My Straight Girlfriend with Skin Hunger Syndrome - Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Ying Yuan couldn’t fathom where Yi Shanshan had conjured up this twisted logic.
Anyone else, having reasoned this far, would surely ask: Do you hate me that much?
How is that important? How could I possibly be so important to you?
When words fail, one truly falls speechless. Ying Yuan’s face contorted in utter helplessness.
Yi Shanshan, seeing her expression, burst into laughter.
Clutching Ying Yuan’s hat tightly, she dragged her in the opposite direction. “I know you get shy around crowds—total introvert, right? No worries, I get it. Let’s go somewhere quieter, just the two of us…”
Just the two of us… Ying Yuan had followed Yi Shanshan to countless “just the two of us” places before. She knew exactly what would happen.
Her skin began to prickle with heat.
But she couldn’t stop Yi Shanshan. Once she fell into Yi Shanshan’s grasp, Yi Shanshan had a thousand ways to torment her, just like at the sharing session earlier.
Ying Yuan pursed her lips and quickened her pace, making Yi Shanshan’s grip on her clothes less conspicuous.
Yi Shanshan, true to her reputation, quickly found a quiet, deserted corner—a cramped space cluttered with miscellaneous items, even furnished with two chairs.
“Sit down,” Yi Shanshan said, settling into one of the chairs as if she were in her own home.
Ying Yuan hesitated.
“Sigh…” Yi Shanshan sighed dramatically, resting her chin on her hand as she studied Ying Yuan. Her furrowed brow gave her the mischievous look of a quirky anime character. “I really want to talk things through with you, without either of us getting upset. Okay?”
A glimmer of hope sparked in Ying Yuan’s heart. She looked up at Yi Shanshan, thinking that perhaps open communication could truly resolve their issues.
Obediently, Ying Yuan sat down.
“Let me start by reflecting on my own behavior,” Yi Shanshan began. “I’m sorry—I was being deliberately provocative today. But that’s because you suddenly started ignoring me for no reason! How can you treat a friend like that? Even if we were dating, you can’t just give me the silent treatment without explaining why!”
Ying Yuan flinched at the word “dating.” “Of course not!” she quickly protested.
Yi Shanshan immediately chimed in, “Exactly!”
Ying Yuan: “????” How is that “exactly”?
Yi Shanshan: “You know what you did was wrong, right? So of course you need to be punished for it. What happened at the sharing session today was my punishment for you.”
Ying Yuan: “……”
She wanted nothing more than to erase every memory of the sharing session. Yi Shanshan’s linking of the word “punishment” to those humiliating recollections felt like being bound to a pillar of shame, repeatedly tortured by its flames.
Yi Shanshan: “But letting you ask questions in the end was genuinely for your own good. I saw those questions you’d written down. Since you’d already taken the trouble to write them, we should definitely discuss them properly. Didn’t I give you this ticket so you could do what you love? And I even gave you hints to the answers, helping you flip through your notebook. What a harmonious and loving desk-mate friendship! Wasn’t the final outcome wonderful?”
Ying Yuan: “……”
In a single breath, Yi Shanshan listed all her good deeds: the ticket was her gift, she’d yanked Ying Yuan’s hand up to ask questions, and even the answers had been Yi Shanshan’s help.
In the end, the outcome of this matter was indeed positive.
Yi Shanshan’s words left Ying Yuan no room for argument.
Following her train of thought, Ying Yuan even felt a twinge of guilt, as if she had genuinely done something wrong.
Yi Shanshan crossed her arms and tilted her chin. “Alright, I’ve laid my cards on the table. Now it’s your turn. Why have you been avoiding me? Did I do something to make you dislike me? Or are you just drawn to your classmate and prefer to hang out with her?”
How could Ying Yuan possibly answer? The real answer lay deep in her heart, utterly unrevealable.
Yet, under Yi Shanshan’s piercing gaze, any excuse seemed doomed to fail.
Ying Yuan could only offer a vague explanation: “We… it’s been… affecting my life a bit…”
Yi Shanshan pressed, “In what way?”
“Time… and… the circumstances…” Ying Yuan mumbled.
“I see.” Yi Shanshan nodded, her sharp mind grasping the implications instantly.
“I’ve been… calling on you too often lately, haven’t I? And so urgently, without considering your feelings.”
She lowered her lashes, her expression turning somber. “I’ve just been so busy lately. When things pile up, the pressure gets overwhelming, and when that happens…”
Yi Shanshan paused, her voice softening to a delicate whisper, “…I want to find you.”
Ying Yuan’s heart hollowed out.
“I’ll work on adjusting. I’m sorry for causing you so much trouble. I’ll try not to bother you so much in the future.”
When Yi Shanshan looked up at Ying Yuan again, her eyes seemed to glimmer with teary starlight. The corners of her lips curved into what was meant to be a smile, but it looked more like she was about to cry.
Ying Yuan was already mentally cursing herself for being an absolute idiot.
Yi Shanshan suddenly stood up.
They had been sitting barely a step apart. She closed that distance, coming right up to Ying Yuan and leaning in to look at her.
Seated in her chair, Ying Yuan looked up at Yi Shanshan’s flawless face. Strands of Yi Shanshan’s hair fell forward, the tips brushing against Ying Yuan’s shoulder.
“There’s just one thing I need to confirm right now,” Yi Shanshan murmured, her voice barely audible.
Ying Yuan couldn’t possibly refuse her at a moment like this. No one with a shred of compassion could possibly turn down a girl as pitiful and harmless as Yi Shanshan.
Ying Yuan’s throat bobbed as she mumbled an ambiguous “Hmm.”
Yi Shanshan leaned closer, her hands bracing against the armrests of Ying Yuan’s chair. Her eyes seemed to peer into Ying Yuan’s very soul.
A strand of her hair slipped down, brushing against Ying Yuan’s cheek.
Tickle.
Ying Yuan could see the contraction of Yi Shanshan’s pupils, could make out the fine downy hairs on her face, illuminated by the play of light and shadow. Her skin resembled a perfectly ripe peach—softly fuzzy, with the most exquisite, fresh, and tender color.
In that instant, Ying Yuan felt the rhythm of Yi Shanshan’s breath. Her unique fragrance enveloped her, permeating her very being.
“I need to know…” Yi Shanshan’s sincerity was palpable. “You still… don’t hate me, right?”
Ying Yuan’s heart lost its rhythm, like a blank sheet of paper scrawled with chaotic lines. She couldn’t speak, feeling that unbearable thirst once more.
She could only nod.
Yi Shanshan burst into a radiant, innocent smile that banished her earlier worries as if they had never existed.
If you were someone who yearned for beauty, such a smile would undoubtedly move you. You might even be willing to give everything for it.
Ying Yuan’s mood lifted with hers. Yi Shanshan opened her arms and embraced her.
Finally receiving this not-so-long-awaited embrace, Yi Shanshan buried her head in Ying Yuan’s neck, her lips inevitably brushing against Ying Yuan’s skin like two soft flower petals.
Taking a deep breath, Yi Shanshan murmured, “You like it when we do things like this, don’t you?”