The distance between them closed in an instant.
The man’s familiar scent pressed down, his features now within arm’s reach. His eyes had thin double eyelids, slightly upturned at the corners, carrying an innate sharpness. When he looked at someone, it always felt like he was scrutinizing them – aloof, cold, and indifferent.
But now, as he leaned down to meet her gaze, that sense of distance seemed to lessen.
Wen Yifan leaned back against the elevator wall, looking back at him without averting her eyes. Her thoughts felt muddled, unable to process clearly. She only sensed that his words weren’t a good suggestion, and replied stiffly, “I don’t have any such plans at the moment.”
Sang Yan straightened up, the curve of his lips not yet fading. It was unclear whether he believed her or not.
After some thought, Wen Yifan couldn’t help but add formally, “When I do in the future, I’ll let you know.”
“…”
Having said this, Wen Yifan didn’t wait for his reaction and calmly walked out. She felt her steps were steady, but they seemed heavy, difficult to lift as if she were walking on cotton.
Sang Yan finally noticed something was off with her: “How much did you drink tonight?”
Wen Yifan stopped: “One glass.”
Sang Yan: “One glass of what?”
Wen Yifan shook her head: “I don’t know.”
Sang Yan frowned, his tone displeased: “You don’t know, yet you drank it anyway?”
Wen Yifan: “Xiao Tian gave it to me.”
She was like a robot, answering whatever was asked, seemingly not much different from her usual self. If not for that earlier statement, Sang Yan wouldn’t have realized she was drunk.
Afraid she might fall, Sang Yan stepped forward, reaching out to steady her: “Stand still.”
Seeing his movement, Wen Yifan instinctively stepped back, while also raising her hand to press down on her hoodie’s cap: “Sang Yan.”
“?”
Looking into his eyes, Wen Yifan’s lips pressed into a straight line, and she unexpectedly uttered a very sincere sentence, as if trying to close the distance between them: “I feel I’ve been quite nice to you lately.”
Sang Yan’s movement paused slightly.
Then he heard her continue: “I haven’t argued with anything you’ve said, and I’ve been very compliant.”
Sang Yan withdrew his hand, saying coolly: “What are you trying to say?”
“So I want to… make a deal with you.” Wen Yifan felt a bit nauseous again, leaning closer to him. Smelling his scent made her feel a bit better. “Can you not constrict me?”
Sang Yan: “?”
“I want,” Wen Yifan said word by word, “to breathe properly.”
“…”
As she said this, Sang Yan finally noticed that she had been constantly pressing down on her cap. This reminded him of his earlier behavior towards Mu Chengyun. His mouth twitched slightly, at a loss for words, as he grabbed her arm.
Wen Yifan’s hand remained stiff and unmoved, her body language conveying wariness.
“Alright,” Sang Yan clicked his tongue, though his actions were gentle, “I won’t touch your cap.”
“…”
Hearing this, Wen Yifan’s expression was half-believing, half-doubting, as she slowly lowered her hand.
Sang Yan loosely supported her as they walked towards the apartment door. Looking at her profile, he lowered his eyes to her arm, which seemed as soft as if it had no bones, and said in a barely audible voice: “You’re not that type of person to me.”
–
After entering the apartment, Wen Yifan changed into indoor slippers and instinctively walked toward her room. But after a few steps, she was pulled back by Sang Yan, who tugged her to the sofa: “Sit down.”
Wen Yifan responded with an “Oh,” watching as Sang Yan boiled some water. Then, he turned and walked towards the kitchen.
Soon after, he turned back to add: “Don’t touch that water.”
Wen Yifan didn’t know what he was planning to do, so she could only nod. Her stomach felt uncomfortable, and her eyelids were drooping involuntarily. She wanted to drink something hot and then go to sleep.
She waited for a while.
Noticing the water had just boiled beside her, Wen Yifan sighed in relief, thinking of pouring herself a cup of hot water to drink. She unconsciously reached out her hand.
In the next moment, Sang Yan’s voice rang out: “What are you doing?”
“…” Wen Yifan immediately withdrew her hand.
There was a sense of guilt as if she had touched someone else’s things without permission.
Sang Yan walked back, sitting down next to her. He was holding a jar of honey, which he poured a few spoonfuls of into a cup, then added some cold water, followed by hot water.
He was still wearing his suit, broad-shouldered and long-legged. It gave him an air of seriousness, tempering his usual carefree attitude.
Wen Yifan noticed his attire again: “Why are you dressed like this today?”
Sang Yan didn’t answer, placing the cup in front of her: “Drink this.”
Wen Yifan took it, sipping slowly, and continued to ask: “Did you find a job?”
He remained particularly cold, still not answering.
But Wen Yifan, having drunk too much, was more talkative than usual: “When did you find it?”
Though most of what she said were questions.
She didn’t seem to care whether he answered or not, and continued asking on her own: “Does this job require formal wear?”
Sang Yan smiled: “You sure have a lot of questions.”
Wen Yifan blinked.
“But right now,” seeing that she had drunk about half the cup, Sang Yan stood up, “I’m not interested in talking to a drunk person.”
Feeling falsely accused, Wen Yifan immediately said: “I only had one glass.”
Sang Yan ignored her and continued walking towards the kitchen.
Wen Yifan called out from behind: “At your graduation ceremony, you drank over a dozen bottles of alcohol. That’s what you call a drunk.”
He suddenly stopped and turned back: “How do you know that?”
Wen Yifan answered honestly: “Mu Chengyun told me.”
“…”
“Why did you drink so much?”
After a long silence, Sang Yan looked away: “That was so long ago.”
Sang Yan: “I’ve forgotten about it.”
“Oh.” With half a cup of honey water down, Wen Yifan felt her mind clearing a bit, and her stomach wasn’t as uncomfortable. “Then you should drink less in the future.”
Sang Yan didn’t respond further, going directly into the kitchen.
Not long after.
Sang Yan came out with a bowl of porridge and placed it in front of Wen Yifan. He lay back on the sofa, seemingly having finally finished his tasks, and said lazily: “Finish this and go to sleep.”
“…”
At this moment, Wen Yifan truly felt the happiness of having a roommate. She thought to herself that Sang Yan was very kind, and if he ever felt unwell in the future, she would reciprocate and take care of him.
Sang Yan lay there playing with his phone for a while.
Wen Yifan was slowly drinking the porridge, just about to say thank you when Sang Yan’s phone rang.
Sang Yan answered directly: “Speak.”
He always seemed to be like this, not exchanging pleasantries when talking on the phone with people he knew. It was as if he had no patience, his tone from the start urging the other person to get straight to the point.
Wen Yifan swallowed the words of thanks she was about to say.
The person on the other end said something, and Sang Yan asked: “Whose birthday?”
“Oh, you didn’t need to specially call to remind me.” Sang Yan’s tone was casual, sounding completely unconcerned. “You can just tell Duan Jiaxu directly that at his age, there’s nothing worth announcing to the world about his birthday.”
“…”
“If he wants to celebrate, he can do it privately on his own.” After a pause of a few seconds, Sang Yan sneered, “What do you mean I’m old too? Tell that ’80s guy not to lump himself in with us ’90s kids.”
“Alright, go study,” Sang Yan said, “Your college entrance exam is next month, why are you bothering with this trivial matter?”
“Hanging up.”
Although the call ended, the room fell silent.
Wen Yifan’s brain slowly processed the information, and she remembered something: “Isn’t your birthday in January of 1990?”
Sang Yan glanced at her: “So?”
“It seems to be the day after New Year’s,” Wen Yifan said, “That’s just two days different from 1989.”
Sang Yan played with his phone as if he hadn’t caught her implication, speaking in a not-so-serious tone: “You seem to remember my details quite clearly.”
Wen Yifan paused for a moment, then said softly: “Because that date is easy to remember.”
“Oh.” Sang Yan looked unconcerned, his expression nonchalant, “It is easy to remember.”
…
After finishing the porridge, Wen Yifan thanked Sang Yan and returned to her room. While showering, the steam cleared her thoughts a bit, and she gradually recalled the foolish things she had done and said night.
She belatedly felt embarrassed, once again regretting drinking alcohol tonight.
The remnants of drunkenness pushed Wen Yifan’s drowsiness to a peak.
Coming out of the bathroom, she flopped onto the bed, her eyelids too heavy to open, with no energy left to dwell on tonight’s events. As she drifted off, she remembered the cup of honey water Sang Yan had pressed into her hands.
It was exceptionally warm.
The temperature seemed to spread from her fingertips throughout her entire body.
Just before losing consciousness completely.
A thought involuntarily popped into Wen Yifan’s mind.
She hoped Sang Yan could stay here, for a little longer.
–
Perhaps because of Mu Chengyun’s words tonight, Wen Yifan very fittingly dreamed of her graduation ceremony. But the images were somewhat blurred, seeming real yet not quite real.
Making it difficult for her in the dream to distinguish between reality and illusion.
In her impression, the graduation ceremony seemed to have ended in the afternoon.
Wen Yifan, wearing her graduation gown and holding her diploma, left the auditorium with her roommates, following the flow of people.
Outside, there were many people, mostly graduates in gowns taking photos with family and friends. Walking along, she encountered many familiar faces.
Wen Yifan was also occasionally pulled over to take a few photos.
Due to internships in their senior year, everyone had been busy with their affairs, and the girls hadn’t seen each other for quite some time. Now they had plenty to say, chattering about various things that happened during their internships.
After one topic ended, Wen Yifan heard one of her roommates say: “Oh right, when I came down after getting my diploma, I saw a super, super, super handsome guy in the back row. I wonder which department he’s from.”
Another roommate said: “Damn, why didn’t you call me to see!”
“How can you blame me, you were waiting to go on stage to get your diploma at that time. By the time you came down and I wanted to tell you, I couldn’t find that handsome guy anymore. I even felt like I might have been seeing things.”
“Alright, I’ll just assume you were seeing things.”
Wen Yifan listened to their conversation, unable to help but smile.
Not long after, the four of them were called over by a familiar classmate to take photos.
Wen Yifan was led over by her roommates. She was arranged in a position near the middle, looking at the camera with a faint smile. The photographer held the camera, counting down loudly: “Three, two…”
Before the last number could be called out.
At that moment, amidst the mixed crowd, Wen Yifan suddenly heard someone call her name. The voice was neither loud nor soft, but incredibly familiar. Her breath caught, and she unconsciously turned her head to scan the surroundings.
The photographer exclaimed: “Senior, why did you suddenly move?”
The roommate beside her also asked: “What’s wrong?”
Wen Yifan was still looking around, her mood a bit strange: “I think I heard someone call me.”
“Huh?” Hearing this, her roommate also looked around, “Did you mishear? I didn’t hear anyone call you. Maybe someone’s name is similar to yours, with so many people here…”
Wen Yifan didn’t hear her roommate’s subsequent words.
Her gaze was fixed in a certain direction.
A tall, slim male figure, as if he had come specifically to attend someone’s graduation ceremony, was wearing a proper white shirt and suit pants. At this moment, he might have been looking at his phone, his head lowered, slowly moving away from the bustling crowd here.
Walking towards an area with fewer people.
In that instant.
Wen Yifan recalled a rainy night four years ago.
Despite the rain, the air was still sultry.
The young man had silently walked her to her building, the pride in his eyes completely crumbled. That boy, who had been spirited and proud from their first meeting, seemed to have had humility forcibly planted in his core, no longer able to conceal it.
In that alley that seemed endlessly long.
He silently turned his back, step by step, walking out of her world.
In a daze.
These two silhouettes seemed to overlap.
Wen Yifan’s mind went blank, and she involuntarily took a step in that direction, only to be pulled back by her roommate in the next moment.
“Xiao Fan, where are you going?”
The photographer also said at this moment: “Senior, let’s take another photo!”
Wen Yifan dazedly withdrew her gaze.
She only felt that he must be in Nanwu at this time, and couldn’t possibly appear in Yihe, thousands of kilometers away.
He had no reason to appear here.
Wen Yifan absent-mindedly finished taking the photo and then looked in that direction again.
The scene she had seen a minute ago seemed like just an illusion.
That familiar figure had long since dispersed into the crowd, no longer visible.
…
Wen Yifan woke from her dream.
Her mouth was uncomfortably dry, and she got up to turn on the bedside lamp. The bright light hurt her eyes, making Wen Yifan squint, feeling her mind was still a bit hazy.
The memory from the dream was still exceptionally clear.
But at this moment, Wen Yifan couldn’t remember clearly whether she had truly seen that figure on her graduation day, or if the dream had simply added an extra stroke of color to her memory.
Wen Yifan stared blankly for a while, then after a long time, closed her eyes briefly.
Perhaps influenced by the dream, or maybe because emotions are amplified at night.
Wen Yifan’s mood at this moment was at its lowest.
She had lost all sleepiness, so she simply got up, intending to go pour herself a glass of warm water.
Afraid of disturbing Sang Yan, Wen Yifan didn’t wear slippers, opened the door quietly, and tiptoed towards the living room. Just as she was about to walk to the coffee table and sit down, she heard the sound of a door opening behind her.
Wen Yifan’s footsteps stopped.
She turned to look.
She saw that Sang Yan had also come out of his room. He was wearing a casual short-sleeved shirt and shorts, looking slightly drowsy. As if he was getting up to use the bathroom. Catching sight of her presence from the corner of his eye, he turned his head and casually said, “Sleepwalking again?”
“…”
“What triggers your sleepwalking?” Perhaps because he had just woken up, Sang Yan’s voice was low and hoarse, “You can even sleepwalk when drunk?”
Wēn Yǐfán remained silent.
At that moment, the images from her recent dream surged back to her mind. Her thoughts were entirely occupied by the figure moving further away from the crowd. The quiet space and dim light seemed to be imbued with allure. An impulse welled up inside her, recalling what Sāng Yán had said earlier.
—”You suddenly ran out and hugged me.”
After all, he didn’t know. He thought she was sleepwalking. He had no idea she was fully awake.
Wēn Yǐfán slowly moved toward him.
Sāng Yán lazily yawned and made space for her, teasingly saying, “Not taking advantage of me this time?”
Just this once. She acted on her impulse only this once. It felt like a return to that summer after the college entrance exams.
In her youth, she had watched that boy’s figure grow distant, struggling to resist the urge to step forward and embrace him. With a firm resolve, she had pulled her gaze away, slowly retreating, choosing to exit his world.
At this moment, it felt as if time had reversed.
She wanted to perform the action she had longed to take back then. Wēn Yǐfán was consumed by that desire and the remnants of her intoxication, leaving no room for reason. She paused beside him, her heart racing so fast it felt like it might leap from her chest.
The distance between her and Sāng Yán was just a step away.
The scent of him was unchanged from their youth. A faint aroma of sandalwood filled the air.
Since it was her first time doing something like this, Wēn Yǐfán held her breath, her movement faltering slightly.
Sāng Yán continued, “Hurry back—”
But before he could finish, Wēn Yǐfán lowered her gaze, leaned in, and wrapped her arms around him.