We didn’t stay by the sea for too long, just sat on some rocks by the cliff chatting for a bit.
After rinsing the sand off my feet with the bottled water we had on hand, we rode off on the motorcycle.
Originally, I didn’t plan to put on the tights, but under Gu Fan’s strong insistence, I had no choice but to wear those black tights that I personally felt were a bit smelly again.
Well, after all, Gu Fan threatened that if I didn’t put them on, he’d wrap my legs with his down jacket to prevent frostbite from the cold wind.
Weighing the pros and cons, of course, it was better to prioritize Gu Fan’s interests. Fortunately, he didn’t show any disgust, which secretly made me resolve that from now on, every time before going out, I’d clean myself thoroughly and change into all fresh clothes.
Sitting on the back seat, I habitually wrapped my arms around Gu Fan’s waist.
If our relationship were already that of a couple, I would definitely squeeze Gu Fan’s abs to feel how solid his workout had made them.
From earlier at the beach, when I saw Gu Fan change clothes and his abs were accidentally revealed, it was clear he had a full set of eight-pack abs.
Those sharp lines clearly proved he wasn’t lying about his dedication to training.
Hehe. I’m really looking forward to the day I can touch them.
I always feel like the ultimate purpose of Gu Fan’s painstakingly crafted eight-pack abs is for me — Zhinian, who will soon become his girlfriend, or even wife, and more boldly, the mother of his children — to have a good feel.
Of course, that day is probably far, far in the future, and I don’t know if I can hold on until then.
My worry isn’t that I’ll give up on Gu Fan, but that one day he’ll get tired of me and dump me first.
If I lose Gu Fan’s attention, I might become a wandering ghost with nowhere to go, never again having the chance to be so intimately close like childhood sweethearts.
Feeling the outline of Gu Fan’s abs faintly through his thick jacket, I pressed my cheek against his back.
It seemed I could vaguely hear the beating of his heart.
I wonder if Gu Fan can feel the softness of my touch? If so, then neither of us loses out — both happy — and I wouldn’t have to worry about him secretly calling me a bad woman for stealing his “tofu.”
Just as I was thinking these aimless thoughts, Gu Fan’s voice suddenly came.
“Zhinian, do you have any plans next?”
“Hm, no. Do you have anywhere you want to go?”
I usually don’t like to wander around aimlessly and have a rather low appetite for food, drinks, and entertainment.
Today’s visit to see the sea was exciting because it was my first time experiencing the grandeur of nature. By the second time, my mood wouldn’t fluctuate so much.
For me, as long as I’m with Gu Fan, even if we don’t say a word, just lean against each other and daydream, I’m incredibly satisfied — the most satisfied in the entire universe.
Is a catgirl like this too easy to handle? Right? Right? At least, as a girlfriend, this catgirl is surely an easy catch.
With Gu Fan’s easygoing personality, it makes sense he likes me, doesn’t it? Hmph.
Usually, when we go out, I’m the one who arranges the time, and Gu Fan takes care of all the details: where to go, what drinks to order, if there are any interesting places worth stopping by, where to rest for a while, and what transportation to use throughout the trip.
I’m like a tool, responsible only for lighting the fuse at the start, then I get to enjoy the full-service treatment Gu Fan prepares for me.
In a way, I really am just a useless catgirl, meow.
My cat tail, pressed under my butt, popped out and proudly stood upright in the breeze created by the medium-speed ride.
I feel I’ve finally gained some insight into shamelessly clinging to Gu Fan.
“Want to go to my little uncle’s house for a while?”
“Whaaat??”
So soon… meeting the family already? Ugh, ahh!
I hugged Gu Fan’s waist tightly, shyly making little meows and sounds.
Although I’d met Aunt Gu a few times before, that was just normal friend visits. Seeing family was a normal thing too.
But this time it’s different — we’re going specifically to Gu Fan’s relatives’ place, which is basically like meeting the family, right?
And it’s only been less than three hours since I sent him that “I love you” message.
He’s definitely fallen for me, right? Haha, I saw through you long ago, Gu Fan. You’re already in love with me.
In my heart, I said this to the imagined Gu Fan.
But in reality, I turned into an ostrich, burying my head in Gu Fan’s back, stammering, “Gu… Gu Fan, why are you taking me to your little uncle’s house…?”
“Nothing much,” Gu Fan replied. “When we were chatting on the beach, you said you hadn’t really slept today or rested at lunch. Today’s a school day, your mom is at home, and my mom hasn’t gone out either, so neither of us can go home.”
What he said was true, but isn’t it a bit inappropriate to go to the little uncle’s house just because both our mothers are home?
I was about to ask that when Gu Fan seemed to sense my thoughts and explained first.
“Ah, the house I’m talking about is my little uncle’s old place. He moved to Hua City, so no one lives in that old house anymore. He doesn’t have time to handle renting it out, so when he came to visit my family during the New Year, he handed me the keys and asked me to deal with it however I want — stay there quietly to study or rent it out for extra income.”
“Oh… I see. That’s a relief.”
I breathed a clear sigh of relief. It’s not meeting the family, which is what I really feared — meeting serious adults, especially important ones to Gu Fan. That would make me even more nervous.
While chatting by the sea, I noticed that in Gu Fan’s childhood memories, his little uncle seemed very important, often taking him out to play.
Given how close they are now, Gu Fan’s little uncle even gave him the keys to his old house, so he must be a very important elder, second only to his parents.
The main thing is, I’m not dressed nicely today — hair messy, clothes unkempt — and going over like this, sloppy as I am, I’d want to give myself a good beating for not caring about my appearance.
When I was little, my father took me back to his ancestral land to pay respects to ancestors, and those feudal elders scolded me harshly for lacking manners, calling me a rude country bumpkin, dragging my mother into the scolding too.
Later, when I was a bit older, accompanying my mother back to the hometown for worship, I began to understand what that feudal relative meant by “country bumpkin.”
These two kinds of elders, both vastly different but essentially no better, have left me with a very poor impression of relatives.
“Gu Fan, does no one else ever go to that house?”
“Hm, only my mom and I have keys. Unless something special happens, she wouldn’t go there out of boredom. After all, my house is quite a distance from my little uncle’s old place. If you get tired, you can rest there comfortably. I’ll take you home tonight.”
“All right… thanks, Gu Fan.”
Hehe, so it really is just the two of us? If I do something bad, Gu Fan won’t even have a chance to run away and ask for help?
My smile slipped out unintentionally, and I quickly pretended to cough from the wind and sand to cover it up.
It’s not that I haven’t stayed in the same room with Gu Fan before, but strictly speaking, his mother or father was nearby.
Any loud noise would surely alert them to something unusual in the room.
But now it’s different — Gu Fan is taking me to his little uncle’s house, and it’s just the two of us.
That’s almost like entering the stage of couple cohabitation… Is this going too far?
Lost in happy fantasies, we soon reached the old district at the town center, where alleys crisscrossed in chaos.
Looking up, I saw countless tangled electrical wires, and many men’s and women’s clothes hanging between buildings to dry.
The trash bin in the corner emitted a faint sewage stench, making me feel uncomfortable.
Hmm, I can somewhat understand why Gu Fan’s little uncle wanted to move out.
Fortunately, the old house wasn’t among these “handshake buildings.” Gu Fan rode the motorcycle around the outskirts of the old district, to the area connecting with the town center.
The sanitation there was visibly better; I could at least see sanitation workers cleaning up garbage and plastic bags on the ground.
“We’re here, right here.”
As the motorcycle slowed down, I straightened my back slightly and peeked ahead.
A very ordinary apartment complex appeared — grayish-brown buildings standing one after another.
A few middle-aged men were chatting about world affairs while energetically working out on some fitness equipment near the entrance.
The aged elevator gate blocked our way. Gu Fan took out his phone, pressing his back against the sensor at the gate.
After scanning up and down, the peeling plastic barrier lifted high. It seemed Gu Fan’s phone had the owners’ information saved.
We rode the motorcycle into the parking lot and found a spot. After parking, Gu Fan took me to the elevator and pressed the highest floor button.
The dizzy sway soon lifted us upward toward our destination.
Speaking of which, since our home is a secondhand flat, I haven’t really experienced taking elevators much.
When I lived in a fancy high-rise in the big city with my father, I often took the elevator and was used to the dizziness it caused. I knew that swallowing saliva could ease the ear blockage that happens.
This building only had seventeen floors, and despite the old, shaky elevator, it took less than half a minute to reach the top floor.
When the elevator doors opened, I followed closely behind Gu Fan to the only door on this floor — a security door.
He fumbled a bit in his keyring.
“Not good.”
“What’s wrong?”
“I think I forgot to bring the keys.”
Gu Fan said this flatly, and I couldn’t tell if he was joking or really forgot.
I nervously curled my cat ears and stared at him when Gu Fan suddenly smiled and pressed his finger on the lock.
“Click.”
The heavy security door opened immediately.
“Sorry, I forgot this was a password lock. You can also unlock it with a fingerprint. Since I registered before, I didn’t bother to carry the keys.”
That startled me. I thought we might have to sleep on the street again.
Before, when I skipped school on school days, I often spent entire afternoons in the school’s corners, parks, or restaurants.
But that wasn’t really private time for just the two of us.
What I want is a whole closed space where it’s just Gu Fan and me.
In public places, we always had to worry about strangers suddenly showing up, wanting to chat, or getting a little too close, and whether anyone was watching us.
Finally having a place that belongs only to us, I didn’t want this chance to slip away for nothing.
So when I heard Gu Fan forgot the keys, my disappointment hit its peak, and tears almost spilled from my eyes.
I don’t know whose genes gave me this tearful tendency. My scumbag father never cried once, his heart as hard as steel.
Even caught cheating by me and my mother, he still kept a cold expression and acted like we disturbed his fun.
Wiping the few tears at the corner of my eyes, I followed closely behind Gu Fan, whispering “Please forgive me for the first visit.”
Then I took off my leather shoes neatly at the white entryway and put them in the shoe cabinet.
“Want slippers?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
Gu Fan took out a pair of clean pink slippers and put them in front of me.
After slipping them on, I started to properly take in the room’s layout.
The style leaned minimalist: white walls, a light green fabric sofa, a ceiling incandescent light.
The living room wasn’t big and had no dining area…
Wait, is this a one-bedroom apartment?
I hurriedly walked into the living room to check the layout: a small study room storing miscellaneous items, a tiny kitchen, an equally narrow bathroom, and a balcony barely big enough for a washing machine.
Other than that, there was just a small bedroom with a double bed.
“… Gu Fan, there’s only one bedroom?”
“Yeah, what’s wrong? You just rest assured and relax. I’m not tired. If you’re worried, you can lock the door; I won’t come in to disturb you.”
Actually… if Gu Fan really wanted to do bad things to me, I wouldn’t resist.