Chapter 51: Turn

But the white-haired girl lying on the sofa still had her eyes tightly shut.Her breathing was even yet heavy, and tiny, unshed tears still clung to her long lashes, as if she had plunged into an endless abyss of darkness, utterly unresponsive.

Only the faint warmth emanating from the grill and the intermingled breaths of the two women remained in the private room.

Lin Shiyue’s heart hammered like a war drum; her earlier surge of courage and resolve began to cool in the profound silence, leaving behind a sensation of almost illusory satisfaction, intertwined with a burgeoning emptiness.

At this moment, Lin Shiyue was truly akin to a small mouse lurking in a shadowed corner, who, seizing the opportune solitude, had thrown caution to the wind and lunged for that delectable piece of cheese, radiating a fatal allure.

Cautiously, yet with an undeniable greed, she took a tiny bite.

The taste was even more intoxicating than she had dared to imagine.

“So soft… so sweet…”

Su Cheng’s lingering essence filled her mouth, a delicate fusion of beer’s subtle bitterness and the girl’s distinct, pure sweetness.

Her fingertips traced the cool, yielding curve of Su Cheng’s lips, the warmth of that touch searing itself into her very soul like a brand.

Within Lin Shiyue’s clear eyes, the tide of desire, far from receding, surged even more tempestuously after that brief, illicit taste.

It was like a wildfire ignited, scorching the very core of her heart.

Her warm hands cradled the girl’s face, a face flushed with the alluring crimson of intoxication.

Lin Shiyue gazed at that face with a dazed intensity, swallowing the sudden rush of saliva that pooled in her mouth.

The alcohol had already numbed her nerves, making it nearly impossible to quell the tumultuous throbbing within her heart.

Her vermilion lips parted slightly, and ethereal words echoed amidst the heavy rhythm of their breaths.

“Chengcheng… no matter which Su Cheng you are… I like you…”

“Will you still like me?”

Lin Shiyue’s thick, subtly curled lashes fluttered incessantly, her gaze fixated on those tightly sealed, cherry-red lips.

Once she had savored the scent of that cheese, she knew she could never forget its heart-achingly sweet flavor; it was an addiction.

Gazing at the other’s defenseless sleeping face, made all the more vulnerable by intoxication, a potent surge of possessiveness began to rise within her.

She yearned to conceal her, to tuck her away in a place known only to herself, to ensure those sweet, charming eyes—which also held a hint of aloofness—would reflect only her own image.

To make her smile only for her, speak only to her, every single cell of her being belonging solely to Lin Shiyue…

This sudden, overwhelming desire sent a tremor through the girl’s mind.

Her slender fingers involuntarily traced the delicate contours of Su Cheng’s brows and eyes, gliding over the elegant bridge of her nose before finally coming to rest upon those slightly swollen, reddened lips.

The softness beneath her fingertips caused her heart to reel; the delicious afterglow of that taste reverberating through her body, nearly sending her into oblivion.

The dam of her reason, confronted by a torrent woven from alcohol and desire, was on the verge of bursting.

Her breath grew ragged, her eyes once again glazed over with a wild, hazy intensity, and her body instinctively drew a few inches closer.

The curve of her lips was almost grotesque, a sight that would undoubtedly strike terror into anyone who witnessed it.

“I like you, yes, I’ve always liked you, loved you, ha-mm…”

Memories, long sealed away, quietly surfaced in her mind.

Su Cheng had once done the very same thing to her, whispering words of affection into her ear while she was intoxicated.

Then, taking advantage of her defenseless state, she had secretly kissed Lin Shiyue’s own cherry lips.

If our roles were reversed, I would surely make you understand the depth of my affection, the fervor of my love for you.

Suddenly, Lin Shiyue scooped up Su Cheng’s slender, delicate form; the body, soft as a cotton pillow, instantly conjuring a flood of memories for the girl.

On the very day Su Cheng was stabbed, Lin Shiyue, who happened to be carrying her luggage and on the verge of leaving campus, witnessed with her own eyes Su Cheng collapsing into Yin Xuelian’s embrace, the startling crimson of blood soaking through white clothing, a stark omen of a life slipping away.

In that moment, it felt as though a piece of her heart had been torn away.

A sharp pang in her heart caused Lin Shiyue to open her eyes, her vision blurring through eyes clouded with tears.

The soft jade in her arms was not as cold as she had imagined; a gentle warmth emanated from where their skin met, merging into one.

Yet, sorrowful memories continued to surge, and scalding tears, beyond her control, streamed down her face like a broken dam.

Lin Shiyue had stood outside the emergency room for what felt like an eternity, and the moment the emergency light flickered off, her own world plunged into darkness.

Even if we were to become strangers from that day forward, she had only wished for Su Cheng’s well-being.

But why, why did you leave me?

If this world held no trace of her, then she would abandon it entirely.

The unleashing of these memories caused Lin Shiyue’s emotional control to shatter completely.

Hot tears, laden with a tumultuous mix of joy and sorrow, yearning and despair, cascaded onto Su Cheng’s cheeks and forehead.

She bit down on her own lip, as if trying to reclaim the very fuel that illuminated her world from Su Cheng’s presence.

A look of near madness enveloped Lin Shiyue’s face, a sickly flush blooming across her cheeks and graceful neck.

It wasn’t until every crevice of her heart was saturated with the unique, citrusy scent of Su Cheng that Lin Shiyue reluctantly released those alluring, cherry-red lips.

“Do you really like me or not? Speak, tell me again that you like me…” Lin Shiyue’s lips curved into a gentle smile, her voice a sweet, mellow tone, “I’m already drunk, Chengcheng…”

Yet, Su Cheng remained utterly silent in her arms, offering no glimpse of tenderness, a refusal as quiet as it was absolute.

Her gentle, faint smile seemed to freeze instantly, shattering and vanishing in the blink of an eye, replaced by a fierce, almost savage expression.

“Speak! Speak, I say!”

“How dare you make me fall in love with you, only to cruelly abandon me! How dare you!”

“Answer me!”

The fierce expression contorted into a terrifying, vacant grin, then dissolved into endless, mournful sobs, as if the capricious Lin Shiyue had completely broken.

Without a response from Su Cheng, she was, indeed, no different from shattered.

“Can’t you just say ‘I like you’ one more time…?”

Lin Shiyue lowered her sorrowful gaze; she seemed to give up, letting the soft jade in her arms fall onto the cold sofa.

Pain, anger, and despair collectively carved a deep scar into the depths of her heart.

“Yue’er… I like you…”

The sudden, whispered murmur made Lin Shiyue’s wounded heart leap with joyous abandon.

Her tightly pressed lips curved into a joyful arc, and she swiftly gathered the sweet, abandoned ‘pillow’ back into her embrace, dispelling the chill that had enveloped her.

“Indeed! Indeed… I knew you still liked me… Chengcheng…”

“I love you so much… I really, really love you…”

Her voice, tender and saccharine, seemed to drip with a sweetness that permeated her very bones, and the peculiar glint in Lin Shiyue’s eyes grew increasingly distinct.

It was as if she had contracted a malady, one whose name was Love.

Lin Shiyue kissed those sweet lips once more, this time with far less frenzy and considerably more tenderness, her powerful heartbeat articulating the excitement and profound joy of the moment.

Once… twice… thrice…

She had long forgotten how many times they had parted and reunited; Lin Shiyue’s essence seemed to have been utterly etched onto Su Cheng’s lips, and she admired her handiwork with a triumphant satisfaction.

“You’re mine… darling~”

Just as her lips were about to reclaim that enticing softness once more…

“Click!”

The click and turn of the private room door lock, like a sudden bolt of lightning, violently cleaved through Lin Shiyue’s chaotic world, which had been shrouded in desire, and her reason, previously engulfed by alcohol, began to resurface.

The sickly flush on her skin receded like a retreating tide.

She was unwilling to release the soft jade cradled in her arms, and the surging desire that had consumed her moments before was instantly replaced by a disorienting bewilderment at the unknown impending arrival.

And as the girl from beyond the door fully materialized into her blurred vision, outside the window, a sudden tempest raged, with flashes of lightning and booming thunder…

“What have you done to my little Chengzi?!”