To Covet (GL) - Chapter 51

Pushed down onto the bed, she realized in a blink that her so-called struggles were merely foreplay guiding the act of making love. I was pinched on the shoulder and violently shoved away, nearly falling off the foot of the bed.

She was clearly refusing, yet she didn’t immediately retreat eight feet away to the headboard. I sat back down in my original spot. She was lying flat on her back, arms and legs spread out, a defenseless posture that was enough to cut off any explicit intentions. I obediently lay on top of her, watching the subtle changes in her facial muscles as she blinked.

To every provocation and flirtation, she uniformly chose an evasive attitude. Although her current words and actions weren’t different from usual, I kept feeling an undercurrent of unpleasant emotion mixed in.

“How was your exam?” I asked abruptly.

“Hm?” Yu Zhouwan was spacing out. “Passing won’t be a problem.”

“Are you nervous?” I placed my hand on her chest. Her heartbeat was notably rhythmic. Through the skin, it carried her body temperature, a pulse-like thump vibrating in my palm.

“A little, but the oral exam teacher emphasized most of the issues beforehand, so there was nothing too difficult.”

“Do you have any other big exams like the IELTS coming up?” I was asking seriously.

“No, that’s it.” Yu Zhouwan moved my hand away and turned off the overhead light, leaving a small bedside lamp on. Only this small area of the bed was bathed in a spherical patch of orange light in the shadows. The rest of the room was dimly lit, and even I hadn’t adjusted to the sudden drop in light.

She found a duvet insert and cover from the closet, casually shook them out, and threw them on the bed.

“Then will you be very free? You still have half a year.”

She blinked. She didn’t want to answer, but letting the topic die down would be awkward, so she said, “I’ll submit the materials and wait for the Offer before March. After that, I have other things to do. Mom probably doesn’t want me to just sit around doing nothing.”

“Like…?”

“Exams, of course. Some schools place a higher weight on domestic academic rankings. If there’s still time, I might travel after everything is over.”

“So, what are the requirements for applying to an undergraduate program abroad? Besides foreign language scores, recommendation letters, and transcripts, what else?”

“A lot. If you want to apply to good schools, the preparation is very complicated. For example, awards from corresponding subject competitions, especially international competitions in mechanical, architectural, and IT fields. We’ll need specialized tutors to guide the portfolio, and some related published papers…”

Yu Zhouwan ticked off the items on her fingers seriously.

“Applying for an overseas undergraduate degree without early preparation can be very rushed. Most people consider applying for postgraduate studies; with faculty advisor guidance, the acceptance rate is slightly higher.”

She left half of the bed for me. I neatly folded the crumpled duvet. While zipping the cover, I realized the length and width of the insert were mismatched. I frantically reached inside, trying to turn it around. I was so busy that I had a layer of sweat on my face, but not only did I fail to get a complete cover, I also got a pair of ice-cold feet.

Yu Zhouwan sat cross-legged beside me, silently watching my scratching and squirming efforts.

“When did you decide you wanted to be the host for the literary gala?” she asked.

“I never wanted to be. It was a last-minute replacement last week,” I finally organized a presentable nest. “Gao Rui didn’t want to go, so she asked if I could fill in for her. Plus, she helped me a lot with the winter camp application, so I agreed.”

“How was it?” She was rarely interested in a topic.

“Exhausting. That teacher had so many demands and was unhappy with everything. He even criticized me during the last rehearsal. I would have rather gone to the boring competition class.”

“You shouldn’t waste energy on unimportant things. Sometimes, trying to refuse firmly might make things better,” Yu Zhouwan muttered to herself. “It’s the same with friends.” She directed the last sentence at me.

“But then I’d feel like I owe her a little,” my backpack still carefully held that “confidential paper.” “Besides, Gao Rui couldn’t go on stage primarily due to a health issue. She still came to many of the rehearsals.”

“But she still came on the day of the final performance, didn’t she?” Yu Zhouwan smiled.

“Because Gao Rui’s mother thought she hadn’t given up the hosting role and was coming to see the show today, so it would have been hard to explain if she didn’t show up.” I felt uncomfortable that the conversation kept circling back to an absent third party.

“So, how is your winter break camp going to be arranged?” Yu Zhouwan ignored my statement and asked her own question. “Ten or so people in one dorm, and then classes all day?”

“Not that many people. A hotel with a double bed. Two people squeezing into one room.”

That was why the accommodation fee was so expensive, I bit my lip. Thankfully, I wasn’t paying for it myself.

Seeing Yu Hanyang gnash his teeth but still having to pay actually made me quite happy. After all, I was no threat to anyone right now, so extorting a little money from him wasn’t excessive.

“Fewer people is good, too. I hope the room assignment isn’t random. Otherwise, it’ll be boring at night after class with no one to chat with after the lights are out.”

“Do you have a lot of things to talk about, you and her?”

“It’s okay. We mostly discuss things related to school.”

After chewing on that statement for a moment, I realized its superficial meaning directly equated my attitude with being perfunctory.

“Mhm.” Her tone clearly showed displeasure. If my gaze hadn’t been fixed on her face, I might not have caught that whenever I mentioned Gao Rui in a positive tone, she would shift her eyes from level sight to staring down at the stitches on the duvet.

“Let’s sleep,” she said.

I didn’t think Yu Zhouwan would be so childish—feeling uneasy about my distinct, non-intimate relationship with another person. Yet, both her words and actions pointed precisely in that direction.

“Sister, why did you date her?”

“Who?”

“The teacher.”

After a long silence, she finally replied, “I don’t clearly remember. Probably because I believed she was the type… the dominant type of person, and she was particularly biased toward me.”

“So why did you decide to break up in the end?”

Only after asking this question did I realize that Yu Zhouwan had never directly answered the status of her relationship with Feng Jia. I had assumed that her willingness to have sex with me meant they had broken up, but what if…

“We didn’t have common ground. She always wanted to convince me with her subjective reasoning.”

My suspicious associations vanished into thin air.

“Is common ground really important in a relationship?” I turned off the bedside lamp, creating an appropriate atmosphere for a late-night chat. “For me, getting into a relationship is so difficult. It feels like it would waste a lot of time on compromise.”

“Do you want to?” Her voice was muffled beneath the covers.

“If I met a soulmate, I might want to try.” I hadn’t fully adjusted to the darkness and couldn’t see whether she was facing toward or away from me.

“Does someone like Gao Rui count?”

“Probably…”

I actually didn’t think we would have a closer connection beyond our daily encounters. But hearing Yu Zhouwan finally unable to resist asking, I deliberately didn’t deny the possibility, testing her attitude in an provocative manner.

“I won’t waste time considering that problem for now. But as for the future, who can say for sure?” I casually added, “People change.”

Yu Zhouwan turned her back to me and remained silent for a long time. Thinking she was asleep, I reached out and touched her back, following the slight depression down the center. She shifted her body outward, evading my touch.

“Sister, you’ll teach me how to handle relationships, right?”

“That’s your own business, Yu Keyi,” Yu Zhouwan no longer bothered to hide her impatience. “If it’s not a good fit, break up. Besides that, I have nothing to tell you.”

“Yes, you will,” I kissed the back of her neck. “Can you really bear to watch me date one unsuitable person after another?”

“Sister, how should I test people out? I’m not good at sharing my heart, so, on the bed, hmm? Should I start with a fuck buddy?”

I grabbed Yu Zhouwan’s hand and rubbed it repeatedly until she actively laced her fingers with mine. I felt myself being forcibly pulled out of the surrounding warmth.

The moment the back of my head touched the pillow again, she bit my lips. The heat of our tongues touching and intertwining transferred to my skin, allowing me to quickly adjust to the air temperature.

She pulled off the excess covers on my body. My senses were fully engaged. Even when folded, the soft duvet had raised parts that were pressing into my body. In a trance, I felt as if my skin had developed a sense of smell. I was already familiar with her scent, but mixed within it was a faint, unfamiliar fragrance. Even though it had been diluted by water and friction from other things, I could still detect it. I hugged her tighter, trying to find its source.

“Yu Keyi.” Our lips were separated by the tiny distance of a single hair as she called my name. The slight movement of her lips seemed ready to continue the kiss at any moment.

She knelt above me on the bed, holding my waist, her thighs rubbing back and forth between my spread legs. That area, which usually felt soft and smooth when touched…

I couldn’t help but reach out to touch her skin. Every part was incredibly tempting. Yet, the area constantly stimulating my clitoris felt surprisingly rough. No matter how much fluid my body secreted, the simple grinding and bumping were not enough to satisfy the fine nerves.

“Sister…” I forgot how to control the volume of my voice. “Use… your hand.”