It had been more than half a year since the last incident on the rooftop, and although he and Xia Xiaoxiao had been up here many tis by themselves, this was the first ti they were together.
Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao arrived at their usual spot, both tacitly not ntioning what happened last ti, instead leaning on the cent railings to look toward the horizon.
Perhaps because the weather was too hot, the girl's cheeks were flushed with a touch of red, and Xu Qingfan felt a bit parched too.
Fortunately, the glow of the sunset was so beautiful that it was enough to ignore any details.
Xu Qingfan and Xia Xiaoxiao arrived at their usual spot.
They kept a distance from each other, but their hearts fluttered as if connected to one another.
"You..."
Both spoke at the sa ti, then quickly turned their heads away after looking at each other.
"You go first," Xu Qingfan broke the silence.
"Um...you... you did pretty well on the test this ti," Xia Xiaoxiao suddenly couldn't rember what she was about to say and randomly picked a topic.
"Uh... you too."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
After a brief silence, Xia Xiaoxiao spoke again, "If you hadn't made mistakes on the multiple-choice questions in politics, you would have scored higher than ."
"Right...I was a bit careless," Xu Qingfan nodded.
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
Then there was another period of silence.
As the sun set, their silhouettes rged into the night, visible only as two dark outlines.
The last streak of crimson in the sky remained, and the cawing of crows was startling.
"Xu Qingfan... did you... have you dread about ... after that?" Xia Xiaoxiao suddenly broke the silence.
In the evening breeze, the girl's voice seed magical, tickling his heart unbearably.
After a short lull, Xu Qingfan responded, "I have."
Those simple three words sent shivers through Xia Xiaoxiao's body, making her forget to breathe.
" too."
"Yeah."
"Yeah."
Once more, a long silence ensued, with emotional waves surging in both of their hearts.
"Xu Qingfan..."
"Hmm?"
"Do you... do you still want to kiss?" After uttering these words, the girl's face turned as red as boiling water.
"Huh?"
Xu Qingfan's eyes widened in disbelief, but unfortunately, the darkness of the night obscured the girl's face.
"Want to... no no... don't want to!"
"Pounding pounding~ pounding pounding~" it was the sound of a fluttering heart.
[Oh my~ could Xia Xiaoxiao be about to confess to , should I agree or agree or agree?]
[What about Wanning if I agree, better not agree...]
[What kind of strange twist is this!]
On the other side, Xia Xiaoxiao was also lost in thought:
[Ah ah ah~ Xia Xiaoxiao, have you lost your mind, what's this about still wanting to kiss, what on earth are you saying!]
[Mom and Aunt are at ho, what if I get bullied and they find out...]
[Hmph~ even though I really want to, I said I don't want to, I won't let you kiss !]
Xia Xiaoxiao took a deep breath, cald her emotions, and then said pretentiously, "Hmph~ it's best if you don't want to, last ti was because of the keychain, that's why... that happened... don't think too much, there's no unless... there's simply no more!"
Xu Qingfan silently exhaled a sigh of relief, but he had to admit that he felt a bit disappointed inside.
Even though he couldn't see the girl's face under the cover of night, Xu Qingfan guessed that the proud Xia Xiaoxiao must have a blushing face right now.
"What am I thinking too much about?" he pretended not to care and shifted to the left, draping his arm over the girl's shoulder.
Xia Xiaoxiao stiffened as if under an immobilization spell, her hands tightly clutching the hem of her clothes.
"I... how would I know what you're overthinking," she responded in a flustered manner.
Noticing the girl's tense and contracted neck due to nervousness, Xu Qingfan relaxed even more.
In the span of half a year, his height had already reached 178 centiters, and with a minor difference of 6 centiters in height between them, their silhouettes appeared quite well-matched under the black night.
"Twice," he said.
"What... what twice?" Xia Xiaoxiao was puzzled.
"Once in front of Wanning and again on your birthday here," Xu Qingfan said as he turned to look at her and slowly began.
"Ah..." Xia Xiaoxiao suddenly fell silent; if she looked down at that mont, she would have noticed her toes curling together inside her flip-flops.
Then, Xu Qingfan asked her the question that made her forget how to think: "Xia Xiaoxiao, don't tell you like ?"
Xia Xiaoxiao's mind crashed, blank.
In such situations, a person's response usually cos from instinct—not that what's instinctual is necessarily the truth, but rather what they're most accustod to saying.
Xia Xiaoxiao gave the answer she'd regret for a lifeti, unaware of its future significance due to the mist of what lay ahead.
"Like hell I like you!"
Her answer wasn't beyond Xu Qingfan's expectation, but he still secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
If that last layer of paper between them had been pierced, he would have had to face the ultimate choice.
Xu Qingfan felt it wasn't just their relationship that was a layer of paper away; he himself was just one layer away from transforming into a better man.
If it weren't for the dwindling shreds of morality holding him back, that rope likely wouldn't last much longer.
[Playing hard to get is also nice for the ti being. Let's keep being coy, no need to break our tacit understanding just yet.]
"So that's how it is, that's good. I thought you kissed because you like... sss~"
Xia Xiaoxiao, irritated and embarrassed, pinched him at the waist: [Who'd kiss you if they didn't like you, Xu Qingfan, you're such a pig!!!]
"Hmph~ It was an apology! Ruan Wen said that if you're sincerely sorry, you should kiss! That's why I... why I..." Blaming her best friend instead of herself, Xia Xiaoxiao used Xiao Ruawen as a shield.
Xu Qingfan thought of that crazy girl, Xiao Ruawen; if she had instigated Xia Xiaoxiao to do this, it was indeed possible.
"Xiao Xiao, give Brother Fan a kiss, and he'll definitely forgive you!"
Okay, they kissed more than once, but Xu Qingfan truly forgave Xia Xiaoxiao.
"So it's like that. Can we consider our last incident even?" Xu Qingfan's middle finger gently tapped her shoulder.
Last ti, it was as if that finger had been controlled by an alien, doing sothing utterly outrageous.
Xia Xiaoxiao turned to see the finger tapping a rhythm on her, and instantly recalled every single fragnt of that day...
"I... I don't know what you're talking about!"
Just like last ti, Xia Xiaoxiao ducked down, escaped his grasp once more, and fled.
"Hahaha!"
Watching the girl's fleeing figure, Xu Qingfan laughed for so reason—a loud, honest laugh that made her run even faster.
"Pervert!"
Xia Xiaoxiao huffed and puffed as she ran downstairs, only stopping after putting so distance between them.
She looked back, ensuring Xu Qingfan hadn't followed, and then cast an annoyed glare in the direction she had co from.
"What a big bully!"
[Got you all figured out!]
Recalling the sensation from that day, Xia Xiaoxiao felt her legs growing weak again...
...
Dinner.
For years, Lin Jing had remained single, so whenever the children were ho, the two families dined together.
Now past thirty-six, the prospect of remarriage was sothing she never even broached.
As Lin Jing herself put it: "Unless there's a man who's as gentle, considerate, and handso as Xiao Fan, I'd rather be his godmother!"
"Jingjing, when should we hold the kid's school promotion celebration?" Yao Jiping suddenly brought up during the al.
"Let's not bother, it's not the college entrance exam. Besides, aren't we about to move soon? Just combine the moving banquet with the school promotion celebration; I don't like too many people around." Before Lin Jing could reply, Xu Qingfan interjected.
"I'll go with what Xiao Fan says," Lin Jing agreed with a smiling raise of her hand.
"You know..."
"Mom, I know what you want to say, about the gift money, right? I'll draw a few more comic books over the sumr to reimburse you," Xu Qingfan anticipated his mother's thoughts.
"Mom, why aren't you saying anything?" Seeing Yao Jiping suddenly focusing on her al, Xu Qingfan asked curiously.
"If you've already said it all, what's left for to say?" Yao Jiping gave him a sharp look.
"Hahaha..."
...
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