Hua Shu felt a little strange when Liu Fengying paid the entire bill, especially since the cost of her own order amounted to quite a substantial sum for her—almost equal to two weeks' worth of pocket money.
However, she understood that Liu Fengying was trying to show with this gesture that they had grown closer, so she made no attempt to object. Instead, she merely joked that being pampered so much by someone who had turned down countless advances without batting an eye made her feel special.
Still, before getting up from the table, she thought that she should at least thank Liu Fengying. After all, the dinner could be considered a gift; it wasn't as if Liu Fengying owed her anything or had to pay to earn her friendship.
She also wanted to express her gratitude for helping her get rid of He Rui. Even though she was certain there was no chance she would fall into his trap—being downright repulsed by the idea of entering a relationship with him—it would have been a real headache if he had started pestering her.
However, since she wasn't used to expressing such heartfelt sentiments, Hua Shu found it quite difficult to decide on the most appropriate words and kept hesitating, unable to begin.
For Liu Fengying, who was sitting across from her, it wasn't difficult to realize that Hua Shu was in a dilemma; she kept alternating between looking at her and staring at the ceiling, opening her mouth as if to say something and then stopping—looking exactly like when Professor Raccoon called her up to the blackboard to solve a difficult problem she had no idea how to even begin.
"What's wrong, Shushu? Do I have food on my face?", Liu Fengying asked casually, trying to break the ice. From her experience, the longer one hesitated to say something, the harder it became—or it might never be said at all.
"No, no. You look just as perfect—err… I mean, there's nothing on your face…" Hua Shu stammered, suddenly pulled out of her thoughts.
Realizing that her behavior had begun to seem strange to Liu Fengying, Hua Shu grew irritated with herself. How was it that when she argued with someone or spoke badly about them, she was full of inspiration, but when it came to saying something nice, her mind completely bogged down? Surely she couldn't be someone who functioned optimally only under the influence of negative energy… right?
'Come on, Hua Shu. What are you overthinking so much? Just say a few words of appreciation and be done with it. It's not like you're making a love confession…' she tried to encourage herself.
Yet, just as she was about to open her mouth and say a simple "Thank you for dinner," she realized there was a problem.
'Wait a second—Liu Fengying wouldn't misunderstand this, would she?'
Taking into account both her hesitation and the slip of the tongue she had made earlier, Hua Shu thought she could easily be mistaken for a girl in love. Moreover, the circumstances were favorable to such an interpretation. Since Liu Fengying had teased her all day, it wouldn't have been that surprising if she couldn't resist her—especially considering how many people, toward whom she had been at best indifferent, had fallen into the snare of her beauty that very day.
These thoughts completely shattered whatever resolve she had managed to gather and Hua Shu once again found herself unable to string together a proper sentence. It was even worse than before, as now she not only looked embarrassed but had also started to blush.
Seeing Hua Shu's reaction, Liu Fengying scolded herself inwardly. Couldn't she have found another way to start the conversation? It wasn't as if she wasn't aware that her face was a highly lethal weapon against Hua Shu.
In fact, Liu Fengying believed that the reason Hua Shu had blushed was that she truly had been thinking about her face, so her question must have sounded like teasing to her. It wasn't vanity; it was simply that throughout the day, she had caught Hua Shu several times lost in thought, admiring her profile.
'Maybe she wants me to tell her what treatments I actually use on my face? After all, any girl would find the possibility of improving her appearance irresistible. Though honestly, I don't think Hua Shu needs anything like that—her skin is already as smooth as a baby's…', Liu Fengying tried to guess Hua Shu's intentions.
Still, she couldn't rule out other possibilities. Considering how much Hua Shu liked her face, it was also possible that she simply wanted to take a photo of it. Since she had no way of knowing which assumption was correct, Liu Fengying decided that the only solution was to try once more to get Hua Shu to speak.
Learning from her earlier failed attempt, Liu Fengying decided not to beat around the bush this time, but to ask Hua Shu directly what was troubling her. Of course, since Hua Shu seemed extremely embarrassed, it was necessary to make her feel safe, so she adopted the friendliest tone possible.
"So, Shushu, do you want to tell me something? If that's the case, you can say it without any worries—this big sister is willing to do anything for you…"
Hua Shu was taken aback by Liu Fengying's words. Even if they had been best friends for life, wasn't such a promise a bit much? She thought that either Liu Fengying trusted her to be a reasonable person who wouldn't make outrageous requests, or she felt an unusually deep affection for her.
'Or maybe she's just trying to charm me; after all, toying with pure-hearted girls is one of the fox demons' favorite pastimes…', Hua Shu thought to herself, trying not to take Liu Fengying's words too seriously. She was convinced that it would truly be a challenge for anyone to remain rational when faced with a girl as charming as Liu Fengying, who cared for you so attentively.
However, Liu Fengying's words seemed to make Hua Shu breathe a sigh of relief, as it didn't appear that Liu Fengying suspected her of wanting to make a confession. Honestly, now that she had avoided such a complicated situation, her earlier inhibitions—which had kept her from thanking Liu Fengying—felt utterly trivial.
So Hua Shu hastened to take advantage of this moment of inner calm to put her intentions into action.
"No, no, it's nothing like that. I was just thinking about how to thank you for dinner and for helping me keep He Rui away from me. To be honest, I've never had anyone before who—how should I put it—pampered me like this, or protected me. Anyway, what I wanted to say is that tonight meant a lot to me…" Hua Shu said to Liu Fengying.
Well, the beginning had been truly resolute, but the longer her gaze remained locked with Liu Fengying's, the more her emotions resurfaced. As a result, she uttered the last words at barely more than the buzz of a mosquito.
Hearing Hua Shu, the only thing going through Liu Fengying's mind was:
'She's so cute!!!'
If not for the table between them, she probably wouldn't have been able to restrain herself from pulling Hua Shu tightly into her arms.
Liu Fengying's reaction was easy to understand: when a tsundere enters her "dere dere" mode, her level of adorableness multiplies by at least ten.
Moreover, for Liu Fengying—who in both this life and her previous one had dealt with countless people full of schemes or driven by various interests—it was truly a breath of fresh air to see that there were still people as innocent as Hua Shu, who viewed friendship as something sacred rather than as a tool to gain advantages.
"I'm glad to hear that. Honestly, I was a little worried that my tendency to control how things unfold might have made you feel suffocated…" Liu Fengying said, thinking it would be better not to get carried away by Hua Shu's praise and instead maintain a modest attitude. If she were to present herself as a perfect person, it would not only put pressure on Hua Shu, but on herself as well.
"No, not at all…" Hua Shu hurried to contradict her. Are you kidding? Her domineering attitude was the thing she found most attractive about her.
Of course, she had no intention of confessing this weakness to Liu Fengying. If Liu Fengying decided to exploit it just to tease her, how could her heart possibly endure it? Still, Hua Shu would feel awful if Liu Fengying tried to restrain herself because of her—both because she wanted Liu Fengying to feel comfortable around her and for her own enjoyment.
"Okay…" Liu Fengying found the speed of Hua Shu's response a little suspicious. She couldn't help wondering whether Hua Shu was afraid that, if she admitted to being dissatisfied with something about her, their friendship might cool down again.
"Anyway, I also wanted to tell you that I'm grateful to you as well—both for being a desk mate I could always rely on and for being open to growing closer to me. I'm aware that over the past few years I haven't exactly been the easiest person to socialize with…" Liu Fengying continued. She thought it was important to show Hua Shu that their friendship mattered to her too, so that Hua Shu wouldn't feel inferior.
However, the atmosphere had become a bit too emotionally charged—perhaps even melancholic—so Liu Fengying decided to finish what she had to say on a more optimistic note.
"But I promise that in the future I'll try to make it up to you, so I suppose you should start getting used to this kind of treatment…"
Of course, she didn't forget to give Hua Shu a wink at the end; it was as if she wanted to convey that her teasing had no intention of diminishing either.
Hua Shu was genuinely moved by Liu Fengying's words. Besides being happy to see that Liu Fengying truly wanted to be her friend from the bottom of her heart, it felt good to know that someone appreciated her for who she was. After all, they had been desk mates for over a year, and she had never tried to be anything other than herself in front of Liu Fengying; thus, it could be said that Liu Fengying had been "won over" by the real her.
"Well, that'll be kind of hard to do once you move to the capital, to that fancy university…" Hua Shu said, with a hint of regret in her voice. Realizing that they didn't even have a full month left as desk mates and that, after graduation, opportunities to spend time together would become much rarer—perhaps only during holidays—she felt it was a shame they had let so much time pass without either of them taking the initiative to grow closer.
Still, Hua Shu knew it wasn't really either of their fault. Both of them had gone through a stage in life where their attention was focused more on their inner worlds than on the outside, making them less inclined to socialize.
'You could say our situation was similar to that of two steppe wolves wandering through the same region; even if they share the same watering hole and can hunt together, the chances of them forming a pack would be slim…' she tried to joke to herself.
Nevertheless, she comforted herself with the thought that it was better they had managed to grow closer later rather than never at all; after all, some people never manage to find a true friend in their entire lives.
She also told herself that even if, in the future, they would be separated by several thousand kilometers most of the time, there would be no problem staying in touch, since there were plenty of online means of communication.
Of course, it wasn't as if any of those methods were ideal. Could any of them allow Liu Fengying to hug her or pamper her the way she could in real life? Though she wouldn't admit it even in front of a firing squad, Hua Shu couldn't fool herself into denying that such moments with Liu Fengying made her feel very good.
Moreover, there were plenty of things to criticize about those means of communication; for example, video calls only offered a single viewing angle, and the phone screen was far too small to do justice to Liu Fengying's beauty.
Honestly, the more Hua Shu thought about what a long-distance friendship between her and Liu Fengying would be like, the more dissatisfied she became, because there were simply too many things she would end up losing. How would she still be able to admire the grace with which Liu Fengying moves or the power her gaze exudes? How would she get the chance to feel special, seeing Liu Fengying ignore everyone else for her sake, or indulge in the way her domineering side emerged whenever she put someone in their place?
'And the freshness around her… Wait, Hua Shu, have you lost your mind?', Hua Shu realized her thoughts were heading in the wrong direction. Although she had never had a truly close friend before, she suspected it wasn't exactly normal to become so dependent on Liu Fengying; rather, her behavior seemed more like that of someone who was starting to develop a crush.