"What to do When the Pretty Woman I Kissed is My Best Friend's Professor" - Chapter 97

The ice rink wasn’t large to begin with. Yan He was being led by Shen Jinrong, sliding forward slowly. When she reached an uneven patch, she stumbled and quickly grabbed hold of both Shen Jinrong and the railing.

Shen Jinrong stood with her arms crossed, watching her: “Weren’t you very skillful just now?” Calling me Professor and kissing me at the same time? What was that? Some kind of shame play?

Yan He clung to the railing, her feet on the icy surface, meekly: “Jiejie!” She blinked. Shen Jinrong momentarily couldn’t tell if she was genuinely scared: “I’m scared!”

Shen Jinrong sighed, took her hand again, gave it a slight squeeze, and asked, “Dare to kiss randomly again?”

Yan He pouted, unconvincingly: “I wasn’t kissing randomly. It’s just that Jiejie is too beautiful.”

Shen Jinrong was driven to laugh by her: “Is that my fault?”

“No, no, it’s my lack of self-control.” As she spoke, Yan He’s foot slipped, and she crashed straight into her Jiejie’s embrace. Shen Jinrong, caught off guard, and they both hit the wooden railing behind them. Just as Shen Jinrong braced herself for her waist to be bruised, she felt something cushioning her back.

It was Yan He’s hand, securely wrapped around her waist.

Meeting Shen Jinrong’s astonished gaze, Yan He grimaced as she pulled her hand back, not forgetting to ask worriedly about her Jiejie: “Are you okay? Did you hit anything?”

Shen Jinrong slowly shook her head.

“That’s good.” Yan He secretly rubbed her hand, then looked up with a smile: “Then let’s continue, Laoshi (Teacher).”

Shen Jinrong glared at her, but her eyes were moist, showing no sign of anger.

The ice under their feet produced a faint friction sound as they continued to slide, scattering tiny shards of ice around. Yan He crouched down to poke at the ice shards, then stood up and put her hand back in her Jiejie’s: “It’s so cold.”

Shen Jinrong chuckled at her: “Of course it’s cold, you touched the ice.”

“Jiejie, warm my hand.” Yan He naturally extended her hand toward Shen Jinrong’s. Shen Jinrong flinched from the cold and shivered, then glared at Yan He.

“So cold.”

“But Jiejie’s hands are warm.” Yan He held her hand and began to slide slowly.

Small children who were excellent skaters kept whizzing past them, making loops around the small rink and letting out bursts of happy shrieks.

Yan He watched them enviously. Shen Jinrong noticed her gaze and smiled: “What, are you jealous that those kids know how to skate?”

Yan He “hmph-ed”: “Of course not.” She lifted her head proudly: “They don’t have a Jiejie with them like I do.”

Besides, she could also kiss her Jiejie.

The puppy’s tail wagged figuratively.

Shen Jinrong’s hand slid down her waist and gave her a light pat. Yan He instinctively moved forward, lost her balance again, and sat directly on the ice.

Yan He froze on the cold ice surface. The naughty Jiejie, who was the instigator, froze for a moment too, then burst into laughter. Halfway through her laughter, she seemed to realize her behavior was a bit too gloating, so she forcefully stopped laughing, suppressing her mirth to offer Yan He her hand.

“Stop laughing!” Yan He’s face was flushed red. She felt that falling after being spanked by her Jiejie was highly damaging to her image—she was supposed to be a vigorous puppy! How had she turned into a delicate, soft, and easily toppled puppy?

It was bad enough that she had said it, but when she emphasized it, Shen Jinrong burst into laughter again, shaking with laughter. She briefly lost her footing and also sat down right next to Yan He.

The Italians nearby looked at them and smiled kindly; the happy atmosphere seemed infectious.

And so, in this corner of the ice rink, the two of them sat on the ice together, laughing heartily in an extremely embarrassing posture, leaning against each other. The cold wind blowing on them felt warm. Yan He grabbed the railing nearby to stand up, took a deep breath, and drank a lungful of cold air. She covered her mouth and coughed twice.

Shen Jinrong, holding her hand, also stood up, pleading: “Alright, alright, I won’t tease you anymore. Let’s continue.”

What Shen Jinrong meant by “continue” was to keep skating, but Yan He’s understanding was clearly different. She leaned over to kiss her Jiejie’s lips and deliberately asked, “Continue what?”

Shen Jinrong rolled her eyes at her: “Continue skating. Time is almost up.”

They had only bought one hour, and if time ran out, they would have to pay to extend it.

Yan He then obediently skated with her. As they skated, the wind rushed past their ears with a whooshing sound, passing roughly over their cheeks. Yan He could feel her face stiffening from the cold. She reached up to touch it, and it was icy cold. The warmth of her fingertips suddenly felt incredibly precious.

Gradually, Yan He was able to let go of her Jiejie‘s hand and skate on her own. She skated to the other side. When she turned around, she happened to see her Jiejie, still standing in the same spot, tilting her head and smiling at her.

Yan He’s eyes widened. Across from her—behind her Jiejie—she saw the transparent glass exterior of the shopping center. It was a sports goods store where they could buy skiing supplies. She saw her Jiejie‘s reflection in the glass and saw her own face smiling back.

My face feels frozen, Yan He thought, rubbing it.

But then she saw her Jiejie smiling at her. That smile in the cold wind was like a swaying flower bud. Yan He suddenly thought of the Little Prince’s rose—the rose he had carefully tended and covered with a glass dome—it was her rose.

Yan He pushed off hard with her feet and skated to Shen Jinrong’s side. The latter took a tissue from her pocket and wiped the sweat from her forehead, saying, “Time is almost up.”

Shen Jinrong leaned on the railing, looking languid. Her interest seemed to be less in skating and more in teaching Yan He.

Yan He leaned on the railing beside her, and the two of them stood side-by-side, watching the street.

“There seems to be a tower over there,” Yan He squinted, pointing in one direction.

Shen Jinrong followed the direction she was pointing. It was the large clock on the top of the church, a typical European structure. The open design allowed the sound of the bells to travel throughout every corner of the city.

“If it lights up at night, it should be a warm, orange-yellow light, right?” Yan He asked.

It was 4:30 in the afternoon, still a long time until dark. Shen Jinrong said, “We can wait and come back to see it tonight. Didn’t people at the market say that the Christmas tree would light up tonight too?”

“When I was studying here, there was a rumor,” Yan He turned to look at Shen Jinrong, smiling: “Everyone said not to climb the highest tower in the city you’re in, or you might not graduate.”

Shen Jinrong laughed with her: “How could there be a rumor like that?”

Yan He shrugged: “I don’t know. Anyway, I didn’t dare climb the tallest tower in Rome.”

“We can go after you graduate,” Shen Jinrong cast her gaze far away. Only then did she remember that Yan He hadn’t graduated yet and was currently just interning: “When does your holiday end?”

“My leader told us to leave on the thirty-first or the first.”

Shen Jinrong nodded: “Then there are—” She calculated: “Almost a week.”

“Yes, we have almost a week left.” Yan He turned to look at her. The two of them smiled at each other.

“Time is nearly up; we should go.” Shen Jinrong and Yan He skated toward the exit together. She looked at Yan He’s noticeably much more skilled movements and thought that Yan He was actually quite talented at sports.

After leaving, Yan He saw an ice cream shop at the street corner. It was closed, with a note on the door saying it wasn’t operating in the winter. Two steps further was a pizza parlor. They could smell the aroma of pizza filling the air—a smoky smell of freshly baked pizza with a slightly burnt edge.

“Do you want to eat pizza?” Shen Jinrong asked her.

Yan He took a step back: “Let’s not!” They had been eating pizza and other Italian food constantly in other places. Yan He didn’t want to eat those things anymore.

The pizza parlor was open. A few Italians were smoking and chatting at the entrance, gathering in twos and threes. Some people were walking dogs on the street.

Yan He suddenly desperately wanted to freeze time right then, in that moment of happiness. A sense of dread surprisingly welled up in her heart, a fear that something would happen the next second, a fear of some sudden accident that would stop them here, as if all her beautiful time right now was stolen.

—This fear made her timid, afraid to confess to Shen Jinrong, dreading that this reckless move would lead to them never seeing each other again. Yet, she also wanted to take this gamble, wanting the person she loved to belong completely to her.

Yan He couldn’t articulate the source of her fear, but holding her Jiejie‘s hand, she inexplicably felt calm again.

“Let’s go look at that sports goods store.” Shen Jinrong was referring to the store next to the ice rink. Many snowboards were displayed on a rotating device, spinning like a waterwheel, showing off each one through a layer of glass.

“What do we need to buy?” Yan He opened her phone to look at the list she had written in her memo: “I need to buy gloves, a hat—” “Let’s just look first,” Shen Jinrong pulled her hand and walked inside. At the door, they again met the Italian who had smiled at them earlier. Yan He nodded slightly as a greeting, then quickly followed her Jiejie inside.

—So—why would this store put sports bras on display outside?

Yan He secretly glanced at her Jiejie. She felt awkward looking at sports bras with her Jiejie. Fortunately, Shen Jinrong didn’t pay much attention, just giving them a fleeting look and moving on.

“Oh, right, I need to buy Jiejie a swimsuit.” Yan He suddenly remembered the hot spring in the room.

The two followed the sign to the second floor, the area for swimming gear. Skirting around a huge surfboard, they finally reached the swimsuits.

Yan He began browsing through the rows of swimsuits as if she were buying for herself. Shen Jinrong leaned lazily against a rail, letting her choose. Eventually, Yan He picked out two rather flimsy garments.

“Jiejie! What do you think of this one?” Yan He turned to ask Shen Jinrong, holding up the hanger.

Shen Jinrong’s face turned green when she saw the black bikini in Yan He’s hand. She gritted her teeth and asked with a strained smile, “Are you sure?”

Yan He was utterly matter-of-fact: “Yes, of course, I’m sure.” She flashed an innocent smile: “Jiejie will definitely look amazing wearing it!”