A Cold and Aloof Top Student Is Relied Upon - Chapter 47

Chapter 47: Sleeping Together

◎Surrender◎

This was the second huge surprise.

Gu Zhu pulled her thoughts back to the problem the teacher was explaining on the podium. She felt that the sunlight outside the window was perfect, filtered by tall trees and casting a soft, bright glow on the windowsill that wasn’t blinding.

After the morning class, they walked together to get lunch. Watching them, the other students had a sudden realization—oh! So they’re close friends!

Some good friends are like that. When they’re young, they’re inseparable, wanting to declare their world’s-best friendship to everyone.

Completely understandable!

And so, with a knowing glance, they quickly categorized the two: a top student and her underachieving best friend who followed her. Seeing the top student’s subtle care for the auditing student, they understood—it was a beautiful, mutual friendship!

Gu Zhu had no idea what her temporary classmates were imagining in their bored training days. She just found everyone’s expressions toward them to be “understanding,” “blessing,” and some even showed “this is so shippable” dreamy, sweet looks. It was very strange.

It felt like she had stumbled into the Silk-Web Cave, with their eyes on her almost “hissing” like threads.

After leaving that group, she let out a sigh of relief. On the way back to the dorm, she couldn’t help but ask the question that had been on her mind all morning. “Why did you suddenly decide to come here as an auditing student? Aren’t your holidays very busy?”

She knew that Bai Tan was gradually taking over some small and medium-sized businesses, a test and training from her family. The pressure on her wasn’t light.

Handling work wasn’t like studying, where you could just focus on yourself. It required you to be alert in all directions, carry the expectations of everyone above and below you, and have a long-term vision, strong information synthesis abilities, and decisive judgment.

If she was making Bai Tan neglect her work, she would rather not have this surprise.

Bai Tan walked half a step away from her. Their arms were just a whisper apart, just like their relationship—always just a little bit shy of touching. In front of them, another pair of girls walked with their arms linked, chatting and laughing, sometimes resting their heads on each other’s shoulders.

Gu Zhu suddenly felt a little envious of their openness.

Bai Tan wanted to hold Gu Zhu’s hand, like they did when they ran on the beach, fingers intertwined.

But it was strange. Now that she understood her feelings, she often felt constrained. Besides a few times when they had unconsciously gotten close, she was always afraid of being too deliberate and offending Gu Zhu.

Just as she was trying to figure out how to “accidentally” slip her hand into the other’s hand, which was swinging gently as they walked, the person beside her suddenly asked a question. Bai Tan instinctively said, “Huh?” Her delayed reaction slowly caught up as she processed the serious question. “For a business, the scariest thing is a new leader who doesn’t understand but pretends to. As long as they don’t make procedural mistakes, all I need to do is execute the right commands.”

“So, when the captain already has a good helmsman, I just need to be the lookout. Of course, when necessary, I have to find the right direction through the fog. So, whether I’m busy or not doesn’t depend on whether I show up, but on whether I know what to do.”

She always seemed to have her own way of dealing with things, like a chameleon witch. When she was with Gu Zhu, she was a simple, carefree girl who seemed harmless. Yet she could easily break through Gu Zhu’s defenses, allowing her to open up her exclusive world to her again and again.

The young mistress’s charm was hidden in the details. Every time Gu Zhu explored, she was captivated.

This was the school path back to the dorms. As they neared the dorm entrance, Gu Zhu asked her again, “Which dorm are you in?”

At this, Bai Tan suddenly stopped. She blinked, rubbed her nose with a “hehe,” and looked a little guilty under Gu Zhu’s questioning gaze. “Not ‘I,’ but ‘we’?”

What does that mean?

When they arrived at the door of the new two-person dorm, Gu Zhu finally understood what she meant. She saw two bunk beds neatly made inside, and in the corner, her own familiar white suitcase.

The young mistress had not only quietly arrived but had also secretly stolen her “home.” Before the semester even began, she had already become roommates with Bai Tan.

Seeing that she wasn’t entering the room, Bai Tan gently tugged on her sleeve and rubbed her nose again. “Don’t worry, no one touched your bedding. I moved it all myself. We can’t be in the same camp but living in different places, can we?”

How can she talk as if we’re a newlywed couple living apart?

Gu Zhu’s heart was a flutter. She almost couldn’t maintain her expression, and she used the back of her hand to nonchalantly wipe her cheek. Only after confirming it wasn’t hot did she feel a sense of relief.

“My roommate…” Although they had only been temporary roommates for two days, Gu Zhu was worried that she would have other thoughts about being moved out without explanation.

Knowing what she wanted to ask, Bai Tan patted her chest. “Don’t worry, she was quite happy about it. For a social phobic person, not having to interact with a stranger is the greatest fortune.”

Gu Zhu was speechless. A social phobic person and a quiet one. No wonder the resident advisor had thought they had a conflict, often checking on them during night rounds and looking half-skeptical at their answer of “everything’s fine.”

Now, she had moved out without a word. This would probably confirm all the rumors. She held her forehead, feeling a rare headache over gossip.

But she wasn’t one to dwell on things. What’s done is done. What truly concerned her was sleeping at night.

The person on the bottom bunk had changed from a stranger to a familiar one. It was a very strange feeling. It wasn’t that Gu Zhu had never slept with Bai Tan before. When they were at Chang Yuehua’s house, they had even shared the same bed.

But back then, besides trying not to wake her, she had no other worries. Now, she felt a new sense of nervousness. She didn’t even dare to look too closely when Bai Tan came out of the bathroom after a shower.

The young mistress was wearing her usual pure cotton pajamas, a short-sleeved top with a white cat print and shorts. It was a style she had seen often at school, yet now, for some reason, she felt that the other girl’s skin was excessively clear and fair, her waist-to-hip ratio was stunning, and her long curly hair, which reached her waist, was as soft and fluffy as wool. It seemed every part of her was captivating.

Gu Zhu secretly covered half of her face with her blanket. A blush she couldn’t suppress had risen, and the heat, which even the cold air conditioner couldn’t cool down, felt like it was about to boil over.

Her silence puzzled the young mistress. Grabbing the ladder, she leaned over the bunk rail and carefully examined her. “What’s wrong? Are you cold? Do you want me to turn up the AC?”

Gu Zhu didn’t uncover her head. From beneath the blanket, only a pair of clear eyes watched her. The voice from within was muffled. “No need. Let’s turn off the lights and go to sleep.”

Bai Tan reached out and touched her forehead, making sure she wasn’t sick or had any other problems. She adjusted the temperature to a more comfortable setting for the night, then turned off the lights and lay down in the bottom bunk.

In the corridor, she could hear the resident advisor’s footsteps on their night patrol. A brief flicker of light passed by. Inside the room, the low hum of the air conditioner made the night seem even quieter.

Both of them lay with their eyes wide open.

Unable to resist, Bai Tan let out a small “ahem” and whispered, “Little Zhuzi, are you there?”

The bed board above tapped lightly, as if in response. Bai Tan bit her knuckles. If I ask if we can sleep in the same bed, would that be too much?

Roommates were the first step. Bedmates should probably be taken slowly, right?

How slowly? Winter? It’s too cold, so it’s only natural for two people to sleep together for warmth?

Then why did I turn up the AC? I should have just climbed up there and asked, “Are you cold? Do you want me to warm your bed? Maybe it’ll work right away?”

Bai Tan suddenly clapped her hands together. The sound was surprisingly crisp in the quiet night.

“Pat!” She froze. When she heard the person above turn over and ask what was wrong, she covered her face. “Nothing, a really bad mosquito has been bothering me.”

The person on the top bunk immediately got up, climbed down, rummaged through her backpack for mosquito repellent, and using the light from the air conditioner, returned to the bed and handed it to her. “Spray this. Put some on your hands and feet.”

Bai Tan’s gaze fixed on her silhouette. Her eyes suddenly became deep, like a hunter who had been lying in wait for a long time, finally seeing their prey step into the trap. She reached out, and as she took the repellent, she also enclosed Gu Zhu’s hand. “I have trouble sleeping in a new place. How about you sleep with me?”

In the darkness, their vision was blurred, making it hard to see each other’s expressions, but the atmosphere began to change. The circulating air seemed to slowly come to a standstill, like their held breaths, carefully waiting for an answer.

“Then you move over a bit.” After a long time, Gu Zhu surrendered. No one could refuse a persistent, hopeful little cat, and a captured human certainly couldn’t.

The person at the side of the bed quickly lay down. She didn’t let go of Gu Zhu’s hand, carefully leading her onto the bed and then tucking the blanket around her.

The standard single bed in the student dorm was just big enough to fit the two slender girls. As soon as the other’s warmth touched her, it felt as if their breaths had become intertwined.

Gu Zhu placed her hands on her abdomen. Her mind, which had already been awake, became even more chaotic. She regretted her soft-heartedness.

Again and again, her boundaries were easily tested, allowing another person to get closer inch by inch. Before she was ready to expose her bad habits, she had once again exposed herself to risk.

The person behind her cautiously moved closer, resting her forehead on Gu Zhu’s shoulder. Her steady breathing seemed to indicate she had fallen asleep.

Gu Zhu let out a sigh of relief. She opened her eyes in the dark again. She was afraid that if she moved, the other person would wake up. After a long time, she finally moved her stiff body.

The cold air hummed softly. She closed her eyes again, falling asleep at some point and then suddenly waking up.

Her heart hammered in the dark, but perhaps because she knew the person beside her was Bai Tan, the panic upon waking was surprisingly no longer prolonged. Instead, the shared warmth quickly calmed her down.

The next day, they slept in the same bed again.

On the third day, Bai Tan suddenly had to go out for some business. This was the fifth day of training, and the content was getting more and more in-depth and difficult. Gu Zhu quickly had no time to worry about her.

On the fourth day, Bai Tan still hadn’t returned. Only her daily messages were uninterrupted. Her family knew she was in Shengcheng and had specially come to stay for two days.

On the fifth day, Bai Tan appeared at the dorm door early in the morning with breakfast, spending the whole day with her but saying goodbye again in the evening.

Gu Zhu looked at the two pillows arranged on the bottom bunk and fell silent. For the past few days, she had been sleeping on this bed. She thought she would sleep better without the other person’s presence, but she slept worse. When she woke up, the lack of another person’s warmth made the sense of emptiness so strong that it was difficult to return to normal.

It was as if she had contracted a disease that only Bai Tan could cure. It had only been two nights, but she was already unwilling to go back to being alone.

On the sixth day, Gu Zhu led Bai Tan back to the dorm and stopped her before she could speak. “Can you stay tonight?”

And so, Bai Tan understood. Her clumsy excuse had been seen through.

See? She had said it before. She and Gu Zhu were destined to be together. Even without words, they could glimpse each other’s thoughts.

Bai Tan wasn’t a fool. From the first time she followed Gu Zhu to her aunt’s house, she noticed that she slept lightly and woke up often. Later, when Gu Zhu was initially unwilling to be her roommate, Bai Tan didn’t think it was because she rejected her; she knew there must be a reason she couldn’t say.

This time, she finally saw the truth: Gu Zhu had trouble sleeping when there were other people around.

So she started not to stay the night. She thought, It’s too hard. Gu Zhu is too tired. She should have a good night’s sleep. She was glad she had helped her move dorms, but she regretted becoming another factor affecting her sleep.

However, Gu Zhu had also seen through her, her secretly hidden lie.

“Let’s try again. If it doesn’t work once, we’ll try twice. If twice doesn’t work, we’ll try three times. Someday, I’ll overcome it.”

“I’m not forcing myself. I know my own situation. I’ll manage it. If it gets too uncomfortable, I’ll tell you honestly.”

“So, can you?”

How could I not? Bai Tan thought. You are inviting a person with a wolf’s ambition. Such a person will not refuse the prey’s initiative to get close.

Except for your fear, Bai Tan never surrenders to anyone.

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