The Premeditated Seductress Childhood Friend - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Watching Her

At those words, Song Yixi abandoned all reserve and lunged toward Xu Qingyu like a launched projectile.

Xu Qingyu’s constitution was frail, and fearing she might hurt her, Song Yixi adjusted her momentum with urgent care. She knelt on one knee beside Xu Qingyu, one hand braced against the headrest above Xu Qingyu’s head, her hot breath falling against the other woman’s cheek.

Now that she was inches away, she suddenly lost her nerve. She hovered there, dawdling, unsure of how to proceed.

She didn’t dare, and she didn’t know how.

Xu Qingyu reached up at the perfect moment, tenderly pinching Song Yixi’s earlobe.

“Holding your head up like this is tiring. Can we hurry, please?”

She left the initiative to Song Yixi.

She knew that Song Yixi needed a little push.

Sure enough, upon hearing that Xu Qingyu was tired, Song Yixi immediately lowered her head and pressed her lips down.

Xu Qingyu’s lips were softer than she had imagined.

As their lips met, Song Yixi’s kiss was clumsy and unpracticed.

After a simple, brief contact, she pulled back slightly to gauge Xu Qingyu’s reaction.

Xu Qingyu’s eyes were closed, and her cheeks were tinged with a faint flush.

She said nothing, appearing to wait for Song Yixi to continue.

Song Yixi wasn’t ready to let it end either.

This was her first time kissing Xu Qingyu—and it might be her last.

And so, she lowered her head again, kissing Xu Qingyu with everything she had.

No matter how reckless or forceful she became, Xu Qingyu remained quiet and still, accepting it all.

…

They stayed in the car for a long time. When Xu Qingyu finally used the rearview mirror to touch up her makeup, there was a visible tear on her lip where the skin had broken.

She didn’t seem to mind much, simply applying a layer of lip balm.

Song Yixi felt a wave of guilt. “Does it hurt?”

“A little.”

Xu Qingyu pursed her lips and pushed the rearview mirror back into place.

“It’s fine.”

Hearing her say that only made Song Yixi feel worse.

She shouldn’t have bitten Xu Qingyu.

But in the heat of the moment, she had lost control.

She silently pulled her seatbelt across her chest, feeling a bit dejected.

Xu Qingyu glanced at her, gathered her long hair, and started the car.

“It’s just a lack of experience for your first time; it’s really fine. Just be careful next time.”

At those last two words, Song Yixi’s head snapped up, her eyes lighting up.

“Next time?”

There was going to be a next time?

Xu Qingyu arched an eyebrow. “Didn’t I say I’d teach you? Are you an expert now? No more lessons needed?”

Song Yixi cleared her throat and said hurriedly, “No… I’m not an expert yet.”

“Mhm.”

As expected. Xu Qingyu drove calmly out of the alley. Sunlight filtered through the car window, bathing her in its glow.

She looked radiant, as if gilded in gold.

Song Yixi couldn’t help but stare.

Ever since Xu Qingyu had started preparing for the college entrance exams, Song Yixi hadn’t really looked at her in person.

Night after night, the Xu Qingyu she gazed at was only the one in photographs.

The real Xu Qingyu was even more beautiful. Her sparse, light makeup complemented her skin, which was pale from years of avoiding the sun—the quintessential “sickly beauty.”

Song Yixi loved the mole under her left eye; it was tiny and faint unless you looked closely, and upon closer inspection, it had a hint of red.

Song Yixi remembered that in those eighty photographs, Xu Qingyu had a similar mole on her left shoulder.

Thinking of those photos, Song Yixi shuddered and quickly turned her head away, not daring to look further.

She suddenly realized with a shock that she was falling into the trap of Xu Qingyu’s tenderness.

The real Xu Qingyu wasn’t like this.

The real her was cold and indifferent, focused only on her own affairs. In their relationship, Song Yixi had always been the one to take the initiative.

But since starting university, Xu Qingyu’s attitude had changed.

Just like that birthday gift, it was baffling.

She couldn’t figure Xu Qingyu out.

Touching her backpack and feeling the ridge of the new phone box inside, Song Yixi’s heart softened.

Aside from not initiating contact or communicating much, Xu Qingyu was actually very good to her in other ways.

Whenever she got into trouble as a child, Xu Qingyu was the one who handled it, speaking up for her to their parents.

When she was sick, Xu Qingyu fed her medicine.

When her grades were poor, Xu Qingyu tutored her.

And just now, Xu Qingyu had used her own body to teach her how to kiss.

Maybe… she shouldn’t be angry with Xu Qingyu anymore?

Given her poor health and how she always lacked the energy to speak…

Yeah.

Song Yixi convinced herself with this logic, and her mood brightened instantly.

She rolled down the window, rested her arm on the frame, and leaned out slightly.

The heatwave wrapped in the wind blew inside. Song Yixi tilted her head back to enjoy it, a wide grin on her face, feeling incredibly happy.

But less than thirty seconds later, the wind caused Xu Qingyu to start coughing.

Hearing the cough, Song Yixi immediately rolled the window back up.

“You—pull over.”

Xu Qingyu coughed a few more times and pulled over to the curb.

“I’m fine, I just choked a bit. Open the window if you want to.”

Song Yixi frowned, grabbed Xu Qingyu’s water bottle, and opened it.

“Why is your health still like this? Drink some water.”

Ever since Xu Qingyu started university, Song Yixi hadn’t seen her in a wheelchair, so she had assumed her health had improved.

She didn’t expect a simple breeze to still trigger a coughing fit.

Xu Qingyu drank some water and took a moment to recover.

“It’s okay, it’s much better than before.”

“How is this better?”

Song Yixi naturally took the empty water bottle back from her. “Are you still taking your medicine?”

“Yes, I am.”

Xu Qingyu’s voice grew softer. “I thought you didn’t care anymore.”

Song Yixi twisted the cap on tightly. “What are you talking about? Since we were kids, whenever you felt the slightest bit unwell, wasn’t I always—”

She cut herself off.

She didn’t want Xu Qingyu to think she was fishing for credit.

Xu Qingyu leaned against the headrest and looked at her.

“All these years, you never came to ask me. How did you decide I was better?”

Song Yixi was speechless.

Though she was younger than Xu Qingyu, ever since she could remember, her mother had told her that Xu Qingyu’s parents were healers who spent their lives doing good, yet Xu Qingyu had been born with poor health, kept alive only by medicine.

To take care of her, Xu Qingyu’s mother never had another child.

Song Yixi’s mother often said it was Xu’s mother who discovered her pregnancy and prescribed the medicine to stabilize the fetus; otherwise, given how restless Song’s mother was, Song Yixi might not have made it.

Song Yixi’s own robust health was thanks to Xu’s mother. Therefore, Song’s mother was good to Xu Qingyu and demanded that Song Yixi be good to her as well.

Song Yixi remembered all of this, but her kindness toward Xu Qingyu actually had nothing to do with her mother’s words.

She genuinely worried about her; she didn’t want anything to happen to her.

Her desire to care for Xu Qingyu came from the heart.

It was just that as time passed and she grew up, she became more self-conscious about her pride.

She set the water bottle down and said under her breath, “I didn’t look for you, but you never looked for me either.”

She had misunderstood Xu Qingyu, and Xu Qingyu had never bothered to explain.

Xu Qingyu sighed and smiled.

“I got used to it.”

Used to Song Yixi always being the one to seek her out. When Song Yixi stopped coming, she had been angry with her, too.

It had taken her a long time to understand that maintaining a relationship requires effort from both sides.

“If I come to find you now, is it too late?”

Song Yixi held her breath. “You clearly had my mom look for me to get you to help me rent a place.”

Xu Qingyu replied, “I sent you a birthday gift, and you ignored me.”

The two of them went back and forth, airing their grievances.

The birthday gift was a safe topic until it was mentioned—then Song Yixi’s face turned bright red.

“That birthday gift… what exactly did you want me to say to you about that?”