Chapter 7: Everything Went Wrong! (٩(´Д` ;)۶:.*)

“L-L-Little Ruoxi?!”

The girl’s fragrance instantly overwhelmed the subtle scented aroma in the private room.

The overly intimate form of address made the already flustered girl, like a cat whose fur had been ruffled, instinctively scoot her butt away from the other party.

However, Bai Ruoxi seemed to have forgotten she was sitting on the inner side of the booth seat.

Even though she had startled and jerked backward a good distance, she was still well within Yin Xiaomeng’s reach.

This perhaps best illustrated the biggest difference between a straight girl and a lesbian.

If your best girlfriend suddenly got this close, you might just suspect she had some strange idea pop into her head, right?

The glasses in her hand slipped and fell due to the sudden movement.

After a soft clatter, Bai Ruoxi, whose world before her eyes was now completely blurry, had her fur thoroughly ruffled.

A sense of security faded in an instant.

Uncontrollably, the ambiguous words the other had spoken during their many conversations over this time floated into her mind…

Especially knowing the other also liked girls, some scenes that only existed in the occasional lazy-browsed short videos abruptly jumped into her head.

“No no no no no, that’s not okay!”

“We’re not at that stage yet!”

Both hands instinctively waved in front of her.

Having already imagined a bunch of scenes that wouldn’t pass censorship, the girl turned her head away, tightly shut her eyes, and even her neck was stained with an unusual flush of red.

She had even forgotten the decision she had made before leaving the school gates.

“?”

Yin Xiaomeng held the lip gloss, staring blankly at the girl whose ‘conquest progress’ had suddenly skyrocketed, her expression somewhat confused.

She turned to look at the lip gloss, then back at the person who was still muttering ‘no no no,’and took a sharp breath.

‘I was just teasing a little?’

‘What happened?’

‘This wasn’t in the plan, was it?’

It was just applying lip gloss…

Wasn’t this a pretty common thing among close girlfriends?

“…”

This wasn’t a cat; this was clearly a little white rabbit…

Even more exciting now.

…

Finally putting her retrieved glasses back on.

Having already embarrassed herself to the point of no return, Bai Ruoxi took a deep breath.

Perhaps because she had embarrassed herself so much she’d built up an immunity, compared to the restraint from not long ago, the now finally calmed-down girl seemed to have loosened up a bit.

It was just that when her gaze swept over the lip gloss placed on the table, she still subconsciously felt her face grow warm.

‘What have I been doing all day…’

She grumbled inwardly, annoyed at her own actions today.

Even she herself didn’t understand what wind had gotten into her today…

“Can’t tell~”

“You like me that much?”

Yin Xiaomeng propped her cheek with one hand, tilting her head slightly, using a teasing tone to lightly poke at the psyche of the girl who had just barely calmed down.

Bai Ruoxi had grown… right?

At the very least, that panicked, flustered look from before these two teasing remarks was no longer visible—

It was just that her toes under the table were unconsciously curling tightly.

“…Ahem!”

Clearing her throat awkwardly, the teased party instinctively averted her gaze, her fingers rubbing her nose somewhat unnaturally.

Fortunately, just as she was thinking about how to get past this awkward topic, the private room door was knocked.

“Hello? The dishes you ordered…”

The waiter outside gently pushed the door open a crack.

Yin Xiaomeng, who had originally planned to sneak in a couple more teasing remarks, withdrew her gaze.

A flash of impatience crossed her face, replaced by a sweet smile the instant she turned her head.

She called out ‘please come in’ very naturally.

The door let out a faint creak as the server pushed the food cart in.

“…”

Sitting in her seat, Bai Ruoxi stole a glance at the girl who was now sitting quietly with her back to her, waiting for the dishes to be served one by one, and let out a long sigh of relief.

She realized something.

‘Wait, wasn’t I here to draw a clear line?’

Unconsciously raising a hand to push her glasses frame, the matter she had long forgotten finally seized this opening to resurface.

“…”

Silent.

Bai Ruoxi watched Yin Xiaomeng, whose eyes sparkled as she looked at a particular dish, and suddenly felt unsure about what she should actually do.

The love of beauty is common to all.

Especially when it’s such a pretty girl…

Her fingers unconsciously rubbed the skin of her own cheek.

Although two small pimples had popped up recently due to academic stress, overall it should still fall within the range of being smooth, right?

Pursing her lips, the girl’s greed was slowly gnawing away at the nerves called reason.

‘What does she even see in me?’

‘Just because… we share the same interests?’

After the shyness passed, the well-hidden trace of low self-esteem deep in her heart dug out this question she had pondered long ago from the wastebasket of her thoughts.

“…”

The more she thought, the more she thought, the more she felt like retreating…

But still, she was somewhat greedily hoping the other would continue to care about her in the future…

If they were just friends, it seemed it couldn’t satisfy that overstepping desire—

“Miss Bai?”

“Hellooo? Are you listening?”

“The food’s all served, you know? Their roasted squab is really delicious…”

A pale, slender hand waved back and forth before her eyes.

Yin Xiaomeng, who had originally been sitting across, had somehow come closer.

That innocent face held a bit of confusion, tinged with a layer of slight complaint that seemed to say ‘how come you keep spacing out when you’re out with me?’

Different from the little demon look from not long ago, the girl now seemed more like a girlfriend on a date, pouting with a little grudge for being ignored…

“Hey hey! Little! Ruo! Xi!”

“Are you even listening to me?!”

So cute.

Even if it was an act.

But Bai Ruoxi was clearly very susceptible to this act.

“Huh? Ah, ah-ah!”

“What, what did you just say?”

The wild thoughts in her head were once again forced aside.

The girl with a dazed look abruptly lifted her head, her stammering words indirectly admitting her earlier distraction.

…

The meal was eaten somewhat absentmindedly.

Sitting on a bench by the roadside, the girl holding a parasol licked at the ice cream in her hand.

In the hot weather, the freshly scooped strawberry cream ice cream had already melted into a slush.

“Slurp.”

Yin Xiaomeng, who hadn’t eaten this kind of three-yuan-a-cup ice cream from a roadside shop in a long time, ate with great relish.

However, this was rather hard on Miss Bai Ruoxi, who was sitting on the bench with her.

Her gaze always lingered unconsciously when it caught sight of the girl’s pink tongue.

The pink ice cream slush developed a shallow depression from the somewhat clumsy licking.

Bai Ruoxi swallowed unnaturally, turning her head away to forcibly cut off her line of sight.

“Cute…”

She murmured softly.

Her moral bottom line had, at some point, shifted its position far away.

In just that moment of daze, the melted ice cream in her hand dripped down, the cream flowing over the curve, past the napkin she was using as a holder, and finally landing on her pant leg.

A chill instantly spread.

The girl flusteredly used her fingers to wipe at the spot where the cream had dripped.

“…”

Somewhat panicked, she licked at the already melted ice cream.

The plain cream left a cloying sweetness in her mouth.

Sitting beside her, Yin Xiaomeng stole a glance out of the corner of her eye.

The pleased curve at the corner of her mouth vanished in an instant.