"What to do When the Pretty Woman I Kissed is My Best Friend's Professor" - Chapter 52

Under Yan He’s fervent gaze, Shen Jinrong found it utterly impossible to fall asleep normally. After she emphasized repeatedly that she couldn’t sleep with Yan He staring at her, the obedient young one stood up, intending to sit in the living room.

“Don’t—” Yan He’s hand was on the doorknob of Shen Jinrong’s bedroom, just about to close the door and leave, when Shen Jinrong suddenly spoke to stop her.

Yan He looked up at her in confusion, her eyes a little lost. She looked at the older woman, then toward the living room, and only then realized that from where the older woman was lying, she could clearly see the movement in the living room.

Was the older woman afraid that she would leave?

Yan He released the doorknob, pushed the door back against the wall, and let it firmly attach to the doorstop, saying to her, “I won’t leave.”

So, you don’t need to feel anxious about losing me.

A blush spread across Shen Jinrong’s face, though her face was already flushed from the illness, making it hard to tell at the moment that the blush was caused by Yan He’s words. She blinked her eyes, and the next second, she completely shrunk back, wrapping herself tightly in the quilt, exposing only the upper half of her face.

She emphasized, “I’m definitely not worried about you leaving!”

Yan He raised her eyebrows. She had initially been confused as to why the older woman wouldn’t let her close the door, but when she saw the older woman’s face half-buried in the quilt, Yan He thought, So I was right, then?

“I really won’t leave.”

She said this deliberately.

Shen Jinrong glared at her: “What nonsense are you talking about! I’m just not used to sleeping with the door closed! I think it’s stuffy!”

Yan He looked up and gestured towards the large window on Shen Jinrong’s right. The sun was shining brightly outside. Yan He had drawn the curtains before getting ready to leave. The morning sun was not facing this side, so the bedroom was not as bright as the living room.

“Hurry up and leave!” Shen Jinrong felt guilty, and her tone sounded more and more like bravado. She also started to feel annoyed in her heart. Why had she become so childish since meeting Yan He?

She hadn’t considered that childishness needs someone to respond to it. When a child falls and receives no comfort, she will stand up, brush off the dirt, and pretend nothing happened. But if a person she trusts is nearby, she will cry, hug that person, and demand affection.

Would Yan He be that person?

“Sleep well. Should I call you for lunch?” Yan He really liked the feeling of not having to use a respectful title for Shen Jinrong, as if the distance between them had been subtly broken by her.

Her tone sounded somewhat casual, and when standing in front of the older woman, she was not as anxious about loss as before.

Shen Jinrong hesitated: “If I’m not awake, just eat by yourself.”

Yan He made a gesture, indicating that she understood.

“You’re not allowed to sneak in!” Shen Jinrong’s eyes darted around as she stressed this point. But the moment she said it, she regretted it—if she didn’t want the young one to come in, why didn’t she just close the door?

Shen Jinrong thought, Perhaps I just want to be able to see Yan He at all times?

This feeling had always existed, but when she was sick, her sensitive emotions were magnified infinitely, and all her actions were driven forward by these small sentiments. If it were in the past, Shen Jinrong would absolutely never have indulged herself in saying such a thing.

Illness was like a magnifying glass, enlarging her usually uncontrollable sensitive emotions countless times, so that what was initially just a tiny, covetous thought now turned into words she blurted out without thinking.

Yan He seemed stunned for a moment: “…But… you—” She stammered, as if wondering why the older woman would say this.

“I didn’t say anything! Just pretend you didn’t hear anything just now!” After saying this, Shen Jinrong quickly burrowed her entire body under the quilt, hiding her head like an ostrich, as if by doing so, Yan He wouldn’t be able to see her.

There was no sound from outside. Shen Jinrong pricked up her ears, trying to hear Yan He’s movements, but heard nothing. She had expected to hear the young one’s footsteps walking toward the living room, expected to hear her leaving the bedroom, but there was nothing, absolute silence.

Only stillness.

It was as if the entire world consisted only of the small patch of darkness in front of her eyes, and everything else had been swallowed by the void.

Shen Jinrong did not like the darkness. She felt that the darkness amplified all her senses except her eyes, but she didn’t need them. All she could hear now was her own heartbeat and rapid breathing. The quilt was not too thin, and it was a bit airless inside; she felt slightly breathless. Just as Shen Jinrong was planning to sneak her head out for a breath of fresh air, she suddenly felt her arm being poked.

“You—” Yan He’s words were cut short when she saw Shen Jinrong under the quilt suddenly tremble in alarm, and then, half a face slowly emerged from the covers.

“I didn’t, I just—” Perhaps Shen Jinrong’s expression was too terrified, and those red eyes made her look like a small rabbit. Yan He gave an awkward smile, “I just wanted to say that I’ll be in the living room and won’t sneak a look at you. It’s easy to get suffocated burying yourself under the covers.”

“Mmm… I’m leaving now!”

Shen Jinrong felt Yan He seemingly touch the hair that was scattered outside. She turned over, her eyes watching Yan He walk into the living room, sit down on the sofa, and then take out her phone from her pocket, looking down, doing she knew not what.

The windows were soundproofed, so even in the morning, she couldn’t hear the sounds of people exercising outside. The room was very quiet, a silence as if no one were there, seemingly identical to many ordinary mornings.

In the past, Shen Jinrong rarely found anything wrong with such silence, but now, she suddenly thought that it might be nice to have someone to sleep with, wake up with, and cook with.

She wasn’t entirely sure what she was thinking. Sleepiness washed over her. The medicine she had taken seemed to have taken full effect. Shen Jinrong yawned, adjusted her posture under the quilt, and after confirming it was a secure and comfortable position, she fell into a deep sleep.

Yan He was looking through some documents about an expatriate assignment that her supervisor had sent her. The documents were not long; she reached the end after about ten minutes. She glanced at the older woman who was sleeping soundly in the bedroom and started searching for information about the destination country on her phone.

It was soon noon. Yan He had only had congee in the morning and was a little hungry now. She wanted to order takeout, but her phone was running out of battery, and she hadn’t brought a charger. She remembered the older woman telling her that if her phone was dead, she could use the charger on her desk.

But the charger was in the older woman’s bedroom, and she was sleeping—that didn’t seem appropriate, did it? Yan He didn’t really want to go in, but seeing the phone display low battery, she felt uneasy and, after a moment of hesitation, decided to go anyway.

I’ll just grab the charger and leave! I definitely won’t look at anything else! Truly!

Going into the older woman’s bedroom—in fact, Yan He had other ulterior motives. Taking the charger was just the pretense. Although she had promised the older woman not to sneak a look at her sleeping, what if the older woman’s illness had worsened? She was doing it for the older woman’s sake!

With this thought, Yan He’s light-footed movements became much more justifiable. She walked into the older woman’s bedroom. The wooden floor inside felt different from the living room’s floor.

Yan He finally had time to observe the older woman’s bedroom. Like the living room, the room was cool-toned, clean and desolate, lacking a human touch. Although the decor looked simple and modern, Yan He always felt that something was missing—it didn’t look like a lived-in space, but rather like a model room designed not for use.

Her gaze turned to the curtains blocking the outside light. The light green curtains were embroidered with jasmine flowers and petals. Yan He recognized the appearance of jasmine and recalled the jasmine tree near her own home, as if she could smell the rich jasmine fragrance again now.

The older woman was sleeping deeply with her back to the door, curled up in a ball under the quilt, only a small lump.

She involuntarily softened her breathing, wanting to check if the older woman still had a fever. So, she tiptoed to the older woman’s bedside.

It wasn’t until she stood by the older woman’s bed and saw her in deep sleep that Yan He suddenly realized that the purpose of her coming here didn’t seem to be for the charger. But—what was she supposed to do? Yan He couldn’t recall for a moment.

The older woman’s cheeks were flushed in her sleep, and there was some sweat on her forehead, with strands of hair messily stuck to it. When she wasn’t speaking to her, the older woman’s earlobes were pink, healthy and glowing pink through white skin. Her forehead was still slightly red, her eyes tightly closed, and her slender eyelashes trembled slightly, indicating that she wasn’t sleeping very peacefully.

Her heart felt as if it had been struck by something.

How to describe it? This feeling was similar to the first time she saw Shen Jinrong, when she walked past her, seeming to startle her soul.

In her past twenty-one years, Yan He had never experienced her heart racing because of one person. She had always thought it was just something written in novels to deceive people, but until she actually met the person she liked, she suddenly realized—what was a racing heart? She didn’t even dare to breathe loudly!

As if sensing someone nearby, or perhaps something inexplicably giving Shen Jinrong a sense of security, Yan He saw the older woman’s tightly furrowed brow slowly relax, and even her breathing became steady.

Yan He felt her arm twitching, as if impatient to do something. Her palms were sweating and felt a little sticky. Yan He unconsciously swallowed. She wanted to take a deep breath, but was afraid of making too much noise and waking the older woman.

After a brief internal pep talk, Yan He placed the back of her right hand on the older woman’s forehead. After the brief skin-to-skin contact, Yan He felt that although the older woman was still warm, she was not as hot as when she first arrived. Shen Jinrong’s forehead was even cool due to the perspiration.

Yan He gently sighed. She didn’t know what she should do now, nor could she figure out what she was doing at this moment. She sat down on the chair she had placed nearby and quietly watched Shen Jinrong.

Just a little peek, surely I won’t be discovered, right?

Yan He thought, uncertainly. But then she remembered that she had already promised the older woman not to sneak a look at her. Wouldn’t doing this be breaking her word?

Just one look—just one look, and then I’ll leave! Really!

She hesitated in her heart, then told herself that her main reason for coming over was to get the charger. Incidentally—it was just incidental! To check if the older woman’s fever had broken. If it hadn’t, they might have to go to the hospital.

Yan He found a thousand reasons and excuses for herself in her mind, and had even prepared herself mentally for Shen Jinrong to wake up at any moment and ask why she was there.

She watched the older woman turn over, the quilt making a muffled rustling sound. Yan He forgot to breathe for an instant, her heart leaped into her throat, terrified of being discovered.

When holding her breath, the rapid beating of her heart became especially noticeable.

Just when Yan He thought the older woman was about to wake up, Shen Jinrong seemed to have merely turned over and then fell deeply asleep again. Yan He breathed a sigh of relief. She couldn’t tell if she felt relaxed or disappointed, but why would she be disappointed? She couldn’t figure that out either.

Yan He suddenly realized that when you genuinely fall in love with someone, you can’t explain every action you take or every thought you have. Those actions might seem nonsensical or even silly in ordinary circumstances, but when facing the person you like, that’s just what you do.

Perhaps love is just this illogical, Yan He thought haphazardly.

After turning over, the older woman was facing Yan He, allowing her to see the older woman’s face more clearly.

The older woman in deep sleep did not have the occasional cool detachment she exhibited when awake, but instead looked a little innocent and docile. Yan He’s mind involuntarily recalled the scene of the two of them blowing out candles in the car that day. At that time, Shen Jinrong faced the tiny candle, her eyes filled with the light of anticipation.

What exactly have you been through? Yan He asked Shen Jinrong in her heart. But she thought that she was still young, and for all the mysteries surrounding the older woman, she had plenty of time to wait—to wait for the older woman to tell her. Before then, she wouldn’t pry. In her opinion, such behavior was too inconsiderate.

After her birthday in June this year, the older woman should be twenty-nine, eight years older than her. Yan He knew this. This was a topic she had been avoiding. In front of Shen Jinrong, she had never even shown concern about this fact.

But how could she not care? She had walked the earth for eight years longer than Yan He. In those eight years that she had in excess of Yan He’s life, Yan He didn’t know what she had experienced more than herself—was it joy or sorrow? She was completely clueless.

The room was filled with the older woman’s scent. Yan He saw the skincare products, makeup, and perfume placed on her dressing table, and also noticed the perfume bottle placed in the most conspicuous position. The small, transparent bottle contained pink liquid. Yan He knew that was the source of the faint, sour plum scent on the older woman.

But—that scent would turn sweet after a period of time, mingled with a hint of cool detachment. It was like an angel who wandered the world showing a pure face, but whose heart would always hold a personal pride.

Yan He didn’t know what she was doing now. She stared foolishly at Shen Jinrong, only hoping that time would stop right here. Even if the world ended the next second, she felt she would have no regrets in this life.

Outside the window, a few shadows suddenly passed by. Yan He looked up but saw nothing. It must have been a few birds flying past.

Perhaps the older woman was like the free little bird that flew past. She didn’t know when the older woman would pass by, nor did she know when the older woman would perch on her windowsill. After all, how could one hope for a free bird to stay for oneself?

Suddenly, Yan He felt that the older woman, who had been lying on the bed with steady breathing, changed her breathing frequency. Her eyelashes also trembled slightly, as if she was about to wake up.

Yan He’s eyes widened. The guilty feeling of being about to be caught prevented her from speaking. She hadn’t expected the older woman to wake up after she had only peeked for a little while. She nervously wanted to stand up, but worried that she might bump the chair when doing so, truly waking the older woman.

She wanted to flee in disarray, but Shen Jinrong did not give her the chance. The second after Yan He hesitated about whether to escape, Shen Jinrong opened her eyes.

Her eyes were half-closed, inadvertently revealing a stunning allure. She blinked several times before clearly seeing the person in front of her.

A brief moment of surprise was followed by teasing.

The older woman’s spirits seemed to have improved significantly, enough to even feel like playfully teasing Yan He.

Her eyes still held the daze of just waking up. Her voice was slightly hoarse and soft as she spoke: “Little one… are you being naughty? Didn’t we agree that you weren’t allowed to peek?”