Chapter 88: Kiss
"A-An Yuan..."
Chen Cheng had hugged An Yuan’s back many times before, clinging to him of her own accord. But she had never experienced a face-to-face, irresistible hug initiated by him like this before.
Her body went rigid with shock as she stared at his face in panic. She instinctively wanted to escape, but the strong arm wrapped around her waist held her firmly in place, making it impossible to break free.
She could clearly feel something pressing against her stomach.
In his deep, burning gaze, she could almost see her own reflection. The heat in his eyes was overwhelming, and before she knew it, her face was burning up, so hot that she felt like a steaming kettle about to whistle. Her brain completely froze, her mind going blank.
“…Your thing is poking me. Let go.”
She lowered her head awkwardly, mumbling softly. Even her ears had turned bright red.
But after the initial shock, her tense body gradually relaxed, melting like cotton candy into his embrace.
An Yuan blinked in a daze, as if snapping out of a dream, and looked down at the girl in his arms again.
Damn… how is his brother this attractive?
Though Chen Cheng was protesting, he didn’t feel any real resistance from her. In fact, she almost seemed to be enjoying it. Her half-lidded eyes, flushed cheeks buried against his collar, and the way her slender fingers unconsciously clutched the fabric of his jacket…
Her soft scent filled his breath, her smooth skin pressed against him, and he could hear her slightly uneven breathing right by his ear.
The whole room seemed to be drowning in an air of intimacy.
An Yuan swallowed dryly, his heartbeat pounding in his ears. He held onto her but suddenly didn’t know what to do.
Should he let go?
But the atmosphere had already reached this point… Shouldn’t he do something? Say something?
But what if Chen Cheng ended up hating him for it? What if she didn’t actually have any deeper feelings and was just reacting to the moment? What if she only saw him as a friend, just a brother?
Taking a deep breath, An Yuan buried his face in her hair for a second before finally pushing her away.
They were still just high school students, financially dependent, without a house or a car, with an unclear future in this parallel world. He couldn’t make any promises to her. He didn’t have the ability to take responsibility for anything…
He wasn’t some reckless teenager who’d let a moment of impulse take over and blindly chase after so-called love.
“…An Yuan?”
Still dazed from the rush of hormones, Chen Cheng looked up at him in a slight trance. At this close distance, even without her glasses, she could see the hesitation in his expression.
"Did you get hurt from the fall?"
An Yuan was the first to stand up, grabbing her arm and pulling her up from the floor.
"I’m fine." Chen Cheng stared blankly at her wrist in his grasp, looking a little lost. “…Um.”
"What is it? Did you hit something?"
"No."
She turned away, quietly putting her pajama pants back on as if nothing had happened. Then, as casually as possible, she asked, “Should we cook lunch together? You can teach me how.”
"I can just cook for us."
"I… kinda want to learn."
An Yuan paused, then half-joked, “Planning to cook for someone special? Your parents?”
With her back to him, Chen Cheng picked up her glasses from the bedside table. Her voice was so soft it was almost impossible to hear—
"You."
"……"
"Is that not allowed?"
When she didn’t get a response, she took a deep breath, lowering her head and patting her burning cheeks in frustration.
Damn it! What was I thinking?! Why did I suddenly blurt that out?!
It’s over. I’m done for.
"You know, you've cooked for me before too, right? So I just thought… it should go both ways. I can't just let you cook every time while I do nothing. That wouldn't be fair, right?"
Chen Cheng quickly explained, worried that she might not even be able to stay friends with An Yuan after this.
Lowering her head, she hurried out of the room, unsure how to face him. She went straight to the bathroom, grabbed a cold, damp towel, and pressed it against her burning face.
As her emotions cooled down, her chaotic thoughts finally settled.
That damn An Yuan!
She gritted her teeth, cursing him in her head. But by the time she lifted her head again, she had already returned to her usual playful, carefree self, the way she always was around her friends.
"An Yuan! I'm hungry!"
"I'm checking what's in your fridge."
Chen Cheng walked into the kitchen and squeezed in beside him, looking inside. "How about stir-fried noodles? That shouldn't be too hard!"
"Wait, you're actually serious about cooking?"
"Of course! You can be my assistant. Watch and learn from my amazing cooking skills!"
She grabbed an apron from the wall, slipped it over her head, and tied it behind her back. The strap cinched around her waist, making her look even more slender. She pulled out a bag of noodles from the fridge and moved toward the stove.
"I should boil these first, then rinse them in cold water, right?" she asked, tilting her head slightly.
She had watched plenty of cooking tutorials before, mostly because she liked food, but this was her first time actually doing it herself.
"Yeah, that's right."
"Is this enough?"
"Are you trying to feed a whole cat colony?" An Yuan walked over, taking half of the noodles out of the bag. "This should be enough for two people."
He started prepping ingredients. "Ham, shredded meat, corn kernels—"
"I got this! No corn. You crack a few eggs for me instead."
Chen Cheng took over the chopping, a bit clumsy with the knife. Eventually, she gave up and just used scissors to cut the ham into slices.
An Yuan stood beside her, cracking eggs while watching her with a complicated expression.
He still remembered telling her once, when you truly like someone, you’ll naturally want to learn how to cook for them.
"Chengzi."
"Hmm?" She turned her head slightly, signaling that she was listening.
"Can you wait for me?"
Chen Cheng lowered her head, picking up a piece of pork she had rinsed in warm water and struggling to cut it.
"What do you mean? I don’t get it."
"I mean… right now, I have nothing."
Hearing An Yuan’s hesitant, uncertain words, Chen Cheng suddenly felt an inexplicable anger flare up.
She turned around, still holding the knife, and scolded him.
"You always do this! You studied a major you didn't even like in college, then got pressured into getting engaged and buying a house after graduation! You work overtime every day, complain to me about it, but won’t quit your job! You let Li Wanyi push your limits again and again, but you never break up with her! And in the end? She cheated on you!"
"You hesitate with everything! You’re even scared of making the first move in a game because you're scared of making a mistake! What are you afraid of?!"
"Wait— the knife!" An Yuan backed away in alarm.
"Can you, for once in your life, just make a decision? Just do something you actually want to do?!"
An Yuan was backed into a corner in the kitchen, leaning away from her. He tried to calm her down, reaching out cautiously. "I just want to do the right thing…"
Carefully, he took the knife from her hand.
"What ‘right thing’? The only right thing is being happy!"
Only when the knife was out of her hands did An Yuan finally breathe a sigh of relief. "But being happy doesn’t pay the bills…"
"Bullshit! I’ve had enough of you!"
An Yuan barely had time to react before Chen Cheng suddenly lunged forward. For a split second, he thought she was going to hit him.
Instead, she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist, pulling him into a hug.
His mind went completely blank for a moment.
Do what I want…?
An Yuan lowered his head and kissed her without hesitation.
Right now, all he wanted to do was kiss this girl intensely! To soften that sharp, scolding little mouth.