The dance steps twirled and intertwined to the strange rustling accompaniment of the sea of flowers.
Zoya's movements, though still carrying the rigid precision of a veteran, no longer resisted.
Sweat drenched her forehead, and her breathing became rapid.
The two were pressed extremely close, so close that they could clearly feel the rise and fall of each other's breath, the beat of each heartbeat transmitting through their tightly pressed chests.
Billie tilted her head slightly, her dark eyes astonishingly bright, like a night sky filled with scattered diamonds.
Sweat trickled down her fair neck, leaving glistening trails, mixing with the unique burnt electric smell and minty freshness on her body, weaving through the sweet, cloying floral scent and seeping into Zoya's nostrils.
Zoya looked down at her.
The blush on Billie's face from the exertion, the pure excitement in her eyes, and her undisguised closeness at this moment, all made Zoya feel a little dazed.
Time seemed to slow down with the rustling accompaniment.
The swaying of the sea of flowers and the gentle swaying of the vines became a blurred background.
Her vision was filled only with Billie's face, so close she could almost touch it, those eyes reflecting her own image, and… those slightly parted, moist, glistening lips.
The atmosphere fermented in silence.
Zoya could even feel Billie's warm breath brushing against her chin.
Her arm was still wrapped around Billie's waist, and the warm touch of that slender waist was exceptionally clear at this moment.
A strange, slightly trembling warm current, following the connection between the two Joy Witches, quietly grew in Zoya's heart, diluting the initial awkwardness and resistance.
Billie also seemed to sense this subtle change.
Her gaze deepened slightly, carrying a hint of inquiry and a knowing smile, as she too subtly lifted her chin.
Two exquisite yet distinctly different faces, in the swirling dance steps and intertwined breaths, drew closer and closer.
Their noses were almost touching.
Zoya could even count Billie's slightly trembling eyelashes.
The air was as thick as honey, and heartbeats boomed in their ears, indistinguishable from whose.
Those alluring lips seemed to possess a magical power, drawing Zoya's consciousness into a downward spiral…
Just as their lips were less than two centimeters apart—
"Zoya!" Billie suddenly spoke, her voice a little hoarse but exceptionally clear, even carrying a hint of command, "Hold my waist steady! Now!"
This sudden command was like a bolt of lightning tearing through the ambiguous mist!
Zoya, almost reflexively, tightened her arms, wrapping them around Billie's slender but powerful waist like iron bands.
The moment Zoya hugged her tightly, Billie's body suddenly sank, and her waist erupted with astonishing flexibility and strength!
Using the stable support provided by Zoya's arms, she deftly bent down, reaching out—her target was not an enemy, but the most enchantingly blooming euphoria rose at their feet!
Her movements were as swift as a ghost, her five fingers like hooks, precisely gripping the stem of the euphoria rose near its root, and pulling it upwards with a fierce tug!
"Rip—!"
That Joy Witch, along with its roots deeply embedded in the humus and several clumps of clinging red soil, was pulled out by Billie!
Billie's movements were fluid and seamless; her skillful hands made pulling the flower seem as easy as picking something from her pocket.
She didn't stop, using the momentum from pulling and Zoya's tight embrace as a pivot, she twisted her waist, tapped her toes, and spun in an extremely fluid dance step, forcefully changing their original direction of rotation!
"Let's go." Billie chuckled softly, where was any hint of the previous flirtation in her voice?
Only the excitement of a completed mission remained.
Zoya's mind completely cleared the moment Billie pulled the flower.
All the nascent ambiguous feelings were crushed, leaving only shock and a renewed focus on the mission objective.
She immediately understood Billie's intention.
This crazy girl!
Although she seemed utterly unreliable, Billie was never ambiguous about important matters.
She didn't have time to think much; her body instinctively cooperated with Billie's sudden change in direction, and the two once again moved to the rhythm, but no longer in leisurely dance steps, but in a rapid, escaping run!
The surrounding vines and flowers seemed to react to their "companion" being forcibly taken away.
The rustling accompaniment became chaotic and sharp, and a few vines tentatively reached out.
The two, before the euphoria roses could react, swiftly ran out of the contaminated area along the path they had come!
When the two finally stumbled out of the intensely sweet and cloying floral scent and stood in relatively normal air again, they almost simultaneously stopped, as if exhausted, bending over and panting heavily.
"Hoo… hoo… ha…" Billie leaned on her knee with one hand, still tightly clutching the "Joy Witch" with its attached clump of mud, sweat dripping from her chin onto the soil.
She was panting heavily, her chest rising and falling erratically.
Zoya was no better; her cropped T-shirt was drenched in a large patch, and her bangs stuck to her sweaty skin.
She released her hand from around Billie's waist, feeling the touch of that slender waist seemingly still lingering in her palm, making her feel a little uncomfortable.
In the quiet interlude of their unsettled breathing, Billie suddenly looked up, turning her face to Zoya.
Her face still carried the flush from intense exercise, a cunning and playful curve on her lips, her dark eyes fixed intently on Zoya's somewhat evasive ones.
"Hey, Ya Ya~" Her voice was a little breathless but exceptionally clear, the end trailing off, full of teasing, "Just now… in the flower field, so close…"
She deliberately paused, enjoying Zoya's instantly stiff profile, "You wouldn't… be thinking of kissing me, would you?"
Boom—!
Zoya felt a rush of heat surge from the base of her neck to the top of her head!
Her heart, which had just calmed down a little, instantly started pounding like a drum again.
She sharply turned her face away: "Don't overthink it…"
Her voice was a little tight, even carrying a hint of imperceptible panic.
That suspicious blush on her earlobes rapidly spread to her entire cheeks, with nowhere to hide in the faint morning light.
Billie said nothing, just maintained that tilted-head posture, her eyes curved into crescents.
She was clearly asking a rhetorical question.
Silence permeated between the two.
Only their heavy breathing and Zoya's increasingly unconcealable embarrassment.
Billie's teasing gaze, full of "I know, I know everything," was even more deadly than a direct expose.
Zoya felt as if the ground beneath her feet was burning, and her cheeks were so hot they could fry an egg.
This was not an exaggeration, but true!
Zoya wished she could disappear on the spot, or…
Just throw this hateful, always-teasing bad girl back into that flower field.
The playful expression on Billie's face instantly vanished, her eyes flickered, and she very tactfully pursed her lips, swallowing the teasing remark that was about to come out.
She knew Zoya was serious.
Only… the lingering body heat after their tightly pressed bodies separated, and the shared tremor they felt while twirling in the sea of flowers just now.
Made a subtle and ambiguous connection, after that thrilling and exciting shared dance, become even clearer, even harder to ignore.
Billie's favorability towards Zoya +2, currently 18.
Zoya's favorability towards Billie +3, currently 19.
That indescribable sense of intimacy between them deepened quietly by a few points in the silence.
The distance to becoming true, open-hearted "good friends" seemed to be just that subtle bit of opportunity away.
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Webnovel updates will still be daily, as usual.
It might not seem tempting right now but who knows what the future holds?
[email protected]/SolyuraMT
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