Hints at GL - Chapter 22

Chapter 22

“So, who am I dropping off first?”

Beside a sleek red Maserati, Ruan Mu stood by the car door, raising an eyebrow as she asked, “Jing Han, where does your sister live? I’ll drop her home first and then take you.”

Jing Yang’s eyes lit up. This looked like a limited edition GranCabrio, didn’t it? “I live at Bankside House,” she answered quickly. Fearing Ruan Mu might not know the spot, she added, “Oh, it’s just past London Bridge.”

However, Jing Han spoke up to stop her. “We’ll just take a taxi back.”

Jing Yang wailed inwardly. Why take a taxi when we can ride in a Maserati? That’s such a downgrade… In the face of personal gain, she completely forgot the negative image she had of Ruan Mu just moments ago.

Ruan Mu stared at Jing Han for a while, then suddenly smiled. “Do you really need to be this polite with me?”

“Jing Han, you live only one street away from me.” Those thin, crimson lips curled slightly. Though Ruan Mu was smiling, there was a faint trace of displeasure in her slightly furrowed brows. “From here to Southwark, passing through London Bridge on the way is only a ten-minute trip. Why bother calling a separate car?”

Jing Han didn’t speak; she simply looked at her with a detached expression.

The two locked eyes for a long time, neither showing any intention of compromising.

Jing Yang looked back and forth between them. She felt the current atmosphere was incredibly strange—could normal people stare at each other this long even when they were angry? The more she looked, the more she felt Zhong Ning’s deduction might be slightly off. Why did she have a strong feeling that when Ruan Mu and her sister stood together, there was a powerful… how should she put it… “CP feel”?

Ptui, ptui, ptui.

Jing Yang felt she was losing her mind. How could she have such a thought of selling out her own sister?

But on second thought, this stalemate couldn’t go on forever. She played the peacemaker. “Well, since it’s on the way, it’s perfect. It’ll take a while for an Uber to arrive anyway. Let’s head out.”

She opened the car door with great initiative. This time, Jing Han couldn’t very well refuse.

Sure enough.

Jing Han gave Ruan Mu a look, muttered a low “thank you,” pulled open the door, and sat inside.

Actually, according to Jing Yang’s original plan, she hadn’t wanted to leave Jing Han and Ruan Mu alone together at the end. She had intended to suggest dropping Jing Han off first, but after hearing Ruan Mu say they lived only a street apart… that plan was clearly dead in the water. She felt a bit deflated; saving Jing Han would have to start with her swearing never to help Ruan Mu again.

She observed the two. Perhaps because she was present, they spoke very little to each other. Instead, Ruan Mu kept asking her trivial questions: “Do you want to go back to China after graduation?”

“Are you going to work for a TV station?” Jing Yang answered them all quite seriously.

“Get some rest early,” Jing Han instructed coolly as Jing Yang was dropped off at the dormitory entrance.

After getting out, Jing Yang tried calling Zhong Ning, grumbling to herself, “Why isn’t this girl picking up? I was going to ask what to do if I didn’t bring my keys… whatever, I’ll just ring the bell,” she muttered with a frown.

Finally, only the two of them remained. “Go to the Hilton, I’m staying there,” Jing Han said.

“I know where you live,” Ruan Mu said, looking at her with a deep gaze that contained a meaning Jing Han wasn’t used to. “Mhm…” Jing Han looked away and replied flatly, “Then let’s go.”

“Haven’t decided where to rent yet?” Ruan Mu asked while driving.

“It’s mostly decided,” Jing Han said, looking out the window at the familiar banks of the London Bridge. “The contract is signed. I’ll be moving in a few days.”

Ruan Mu glanced at her with a smile. “Once you move, will I have a chance to visit?”

“…I don’t think so,” Jing Han replied tonelessly.

Ruan Mu had long grown accustomed to the other woman’s “thousands of miles away” demeanor. Although the current Jing Han was far colder than when they first met, Ruan Mu felt this woman’s attraction hadn’t diminished in the slightest over the years.

A pedestrian pressed the stop button at a crossing, and Ruan Mu brought the car to a halt. During the wait, she suddenly spoke up. “Do you mind if I ask you a question?”

In those few seconds, scattered raindrops began to stain the window. That cold gaze looked outside. Jing Han seemed to know exactly what she was thinking, her lips moving slowly. “Can I say I do mind?”

Ruan Mu’s thin lips curled, but she asked anyway. “Why come back to London?”

For a moment, the atmosphere grew heavy.

It wasn’t a difficult question to answer, yet it wasn’t something that could be explained in a few words. Both of them knew what answer Ruan Mu wanted to hear, but Jing Han simply said, “Because it’s suffocating back home.”

They reached the destination quickly. As the car pulled up to the hotel entrance, Jing Han added slowly, “Because no matter how you choose to live your life, someone will always find it disagreeable.”

Rain brushed past the car window, the pitter-patter gradually forming a steady sheet.

Ruan Mu turned her head to look at her and couldn’t help asking one more thing. “If you hadn’t gone back then, would you have dated me?”

Jing Han’s fingertips, which had just touched the door handle, paused. She could sense Ruan Mu’s complex emotions, but she felt the question was meaningless. “There are no such ‘ifs,’ Ruan Mu…” She stopped and replied calmly, “That is precisely why I went back. You’ve confused cause and effect.”

Ruan Mu looked at her and actually started laughing. “You’ve finally admitted it.”

Jing Han’s brows knit slightly. She had just let a slip of the tongue escape.

The smile on Ruan Mu’s crimson lips deepened; she had finally forced Jing Han to say it. “So, am I the first person whose pursuit of you actually influenced a major life decision of yours?”

Jing Han felt a bit of a headache. She didn’t know where Ruan Mu’s confidence came from, but clearly, further explanation would be redundant. She gently looked away and said in a low voice, “I’m going in.”

Ruan Mu didn’t stop her further, only smiling as she instructed, “It’s raining outside. Be careful not to catch a cold.”

On the other side.

The car was parked on the street by Bankside House. Looking out, the rain seemed to be getting heavier. Occasionally, men and women in hoodies ran into the main gate, completely soaked. Although Zhong Ning had only been there for a few months, she had already grown used to this weather; it likely wouldn’t be long before it stopped.

Su Yuan looked at her, a faint smile on her lips. “Don’t run in yet. Sit with me in the car for a while.”

Though she didn’t say it explicitly, Zhong Ning understood she didn’t want her to get wet. Her heart warmed, and she suddenly recalled when the punk-styled girl had teased her, and Su Yuan’s ambiguous reply: Stop fanning the flames for me.

What… exactly did she mean by that?

Zhong Ning didn’t dare think too deeply about it, simply biting her lip bashfully while looking at her. “Do you… not have anything else to do?” Su Yuan’s lips curled. “The only thing on my schedule today is staying with you.”

The sweet talk always came so easily to her.

Zhong Ning’s face flushed, and she tried to steer the conversation toward more serious matters. “Mhm, so what happens next?” She was indeed a bit confused. “Is it enough just to notify Theo… should we make another appointment for hypnosis with Jacky?”

Her avoidance caused Su Yuan’s gaze to deepen, but she returned to a serious tone. “Mhm, I’ll contact him. But as far as I know, he’s very busy. Moreover, Christmas is coming up, he might not have time.”

Zhong Ning nodded, yet felt a strange sense of worry.

These things could happen at any time—was it really okay to keep delaying? She felt Su Yuan didn’t seem particularly nervous; it was as if she hadn’t been afraid of Zhong Ning’s descriptions from the very beginning, which surprised her.

“Any plans for Christmas?” Su Yuan turned her body, her exquisite features facing her directly.

“Um… I originally wanted to go to Europe with my classmates, but there was an issue with my visa renewal. I can’t leave the UK until the new one is issued,” Zhong Ning replied honestly, not wanting to assume Su Yuan was asking her out. “What about you?”

“Grindavík,” Su Yuan uttered a single word. “It’s a small town in the southwest corner of Iceland. I had originally planned to go there.”

Zhong Ning sensitively noticed her phrasing. Originally?

Su Yuan stared at her with a shallow smile. “Mhm. I’m not going anymore, because it sounds like you can’t go.”

Zhong Ning’s heart skipped a beat. Su Yuan really was asking her out. She refused with a red face, “You can go with someone else. Don’t you have… a lot of friends?” Yes, not only a lot, but they looked quite intimate on social media.

Su Yuan laughed. “I wouldn’t feel right leaving you alone. What if you ran off with someone else?”

The hint couldn’t have been any more obvious. Even if Zhong Ning wanted to play dumb, she understood perfectly. Her head grew hot, and she began to blurt out whatever came to mind. “The last time I heard a line like that was when someone was confessing to me.”

Su Yuan stared at her with a smile for a long time without speaking.

Zhong Ning could feel that gentle gaze roaming over her face. For some reason, she had a strange premonition that in this ambiguous atmosphere, something was about to be broken through.

“Do you want to have a serious relationship?” Su Yuan suddenly asked.

Their eyes met. Zhong Ning’s cheeks were slightly flushed; she seemed to understand Su Yuan’s subtext but didn’t dare guess too deeply. “What… are you trying to say?”

A shallow smile slid across Su Yuan’s lips. ” I’m saying, I quite like you. Do you like me?”

Zhong Ning hadn’t expected Su Yuan to be so direct. She opened her mouth, but the bashfulness blocked her words. “I…”

That gentle gaze looked straight at Zhong Ning. In truth, that expression was answer enough, but it wasn’t nearly enough. Finally, Su Yuan couldn’t help but lean over and kiss her.

The moment those soft lips touched hers, a faint, lingering fragrance enveloped her. Zhong Ning was so lost in the atmosphere that she couldn’t find an exit; she even moved her lips slightly, allowing the warm lips and tongue to meld together as her entire body gradually heated up.

At some point, Su Yuan finally let her go. Her lips pressed against Zhong Ning’s ear as she whispered, “Do you like it?”

How was one supposed to answer that?

Zhong Ning’s entire face was flushed deep red. Though her heart was wavering intensely, she couldn’t say anything that followed her true feelings. She pressed her hand against the woman’s shoulder, her voice trembling slightly. “You still… still like someone else.”

This sentence caused Su Yuan’s fingertips, which had been sliding into her thin shirt, to stop.

That gentle gaze was extremely close to her; with every word spoken, warm breath met her face. “Mhm, I admit it,” Su Yuan said, her eyes lowered as she looked at Zhong Ning, her voice extremely soft. “I admit, I’m not sure if I’m ready.”

“But I do like you, I’m not lying to you,” Su Yuan paused, unable to help herself from lightly pecking Zhong Ning’s lips again. “If I want to try and date you seriously, would you be willing?”

Zhong Ning’s heart was a whirlpool of mixed emotions, but with her heartbeat accelerating further, she finally said, “…Let me think about it.”