Half-baked

9.
That summer, it was wet, rainy and gloomy.
They sat together in the back of the car, walking through the same rainstorm.

Duan Huaian was a very taciturn man and he did not take the initiative to bring up the topic.
She missed sitting next to him, afraid that the rain on her body would get wet in the car, so she sat in the smallest seat. She occasionally looked at the floor mat under her feet, and occasionally looked at the rain outside the window. She made many small movements, but none of them had anything to do with Duan Huai'an.

It was not until she got home that Huai Nian thanked him: "Thank you so much today."

During the time she knew him, she really said "thank you" to him many times.

The transparent raindrops gradually disappear like bubbles.
Memories are like bubbles, they burst at the slightest touch.

Memories are like an unsolved case at night, with no cause or effect to be found.

The car was parked in the underground garage of the community.
Duan Huai'an's house has four bedrooms, two living rooms and two double bedrooms. After some renovation, the four rooms have become two rooms: the master bedroom and the guest bedroom. Chi Jingting has been staying overnight at Duan Huai'an's house frequently recently, and the guest bedroom closet is almost full of Chi Jingting's clothes.

Chi Jingting yawned: "Do you have class tomorrow morning?"
Duan Huai'an said, "Eight in the morning."
Chi Jingting took the initiative and said, "Then be quiet when you get up tomorrow and don't disturb me."

Duan Huaian was typing a message to Huai Nian and had no time to talk to Chi Jingting.

Every day when he got home, he would send a message to Huai Nian: [I’m home.]
He knew she wouldn't reply, but he still insisted on sending it.

After sending them out, I remembered the stack of tickets I received today.
He slapped the ticket.
Duan Huai'an: [When will you have time to come and get your tickets? ]
-
Miss the busy mornings.
Get up early and read early, and after reading, go to the laboratory to check the progress of the experiment.
After confirming that the experiment went smoothly, she breathed a sigh of relief and finally had the leisure to play with her phone.

Then she saw the message Duan Huaian sent her in the early morning.

He always comes home late at night or in the early morning. If you don’t know him, you would think he is a male model.

Huai Nian muttered to himself for a while, then walked out of the lab with his phone.
Outside the medical school's laboratory building are towering trees. The evergreen trees are lush all year round, but the meager sunlight in autumn is blocked by the towering trees. The long corridor is desolate and eerie. It's like a murder scene in a suspense drama.

It was class time and no one was walking around in the laboratory building.

I miss walking alone through the long corridor, faintly hearing the echo of my footsteps.

She paused at the corner of the stairs, the sun shining on her through the open window.
Wrapped in the warm light, I miss the sound of my fingers tapping lightly on the keyboard.

Nostalgia: [I'm a bit busy recently, I can spare some time at noon. ]
Miss: [Are you at home at noon? Or in the lab? ]
Nostalgia: [Why don’t you leave the ticket at home and I’ll go get it myself. ]

Huai Nian really didn't mean to avoid Duan Huai'an. After the midterm exam, she had more classes. Almost every day was full.
Duan Huaian has her account and password and can log into the school website to check her class schedule.

Duan Huai'an replied quickly: [Don't you have classes now? ]
Obviously he had already checked her timetable.

Miss: [I want to do an experiment. 】
Nostalgia: [Not only do you have experiments to do, I also have experiments to do. ]
Miss: [So busy. 】

I waited for a while, but there was no reply from him.
I miss the lock screen and plan to go back to the lab.

At this time, there was a sound of footsteps coming from far away on the stairs downstairs.

At the same time, the phone in Huai Nian's hand kept vibrating.
It was a call from Duan Huai'an.

Huai Nian picked up the phone casually, saying in a submissive tone, "Hello."

——“Which floor is the laboratory on?”

A clear yet vague sound, very close yet very far away.
The sound from the mobile phone receiver and the footsteps in the corridor almost overlapped.

Huai Nian's eyebrows jumped, and a certain thought inexplicably emerged: "...You are not coming to the laboratory building, are you?"
Duan Huai'an: "Yeah."
Miss: "The one climbing the stairs, isn't that you?"

Each other's voices were transmitted to each other's ears through the mobile phone receiver and the quiet and empty corridor.

The stairwell from the second floor to the third floor.

The footsteps stopped.
Duan Huaian raised his eyes and saw a familiar figure in the stairwell.
"It's me," he said.

It was not until the phone call was interrupted that Huai Nian turned around half a beat late.

When I saw Duan Huai'an, my first thought was to run away quickly.
She looked away, as if she was trying to avoid a ferocious beast, hiding from Duan Huai'an. Without any hesitation, she went upstairs, stomping on the stairs, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Duan Huaian was also quite convinced.
He pursed his lips and followed the footsteps.

The office of the Medical College Student Union is on the third floor.

Fortunately, I brought the key.
The key was inserted into the keyhole, and she pushed the door open with one hand, feeling the warmth on the back of her hand.
Duan Huai'an held her hand and pushed her into the office with him. With his other hand, he pulled out the key.

After entering the house, Duan Huaian threw the key aside casually.
He lowered his eyes and stared down at Huai Nian condescendingly. His cold face seemed heartless and even had a bit of scrutiny.

Because he was running so fast, his voice fluctuated, and he took unsteady breaths, "How could you come here?"

Duan Huaian's eyes darkened and became extremely aggressive.
"Why can't I come over?"
"Didn't we agree to pretend we don't know each other at school?"
"There's no one around, why are you running?" Duan Huaian sneered, with a sharp cold light flashing in his eyes.

The atmosphere in the room was depressing.
The student union office is not used very often. The rusty windows bang in the wind, and air leaks everywhere, making it very cold.

I felt an inexplicable chill down my spine because of missing him. I wanted to sneak a glance at him, but his sharp eyes caught my eye.

next second.
Duan Huaian pinched the back of her neck and forced her to look up. She was caught off guard and her lips and teeth collided with his.
The kiss was hot and fierce, like a cluster of fire, burning the whole field.
There was the ambiguous sound of water, kissing, and the tips of their tongues entangled stickily. Because they were in the laboratory building, Huai Nian was cautious, and the hand that supported his chest pushed him away, and her whole body was full of resistance. The harder she pushed, the harder Duan Huai'an kissed.

Soon, a faint smell of rust spread between the lips and teeth.

Outside the corridor, the bell for the end of get out of class suddenly rang.

Duan Huaian pulled away, his wet lips stained with bright blood.
There is a slight sense of guilt in the nostalgia, but more of dissatisfaction: "This is at school, can you recognize the occasion?"

"What occasions do you need to be aware of? You can't kiss in school?" Duan Huai'an sneered, "What college couple wouldn't kiss in school? What laws and regulations prohibit kissing in school?"

I miss you and want to say that we are not a couple.
But she could feel that Duan Huaian was very angry, angrier than ever before.

He lowered his eyes, looking angry, and his words were full of sarcasm: "It's always like this. They only look for me when they need my help. When they don't need me, they don't even bother to reply to my WeChat messages."

Huai Nian was stunned for a moment, and refuted without confidence: "...I didn't."

Duan Huai'an: "No? Do you need me to look through the chat history on your phone? Did you reply to one of my ten messages?"

I miss you so much that I completely stopped talking.
She lowered her head, her round eyelids drooped, and her long eyelashes trembled, making her look very aggrieved.

Duan Huaian raised his eyelids.
The cold wind blowing in from all directions seemed to blow away his anger.

He paused, took out a stack of tickets from his pocket, and stuffed them into Huaian's hand without saying a word.

"Here." Duan Huaian's voice was a little hoarse, "Four tickets. If you don't want to come, don't come. No one is forcing you."

After saying this, he didn't wait for Huai Nian to respond.
Duan Huai'an walked across the long table in the office and headed straight for the back door. He opened and closed the door, and from beginning to end, he never glanced at Huai Nian.

The surroundings became deserted.

I miss staring at my lonely shadow on the ground, and then looking at the ticket he forced into my hand.
She sniffed and couldn't help cursing, "Why are you so fierce! If you don't want to go, then don't go! Who wants to watch your crappy game!"

After cursing, she hissed softly, her mouth hurting.

The restrooms are on both sides of each floor, and there is a huge mirror in the restroom.
I miss looking in the mirror and seeing the bite marks at the corners of her mouth.

Although the wound on Duan Huai'an's mouth was bigger and more obvious, Huai Nian still felt aggrieved, "I fell asleep in the middle of the night, and you sent me a message saying 'I'm home'. What do you want me to reply?"
"Rude, rogue, unreasonable."
"Your kissing skills are still so bad!" Huai Nian was almost angry to death.
-
I miss returning to the dormitory with a wound on the corner of my mouth.
Duan Huai'an didn't know whether it was because he was reluctant to bite her or for some other reason, but she only had a small crack on her lip, similar to the chapped lips caused by the dry weather.

She made up an excuse to fool her roommate.
Because of her good girl image in the past, her roommates did not suspect anything. Jing Yue even gave her a lip balm: "It's new, never used. I put this on my mouth when it's dry. It's quite moisturizing."

Huai Nian took over the whole play and gave the tickets Duan Huaian gave her to her roommates.

Her roommates were ecstatic and kept praising her, saying "baby, you are awesome".

baby.
A voice flashed through her mind.

My mood, which had been improving, suddenly dropped.

The game is tomorrow.
The competitive atmosphere in the school is becoming more and more intense.

Nostalgia is deaf to all.
She also made up her mind that she would never, ever go to watch Duan Huaian's game.
It wasn't out of anger. When Huai Nian asked him for tickets, she had no intention of watching his game.

She didn't care about him, let alone the outcome of his game.

On the day of the competition, three roommates went to watch the game. They asked Huai Nian: "Aren't you going?"
Huai Nian lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling of the dormitory with a dazed look in her eyes. She spoke lazily, sounding a little weak, "My stomach is not feeling well, so I won't go to watch the game."

Everyone thought she was having her period.
"Would you like some brown sugar water?"
"I have some painkillers here."
"Miss——"

Facing everyone's concern, Huai Nian poked her head out from behind the bed curtains and said, "It's okay, go watch the game, don't worry about me."

After a while, everyone left.
The dormitory is very quiet.
The silence did not last long before it was broken by the ringing of the phone.

Unexpectedly, it was Chi Jingting who called her.

After hesitating for a while, Huai Nian finally picked up the phone.

Chi Jingting's nonchalant voice came from the other end: "Where are you, my sister? Why don't you come to watch the game?"
Nostalgia replied perfunctorily: "I have something to do."
Chi Jingting asked: "What is more important than Duan Huai'an's competition?"
Missing indifference: "Hang up."

After hanging up the phone, I got out of bed and wanted to go to the bathroom.
Just as I climbed out of bed, my phone rang again. I wanted to hang up, but my hand slipped and I accidentally pressed the answer button.

"I'm not saying anything, why did you hang up on me?" Chi Jingting said lazily, "I still remember when we were in the third year of high school, you took a two-hour bus ride to watch Duan Huai'an's game even though we were so busy studying. How come you don't even want to come to the competition venue that's only a ten-minute walk away?"

At this point, Chi Jingting sighed and said in a serious tone, "Others are at least going through the seven-year itch, but are you already itching for my Duan Huai'an after just two years?"

Miss: "..."

(End of this chapter)