"What to do When the Pretty Woman I Kissed is My Best Friend's Professor" - Chapter 56

Hearing Shen Jinrong’s voice, Yan He’s nose suddenly began to sting. She looked up at the IV bottle above her to the left and thought, I guess I’m not doing too well right now. But she didn’t want the Older Woman to worry.

She always felt that the hospital was cold everywhere—the cold infusion hall, the cold IV pole, the cold liquid flowing into her veins. The cold-colored LED light overhead shone down expressionlessly. People passing by were in a hurry, their faces showing rushed and frantic anxiety. There was not a single warm color in the entire infusion hall.

Empty and cold, like a heartless steel city.

For the first time, Yan He felt that the Older Woman’s greeting came so timely, like offering a cup of hot tea to someone struggling through knee-deep snow. Then, she wrapped herself in the Older Woman’s inherent gentleness, sighed, and said to herself, “It’s alright, don’t be afraid.”

Seeing that Yan He on the other end of the phone did not respond for a long time, Shen Jinrong’s heart leaped. She pursed her lips, placed the phone on the desk and put it on speakerphone, rubbing her hands on her thighs: “…Why aren’t you speaking? Is now not a good time?”

“No… not at all.” Yan He lowered her eyes. She wanted the Older Woman to come and stay with her, but the Older Woman must have her own things to do—just like Ms. He.

The infusion hall was empty. Only a pair of a man and a woman across from her remained, who looked like the woman was accompanying the man for his infusion. She originally wouldn’t have cared about such things, nor would she have cared whether she had company or not. She felt that she was not yet at the point where she needed help to survive.

But people are contradictory and greedy. When you fall in love with someone, you always want to show your most vulnerable side to her without reservation. Just like a puppy exposing its belly to someone it trusts, Yan He also wanted the Older Woman to stroke her tummy and reassure her that everything was fine.

In the end, rationality prevailed. Yan He’s emotions silently watched everything unfold. She heard her rationality say to Shen Jinrong, “I’m fine, Older Woman.”

“Where are you?” Shen Jinrong pressed, her throat tight and her breathing becoming hurried.

But as soon as the words left her mouth, she regretted it. She knew clearly that she shouldn’t be so aggressive and even more so that she had no right or standing to force the answer. Yet, in this moment, she did it anyway.

Why, exactly? Shen Jinrong honestly didn’t know herself.

“At home.” Yan He attempted to use an indifferent tone to hide her current panic. She was not good at lying, especially when facing Shen Jinrong.

Shen Jinrong didn’t doubt her: “Okay, when I called you last night…”

“Yan He, right?” A nurse sister walked over, looked down at the name on the IV bag, and confirmed with Yan He.

Yan He covered the mouthpiece and nodded.

“Mhm… this is your next bag of fluid.” The nurse sister looked up: “You can press the bell to call us when this bag is almost done.”

Yan He quietly said thank you. Only after she came back to her senses did she realize that she hadn’t covered the mouthpiece at all, and the Older Woman’s voice had cut off abruptly when the nurse sister appeared.

“Where are you?” Shen Jinrong’s tone was flat, revealing neither joy nor sadness, but Yan He was inexplicably deflated. She whispered, like someone admitting a mistake: “In the hospital…”

She heard the Older Woman on the other end sigh: “Which hospital?”

“The First People’s Hospital.”

“I’m coming over now.”

Shen Jinrong’s tone was firm, but Yan He subconsciously didn’t want her to come: “You just recovered from being sick. It’s not good for you to come.”

Shen Jinrong frowned: “You could come and take care of me when I was sick; why can’t I go when you are sick?”

Yan He instinctively glanced away. She saw her left hand, the purple cannula exposed, the fine needle connected to her vein. She moved her left hand and realized it had become stiff from staying still for so long.

“Okay.” Yan He’s emotions took over, and she agreed.

After hanging up the phone, the couple who were sitting across from her stood up and left. Now, she was the only one left in the infusion hall. When the two left, they pushed open the glass doors of the hall, and at that moment, a gust of cold air rushed in.

Yan He sneezed. She zipped up her jacket all the way to the top, suddenly remembering that she hadn’t dressed up meticulously at all today. Should I meet the Older Woman like this?

But she had no other choice. She put her phone aside and gloomily lowered her head to look at her fairy tale book.

The morning sunlight pierced through the exterior glass doors, and a ray of light landed directly on the light blue floor in front of Yan He. The bright sunlight was cut into sharp edges by the wall but gently fell right in front of her.

It was just a small block of color, creating a strange pattern after passing through the glass door, like a shimmering, still water surface. Yan He stared blankly at the light that seemed like a gift landing in front of her. She suddenly thought of the Older Woman’s eyes.

The Older Woman’s eyes were often like a shimmering water surface, but they were reserved and gentle. When those eyes looked steadily at her, it felt as if she only saw Yan He.

—How fortunate.

“Hello, is there someone here named Yan He?” Shen Jinrong quickly walked to the nurse’s station and asked the on-duty nurse.

“One moment.” The nurse looked down to check the records briefly: “She’s in the infusion hall.” She directed Shen Jinrong: “Go straight and turn right; there’s a sign.”

Shen Jinrong let out a long breath. She thanked the nurse and quickly walked away.

The sound of footsteps came from outside the glass doors of the infusion hall again, hurried and similar to the steps of the nurse sister who had just entered. Yan He didn’t pay much attention, only seeing a distant figure walking toward her. The figure was backlit by the sun, their shadow cast very long on the ground.

Finally, that person stood in front of the glass door, blocking the ray of sunlight that had been falling in front of her. The figure stood right in the center of the sunlight before Yan He, sudden, yet perfectly centered.

Yan He didn’t think much of it, and then she heard the “creak” sound as the glass door was pushed open.

This glass door must be quite old, right? Yan He thought randomly. Maybe people push it open to enter and push it open to leave every day. How long has it been here? Yan He didn’t know.

But now, she no longer heard footsteps, as if the person had only pushed the glass door open. That person stood there motionless. Yan He saw the shadow in front of her didn’t move and was somewhat confused. She turned her head to look and saw the woman standing backlit in front of the glass door.

Startlingly familiar, startlingly beautiful.

The glass door opened inward. There were two large characters on each of the two panels, which combined to form the phrase “Infusion Hall” when closed.

She saw Shen Jinrong holding the doorknob, standing tall and graceful.

Yan He squinted her eyes, only seeing the Older Woman’s facial features hidden in the shadows. She couldn’t clearly see the Older Woman’s face, but she felt from the vague outline and her own rapid heartbeat that—that was the person she was waiting for.

The sunlight in front of her had moved from the front to her feet. Yan He looked down at the sunlight, then looked up at Shen Jinrong standing at the door. She opened her mouth, feeling that her mind was blank at this moment.

Finally, looking into Shen Jinrong’s eyes, she merely called out softly: “Older Woman.”

Shen Jinrong, however, felt that her heart was struck by something in that instant.

There were only the two of them in the empty infusion hall. Shen Jinrong took two steps forward and closed the glass door behind her. Once the door was closed, the creaking noise disappeared.

Yan He suddenly had a misconception: at the moment the door closed, the infusion hall seemed to form a completely sealed space, and in this space, there were only her and the Older Woman.

After Shen Jinrong moved her feet, the sunlight behind her shone through the window and the glass door and landed on Yan He’s eyes.

Yan He subconsciously squinted but didn’t avoid the sunlight. She could feel the sunlight falling on her, warm, completely different from the coldness just now.

Yan He thought, Is it because the Older Woman has arrived? That’s why my world has become bright and warm.

She thought, It must be so. This might be what Li Xiuxi told me about—the feeling of a crush, right?

Yan He found that her search for Shen Jinrong’s figure had become an instinctive reaction. She had become accustomed to searching for Shen Jinrong’s figure in the crowds at school and had learned to accurately find her crush from the backs of many people.

What she saw most often was Shen Jinrong’s back. As a result, when Shen Jinrong stood in front of her at that moment, Yan He suddenly had an extremely surreal sense of unreality. Is all this real? Am I dreaming, or is she truly appearing before me?

The scene before her was too beautiful, too much like a long-awaited reunion in a movie. But Yan He knew that she and the Older Woman had been apart for less than a day, yet she felt like a long time had passed since she last saw her.

Her heart began to pound uncontrollably again. Every time she saw the Older Woman, the little deer in her heart would run wild.

Yan He pursed her lips, but felt her lips were dry. She vaguely remembered that she hadn’t brought water today. But what did it matter? As long as the person in front of her remained, even if the world collapsed at this moment, Yan He could accept it.

This is the person I love; my sweetheart who walked toward me, backlit by the sun!

Everything in front of her was impossibly beautiful. It was as if her nose was no longer filled with the smell of hospital disinfectant but with the rich fragrance of the Older Woman.

Yan He keenly noticed that the Older Woman’s citrusy, sweet and sour scent briefly vanished as she stepped toward her.

Tiny transparent spots appeared in front of her eyes, slowly descending in Yan He’s vision, only to reappear in the same spot after a blink. She closed her eyes and turned her gaze elsewhere, only to find that everything around her became dim after seeing the sunlight.

When you have seen the sunlight, everything around you seems to lose its color.

As Shen Jinrong walked toward her, Yan He did not hear her footsteps. She even felt for a moment that her own heartbeats had drowned out the Older Woman’s steps.

It wasn’t until Shen Jinrong stood in front of her, her beautiful eyebrows furrowed, that Yan He saw her blink, a faint shimmer of moisture spreading in her eyes.

Then, Shen Jinrong slowly squatted down, held her right hand, and softly asked, “How did this happen?”

Yan He opened her mouth and heard her voice, hoarse and dry, sounding unpleasant: “Something unexpected happened yesterday afternoon.”

She didn’t elaborate on what the accident was, and Shen Jinrong didn’t press the question. But in the next second, Shen Jinrong gently held the fingertips of her left hand, the one with the IV.

Yan He felt the warmth of her palm, but that warm temperature was merely a drop in the bucket for her ice-cold left hand.

“Your hand is so cold.” Shen Jinrong just lightly held her fingertips: “Does it hurt?”

Yan He knew she was asking about the hand with the IV, so she gently shook her head and replied, “It doesn’t hurt.”

How could it not hurt? Shen Jinrong sighed. Yan He felt the grip on her right hand tighten slightly, then quickly loosen.

Yan He vaguely remembered that the Older Woman had told her she didn’t like coming to the hospital. Why didn’t she want to come? Yan He lowered her eyes. While avoiding Shen Jinrong’s gaze, she also saw a small scar hidden beneath the Older Woman’s delicate wristwatch on her left wrist.

Is it because of this? Yan He wondered.

“I’m sorry,” Shen Jinrong said softly, and Yan He could even hear the tremor in her voice.

Why do you have to apologize? Why do you have to feel guilty, Older Woman?

The sunlight outside the door fell upon Yan He, warm. The light briefly landed on her left hand, the one with the IV, bringing a hint of warmth. Under the light, she could see the color of the veins on the back of her hand more clearly. They were blue-green, and the back of her hand was dazzlingly fair.

Yan He raised her eyes and looked steadily at her: “Why are you apologizing?”

She asked softly.

Shen Jinrong lowered her eyes and did not answer. She stood up and slowly sat down on the chair beside Yan He. After a while, she said in a low voice, “You shouldn’t have kissed me.”

There was a hint of grievance in her words.

Why can’t I kiss you?

Yan He only thought this in her heart and didn’t ask it aloud. She wondered, Was the Older Woman feeling guilty for infecting me?

“It’s not that.” Yan He slowly spoke. She turned her hand and grasped Shen Jinrong’s left hand, squeezing gently, as if wanting to give her silent strength: “It’s not because of you. I had a little accident yesterday afternoon.”

Yan He smiled, pursing her lips, as if just stating something ordinary: “I accidentally fell into the water.”

Unfortunately, Yan He could say this claim to Ms. He without batting an eye, but she wasn’t so composed when facing Shen Jinrong.

“Didn’t you go to work yesterday afternoon?” Shen Jinrong asked subconsciously.

Seeing Shen Jinrong’s surprised look, Yan He quickly explained: “It was just an accident…”

Shen Jinrong nodded slightly, but her eyes were filled with sadness. She was still feeling guilty. Yan He read the emotions of sadness and guilt in her eyes.

“Older Woman, actually, right now, I really want to kiss you.”

After saying this, Yan He saw Shen Jinrong lift her head, her beautiful eyes filled with astonishment, surprise, and helplessness.

Yan He flashed a smile at her, her perfectly aligned white teeth exposed: “Now I understand… how you felt when I kissed you yesterday.”

“Older Woman.”