Chapter 163: Wish

(1)

The gaze resting on her face became increasingly palpable.

Shu Shu tried to ignore it deliberately, but couldn't.

She sighed inwardly.

Shu Shu raised her other hand to cover the eyes of the person beside her, then turned her head, loosened the hand covering his mouth, and felt the guy's eyelashes twitch in her palm from his puzzlement.

Shu Shu endured the rising heat on her cheeks, lowered her head, and pressed her lips to his handsome lips, helplessly urging:

"Pei Du, be good and watch the meteor shower."

Pei Du pursed his lips, seeming to recall the earlier sensation, and only after a few seconds answered Shu Shu with a simple "good".

…

Only five seconds remained in the countdown to the meteor shower predicted by experts.

The night sky was vast and boundless, starlight twinkling, clouds drifting lazily with the wind.

Shu Shu and Pei Du waited a while.

Only a straight silver trace was seen cutting through a thin cloud, moving fast and gone in an instant.

"There really is a meteor, Pei Du—did you see it!"

"Mm, I saw it."

Then one meteor after another streaked across; although not the swarms described in the news, it was still enough to be exciting.

Shu Shu tilted her head and told Pei Du: "Come on, make a wish quickly—huh, can a single meteor grant one wish? With so many meteors, I could make tons of wishes!"

She finished speaking.

Shu Shu hurriedly closed her eyes, clasping her hands under her chin.

Probably infected by the girl's enthusiasm, Pei Du glanced at her, then slowly closed his eyes as well, opening them again only a few seconds later.

Shu Shu still hadn't opened hers.

As she said, she was in the midst of making many wishes.

Pei Du, however, didn't have that many; he had only one.

It wasn't that he desired little, but rather the one thing he truly wanted to achieve was already sitting beside him, and he was holding her.

Compared to this tangible reality at this very moment, any ethereal wish paled in comparison.

Pei Du didn't really care.

After a full two minutes, Shu Shu finally opened her eyes, then she eagerly asked Pei Du out of curiosity.

"What wish did you make?"

Pei Du didn't believe in the theory that a wish loses its efficacy if spoken aloud; he silently locked eyes with Shu Shu and replied in an ambiguous tone:

"Yinyin, are you sure you want to know?"

The boy's dark pupils were deep, his gaze fixed on her without blinking.

This gaze was exactly the same as the one she had caught when she tried to sneak a look at him during their earlier kiss.

「…」

Shu Shu instantly didn't want to know anymore; her voice inexplicably stalled: "You... you'd better keep it a secret."

Then, Pei Du laughed.

Upon reflection, Pei Du had never shown a cold face in front of Shu Shu; his demeanor was usually gentle, even warm, yet Shu Shu had rarely seen him smile.

Just like right now.

Corners of his mouth lifted, eyes slightly crinkled, his gaze brimming with clear amusement.

It seemed like the success of some prank.

Combined with his striking face, there was an indescribable eye‑catching quality, with a hint of mischievousness.

「…」

Shu Shu froze for a moment, then immediately reacted, glaring and warning fiercely: "Pei Du, you're dead—I'm telling you!"

This little brat, he's changed!

He's become hateful!

The girl was like a fluffy pretty cat, reaching out to touch his face; Pei Du's arm around her waist stayed still, his dark eyes calm, letting her rub all over his face in retaliation.

She, truly adorable.

He thought.

As that thought surfaced, Pei Du moved his arm upward to gently press against the back of Shu Shu's neck, leaning in to kiss her while her hand still pinched his cheek.

He pressed his lips to hers, then pulled back slightly.

Shu Shu was stunned by the kiss, seemingly not expecting Pei Du to do that.

"Yinyin."

She heard his low voice say: "The meteor shower's over—can I look at you now?"

(2)

Shu Shu puzzled: "I'm already looking at you."

"No." Pei Du shook his head, calmly rebutting: "What I mean is, Yinyin, you should look at me the way I look at you."

How does he look at her?

Which way...?

Shu Shu's eyes showed doubt, but Pei Du didn't explain; he simply lowered his gaze and kissed her again.

This time his kiss was noticeably heavier.

For the first five or six seconds, Shu Shu was still caught in doubt, unable to keep up with Pei Du's state, merely feeling it one‑sidedly.

Her chin was lifted by his slender fingers, then he lightly bit it.

That slight pressure felt like a warm reminder for her to snap back and focus.

Shu Shu tried to dodge back a bit, but instead struck the broad palm behind her waist and was promptly pulled back.

She didn't dodge at all; instead, she was pulled even closer.

……

Shu Shu couldn't help wondering if Pei Du had been poisoned, the symptom being what they called kiss addiction syndrome.

He kept repeating the kiss, never growing tired of it.

He would also give her a brief pause—sometimes shifting to her cheek or ear—but only for a moment, after a couple of light pecks he'd return.

Shu Shu couldn't help stealing a glance at him—his eyes closed—but for some reason, seeing Pei Du like that made her face flush.

The eyelashes she had once praised for secretly using an eyelash curler lay neatly fanned out; his high nose bridge occasionally brushed her face.

It prompts an adjective:

Focused, devoted.

The wind seemed to grow warm again.

Shu Shu still wanted to look, but her thoughts slipped beyond her control, and she unconsciously began to close her eyes.

A little known fact: closing your eyes amplifies your hearing manyfold.

Pei Du's breathing was right beside her—whether quick or slow, Shu Shu heard it clearly, and she could clearly tell that his breathing rhythm was different from that of the first kiss.

Shu Shu picked up a signal from it.

From Pei Du.

He was expressing that kissing her was especially happy and pleasurable, yet this expression wasn't simple—it gave the one being kissed a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment.

Thus, she actively returned his kiss.

And so it was.

Shu Shu's hands moved bit by bit, her awareness faintly encircling Pei Du's neck.

She didn't notice that almost the moment her hands settled, Pei Du opened his eyes and caught her with the precision of a net snaring prey.

In an instant.

…… Yinyin

His lips, glossy with just the right thickness, parted, and his low, pleasant voice drifted to her ear, saying something in that seductive tone.

……

Because of the embrace, Shu Shu's fingers touched the hair on one side of Pei Du's neck; his hair was fine and not prickly, yet she felt a sudden clarity.

Just now, it was all an illusion.

The real purpose was to lure her.

……

Seeing Shu Shu silent, Pei Du leaned in to kiss her eye corner, then each cheek, then the tip of her nose, and finally her chin.

His dark eyes stared fixedly at Shu Shu; he never spoke the whole time, yet it made no difference whether he had spoken or not.

Because each kiss seemed to be saying:

Yinyin

Good?

Good or not?

Can we?

Please.

……

So sticky and cloying that Shu Shu could hardly stand it.

But she couldn't help admitting that she really had been lured.

Shu Shu felt light as she was lifted, supported by Pei Du's right arm.

The blanket meant to shield them from the night wind slipped off from their weight onto the floor, one corner happening to cover the dog lying nearby, happily snoozing.

But at the moment, no one paid any attention.

…

Da Fu was suddenly awakened.

The fluffy dog lifted its head, looking around bewildered, discovering that the two owners who had been sitting on the sofa were gone.

Da Fu hurriedly got up, scrambling on four legs into the dark, unlit villa behind.

From the living room to the kitchen, then back from the kitchen to the living room.

Where's the female owner? Where's the male owner?

Where are the people? Where are the people?

Don't want the cute dog anymore?

Finally, Da Fu found the people in a certain room, the door closed, and it couldn't get in.

It judged that someone was inside by the faint light leaking from under the door crack.

Moreover, it heard faint, indistinct movements inside.

It was the male owner, his voice low, unsure what he was saying; as a dog, it naturally wouldn't know that its male owner was coaxing its female owner.

It only knew that the female owner seemed to have cried.

Had something sad happened? But it didn't sound especially sad.

Da Fu shook its head, indicating the dog didn't understand.

Found the person, Big Blessing also wasn't in a hurry, preparing to continue resting.

But the floor was cold, so it ran back to the balcony, grabbed that blanket in its mouth, spread it out, flopped right at the bedroom door, closed its eyes and kept sleeping.

…

After the meteor shower, the moon came out, and moonlight quietly fell outside a certain window sill on the north side of the villa.

At that moment, inside the window sill.

In the bedroom, only the bedside table had a warm-colored lamp turned on, still at the lowest brightness setting, making the whole room dim and gloomy.

Shu Shu's only remaining sliver of light before her eyes was completely blocked, her vision and senses entirely dominated by Pei Du.

""

In a daze, Shu Shu heard him murmuring lowly by her ear, his tone full of longing as he called her:

"Yinyin."

""

"Do you like me?"

""

"Can you say you like me?"

""

"Can you say you really, really like me?"

""

"Please, okay?"

Pitifully, it made Shu Shu cooperatively answer all of his questions.

Like, you.

Very, like, very like, you.

The girl barely managed to utter those two sentences with difficulty and intermittently; the man listened, extremely satisfied, and the result was that he immediately intensified his demands.

"Then, Yinyin, can you say you love me again?"

Really, give him an inch and he'll take a mile.

Shu Shu could feel that Pei Du wasn't just wanting her to say sweet words; he also wanted to hear the sounds she couldn't control while speaking.

Bastard.

She resentfully bit her lip, refusing to speak again.

Pei Du waited a while but got no response; he puzzledly scooped Shu Shu up, tightly encircling her slender, fair figure, and affectionately pressed his ear against the girl's neck.

He captured all those sounds she didn't utter but couldn't help making, by doing this muffled listening.

…

Today counts as their first day.

Pei Du became Shu Shu's boyfriend, but he didn't have the idea that, after their relationship changed, he should demand she change how she addresses him.

For example, the affectionate-sounding "A-Du" or "Xiao Du".

Even if it remained just his full name "Pei Du", he didn't mind; he only needed to know that when Shu Shu called someone, it was him.

Because that was enough to make his blood boil, making him wish he could turn into vines to tightly entwine Shu Shu.

Entwined, his Yinyin.

Then came the little bastard.

Yinyin cursed him.

But Pei Du felt no sorrow at all; he lifted his head, gazing lovingly at the person on him, and made another request:

"Yinyin, kiss me."

Actually, it's really excessive.

Their relationship was already very intimate and close, yet Pei Du was extremely greedy, still wanting more interaction beyond that.

Shu Shu pretended not to hear and ignored him.

Then Pei Du started playing the victim, saying:

"Yinyin won't kiss me because she's tired of me?"

"I've only been Yinyin's boyfriend for less than an hour and a half, and Yinyin already feels tired of me?"

"We're still like this, and Yinyin wants to dump me?"

He's very good at playing the pitiful card, making it seem as if he's the one being bullied.

Can't take it.

Then there was nothing to be done.

Although Shu Shu was bullied to a sorry state and had her hands full, to soothe him she had no choice but to lower her head reluctantly and tremblingly press a kiss onto Pei Du's high nose bridge.

Not a complete kiss.

Because she couldn't keep the kiss, she once kissed his nose bridge, then accidentally kissed his face.

He wants everything.

He both begs and snatches, using both soft and hard tactics.

Shu Shu laments that there's no regret medicine in the world.

Who let her fail to resist temptation time and again? So these consequences are hers to bear.

The only thing she can do is resort to the old method.

She uses her hand to cover that little bastard's mouth, solving the problem at its root.

Shu Shu thought it would work.

The next second.

Something soft touched her palm, the sensation very familiar—she had felt it throughout the kiss, and it slowly moved from her palm to her fingertips.

……!

Finally.

Shu Shu could bear it no longer, and she sobbed out indistinctly: "……You, you how could you be like that?"

Isn't this not the first time you've liked someone?

Isn't this not your first love?

Hearing Shu Shu's question, Pei Du seemed intrigued.

He said.

Does Yinyin want to know?

I can tell Yinyin everything.

Do you remember when I first came here and accidentally hugged Yinyin? I thought I was dreaming; I've dreamed of this scene many times.

Pei Du can really tell her everything.

Compared to hugging, in his dreams there are actually many more excessive things he wants to do to her.

And what he's doing now, he has long wanted to do to her.

Shu Shu suddenly recalled that line——

"Dear Shu, his gaze at you isn't pure at all."

Sure enough.

Not a bit pure.

Shu Shu heard all this, her slender white fingers curling together, her eyelashes trembling nonstop, the moisture in her eyes like a clear lake, rippling.

And the instigator, after finishing speaking, probably also realized his own awfulness, and embraced her again.

He again used that pleasant hoarse voice to softly apologize and beg for forgiveness by her ear.

The excess is also him, the sincerity is also him.

It makes one want to blame but can't.

In her daze, Shu Shu realized that the beautiful wood was never just wood.