GL My Goddess Best Friend’s Seduction (H) - Chapter 41

Every year, when the New Year came around, Si Jingnian, who was studying abroad, always found herself unable to return home.

Her first Spring Festival in Germany was not a lonely one. Her parents flew in to visit her, and the three of them celebrated the holiday together in her rented apartment.

But despite the company, Si Jingnian could not say she was in high spirits.

She had been born on New Year’s Eve, right in the depths of winter. Her mother had worried endlessly that her newborn would catch cold. Yet little Si Jingnian had always been healthy and rarely fell ill.

That year was the first time she did not receive a birthday present from An Xiaoyu.

She had no idea then that she would go four more years without receiving anything from her.

Her father gave her a Mercedes C-Class to help her get around. She sold it while pursuing her graduate degree.

Her mother gifted her a luxurious set of cosmetics and a hard drive full of videos and media. She told her to move on from An Xiaoyu and maybe try dating a girl instead.

Si Jingnian ignored the advice and never opened the folder.

She watched as birthday wishes and New Year messages poured in on QQ. But none came from An Xiaoyu. She tried telling herself it was just the time difference. After all, Germany was seven hours behind China.

She waited until midnight, then for New Year’s Day, and finally until the fifth day of the new year.

Still, no message.

She had not expected a gift. But no birthday wish? Not even a New Year greeting?

There was not even one of those mass-sent messages.

Her expression dulled, and the entire month passed in a haze.

The following year, on New Year’s Eve, she posted a status online stating, “I’m officially twenty-one today.”

The comments flooded in with birthday wishes, but An Xiaoyu’s name was nowhere to be seen.

Over the next few years, as she spent more Spring Festivals abroad, Si Jingnian grew used to receiving thoughtful gifts and warm greetings from family and friends. She also grew used to being forgotten by An Xiaoyu.

But in the third year, An Xiaoyu started sending her New Year wishes again. The first time she received one, Si Jingnian nearly cried.

By the sixth year since their estrangement had begun, they had already moved in together. When the holidays came around, each of them returned to their own family home to celebrate. Si Jingnian, who stayed in the suburbs where fireworks were still allowed, spent an hour lighting them in the backyard. She sent An Xiaoyu a carefully edited video clip of the best parts.

That was the first year she received a birthday present from An Xiaoyu.

She opened the gift box and found six pairs of elegant and uniquely crafted earrings. Her heart swelled with warmth.

She actually remembered my birthday. That feels really nice, she thought.

Even though she did not have pierced ears.

Si Jingnian had left for Germany halfway through the first semester of her sophomore year.

An Xiaoyu was so angry she nearly blocked her.

She had not known about the trip at all. Si Jingnian had simply disappeared without saying goodbye. She had not even given An Xiaoyu the chance to see her off.

After An Xiaoyu began dating someone, Si Jingnian started pulling away from her. This quiet distancing did not go unnoticed.

That boyfriend had been clingy. The only good thing about him was his face.

An Xiaoyu regretted agreeing to date him. It had been a rash and foolish decision.

Every time she tried to ditch him to hang out with Si Jingnian, he would follow her around like a stray dog.

He even acted overly affectionate in front of Si Jingnian just to provoke her.

Si Jingnian was never someone who liked dealing with people. She could not stand him, and gradually started avoiding An Xiaoyu altogether.

Earlier that year, An Xiaoyu had fallen in love with crafting.

She made a pair of earrings especially for Si Jingnian and planned to give them to her.

She even dreamed of convincing her to get her ears pierced. Just imagining the earrings she made swaying under Si Jingnian’s ears filled her with a sense of pride.

But then Si Jingnian left the country.

An Xiaoyu threw the earrings into the back corner of her dorm drawer and did not look at them again for a long time.

That year during New Year, she sent greetings to Aunt Luo Lan. She did not send anything to Si Jingnian.

She was still angry.

Not just because she had left without saying goodbye. She was more hurt because Si Jingnian had barely reached out during the two months since. She had not even offered a proper explanation.

By the next New Year, An Xiaoyu’s anger had faded.

But throughout the year, she had always been the one to start their conversations. Si Jingnian’s replies were distant and sparse. Only when An Xiaoyu said she had broken up with her boyfriend did Si Jingnian respond with more than a few words.

She had asked if she was sad.

“Not really,” An Xiaoyu replied. “Out with the old, in with the new. I’m sort of seeing a senior now.”

She was not actually sad. But the story about the senior was made up. There was no such person.

After that message, Si Jingnian did not respond again.

An Xiaoyu felt deflated. If she did not like talking to her anymore, then she would not keep pushing herself into her life.

Still, she saw the birthday post that Si Jingnian made that New Year.

She gave a dry laugh and shoved the second pair of handmade earrings even deeper into the drawer.

In the years that followed, maybe out of habit or maybe out of stubbornness, she kept making earrings and storing them away.

She sent New Year greetings but never mentioned birthdays.

Then, the year they began living together, she finally handed over the earrings she had been hiding for so many years.

On their third Spring Festival together, both their parents came to Beijing and stayed in the home they shared.

That year, the New Year was especially lively.

After a hearty New Year’s Eve dinner, the six of them sat in the cozy, heated living room playing mahjong. The Spring Festival Gala was on the television, though no one was watching it.

Si Jingnian’s parents, An Xiaoyu’s mother, and Si Jingnian sat around the mahjong table.

Three of them kept winning. Si Jingnian lost every round and could only laugh at herself.

An Xiaoyu’s mother was glowing with joy, and Si Jingnian’s parents were all smiles.

An Xiaoyu and her father sat behind their partners, exchanging laughter and light conversation.

After midnight passed, Si Jingnian and An Xiaoyu retreated to their bedroom.

An Xiaoyu turned up the heater and began running a hot bath, filling the tub with steaming water.

Si Jingnian leaned against the bathroom doorway. Her posture was languid, and her eyes were filled with a quiet allure.

She finally asked, “So where is my birthday present?”

An Xiaoyu batted her lashes and feigned innocence. “Oh? You remembered? I totally forgot.”

Si Jingnian lowered her gaze. Her expression disappeared beneath the cover of her long lashes.

An Xiaoyu stepped forward, wrapped her arms around Si Jingnian, and began unbuttoning their clothes with fluid, familiar movements. Her touch was gentle but confident, as if she had done it countless times before.

Naked, she pulled the equally bare Si Jingnian into the bathtub.

She settled atop her, her back pressed against Si Jingnian’s chest. Her hips rested low, and their long legs wound around each other.

Si Jingnian’s hands moved instinctively. She shaped and sculpted, flattening, lifting, and teasing.

The water rippled around them, heated first by the faucet, then again by their bodies.

They moved from the tub to the bed, and later to the armchair. Their passion never cooled.

Afterward, breathless and sprawled out, Si Jingnian asked, “So that was the gift?”

An Xiaoyu blinked, still dazed. “Wasn’t it enough?”

“No. I still want more.”

“Then let us have more.”

…

The next morning, Si Jingnian woke to find three sketchbooks and a necklace neatly stacked on her nightstand.

A sticky note was attached. It read: [No laughing allowed when you look.]

She opened the first sketchbook, which was dated back to 2006. Every page was filled with drawings of her.

There were sketches of her profile in class, her focused face as she studied, and her graceful posture while playing the violin.

The second and third books captured more recent years.

These pages held both of them. They were snapshots of their daily life, their tender moments, and their quarrels.

By the third book, the sketches had become bold and undeniably R18. Kisses, poses, and fantasies were all brought vividly to life by An Xiaoyu’s imagination.

After she finished flipping through them, Si Jingnian slid under the covers and nestled her head beside An Xiaoyu’s thigh.

She used her tongue to gently wake her up.