Chapter 18: Different Ways of Falling

“Mm…” Xia An slowly opened her eyes, squinting against the dim light.

Between being half asleep and half awake, Xia An vaguely thought it was a dream again—why was she dreaming about her again?

Her gaze first landed on the other woman’s soft lips. Xia An’s eyes were languid as she gazed at that gentle face, her breathing slowly starting to become erratic…

Her breathing was erratic because some thoughts that shouldn’t have surfaced in her mind did—like kissing those lips.

Warm breath brushed against her cheek. Ye Jin looked down at the dazed expression on Xia An’s face.

For a second or two, the two of them just gazed at each other.

Ye Jin even sensed that the person beside her was breathing a little faster. She didn’t know if it was the light, but it seemed like there was a touch of gentle color on Xia An’s fair cheeks.

“Turn off the light,” Ye Jin said, her mind clear and rational.

The next second, darkness filled the room.

The instant Ye Jin turned off the light, Xia An’s heart suddenly began to pound uncontrollably. That was when she reacted and realized that what had just happened wasn’t a dream.

Thank goodness, thank goodness she hadn’t kissed her.

That was the only thought in Xia An’s mind right now—if she had thought it was a dream and kissed her just now, wouldn’t that have been so incredibly embarrassing?

With the lights off, other than Ye Wan, who was asleep in the middle, Xia An and Ye Jin were both still awake.

The next day, the warm sun rose.

Last night was probably the most peaceful night’s sleep Xia An had had. She had been alone since she was a child, and she had never understood the feeling of having someone to hold while sleeping.

It turned out that it was this wonderful.

The clingy Ye Wan was the same way; she looked like she was smiling to herself even while she slept.

When Ye Jin woke up, the three of them were sleeping in a position that was even more intimate than it had been last night, because when she opened her eyes, Xia An’s face was just inches away.

Ye Wan was still sandwiched between them, sleeping soundly. At the same time, Ye Jin also realized that her waist was being hugged by someone…

Xia An was completely unconscious, and didn’t even know when her arm had ended up around Ye Jin’s waist.

Ye Jin wanted to push Xia An’s hand away…

As a result, Xia An rubbed her head against the pillow, pulling the other woman’s slender waist even tighter, and hugging both of them at once without any hesitation.

She still didn’t find it repulsive…

Since that was the case, Ye Jin restrained the feeling of resistance in her subconscious mind, and simply didn’t move, just letting Xia An hug her like that.

Actually, this feeling wasn’t bad.

These repeated close contacts with Xia An made Ye Jin can’t help but wonder if she had crossed that barrier in her mind and was slowly growing able to be intimate with people?

Ye Jin quietly looked at the sleeping faces of the two people before her.

Xia An and Ye Wan both had long, straight black hair, and even the way they looked when they were sleeping was a little similar. If they were said to be mother and daughter, most people would probably believe it.

Come to think of it, Xia An’s sleeping face really did look like a child’s. She seemed even more relaxed than she had been last night when she fell asleep. Ye Jin was still gazing at her intently…

****

At the graduate dorms, from the time she had returned last night until now, Ke Rochu had been sitting at her desk, blankly spacing out all night.
Xia An hadn’t returned all night.

But the biggest reason Ke Rochu was spacing out wasn’t because of this. It was because of the woman she had met at Night Colors last night…

As she thought about some things, Ke Rochu licked her lips without realizing it. And then, the next second, she buried her head on the desk and rubbed her head.

She had decided not to think about what happened last night, so why was she thinking about it again?

That was an accident. It was just an accident…

Last night, Ke Rochu had gone to Night Colors to find Xia An. She didn’t believe that if she went to Night Colors, Xia An would ignore her.

As a result, the staff members said that Xia An hadn’t come to work.

Next to the most inconspicuous bar, Ke Rochu ordered a glass of juice. She didn’t dare to drink alcohol.

Her family had been teaching her this since she was little: girls absolutely shouldn’t drink alcohol, especially when they’re outside.

She wasn’t at Night Colors, she wasn’t at the hospital, and she hadn’t returned to the dorms. Where could she be?

Ke Rochu was thinking about Xia An with her whole heart and soul.

As she watched the girls in the nightclub who were hugging and holding onto men, Ke Rochu started to have all sorts of wild thoughts…

That was impossible.

Ke Rochu immediately negated her thoughts. Xia An definitely wasn’t that kind of woman; otherwise, she wouldn’t have liked Xia An all this time.

In order to try her best to get closer to Xia An, Ke Rochu had even thought about going to work at Night Colors with Xia An, but she couldn’t drink alcohol.

Ke Rochu gripped her glass and kept lowering her head, until her tears started dripping onto the bar, one after another.

Ke Rochu felt very inferior in front of Xia An.

Her looks were average, her body was average, her academic performance was average, her abilities were average, her family was average, everything about her was average. How could she possibly attract Xia An?

There were plenty of people who were more outstanding than her who couldn’t get Xia An, anyway.

Xia An wouldn’t like her. It could be said that Ke Rochu had already come to terms with this fact. But even so, no matter what happened, she still wanted to be by Xia An’s side in the first moment.
Ke Rochu’s tears kept falling.

Her tears came easily, and she couldn’t control them at all. Sometimes, even a single offhand word from Xia An could make her hide and cry for a long time.

Just like tonight, Xia An hadn’t celebrated her birthday with her…

Sheng Ruqi, who was known as the queen of the nightclubs, was also in a bad mood today, and she was sitting quietly at the inconspicuous bar and drinking. Seeing a girl next to her holding a glass of watermelon juice and crying for a long time with her head lowered, she finally couldn’t hold back her habitual urge to cherish women.

Ke Rochu had her head lowered. A tissue was passed to her. She looked up. Before her was a gentle and pretty face, but it was a stranger. She was still wary.

That face was the only thing that was gentle about Sheng Ruqi. In fact, her true self had nothing to do with being gentle. She was a complete vixen through and through.

“Wipe them.” Sheng Ruqi said.

She had to admit that when the girl looked up, she was a little disappointed, because she looked too young. She didn’t like attracting women who were younger than her.

“Thank you.”

After a while, the girl next to her was still crying. Sheng Ruqi had never seen someone who could cry like this, and she had never seen anyone “drowning their sorrows” while holding watermelon juice either.

Sheng Ruqi, holding her glass of alcohol, sat next to Ke Rochu and asked, “Did you just get dumped?”

Ke Rochu only looked at the other woman and didn’t say anything.

“Do I look like a bad person?” Seeing that the other woman was just like a startled little lamb, Sheng Ruqi guessed that she was probably at a nightclub for the first time.

“No.” Ke Rochu answered seriously. The woman before her was pretty and intellectual. Her first impression of her was good, but Ke Rochu was used to keeping some distance from strangers.

Seeing Ke Rochu’s innocent expression, Sheng Ruqi boldly guessed, “First time getting dumped?”
Ke Rochu quietly shook her head. She felt that she was in an even worse state than getting dumped.

People who got dumped had at least been together before.

“Then what are you crying about?” Sheng Ruqi stared at Ke Rochu’s face.

She suddenly thought that she was actually quite attractive. How could she be so well-behaved? It made her want to bully her.

Ke Rochu thought about it. Anyway, it was just a stranger. She could just treat her like a tree hollow and complain to her, “The person I like doesn’t like me.”

Sheng Ruqi first laughed for a while, and then said lightly, “That’s very normal, though.”
Ke Rochu looked at Sheng Ruqi’s smile with her lips pressed together.

Hearing the other woman say that, her red eyes started to get wet again, and tears streamed down.

“Don’t cry, don’t cry.” Sheng Ruqi said as she was coddling a child.

She took out a tissue to help Ke Rochu wipe her tears.

 “I once liked a woman too, liked her for a very, very long time. At the time, I thought that I would only ever like her in this lifetime…”

“And then?” Seeing that the other person wasn’t going to continue, Ke Rochu took the initiative to ask.

“Then, she didn’t like me, that’s it.” Sheng Ruqi said casually.

“I also think that I can only like her.” Ke Ruochu lowered her head and said sadly.

“You’ve never been in love before?”

Ke Rochu was a little shy, “Mm…”

“It’ll get better after you’ve been in love a few more times,” Sheng Ruqi said slowly, sipping her drink. “After a few more relationships, you’ll realize that there’s more than one option in love.”

“Do you still like her now?”

“Want to know?” Sheng Ruqi became interested in the girl in front of her. She said, “Have a drink with me, and I’ll tell you.”

“I don’t drink.”

How could there be such a well-behaved girl? Sheng Ruqi even wanted to rub her face. “It’s said to be wine, but it’s just a drink. There’s no alcohol content.”

Seeing that she was getting along with the other woman, Ke Rochu hesitated for a moment.

She thought that one cup wouldn’t be anything, so she didn’t refuse.

It was just that she had overestimated her alcohol tolerance. After one cup, her small face started to turn red.

Ke Rochu thought to herself, ‘I really am not suitable for alcohol at all—not even a little bit.’

“What’s wrong?” Sheng Ruqi saw that her face was suddenly flushed, like a red apple.

“I need to go to the restroom…” After saying that, Ke Rochu immediately headed for the restroom, wanting to wash her face to sober up.
Sheng Ruqi was worried, so she followed her closely.

After turning on the faucet, she cupped some cold water in her hands and splashed it on her face. Ke Rochu propped herself up on the sink with her arms as she looked at herself in the mirror.

Her face was as red as if it had ripened. Was the alcohol content in that wine really low? Why was her head so dizzy?

“Are you okay?” Sheng Ruqi supported Ke Rochu and then pulled off some tissues from the side, helping her wipe the water droplets from her face. “You really can’t drink at all, huh?”

“Why would I lie to you…” Ke Rochu said softly, complaining to Sheng Ruqi. After drinking the alcohol, Ke Rochu seemed to feel even worse, and she began to sob quietly.

“Why are you crying again?”

“I feel bad…” Ke Ruochu mumbled. ”

“If I had known you were like this, I wouldn’t have let you drink.” Sheng Ruqi said with a smile as she wiped away her tears. When she wiped away the tear stains at the corners of her mouth, her fingertips just happened to brush against those pink and soft lips, and she felt a little itchy in her heart.

She was so gentle. Ke Rochu stared at Sheng Ruqi in a daze. Maybe it was because it had been too long since anyone had cared about her like this, but she could be moved even by a stranger.

Staring at each other for too long made it easy for sparks to fly.
Without knowing how, the two drew closer again, and their lips clumsily touched.

“Mm…” Ke Rochu moaned, half-awake and half-dazed. She kept kissing her. Those lips were very soft and were mixed with a bewitching, womanly fragrance.

Under the influence of the alcohol, her head grew hot, and she was completely enraptured. After being kissed by the other woman, her face grew even redder.

Seeing that she was blushing and felt embarrassed, Sheng Ruqi found her even more attractive. She gently kissed the girl’s ear and said with a smile, “Is this your first time kissing? Remember to use your tongue…”