“…”
Wen Yifan didn’t avert her gaze, her expression calm. “Hmm?”
Sang Yan didn’t repeat himself. He continued to look down at her from his superior position, his eyes full of scrutiny. Wen Yifan could see from her peripheral vision that his fingertips were tapping lightly on the steering wheel, one after another, slow and rhythmic.
It seemed as if he was contemplating something.
From her perspective, it also resembled a silent form of torture.
Wen Yifan searched her mind for a suitable response, her expression slightly dazed as if she had just realized something. She curved her lips into a smile and explained in a gentle tone, “Didn’t you just say that I only hugged you once last night?”
The tapping on the steering wheel stopped. Sang Yan’s eyelids twitched slightly. Appearing to accept her explanation, he merely uttered a faint “Ah” before withdrawing his gaze.
He didn’t pursue the matter further.
— An awkward silence fell.
Although Wen Yifan didn’t particularly feel like talking right now, adhering to the principle of fully committing to her act, she counter-questioned, “So, did I lift your shirt last night?”
Sang Yan looked straight ahead. “I remembered wrong.”
“…”
“It was the time before,” Sang Yan explained languidly, seemingly not wanting his words to contradict each other. “After all, it’s not like it’s only happened once or twice. I can’t be expected to remember every single instance clearly.”
“…”
Wen Yifan wanted to say that she wouldn’t do something like lifting his shirt.
But recalling Sang Yan’s resigned posture last night when she hugged him as if he couldn’t be bothered to resist, she thought that during her previous sleepwalking episodes, many unimaginable things might have indeed occurred.
Wen Yifan dared not visualize those scenes. She could only nod and say, “I’m sorry you had to endure that.”
“…”
After pondering for a moment, Wen Yifan wanted to assure him that these difficult days would come to an end. She added comfortingly, “When I have time, I’ll go to the hospital to get checked out.”
…
They arrived at the Nanwu Television Station building.
Wen Yifan lowered her eyes and unbuckled her seatbelt. She wasn’t sure if Sang Yan was coming to work at this hour to “work overtime” at the bar or if he had other business, but she didn’t ask. She simply said, “Thank you. I’ll head up now.”
Sang Yan lazily grunted in acknowledgment.
Wen Yifan was about to open the car door. “Be careful on your way.”
“Wen Yifan,” Sang Yan suddenly called out to her.
Hearing this, Wen Yifan paused and looked back. “What is it?”
He casually said, “There’s something in your hair.”
Wen Yifan immediately raised her hand to touch her head, asking, “Where?”
“A bit to the left.”
Wen Yifan moved her hand to the left.
“A little higher.”
Her hand moved up.
“To the right.”
She followed all his instructions but still couldn’t find the “thing” he mentioned.
The next moment, Wen Yifan heard Sang Yan click his tongue impatiently. Her scalp tingled, and just as she was about to pull down the makeup mirror to look, she felt something touch her head.
She glanced sideways.
She saw Sang Yan raising his arm, his hand now resting on her head, seemingly trying to remove whatever was in her hair. Then, quite unceremoniously, he rubbed her head, messing up her hair.
It was as if he was retaliating for her dawdling.
He withdrew his hand and started to rush her out. “Stop dawdling. I’m in a hurry.”
Due to his actions, Wen Yifan hesitantly asked, “What was stuck in my hair?”
“Don’t know,” he replied.
“…” Wen Yifan didn’t pursue the matter further and could only say, “Thanks.”
Wen Yifan got out of the car, raised her hand to smooth out her hair, and walked towards the entrance. She happened to bump into Mu Chengyun, who had arrived at some point. He took the initiative to greet her, “Good morning, Sister Yifan.”
She nodded at him, “Good morning.”
They walked into the building.
Wen Yifan recalled Sang Yan’s actions again and belatedly rubbed her head. Her thoughts were somewhat scattered, as if she was immersed in her world, not hearing what Mu Chengyun was saying beside her.
After a while.
Mu Chengyun called out to her, “Sister Yifan?”
“…” Wen Yifan snapped back to reality. “Hm? What is it?”
Mu Chengyun had delicate features, and his smile was somewhat endearing. He didn’t mind Wen Yifan’s previous inattention and good-naturedly repeated, “Are you and Senior Sang dating?”
Wen Yifan paused slightly, “No, we’re not.”
Mu Chengyun let out an almost imperceptible sigh of relief. “I saw him drop you off at work just now, and I saw him ruffling your hair. I thought…” He didn’t finish his sentence, and smiled sheepishly, “I’m being too nosy.”
Ruffling?
Wen Yifan was taken aback.
She withdrew her hand, recalling the force of Sang Yan’s action.
It felt more like ‘stirring’ would be a more accurate description.
But Wen Yifan wasn’t very familiar with Mu Chengyun, and she felt that denying it once was enough. She didn’t feel like explaining further. She didn’t say anything more, just smiled.
–
The two of them entered the office together.
Back at her desk, Wen Yifan turned on her computer. As she casually flipped through the documents on her desk, Su Tian from the next desk came over with her coffee to chat. “Why did you come in with that little puppy today?”
Wen Yifan replied, “We just happened to meet at the entrance.”
“I see.” Remembering last night’s events, Su Tian felt a bit apologetic. “By the way, Xiao Fan, that drink I gave you last night, the alcohol content seemed to be quite high. I thought it was fruit wine when I gave it to you.”
Mentioning this reminded Wen Yifan of last night’s events. Her expression froze for a moment before quickly returning to normal. “It’s fine, I went straight to sleep when I got home. It didn’t affect me much.”
Su Tian asked, “You didn’t get a headache?”
Wen Yifan didn’t feel any discomfort and smiled, “No, I didn’t.”
Su Tian yawned, “I see a lot of people looking listless today. We all partied too hard last night. I’m so tired now, I regret not leaving with you.”
“It’s rare to go out and relax,” Wen Yifan said, “As long as you had fun, it’s fine.”
This topic didn’t last long. Soon, Su Tian brought up another matter: “Remember I introduced you to my friend before, wanting you two to be roommates? Then your roommate didn’t move out, so she found someone online. It’s a male college student.”
“A college student?” Wen Yifan thought for a moment. “Why doesn’t he live on campus?”
“Seems like he’s a game streamer or something, doesn’t want to disturb his dormmates’ schedules.” Su Tian said, “My friend has been complaining to me every day recently, saying this college student is so unhygienic.”
“What happened?” Wen Yifan asked.
“Is your roommate like this?” Bringing this up, Su Tian became curious and started listing complaints one by one. “He doesn’t wash the dishes after using them, just piles them up, leaving the sink full of dried-up grease. He does laundry once every two weeks and throws underwear and socks all in the washing machine. Never cleans up, sometimes even forgets to flush the toilet…”
Wen Yifan shook her head, “No, not at all.”
Thinking about it, Sang Yan was very clean.
She felt somewhat relieved internally and added, “My roommate is quite good.”
“Then you’re quite lucky.” Su Tian laughed and continued, “But you probably can’t imagine, a few days ago, this friend of mine came to tell me that she thinks she’s fallen for this college student.”
This twist left Wen Yifan a bit confused. “Huh?”
“She said this college student was just spoiled by his family and doesn’t know how to do any housework. But whenever she brings up an issue, he listens and doesn’t repeat the mistake.” Su Tian said, “Anyway, it’s all praise now, completely different from her previous complaints.”
“…”
“But I think it’s mainly because this college student is quite handsome. If I could find someone that handsome, I’d go for co-rental too.” Su Tian sighed and shared her thoughts, “So when opposite sexes live together for a long time, doesn’t a spark of love always ignite?”
Wen Yifan blurted out, “Not necessarily.”
Su Tian looked at her, “Why are you denying it so quickly?”
“…”
“I don’t think I’ve asked you before,” As she was speaking, Su Tian suddenly remembered something, “Is your new roommate male or female? I remember Wang Linlin found them for you?”
Wen Yifan was silent for a few seconds, but still didn’t lie, “Male.”
“Wow,” Su Tian was shocked, “Is he reliable?”
“Mm.”
Perhaps due to Wen Yifan’s decisive reaction earlier, Su Tian subconsciously assumed that this roommate must be unattractive. She continued, “Although we shouldn’t judge people by their appearance, are you sure he doesn’t have any ulterior motives towards you?”
Wen Yifan remained silent.
Staring at Wen Yifan’s face, Su Tian felt very uneasy, “I think it’s quite normal for opposite sexes to live together. But you need to be careful yourself, always keep your guard up a bit.”
Thinking of Sang Yan, who had been thoroughly taken advantage of by her, Wen Yifan’s sense of guilt surged again. She felt that she might be the one with “ulterior motives.” She didn’t dare to say it out loud and said with a straight face, “I understand.”
…
Wen Yifan had originally thought Sang Yan would only stay for three months.
Wen Yifan had thought that during this brief period, they wouldn’t have much conversation. Once the time was up, he would naturally leave. For both of them, they were merely passing acquaintances who couldn’t even be called friends.
Just an insignificant interlude not worth mentioning.
Like Wang Linlin before.
But now, the trend was not right.
Wen Yifan could roughly analyze Su Tian’s words. It was probably because she had been near Sang Yan for this period, spending too much time together, which made her mind muddled and gave rise to thoughts that shouldn’t exist.
Last night’s embrace was like a warning.
Constantly present before Wen Yifan’s eyes.
On this matter, Wen Yifan was very self-aware. She wasn’t presumptuous enough to think Sang Yan still had such feelings for her, nor was she shameless enough to approach him as if the past had never happened.
Moreover, Wen Yifan strongly disliked this habit and greatly feared becoming accustomed to another person’s presence.
In her subconscious.
There were only two possible outcomes.
The other person might, like her father, leave her side forever one day without any warning; or, like her mother, choose to abandon her for a better life for themselves.
–
Because of these thoughts, coupled with having taken advantage of Sang Yan while sober, Wen Yifan felt that her emotions could no longer be the same as before when interacting with Sang Yan.
Wen Yifan began to subtly distance herself from Sang Yan.
She tried to revert their relationship to how it was when they first started living together, just enduring until he moved out.
This change in attitude wasn’t significant, and Sang Yan seemed unaware. He had started working during this period, and his workload seemed heavy. Additionally, he occasionally had to “work overtime” at night, sometimes not returning home for the entire night.
Over a month, the two didn’t have much time together.
Wen Yifan’s work was also busy, often leaving early and returning late, leaving her little time to consider these matters.
Adhering to the principle of not prying into her roommate’s affairs, Wen Yifan had never asked Sang Yan what job he had found. In the end, it was Zhong Siqiao who brought up this matter to her.
Zhong Siqiao: [I heard Xiang Lang say yesterday.]
Zhong Siqiao: [It seems Sang Yan has started working at their company.]
Zhong Siqiao: [But they’re not in the same department. He hadn’t noticed before, seems he just found out.]
Wen Yifan: [Where is Xiang Lang working now?]
Zhong Siqiao: [YouSheng Technology.]
Zhong Siqiao: [He’s in the marketing department, Sang Yan is in the software department.]
Zhong Siqiao: [But Sang Yan’s position is higher than Xiang Lang’s, he’s a manager.]
Zhong Siqiao: [Xiang Lang is such trash.]
Zhong Siqiao: [He even told me that Sang Yan must have connections.]
Seeing these words, Wen Yifan suddenly recalled Sang Yan’s previous words, realizing he wasn’t just boasting. She didn’t think too much about it, casually replied a few sentences, exited the chat window, and planned to continue working.
Just as she was about to put her phone aside, she accidentally clicked on another chat box.
It was Zhao Yuandong’s.
Because Wen Yifan had never replied to her messages, the frequency of Zhao Yuandong’s messages had also decreased. She would only occasionally send a few messages reminding her to pay attention to the changing seasons and not to get sick.
Wen Yifan casually scrolled through.
She saw messages from a few days before the Qingming Festival.
Zhao Yuandong: [Your aunt returned to Beiyu today.]
Zhao Yuandong: [That day, Mom forgot to consider your feelings. I won’t let her come in the future, okay?]
Zhao Yuandong: [Don’t be angry with mom anymore.]
On the day of the Qingming Festival.
Zhao Yuandong: [Ajiang, do you want to go with Mom to visit your dad today?]
In between were mostly miscellaneous messages.
Three minutes ago, Zhao Yuandong had sent another message.
Large blocks of text.
Zhao Yuandong: [Ajiang, mom has been talking with your aunt recently. About that incident before, I wasn’t by your side at the time, I didn’t understand the situation, so I didn’t stand by you. Mom is sorry for that.]
Zhao Yuandong: [I always thought they were taking good care of you, and I felt reassured. At that time, I always wanted to bring you back, but I was afraid that frequently changing environments would affect your college entrance exam. I thought it would be fine after a while, and when you came to Nanwu for university, you would come back to live with Mom, and I could take care of you. I didn’t expect you would later apply to somewhere as far as Yihe.]
Zhao Yuandong: [Mom will make it up to you more in the future, okay?]
Wen Yifan stared at it for a long while, then directly exited WeChat. She looked back at her computer, but her mind was in chaos. The text before her eyes seemed to have turned into a string of gibberish, making it impossible for her to focus.
She closed her eyes briefly, then picked up her phone again and cleared the chat history with Zhao Yuandong.
–
It was nearly eleven o’clock when Wen Yifan finished work and returned home. She took off her shoes and saw Sang Yan lying on the sofa with a laptop, his fingers flying rapidly over the keyboard. She didn’t know what he was doing.
Wen Yifan didn’t disturb him and habitually went to drink a glass of water. After finishing, she filled another glass, intending to return to her room.
At this moment, Sang Yan called out to her: “Hey.”
Wen Yifan turned back: “What is it?”
“Forgot the rules?” Sang Yan glanced at her, quickly withdrew his gaze, and said while typing, “You’re supposed to let me know if you’re not back by ten.”
Wen Yifan was stunned for a moment, then belatedly said, “Oh, I forgot. Sorry.”
After that, she didn’t say anything else and continued walking towards her room.
“I feel like your attitude towards me recently has been a bit,” Sang Yan paused, seemingly choosing his words carefully, and then slowly uttered two words, “neglectful.”
“…” Wen Yifan stopped again, “No, I’m just very tired.”
Sang Yan looked up.
Wen Yifan said in a low voice, “I just want to sleep.”
Sang Yan stopped typing and stared at her steadily, then quickly said, “Go sleep then.”
…
After Wen Yifan entered her room.
Sang Yan recalled her appearance just now, remained silent for a while, then started typing again.
Close to two in the morning, Sang Yan closed his laptop and went back to his room to get a change of clothes for a shower. When he came out, intending to retrieve his laptop from the living room, he saw that at some point, Wen Yifan had come out to the living room again.
She had already changed into her sleep attire of a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, exposing her fair and slender limbs.
At this moment, Wen Yifan was sitting on the sofa, staring blankly at the clock.
“…”
Sang Yan’s hair was still dripping wet as he walked up to her. He rubbed his hair with a towel, staring at her for a good while. Then, he pulled over a nearby stool, sat down in front of her, and said slowly, “So you sleepwalk when you’re in a bad mood or drunk?”
Wen Yifan remained quiet and motionless.
Sang Yan asked, “What happened today?”
Wen Yifan remained perfectly still, as if living only in her world, unaware of her surroundings. If it weren’t for the occasional blink, Sang Yan would have thought she had turned into a statue.
He didn’t speak again either.
He just sat nearby, not doing anything else.
After about ten minutes.
Wen Yifan stood up and slowly walked toward her room.
Sitting in place, Sang Yan turned to watch her back. He tilted his head to look forward, saw that there was nothing in her path that could trip her and didn’t follow.
His expression was leisurely as he lazily watched her movements.
Wen Yifan moved like a ghost, walking straight down the hallway, her steps slow but steady. Like the previous times, when she reached his room, she stopped again.
Looking inside.
Sang Yan had taken his clothes and gone straight to the bathroom to shower, so his door was open, not closed.
Wen Yifan stared for a long time, her expression dazed.
“What are you looking at,” Sang Yan found it amusing, “You’re acting like a pervert.”
As soon as he finished speaking.
As if receiving some instruction, Wen Yifan lifted her foot again and walked into his room.