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Chapter 15
Ah? Date? Me?
Zhu Xinyue, still crouching, looked up at Ji Qingyuan, seeing his confident demeanor, then turned to Ji Linyu.
Ji Linyu narrowed his eyes and said nothing..
Zhu Xinyue quickly stood up, but because she got up too fast, she lost her balance and wobbled.
Both men reached out to her simultaneously.
Ji Linyu offered his palm up in front of her. Ji Qingyuan directly grabbed her arm, steadying her.
Before Zhu Xinyue’s hand could touch Ji Linyu’s palm, Ji Qingyuan had already pulled her upright.
Ji Linyu lowered his gaze and his eyes landed on where Ji Qingyuan was holding her arm.
“Be careful,” Ji Qingyuan reminded her.
After Zhu Xinyue stood firm, she was about to pull her arm out of Ji Qingyuan’s hand, but the other party let go of her arm first.
Ji Linyu’s eyes flickered.
Clearing her throat, Zhu Xinyue said to Ji Qingyuan, “I haven’t agreed to be your date yet.”
Ji Linyu, now joined by her, looked at his brother.
Ji Qingyuan was stunned. He had never considered Zhu Xinyue might refuse, causing his heart to skip a beat. Quickly glancing at his brother, he then looked at Zhu Xinyue with puppy-dog eyes.
“Ayue? You won’t sit at the main table with me?” His tone was a bit aggrieved, wondering why things were different from before when they had clearly agreed.
Ji Qingyuan had an extraordinarily handsome face.
Even the director had said that no matter what expression he made, he wouldn’t lose his good looks. Even now, looking pitiful and innocent, he didn’t seem like he was up to any tricks.
Zhu Xinyue scratched her face and avoided Ji Qingyuan’s gaze.
“This… doesn’t seem appropriate.”
Ji Qingyuan clenched his palms and realized something. Feeling an emptiness in his heart as if something that was once taken for granted was quietly changing.
As someone who could navigate any situation smoothly, he knew that taking a step back now would lead to endless opportunities.
He asked, “Not even as a temporary date?”
Emphasizing the word “temporary.”
Just as Zhu Xinyue was about to respond, Ji Linyu, standing aside, no longer wanted to hear the conversation.
He placed his hand on Zhu Xinyue’s suitcase handle, pulling it for her. “Let’s talk at the hotel.”
The night sky at 4 a.m. in Country Y was particularly somber.
Ji Qingyuan opened his lips and wanted to say something, but the cell phone in his pocket suddenly rang. He waved to Zhu Xinyue and asked her to go to the car first, while he stayed to answer the call.
Zhu Xinyue decisively followed Ji Linyu, who was pulling her suitcase.
It might be a bit too ambiguous to walk next to him, so she chose to walk next to her suitcase.
The two people were separated by a distance of a suitcase, and their shadows grew from short to long.
Ji Linyu, noticing Zhu Xinyue following, slowed his pace.
“How’s it going at the training base?” he initiated.
Zhu Xinyue, seeing he wasn’t asking about the “date” matter, wasn’t sure if she should explain. After all, they weren’t in any kind of relationship, and he had previously made it clear he wasn’t interested in her that way. Explaining might seem unnecessary.
“Except for the meals still being nutritious, everything’s great. It’s been very fulfilling.”
When she hadn’t seen him, she had so much to say, wanting to message him but feeling too shy to be too forward. Now, seeing him, she didn’t know what to say.
Ji Linyu opened the car trunk, lifting her suitcase with one hand and placing it inside.
Watching his smooth muscle movements, Zhu Xinyue boasted, “My martial arts classes have been effective lately. I’ve even built some muscles! When sparring with Teacher Liang, he said my fight scenes were smooth and suggested I could become an action star, though he also said it might be too tough for me.”
Ji Linyu rested his hand on the car roof, waiting for Ji Qingyuan to put his own suitcase in the trunk.
He turned to Zhu Xinyue and said, “Teacher Liang?”
“Yeah! Liang Yuyu. Do you know him? He was the male lead in Director Wen’s last movie. What was the name of that film…” Zhu Xinyue tilted her head, trying to recall.
Seeing she couldn’t remember the movie’s name, Ji Linyu smiled and reminded her, “Butterfly Dream. That movie was invested by Jinhuan.”
Zhu Xinyue’s eyes lit up. “Yes, Butterfly Dream! Teacher Liang is a great actor. He even helped me with lines and acting. He’s such a good senior.”
Ji Linyu’s eyelid twitched.
Yes, in her eyes, Liang Yuyu was also a “good” senior. She sure handed out “good person” cards frequently.
Zhu Xinyue still wanted to talk to him, but Ji Linyu glanced at Ji Qingyuan, who was still on the phone in the distance, seemingly uninterested in the topic of the training base and Liang Yuyu.
The air suddenly grew silent.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ji Linyu noticed her head bowed, lost in thought.
Earlier, she had looked so happy to see him, but now she seemed inexplicably down. Her mood was more unpredictable than the weather.
As Zhu Xinyue pondered how to start a new topic, she saw him extend a chocolate ball toward her.
She looked up from his palm, blinking.
“Want one?” Ji Linyu asked.
Zhu Xinyue accepted the chocolate ball, unwrapping it as she asked, “Where did you get this?”
That’s so unfair, carrying chocolate around like this!
How did he know she was hungry?
Ji Linyu paused. Before coming to pick them up, he had been catching up with an old friend.
His friend had asked who he was picking up, and Ji Linyu replied, “My brother and… a little friend.”
His friend had picked up a chocolate ball from the table, bought it at the airport to cheer up his daughter, and tossed it to Ji Linyu, advising that giving sweets to a “little friend” when she was unhappy always worked.
“From a friend,” Ji Linyu said vaguely.
Zhu Xinyue didn’t dare bite into the chocolate, afraid it would melt between her teeth and make her look unsightly when she talked. So, she just let it sit in her mouth without speaking.
This chocolate is way too sweet! It made her throat hurt.
Finally swallowing it down, Zhu Xinyue murmured, “So sweet, thank your friend.”
Ji Linyu glanced at her, silently noting to ask his friend about the brand of that chocolate later.
Looking at Ji Qingyuan still on the phone under the streetlight, Zhu Xinyue wondered how long he’d take. Feeling tired from standing, she leaned against the car.
“If you’re tired, go sleep in the car for a bit,” Ji Linyu guessed she might be sleepy too.
Zhu Xinyue put her hands in her jacket pockets, her elbow almost touching his body, the distance just a fist’s length away, easily within reach.
She looked down at their shadows, the distance just right—not too close, not too far.
“Brother Linyu, you came to pick us up at 4 a.m. and didn’t complain about being tired. How can I, who slept several hours on the plane, say I’m tired?”
Her tone was lighthearted. Ji Linyu thought, all thanks to that chocolate ball.
Zhu Xinyue watched his profile, and when he was about to turn, she averted her gaze.
Ji Linyu glanced at her. The night breeze lifted her hair, brushing against his arm like a feather, lightly and fleetingly, tickling him. She tucked her playful hair behind her ear, revealing her delicate ear and profile.
No makeup, clean and pure like the moonlight tonight.
Noticing him watching her from the corner of her eye, she turned to him, wondering if he had something to say.
But he looked away first, seeming to have nothing to say.
Zhu Xinyue’s hand clenched in her pocket. She felt some things needed to be said, or she wouldn’t sleep tonight.
“Brother Linyu, did you get a haircut?” Zhu Xinyue began.
Ji Linyu smiled slightly, “Yes.”
He seemed in a good mood. Zhu Xinyue gauged his expression and suddenly didn’t feel like asking anymore.
Ji Linyu waited for a while, but no follow-up came. Their shadows cast by the streetlight lay on the ground, but her shadow no longer turned towards him.
His once joyful mood gradually returned to calm.
“Does it not look good?” he suddenly asked.
Zhu Xinyue’s heart, which had sunk to the bottom of the sea, floated back up with his words, beating strongly, rising and falling with the waves, sometimes surfacing for fresh air, sometimes sinking, struggling to breathe.
What does he mean? Does he care about her opinion?
“It looks good, really good.” Zhu Xinyue glanced at him, her voice lowering to a mutter, “…too good, which makes me a bit unhappy.”
Is he trying to look good for someone? Who is this “someone”? If it’s not her, she wouldn’t be happy.
Ji Linyu didn’t understand at first, but when he did, his throat tightened, and the air around him grew hot.
He touched his earlobe, took a step to the side, leaning with her against the trunk.
Zhu Xinyue took her hand out of her pocket, letting them hang down.
Putting them at her sides felt too close to him. Crossing them felt like she was pushing him away, so she placed them casually on her lap.
The night breeze blew, clouds obscured the moon, and sporadic insects flitted around the streetlight, their shadows on the ground seeming to blur.
He had changed his cologne.
Due to her poor eyesight, Zhu Xinyue was more sensitive to smells. She remembered their first meeting when Ji Linyu had a faint grassy scent, now replaced by a rich oriental woody fragrance, like an ancient forest, timeless and calming.
It felt like as long as she didn’t confess outright like their first meeting, everything had a chance to turn around.
“About what Ji Qingyuan said earlier about the date…” Zhu Xinyue brought it up again, “What do you think, Brother Linyu?”
Ji Linyu initially wanted to say it was their private matter and her decision, but seeing her expression, he felt there was more to her words.
“What do you think I should think?” he asked.
“If you don’t want me to be his date, I won’t agree.” She was sly, playing a little word game.
Zhu Xinyue remained outwardly calm, though her heart was pounding. She knew Ji Qingyuan needed her status to add to his prestige at this moment. As his friend, even more as a childhood friend, it was her duty to support him. After all, it was just being his date, not his girlfriend.
Ji Linyu, as Ji Qingyuan’s brother, surely understood this.
Ji Qingyuan finally finished his call and walked over.
“…Objectively speaking, everyone knows you are good friends. You supporting him by being his date is beyond reproach,” Ji Linyu said, recalling how people at Ji Qingyuan’s party had called her his childhood sweetheart, indicating how close they were.
Zhu Xinyue stood up as Ji Linyu rose to leave, tentatively asking, “And subjectively?”
Ji Qingyuan, dragging his suitcase over, waved at them, oblivious to the tension between them, and immediately apologized, “Sorry, sorry. Just now, Brother Hu called and said there’s a slight issue with the variety show schedule. We might have to reschedule.”
Ji Qingyuan stood between them, lifted his suitcase into the trunk, and playfully flexed his biceps at Zhu Xinyue, saying, “Choose me as your date. I’m strong. I’ll carry your shopping bags when you go shopping, and I’ll carry your backpack when you go out. 24/7, at your service! Think about it.”
Zhu Xinyue couldn’t help but glance at Ji Qingyuan disdainfully and then chased after Ji Linyu, who was about to get into the car.
She asked again, “And subjectively?”
Ji Linyu looked up at Ji Qingyuan, who had already opened the front passenger door and sat inside.
Zhu Xinyue clutched Ji Linyu’s shirt, almost wrinkling it, yet still received no answer.
Three times the charm, she thought. If she couldn’t get an answer… she’d give up.
Just as she was about to let go, his palm covered her cool fingers.
The clouds blocking the moon dispersed, pale moonlight fell, illuminating their interwoven hands, the knuckles of his fingers tinged with a hint of peach blossom pink.
It felt like a butterfly’s fleeting touch, light and gentle.
She wanted to capture the butterfly, even though her breathing slowed.
His palm tightened, lowering her hand.
The light was blocked by the shadow of a nearby car, hiding their joined hands in the darkness.
Zhu Xinyue slightly tilted her head, their eyes met, her gaze collided with his deep, dark eyes, a faint glimmer in them, like a light breaking through thick fog.
She heard his voice, low and secretive, as if confessing a hidden truth.
“If I say I don’t want you to, would I still be a good person in your eyes?”
**
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