In my life, I’m most afraid of such words, such as never letting go for the rest of one’s life… Although he may just be flirting, to me, these words are not only not flirting but also a bit scary.
I let go of his hand, smiled, and tried to put my hand inside the cloak, but he held it tightly again. A warm hand warmer was stuffed into my palm, and I was held in his arms. I glanced at him from the side. I didn’t notice it when we were walking side by side, but when he held me like this, the difference in our body sizes became particularly obvious, like the difference between an adult and a half-grown child.
The feeling of being controlled in the palm of his hand was too strong. I felt uncomfortable, but before taking Tunshe Nalin back to the city, I didn’t want to make him unhappy, so I had to endure it.
“Hey, I haven’t asked you yet. You said before that you went to the haunted house to pay tribute to the deceased. Do you… know that family?”
“En.”
I asked in confusion, “But haven’t they been dead for hundreds of years?”
After a few seconds of silence, he replied, “It’s the later buyer of the house. I’m going, there to offer sacrifices to him.”
“Oh.” I nodded. It made sense. This answer aroused my curiosity. It’s understandable that he didn’t want me to know before, but now that we’re considered lovers, it wouldn’t make sense if he still refused to let me catch a glimpse of his soul and bones. I asked, “What is the relationship between you and that old friend?”
He was silent for a moment before answering again, “An elder.”
“What kind of elder? Your relative?”
“No.”
“Oh? I thought that family had some kind of kinship with you.”
“No.” He lowered his voice. “Don’t ask too much about that family, or you’ll risk being haunted by vengeful spirits.”
My hair stood on end, and I immediately gave up on pressing further.
“Then… how old are you this year? When is your birthday?” I changed the topic, focusing on uncovering more about him.
“I,” Tunshe Nalin hesitated for a moment, “Thirty, one.”
“Thirty-one years old… born in 93 then, six years older than me. What month and day?”
“…Can’t remember.”
I laughed. “How come you don’t know your birthday, just like me?”
“Then let it be today,” he said. “You have given me a new life.”
My heart trembled.
This sweet talk was too moving, yet too heavy, so heavy that it made me hesitant to hold onto it, unable to bear it. A fleeting impulse to run away crept into my heart, yet the desire to capture his image with my art kept me grounded.
I forced a smile and patted the snow off his shoulder. “Not bad… November, Scorpio, it suits you. But what date is it today? I’ve been cut off from the network up here for so long, I don’t even know the date. I’ll call later to check. Once we’re back in the city, we’ll celebrate your birthday.”
“Alright.” He paused for a moment before asking, “Why don’t you know your own birthday either? Where were you born?”
“I… I was sick when I was young, and some of my memories are missing.” I usually avoid talking about my past of being trafficked, so I gave a vague answer. Seeing that he seemed to want to ask more, I quickly bent down and, taking advantage of his momentary distraction, grabbed a snowball and threw it at his face. He was stunned for a moment, not having reacted in time, and before he could, I burst out laughing and turned to run. But after just a few steps, I felt a snowball suddenly hit me from behind.
I was taken aback, and when I turned around, I was surprised to see Tunshe Nalin half-kneeling, grabbing snow. I quickly took the initiative, attacking him with a flurry of snowballs from both sides. After being unexpectedly hit with snow all over his head and face, he stopped gathering snow and stood up straight, walking toward me.
Knowing he was coming to catch me, I couldn’t help but get playful. Laughing and jumping high, I suddenly turned and ran. However, my foot slipped, and I stumbled straight into his solid embrace. The impact made me lose my balance, and with Tunshe Nalin’s body swaying, we both ended up falling into the snow together.
Worried that I might have hurt him, I quickly turned over. I saw him lying quietly in the snow, seemingly gazing at me. His dark, curly hair spread out like ink, and his face was as beautiful as a painting, enchanting and mesmerizing. A sudden impulse rose in my heart, and I couldn’t help but use my fingertip as a brush, tracing the outline of his features.
“Tunshe Nalin, why are you so good-looking? Are you a fairy? Or a demon?”
His adam apple bobbed as he caught my hand, his voice slightly hoarse: “Neither.”
I couldn’t bear to part with the beautiful scene before me. Lying on top of him, I wanted to look a little longer, to engrave it in my mind. But as my gaze fell on his slightly moving adam apple, a mischievous thought crossed my mind.
After a snowball fight with me and being teased while lying on top of him, doesn’t this person ever get embarrassed?
I wanted to see this ice sculpture-like beauty blush, so I took advantage of his unawareness and bit his adam apple. He trembled all over, and in an instant, the situation reversed, leaving me pinned beneath him.
His stunning face remained pale, not even a hint of red appearing. I felt a tinge of disappointment. Seeing the blindfold hanging near his lips, I tilted my head, bit onto it, and raised an eyebrow at him.
Before I could pull off his blindfold, my chin was suddenly gripped. His long, cold fingers even slipped past my teeth, forcing me to loosen my hold, and the fabric was swiftly removed.
But his fingertip didn’t withdraw from my lips immediately.
He leaned on top of me, holding his breath, and said nothing. The ancient sandalwood scent on his body became stronger, like a storm approaching. The fingertips on my lips actually explored deeper… pinched the tip of my tongue and rubbed it gently.
The thumb on my lips couldn’t help but rub repeatedly.
I couldn’t close my mouth, staring at him blankly, as he rubbed my tongue, saliva oozing from the corners of my lips. How come this seemed like…
Suddenly he lifted me up by the waist and held me sitting on his lap. He lowered his head, covered my lips heavily, and his tongue unexpectedly penetrated between my teeth.
“Umm!”
I shuddered all over, and a big, cold hand immediately held the back of my neck firmly. I sat in the arms of my new muse, kneeling on the snow, on the empty and deserted street, accepting my first deep kiss with him.
This was not my first kiss, Ming Luo and I had kissed countless times, but I was never so helpless. I didn’t even know how to respond to him. I just clenched his clothes like last time, and he gently and wantonly deepened the entanglement between our lips. I felt dizzy and breathless, and he seemed to be overwhelmed with emotion. He stood up, and my feet left the ground. He carried me into a dark alley next to us.
My back leaned against the damp stone wall, he pressed me against him, held my waist, and lowered his head. His cold lips fell on my ear. I shuddered, shrank my neck, and dodged. This is my sensitive area, but because I didn’t want to go to bed with Ming Luo, even he wasn’t able to touch it a few times.
Tunshe Nalin pinched the back of my neck, forced me to tilt my head back, and his lips fell to my collarbone.
“Ranran, can we, set off, a day later?”
The implication is clear.
—He wants me.
My heart sank, fearing that I would repeat the same mistake with him and end up in a mess like Ming Luo. I shook my head, but it was difficult to reject him directly, so I had to prevaricate and say, “Let’s talk about it when we get back, alright?”
“All up to you.” He hugged me tightly, his fingers embedded in my hair. He did not take any further action, and his body moved away a little.
I couldn’t help but think of the snow-capped mountain named Sumilou. There was a volcano hidden in the heart of the mountain under the glacier that had never died. It was ignited again by my own hands. With his arrogant temper, the magma must have been burning to the point of erupting. He couldn’t bear it any longer, so he made such a request to me.
How much doting must he have on me to be so restrained that he would rather burn himself than burn me?
Is he as good to his ex-lover as he is now?
Such a good and beautiful person, how could his old lover, who was also a painter like me, leave him alone in this deep forest and snow-capped mountains, never to return?
I stroked his chin lovingly: “I won’t abandon you, Tunshe Nalin.”
He hugged me tighter: “I’ll remember it.”
At this moment, a gust of wind blew in from the depths of the narrow alley, making me smell the tempting aroma of food. My stomach rumbled immediately. I glanced to the side and found that the house at the end of the narrow alley had a lantern on. There was a wooden sign hanging on the door, and the words on it showed that this was an inn that provided meals.
Fortunately, there is a curtain on the door; otherwise, Tunshe Nalin and I would have been embarrassed just now.
“Nalin, shall we go to dinner?”
He was startled: “What did you call me?”
“Your name is too long,” I curved my lips. “I’ll call you Nalin from now on. Is that fine?”
He nodded, and I happily took his hand and walked into the small inn.
