Tan Xingwei’s mind went blank.
Three meters away, Su Xu had one hand on a luggage cart. Seeming to confirm it was Tan Xingwei, she showed a puzzled expression, but soon after, she tilted her head and smiled at Tan Xingwei.
That one smile nearly made Tan Xingwei write off the past four years.
Seeing that Tan Xingwei still hadn’t moved, Su Xu’s puzzled expression, tinged with a smile, reappeared.
Tan Xingwei knew she couldn’t hide, so she had no choice but to walk over.
“You really came,” Su Xu said.
Tan Xingwei lowered her head to look at the buttons on Su Xu’s clothes. She first greeted her, “Big Sister Ah Xu,” then continued, “I was dropping a friend off at the airport this afternoon. She just flew off. My sister said you were arriving today, so I came over to see. Haha, what a coincidence.”
Su Xu said, “Is that so.”
Su Xu’s final syllable was a bit soft, light like a whisper.
It also sounded like a question, not to mention Su Xu’s gaze had shifted to the flowers in Tan Xingwei’s hands.
The veteran liar Tan Xingwei nearly fell to her knees to say, no, no, that’s not it, you have no idea how hard I worked to find your flight information, wuwuwu, this trip was really not easy, and I practically went blind carefully selecting these flowers, Big Sister, Big Sister, I beg you to dote on me.
But in the end, Tan Xingwei only managed an ambiguous “Mm,” and thrust the flowers she couldn’t possibly explain into Su Xu’s arms.
The thrust was a bit sudden. Su Xu let out an “Aiya,” then laughed and said, “Thank you.”
Tan Xingwei said, “You’re welcome,” and placed her hand on the cart, trying to push Su Xu aside.
Unfortunately, Su Xu stopped her.
“Nn~” Su Xu made a sound of refusal. “No need.”
Tan Xingwei didn’t care and pushed forward again.
This push amused Su Xu. She grabbed Tan Xingwei’s wrist. “I said no need.” She handed the flowers to Tan Xingwei. “Hold these for me, okay?”
Tan Xingwei still held onto the cart. “No.”
Su Xu said softly, “Why are you still so stubborn?”
Tan Xingwei: “Then you let me push it.”
Su Xu: “I won’t.”
Tan Xingwei was taken aback, her mind unable to keep up as she retorted, “You’re stubborn too.”
This time, Su Xu laughed out loud. “Alright,” she said, non-negotiably handing the flowers directly to Tan Xingwei. “Hold this.” She also added, “You haven’t changed a bit in four years.”
Although Tan Xingwei compromised, she still had to retort, “You haven’t changed either.”
Su Xu nodded in agreement. “Yes, yes.”
The flowers were back in Tan Xingwei’s hands. Su Xu pushed the cart, and the two walked side by side, maintaining a distance of one person between them.
The familiar feeling returned in an instant. Su Xu had always been like this with her, with a faint smile and gentle care. She would negotiate nicely when Tan Xingwei was obedient, but if she wasn’t, Su Xu would just do as she pleased without any regard for Tan Xingwei.
In that moment, Tan Xingwei also understood why she had fallen for Su Xu again and again back then.
She’s just so easy to like!
It’s infuriating.
But she also maintains such a distance!
Even more infuriating!
Su Xu had already arranged for a car. The two of them got in as soon as they left the airport. Once the car started moving, Su Xu took the flowers from Tan Xingwei.
“Let me see,” Su Xu said, placing the bouquet on her lap. “Phalaenopsis orchids. Is this a rose?”
Tan Xingwei nodded. “Cool Water roses.”
Su Xu praised, “You’re so professional.”
The corners of Tan Xingwei’s mouth lifted slightly. “This is globe amaranth.”
“So pretty,” Su Xu was very happy, her eyes curving into crescents. “Such beautiful flowers.” She then placed the flowers next to Tan Xingwei. “They match you today.”
Tan Xingwei said, “That’s why I bought these for you.”
Su Xu: “You want to match with me?”
Although Tan Xingwei did secretly have this kind of intention, she panicked when Su Xu said it out loud.
“Uh, I…”
Tan Xingwei was saved by her phone, which was both ringing and vibrating. She quickly took it out of her pocket.
The screen displayed “Tan Yinqing.” Tan Xingwei saw it, and so did Su Xu.
“Hello,” Tan Xingwei answered.
Tan Yinqing: “What are you doing? Answering my call instantly but not replying to my messages.”
Tan Xingwei: “If you have something to say, say it.”
Tan Yinqing: “Where’d you go? Are you coming back for dinner tonight?”
Tan Xingwei only replied, “Not coming back. You guys go ahead and eat.”
Tan Yinqing: “Fine, bye.”
Before Tan Xingwei could say anything, the dial tone was already buzzing in her ear.
“You and your sister are still like this,” Su Xu said.
Tan Xingwei: “Like what?”
Su Xu: “You bicker so much.”
Tan Xingwei: “She’s the one who wants to bicker with me.”
Su Xu nodded helplessly. “Alright.”
Tan Xingwei thought for a moment. “I have a very good temper.” She thought again and added, “I’m only like this with my sister.” She thought once more and said, “We’re not really doing anything. We have a good relationship. She’s been into celebrity chasing recently, and I’ve helped her snag a lot of things.”
Su Xu tilted her head to look at Tan Xingwei, listening very seriously to what she said.
Just as Tan Xingwei thought Su Xu was about to make some kind of speech, she opened her mouth and said, “Your sister doesn’t know you came to pick me up?”
Tan Xingwei was instantly choked up. After a long moment, she managed a dry, “Ah, no.”
Su Xu: “Why?”
Tan Xingwei pressed her lips together.
Before she could come up with a story, Su Xu spoke again, “I’m having dinner with my family tonight. Want to join?”
Based on Tan Xingwei’s understanding of Su Xu, Su Xu had probably figured out that Tan Xingwei wasn’t going home for dinner.
Based on Su Xu’s understanding of Tan Xingwei, there was no way Tan Xingwei would agree.
“No, thanks,” Tan Xingwei said. “I have dinner plans with a friend tonight.”
“Okay,” Su Xu nodded. “Should I have the driver take you there directly?”
Tan Xingwei: “Sure.”
Tan Xingwei casually named a shopping mall, and Su Xu added it to the ride-hailing app.
Not long after, the car entered the highway. The sunset over Haicheng was beautiful today. The light from the setting sun streamed in through the window on Tan Xingwei’s side, falling on her face, on the flowers, and on Su Xu’s lap.
Su Xu seemed to have a lot of things to handle. At first, the sound of new messages kept coming from her phone, but eventually, she simply turned the sound off.
With Su Xu buried in her phone, Tan Xingwei grew bolder, moving from just stealing glances from the corner of her eye to daring to turn her head and look directly at Su Xu.
She looked at the hoop earring on her round earlobe, the small mole on the side of her nose, her long eyelashes, her pursed lips, her slender hands, and the narrow ring on her index finger.
After watching for a while, Su Xu brushed her bangs.
After watching a bit longer, Su Xu raised a hand to push up her glasses.
After watching for another moment, Su Xu opened her mouth and yawned.
“A little sleepy.”
After saying this, Su Xu turned to look at Tan Xingwei.
Tan Xingwei impassively averted her gaze and looked down to unlock her own phone.
“Look up,” Su Xu said again.
She was speaking to Tan Xingwei. Tan Xingwei didn’t know what she meant, but she obediently looked up.
Su Xu’s eyes immediately curved into crescents. She brushed Tan Xingwei’s bangs aside a little. “You’re so pretty.”
Tan Xingwei took a soft breath.
“Don’t move,” Su Xu said, picking up her own phone. She tapped it a few times, aimed it at Tan Xingwei, and as she pressed the shutter, she exclaimed, “Wow, so beautiful.”
Tan Xingwei slowly exhaled.
Straight girls being so hands-on is really annoying.
“See, I wasn’t lying,” said Su Xu in front of her, turning her phone around after taking the picture.
Tan Xingwei looked at the picture of herself on Su Xu’s phone. Because the car had changed lanes, the sunlight was now coming in from the rear window, making Tan Xingwei’s face glow with a soft halo.
She really was very pretty.
Alright then, Big Sister Ah Xu is forgiven.
The corners of Tan Xingwei’s mouth were hooked up again. She touched her nose, then her hair, and said to Su Xu, “I want to take a picture of you too.”
Su Xu didn’t think much about it. “Okay,” she said, and hugged the bouquet of flowers.
Following the composition of the photo Su Xu had taken, Tan Xingwei also took a few pictures of Su Xu.
The photo was captured, and she suddenly felt a little dazed.
Over the years, many people had asked Tan Xingwei, “Do you have a photo of your White Moonlight?”
Tan Xingwei should have had them. She had photos of Su Xu’s graduation, photos of Su Xu and Tan Yinqing together, a side-profile shot of Su Xu feeding her medicine. But unfortunately, on the second day after Su Xu left for the United Kingdom, Tan Xingwei deleted them all.
The kind of permanent deletion where you delete them and then go to the “recently deleted” album to delete them again.
So, she often regretted it.
She regretted it so much. She regretted it that very afternoon.
“You’re a good photographer,” Su Xu praised when she saw the photo. “Send it to me.”
Next, the two of them began sending the photos to each other on their phones.
“Wake Up.” Su Xu also read Tan Xingwei’s phone ID out loud.
Tan Xingwei laughed twice in her heart.
Su Xu, SX, Wake Up.
Tan Xingwei was truly a genius.
Having gotten used to this ID, she had almost forgotten its origin. Hearing it read aloud by the person herself, a thousand waves surged in Tan Xingwei’s heart—five hundred layers of childishness, and five hundred layers of how cringey it was back then.
Fortunately, Su Xu didn’t ask what it meant. What could “Wake Up” mean? “Wake Up” just means “Wake Up.”
Not long after getting off the highway, the car arrived at the shopping mall Tan Xingwei had mentioned.
There wasn’t much back-and-forth conversation. They seemed very familiar, yet also not so familiar. After the car stopped, Tan Xingwei said to Su Xu, “Welcome back to the country.”
Su Xu said, “Thank you. Thank you for coming to get me, and thank you for the flowers.”
Tan Xingwei just responded with a smile and got out of the car.
She closed the door and walked toward the mall without looking back.
So she didn’t see Su Xu, hugging the flowers she had given her, slowly lower the car window. She watched Tan Xingwei’s back for a long time before slowly raising the window again.
Her smile faded, concealing a sigh within the car.
