Hoshino Haruka stood in front of the counter, her gaze fixed on the stir-fried dish simmering in the pan as the sauce reduced.
She didn’t speak.
Hee hee…
Su Ruanruan snickered inwardly and shuffled closer, inch by inch, planning to keep teasing the pure-hearted Hoshino Haruka under the pretext of serving rice.
But the moment she reached the white metal cylinder with glowing red numbers in the corner of the counter, Su Ruanruan froze.
This thing looked ridiculously weird. It didn’t even have an obvious handle.
Where was the rice?
How did you open it?
How did you get the rice out?
Grab it with your hands?
Or was this actually some kind of alchemy product that required chanting a spell?
She had never seen anything like it before.
Su Ruanruan swallowed and tentatively gripped the wooden rice paddle.
She tapped the white metal shell twice with the handle.
Tap. Tap.
No reaction.
This damn thing!
Su Ruanruan stood there in front of the rice cooker like some country bumpkin who had never seen the world, her fair face flushed bright red with embarrassment.
Hoshino Haruka silently stepped forward.
She kept her eyes lowered, deliberately avoiding Su Ruanruan’s flustered expression, and lightly pressed a button on the metal shell with her finger.
Puff—
With a soft, damped click, a rich, warm aroma of rice rose together with white steam.
Right after, Hoshino Haruka efficiently turned off the heat on the stir-fry and plated it.
The scent of oil mixed with salty-sweet sauce suddenly filled the air, thick and mouthwatering.
Su Ruanruan’s eyes went straight.
This… smelled even better than breakfast?
Hee… hee hee. (๓´˘`)
Driven by instinct, the aroma-dazed Su Ruanruan leaned forward uncontrollably, her small mouth slightly open.
A tiny bit of pink tongue slipped out without her even noticing, inching closer to the sizzling edge of the stir-fry.
Pa.
A very light chop of the hand landed precisely on top of Su Ruanruan’s silver hair, successfully snapping her back to her senses.
“Wuu…”
Su Ruanruan covered her head and looked up pitifully, her eyes filled with resentment at having her meal interrupted.
“Use chopsticks. Take it out first.”
Hoshino Haruka still didn’t dare look directly at Su Ruanruan.
She turned her head away and forcefully shoved the slightly hot plate into her hands.
***
Three minutes later.
The two of them finally sat facing each other at the dining table.
Su Ruanruan had already forgotten about wanting to bully Hoshino Haruka.
She held her bowl with both hands, cheeks stuffed full of rice, a single white grain still stuck at the corner of her mouth.
After swallowing several mouthfuls in a row, the clawing hunger in her stomach finally eased a little.
But.
Something felt off about the atmosphere.
Su Ruanruan belatedly stopped shoveling rice.
Ever since they sat down, there had been zero movement from Hoshino Haruka’s side.
Su Ruanruan quietly lifted her eyelids and peered across the table through the rising steam.
Hoshino Haruka was staring straight at her.
The rice in front of her hadn’t been touched at all. Her chopsticks rested neatly on the chopstick rest.
She simply sat there quietly, back perfectly straight.
Su Ruanruan felt a bit creeped out by the stare.
What was this?
Why wasn’t she eating?
Did she… poison the food, meow?
No.
Su Ruanruan’s gaze slowly slid downward.
She noticed that Hoshino Haruka’s usually clear, cold eyes now held something dark and unreadable at the bottom.
That gaze slid from the rice grain at the corner of her mouth, across the table, and landed straight on her body.
“Ruanruan.”
Hoshino Haruka suddenly spoke.
Her clear, cold voice carried a faint, indescribable huskiness.
“Can I… feed you?”
Clack.
The chopsticks in Su Ruanruan’s hand fell onto the table.
With half a mouthful of rice still in her mouth, she froze completely in her chair.
The pair of cat ears on her head, which had been relaxed from eating, suddenly flattened backward in alarm.
To be honest, Su Ruanruan didn’t care at all about being fed.
If someone was willing to serve her food, she would be happy about it.
Especially if that someone was a beautiful girl like Hoshino Haruka.
But the prerequisite was… could the other person please not look at her with that kind of expression?!
She wasn’t angry, was she?
Was it still possible to apologize now?
Su Ruanruan forced herself to swallow the rice in her mouth, her throat tight.
Running was definitely not an option.
She took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing her trembling fingertips, and decided to strike first.
“I-If Haruka really wants to serve me that badly, then… it’s, it’s fine too~”
The moment her words fell, Hoshino Haruka’s breathing clearly stopped for a second.
Right after, the quiet dining room began to fill with Hoshino Haruka’s somewhat suppressed, heavy breathing.
A blush that reached all the way to her ears spread uncontrollably across her usually expressionless face.
Hoshino Haruka stared fixedly at the cute little face in front of her, her fingers tightening slightly around the small metal spoon.
She scooped up a bit of rice and slowly brought it toward Su Ruanruan’s lips.
Watching the spoon getting closer and closer, Su Ruanruan had to admit she was a little scared.
She wasn’t going to just shove it straight down her throat and pierce through, right?! Ahaha.
Not daring to meet Hoshino Haruka’s eyes that were now radiating thick desire, she could only resignedly shut her eyes tight.
One second. Two seconds.
The expected cold touch of metal never reached her lips.
Instead, she only heard a light tap as the metal spoon was casually set down on the edge of the bowl.
Hoshino Haruka had stopped moving.
The girl with her eyes tightly closed had eyelashes trembling pitifully like a frightened butterfly.
Her fair cheeks were flushed pink from nervousness. Most fatally, a single grain of white rice was still stupidly stuck to the left side of her slightly parted little mouth.
She looked completely defenseless, like she could be bullied however anyone wanted.
Bad cat!!
Hoshino Haruka’s breathing completely fell apart.
But she didn’t pounce directly.
Hoshino Haruka’s left hand, braced against the edge of the table, slowly tightened. Her upper body gradually leaned forward.
Even though she was the one initiating, she herself was nervous to death.
Her slightly cool fingertips carried a trace of awkwardness as they carefully brushed across the corner of Su Ruanruan’s mouth, wiping away the grain of rice.
The instant she touched that warm softness, Hoshino Haruka let out an extremely soft, trembling gasp, as if she had been burned.
Too close.
Close enough to smell the sweet scent coming from this little bad cat. Close enough that their breaths had already completely entangled with no reservations.
Hoshino Haruka swallowed with difficulty, her long eyelashes lowering uneasily and trembling slightly.
As if bewitched, she followed her instincts and slowly, bit by bit, leaned toward that cute little mouth—
Ding-dong—
An ordinary electronic doorbell rang out abruptly in the quiet apartment.
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