◎Rabbit Hair Clip◎

Grandmother’s fever persisted after surgery, and Chun Chuzhen, who stayed by her side as a caregiver, couldn’t attend to her daughter. She could only rely on daily phone calls to care for and inquire about Chun Zao’s daily life.

Friday evening, Chun Zao was taken by her sister to the provincial hospital to visit her grandmother. The old lady’s condition had improved slightly—she could eat some liquid food, and they even encountered her uncle and his young son, who had rushed back from Melbourne.

The man handed Chun Zao an elegant black paper bag beside him, saying it contained chocolate and foreign books he’d brought for her.

Chun Zao accepted it happily, thanked him, and then brought the gifts back to the rental apartment.

Chun Chang had to stay in the hospital room tonight to take shifts with their mother, so it wasn’t convenient to send Chun Zao home. She took a taxi back alone. Returning to the familiar little house, the first thing that caught her eye was Yuan Ye’s open door. After changing shoes and looking up, the boy was already leaning against the doorframe, watching her.

“Just you again today?” Yuan Ye asked.

Chun Zao nodded.

He was genuinely concerned about her eating: “Did you have dinner?”

Chun Zao said, “I ate out with my sister.”

“What about you?” She showed concern in return.

Yuan Ye said, “Not yet.”

Chun Zao glanced at her watch, surprised: “It’s almost nine o’clock.”

Yuan Ye’s eyes held laughter as he looked directly at her without speaking. After a moment, Chun Zao tasted his underlying dissatisfaction: “You weren’t waiting for me to eat, were you?”

Yuan Ye asked back: “What do you think?”

Chun Zao puffed her cheeks with a half-smile: “I see…”

“Forget it.” The boy showed no regret on his face, his brow arching carelessly: “I’ll order something myself.”

Chun Zao played along: “Next time for sure.”

Yuan Ye seemed to have been waiting for this, or perhaps it was sudden inspiration: “Don’t wait for next time. Come out with me tomorrow.”

What did that mean?

Was he asking her out?

Pink bolded bullet comments about “eating dinner, watching movies, holding hands” began scrolling back and forth in her brain.

Chun Zao gripped the paper bag’s drawstring tightly, her emotions surging outward like churned foam: “Go out?”

Yuan Ye hummed: “Remember? During the National Day holiday, you said you wanted to go out to study. Tomorrow is Saturday, a perfect opportunity. I’ll take you to the city library.”

The moment “study” was mentioned, Chun Zao deflated, but she disguised it well: “Oh, great,” then asked: “What time?”

Yuan Ye keenly pointed out: “You don’t seem very enthusiastic?”

“No way!” She immediately raised her voice, spiritedly refuting with full energy.

“Leave at nine, okay?”

Chun Zao doubted: “Can you get up?”

Yuan Ye was struck speechless for a second by her suspicion: “How do I get up during school days?”

Chun Zao: “But you sleep in every weekend.” Making her, who got up early every holiday, seem extraordinarily clumsy.

Yuan Ye: “Chun Zao, you have quite a bias against me. Tomorrow we’ll see who gets up earlier.”

Chun Zao: “That’ll be me.”

“Fine, we’ll see then.”

“Empty words prove nothing.”

Just as they were about to argue more, the girl had already used the magic attack of “blah blah blah” to block his words. Seeing him stuck, she immediately lifted the paper bag high in a victorious pose and danced back to her room, leaving Yuan Ye both angry and amused.

Thus, the next day, just after five o’clock, when heaven and earth were still a black wilderness, the two windows of this small house lit up with warm orange lamps one after the other.

Since they were going out alone, before sleeping, Chun Zao had spent an hour choosing clothes in front of her wardrobe. Due to mental excitement, she tossed and turned, and waking up to look in the mirror, she unsurprisingly found bloodshot eyes.

But at least…

She clipped a small rabbit hair clip by her ear, pulled the hem of her cream blue hoodie smooth, then walked out of her room feeling quite satisfied with herself.

The moment her gaze met Yuan Ye, who was already sitting at the living room dining table, having claimed the high ground early, she knew she’d lost completely.

The boy wore the most streamlined all-black windbreaker, forming an extreme contrast with his skin tone, making his lips appear even redder and teeth whiter.

Chun Zao was speechless.

How could he—just throw on anything and look so good that her gaze got tangled on him, impossible to untie?

The boy supported himself with one hand on the stool, dropping his phone, looking lazy and relaxed, somewhat like waiting by a tree stump for rabbits: “Who’s earlier?”

Chun Zao argued unreasonably: “You don’t have to do your hair.”

Yuan Ye looked her over twice: “You didn’t tie your hair today either.”

Chun Zao’s cheeks gained slight heat, beginning to regret wearing that superfluous “grand” hair clip: “Too lazy to tie it.”

Yuan Ye hummed softly.

Chun Zao went out to wipe the water droplets from her face. Yuan Ye still waited at the table. She removed her headband, arranged her bangs, and sat down. The hair clip she’d removed before washing her face was tucked into her hoodie pocket and never taken out again.

Finally able to feel comfortable.

Yuan Ye tilted his head back, his gaze following her as she sat: “What do you want for breakfast?”

She chose the diagonal position from him: “Anything’s fine.”

Yuan Ye said, “Then I’ll order randomly.”

Yuan Ye chose delivery from a congee shop. Since it was still early, they ate while chatting, even discussing favorite books and singers, mutually recommending and sharing.

They left half an hour early. At eight or nine o’clock, during the subway’s most crowded time, and around Yizhong Station was the CBD—standing was normal.

These past few years, when Chun Zao traveled with Tong Yue on holidays, nine times out of ten, they relied on their legs to get through several stations, and Tong Yue was habitually delicate, so she often had to comfort her friend who lost patience from standing.

But today was different. Yuan Ye’s figure stood out, towering like a black lighthouse in the crowded car, standing to her side with natural barrier effects.

Even when the crowd surged like tides, pushing and shoving from all directions without regard, he never once bumped or leaned against her due to external force or inertia.

Incredibly steady.

Yet even without close physical contact, the boy’s presence remained intense. Chun Zao kept her eyes lowered, not daring to lift her head once.

She was a bit worried… that he might be looking at her, with his bright, keen, dark eyes lowered;

Or that she’d become a gaze thief caught red-handed, since his downward viewing angle was freer and flexible.

The city library was four stations away, fifteen minutes.

The third station was a transfer point. A wave of people rushed out, then another wave packed in, seemingly even more than before. The car completely became a blocked pipeline, packed tight. Chun Zao and Yuan Ye were forced to move to a corner.

Outside the window, colorful billboards slid past. In view, faces sitting or standing showed numb fatigue or excited curiosity.

The middle-aged man beside them was watching comedy videos on his phone at the lowest volume, the comedic dialogue rising and falling.

In this intermittent background sound, Chun Zao suddenly heard Yuan Ye call her name.

She hastily looked up, not knowing when Yuan Ye had gotten so close. The teenager leaned his upper body down slightly—his nose tip, eyes, crisp breath, thick, long lashes all pressed toward her five senses, lifting her heart to her throat in an instant.

“Where’s your hair clip?” His eyes turned toward her, his voice extremely low.

Chun Zao froze, speaking becoming extremely difficult: “I took it off.”

He didn’t ask why, only said: “Where is it?”

Chun Zao suppressed the urge to swallow: “In my pocket.”

“Give it to me.”

Chun Zao uncomprehendingly stuck her hand into her hoodie pocket, felt out the rabbit clip, and handed it to him vertically.

Yuan Ye took it.

The next moment, her ear suddenly felt cool as something slowly brushed through her scalp and hair, raising goosebumps all over her body. Her fingers twisted wrinkles into her canvas bag strap. After her shock, Yuan Ye had already lowered his hand. The hair clip that had retreated early due to “showing off” was unexpectedly returned to its original position by him, once again adorning her hair. As if her carefully hidden feelings were being displayed again, but that audience—there was only one in the whole world, right beside her.

The subway decelerated at this moment, braking to a stop. Outside the window, billboards flashed incessantly. Chun Zao stared fixedly at the logos above, blinking and blinking.

“We’re here.”

The boy beside her spoke, his voice carrying a hint of triumph.