"What to do When the Pretty Woman I Kissed is My Best Friend's Professor" - Chapter 64

When she said, “Let’s run away together,” the bright light shining in those eyes was something Yan He had never seen before. That smile was exactly like the one she had when her face was smeared with cream; her eyes held hope, innocence, and what else? Yan He couldn’t figure it out; she just wanted to keep looking at Shen Jinrong.

Yan He thought: she must want to escape from here too, right?

The reason she herself wanted to escape was that she didn’t want to stay here any longer. Every familiar place she saw would trigger childhood memories. She had grown up in this city, and many people and events had been seen and experienced with her parents.

But now, they were no longer together. Yan He thought she needed some time to accept this fact. It wasn’t that she couldn’t accept it, but she just felt it was too sudden, and she didn’t know how to face her parents.

But what about the older sister? Why did she want to escape? Was it to keep her company? Or for some other reason?

Yan He thought these things didn’t matter anymore. The moment the older sister said those words, her heart gave a sudden tremor, as if the sister’s eyes weren’t seeing her, but her own sincere and fervent heart. That heart appeared brightly before her eyes, desperately shouting something.

Yan He wanted to say, “Okay,” but she opened her mouth, and that simple word somehow couldn’t be spoken. It was as if a lump was stuck in her throat, or perhaps a thousand words had already been conveyed just through the gaze they shared.

The light inside the car, like before, wasn’t extremely bright, but it gave off a warm glow. Yan He stared intently at Shen Jinrong, wanting to engrave her face at this moment into her mind.

Her throat tightened; she only felt a raspiness there. After a long struggle, she finally uttered the word “Okay,” but her voice was hoarse, and she hoped the older sister hadn’t noticed.

Yan He saw her smile. Under the dim, warm-yellow light, her smile seemed to be plated with a layer of brilliance. It was like the golden sunlight falling on her face during sunrise or sunset, like being by the seaside, and she was watching her with such concentration.

Yan He looked at her profile, feeling that she had many things she wanted to say, yet not a single word would come out.

Shen Jinrong started the car, gripping the steering wheel with both hands. Yan He again saw the ring on her middle finger, the spot she had always deliberately tried to ignore.

Why was there a ring there? Yan He had never asked.

Yan He had many questions about Shen Jinrong, but now she thought that those questions, though they persisted, wouldn’t affect anything. No number of questions could compare to the fact that the older sister was right here beside her at this moment.

Yan He watched the older sister tap her right index finger rhythmically on the steering wheel while waiting at a traffic light; the sight of those slender fingers made her heart skip a beat.

Everything was enveloped in a layer of red by the traffic light in front of them, and even the older sister’s face was tinged with a unique redness.

“Your visa hasn’t expired yet, right?” Yan He heard Shen Jinrong ask her this. Her voice seemed to be transmitted through another medium, hazy and indistinct, yet clear.

She shook her head and said, “I have a residence permit in Italy; it hasn’t expired.”

Shen Jinrong raised an eyebrow slightly and said, “My visa hasn’t expired either. Then—shall we go back tonight to discuss where to go and book the tickets? Do you need to go home tomorrow to pick up your passport and documents?”

Yan He thought about it, nodded and said “Okay,” but her gaze remained glued to the older sister.

Shen Jinrong seemed to sense it and turned her head to look at her. Just then, the red light shining on her turned green, and she quickly reacted, starting the car. They didn’t say anything more.

That evening, Yan He still slept on the sofa in the older sister’s living room.

Shen Jinrong didn’t say anything about it. After they had each washed up, Yan He lay in the living room, and Shen Jinrong lay in the bedroom. The bedroom door was closed, unlike the time she was sick before.

Yan He didn’t have the energy to think too much. Lying on the sofa, covered by the thick quilt the older sister had brought her, she tried to find the older sister’s scent in every corner.

The sofa she was lying on now must have been sat on by the older sister, and the quilt she was covered with might have been used by her too. She was in her house; it was a feeling of being surrounded by everything that carried her scent.

Yan He closed her eyes, feeling as if she was floating and spinning in mid-air. She was lying flat but seemed to be rotating clockwise. She felt like she was floating, her mind a blur. In a state between sleep and wakefulness, she seemed to return to her childhood—a time after elementary school dismissal, where the crowded school gate was full of parents. At that moment, she looked up and instantly saw Ms. He and Mr. Yan standing among the crowd. Her gaze fixed there, and her brain opportunely hit the pause button. Everything froze in that instant, fixed on the moment she looked up and saw her parents, fixed on the moment her parents smiled and waved at her.

But Yan He quickly remembered the unnatural way her parents interacted with each other. When did it start? Maybe they had always deliberately avoided each other, only putting on an act in front of her.

Yan He opened her eyes, gazing at the gray ceiling. Her soul dropped from mid-air to the floor. She sat up, the quilt on her body making a rustling sound.

Yan He looked toward the older sister’s bedroom door, as if this action could calm her down. But she couldn’t fall asleep at all. She thought about calling Ms. He tomorrow morning to say that she was going on a trip with a friend. Thinking this, she lay back down, staring blankly at the ceiling.

As her vision gradually adapted to the darkness, everything in the room became a little clearer.

Even now, Yan He still couldn’t be sure that all of this was real. Her heart was filled with an indescribable, incredible joy, struck by a surprise that fell from the sky. This surprise gradually dispersed the gloom in her heart.

Am I really going on a trip with her? Just her and me—the two of us!

Yan He’s mind was a mess, with many thoughts surging forward simultaneously, but when she tried to truly grasp one of them to examine it closely, they all vanished.

Yan He began to fantasize about how she should interact with the older sister during the trip and what preparations she should make.

But she was too tired. When she opened her eyes again, it was half-past eight in the morning.

Yan He sat up and subconsciously looked at the older sister’s bedroom door. The door was still tightly shut, yet Yan He felt a strange sense of peace.

She looked down at her phone, thinking of calling Ms. He.

When she came back with the older sister last night, she had sent a WeChat message to Ms. He saying she would stay at a friend’s house and not be returning. Ms. He had only replied with a simple “Okay,” telling her to be safe.

Yan He looked at the chat history on WeChat, blinked, sighed silently, and tightly wrapped the quilt around herself.

Soon, the call connected. Ms. He’s voice came through the phone: “Hello?”

Yan He didn’t know if it was her imagination, but she always felt that Ms. He’s voice carried a hint of cautiousness, as if afraid of saying the wrong thing that might upset her. Her heart trembled, but she didn’t show it. She took a deep breath and said to Ms. He, “Mom, for these two weeks of vacation, I want to go traveling with a friend.”

Ms. He subconsciously hummed in acknowledgment, then fell into a long silence. Yan He almost thought the signal was poor, but she quickly heard Ms. He say, “Sounds good. With whom?”

Yan He’s gaze lifted again, her eyes looking at the older sister’s bedroom door. She pursed her lips and ultimately didn’t tell Ms. He who it was, only saying it was a very good friend, someone Li Xiuxi also knew.

Ms. He hesitated, but still agreed. She then asked, “Where are you going?”

“Italy.”

“Italy?” Hearing this, Ms. He was visibly relieved. She knew Yan He had studied there before. Compared to other places, Italy should be relatively familiar to Yan He. “Then remember to take your documents. Is there anything you need me to help you prepare?”

Yan He tightened her grip on the phone: “In a little while… I’ll go home to pack my luggage.”

Ms. He was startled and asked, “Are you in a hurry?”

“The flight is tonight.”

Ms. He clearly hadn’t expected Yan He to be in such a rush to leave, but she also understood why Yan He was so eager to escape this place. She hesitated for a long time again and asked, “Do you have enough money?”

“Yes, I do.” Yan He’s heart suddenly felt a little sour, and her nose began to prickle.

“Okay,” Ms. He only said this one sentence: “I’ll wait for you at home.”

“Mm.”

In the end, Yan He hung up the phone first.

She placed the phone on the coffee table and remained motionless, staring at it until the screen went dark. She thought she should bring some skincare and toiletries. If she didn’t check luggage, she could only bring liquids under one hundred milliliters, right? What about other things? She needed to bring an umbrella—and what else?

The preparations for a long trip were complicated. Yan He set the quilt aside, picked up her phone, and started writing a list of things to bring in her memo app. She wrote down everything she needed to take, one by one. After confirming there were no omissions, Yan He looked at her list and messaged Li Xiuxi.

“My vacation started, I’m going out for a walk.”

Li Xiuxi quickly replied: “What’s up? Where are you going?”

“To clear my head, going to Italy.”

Li Xiuxi: “??? Haven’t you had enough of Italy?”

Yan He: “It’s different.”

Li Xiuxi: “[Cat speechless emoji] So, you’re going by yourself? Or with someone?”

“Shen Jinrong.”

Li Xiuxi looked at the three characters sent by Yan He, vigorously rubbed her eyes while lying in bed, and confirmed that she hadn’t misread it. She did a ‘carp sit-up,’ abruptly sitting up, staring at those three characters with wide eyes.

“Holy cow!!! Holy cow, holy cow, holy cow! Yan He!!!!”

Yan He: “[Well-behaved emoji]” “Is this going out to clear your head? This is a malicious intent, alright! Good heavens, how did you manage to kidnap our Professor Shen to go traveling with you?”

Yan He glanced at Shen Jinrong’s bedroom door and replied with a clear conscience: “Probably because of personal charm.”

Li Xiuxi: …

“[Cat speechless emoji]” “Fine, you go then. I’m going back to sleep.” Li Xiuxi sent this message, yawning.

Yan He replied with an emoji. Just as she put her phone back on the coffee table, Shen Jinrong’s bedroom door opened.

The older sister walked out wearing black and white fuzzy pajamas. Seeing Yan He sitting on the sofa, she was startled. The foot that had already stepped out of the room was quickly pulled back, and the door followed with a bang, shutting closed.

Yan He sat in her original spot, blinking. Had she seen correctly? Why did the older sister’s pajamas have a tail on the back?

Ten minutes later, Shen Jinrong finished washing up and came out wearing casual clothes. She walked up to Yan He, but heard the naughty girl ask her with innocent eyes: “Older sister, where is your tail?”

Shen Jinrong, who had forgotten Yan He was home and wore her favorite cow pajamas: …

Shit.

The author has something to say: Yan He: I want to pull the tail. Shen Jinrong: …Speechless! No pulling!!