My Childhood Friend, Who Is An Omega, Has Become My Personal Secretary - Chapter 64

I Love You

Inside the empty lecture hall, pheromones of various scents drifted and dispersed. Since it was evening, the crystalline and magnificent chandeliers were lit.

Ji Zeyuan was still wearing her school uniform; her summer white T-shirt looked clean and fresh. Her hands were clasped together as she prayed silently, or rather, she was psyching herself up.

“What exactly are you doing?”

Sitting to the side, Zhang Linen couldn’t help but speak up. She couldn’t understand Ji Zeyuan’s devout, believer-like actions, especially since she knew Ji Zeyuan was a firm materialist.

Ji Zeyuan slowly opened her eyes and looked at Zhang Linen. She smiled joyfully, wrapped her arms around Zhang Linen’s neck, and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

“You’ll know tomorrow.”

Although Zhang Linen was still in a fog, she didn’t press further. She quite enjoyed that kiss; her furrowed brow relaxed, and the corners of her mouth curled up.

She raised her hand to rub Ji Zeyuan’s head and said, “Let’s go. We have to go back to school tomorrow to take graduation photos.”

As she spoke, Zhang Linen felt a bitter pang in her heart. She knew Ji Zeyuan was going abroad after graduating high school. Once she left, they wouldn’t be able to see each other every day like this anymore.

Zhang Linen’s hand slid to the back of Ji Zeyuan’s neck, giving it a light squeeze. Ji Zeyuan let out a low hum and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Zhang Linen asked, “Will you forget me as soon as you go abroad?”

Her tone was terrifyingly gloomy, as if it had already happened.

Ji Zeyuan felt an itch on her neck and said, “How is that possible? I’ll call you a hundred times every day. Just don’t find me annoying when the time comes.”

Zhang Linen fell silent for a moment, then let her lips brush against Ji Zeyuan’s. Ji Zeyuan was startled, her speech becoming stuttered. “You… you kissed my mouth.”

The omega pheromones, smelling of green grass, clamored to drill into Ji Zeyuan’s body. Zhang Linen looked perfectly composed, without a trace of the panic that comes with doing something wrong. She said, “It’s the same no matter where I kiss. Regardless, only I am allowed to kiss you.”

Ji Zeyuan didn’t argue. She froze for a few seconds before laughing. “It was so sudden. It’s never been like that before.”

Zhang Linen’s tone was flat but laced with a bit of sadness. She said, “You’re leaving soon. I’m going to be a bit more demanding.”

Ji Zeyuan stood up and reached out her hand. “Let’s go. Stop talking about that.”

Zhang Linen grabbed her hand and followed her out of the noisy lecture hall.

That night, Zhang Linen wanted to go to Ji Zeyuan’s house to stay with her. After all, it was the last night; Ji Zeyuan was leaving tomorrow afternoon.

“Xiao En, I have something to do tonight. You go back first.”

Zhang Linen was secretly shocked. Ji Zeyuan had never refused her stay because of something else. In fact, many times when Zhang Linen said she had things to do, it was Ji Zeyuan who would shamelessly pester her to stay.

She maintained a calm exterior and asked indifferently, “What do you have to do? Don’t toss and turn too late, or you won’t be able to get up tomorrow and you’ll miss your flight.”

Ji Zeyuan stammered, “Oh… it’s just, there’s just something. I’ll tell you tomorrow.”

Zhang Linen let out a cold laugh. “You haven’t even left yet and you’re already hiding things from me. Once you leave, are you just going to pull a disappearing act?”

Ji Zeyuan’s face turned flush red, seemingly out of grievance or anger. She closed the door and said, “I told you, I’ll tell you tomorrow!”

Zhang Linen had unexpectedly been shut out. For a moment, she couldn’t recover and just stood at the door. Shortly after, Ji Zeyuan’s cautious voice came from inside: “Xiao En, goodnight. I really will tell you tomorrow.”

Zhang Linen stared at the tightly closed door. A few seconds later, the door opened a crack. Ji Zeyuan poked her head out, quickly pressed a kiss onto Zhang Linen’s lips, and swiftly pulled back.

“Tomorrow. I’ll definitely tell you tomorrow.”

Ji Zeyuan used both hands to form a heart over her chest. Zhang Linen’s anger dissipated by more than half. Although she still had questions, she suppressed them for the time being.

That night, neither of them slept a wink.

The next day, after taking the graduation photos, Ji Zeyuan asked the photographer to take two more photos of her and Zhang Linen together.

In the photos, both of them had their hair in single ponytails, looking full of youthful energy. Ji Zeyuan had her arm around Zhang Linen’s neck, laughing wildly. Zhang Linen still wore her usual indifferent expression, but her gaze was fixed on Ji Zeyuan’s face, sticking to her like chewing gum.

Zhang Linen was no longer curious about last night’s events. Her heart was entirely preoccupied with the fact that Ji Zeyuan was about to leave.

She would be taking a plane to a strange city across the ocean. Perhaps they wouldn’t see each other more than a few times a year from now on.

Ji Zeyuan had once said she wanted to take Zhang Linen abroad with her. Zhang Linen really wanted to agree, but she couldn’t be that free, that selfish. She had to consider her mother. She couldn’t let Ji Zeyuan pay the money for her to go abroad, nor could she place that pressure on her mother.

Zhang Linen let out a quiet sigh. Her gloomy mood didn’t lighten much.

Later, they went to collect their graduation certificates together. As they left the teaching building, Ji Zeyuan looked back and said, “I’ll miss this place.”

Zhang Linen teased, “Miss your routine of dozing off in class?”

Ji Zeyuan smiled and said, “Let’s take a walk around the sports field.”

Zhang Linen nodded. “Okay.”

There were quite a few people on the field in groups of two or three, most holding graduation certificates. They were likely graduates just like them.

As they walked, Zhang Linen’s pace slowed down.

She suddenly really wanted to cry.

Ji Zeyuan was really leaving.

The brilliant sunlight illuminated the earth. Any single person was but a tiny corner beneath these thousands of points of light.

After going abroad, would Ji Zeyuan really still remember her?

Back then, should she have been a little more selfish and agreed to go with her?

Zhang Linen raised her hand to block the scorching warm sun. Suddenly, Ji Zeyuan’s voice came from behind her.

“Xiao En.”

Zhang Linen turned around. Ji Zeyuan was standing under the shade of an oak tree.

She seemed to be holding something in her hand.

The sounds of the wind lingered on all sides; the surrounding scenery seemed to freeze at this moment. Only the person before her was vivid and alive.

“I like you.”

Ji Zeyuan stepped out from the shadows. The sunlight, without bias, landed upon her body as well.

“Actually… I didn’t plan on going abroad. I lied to you.”

Zhang Linen stared blankly at Ji Zeyuan. After her brain stalled for several seconds, she lunged forward. Ji Zeyuan lost her footing and was pinned down onto the grass.

“That sentence just now—say it again.” Zhang Linen grabbed Ji Zeyuan’s wrists, her breathing ragged.

Ji Zeyuan’s eyes crinkled with a smile. She said simply and sincerely, “I like you, Xiao En. Let’s date.”

As she spoke, she turned her hands to grip Zhang Linen’s wrists, putting the bracelet she had been clutching in her palm onto Zhang Linen.

The rose-gold four-leaf clover bracelet circled Zhang Linen’s slender wrist. As the bright light fell, it shimmered and sparkled.

Ji Zeyuan kissed the back of Zhang Linen’s hand and said, “I was afraid I wouldn’t do a good job, that I wasn’t worthy of you.”

After a pause, Ji Zeyuan met Zhang Linen’s pitch-black eyes, her own full of expectation. She asked, “Then… your answer is…”

The two were pressed close together. The distance between their hearts was closer than ever before.

As if they were sharing a heartbeat,

Zhang Linen did not hesitate: “I like you too.”

Having said that, she leaned down and kissed Ji Zeyuan’s lips. After the skin of their lips touched lightly, her tongue tip slipped past the teeth to cautiously explore. Ji Zeyuan embraced her, responding to her clumsily.

This first entanglement of lips and teeth carried a sense of youthful puerility and recklessness.

As they kissed, Ji Zeyuan rolled over, taking the lead and pinning Zhang Linen beneath her. Her kiss became deeper; their soft tongues entwined, and her ears were filled with the sound of their mutual, anxious breathing.

After a long time, Ji Zeyuan let Zhang Linen go. She felt her head spinning.

Zhang Linen felt much the same.

“I thought you never intended to say it,” Zhang Linen said. Her finger rested on her lip, as if she were still savoring the moment.

Ji Zeyuan grabbed Zhang Linen’s hand and pulled her up.

A breeze brushed past, and the oak leaves rustled as they fell. Ji Zeyuan brushed the grass clippings off Zhang Linen’s clothes and said, “I wanted to say it long ago. A long time ago, I really, really wanted to say this to you.”

Zhang Linen also flicked the grass clippings off Ji Zeyuan, and incidentally dropped a kiss on her lips. This kiss was brief, yet it was so different from the one in the lecture hall yesterday.

As they were leaving the school, Ji Zeyuan suddenly spoke again: “I regret it a bit now. I feel like what I said just now was too shallow.”

Zhang Linen was still immersed in the joy of having been confessed to and knowing the person she liked would stay in the country. Thus, she laughed without thinking much. “What? Do you want to recite a poem?”

Ji Zeyuan raised her eyes seriously and said, “No… I feel like I shouldn’t have said I like you… because…”

Her throat moved, her tongue tip trembled slightly, prying loose those three heavy words.

“I love you.”

Some words might feel very awkward or cheesy before they are spoken, but when they truly come from the bottom of one’s heart, those negligible little emotions vanish.

Zhang Linen suddenly believed it.

People really do cry when they are happy.

She threaded her fingers through Ji Zeyuan’s, and hot tears flowed.

“Me too. I love you too.”

The city was noisy but the birdsong was melodious. The bustling pedestrians were busy with their own affairs.

The lovers embraced again as if no one else existed, laughing and crying, being happy, and telling each other of the love that filled their hearts to overflowing.