Chapter 219: Parting
There were four written exams in the three days of testing, and they completely drained An Han. Luckily, Su Peng always got good grades, so he was allowed to sit next to her every time. She only peeked at his answers a couple of times.
When the last exam finally ended, the holiday began. It would last one month and three days, from now until the seventeenth day of the first lunar month when school starts again.
“……”
Both the boy and the girl stayed quiet. After leaving the classroom, they silently returned to the rental house, packed their suitcases, and silently got in the car. By evening, they arrived at the nearest high-speed rail station.
Su Peng pulled two suitcases. He still had his gentle smile, but when he saw the huge glass wall of the waiting hall, his heart suddenly felt empty. He opened his mouth but didn’t know what he should say.
Normally, he and An Han always had so many things to talk about, from games to daily life, and even making fun of each other. It was rare for them to have nothing to say.
“Su Peng, I’m leaving, okay?”
An Han reached out her hand and took the handle of her own suitcase. Her smile was the same as always. Cute and playful, with two small dimples.
“How long until boarding?”
“About half an hour.”
“Then wait a bit longer…”
She froze for a moment, then placed her suitcase upright beside her. She put both hands into her pockets and leaned against the large round pillar.
Her feet crossed over each other, her legs leaning at about a thirty-degree angle against the pillar. Tilting her head slightly, her beautiful eyes fixed on Su Peng’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“I’ll buy you some snacks to eat on the way? You haven’t had dinner yet.”
“If I eat something, I’ll get carsick and want to throw up. After the train, I still need to take a bus.”
Su Peng smiled. “Then I’ll buy you some olives. They help a lot with motion sickness.”
Watching him jog away, An Han lowered her head. Her fingers gently rubbed the ugly gloves she was wearing. She lifted her hand to touch her fluffy earmuffs.
Her heart felt a bit tight, a bit heavy.
She should be happy, right? After all, when she first became a girl, she swore she would never like a man.
“Seriously… things are getting more and more messy.” She rubbed her hands together, breathed warm air onto her palms, a long white puff appearing. She muttered to herself, “Why do I always end up doing things I don’t want to do?”
Her mood sank. It felt like an afternoon from childhood. After playing wildly with a friend all day, it was time for everyone to go home for dinner…
“Were you getting worried?” Su Peng ran back, out of breath, and stuffed a bag of snacks into her hands. “Eat a bit on the way. When you take the bus, just suck on a sour olive and you won’t get dizzy. And message me when you get home.”
“But I don’t have hands free to carry this.”
“I’ll put it in your suitcase.”
Su Peng checked the time again, even more flustered, and opened her suitcase. “There’s not much time left. You need to go in early. If you miss it, you’ll have to change your ticket. I checked, the next train is two hours later.”
An Han just stood there, watching him rushing around.
“If you don’t want snacks, you can order food on the train. Eat more at home during winter break. You’re too thin, you should gain some weight. And say hello to your aunt and your sister for me.”
“Oh, and I bought a scarf, the scarf…”
Su Peng looked around in a panic. “I forgot to bring it… Anyway, keep yourself warm. Your hometown is almost at zero degrees. It’s much colder than here.”
The corners of An Han’s eyes turned red. She spoke lightly, “Got it~ You nag too much…”
“……”
They both fell silent for a moment. Then Su Peng finally zipped up the suitcase, looked up, and smiled. “Go on in. You still need to check your ticket.”
“I’m using my ID card~”
An Han grabbed both suitcase handles, walked two steps toward the waiting area, but then turned around again, hesitating.
“It’s too late.”
She suddenly showed a bright, cheerful smile. “Looks like I’m already late.”
“Huh?”
She put down her suitcase and sighed with a troubled expression. “You insisted on buying things, and now we’re late. It’s all your fault.”
“Didn’t you say we still had half an hour…?”
“I remembered wrong! Anyway, it’s just changing the ticket and waiting two hours. It’s fine.”
An Han laughed softly. “How about we walk around this train station? I’ve been here several times but never really looked around.”
“There’s nothing fun to see at a train station…” Su Peng scratched his head, but still gave in with a smile. “Honestly, how do you even forget the boarding time?”
“My memory is bad~ My brain doesn’t work well.”
“Who calls themselves stupid?”
Su Peng felt like a heavy stone in his heart had finally been lifted. He picked up her suitcase again. “Perfect timing. Let’s go to the parking lot. I left the scarf I bought for you in the car.”
“Okay~”
She took small quick steps right behind him, as if afraid he would suddenly disappear.
An Han secretly glanced at the ticket app on her phone. It showed that there were still almost twenty minutes before boarding.
When she suddenly noticed Su Peng turn around, she quickly slid her phone into her pocket and looked up. “There should be good food around the station, right?”
“This station is kind of far from the city. I’ll help you look.”
Since the universities had just started winter break, the train station was filled with people coming and going.
Following closely behind Su Peng, An Han walked to the underground parking lot and arrived at his Crown sedan.
“How much does this car cost?”
“A few hundred thousand. Now it could probably sell for a bit over a hundred thousand.”
Su Peng opened the door, took a white scarf from the driver’s seat, and held it up to give to her. But he saw that the girl leaned forward a little and lowered her head slightly.
“Uh…”
After a short hesitation, he spread the scarf open with both hands and placed it around her neck, then carefully tied a nice knot.
“You’re pretty good at this kind of thing.”
“Don’t tease me.” Su Peng stepped back with a smile. “It looks beautiful. And it fits your vibe.”
An Han brushed her hair behind her ear, pretending not to care. “I don’t… What vibe do I even have?”
She originally wanted to say “I don’t have sh*t,” but right before the words came out, she forced herself to hold them back.
Cars were moving in and out of the underground garage. An Han lowered her head, and the skin of her neck and ears slowly turned red.
She felt a bit impulsive, but for many reasons, that impulse couldn’t turn into real action.
Su Peng stepped a little closer and gently took hold of her index finger.
“Le… let’s go look around…” His voice stuttered slightly, and his heartbeat sounded loud in his ears.
“Mm~”
Seeing that she didn’t pull away, he slowly moved his fingers up and finally held her entire index finger in his palm.
An Han pressed her lips together, then decisively turned her hand over and held his whole hand.
“You’re so slow… Where did your confidence go?”
Su Peng was startled, but quickly smiled. “I was just afraid you wouldn’t like it.”
Some people say that when a man likes a girl, he becomes crazy and only wants to touch her. But Su Peng felt that liking her meant wanting to protect something beautiful. He didn’t want to see her hurt, didn’t want to see her sad…
Still, when a man needs to be confident, he should be confident.
When they reached a darker corner of the parking garage, he suddenly bent down and kissed her on the cheek.
This time, An Han didn’t dodge. She just froze in place, surprised and confused.
That’s exactly what I wanted to do…