28 Chapter 27 – Spicy Crispy Skin Fish 5 (1/2)
Oh god…
A buzzing sound went off in her mind, and then, it went entirely blank.
She could sense the middle-aged man's eyes on her had instantly become much more kindly and amiable. He seemed to say something along the lines that it had been quite some days since he had seen Mo Qingcheng's parents, that even a little gathering of family was difficult to arrange with them… What did Mo Qingcheng say? Something like, they were both out of town doing surgeries…
Gu Sheng felt as if she were floating. She was completely stupefied.
Gu Sheng, wake up, you! Wake up!
Hurry and wake up!
”Cheng Cheng's parents are usually very busy. If you have time in the future, come to Little Uncle's house for dinner, alright?” This sentence successfully pulled her out from one void and then kicked her into another void… Gu Sheng's response was completely by automatic reflex when she gave a very well-mannered and likable smile.
Little Uncle turned around and left.
”I need to go to the hospital,” she heard Mo Qingcheng tell her. ”Should I drop you off in front of the grocery store?”
Gu Sheng felt she would not be able to hold up for much longer. She was utterly unable to talk to Toupai one-on-one right now … Her eyes drifted here and drifted there but just dared not look at him.
He chuckled, ”Let's go. I'm in a bit of a hurry.”
The red in her cheeks deepened another few shades.
She swore, she had never had a boyfriend before, but she had read romance novels and watched idol dramas… None of them had ever said what she should do if suddenly someone called her his girlfriend… Especially when that someone was Toupai, what should she do? …
”Sheng Sheng?” His voice was a little low as it coaxed her out of her trance.
”Huh?” She answered, ”Um, well, let's go then.”
With head lowered, she followed his footsteps and waited for him to unlock the car before pulling open the door and sitting down in the passenger seat. During this whole process, she behaved as if Mo Qingcheng was thin air. Or rather, she acted completely as if she herself was thin air … All she wanted was to hurry up and get to the grocery store. However, even though she was looking straight ahead at the sights outside of the front windshield, her peripheral vision was still able to see his hand move to adjust the vents and then casually drape itself over the steering wheel.
The car drove out of the community compound and out onto the main road.
So many cars out on Valentine's Day …
Gu Sheng tried hard to focus on the sea of vehicles in front of them.
Could she pretend that, just now … she hadn't heard anything? …
”Are you hot? Do you need to take off your down jacket?” he asked her.
The voice he was using was like the one that night, when he had sung ”Song Has Not Ended” to her — low, even, and captivating.
She wanted to act composed, to carry herself with ease and poise. She wanted to seriously reflect on this suddenly messy and confusing relationship between her and Toupai, where, the more she thought about it, the more of a mess it seemed… but she could not be disloyal to her own ears.
This voice was the one she loved.
The voice she loved…
Wordlessly, she shed her jacket, placed it in her lap, and hugged it to herself.
This voice that she loved had basically broken all of her ”firsts”: her first time giving all her contact details to someone she knew in the 2-D world; her first time meeting up with someone from the 2-D world; her first time having dinner with a boy who was neither a relative nor a classmate; and… her first time going out with a boy on Valentine's Day… and then being called his girlfriend. T.T
So…
Were she and Toupai really… honestly… boyfriend… and girlfriend… now? T.T
Why was her mind completely blank, like some sort of natural disaster had happened?! Just thinking about the words, ”boyfriend and girlfriend” caused her heart to start pounding rapidly, and she immediately tried to block the idea from her brain. She did not dare let herself think about those words anymore.
The exhibition centre was very close to the hospital, and soon, the car was stopped across from Gu Sheng's family's grocery store. When Gu Sheng saw the store, it was as if she had seen a lifeboat, and finally she had the courage to say something.
”I'm going now,” she said quietly.
”I'll try to finish up as soon as possible. Want to have dinner together?”
”Huh? No, that's okay.” Gu Sheng's blurted out her decline as she stared at him in shock. But as she looked at those beautiful eyes, her boldness immediately weakened. ”I need to go home for dinner tonight. Another day, maybe? …”
He answered with an ”mm.”
He answered with an ”mm.” From the backseat, he grabbed her schoolbag and handed it to her. ”Be careful when crossing the road.”
”Mm.”
”Call you later tonight?”
”Mm.”
Gu Sheng took her bag from him and reached to open the door for her escape.
Mo Qingcheng, however, unexpectedly grabbed her arm. She turned to look at him, her expression dazed and bewildered. ”Put on your jacket first and put your bag on your back before you get out of the car.” When he finished saying this, he could not hold back a laugh.
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