Chapter 44: I Totally Get It!
The temperature was a comfortable 25°C, and the sun was shining brightly.
On the school’s large sports field, Chen Cheng sat cross-legged on the grass, gritting her teeth as she struggled to open a bottle of Coke.
“Want me to do it?”
“No way! I’m not giving up!”
Her palm was already sore from twisting the cap, but she refused to back down. Grabbing her school jacket, she used it as a grip and finally managed to pop the bottle open.
She took a few big gulps, drank nearly half the bottle, then took a bite of her bread. As she ate, she glanced at An Yuan sitting beside her, then silently shuffled away to put some distance between them.
Yeah… it was better to stay a little further away.
Last night, seeing herself in a dress from a guy’s perspective had actually made her feel something. Even now, she still hadn’t shaken off that weird feeling.
On one hand, she couldn’t bring herself to think of a girl that way. But on the other hand, when she did have those thoughts, the image in her head was… a guy.
At the end of the day, Chen Cheng was just a teenage girl going through puberty. She had been too preoccupied with adjusting to her new environment before, but now that things had settled, it was only natural for her body to start reacting to certain things.
It was normal. Completely normal.
But she absolutely couldn’t accept it!
“So why have you been avoiding me all day?”
Chen Cheng quickly shook her head. “I haven’t! What are you talking about? I’m just in a bad mood, that’s all.”
Yeah, real convincing.
An Yuan had known her for years. As a longtime shut-in, she was an open book to him.
“So, are you not riding home with me today?”
“I just don’t want people to get the wrong idea.” She wrinkled her nose and made up an excuse. “Mainly, I was just in a bad mood after wearing that dress last night. Don’t make me wear one again.”
An Yuan wasn’t too bothered by her words. If he wanted her to wear skirts, he had plenty of ways to convince her.
Once she got used to skirts, he’d move on to shorts, then yoga pants, then accessories, makeup. Little by little, she’d get used to dressing up and looking pretty.
And eventually, he’d casually nudge her toward getting a boyfriend.
When it came to relationships, it was best for a brother to stay out of it.
Still, he’d make sure everything was set up nicely for her.
Chen Cheng finished her lunch, downing the last of her Coke and placing the trash beside her. She lay back on the grass, staring blankly at the sky, watching the fluffy white clouds drift by.
The breeze ruffled her bangs, and her usually bright eyes seemed to lose focus, as if covered by a faint layer of dust.
“An Yuan… wearing a skirt makes me feel kind of empty.”
“You mean underneath?”
“No, like… in my heart.”
It was like something deep inside her, something that had once been labeled “man”, was slowly fading away, leaving behind a hollow space that couldn’t be filled.
A quiet, unsettling emptiness.
An Yuan lay down beside her, feeling the soft breeze carry the faint scent of her shampoo. It was a mix of jasmine and something creamy, like vanilla. It smelled… really nice. Strangely relaxing.
“Why’d you stop talking?”
“I don’t really know how to describe it…”
Chen Cheng wasn’t good at heart-to-heart conversations. Opening up felt like stripping off all her clothes and letting someone inspect every part of her, way too embarrassing.
Unless she was drunk, of course.
So, she changed the subject. “Do you think it’s possible that one day, I’ll just randomly turn back into a guy? I mean, I already traveled through worlds, so switching genders suddenly wouldn’t be that weird, right?”
“Hmm… I think that’s pretty unlikely. Besides, if their daughter suddenly became their son, your parents would probably lose their minds.”
“Yeah… I guess you’re right.”
Chen Cheng often had dreams like this. Suddenly turning back into a man, only to be kicked out by her parents in this world. Then, when she returned home in her female form, she found that her parents had actually been raising a son all along. The dreams were a chaotic mess, blurring the lines between reality and illusion. In them, she couldn’t even tell if she was a man or a woman, nor could she distinguish which set of parents they were.
“I even thought about getting surgery.” Chen Cheng muttered. “But my parents would probably lose their minds.”
“Surgery? Isn’t that a bit extreme?”
“Yeah… good thing I have you.”
Her soft sigh seemed to drift straight into An Yuan’s heart, making his body feel strangely weak. For a second, he almost thought she was confessing to him, and the realization startled him so much that he replayed the moment in his head just to make sure.
He turned sideways, resting on his arm. He looked at the girl's profile, saw that her long, curled eyelashes were stained with water vapor, the corners of her eyes were wet, filled with tears.
“Move over a bit. Why are you so close?” Chen Cheng suddenly shifted away awkwardly. “You stink of sweat.”
“Sweat? No way.”
Surprised, An Yuan sniffed his collar, his sleeve, and his arm. He didn’t smell anything.
He wasn’t the type to go a whole month of overtime without showering, okay? He always stayed clean!
“Come on, smell again.”
He lifted his arm closer to her face. The fine hairs on his arm brushed against her nose, making her sneeze. She turned her head away in annoyance. “Get lost!”
“See? Nothing, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, fine. Nothing.”
Truthfully, Chen Cheng wasn’t even sure what kind of scent it was. She just couldn’t put it into words.
“An Yuan! You coming to play ball?”
A voice called out from the distance. Ah Qiang was waving him over. An Yuan simply raised his hand and waved him off.
“Let them enjoy their date, why are you butting in?”
Ah Qiang’s friend dragged him away, but his words still reached Chen Cheng’s ears.
“A date, my ass…” she grumbled under her breath.
Maybe it was the word “date” that made things a little awkward. Neither of them spoke, lying quietly on the grass in silence.
By now, most students had left. The ones who loved playing ball had gone to the basketball courts, and the dorm students had returned to their rooms. Only a few people wandered around the field, leaving the place unusually peaceful.
Chen Cheng emptied her mind, refusing to think about any of her complicated problems. She closed her eyes, feeling the soft breeze on her skin and listening to the distant murmurs of life around her. The artificial grass was a little prickly, and she absentmindedly picked at a few tiny rubber pellets, breaking them apart with her fingernails.
And then there was An Yuan…
She opened her eyes, turning her head slightly to look at him. He was lying in the same position as her, and for the first time, she could feel his presence so clearly.
The restlessness in her heart gradually settled. A sense of peace and calmness washed over her, like the still surface of a windless lake. The atmosphere around her was warm and reassuring, lulling her into drowsiness, like a lazy afternoon nap on a rocking chair, or the comfort of being held in her mother’s arms as a child.
It had been a long time since Chen Cheng had felt anything like this.
“You into me or something? You’ve been staring at me.”
And just like that, the mood was ruined.
Annoyed, Chen Cheng kicked him. “You wouldn’t have noticed if you weren’t looking at me first!”
“I just glanced at you. You were full-on staring.”
“Ha! Says the guy who got hard just because I touched him! Maybe you like me.”
“......”
The words slipped out before she could think, and as soon as she realized what she’d said, her face turned bright red.
Flustered, she quickly pulled out her phone, turned her back to An Yuan, and pretended to be busy with her screen. Even the tips of her ears were glowing pink.
An Yuan figured he should at least try to clear things up. “That was just a normal reaction for any guy, okay? It’s not like I can control it.”
Chen Cheng muttered under her breath, “I know way more about this than you do…”
She used to think only beautiful women could affect men like that. Now she understood just how attractive a handsome guy could be to a woman.