Outside, daylight had fully broken, but with the curtains tightly drawn, the living room remained dim and gloomy. As December approached, the temperature in Nanwu dropped again, with significant fluctuations between morning, noon, and evening.
Wen Yifan had already seated herself on the sofa next to Sang Yan. Having just woken up, she wore only thin long-sleeved pajamas and pants. After removing her coat, she felt a bit cold and involuntarily shivered.
Sang Yan’s facial expression gradually relaxed, but he made no additional movements.
Moving closer to him, Wen Yifan slowed her actions, expecting him to voice objections as she inched closer, bit by bit. However, even when she was merely half a meter away from Sang Yan, he remained silent, merely observing her with interest.
Wen Yifan had no choice but to stop and wait quietly for a moment.
As if watching a show, Sang Yan still didn’t move.
“…”
Receiving no objection, Wen Yifan didn’t move any closer. She calmly gave herself an out, saying, “Now you should understand what might happen if you don’t lock your door.”
Sang Yan laughed, “What might happen?”
The proximity intensified his presence, and Wen Yifan lost the courage to ramble on as she had earlier. She glanced up at the time and changed the subject, “I should go prepare for work now.”
Sang Yan turned his head and said lazily, “But nothing happened, right?”
“…” Wen Yifan looked at him.
Most of the blanket covering Sang Yan had slipped to the floor, but he showed no intention of picking it up. His eyebrows were arrogant, his expression domineering, looking as if he feared nothing in heaven or earth, seemingly disregarding her words entirely.
Wen Yifan didn’t argue with him. She bent down to pick up the blanket for him. As she held one corner of the blanket, about to say something, she suddenly felt a strong tug on the other end.
She hadn’t let go yet, caught off guard.
Her body was pulled forward with the motion, and she half-fell onto Sang Yan.
The safe distance was broken.
Wen Yifan held her breath, instinctively bracing her hand on the cushion beside him. But the buffer was insufficient, and her nose tip brushed against Sang Yan’s jaw. She reflexively tilted her head up, and in an instant, met Sang Yan’s pitch-black eyes.
His breath, along with his entire being, was scorching hot.
For a moment, Wen Yifan forgot to react.
Sang Yan’s gaze was deep, mixed with ambiguity. His Adam’s apple, with its distinct contours, visibly bobbed. Then, his gaze lowered, fixing on her lips for two seconds before moving back up.
For some inexplicable reason, Wen Yifan felt a bit parched.
“What?” Sang Yan suddenly spoke, his voice tinged with huskiness, “Brave enough this time?”
…
These words instantly brought Wen Yifan back to her senses. She retreated and sat up straight. In the chaotic moment, she didn’t even understand what Sang Yan meant, and hastily denied, “Not brave enough.”
Sang Yan raised his eyebrows, his expression unchanged.
Wen Yifan vaguely deflected, “Maybe next time.”
“…”
Using the excuse that it was getting late, Wen Yifan didn’t linger in the living room and returned to her room. She entered the bathroom, squeezed some toothpaste onto her toothbrush, then paused, slowly calming her breathing.
Belatedly, she felt a sense of relief.
Fortunately, she had maintained control.
Doing such things to Sang Yan while fully conscious, without any defined relationship.
That would have been too disrespectful to him.
But why did Sang Yan suddenly tug on the blanket?
Originally, the blanket was almost on the floor, and he hadn’t cared. But as soon as she went to touch his blanket, he immediately reacted… Was he afraid that not only would she take over his room, but she’d also monopolize his only blanket?
“…”
Had her image deteriorated to such an extent?
Wen Yifan divided her attention, pondering Sang Yan’s words from earlier. As she brushed her teeth, she contemplated the meaning of those words. Soon, she recalled what Sang Yan had said some time ago.
— “You want to violate me.”
— “If you dare, come over.”
Wen Yifan’s expression froze, her mind simultaneously conjuring up Sang Yan’s face from moments ago, so close she could almost touch it. She spat out the foam, rinsed her mouth, and recalled her casual response to Sang Yan’s words.
“…”
Sigh.
But it seemed that one more such sentence wouldn’t make much difference.
Living with him for so long, Wen Yifan felt a sense of being assimilated. After washing her face clean, she used a towel to dry it, and a very inappropriate thought crossed her mind. She wondered if there would be another chance to be brave in the future.
…
Wen Yifan suddenly realized that her path to pursuing him seemed to have gone astray.
Merely engaging in verbal sparring seemed to have no effect whatsoever.
Wen Yifan felt that her current interaction with Sang Yan was a bit like — he always thought he was the most impressive person in the world, but when he saw her doing something even more impressive, he couldn’t help but compete with her.
Naturally starting to contend with her.
Sang Yan was a person who would never let himself be taken advantage of, nor was he afraid of intimidation.
He lived entirely for himself.
If things continued to develop this way, would they truly become enemies?
Back at the company, Wen Yifan sat down at her desk and flipped through the documents on her table. Her neighbor, Su Tian, came over as usual to gossip and inquire about her progress.
Wen Yifan thought for a moment, “I plan to speed things up.”
Having heard nothing but “still working hard on it” for days, Su Tian finally heard something different and felt a sense of relief, “How are you going to speed up?”
“I’m planning to ask him out for dinner, although I don’t know if he’ll agree…” As she spoke, Wen Yifan changed the subject, “But before that, there’s something else I need to do.”
“What’s that?”
Wen Yifan said seriously, “Improve me.”
Su Tian didn’t hear clearly, “Hm?”
“If you want to pursue someone, you can’t just focus all your energy on the other person,” After pondering for so many days, Wen Yifan finally concluded, “You also need to work hard to improve yourself, to become better.”
Su Tian was silent for a moment, feeling that these words indeed made sense, “So what’s your plan now?”
“I want to do more news reports,” Wen Yifan’s eyes lifted slightly, looking full of enthusiasm, “I’ll try my best to see if I can become one of the top ten reporters at the station within three years.”
“…” Su Tian repeated the timeframe she mentioned, “Three years?”
“Yes.”
Su Tian reminded her, “Are you sure he won’t have found someone else in three years?”
Wen Yifan turned her head and explained in a low voice, “I’ll be working on both things simultaneously.”
“Huh?”
“I hope to make him feel,” Wen Yifan thought for a moment before expressing her idea, “that I’m a person who works very hard.”
Even if I’m not good enough now.
I’ll gradually become better through hard work.
–
After careful consideration, Wen Yifan set a date in early December to invite Sang Yan out for dinner. She wanted to be the one with more time to spare, so she chose her day off.
That day was a Friday.
Since it was a workday, Sang Yan still had to go to work.
Unsure if Sang Yan would need to work overtime, Wen Yifan thought it over and decided to make plans with him in advance. If he said he wasn’t available, she could still consider changing the time.
Wen Yifan left her room.
At this time, Sang Yan had just finished showering and was sitting on the sofa playing with his phone.
Wen Yifan slowly sat down on the sofa on the other side, pretending she had come out for water. As she poured water into her cup, she secretly glanced in Sang Yan’s direction,
only to be caught by him.
Wen Yifan lightly bit her lip, noticing the game interface on his screen, and brought up a topic, “I’ve been playing this game recently too.”
Sang Yan looked at her, “Since when?”
Wen Yifan made awkward small talk, “Just recently, it’s quite fun.”
Hearing this, Sang Yan raised his phone towards her and said casually, “Want to play a round?”
“…” Thinking of her amateur skills and Sang Yan’s merciless sarcasm, Wen Yifan shook her head, “Maybe next time, my phone is in my room.”
Sang Yan didn’t say anything more.
Wen Yifan took a sip of water and started to broach the main topic, “Are you free this Friday evening?”
Sang Yan tilted his head, “Why?”
“I recently heard from a colleague that there’s a good grilled fish restaurant near your company,” Wen Yifan said calmly, “If you’re free, shall we go eat there together?”
Sang Yan put down his phone and stared at her for several seconds. Then, he said thoughtfully, “Finally going to repay the meal you owe me?”
Wen Yifan was slightly stunned but felt this interpretation wasn’t wrong, so she nodded.
Sang Yan looked away, “Oh.”
Wen Yifan asked again, “So, are you free?”
After a few seconds of silence, Sang Yan gave a faint “Mm.”
“Shall I meet you at your company building on that day?” Not sure if he would mind, Wen Yifan explained, “I’m off on Friday, so I can go there early to meet you. Or we can meet directly at the restaurant if you prefer.”
Sang Yan continued looking at his phone, “No need.”
Wen Yifan’s lips moved, but before she could say anything, she heard him say, “I need to come back home after work.”
Wen Yifan: “Hm?”
“We’ll leave together then.”
“…” Wen Yifan lowered her head and took another sip of water, “Alright.”
Having said what she wanted to say, Wen Yifan didn’t linger in the living room. She stood up, took a few steps, and then turned back to say, “So, shall I remind you again on Friday?”
Sang Yan looked back at her and said slowly, “Sure.”
Having received this answer, Wen Yifan felt more at ease and returned to her room.
Meanwhile.
At this moment, in the living room.
Sang Yan continued playing his game. After a while, the corners of his mouth inexplicably curved upwards.
…
Friday evening.
Wen Yifan took out the few dresses she had from her wardrobe and chose a khaki-colored long dress. She put on a long woolen coat and sat at her dressing table, spending half an hour on makeup.
Staring at herself in the mirror, Wen Yifan wanted to make her eyes and brows look softer, less sharp. She picked up the eyeshadow palette, deepened her eye sockets, and used an eyeliner pen to draw the outer corners of her eyes downward.
After struggling for quite a while, she felt it wasn’t making much difference.
Wen Yifan pursed her lips, giving up the struggle. Before leaving her room, she caught sight of the perfume on the table. She picked it up, hesitated, then sprayed a little behind her ears.
After sitting in the living room for about half an hour, Sang Yan returned. He put down his keys and habitually glanced towards the living room, his gaze lingering on her for a good while before moving away.
Wen Yifan stood up, instinctively asking, “Do you have something to do at home?”
Sang Yan casually said, “Just need to get something.”
Wen Yifan responded with an “Oh,” not asking further.
Sang Yan went to his room briefly and came out quickly. Whatever he needed to get must have been small, as there was no visible difference from when he went in. He walked towards the entrance, saying to her in passing, “Let’s go.”
Following behind him, Wen Yifan nodded, “Okay.”
They got into the car.
Wen Yifan fastened her seatbelt and told him the name of the grilled fish restaurant.
Sang Yan seemed to have heard of this restaurant before, as he didn’t turn on the navigation and directly started the car.
Wen Yifan wondered if she should chat with him about something, but then thought it might distract him while driving. She looked out the window, thinking of the car accident reports she had done, and quickly abandoned the idea.
She thought there would be plenty of time to chat once they reached the restaurant.
The restaurant wasn’t far, less than a twenty-minute drive.
The restaurant was located near a small commercial area, with a parking area in front. The location wasn’t remote, and the restaurant’s name was visible as soon as they drove up. The signboard and decorations were in a red color scheme, quite eye-catching.
The restaurant was large, and being dinner time, it was quite crowded inside, filled with customers at first glance.
Wen Yifan and Sang Yan walked in together and told the waiter at the door “Two people.” They were led to a table for two and were about to sit down when suddenly a female voice called out, “Manager?”
The voice was crisp and somewhat familiar.
Wen Yifan looked over in that direction.
The adjacent table was large, seating eight people who seemed to have just arrived, with only tableware and tea on the table. In the center were metal basins containing plastic packaging and discarded tea.
Zheng Kejia sat among them, wearing a ginger-yellow dress. Her looks were the sweet and soft kind of pretty, especially beautiful when smiling, with a small tiger tooth. In the noisy crowd, she stood out particularly.
The next second, her gaze shifted and met Wen Yifan’s.
Zheng Kejia’s smile noticeably dimmed.
A man beside her spoke up, somewhat puzzled, “Yan-ge, didn’t you say you weren’t coming?”
Sang Yan scanned the group, “You guys chose this place for your gathering?”
“Yes!” The man glanced at Wen Yifan beside him and smiled, “Since we’ve run into each other, why don’t you join us? As our boss, it’s not right for you to skip our department’s gatherings, is it?”
Hearing this, Wen Yifan realized that these people must be Sang Yan’s colleagues. She glanced at Zheng Kejia again, not having expected that she had already started working.
But thinking about it, she should be a senior in college this year.
It seemed about right.
Sang Yan didn’t immediately respond. He turned his head, bending slightly to ask her, “Is that okay?”
“…” Wen Yifan came back to her senses, “It’s fine.”
Observing her expression for a few seconds, Sang Yan then looked away and asked the waiter to add two more chairs.
After sitting down, as Wen Yifan was adjusting her clothes, she suddenly heard Zheng Kejia call her name. Zheng Kejia was sitting on Sang Yan’s other side, not far from her. She calmly looked up and smiled politely, but didn’t say anything.
A man with a perm across the table asked in surprise, “You two know each other?”
Zheng Kejia’s voice was clear, “My sister.”
“What a coincidence! Are you blood sisters?” the permed man asked.
Perhaps feeling that this relationship was difficult to explain clearly, Zheng Kejia smiled and simply agreed.
Hearing this answer, Sang Yan glanced at Zheng Kejia, then quickly looked away. He rested his elbow on the table, his whole body turned towards Wen Yifan, and asked casually, “You have a younger sister?”
Wen Yifan was busy unwrapping her chopsticks and answered honestly, “Step-sister.”
Sang Yan looked at her but didn’t ask further.
Xi Zhitang, feeling quite familiar, called out, “Sister Zheng—”
Before he could finish, Sang Yan interrupted, “She has the surname Wen.”
“…” Xi Zhitang looked a bit confused. “Isn’t she Zheng Kejia’s sister? Do you both take different surnames, one from your father and one from your mother?”
At that moment, Wen Yifan successfully tore off the last of the wrapping and gently explained, “Blended family.”
Zheng Kejia chimed in, “That’s right.”
“Oh, I see,” Xi Zhitang said.
“Introduce her, Yan-ge,” urged the boy sitting next to Zheng Kejia with a cheerful grin. “Is this your sister-in-law?” He was about to grab the kettle when Wen Yifan’s movement paused at his words. She quickly clarified for Sang Yan, “No, I’m—” Unsure of how to describe their relationship, she simply stated, “A friend.”
The boy continued to tease, “Yan-ge, just a friend?”
Sang Yan shot him a warning look, his eyes clearly saying, “Didn’t you hear her?” He then reached for the kettle, casually pushing the dishes he hadn’t opened in front of Wen Yifan, saying, “Thanks.”
“…” Watching him take away her just-unwrapped dishes, Wen Yifan had no choice but to continue tearing at the packaging in silence.
Just then, the server brought over a selection of drinks that they must have ordered earlier. The person sitting on the outer side divided the drinks, and upon reaching the last bottle, he puzzled, “Why are there nine? Did someone order too many?”
“Ah?” Zheng Kejia glanced at the receipt. “Looks like I accidentally marked one extra.”
“This one doesn’t look good at all.”
“Let’s leave it for now. Yan-ge, do you want to see if you’ll drink it?”
“Give it to my sister,” Zheng Kejia said, reaching across Sang Yan to place the drink in front of Wen Yifan with a smile. “She’s easygoing and doesn’t dislike anything, so she can drink whatever.”
Wen Yifan looked at the drink but said nothing.
Next, Zheng Kejia handed the menu to Sang Yan, her face slightly flushed. “Manager, why don’t you see what you want to drink? We ordered early, and the dishes are all set, so check if you want to add anything.”
Noticing this, Sang Yan’s eyelids flickered. He glanced at Zheng Kejia without emotion. The atmosphere at the table felt momentarily tense.
A few seconds later, Sang Yan took the menu and casually pushed it toward Wen Yifan.
At the motion, Wen Yifan looked up.
Sang Yan picked up the drink in front of her and casually placed it back in his position as if signaling that he would handle that drink. Their eyes met naturally, and he softly asked, “What do you want to drink?”