Lin Zhexia woke up very early the next day.

While sleeping, her nose bumped against Chi Yao’s shoulder. The young man’s bones were too hard, and it jarred her awake.

She opened her eyes, experiencing for the first time what it was like to wake up in someone else’s embrace in the misty early morning.

After Chi Yao had taken another shower last night, he probably felt too warm and hadn’t worn his sweater. Male body temperature seemed somewhat higher than females, so she felt as if she were surrounded by a heating stove. His sleeping face looked more “docile” than usual, with his typically sharp features softened, appearing much calmer.

So this was what it felt like to open your eyes and immediately see the person you like when waking up.

Lin Zhexia had originally planned to get up immediately and return to her room, pretending nothing had happened last night.

But the scene before her was too cozy—

Sunlight lazily streamed through the window, and Chi Yao, sensing something in his sleep, unconsciously tightened the arm that was holding her.

She suddenly thought, What’s wrong with staying in bed a little longer?

So Lin Zhexia remained nestled in his arms while scrolling through her phone. There wasn’t much news today, and she quickly grew bored of watching videos. She put down her phone and looked up at Chi Yao’s face.

Her attention fell on the young man’s eyelashes.

His eyelashes were very long. Lin Zhexia reached out to compare them with her fingers.

Then she felt an urge to pluck one.

Just as she moved closer, the seemingly sleeping person suddenly opened his eyes, his eyelashes lightly brushing past her fingertips.

“What are you doing?”

Lin Zhexia blurted out, “I wanted to pluck your eyelash.”

“…”

“Go ahead and pluck it.” To her surprise, Chi Yao obediently closed his eyes, “We’ve already slept together, so what’s mine is yours.”

Lin Zhexia blushed: “I don’t want to anymore.”

She freed herself from Chi Yao’s arms, got up from the bed, and put on her slippers, preparing to return to her room: “I’m going back first. Xiao Xue might look for me for breakfast later.”

Their travel plan for these two days was very simple. Yesterday they had toured the local famous museums and historical sites, and today they planned to visit an amusement park. After finishing at the amusement park, they would check out and return to school in the evening.

Having known Chi Yao for so many years, Lin Zhexia was well aware that none of these activities were the type he enjoyed.

He came purely because she wanted to.

Early in the morning, as expected, Lan Xiao Xue came looking for her: “Here, these are the tickets for the amusement park.”

Lin Zhexia took the two tickets and asked: “Aren’t you coming?”

Lan Xiao Xue said: “We are! But even though we’re all hanging out together, Qin Lei and I don’t want to be third wheels, so it’s better if we all enter separately.”

After saying this, Lan Xiao Xue winked at her: “Make sure to ride the Ferris wheel. I heard that from the highest point, you can see a sea of flowers below, which is perfect for couples. Legend has it that couples who ride it will stay together forever. That’s all the help I can offer you.”

In the past, Lin Zhexia would have thought such legends were groundless.

But after starting her relationship with Chi Yao, she had begun to become “superstitious” as well.

After they finished breakfast and packed their things, they checked in at the amusement park entrance. After touring various attractions, Chi Yao asked her where else she wanted to go.

Lin Zhexia couldn’t hide her thoughts: “Let’s go ride the Ferris wheel.”

“We girls,” she tried to conceal her true purpose and added, “just like these kinds of girlish attractions, no special reason.”

Chi Yao indeed didn’t think much of it.

But as he held her hand and they walked to the queue, the amusement park had probably set up a poster at the entrance to attract customers, specifically mentioning the legend of the Ferris wheel.

“The Legend of the Ferris Wheel”

“Together with you forever”

Chi Yao glanced at the poster and turned to look at her: “No other reason?”

Lin Zhexia: “…”

Chi Yao seemed to be in a good mood: “So you don’t want to be apart from me.”

Lin Zhexia felt quite embarrassed: “…That’s not it.”

“I can understand,” he said again.

Lin Zhexia habitually denied it: “Don’t be so full of yourself.”

The Ferris wheel was one of the most popular attractions at the amusement park, and there were many people in line. Looking at the long queue ahead, Lin Zhexia decided to buy a milk tea nearby: “You stay in line, I’ll be right back.”

Before she could say what she was going to do, Chi Yao saw through her intentions: “Just buy one for yourself, you don’t need to get me one. I don’t drink it.”

Lin Zhexia: “Oh.”

This kind of thing happened often between her and Chi Yao.

Some of her thoughts and intentions could always be seen by him at a glance.

Lin Zhexia temporarily left the queue to buy milk tea across the way. Before she left, she vaguely noticed a pair of girls in the long line who seemed to be friends visiting together. After she walked away, they glanced in her direction several times.

Lin Zhexia ignored these gazes, went to the milk tea shop, and ordered a drink. After waiting for a while, she received the bag from the shop assistant and said: “Thank you.”

She turned around with her drink and discovered that looking back in the direction she came from, the first person she saw was no longer Chi Yao, but… two girls surrounding him.

Those two girls looked quite young.

As she walked over, she vaguely heard a sweet “Gege” (big brother).

The girl wanted his WeChat contact: “Gege, can you help me out? Could you transfer ten yuan on WeChat?”

Chi Yao stood there with his hands in his pockets, coldly raising his eyelids: “Don’t call me that. I don’t have WeChat.”

The girl wasn’t discouraged: “I didn’t bring enough money, and I won’t be able to get home later. Please help me.”

Chi Yao: “Turn left and go straight, you’ll find the service center.”

Girl: “What would I do at the service center?”

“Call your family.”

He said with no emotion in his voice, “If you can’t get home, that’s something your parents should deal with.”

“…”

“Next time, if you don’t bring enough money, don’t go out to play,” he added, “It’s quite disruptive to others.”

When Lin Zhexia walked over, the two girls’ faces alternated between red and white before they turned and left the queue.

It had been a long time since she had seen Chi Yao like this.

After they started dating, Chi Yao had been exceptionally indulgent with her. Although he always maintained that lofty, unapproachable appearance, he usually spent most of his time sticking close to her.

But whether in the past or present, Chi Yao always treated her differently.

Different from everyone else.

Lin Zhexia drank her milk tea while pretending to be jealous: “Who were those two just now?”

Chi Yao: “Don’t know them.”

“They still called you ‘Gege’ without knowing you,” Lin Zhexia said sullenly, “You must have been quite happy about that.”

Chi Yao raised an eyebrow: “Why would I be happy?”

Lin Zhexia: “…Because you like people calling you ‘Gege’.”

“Watch what you say.” After she arrived, the hand he had kept in his pocket now hung by his side, habitually reaching for her hand, “I only like hearing it from you alone.”

As they spoke, it was their turn in the queue.

After they sat down, the staff closed the cabin door.

The Ferris wheel began to rotate slowly.

When they reached the peak, they could look down on a large expanse of flowers nearby. Even in winter, the flowers bloomed across the entire area. Looking down from above, it was like a painting drawn on the land.

Her final memory of that day was when the Ferris wheel paused at the very top, and Chi Yao suddenly leaned over and kissed her.

A fleeting, pure kiss.

“Why did you suddenly kiss me?” she asked.

The promotional poster hadn’t mentioned this at all.

“Saw it online,” Chi Yao said, “I’m quite superstitious.”

—

At the end of the semester, a small incident occurred.

Chi Yao joined a project team.

In their major, everyone had to join a team for practical learning after sophomore year, but he was the only one who joined early in freshman year.

After participating in the project, he became even busier.

After lights-out one evening, Lin Zhexia called him from the balcony: “You haven’t returned to the dorm yet?”

“I’m at the professor’s office.”

Chi Yao said, “The dorm lights are out, it’s inconvenient to go back. Can’t use the computer.”

“Oh,” Lin Zhexia didn’t want to disturb him further, “Then remember to rest early.”

But clearly, “resting early” wasn’t easy for Chi Yao to accomplish. After a week of busy project work at the end of the semester, he applied to live off-campus for the next semester and rented a room outside school.

Lin Zhexia accompanied him to look at apartments before the break.

After viewing several options, Chi Yao asked which one she liked. Lin Zhexia thought for a moment: “Maybe the one with the floor-to-ceiling windows? It seems to have better lighting. But it’s mainly up to you.”

Chi Yao chose the one she mentioned: “Up to you. Your opinion is very important.”

Initially, she didn’t understand what Chi Yao meant by saying this.

Chi Yao quickly completed his off-campus housing application.

He moved his things from the dormitory, and after settling in, the winter break arrived.

“Please, I’m begging you,” on the day Chi Yao was moving his things, his other roommates nearly got on their knees for him, “Can you spare a key for your brothers?”

“The school turns off the lights at ten—it’s barely a life fit for humans.”

“Once a roommate, forever a roommate! Your home off campus is our home!”

“Yeah, that way we can go to your place to use the internet and play some games before coming back.”

“What are you talking about? What games? We’re going there to study! Games sound so bad, at least use studying as an excuse to cover it up.”

“…”

“Want to stay over?”

Chi Yao held two keys between his fingers, one of which was a spare key, and looked at them.

The other three roommates nodded in unison.

Chi Yao coldly said, “If you want to stay there, rent your place.”

That spare key was ultimately given to Lin Zhexia.

After helping Chi Yao organize the apartment, she was about to return to school when he called out to her at the door. She asked: “Is there anything else that needs to be done?”

“No,” Chi Yao said, “But you left something behind.”

Lin Zhexia had her shoulder bag on and looked at him helplessly: “I hope you’re not saying that what I left behind is you. That kind of cheesy line has been outdated for a long time, brother.”

Chi Yao hung the spare key on his finger, twirled it half a circle, the key swinging in the air before landing in her sight: “…You left this behind.”

While Lin Zhexia was still in a daze, he simply took her hand and placed the new key in her open palm.

“Keep it safe.”

This scene was very similar to many years ago when Chi Yao had given her the key to his home.

Except at that time, Chi Yao had been annoyed and had thrown her the key with an attitude that suggested he didn’t want to be bothered again: “Next time, let yourself in.”

And that key had long since become invalid.

It was at this moment that she finally understood why, when choosing the apartment, Chi Yao had said her opinion was very important.