◎Dizziness◎

When the hair dryer turned on, the sound of rain finally receded, and Chun Zao’s chaotic emotions seemed to find a temporary resting place.

Her hair wasn’t particularly long, but it was somewhat thick. Normally, it took at least twenty minutes to completely dry.

Perhaps due to the rainwater composition, today’s hair drying took longer than usual. When she finished the left side and switched to the right, her arm was already getting sore from holding it up.

Chun Zao turned off the hair dryer, lowered her head to move her arm, and bent her wrist in the opposite direction.

When she looked up at the mirror again, her fingertip on the hair dryer button paused.

Yuan Ye was standing at the doorway at some point.

The bathroom sink was very close to the door. So even though he hadn’t entered, just leaning against the inward-opening door panel, his face and upper body could still be reflected in the same mirror.

Their gazes met in this space.

Mirror lights were amazing things. The shadows created by normal human facial structure and those harmless minor flaws would all disappear completely under this special lighting.

Yuan Ye at this moment looked very much like a carefully polished glazed artwork—even one more glance was captivating.

To avoid eye contact, Chun Zao quickly turned her head and asked: “Is there something you need?”

Yuan Ye said, “I thought you had finished.”

Chun Zao half-lowered her eyelids, grabbing her right side hair: “…Just finished one side.”

“Do girls always need this long to dry their hair?”

“Short hair probably doesn’t need to.” Chun Zao didn’t turn the hair dryer back on: “I’ll be done soon, you don’t need to… worry about me.”

The boy’s tone was light: “I don’t have anything to do right now anyway.”

As if afraid she’d feel uncomfortable, he took out his phone from his pants pocket, but remained in the same spot.

Chun Zao gripped the hair dryer handle and turned it on, but was too embarrassed to use the highest setting, so she tilted her head and used the low setting to blow bit by bit.

Her lustrous black hair flowed like ink waves between her fingers.

During this time, she stole glances at Yuan Ye through the mirror several times. The boy was just playing with his phone, relaxed posture, unchanged expression, showing no sign of impatience whatsoever.

Was he… keeping her company?

Chun Zao couldn’t help but curve her lips upward, then immediately pressed them together to maintain composure. Would he find this boring? Thinking this, she initiated conversation: “Won’t you be bored staying here during National Day?”

Perhaps her volume was naturally low, and after being scattered by the wind, very little reached the air.

The boy lifted his eyelids: “What?”

“…” Chun Zao suddenly lost her voice. His starlike eyes were strangling her through the mirror again.

She shifted her gaze to a small water spot on the left and fixed it firmly there: “Will you be… bored staying here during National Day?”

Yuan Ye replied: “It’s alright.”

Chun Zao racked her brains: “Actually I’ve always been curious, where do you usually stay during holidays?”

“Internet cafes. For studying, usually the city library, paid study rooms, or coffee shops, and places like that.”

See, he also had to study. Chun Zao regained some balance and added some envy: “I’ve never studied in those places.”

“Do you want to go?” Unexpectedly, Yuan Ye extended a warm invitation: “If it’s convenient for you, I could take you.”

Chun Zao looked over in surprise. Although she wanted to agree immediately, thinking of her situation, she could only helplessly mumble: “There never seems to be such ‘convenient’ times.”

The boy in the mirror suddenly smiled.

That unexpected smile was like pure white flowers she’d once seen outside a flower shop window blooming before her eyes, displayed at super speed in time-lapse photography form, the dimension of time compressed to an instant at this moment—

Chun Zao was impacted to the point of slight dizziness.

Yuan Ye noticed the girl who had gone quiet and sought her eyes on the same plane.

She looked at him almost absent-mindedly, without blinking.

He also slowly flattened his lips.

Rain beat against the windowsill, wind clamored, other than that, there was no other sound, only the girl’s hair ends surging.

Like a calm lake surface in a clear mirror, they both involuntarily anchored at each other’s shores, isolated from the world.

“Hss.” Chun Zao’s soft gasp awakened both of them simultaneously.

Yuan Ye shifted his gaze out of the mirror frame: “What’s wrong?”

Chun Zao quickly said, “Nothing.”

The air outlet had stayed in the same place too long; a sudden burning sensation arose on her neck side, and she realized she had been staring at Yuan Ye in infatuation for quite a while.

Face red and ears burning, she turned off the hair dryer, then stiffly unplugged its power cord, coiled it up, and put it back on the nearby storage shelf.

When she turned back, she didn’t dare look directly at his face, only saying: “I have to go.”

Better to escape first. This place wasn’t suitable for lingering, or all her thoughts would be completely exposed.

—

Chun Zao went back to her bedroom to get an umbrella. When she came out, Yuan Ye was already waiting for her at the entrance, also holding a black folding umbrella, the intention to escort her obvious.

Chun Zao walked over: “I can go down by myself.”

She glanced at the window glass where the commotion had weakened: “The rain has gotten lighter anyway.”

The boy acted as if he hadn’t heard those two sentences, only asking: “How are you getting back?”

Chun Zao pressed open her phone: “Taking a taxi.”

“I’ll walk you to the intersection.” Yuan Ye had already opened the door without room for argument and held the door panel, intending for her to go first.

Chun Zao had mixed feelings—overjoyed while also feeling she was troubling Yuan Ye.

In the end, the former won out, so she lowered her head and secretly smiled as she passed by him.

The second the hallway sensor light came on, she immediately switched to serious mode, walking in front of the boy with chest out and back straight.

Walking out of the hallway, the rain was indeed not as heavy as when she arrived. The world was misty, and all the lights of thousands of homes grew a circle of light fuzz.

Bang bang—two sounds as they opened their respective umbrellas and stepped into the rain and mist.

Chun Zao’s umbrella was orange, looking like a ripe, round orange from above.

To give Yuan Ye space to open his umbrella, she walked quickly for two steps before turning back to wait for him.

The boy quickly caught up, walking beside her at a moderate distance.

Walking out of the residential complex and turning into the alley, the path suddenly narrowed, and the road conditions weren’t good either. Puddles on the brick stone surface were everywhere, reflecting light under the streetlamps.

Yuan Ye, who had been walking alongside her, voluntarily changed position and moved behind Chun Zao.

The girl turned her head to find him.

He explained: “We can only walk like this, otherwise, our umbrellas will easily collide.”

Chun Zao looked up at her umbrella surface: “Seems right.”

She turned back and walked a few steps, then stopped and turned around again. The person behind noticed her movement, and his face, half-hidden under the umbrella, was completely revealed as he looked at her: “What’s wrong?”

Chun Zao met his gaze for a few seconds and shook her head: “Nothing.”

She wanted to suggest sharing the same umbrella, which would solve all problems.

But she couldn’t speak so rashly. Such an action was too intimate, and besides, even the most kind and easy-going person still had proper boundaries and limits.

Her pace slowed for a moment, then Chun Zao gathered her thoughts and seriously dealt with the terrible road surface.

The strategic retreat didn’t seem to work, but Yuan Ye didn’t feel disappointed because of it. As a back-row audience member, watching the oriole’s unmethodical dance steps was also quite nice.

The girl in front of him crossed over and dodged those puddles like navigating a minefield. While jumping, she would unconsciously raise the umbrella handle higher, and her skirt hem also danced lightly along with her movements.

He smiled slightly under the umbrella shade and followed her to the intersection.

Only after watching the taxi carrying the girl drive away did Yuan Ye turn and leave.

—

After returning to the rental house, Yuan Ye brought the bag Chun Zao left on the table back to his room and casually placed it on his desk.

He leaned back in his chair, took out his phone, opened QQ, stared at it for a while without doing anything, then placed it back on the desk without exiting the interface.

Suddenly bored to the extreme, he began scanning this unchanging room.

His gaze slid past the plastic bag, then returned, attracted by a corner of white receipt peeking out.

Yuan Ye reached out and pulled it out.

Freezing on the words “FamilyMart (Yizhong Store)” on the receipt, Yuan Ye frowned slightly, recalled for a few seconds, then curved his lips.

He picked up his phone again, took a photo as evidence, then stuffed the receipt back.

—

Chun Zao arrived home on time before eight o’clock, but because she got caught in the rain, she still couldn’t avoid a scolding from Chun Chuzhen.

Fortunately, her father spoke up for her, plus they had won money in their couples’ doubles today, so Chun Chuzhen was in high spirits and didn’t nitpick endlessly.

Back in her bedroom, Chun Zao sent both Yuan Ye and Tong Yue messages saying she had “arrived home safely.”

Before taking her pajamas to shower, she returned to her desk and unlocked her phone.

Yuan Ye had already replied: Good.

And a photo of the opened black chocolate milk bread she bought: Thank you, tonight’s dinner is settled.

Her apple muscles automatically engaged. Chun Zao replied: You’re welcome.

Just as she was about to type a few more words, Chun Chuzhen’s serial deadly calls came from the hallway, waiting for Chun Zao’s changed dress to be put in the washing machine together.

She had to give up and say goodbye: I’m going to wash up now, we’ll chat more later.

Yuan Ye: Mm, don’t catch a cold.

He was so good!

Chun Zao exerted all her restraint not to let herself bounce cheerfully to the bathroom while giggling.

When drying her hair alone in front of the mirror, she absent-mindedly thought of tonight’s Yuan Ye and his unforgettable smile. It was like silver lightning in the depths of memory—whenever she thought of it, it could make her brain bright as daylight.

What was that white flower she had seen in the flower shop?

At that time, her mind was confused and disordered, and she couldn’t remember for a moment.

Now memories came flooding back.

Chun Zao’s face slowly turned completely red.

It was probably during last year’s May Day holiday when she and Tong Yue were wandering around and passed by a flower shop with an exquisite vintage-style storefront. She was drawn to a flower behind the window glass.

The petals were mother-of-pearl white, layered and stretched like angel wings, appearing especially elegant and clear among a cluster of complex flower heads.

The young shop owner, seeing her lingering, invited the two girls to come in and look.

Chun Zao stopped in front of that flower and asked what kind it was.

The shop owner smiled and told her: This is a type of white peony, called—

First Love.

Author’s Note:

Writing while sick!

If you don’t understand the receipt plot point, refer back to the previous chapter where the female lead said the items were “conveniently bought at the FamilyMart next to Jiuli Building.”