Best Actress A and Her White Moonlight - Chapter 8

The distance between them was incredibly close; they could feel each other’s breath.

Gu Chenxing, still lost in the reverie of a bright future, couldn’t quite grasp the situation. She could only stare blankly at Lin Wanchun’s face, looming large before her. Even at such close proximity, she couldn’t find a single flaw.

Lin Wanchun’s unique fragrance swirled around the tip of her nose. Was it the lingering scent of body wash, or the incense on her clothes?

Regardless of which it was, given the current situation, this scent felt even more intimate than smelling someone’s pheromones.

Gulp.

The tiny sound of swallowing rang out like a clap of thunder in the quiet car, jolting them both back to reality.

Lin Wanchun let go of her face. Her composed demeanor showed almost no cracks; only she knew how fast the organs beneath her skin and ribs were pounding.

If she was like this, Gu Chenxing was far worse. Her cheeks were crimson, and she crouched on the floor like a curled-up carrot, hands tightly covering her face. But even when her palms became hot to the touch, the temperature on her face refused to drop.

Lin Wanchun cleared her throat, regaining her self-possession. “Doesn’t your leg get numb from crouching like that?”

The voice from above reached her ears clearly. Gu Chenxing shivered, remembering the face that had just been inches from hers, and curled up even tighter.

If the future me faces a face like that every day, will I really not lose my mind, do something stupid, and end up with a pair of silver handcuffs and a lifetime “room and board” package?

“Nuh-uh… don’t worry about me…”

The words were muffled and indistinct. Lin Wanchun patted Gu Chenxing’s head and chuckled. “What are you saying?”

Hearing Lin Wanchun’s unruffled voice, Gu Chenxing felt even more indignant. Lin Wanchun was the one who got touchy-feely, so why was she the one feeling guilty and shy?

Just as she thought! She claims to be a “best friend,” but she’s actually a huge prankster, bullying her because she’s young and thin-skinned!

“I said!” Courage born from anger surged in her heart. Gu Chenxing weakly patted away the hand on her head and said fiercely, “Don’t worry about me!”

She bared her teeth, trying to look as menacing as a puppy guarding its food. However, with her cheeks so red and her voice so soft, it looked less like “shame turning to rage” and more like she was acting spoiled.

“Hmm.” Lin Wanchun thought for a moment and readily agreed. She stood up, glanced at her watch, and said casually, “In that case, should I head out first? I happen to have a meeting scheduled with someone…”

She hadn’t even taken two steps when a weak voice sounded from behind: “Hey, wait, are you really leaving?”

The apartment wasn’t large; in a few moments, Lin Wanchun was already at the front door. Her hand rested on the handle as she turned halfway, a hint of confusion on her face. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

Gu Chenxing stood up, supporting her aching, numb knees. The sudden rush of blood made her vision go dark for a second. At that moment, she forgot all about being shy or acting tough; grievance and blame tumbled out: “Didn’t you come to be my savior? Who are you leaving me for?”

She had just realized the truth about her parents’ coldness. After only a few words, why was this friend from the future leaving too?

“I was only…”

Only what?

Gu Chenxing was full of grievances and muttered under her breath, “I was just a bit embarrassed, just making a joke…”

“Mhm.” Lin Wanchun raised a hand to hide the slight upward curve of her lips. Even so, a shallow smile spilled from her eyes. “I know. So, do you want to come with me?”

Gu Chenxing hadn’t realized the trap yet. The numbness in her feet had passed, and as she walked toward Lin Wanchun, she continued her ambiguous complaints: “I don’t know the person you’re meeting. Why should I go?”

She really doesn’t learn, does she?

Lin Wanchun sighed inwardly. This time, however, she didn’t tease Gu Chenxing on purpose. Instead, she helped straighten the girl’s folded school uniform collar. “How do you know you don’t know them if you haven’t seen them yet?”

Gu Chenxing didn’t argue. she obediently straightened her neck and shoulders to let Lin Wanchun fix her collar.

Once those porcelain-white hands moved away from her neck, she suddenly remembered something. She tugged at her uniform sleeves, her delicate features scrunching up in visible disgust. “Am I going out in this?”

The winter uniform of Nanshi High School was of excellent quality—thick material and top-tier warmth. Its strengths were prominent, but its weakness was equally obvious: it was ugly.

The bulky, oversized uniform was like a blue-and-white sack. No matter how tall or beautiful the student, wearing it would drop their aesthetic rating by seven or eight notches.

But even so, Lin Wanchun was still breathtakingly beautiful.

Gu Chenxing’s mind uncontrollably flashed back to Lin Wanchun’s silhouette from a few days ago. The fiery red dress had its brilliance mostly obscured by the blue-and-white uniform, but what did it matter?

To Lin Wanchun, clothes, accessories, and makeup were merely “icing on the cake.” With or without them, she was a person who commanded attention.

“It’s okay.” Lin Wanchun took two steps back and gave her a serious look before answering, “You look fine just like this.”

Gu Chenxing looked into Lin Wanchun’s eyes. If she didn’t have a very clear understanding of the Nanshi High uniform, she really would have believed that “fine” nonsense.

She pouted and ran back to her room with a patter of footsteps. “I’ll change my coat! It’ll be quick!”

Lin Wanchun watched Gu Chenxing’s back disappear. Her “fine” wasn’t a half-hearted compliment; it was the sincere truth.

They say “clothes make the man,” but for a sixteen or seventeen-year-old girl in the prime of her youth, even the most monotonous and ugly clothing couldn’t hide the optimism and vitality overflowing from her.

Gu Chenxing sat in the passenger seat once more. Perhaps she had bumped something when getting out earlier, because the seatbelt was malfunctioning. She spent a long time struggling with it but couldn’t get it to click.

“How about…” She rubbed the tip of her nose guiltily. “I sit in the back?”

Lin Wanchun glanced over. Gu Chenxing was clutching the black seatbelt. The buckle on the right side of the seat was sticking up as if mocking her incompetence, and a frustrated Gu Chenxing was trying to shove it down.

“Treating me like a chauffeur?” Lin Wanchun let go of the steering wheel and leaned over toward Gu Chenxing, pulling the seatbelt from her hands.

The car’s heater was running. A few stray hairs at Lin Wanchun’s temple brushed against Gu Chenxing’s cheek. If Gu Chenxing lowered her head, she could see Lin Wanchun’s exposed, porcelain-smooth nape, where the soft flesh of the gland was covered by the scent-blocking patch.

Gu Chenxing felt an inexplicable dryness in her throat. She swallowed silently, reciting the lofty “Ideology and Ethics” slogans in her head.

Even so, her heart wouldn’t be quiet. It thrummed like a restless ball, bouncing up and down, making her feel afraid.

With such a loud heartbeat, and with us being so close, Lin Wanchun must hear it, right?

Gu Chenxing tried to look away from that small patch of neck, but her eyes wouldn’t obey, staring fixedly at it.

A powerful Alpha has a fatal attraction for an Omega. If the compatibility between two people is high enough, a standard scent-patch cannot block that draw. Of course, Alphas also have a strong attraction for Betas, but…

Neither of those has anything to do with me!

She was only sixteen, nowhere near the age of differentiation. She couldn’t even smell pheromones, so how could she be “attracted” to an Alpha?

A soft click sounded. Lin Wanchun pulled back and sat in the driver’s seat. “I bought this used car on short notice; some parts aren’t very responsive.”

Gu Chenxing looked down. The seatbelt was properly fastened, but the space around her seemed to still hold the warmth of another person.

Afraid Lin Wanchun would notice her acting strange, she propped her chin on her hand and looked out the window. The clear glass reflected the girl’s flushed cheeks and her shifting eyes.

Trees and shops flew by. A distracted Gu Chenxing recalled a biology class from the past.

The young biology teacher had once explained that by the age of fifteen, the body already begins preparing for adult differentiation. Sometimes, if influenced by Alpha or Omega pheromones, one might experience a racing heart and increased blood flow.

So, Gu Chenxing thought, her current blushing and racing heart were simply because she was being affected by pheromones.

Noontime traffic was light. The silver-gray sedan moved smoothly along the highway, barely hitting any red lights.

Lin Wanchun kept her eyes forward, focusing on driving. Suddenly, the phone on the center console vibrated and began to ring.

Coincidentally, the ringtone was the piece Gu Chenxing had played not long ago—Für Elise.

Lin Wanchun glanced sideways. The green light at the intersection only had a few seconds left, so she didn’t reach for it. “Gu Chenxing, answer that for me.”

Hearing this, Gu Chenxing finally snapped out of her “obsession” with the scenery. She answered the call and held the phone up, intending to press it to Lin Wanchun’s ear.

Lin Wanchun chuckled helplessly, tilting her head away. “Just put it on speaker. It happens to be something related to you, anyway.”

Gu Chenxing’s eyes showed a moment of confusion, as if asking why it would be related to her, but she followed instructions and tapped the speaker button.

“Xiao Lin, where are you?”

A clear female voice came from the phone. The person paused, lowering her voice as if complaining: “This place is way too remote. I’ve been waiting forever and couldn’t even catch a cab.”

“I’m sorry.” Lin Wanchun didn’t have time to explain to Gu Chenxing, so she apologized politely. “I’m on my way now. Please wait a moment.”

She glanced at the time on the screen: 1:42 PM. It was more than two hours ahead of the scheduled meeting.

It turns out this great musician liked to pull surprise attacks even when she was young.

The person on the other end laughed. “Why so early? Didn’t we agree on 3:00 PM?”

She laughed heartily again, shamelessly shifting the blame to Lin Wanchun: “You young people are so impatient, always in a rush. If I hadn’t arrived early, wouldn’t you have wasted several hours for nothing?”