In the hotel room, sunlight streamed through the curtains, illuminating tiny dust particles floating in the air. Clothes were scattered haphazardly on the floor, the sequined spaghetti strap dress twisted into a thin strip, tossed aside.

On the pristine white bed lay two people. The man embraced the woman from behind, his arm loosely draped over her waist above the covers. Several intimate marks adorned the woman’s fair neck, her black hair spread in disarray, the interplay of black and white heightening the intimate atmosphere.

The woman suddenly opened her eyes, blinking rapidly, staring bewilderedly at the unfamiliar surroundings.

Her back pressed against a bare, warm chest—equally unfamiliar sensations and scents. The emptiness and soreness beneath the covers told her what had happened last night.

Last night…

Jiang Ling let out a soft hiss. Her head throbbed painfully from the alcohol; she had completely blacked out.

She carefully turned to look at the man behind her. He was still asleep, eyes tightly shut, with long eyelashes and refined, chiseled features that looked like a sculpture in the interplay of light and shadow.

What?! The hell?!

On her first day here, she had slept with Xu Zhilin?!

After secretly harboring feelings for so long, she had just slept with him…

Jiang Ling was shocked.

Memories of last night started returning in fragments. At the bar, she had approached Xu Zhilin, and the bastard hadn’t even recognized her.

Everything after that was a complete blank. She had no idea how they’d ended up at the hotel or how they’d fallen into bed together.

Jiang Ling maintained her original sleeping position as she pondered for a moment. Suddenly, the phone on the bedside table vibrated. She quickly grabbed it, careful not to wake the man behind her.

It was a message from He Nan.

She couldn’t even remember when she had added He Nan as a contact.

He Nan: How was last night, baby?

He Nan: I asked a senior student here, and that hottie from last night is the youngest professor in the Mathematics Department, many girls’ crush. You’re so lucky.

Jiang Ling: “…”

She glanced at the clothes scattered on the floor, carefully stretched out her foot to pull the dress closer, then the underwear. Jiang Ling clutched them to her chest and carefully moved the arm lying across her waist, then dashed into the bathroom.

The bathroom was equally chaotic.

A reminder that yesterday’s battlefield hadn’t been limited to just the bed.

Beyond her flushed face and racing heart, Jiang Ling silently cursed Xu Zhilin as a beast in a gentleman’s clothing! A cultured scoundrel!

“Baby, did you exchange contact details with that hottie?” He Nan asked, leaning against the bathroom doorway with her arms crossed, blinking her eyes.

Jiang Ling removed last night’s incompletely removed makeup, shook the water from her hands, and asked: “What exactly happened last night?”

“You don’t remember?” He Nan raised an eyebrow, looking at her, then laughed after a moment. “You had a fleeting spring night.”

Jiang Ling looked at her and sighed.

Only then did He Nan speak seriously: “After you went to chat him up yesterday, you were invited over by that hottie’s friends. He was quite gentlemanly, deflecting several drinks for you.”

“But don’t blame me for not stopping you. When I saw they were leaving, I especially went to find you, intending to bring you back, but you were clinging to that hottie and refused to leave.” He Nan shrugged. “I couldn’t be a third wheel, could I? So I left with Chris and the others. I don’t know what happened after that. Oh right, worried you might get scammed, I saved my number in your phone.”

“…” Jiang Ling’s eyes widened. “I was clinging to Xu Zhilin?”

“Xu Zhilin? Is that the hottie’s name? Is it his real name or a fake one?”

Jiang Ling didn’t dwell on this question, insisting as she looked at He Nan: “How could I possibly have clung to him?”

“I have photos,” He Nan smiled. “Want to see?”

“…” Jiang Ling sighed. “Never mind.”

The foreign roommate named Chris could cook, so they had a homemade lunch in the apartment. Classes would start in a few days.

They all had different majors and chatted briefly about their respective fields.

Since returning, Jiang Ling had been in a dejected state. He Nan tapped her bowl with a fork: “Wake up, sister.”

“…” Jiang Ling looked up listlessly. “Ah.”

“What’s wrong? What happened should be forgotten. School’s about to start. Have you toured the campus yet?”

Jiang Ling thought about her passport, which had been left in her bag when she hurriedly left that morning. Regardless of whether Xu Zhilin had recognized her at the time, he probably knew who she was by now.

Jiang Ling felt exhausted, and the thought of starting school made her head ache even more.

She ate hastily and returned to her bedroom to sleep.

She had no memory whatsoever of what happened after entering the hotel yesterday—only her still aching body, the scattered red marks she’d seen while showering that morning, and the vague recollection of a man’s hot breath in the throes of passion.

Sigh.

Jiang Ling had no idea what she had done.

Well, He Nan had said she had been the one clinging to Xu Zhilin yesterday. Considering she had once harbored a crush on him for years, accidentally sleeping with him while drunk might be considered a win for her.

A win that left her utterly exhausted.

In the evening, He Nan and the others arranged to go out again. Jiang Ling, having slept all afternoon without recovering, continued resting in the apartment. It wasn’t until evening that she received a text from He Nan.

He Nan: Hungry? Want me to bring you a late-night snack?

He Nan: By the way, just to check, since you might be confused, you used protection, right?

????

Oh! Shit!!

Jiang Ling couldn’t remember how many times she had mentally cursed today. She sprang from the bed and began desperately trying to remember.

Then realized she truly couldn’t remember a thing.

She was almost in tears, carefully asking He Nan where she could buy morning-after pills.

He Nan sent her a long string of ellipses, then finally told her to check the pharmacy near the apartment.

Jiang Ling didn’t even bother to dress up, just put on some lounge pants, grabbed her wallet, and went straight out.

Just as she was walking downstairs, she received a call from her mother: “Lingling, what are you doing?”

On my way to buy emergency contraception.

Jiang Ling felt both weary and guilty, thinking that alcohol and beauty were truly hazardous: “Nothing much, just going to look around the neighborhood. Classes start in a few days.”

“Oh, well, don’t stay out too late. Your father and I can’t take care of you when you’re abroad by yourself.”

Initially, when she decided to go abroad to study Chinese literature, her parents had objected and they’d had a big argument, but in the end, they had conceded to their daughter.

Jiang Ling sniffled and made an affirmative sound.

She felt extremely guilty about her mother’s concern and made up an excuse about having something to do before hanging up.

The pharmacy was brightly lit. Jiang Ling pulled her clothes tighter, smoothed her loose, long hair, took a deep breath, and pushed open the door.

She didn’t ask the seated pharmacist for help but browsed the shelves herself. It was her first time visiting a pharmacy alone—she’d never even done so back in China.

After wandering back and forth, she finally found the emergency contraception.

Emergency pills.

Jiang Ling took one pack and carefully read the instructions on the packaging before taking it to the checkout counter.

She lowered her head to take out her wallet. Suddenly, the pharmacy door opened from outside, and someone walked in. Jiang Ling didn’t notice until the person stood behind her.

A slender, beautiful hand reached from behind and picked up the box of emergency contraception. The voice was gentle with a hint of huskiness, possibly from a cold, with a heavy nasal tone.

He said in English, “Thank you, this won’t be necessary.”

Jiang Ling whirled around. Due to the height difference, she first saw his lean, smooth jawline and caught the scent of shower gel that she had smelled that morning.

Xu Zhilin.

Jiang Ling was dumbfounded as she was pulled back out of the pharmacy by him.

The streetlights cast a yellowish glow, and blonde, blue-eyed pedestrians passed by. Jiang Ling was too embarrassed to look up at Xu Zhilin, keeping her head down as she heard his voice from above.

“Don’t you know that medicine is bad for your health?” Xu Zhilin said, looking at her.

“But,” Jiang Ling sniffled, feeling somewhat aggrieved, “if I got pregnant, wouldn’t an abortion be even worse for my health?”

Xu Zhilin sighed, his voice softening: “You won’t get pregnant. I used protection yesterday.”

“…” Jiang Ling looked up at him briefly, then quickly lowered her head again.

“Don’t worry, I’ll take responsibility for what happened yesterday…”

Jiang Ling was startled and hastily interrupted him: “No, no, it was just a mistake while drunk. Making you take responsibility would be like scamming you…” Finally, she looked at him and added, “Don’t you agree, sir?”

She even used an honorific.

Xu Zhilin raised an eyebrow as he watched the girl’s retreating figure.

Yesterday, Jiang Ling had been wearing heavy makeup, and he had been quite drunk. Coupled with the dim, fluctuating lights in the bar, he truly hadn’t recognized her at the time.

Later, out of politeness, he had helped deflect several drinks for her, and then he became excessively drunk.

It wasn’t until he had taken the nearly limp girl to the bathroom, given her a shower, and accidentally dropped her bag on the floor while coming out that he saw the photo and name on her passport as he picked it up, leaving him momentarily stunned.

Jiang Ling.

A name from his memory.

Before matching the face, there was the somewhat immature voice of a young girl.

Such heaven-shaking teacher-student sentiment!!!

What star-crossed lovers are my Zhilin gege and I!!!

“…”

Only one bathroom light was on in the hotel room. He frowned as he looked at the girl lying on the bed. The steam from the shower had washed away some of her makeup, slowly revealing the girl from before.

His once quite adorable student.

Xu Zhilin didn’t have much time to consider how to face the situation before him. His head was still foggy when the woman raised herself from the bed.

Smiling coquettishly, she leaned forward, her slender arms draping around his neck, eyes narrowed as she asked, “Aren’t you coming to bed?”

With a buzz, the name “Jiang Ling” from the passport was momentarily erased from his mind, and his alcohol-stimulated nerves once again teetered precariously.

Xu Zhilin picked her up, tossed her onto the bed, and leaned down over her.

…

When he woke up the next morning, there was no one beside him, only the untidied chaos of the room and a strand of black hair on the pillow.

Xu Zhilin momentarily doubted whether last night’s “Jiang Ling” was his former student Jiang Ling.

After all, her appearance didn’t resemble the memory of someone always smiling in a school uniform, but the photo on the passport was a familiar face.

It wasn’t until he left school and passed by the pharmacy entrance that he saw the familiar figure again, though today she was dressed much more casually.

Xu Zhilin watched as the girl fled, her silhouette disappearing around the corner.

He closed his eyes, and suddenly the image of the girl from yesterday appeared before him—the silver spaghetti strap sliding inch by inch off her shoulder, her fair skin, flowing lines, crimson lips, and those slender, straight legs.

Xu Zhilin bit his back teeth, and after a moment, lowered his head and cursed under his breath.