“R-Really…? Gu Fan isn’t lying to me, is he?”
The words spilled out involuntarily, laced with doubt and mistrust about the situation.
But my feet were honest. They overrode my control, taking slow, steady steps toward Gu Fan under the green-glowing signal post.
The twilight shadows began to erode the rusty tracks. Gu Fan’s figure grew dense and chaotic, and the path to him stretched like the rails—from a few meters of open space into an endless single track.
I was the old train rumbling alone on it, aimlessly following the rusted rails forward, with no station to stop at—only rampant weeds and flowers for company.
Until… a beam of faint light appeared at the end of the tracks.
The black-haired boy with arms outstretched gazed at me with his usual calm expression, his eyes showing no obvious emotion.
He was like an eternal building at the track’s terminus, welcoming all weary travelers to rest.
Even so, I, who considered myself different from others, stubbornly believed that perhaps… the traveler Gu Fan was truly waiting for was me.
Clinging to this conviction, I walked toward the bright sunlight and reached the signal post flashing “passage allowed,” pulling the open-armed boy into my embrace.
When we sat on the abandoned platform’s bench, Gu Fan’s knee was less than a hand’s width from mine.
I wanted to playfully lift my leg and rest it on his knee, but considering our relationship…
We’d only advanced a little, and it hadn’t been long since I first took the initiative to hug Gu Fan. Maybe I should give my childhood friend some buffer time?
With that thought, I set aside my overly wild ideas. I turned my palm over, pressing down the pleated skirt and the hem of my tight uniform against the chair seat.
The tips of my black-stockinged feet, freed from my round-toed shoes, idly tapped against the shoe backs.
Gu Fan held the canned coffee from the vending machine but didn’t open it. Water droplets condensed on the metal can slid down his long fingers.
When sunlight filtered through the leaves above us and hit the droplets, the light was captured, locked inside as dazzling golden starbursts.
I half-closed my eyes, my cat ears curling and uncurling unconsciously, pretending to casually trace the path of the droplets.
Compared to me, timid enough to blush for half a day after one bold move toward Gu Fan, the droplets were far bolder.
They hugged the edge of his palm, leisurely savoring every ridge and valley of his lines.
Shockingly, they even reached his wrist, plunging eagerly into the shadowed inner arm hidden by his sleeve, vanishing from my sight.
Damn it.
Puffing out my cheeks, my cat tail spun like a propeller, “whirring” and slapping the chair back and armrests wildly.
The pressure from my palm on the chair seat increased with my fluctuating emotions. But what I didn’t expect was that, as I took a deeper breath to calm myself, a sharp cracking sound suddenly rang out.
“Eek!”
I let out an instinctive yelp, quickly lowering my head to find the source of the noise. The button on the sleeve of my uniform jacket…
The thread on the second button, strained from being tugged by my skirt hem and my deep breaths while arching my back, snapped free. It dangled in the wind like a dying firefly.
As for the button itself… who knows where it flew off to…
Luckily, it’s winter—the coldest February. I had an extra thick inner layer on. If this embarrassing mishap had happened in summer, I’d have been flashing everything… though if Gu Fan saw the color and shape of my bra, it wouldn’t be a total loss.
Before Gu Fan’s gaze could shift back, I quickly covered the spot with one hand, pretending to admire the scenery. I raised my hand, pointing at the streetlamp beside us to divert his attention.
“Look over there.”
I pointed at the insects struggling inside the lamp shade. “Um, don’t they look like… trapped in amber?”
Wracking my rusty cat-brain for words, I relied on the brownish-yellow lamp shade to come up with a decent line to distract Gu Fan.
Feeling his gaze slowly shift from me to where I pointed, I tilted my head back, my neck forming a graceful arc.
His Adam’s apple bobbed, the swallow clear enough to make my heart flutter.
This sight eased my sigh of relief while stirring an urge to get handsy with Gu Fan.
“If I were a vampire, that’d be great.”
Pursing my lips, I muttered this softly.
When Gu Fan turned back and asked, “What?” I looked at his face—the one that haunted my dreams—and steeled my heart.
Like a bloodthirsty monster finally breaking free from its underground cage, I dramatically raised my hands, baring my sharp canines.
“Wah~ If Gu Fan doesn’t obediently follow my commands, I’ll eat him up, okay.”
“Huh?”
At my random, nonsensical remark, Gu Fan let out a helpless chuckle, then shifted his gaze to my chest, his lips curving slightly.
“More than that, Zhinian, your shirt seems to have lost a button.”
“Eek!”
My brain isn’t the best with memory—I’d completely forgotten about it.
In a panic, I wanted to cover the gap again, not letting Gu Fan tease me.
But then I thought, I’m wearing something underneath—a thick, opaque white inner layer. Even if it’s just a thin bra, so what? There’s only Gu Fan and me in this park anyway…
With that, my tense body relaxed. I boldly unfastened the top button as well, facing my childhood friend beside me in a loose, open outfit.
I searched for the most alluring smile in my memory, tilting my head slightly and gazing at Gu Fan with an ambiguously seductive look.
“Mr. Gu Fan, you mustn’t have any naughty thoughts about this little lady.”
Gu Fan’s breath hitched, his amber pupils dilating and contracting rapidly. Then, he returned a smile of his own, equally ambiguous.
“No helping it—Miss Zhinian’s charm is too great.”
Under my surprised gaze, Gu Fan suddenly leaned forward, his broad hand reaching toward me.
Mm?! Could it be that Gu Fan finally gets it?
I closed my eyes in surprise, a whirlwind of chaotic images hatching from my anticipation.
By the time I’d even thought of what to name our child, I still hadn’t felt Gu Fan’s hand touch any part of my body.
Confused, I opened my eyes to find his hand on the jacket—his jacket—draped over my shoulders.
“It’s cold out. Miss Zhinian, you look great dressed up, but you need to stay warm too.”
Gu Fan’s voice was slightly hoarse as he breathed warm, moist air against my ear.
I pouted in dissatisfaction but had no choice but to accept that Gu Fan was still the same chaste gentleman. No matter how much I teased him, I couldn’t stir him even a little.
I even wondered if Gu Fan would only make a move on our wedding night.
“Gu Fan, you big idiot!”
This time, my mutter was so quiet only I could barely hear it. I glared resentfully as Gu Fan zipped up the jacket all the way, completely covering the only asset I had to show off.
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