Chapter 22 (2/2)
The bathroom was far stuffier than outside.
The moment she stepped out, the cool air made her skin tense. The heat at the tips of her ears faded, and she heard the sound of water running from the kitchen.
“Liu Qianxiu.”
Standing at the kitchen entrance, Mu Wan called his name.
She had showered quickly. Liu Qianxiu had only just come from the cat room, and the kitchen still had not been fully put in order. He was standing by the refrigerator with two bunches of greens in his hands, wrapped in white paper, the leaves poking out bright and fresh. When he heard her, he raised his eyes.
Mu Wan was wearing his oversized shirt.
She had rolled up the sleeves, exposing two lengths of pale arm. The shirt was long enough to cover her knees, a little above, leaving her calves bare and slender. Her eyes were bright. Like mist spreading in the distance, there was one dot of black in each, one touch of red on her lips.
Looking at him, she said, “Let me help.”
As she spoke, she came over and took the greens from his hands, leaving a faint fragrance of freesia in her wake.
The vegetables had just come out of the refrigerator and still held a trace of chill. Mu Wan tore away the paper. The neatly bundled greens fell open. She turned on the faucet and set them into the sink.
She was not short, but her frame was so fine she looked almost tiny, swallowed inside the shirt.
Sunlight still streamed through the window, though it could not dry her dark hair. In the quiet kitchen, the only sound was the crisp rush of running water.
Her shoulders moved slightly as she worked. After a while, she lifted a damp hand and used the still-dry side of her wrist to push her hair over to one side.
The effort was useless.
It fell back down again almost at once.
She seemed to grow a little frustrated. Pulling both hands from the sink, she was just about to wipe them on the shirt when she suddenly remembered what she was wearing. Her movements stopped short. Turning back to Liu Qianxiu, she asked, “Do you have any tissues? I want to tie my hair up. It keeps falling down and it’s bothering me.”
He stood by the refrigerator, tall and quiet, looking at her without expression.
After a slight pause, he closed the refrigerator door and walked over.
“Give me the hair tie,” he said.
Mu Wan’s eyes lifted.
She saw the calm, unchanged expression on his face. The slight knot in her brow smoothed away at once. She slipped the black hair tie off her wrist and placed it in his hand.
Then, after doing so, she looked up at him again—uncertain, but hopeful.
“Do you know how?” she asked.
Her hair was thick, and though it had not yet dried, it still hung heavy and dark. Liu Qianxiu looked once at the slightly curling ends and said, “I can try.”
Her heartbeat began to scatter out of rhythm.
Mu Wan’s lips parted. Then she turned around, giving him her whole back.
His movements were efficient.
Mu Wan braced both hands on the edge of the sink. The cool marble pressed into her palms. She could feel him lift her hair away from her neck, and now and then his fingertips brushed the skin at the back of it—warm, lightly numbing. Her fingers curled.
She was wearing his clothes, the fabric resting against her skin.
Her heart had become very restless.
Lowering her head to distract herself, she asked, “Who are you having dinner with tonight?”
“Family.”
Beneath the dark fall of her hair, the skin at the back of her neck was fine and pale, tinged with a soft flush.
“Mm,” she made a quiet sound that could have meant anything.
He gathered her black hair into the loop of the band and wrapped it around again, as though circling something closed. Her hair trembled with each motion. Mu Wan could feel it being drawn up little by little. Looking toward the sun beyond the window, her gaze gradually blurred.
This was the first time they had met so early in the day.
“Liu Qianxiu.”
The sunlight had warmed the room, and it seemed to warm her voice with it until it went soft.
“Mm,” he answered quietly behind her.
“Can I eat lunch with you in the future?” Mu Wan asked.
His hand paused for the briefest instant.
Then he drew her hair through the last loop of the black tie. His movements were gentle and clean, not pulling at all.
Mu Wan turned back.
Standing at slightly different heights, face to face, she looked up at him with bright expectant eyes, waiting for the answer.
He lowered his gaze to meet hers, voice low.
“That depends on the timing.”
“Oh.”
It was such a Liu Qianxiu sort of answer—cool, restrained, impossible to read. The breath Mu Wan had been holding leaked right back out of her.
With her hair tied up, her whole face was revealed when she tipped it up. Every thought she had was written plainly across it. Nothing in her could hide.
Liu Qianxiu’s gaze lingered for a moment on the hair tie now holding her hair back.
Then, in that same even tone, he added,
“Your timing.”
Mu Wan’s head jerked up.
As she did, the air shifted between them.
Looking at the pale, fine-boned man in front of her, with sandalwood still lingering at the tip of her nose, she felt the calm breadth of him like distant mountains.
And beneath the sandalwood, there was something else now, too.
Something she had never smelled on him before.
A faint trace of everyday life.
Thanks for the chapter! Things are finally starting to move along!
ReplyDeleteStay safe!