Wen Yifan remembered that at that time, Sang Yan didn’t say anything, so quiet that not even the slightest breath could be heard. After about half a minute of silence, she wiped away her tears and hung up the phone.
From that day on, they had no more interactions at school.
Later, Wen Yifan moved to Beiyu with her uncle’s family and transferred schools as a result. Just when she thought she had completely lost touch with Sang Yan, she began receiving text messages from him about his grades.
Continuously.
He would send a message every so often.
Then.
During holidays or weekends, Sang Yan would occasionally come to Beiyu to see her. It wasn’t frequent, at most once a month. He would always ask for her opinion in advance.
They always went to the same noodle shop.
The shop was small and old-fashioned. The noodles tasted ordinary and unremarkable, so business wasn’t good. Every time they went, the shop was quiet, with only the owner sitting at the cash register watching TV.
After many visits, the owner recognized them. He didn’t even need to take their order, just got up and went to the kitchen when he saw them.
A small space left with just the two of them.
Because of what she had said, Sang Yan spoke less in front of her. His demeanor was as arrogant as before, but he also seemed to become more cautious, not as reckless as before.
As if by tacit understanding.
They never mentioned that phone call again.
…
Generally speaking, Zhong Siqiao had never seen Wen Yifan angry, so she was a bit curious now: “What did you do? Are you sure your behavior could hurt him with your personality?”
This time Wen Yifan didn’t answer, lowering her head to eat her noodles.
“Maybe you’re just thinking it’s more serious than it is. Perhaps he doesn’t think it’s a big deal at all, it might not even tickle him,” Zhong Siqiao advised her like a caring older sister. “Or maybe he cares about this, but if you apologize and explain, he won’t mind anymore.”
The corner of Wen Yifan’s mouth turned up: “It’s been so long.”
“So what? It’s never too late to apologize,” Zhong Siqiao said. “Your mouth is on your face, you can say whatever you want, that right is yours. It’s just that the right to accept or not is with the other person.”
It was unclear if she had taken it in, Wen Yifan just smiled.
The topic ended there.
After finishing their noodles, the two got up and left the shop.
Zhong Siqiao put on her bag and brought up something else. Halfway through, she suddenly said “Hey” and pinched Wen Yifan’s arm: “Diandian, have you gained some weight?”
“…” Wen Yifan looked up, “Huh?”
“You were so skinny before like you were just bones. I felt uncomfortable even standing next to you,” Zhong Siqiao stared at her face seriously. “But now I feel like you’ve put on a bit of meat.”
Wen Yifan hadn’t noticed: “Really?”
Zhong Siqiao teased: “Are you living quite well with Sang Yan as roommates?”
“…”
Hearing this, Wen Yifan belatedly realized that since Sang Yan had moved in, she seemed to be eating more.
Originally, she didn’t have the habit of eating dinner, but because of his heavy-handed cooking without knowing how to adjust portions properly, she had become a sort of garbage disposal, helping him finish the leftovers.
–
The meeting place they chose was midway between their homes, both a distance away, so they couldn’t stay out too late. After dinner, they each went home.
Taking out her key to enter, Wen Yifan glanced at Sang Yan lying on the couch playing games as usual while taking off her shoes. The TV was playing some unnameable drama, as usual, the volume neither loud nor soft, but still noisy.
After some time, Wen Yifan strangely felt like she was keeping a pet at home. No matter when she left or came back, she could always see this “pet” lounging casually at home.
Wen Yifan pulled back her thoughts, sat down by the couch to drink water, and looked at him a few times. Remembering Zhong Siqiao’s words, her lips parted and closed several times before she finally mustered the courage to call out: “Sang Yan.”
Sang Yan didn’t even look up: “Speak.”
“…” Wen Yifan strangely couldn’t say it again.
After so many years, maybe he didn’t even remember what happened back then.
Suddenly bringing it up now seemed quite puzzling.
But it was also strange to call someone and not say anything. Seeing his leisurely appearance, Wen Yifan thought for a moment and casually brought up a topic: “Is being a bar owner your main job?”
Sang Yan: “Side job.”
Wen Yifan thought for a moment: “I remember last time you said you studied computer science in university?”
“Mm.” Sang Yan finally looked up, with a half-smile, “Why?”
“Nothing, just curious,” Wen Yifan said. “Seeing you don’t need to go to work every day, I just asked casually.”
“Changing jobs. Too many companies are headhunting me, they’re still fighting over me,” Sang Yan yawned, his tone arrogant and shameless. “We’ll see after they finish fighting.”
“…”
Wen Yifan couldn’t tell if he was bragging or if he was really in such a state of being fought over. She didn’t comment on this, but thinking of changing roommates, she said, “By the way, have you checked on the renovation status of your house?”
Sang Yan looked away: “Mm.”
Wen Yifan: “How is it?”
“It’s not finished yet, workers don’t work during the New Year,” Sang Yan said flatly and directly. “Even when it’s done, I can’t move in right away, it might be delayed for a while.”
Wen Yifan was slightly stunned: “So you’re not moving out in a month? You’ll stay longer?”
“That’s the idea,” Sang Yan looked at her as he spoke. “Alright, you don’t need to look so happy about it.”
“…”
Wen Yifan nodded, not saying anything more, thinking to herself that she could only let Su Tian’s friend find another place. After all, she couldn’t just kick Sang Yan out like this. She drank her water while idly watching TV.
After living together for a while, Wen Yifan discovered that every time Sang Yan turned on the TV, it seemed he wasn’t watching, just giving the house some noise.
Once before, when Sang Yan turned on the TV, she watched with him for a while.
At that time, a woman on TV was crying while eating, crying extremely miserably. Wen Yifan didn’t know the previous plot but felt a bit sad watching, so she asked, “What happened?”
Hearing this, Sang Yan lifted his eyelids to glance, and said lazily: “Probably too hungry.”
“…”
So this time, although Wen Yifan still couldn’t understand the plot, she didn’t bother to ask him.
She watched on her own for a while.
This time, Sang Yan seemed to have taken an interest in the drama, putting down his phone after a while and starting to watch. A few minutes later, he even started chatting with her about the characters’ behavior: “What’s the deal with this person?”
It was a suspense drama.
At this point, the time in the drama was in the dead of night, and the lighting was dim. The man seemed to wake from sleep, slowly changed his clothes, wrapped himself up tightly, and then went out.
Wen Yifan guessed: “Dissociative identity disorder, probably.”
“I feel like—” Sang Yan turned to look at her, enunciating each word, “it’s more like sleepwalking?”
“Is it?” This word made Wen Yifan pause for a moment, she looked back at the TV, “I can’t tell the difference, does the main personality not know what the alter does in dissociative identity disorder? I only know that sleepwalkers don’t remember.”
Sang Yan asked: “How do you know?”
“Because,” Wen Yifan answered honestly, “I used to sleepwalk too.”
“…”
Since they were living together, Wen Yifan didn’t feel there was anything to hide about this. Noticing his expression, she realized that this habit of hers was a bit scary, so she added: “It only happened when I was little, and when I lived in the dorm at university, but I haven’t had this problem for a long time.”
Sang Yan pointed out the logical issue: “How do you know you haven’t had it for a long time?”
“Ah,” Wen Yifan paused, giving a reasonable explanation, “No one has told me I’ve been sleepwalking.”
“So after graduation,” Sang Yan smiled, “you’ve lived with others?”
Wen Yifan thought for a moment: “Just Wang Linlin, but only for a week. I only started living with roommates after coming to Nanwu, I didn’t have this experience before.”
Silence fell.
Feeling like there was more to his words, Wen Yifan had a vague guess and hesitantly asked: “Have I sleepwalked in front of you?”
“…”
Thinking that she might still sleepwalk, Wen Yifan felt a bit panicked.
Because it happened when she was unconscious, everything was out of control, and she didn’t know what she might do. There was a fear of the unknown and a sense of helplessness.
For some reason, when she first started university, her sleepwalking problem started again.
The first time she sleepwalked in the dorm, she scared her roommate who had gotten up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. As a result, Wen Yifan was too afraid to sleep for the next few days, fearing she would sleepwalk and scare people again.
After her three roommates found out about this, the four of them talked when they got the chance.
The girls were all very nice and said they could accept it. Plus, Wen Yifan didn’t do anything when sleepwalking, so they gradually got used to it.
Seeing him not answer, Wen Yifan asked again: “Did I?”
Sang Yan asked back: “Did you know when I came back last night?”
This was the second time he asked this question.
Wen Yifan felt puzzled: “I went to bed quite early yesterday, I didn’t hear you come back.”
Sang Yan stared at her intently, as if observing whether she was telling the truth.
“…” Wen Yifan suddenly understood, and also fell silent, then stated with some certainty, “You saw me come out of my room when you came back yesterday, right?”
Sang Yan leaned back in his chair, tilted his head, and casually hummed in agreement.
This was like a bolt from the blue for Wen Yifan. She didn’t know how to react and could only stammer: “Then did I do anything?”
Sang Yan was quite honest, indicating with his gaze: “Just sat here for a while, then went back.”
Wen Yifan felt a bit embarrassed: “I didn’t scare you, did I?”
“Scare me?” Sang Yan laughed, “Wen Yifan, get one thing straight. There’s nothing in this world that scares me. How could your little sleepwalking scare me?”
“It’s good that I didn’t scare you.” His tone was still annoying as usual, but Wen Yifan felt relieved, “My college roommate told me that when I sleepwalk, I don’t do anything. If you see me again later, just treat me like air.”
Sang Yan gave a meaningful “Oh.”
Wen Yifan: “As long as I have good sleep quality, I shouldn’t sleepwalk. It shouldn’t affect you too much.”
Sang Yan: “Alright.”
“By the way,” Wen Yifan suddenly realized she had missed asking about the most crucial thing, and cautiously asked, “Last night was the first time you saw me sleepwalk, right?”
Sang Yan: “Of course.”
Wen Yifan relaxed: “Then that’s—”
Before she could finish, she heard Sang Yan slowly enunciate two words: “Not so.”
“…” Wen Yifan was stunned, “Hm? There’s more?”
Sang Yan’s lips curled slightly as he sat up straight, calmly pouring himself a glass of water. Then, he looked up slightly, very patiently telling her: “There was one more time.”
“Then,” Wen Yifan had a bad feeling, hesitantly asking, “What did I do that time?”
“What did you do,” Sang Yan drawled as if trying to remember, “Let me think—”
Wen Yifan waited calmly.
Thinking it needed such a long time to recall, it probably wasn’t anything major.
After a long while, Sang Yan finally said: “Ah, I remember now.”
Wen Yifan responded: “What?”
Sang Yan stared at her thoughtfully: “You suddenly ran out and hugged me.”
“…”
Wen Yifan’s expression froze, completely unable to believe her ears: “Hm? What?”
She thought this was already a shocking revelation.
Little did she know there was something even harder to accept waiting for her.
Sang Yan raised an eyebrow, casually adding: “You also kissed me once.”