Amnesia Trap (GL) - Chapter 35

Soft palms covered her ears.

With her ears covered, the sound of the thunderstorm outside lessened, while the sound of their indistinguishable heartbeats and their lingering entanglement grew louder.

She was the sweet rain and the creeping vine, entwining and connecting.

This was the wrong time, an event that should not have happened at this moment, with the wrong person.

Yet, it was the wrong person who was giving her a sense of security, giving her the warmest hug and the softest kiss.

The only person she could hold and rely on was her. There was no other choice.

Sheng Zhi couldn’t quite tell if the thunder had stopped. The noise of their indistinguishable heartbeats was too loud, too distracting.

She fell into it, both passively and actively.

Her actions were active, but her heart was passive. She was consciously sinking, consciously descending into this sweetness.

“Zhi Zhi… are you feeling better?” At some point, Ji Qingfan released her hands, slightly out of breath.

Her breathing was moist as she asked the question, with their noses almost touching. The hands she had released didn’t fully move away; instead, they cupped her face. The searching fingertips gently rubbed her ears, occasionally brushing past the ear stud on her left earlobe.

Their light, uneven breaths mingled in the surrounding darkness.

Sheng Zhi’s eyelids fluttered. She thought her ears must be very hot right now; she could feel it even without touching them.

—She hoped Ji Qingfan didn’t feel it.

But with no light, the surroundings were too dark. Sheng Zhi couldn’t see Ji Qingfan’s eyes clearly.

It might be because the environment was unclear, or perhaps she hadn’t opened her eyes after keeping them closed for so long.

Unable to see clearly, she could only sense her movements. And so, she suddenly couldn’t help but wonder, in this moment, was the Ji Qingfan she couldn’t see holding a cold expression, the complete opposite of her gentle tone, having dropped her pretense, or was she genuinely affectionate, as she appeared on the surface?

Sheng Zhi didn’t answer, but Ji Qingfan began to lightly peck at her, as if she had already received an answer.

No response meant she wasn’t okay; no response meant it wasn’t enough.

She kissed her forehead, her eyelids, her cheeks, and the corner of her lips.

Like feathers, the kisses were fleeting, a ticklish sensation that made her want to pull away.

“What should we do, Zhi Zhi…” Their hair rubbed against each other. She murmured, sighing, “The power might not come back on tonight.”

Sheng Zhi felt she was almost drowning in this atmosphere.

Her reason told her she should probably check the circuit breaker at this moment, but her body couldn’t let go even slightly.

Who knew how long it would take to fix, or if it could even be fixed.

Finally, she just bit her lip, speaking with both ultimate forcefulness and ultimate weakness amidst the unceasing sound of rain, “You absolutely cannot let go of me right now.”

In the darkness, Ji Qingfan’s lips curved into a good-humored smile.

It truly felt like a dream, she thought.

Opportunities are indeed created and seized by oneself.

Every second in this environment seemed elongated. Instead of Ji Qingfan’s instant reply, she felt her hands fully withdraw. Sheng Zhi couldn’t help but hug her tighter, almost clamping down on her waist.

Finally, Ji Qingfan spoke, her voice slightly slowed with hesitation: “But we can’t stand here all night, and the rain doesn’t seem to be stopping.”

“Zhi Zhi, are you going to sleep with me tonight?”

The words “sleep with me” were emphasized, loaded with a different meaning, even though they might just be talking about the purely literal sense of sleeping together.

After speaking, Ji Qingfan didn’t say anything else, nor did she press the matter. She just waited.

Waiting.

Waiting.

After a long pause, Sheng Zhi clasped her hand, interlacing their fingers with a distinct lack of security, “…Then let’s go to the bedroom. You absolutely cannot let go of me.”

She said those words, her face utterly flushed in the unseen darkness, her tone so rough it sounded like she was going to commit a late-night crime rather than go to sleep.

The power to advance or retreat was indeed in her hands, but at least for tonight, she had no choice, and no other option.

Hearing her say this, Ji Qingfan responded as if she had been waiting for this answer. She interlaced her fingers with Sheng Zhi’s, her voice gentle and soft, repeating the words Sheng Zhi was reluctant to say: “Okay, we’ll go back to the bedroom to sleep together.”

…Didn’t she find those words redundant?

Did she really have to add those four words, “sleep together”?

Sheng Zhi frowned, convinced that Ji Qingfan was doing this on purpose.

They clearly weren’t going to have that kind of sleep, but she kept saying it, making it sound like they were.

So annoying. Sure enough, labeling her a “bad woman” was completely justified. So utterly annoying.

The more she thought about it, the more agitated she became, her face completely red as she gritted her teeth: “Can you stop saying ‘sleep together’?”

“Why can’t I say ‘sleep together’?” Ji Qingfan asked, sounding puzzled, rubbing her palm with her thumb in a leisurely manner, “Aren’t we going to sleep together later?”

As she spoke, they walked hand-in-hand to the bedroom door.

The hook-laden tone had just faded, but the owner of the voice, seemingly worried it wasn’t suggestive enough, moved closer to ask her.

The phone’s flashlight was on. Dust motes floated in the beam. Their proximity was so close that there was no room for anyone else.

Every corner of the bedroom looked dark, especially since it was large. In the dreadful thunderstorm, the unnameable, murky darkness was even more intense.

The sound of the heavy rain hitting the glass pierced her ears. Sheng Zhi glanced at the bedroom with the corner of her eye and couldn’t help but clutch Ji Qingfan’s hand even tighter. Listening to her mention the phrase with an even higher frequency than before, she argued, as if to shift her focus, “It’s not sleeping together. If I could leave, I would have left long ago. You’re just my bed partner tonight.”

—The moment when the air suddenly goes silent is the worst.

Realizing the word she had blurted out, Sheng Zhi felt a wave of heat from her hair to her toes from embarrassment.

She couldn’t take it anymore. She must have been led astray by Ji Qingfan’s constant use of “sleep together”…

What in the world.

Ji Qingfan turned the word from the end of Sheng Zhi’s sentence over in her mouth, her voice still soft and gentle, “Alright, if Zhi Zhi thinks so, then I will do what a bed partner should do.”

Sheng Zhi’s face had been constantly flushed from being teased. She was so exasperated she wanted to cover Ji Qingfan’s mouth to stop her from saying such things and unsettling her mind.

Ji Qingfan watched Sheng Zhi, who was simultaneously flustered and tightly grasping her hand, which felt like a “yes means no” invitation.

She smiled silently, took a step forward, leaned against the doorframe, looked at the motionless Sheng Zhi, and slightly swayed their joined hands. Like an epiphyllum blooming in the night, she invitingly asked, “Aren’t you coming in?”

Listening to her voice and feeling the slight movement of her hand, Sheng Zhi only uttered one word, as if she didn’t want to say anything more, “In.”

She raised her other hand to cover her face.

Just go in, it’s not like I’m thinking of anything else weird.

After entering the bedroom, Sheng Zhi awkwardly brushed her teeth and washed her face with Ji Qingfan.

Afterward, she became even more awkward, making Ji Qingfan wait outside the bathroom door. She changed into a nightgown only after making sure she could sense Ji Qingfan’s presence while Ji Qingfan couldn’t see her.

She had noticed during her last visit that the walk-in closet in the bedroom contained clothes in her size. They were well-stocked, including many styles she usually liked to wear.

The nightgown she was wearing was also the style she most frequently wore and found most comfortable at home.

Ji Qingfan had indeed made every detail feel very real. Her level of understanding of Sheng Zhi was exactly like that of a couple with a strong, loving relationship who had been cohabiting for a long time.

The nightgown smelled sweet. Sheng Zhi noticed it when she changed, and it smelled very similar to the fragrance she detected on Ji Qingfan.

She couldn’t help but recall that during their wash-up earlier, they had both used the same peach-flavored toothpaste.

Sweet.

Sheng Zhi had been in this bedroom last time but hadn’t gotten into the bed.

Outside the window, the rain hammered down fiercely. The wild wind whipped the tree leaves, playing the most passionate piano music, with every note heavy.

In such weather, the soft double bed seemed all the more welcoming.

There was only a thin blanket on the bed, but fortunately, the bed was large enough. Sheng Zhi cleared her throat, ready to say that they didn’t need to lie too close together once they got under the covers.

After all, there hadn’t been any thunder or lightning for a while, and with Ji Qingfan constantly by her side, although it was still pouring and pitch dark, she already felt much better—she was on the verge of the “use-and-toss” impulse.

Unfortunately, she was destined not to say those words.

Because the moment she uttered the word “I,” a rolling thunder rumbled and crashed down.

The remaining words she had prepared were swallowed back. Sheng Zhi subconsciously hugged Ji Qingfan tightly.

“Hug” wasn’t even the right word; she practically buried herself in Ji Qingfan’s arms.

She wondered if it was her imagination, but she thought she heard Ji Qingfan’s light chuckle above her head, as if amused.

Sheng Zhi didn’t know if Ji Qingfan had guessed what she was about to say.

But Ji Qingfan said nothing. She reached out and stroked her head, then gently pulled her onto the bed in a half-embrace, coaxing her in a soft, murmuring tone like she was soothing a child, “It’s okay, I’m here.”

Sheng Zhi hadn’t quite registered it when she first hugged her, but now that she was being led to lie down, she realized she was being held by Ji Qingfan’s head, nestled in the softest position.

Her ears and neck were being stroked.

A flush spread across Sheng Zhi’s cheeks. She felt as if she had been licked by fire all over.

She realized what was happening and felt so embarrassed that her head was practically smoking, but Ji Qingfan’s embrace was so soft and warm. Her body and consciousness were at odds, and she instinctively clung to the feeling.

She couldn’t help but recall how shy and innocent high school Ji Qingfan was. If she stared at her for too long, a light red flush would appear on the girl’s face. Even after they became familiar, she was still easily embarrassed, blushing and unable to speak.

Now that they had both grown up, why had things reversed? Why was she the one constantly blushing?

This made her want to see Ji Qingfan show that shy, blushing expression again, just like in the dream from long ago, being teased until her eyes were red with tears.

She longed to make that happen.

Just thinking about that scene, an inexplicable, profound excitement spread through her heart.

So, how could she make Ji Qingfan blush again?

How could she make Ji Qingfan… show that expression to her again?