“I’ll Always Be With You in the Future”
When Zhou Anran returned to the dormitory, Xie Jingyi and Yu Xinyue were still awake.
Bai Lingyun’s bed and desk were empty again.
Xie Jingyi looked at her with surprise: “I thought you wouldn’t come back tonight, like Lingyun.”
With the experience from last time, Zhou Anran instantly understood her implication, but she was still too embarrassed to discuss such intimate topics with them. She could only pretend not to understand: “Why wouldn’t I come back?”
Xie Jingyi: “Then why are you blushing?”
Zhou Anran: “…”
Forget it, she couldn’t deceive her, nor could she argue with her.
“I’m going to wash up.”
Escaping into the bathroom, Zhou Anran first unfastened the hooks inside her clothes. She had felt uncomfortable all night, constantly feeling that unfamiliar yet intimate sensation that made her heart tremble lingering there.
Especially after she had agreed to his words later when a certain someone had taken advantage and lowered his head to kiss her there.
Zhou Anran shook her head.
She pushed back all those embarrassing memories.
After washing up, Zhou Anran lay down on her bed.
Her phone chimed.
C: [Not asleep yet?]
Zhou Anran: [No]
Zhou Anran: [But I’m about to]
Zhou Anran: [You’re back at the dorm, right?]
C: [Yes]
C: [Is it red?]
Zhou Anran: “?”
What’s red?
Just as she was about to ask him, his next two messages popped up.
C: [It looked a bit red before you left]
C: [Should I be gentler next time?]
Zhou Anran realized what he meant, her face suddenly burning hot, the phone feeling too hot to hold.
She tossed the phone aside and turned to bury her face in her pillow.
The phone was quiet for two seconds.
As if not receiving her reply, he sent more messages.
It chimed again.
Twice.
Three times.
Zhou Anran buried her face in the pillow for a few seconds, but couldn’t resist reaching for her phone again.
C: [Never mind]
C: [You’re probably too embarrassed to say]
C: [I’ll check myself tomorrow]
Zhou Anran: “??”
She tossed the phone aside again.
The next day was Sunday. After breakfast, Zhou Anran went to the apartment with him as usual. After changing shoes at the entrance, she thought for a moment and said with a red face: “I have an essay to finish today, with a lot of materials to go through.”
Chen Luobai turned his head to look at her, his gaze lingering on her face before subtly moving down a bit. The corner of his lips seemed to curl up, his tone lazy: “It’s fine, you do your thing, I’ll do mine.”
Zhou Anran: “…?”
But she couldn’t bring herself to refuse him.
She had already written about half of her essay, and with a whole day ahead, a little delay shouldn’t matter.
When he led her into the study, she tentatively spread out her books and opened her laptop. Seeing him calmly open his computer next to her, Zhou Anran realized he had been teasing her again.
She felt a bit annoyed.
But also a sweet feeling of being respected.
Zhou Anran’s essay writing wasn’t going too smoothly. She worked for almost the entire day, and after dinner in the evening, she wrote for another hour or so, finally finishing close to 8 PM.
By then, the sky had long since darkened, with lights gradually illuminating the city that was no longer so unfamiliar to her.
Zhou Anran rubbed her neck and turned her head to see Chen Luobai sitting quietly beside her, watching her.
“Finished?”
Zhou Anran nodded, her dimple appearing on her cheek.
“Want to watch some TV together?” Chen Luobai asked softly.
Zhou Anran: “Have you finished your homework?”
“Too much debt.” Chen Luobai reached out to pull her up. “It’s not urgent right now.”
Zhou Anran had been with him for over a month and had come to the apartment many times, but it seemed she had never had the chance to watch TV with him. Thinking he could use a break too, she let him lead her up.
Back in the living room, Chen Luobai led her to sit on the sofa.
Zhou Anran turned her head to ask him: “What are we watching?”
Chen Luobai didn’t answer directly. He first turned on the TV, pressed the remote a few times, and finally stopped on CCTV-5. He casually tossed the remote back on the coffee table, put his arm around her shoulder, pulled her into his embrace, and then spoke: “I never had the chance to watch a game with you.”
Zhou Anran looked at the TV screen.
The words “CBA Regular Season Round 16” were prominently displayed in the upper left corner.
From before they were together until now, he seemed to have been constantly helping her make up for the regrets of the past. She should have been used to it by now, but as Zhou Anran stared at those words on the screen, she still felt a moment of bittersweet emotion.
Back then, when Zhou Anran, who didn’t even know the team names and could only recognize one active player, watched her first game in confusion with Zhou Xianhong, she never imagined that one day she would be held in his arms as he said he wanted to watch a game with her.
Zhou Anran wrapped her arms around his waist and snuggled closer to him.
Chen Luobai noticed her small movement and raised an eyebrow slightly: “Why are you suddenly so clingy? Just watching a game with you makes you hug me voluntarily?”
Zhou Anran: “…”
Chen Luobai pinched her face and said in a meaningful tone: “Then I’ll watch more games with you in the future.”
This person couldn’t be serious for more than a few minutes now.
The bittersweet feeling in her nose instantly disappeared.
Zhou Anran blushed and pulled his hand away, sitting back in her original position.
“The game is about to start.”
Zhou Anran had heard him talking to Zhu Ran in the classroom about watching games late at night and getting so angry he couldn’t sleep, so she thought he might have a bit of a temper when watching games. But actually, he didn’t.
Maybe it was because that particular game had been played so poorly, but today both teams’ performances were quite average, and he seemed very calm and quiet.
Only occasionally when she asked some small technical questions would Chen Luobai speak up to explain in detail. Or halfway through a quarter, he would lean over and pop a candy into her mouth.
The snacks and drinks in his apartment changed frequently, but that brand of soda candy was always well-stocked.
The game started at 7:35 PM and finished at 10 PM.
Zhou Anran was about to urge him to do his homework when she suddenly remembered something she had forgotten: “Oh right, yesterday Zhu Ran told me that Tang Jianrui and the others are coming over next weekend. He asked me to check if Xingqian and the others want to join the gathering.”
Chen Luobai casually played with her hair: “Mm, Zhu Ran mentioned it to me. I owe them all a meal anyway, might as well treat them during the gathering. Why don’t you ask in that small group chat of yours if Dong Chen and the others want to come too?”
Zhou Anran nodded and opened the small group chat.
Zhou Anran: [@everyone]
Zhou Anran: [Are you free to meet up this weekend?]
Zhou Anran: [Tang Jianrui and the others might be coming over]
Zhou Anran: [He says he owes you all a meal, so he’ll treat you during the gathering]
Yan Xingqian: [Who’s “he”?]
Zhang Shuxian: [Yeah, how are we supposed to know if you don’t explain clearly?]
Sheng Xiaowen: [Don’t know +1]
Even Dong Chen joined in: [Yeah, Zhou Anran, how are we supposed to know if you don’t explain clearly?]
Zhou Anran: “…”
Suddenly, a large hand grasped hers.
Chen Luobai held her hand and pressed the voice message button, laughing as he said: “I’m treating.”
He let go of her hand, and the message was sent.
It was a very short voice message.
Soon, new replies popped up in the group.
Yan Xingqian: [I was wrong, if I had known we were going to be fed dog food again, I shouldn’t have asked]
Zhang Shuxian: [Shouldn’t have asked +1]
Sheng Xiaowen: [Shouldn’t have asked +2]
Zhou Anran helplessly: [Be serious, you guys]
Zhou Anran: [Are you free or not?]
Yan Xingqian: [1]
Sheng Xiaowen: [Of course I’m free, even if I wasn’t I’d make time!]
Zhang Shuxian: [I’m free too!! I’m finally free next weekend!!!!]
Dong Chen: [1]
Yan Xingqian: [Copycat]
Dong Chen: [Just typing ‘1’ means I’m copying you? Yan Xingqian, your face is getting bigger and bigger]
Dong Chen: [Not bothered to argue with you]
Dong Chen: [Are you coming? @He Mingyu]
He Mingyu: [I’d better not]
Dong Chen: [Why not?]
Dong Chen: [Aren’t you free next weekend?]
He Mingyu, perhaps busy, didn’t reply again.
Zhou Anran blinked.
“He Mingyu said he’s not coming,” she hesitated for a moment, remembering that someone seemed to have been a little jealous of He Mingyu before, so she asked him first, “Should we ask him again?”
Chen Luobai: “I’ll ask.”
Zhou Anran saw his calm attitude and guessed that he probably had only been bothered before about her buying coffee for He Mingyu. She nodded: “Okay, then I’ll ask Shuxian if she wants to come with Tang Jianrui and the others, so they can look out for each other.”
Chen Luobai casually “mm” ed, still with one arm around her shoulder, using his other hand to type on his phone: [Really not coming?]
The person who had been silent in the group immediately replied to his message: [It’s not that I don’t want to be friends with her]
Chen Luobai: [Thought about it]
Chen Luobai: [Can’t be that petty]
Chen Luobai: [She only had you two as opposite-sex friends in high school]
Chen Luobai: [And even if you come, you probably won’t even get to say a word to her]
He Mingyu: [The last point is probably the main reason, right?]
The corner of Chen Luobai’s lips curled up: [Come]
Chen Luobai: [Everyone will only get busier in the future, chances to gather together will only become rarer]
He Mingyu: [Okay]
Chen Luobai put away his phone: “He’s coming.”
Zhou Anran didn’t think much of it, just “oh” ed, and then said: “Can you add Tang Jianrui and the others to the chat? Shuxian doesn’t have their WeChat.”
Chen Luobai “mm” ed, as if also remembering something: “I should invite your dormmates too, right? Exams are next month, do they still have time? If so, we could invite them this time?”
Zhou Anran also remembered something: “Xiaowen said last time that when you treat us to a meal, she wants to bring your roommate along.”
Chen Luobai was a bit surprised: “She still hasn’t given up?”
“She said it’s rare to find someone with a matching temperament, so they could be friends first. Can we invite him?” Zhou Anran tugged at his hand.
Chen Luobai’s Adam’s apple bobbed: “Alright, I’ll ask. If everyone’s okay with it, I might as well invite the club members too.”
“Then let’s ask everyone first.”
So they both lowered their heads, each sending messages to inquire.
By the time everything was settled, it was already past 10:40 PM.
Zhou Anran put down her phone.
Chen Luobai turned his head: “Finished chatting?”
Zhou Anran nodded.
Chen Luobai also tossed his phone aside casually and pulled her closer into his embrace. He had wanted to do this ever since she unconsciously tugged at his hand earlier to coax him.
He lowered his voice: “Let me see?”
Zhou Anran: “…?”
The living room was quiet for a moment.
Someone’s face instantly turned bright red again.
“It is a bit red.”
Chen Luobai looked at the faint red mark there, reaching out his hand: “I didn’t even use much force yesterday.”
Zhou Anran bit her lip: “Be gentle.”
Chen Luobai’s movement paused slightly, and in a flash, it was as if a distant memory suddenly appeared.
“It was you that day too, wasn’t it?”
His hand was still there, and Zhou Anran’s mind was a bit hazy: “What day was me?”
“Not long after we started high school.” Chen Luobai thought back. “One day I was napping at my desk, and two girls passed by my seat. One of them reminded the other to speak softly. That was you, right?”
He hadn’t fallen asleep yet at that time, and for a moment, he thought that voice had a special kind of pleasantness, soft yet with a slight grainy texture.
The owner of the voice must have been more attentive and gentle than her companion.
But that was all, he didn’t pay much attention to it.
He usually didn’t listen carefully to the voices of the girls in his class, and later this memory quickly faded.
Until that day when he encountered her crying on the rooftop, he felt her voice was somewhat familiar, but because the memory had faded, he couldn’t remember where he had heard it before.
Zhou Anran remembered.
It was the day she overheard him talking about the basketball game with Zhu Ran.
“It should have been me.”
Chen Luobai felt a lump in his throat.
He had missed her many times in high school.
Zhou Anran saw him lowering his eyes without speaking, his hand still motionless there. Her face was flushed as she softly asked him: “What’s wrong?”
Chen Luobai came back to his senses.
He saw her lying beneath him, face red, looking at him with soft, loving eyes.
“Nothing.” His hand started moving gently again as he called her name softly, “Zhou Anran, shall I make up for another regret?”
Zhou Anran looked at the small mole swaying before her eyes, her mind seeming to drift again: “What regret?”
What regrets could she possibly have left?
Chen Luobai: “It’s almost eleven, you probably won’t make it back before curfew. How about the college freshman Chen Luobai makes up for the high school Chen Luobai by sleeping with you?”
Zhou Anran: “??”
Her face was about to burn up, but Chen Luobai started laughing against her shoulder, his chest vibrating noticeably. His hand didn’t stop, and his voice, low and filled with laughter, sounded next to her ear.
“Why is your face so red?”
“What are you thinking?”
“I meant simply sleeping like in high school, napping together in class.”
Zhou Anran: “…”
“Chen Luobai!”
Chen Luobai “mm” ed, then turned his head to kiss her again, his voice still low: “I’m teasing you. You sleep in the master bedroom, I’ll sleep in the guest room.”
“Chen Luobai won’t sleep with you tonight, but Chen Luobai will always be with you in the future.”