“Thank you.”
“Thank me for what? It’s not even anything expensive.”
The two walked out of the accessory store.
An Ling put the keychain into her small backpack.
An indescribable feeling welled up in her heart.
They wandered for a while longer. Seeing that the time was about right, they headed toward the movie theater.
The movie started at three o’clock.
It was the first afternoon showing.
The timing was just about perfect.
The two checked their tickets and entered. They found their seats and sat down.
An Ling sat in the fourth row, somewhat toward the middle. Li Yang sat beside her.
It was a re-release of a classic comedy film.
An Ling had only seen short clips of it before.
Today was the perfect chance to watch it and pull her attention away from Li Yang.
Before the movie started, An Ling went to the restroom.
When she came back, she was holding two cups of cola and a large bucket of popcorn.
Although she had just finished lunch not long ago, snacks and meals didn’t share the same stomach.
Besides, how could you watch a movie without popcorn and cola?
“When did you buy these?” Li Yang took the cola from An Ling’s hand.
“Just now.”
An Ling sat down and placed the popcorn on the armrest between them.
The lights in the theater dimmed. The movie began.
At the start of the movie, there weren’t many funny parts.
Even though the clips she had seen online were quite amusing, An Ling, who already knew some of the plot, found that her attention couldn’t be drawn in by the film.
An Ling stared at the screen. Her eyes were looking, but her mind was completely elsewhere.
She could feel Li Yang’s presence beside her.
She could hear the soft swallowing sounds when he occasionally drank his cola.
She could smell the faint, unique scent that belonged only to him.
She usually smelled it often.
It was a very ordinary scent. But today it made her especially aware of it.
Why was her nose so sharp! An Ling rarely felt troubled by her sense of smell being better than most people’s.
An Ling’s ears also turned uncontrollably toward Li Yang’s side.
Like two small radars, they locked onto their target with precision.
She quickly reached up and pressed her ears down, forcing them to turn back.
But after just a few seconds, they automatically turned toward him again.
“……”
Her body was completely disobeying her. It was as if Li Yang had some kind of magic that kept pulling her in.
An Ling gave up struggling in silence. Anyway, the theater was so dark. Li Yang probably couldn’t see.
She secretly turned her head and glanced at him.
Their eyes met. The air seemed to solidify.
In the darkness, only the light from the screen illuminated their faces.
Even the sound of the movie became faint.
I’m done for! I’m done for! Her action was way too embarrassing.
How long had he been watching?
An Ling quickly turned her head back and pretended to watch the movie.
So embarrassing! So embarrassing! She was dying of embarrassment!
She wailed internally and reached into the popcorn bucket on the armrest.
She mechanically grabbed a handful and stuffed it into her mouth, mechanically chewing.
“You… what are you doing?” Li Yang asked softly.
“Nothing!” The first word came out too loud. An Ling quickly lowered her voice.
“Nothing… I’m not doing anything. Watching the movie.”
“Watching the movie… right, watching the movie. Don’t disturb me.”
Li Yang glanced at her but didn’t say anything. He grabbed some popcorn and continued watching.
An Ling wanted to drink some cola to calm herself down, but she couldn’t get the straw to her mouth no matter what.
Her hand was shaking.
No — her entire body was shaking.
An Ling took a deep breath and tried hard to calm herself.
Calm down. Calm down. It’s so dark here. He can’t see anything.
And what’s wrong with looking at him a couple of times? It’s normal. Completely normal.
This is not normal at all! She’s been abnormal the whole day today!
An Ling screamed like crazy in her heart. On her face, she still had to pretend nothing was wrong.
She grabbed another handful of popcorn, pulled her hand back, and stuffed it into her mouth.
The movie continued.
On the screen, the protagonist was going through a series of ridiculous misunderstandings.
Laughter occasionally erupted from the audience seats.
An Ling also laughed a few times, but most of the time her mind was filled with all kinds of messy thoughts.
Her thoughts drifted back and forth. Sometimes they floated toward Li Yang, sometimes she forcibly dragged them back.
She even wondered if she could fall asleep to make herself calm down.
But her whole body felt hot and restless.
Even when she closed her eyes, all kinds of chaotic images appeared.
The movie had reached its climax. The protagonists were facing their final test.
This part wasn’t comedic. It was a serious scene about the protagonist challenging a new version of himself.
Modern movies were always like this. They couldn’t just give the purest comedy.
They had to stuff in some positive-energy plot.
Although some comedies became better after adding positive energy, some people who were usually exhausted just wanted pure happiness at times like this.
They didn’t want to be lectured again.
Li Yang was watching quite seriously. He stared at the screen, holding his cola, occasionally taking a sip.
An Ling was also watching quite seriously… staring at Li Yang for a long while before suddenly turning her head away.
No no no!
She screamed warnings at herself internally again. Her heartbeat was so fast it felt like it was about to jump out of her chest.
It must be her period. It definitely is.
She’s been like this since the beginning of today. It must be this annoying period affecting her mind.
All her abnormal reactions right now were definitely the period playing tricks on her.
After these few days passed, she would return to normal.
Yes. That’s it.
An Ling gave herself a round of mental pep talk. Her heartbeat finally slowed down a little.
She secretly glanced at Li Yang again.
Their eyes met once more. In the darkness, the two of them looked at each other.
Wasn’t he watching quite seriously just now? Why did he turn around again!
An Ling’s heart screamed once more.
Her heartbeat, which had just stabilized, was no longer under her control.
“What’s wrong?” Li Yang asked quietly. “Not good?”
“It’s good.” An Ling quickly moved her gaze back to the screen.
“It’s pretty good.”
An Ling really was acting strange today. Although he couldn’t quite put his finger on what exactly was strange. It seemed Aunt An was right.
He still needed to take good care of An Ling during these few days.
Li Yang didn’t say anything more. He secretly made up his mind and turned his head back to continue watching the movie.
An Ling let out a sigh of relief, but also felt a little disappointed.
Disappointed about what?!
She fiercely pinched her own thigh and forced herself to focus on the movie.
For the next half hour, An Ling finally managed to keep her mind on the film.
This movie really wasn’t bad.
The plot was a bit old-fashioned and it kept stuffing in positive-energy lessons, but the viewing experience was good.
It was a decent film.
When An Ling saw some funny scenes later that she hadn’t watched before, she also laughed out loud.
Li Yang watched her laughing expression.
The corners of his mouth unconsciously lifted as well.
When the movie ended, the lights came on. The audience stood up one after another and walked out.
Li Yang also stood up and stretched lazily.
An Ling moved around a bit too.
After sitting for two hours, her waist felt a little sore.
Her lower abdomen still had a faint, dry heat.