Chapter Five: Wipe the Drool from Your Mouth

Before Luo Yixia could finish her sentence, she heard the person on the other end of the line ask, “Where are you?”

She looked up, glanced around, and answered, “I’m right outside the department store near my house.”

“Wait there for me.” Then the call ended abruptly.

Luo Yixia let out a sigh of relief and sat blankly atop her suitcase. What had she done to deserve this? How had she ended up in such a predicament? Truly unlucky.

When Song Chengyi drove up to the entrance of the store, he spotted from afar someone sitting beneath a streetlamp, cradling a cup of instant noodles.

At that moment, Luo Yixia also caught sight of Song Chengyi. Still holding her noodles, she waved at him with her other hand, her smile radiant as a flower.

Song Chengyi got out of the car and walked up to her. “Let’s go.”

“Alright, just let me finish. There are only a few bites left,” Luo Yixia replied, her mouth full of noodles, the words muffled.

“Stop eating that.” Song Chengyi grabbed the noodles from her hand and tossed them into the nearby trash bin.

“Hey, what are you doing? I only had a few bites left! I wasn’t finished yet!” Luo Yixia stared mournfully at the instant noodles now lying in the garbage.

“It’s not healthy,” Song Chengyi said as he picked up her suitcase and stuffed it into the trunk.

Luo Yixia stood behind him, muttering under her breath, “But I’m still hungry. And do you know how expensive that was? Five yuan—five whole yuan!”

Song Chengyi ignored her and opened the car door. “Get in.”

Though she felt wronged, Luo Yixia hurried to open the passenger door and climbed in, afraid Song Chengyi might just leave her behind.

The two sat in silence as they drove. Luo Yixia stole a few sidelong glances at him.

How did she ever end up falling for this man? He always wore that frosty expression, never smiled or joked, and acted as if saying one more word might kill him. What on earth had possessed her brain to like someone like him?

Bored, she glanced at him again. His profile was all sharp edges—a face that could launch a thousand ships…

Luo Yixia swallowed and, in that instant, understood. It was all because of that damned face.

She was just a hopeless fangirl. Who could look at him and not fall for him?

“Wipe your drool,” came Song Chengyi’s low voice by her ear, laced with a hint of amusement.

Luo Yixia snapped out of her daze and instinctively reached up to wipe her chin.

Finding nothing there, she realized she’d fallen for his trick. She shot him a disgruntled glare. “Are you teasing me?”

Song Chengyi kept his eyes on the road, driving with utmost seriousness, but the single word he uttered was so unexpectedly gentle it hardly seemed like him: “Good.”

Luo Yixia could feel her heart pounding out of control.

Soon, they arrived at Song Chengyi’s apartment. He helped her unload her suitcase, and together they entered the elevator.

Inside, Luo Yixia fidgeted with her hands, uncertain what to say.

“I’m… sorry for making you come pick me up so late,” she mumbled, staring at her toes, not daring to meet his eyes.

“As long as you know,” Song Chengyi replied, his tone utterly devoid of emotion.

Luo Yixia raised her head and gazed at his profile, a faint ache in her heart.

She hadn’t expected such a blunt response. Didn’t most people usually say something like, “It’s no trouble at all”?