothes and expression, and drove the car to the park.
-
The park has been open for some time, but this was the first time for both of them to visit.
Because it was pet festival, the park was full of energetic dogs and kittens being cuddled by their owners. The little prince was especially excited, seeing many of his old friends and making some new dog friends.
When it encountered an adorable Bichon Frise wearing a lace dress, it kept jumping up and down and excitedly spinning around, behaving in a strange and unusual way.
Holding the fox, Li Baidong couldn't help but tug at Xing Lan's sleeve and ask, "Brother, what's wrong with it? It's jumping around like that, and the lawn is so hot!"
Xing Lan looked down and recognized the familiar Bichon Frise. She said knowingly, "It's not Grass Hot, it's met a dog it likes."
Li Baidong exclaimed "Ah!" in disbelief.
Xing Lan knew her silly dog inside and out, and explained casually, "This Bichon Frise is named Tuantuan. The Little Prince has had a crush on it for a long time."
"Unrequited love?"
Xing Lan nodded: "Every time it gets a new toy, it immediately brings it to the other dog, but the other dog isn't that interested in it... Maybe it doesn't like toys that are the same color as itself."
Sure enough, Tuantuan and the little prince played on the lawn for a while until a beautiful merle Border Collie appeared. Tuantuan immediately abandoned the little prince and started playing with the handsome Border Collie.
After failing to woo the girl, the little prince sheepishly ran back to Xing Lan's feet, lay on the ground and whimpered a couple of times, his dark eyes still fixed on the direction of Tuan Tuan in the distance.
Xing Lan squatted down and stroked the little prince's head to comfort it: "It's okay, maybe Tuantuan will change its mind after you lose some weight."
Li Baidong blinked, looking at Xing Lan who had deliberately squatted down to talk to the puppy seriously, and thought he was like a princess in a fairy tale who could communicate with small animals, kind and cute.
He said in a relaxed tone with a smile, "So even a puppy has a dog it loves but can't have."
Upon hearing his casual remark, Xing Lan paused in her act of petting the dog, a complex emotion flashing in her eyes.
He turned his head and, where Li Baidong wasn't looking, gave a self-deprecating smile.
Just as there are dogs in the family that one loves but cannot have, there are people in the family that one cannot forget.
As the event was drawing to a close, the organizers called everyone to the lawn to take a group photo with their pets.
Xing Lan and Li Baidong stood side by side. Although they were only in the back corner, they were quite conspicuous in the crowd because they were both tall and handsome.
Xing Lan's expression was indifferent, but Li Baidong next to her was smiling very happily and brightly, with one hand naturally placed on Xing Lan's left shoulder, and he made a peace sign at the camera.
Just as the photographer was about to press the shutter button, Li Baidong suddenly leaned close to Xing Lan's ear and whispered, "Brother, can I kiss you when we take the picture later?"
Xing Lan's eyes narrowed.
"no."
"Don't think about anything else, just take the photos." He lowered his voice and warned Li Baidong subtly, afraid that Li Baidong might actually do it later.
“Okay.” Li Baidong obediently agreed, but his dark eyes darted around and he immediately came up with a new idea.
The photographer adjusted the camera and looked up at the crowd, saying, "Is everyone ready? I'll count to three, two, one, and we'll take a picture together."
"three--"
"two--"
"one--"
"Crack".
Just as the photographer pressed the shutter, Li Baidong suddenly bent down slightly and brought his face close to Xing Lan's.
Their cheeks pressed intimately together, like two sticky, inseparable glutinous rice balls.
Most of the people taking photos together were pet owners they weren't very familiar with. Everyone else stood comfortably and politely, but the two of them stood shoulder to shoulder, face to face, their bodies pressed tightly together without any safe distance, looking as awkward as a couple taking wedding photos.
The familiar and pleasant scent of mint suddenly became more pronounced. Xing Lan was stunned for a moment, and before he could react, Li Baidong casually turned his face away, smiled, and looked at him, feigning ignorance, "Brother, I'm sorry, someone pushed me just now. Did they bump into you?"
Xing Lan pursed her lips and could only say, "No."
After the group photo was taken, everyone received a newly printed photo for free.
The photo wasn't very big, just a tiny piece, like a Polaroid photo. There were so many people in the group photo that it was hard to see anyone's face clearly.
Xing Lan had just casually stuffed the photo she received into her pocket when she turned around and saw Li Baidong next to her using his palm as a human cushion, his head down, earnestly drawing something on the photo.
Li Baidong took a fluorescent pink crayon from the table and carefully drew a small bow on Xing Lan's head. He also circled the photo of him and Xing Lan with a big heart.
This is the first formal photo of Xing Lan and Li Baidong after they got together, and he seems to like it very much.
A few days later, Xing Lan discovered that Li Baidong had changed to a transparent phone case at some point, and carefully placed the photo face up inside the case.
Seven or eight years ago, Li Baidong could only hide far behind Xing Lan, using his grandmother's old-fashioned mobile phone to secretly take pictures of Xing Lan's back on his way to school.
I remember back then, I was so nervous that my hands kept shaking. The old-fashioned camera had outdated pixels and no advanced image stabilization, so the photos I took were always blurry and had strange color differences, not even a fraction as good as Xing Lan herself.
But Li Baidong still set that blurry photo as his phone wallpaper, and he hasn't changed it for all these years.
From the age of thirteen, almost every night, he would look at that photo and fall asleep thinking of Xing Lan's appearance.
Seven years later, the two met again.
He no longer had to look at the same photo over and over again, but could openly hold him as he slept.
The person in my heart eventually became the person beside me in bed.
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