Volume 2 Chapter 50: Walking Together, Holding the Sleeve~
On the day of the art competition, Gao Liang got up very early.
Because the venue was quite far away, he and the girl had agreed to have a driver take her there.
Of course, as a volunteer, he would go with her too.
Soon, the car smoothly drove into Lin Lin’s residential area. The driver was already very familiar with the route. Gao Liang smiled, got out of the car, and quickly walked to Lin Lin’s front door. He gently knocked.
Knock knock—
As soon as the knocking sound ended, the door suddenly opened. A male high school student stepped out, froze for a moment, then looked carefully at who it was before nodding.
“Oh, it’s you?”
Lin Yu did not seem surprised by Gao Liang’s visit at all. Gao Liang nodded as well. “I’m here to take Lin Lin to the competition…”
“Oh my, it’s Xiao Gao!”
Lin Lin’s mom became very warm the moment she saw him. She hurried over and said with a smile, “Lin Lin is still sleeping. Ahem… Xiao Yu, go wake your sister up!”
“I’m about to leave for school!”
Lin Yu, who was ready to go to school, looked helpless. Still, he turned around, opened the door, and walked into Lin Lin’s room.
Gao Liang stood politely at the doorway and waited. A moment later, loud noises suddenly came from the girl’s bedroom, like people messing around.
Huh?
Not really sure what was happening, Gao Liang looked inside out of curiosity. Soon after, he saw Lin Yu coming out, dragging a girl whose eyes could barely stay open.
“Ahh— why are you waking me up so early?!”
The girl still had not noticed Gao Liang. She squinted her eyes and struggled weakly. Her cold-hearted little brother did not bother to explain anything. He dragged her to the middle of the living room, then quickly ran off to school.
“Ahem, Lin Lin, hurry up and wash your face and brush your teeth. Classmate Gao is here to take you to the competition! Really, you signed up for this yourself and didn’t even talk to us about it, and now you’re sleeping in. I already asked your teacher for leave, hurry and go out!”
In her mom’s nonstop talking, the girl only heard the words Classmate Gao.
She suddenly woke up and stared at Gao Liang, rubbing her eyes.
This… No… this can’t be the real person, right?
“Good morning… Lin Lin?” Gao Liang smiled awkwardly.
The girl trembled all over, then immediately ran into the bathroom.
Standing there, Gao Liang felt a bit helpless.
Why did Lin Lin always react so strangely whenever she saw him?
………………
After an extremely rushed wash, the girl quickly got dressed.
With a push from her mom, she almost crashed straight into Gao Liang’s chest. Then she followed her “enemy” downstairs and got into the car.
Oh no—
Did he see her just now… just waking up, half-asleep, totally confused?
Sitting in the car, the girl pulled at the corner of her mouth. Thinking about it, she could not help but yawn.
Gao Liang, sitting in the front passenger seat, turned around and looked at Lin Lin with concern.
He spoke gently, “Did you not sleep well?”
“Ah—” The girl patted her face, adjusted herself a little, and replied lazily, “I… I don’t know. I guess I didn’t sleep well. Maybe it’s… pressure before the competition?”
The girl scratched her head in anxiety. Gao Liang was stunned for a moment, then asked softly with some concern.
“Are you very nervous? Try to relax. It’s not some super important exam, just a competition…”
“Yeah, but you know what? I’m not even sure what time I fell asleep. It felt like I was just lying there in very light sleep. When I thought about the competition the next day, I got a bit nervous. And after I finally fell asleep, I even had a dream!”
But then she couldn’t really remember what the dream was about. She held her chin and thought for a long time, and the memory slowly became clearer.
“Oh, right! I dreamed that I moved house and started living in a place… a house I’ve never been to before?”
“Huh? If you’ve never been there, how could you dream about it?”
Gao Liang scratched his head and tried to imagine a place he had never been to.
But it didn’t go very well. The images he came up with were either based on places he remembered clearly from real life, or on pictures he had seen before.
Making up a place out of nothing, with no memory at all… how was that even possible? Most likely, it was just a mix of different memories.
Hearing him say that, Lin Lin nodded too. Based on her blurry memory, she said uncertainly, “Maybe… it was a villa? Pretty spacious, with a nice view outside the windows. And I also dreamed that…”
Ah, better not talk about the rest.
Actually, for some reason, the girl also dreamed that she was streaming nonstop, talking so much that her mouth felt like it was on fire. It was probably because she was too stressed about the competition.
“But anyway, because I didn’t sleep well, I still got woken up by you knocking on my door!”
“Ahaha, well… it couldn’t be helped. It was time to go, and the competition venue is pretty far away.”
Gao Liang looked a bit embarrassed, but the girl was still full of complaints.
“Do you know how it feels to be dragged out of bed by your little brother, then pushed by your mom straight toward you? I almost thought I was inside a dream within a dream!”
The girl rubbed the corner of her eyes. Thinking about how she was this morning made her grit her teeth. She really wanted to find a little doll, write Lin Yu on it, and stab it hard with needles.
“Ahem, even if that happened, I would still enter the dream world and save you, Classmate Lin Lin!”
Pfft—hearing Gao Liang say this with a smile, the girl turned her head away shyly.
Who… who needs you to save me!
If I saw you in my dream, I’d probably jump off a building right away to survive, why would I need you?
“You should think about what to do if I fall asleep during the competition instead. Ugh… I’m so sleepy~”
The girl stretched again. Seeing how drowsy she looked, Gao Liang felt quite worried. At this rate… it really wasn’t impossible for her to fall asleep during the competition.
With this worry in mind, the car soon arrived at the venue. There were quite a lot of contestants, and the entrance was lively. Which school’s classrooms were they using for this, anyway?
Gao Liang got out of the car with the girl. After walking around a bit and finding the correct competition room based on her number, he looked at her and said, “Let’s go. Let’s head inside.”
“Mm!”
The girl nodded lightly and was about to step forward when Gao Liang suddenly turned his head and looked around worriedly.
“There are quite a lot of people… Lin Lin, since you’re so sleepy, don’t get lost…”
He then suggested, “How about… I hold your hand? That way you won’t wander off, and it’ll be hard to find you again.”
“W-what…!” The girl hesitated for a moment, then turned her head away proudly. “No way!”
“Then how about… holding my sleeve instead? That should be okay, right?”
Gao Liang shook his head helplessly. Lin Lin really was shy.
“Ahem… well… that’s fine.” The girl blushed a little, pulled her small hand back into her sleeve, then held out the long sleeve cuff. “Let’s go!”
And so, the two of them walked through the busy crowd in a very strange posture, like that, until they reached the competition room.