TIMO - Chapter 60
Chapter 60
The hour-long press conference came to a perfect close amidst Shi Nan’s flawless answers and the thunderous cheers from the packed Open-air Cinema.
Afterward, they didn’t rush to leave, instead remaining seated at the cinema to watch a comedy film that Kong Weiyan had carefully selected.
Before Fu Zhao could figure out why this cinema belonged to Kong Weiyan, or why the long-running tragic romance had been replaced by a comedy, she saw Kong Weiyan and the other two huddled in a circle, muttering something as if counting down.
“Three…”
“Two…”
She had no idea what they were counting down to.
Just as Fu Zhao looked over, the phone in her pocket began to buzz. She took it out, saw the name on the screen, and answered, holding it to her ear and calling out softly,
“Shi Nan, isn’t your banquet just about to start?”
At that, the three people who had been exchanging glances and making faces finally reacted, turning to look over in unison, their expressions varied.
Jiang Wenqing dejectedly held her forehead, pouting with an unconvinced look on her face. But when she saw the arch of Kong Weiyan’s eyebrow, she resignedly took a hair tie from her bag, tied up her bangs, and, with a grimace and her eyes squeezed shut, moved in front of Kong Weiyan and obediently squatted down on the sand.
Kong Weiyan nodded in satisfaction, then stretched her arms triumphantly, tilted her head, and flexed her fingers. Then, with a sharp thwack, she flicked Jiang Wenqing’s forehead.
Jiang Wenqing cried out, tears instantly welling in her eyes. With a mournful expression and a red forehead, she gave her spot to Ye Er. Seeing Jiang Wenqing’s miserable state, Ye Er’s fingertips trembled. His face pale, he clutched his bag and squatted in the same spot Jiang Wenqing had just vacated.
Kong Weiyan rubbed her hands together eagerly, Jiang Wenqing wailed loudly, and Ye Er’s face was ashen.
Fu Zhao watched all of this silently before quietly averting her gaze. It was obvious the three of them had just been making a bet, and it had something to do with the call she was on right now.
On the other end of the line was the sound of soft breathing. After a long moment, a pleasant, gentle voice sounded in her ear.
“The banquet starts in five minutes.” Shi Nan answered her question, paused for a few seconds, then spoke again. “I wanted to use these five minutes to hear your voice.”
The corners of Fu Zhao’s mouth gradually turned up, the curve impossible to suppress. Even the group over there, chasing each other and making faces, started to look more pleasant. “I just watched the press conference…”
“You were very beautiful today.” For once, she didn’t hide her true feelings, expressing them directly.
Shi Nan was clearly caught off guard as well. She held her breath for a moment before relaxing, her voice laced with a soft smile. “You too. You were also very beautiful in court today.”
“Me?”
Fu Zhao looked down at her own generic white shirt, which she was wearing after taking off her jacket. She felt that Shi Nan was probably just trying to flatter her, but the curve of her lips still widened unconsciously.
Evidently, even if she was just being coaxed, Shi Nan could still make her happy.
“I saw the watch you were wearing…” She changed the subject, her voice softening considerably. “You don’t really have to wear it on important occasions like this. It doesn’t seem to fit your status.”
“Next time, I’ll give you a bracelet instead.”
“Mm…” Shi Nan hummed softly, her voice gentle and affectionate, traveling through the phone and into her heart.
“I hope that the next time an important occasion like this comes around, I’ll be wearing a wedding ring on my hand.”
Fu Zhao froze. Realizing what Shi Nan meant, the heat began to rise in her face again. She cleared her throat and stumbled over her words, “Five minutes… is almost up. Shouldn’t you get ready?”
“Is that so?” Shi Nan asked, feigning ignorance. A light, flirtatious laugh came through the line, but she quickly composed herself. “Alright, I’ll go get ready then.”
“Okay,” Fu Zhao replied, saying nothing more, but she didn’t hang up.
Neither did Shi Nan.
The sound of their breathing rose and fell on both ends of the line.
It mingled with the sound of the sea breeze on her end, the chatter of the crowd, and on Shi Nan’s end, the sound of music, the shuffle of bustling footsteps, and someone softly calling, “Miss Shi.”
“I’m hanging up,” Fu Zhao said, clutching her phone and taking a deep breath.
“Okay~~” Shi Nan replied, saying nothing more.
Shi Nan didn’t move, seemingly waiting for her to end the call.
Fu Zhao didn’t want to move either. She clutched her phone, and after a long while, she steeled herself to hang up, but a soft, gentle voice drifted into her ear again, calling her name, “Fu Zhao,” before falling back into just the sound of breathing.
“Wh-what is it?” Her voice trembled slightly.
Shi Nan spoke softly on the other end, as if whispering in her ear, “I think… I miss you a little.”
That one light sentence brushed across Fu Zhao’s heart like a feather, shattering all her mental defenses in an instant. She followed the tide of emotions that surged through her like a tsunami, letting the words in her heart ride the clamoring wind to the other side.
“I think I do too.”
Just as she said that, exactly five minutes had passed. The urging voices on the other end grew louder, and Fu Zhao had to force herself to hang up.
But a sense of emptiness settled in her heart, and she even felt a little dazed. It had been less than half a day since she and Shi Nan had parted, yet it felt like they had been separated for a very, very long time.
She wished she could fly to RT Planet right now.
She wished she didn’t have to hang up for even a second.
She had never thought of herself as such a clingy person. She was someone who enjoyed her solitude, so how could she suddenly find it unbearable to be alone?
As Fu Zhao was thinking this, she felt her body suddenly go light. The crashing waves in her vision were abruptly replaced by a sky full of stars and a distant moon.
She was being lifted up, and the sound of several people’s laughter filled her ears.
“Come on, come on, throw her in!!” Kong Weiyan, the main culprit, initiated it.
“How could you, Fu Zhao! It’s all your fault I lost! If you had held on for just one more second, I would have won! Now my forehead is all red, you have to compensate me!!” Jiang Wenqing complained in her ear.
“Little Island Master, just bear with it,” Ye Er kindly reminded her.
And so, before Fu Zhao could react, she heard a splash. Her entire body plunged into the cool seawater, instantly soaking her through. Her hair was drenched, and she swallowed a few mouthfuls of salty, bitter water as a chill spread down her spine.
She managed to open her eyes, only to see the three people who had lifted her scattering in all directions, completely lacking the united front they had when throwing her into the water.
“I’m just saying…”
She wiped the water from her face and waded ashore, her expression unchanged, her heart not skipping a beat. She pointed at Kong Weiyan, who was already on the shore. “She was the one who flicked both of your foreheads. Shouldn’t you be throwing her in?”
Ye Er and Jiang Wenqing exchanged a look, then immediately sided with Fu Zhao, closing in on Kong Weiyan.
Kong Weiyan turned to run but was caught by the corner of her clothes and dragged by the three of them back into the sea.
Many people who had stayed after the press conference were watching the commotion, hooting and laughing. There were even a few high school students who were familiar with Jiang Wenqing and the others, as well as some islanders who knew Kong Weiyan, who eagerly started recording videos.
It was a grand, boisterous scene filled with laughter and joy.
The revelry continued late into the night.
When a dripping wet Fu Zhao returned to her villa, Fu Wanqing was already home. She showed no surprise at her daughter’s soaked appearance, merely tossing a towel to her nonchalantly before smiling at the holographic projection in front of her.
“She’s back.”
Fu Zhao followed her gaze and saw the standing holographic projection in the living room. It was Shi Nan.
Shi Nan looked like she had just returned as well, still wearing her evening gown from the banquet, her makeup not yet removed. She smiled, and the room instantly lit up. “You go get cleaned up first. I’ll call you later. I’m going to chat with Auntie Fu for a bit.”
Fu Zhao used the towel Fu Wanqing had thrown her to dry her hair, but water was still dripping from the hem of her clothes onto the floor. Her current state was indeed better suited for cleaning up first. She looked at Shi Nan, then at Fu Wanqing, and spoke a little awkwardly.
“Oh… okay.”
Fu Zhao got ready quickly, faster than ever before.
She changed into her pajamas, dried her hair, turned on the air conditioner, and sat primly on the sofa, setting up her phone to face directly in front of her.
But Shi Nan’s holographic call came much later than she had expected.
Fu Zhao watched the clock on the wall tick by. Two hours had passed since the banquet ended.
She pursed her lips, feeling a little bored.
Should she take the initiative and contact Shi Nan?
At the very least, she should let Shi Nan know she was ready.
With that thought, Fu Zhao leaned toward her propped-up phone, opened StarNet, and typed a few words. Her fingertips paused on the screen for a few seconds, then she deleted everything she had typed and pressed the voice message button instead.
The screen indicated it was recording.
She cleared her throat and called out a little unnaturally, “Shi Nan-”
But before she could finish, a holographic call invitation popped up on the screen. She subconsciously hit accept, only to be momentarily dazzled by the sight before her. She tripped on the rug under her feet and fell, landing on the floor.
The call was from Shi Nan, without a doubt.
That was why she had answered in a split second, without a shred of hesitation.
But she hadn’t expected Shi Nan to be so… brazenly on screen in a bathrobe.
The white bathrobe only reached the tops of her thighs, the belt tied loosely around her slender waist. It revealed a large expanse of fair skin at her collarbones, and her long, straight legs dangled back and forth.
Her long hair was slightly damp, framing her face and making the shimmer in her tea-brown eyes appear even more lustrous, brighter than tonight’s moon, yet it flickered, radiant and soft.
Shi Nan paused in her steps, watching Fu Zhao, who had fallen to the floor and was now scrambling to get up. A light smile touched her lips, and her tone was languid. “Why do you look like I scared you?”
The holographic projection technology was very advanced; Shi Nan was drying her hair, and the water droplets falling from it were clearly visible.
They slid down her fair neck and disappeared into the faint hollows of her collarbones.
In the quiet of the night, Fu Zhao felt as if she could hear the sound of the water drops falling, and the sound of her own unconscious swallow. She felt hot, and a little ashamed—ashamed of where her gaze had lingered.
So, her eyes quickly shifted upward, meeting Shi Nan’s, and she spoke with composure.
“I had just set up my phone when you called. I was just a little surprised.”
“So that’s how it was.” Shi Nan nodded, though the faint smile on her lips hadn’t faded. “I heard you were playing by the sea with them just now. It was very lively, a group of you throwing each other around.”
“Did you have fun?” she asked nonchalantly.
But Fu Zhao completely missed the undertone in Shi Nan’s words and immediately replied, “It was a lot of fun.”
Shi Nan finished drying her hair and tossed the towel aside. Hearing this, she turned and shot her a look, huffing through her nose. “You just said you missed me, but the next second you’re off playing in the water with other people, and laughing so happily…”
The phrase “playing in the water” made Fu Zhao feel awkward all over. She pursed her lips and explained softly,
“We weren’t playing in the water. They just threw me into the sea as a prank, so I…” Her voice grew quieter, a little guilty. “Retaliated a bit.”
The retaliation was just the beginning.
Afterward, they did seem to have a lot of fun.
“I know.”
Shi Nan was blow-drying her hair, replying nonchalantly. “I saw the video from Auntie Fu just now. You were smiling very happily, and so were they.”
“But…”
She paused, her eyes downcast, and spoke softly. “I just feel… a little unused to it. Seeing your life from a third-person perspective while I’m so far away.”
“So I can’t help but worry. I worry that you’ll get used to a life without me, that we’ll become strangers by the next time we meet, that someone… better than me will appear by your side.”
“I know most of these thoughts probably won’t come true, that it’s just me overthinking.”
“But as soon as I’m quiet, I can’t control the thoughts in my head. They just keep popping up, one after another…”
Her expression was calm, her tone light, as if she were just making small talk.
But Fu Zhao knew that Shi Nan was genuinely worried about these things, even if she didn’t want to be.
If Shi Nan hadn’t said it, Fu Zhao would have thought she was the only one who felt this way. After all, she was the one who had always watched Shi Nan from behind.
Her gaze fell on Shi Nan’s face, meeting her flickering eyes, and she said in a soft, gentle voice,
“That’s quite a coincidence, because I was thinking the same thing.”
“You’re on RT Planet, so far away, and you won’t let me come over. I can only stay here, worrying that you’re too busy with work to take care of yourself, worrying that I won’t be ready in time for our next meeting.”
“Worrying that you…” she paused, “will be pursued by someone better, and that you won’t come back to Nanke Island.”
“Worrying that before I have a chance to give you an answer, our engagement will be called off again.”
Shi Nan was stunned for a few seconds and didn’t speak, seeming to wait for Fu Zhao to continue.
Fu Zhao smiled. “But now that I’ve heard you say that, I know you won’t be a third-person perspective in my life, and I won’t be one in yours.”
Shi Nan nodded lightly, her expression brightening considerably as a curve returned to her lips.
“Then what perspective will it be?”
Fu Zhao thought for a moment, and an idea flashed through her mind. Her eyes curved into a smile.
“Shi Nan, did you know? Planets within a thousand light-years of each other are visible to the naked eye from the ground.”
“So?” Shi Nan’s eyebrow arched slightly, as if she had anticipated what Fu Zhao was about to say. She propped her head on her hand, waiting for her answer.
Fu Zhao smiled along with her. She walked to the window, pushed it open, and pointed to the vast expanse of stars in the sky. “The distance between RT Planet and Nanke Island is 866 light-years. That means, among all these stars above my head, one of them is the planet you’re on.”
The night wind was much cooler, bringing a gentle, comfortable touch to her face.
Directly across from her window was the residence where Shi Nan had stayed on Nanke Island. But the light that had always been on was dark tonight, shrouded in blackness.
On the other side of the projection, Shi Nan took a few steps, seemingly opening a window as well. The gaze she sent over was gentle and enchanting, her eyes shimmering with an affectionate light. Her hair was mostly dry now, falling soft and fluffy on her shoulders, gently lifted by the wind.
In that instant, it was as if they were feeling the same breeze.
“Hm?” Shi Nan smiled at her, the smile rippling outward. She tilted her head, resting her cheek on her hand. “Go on~~”
Fu Zhao looked at Shi Nan in the projection, tucking a stray strand of hair that the wind had blown loose behind her ear, and spoke softly, word by word.
“That means, from now on, when I look at you, and when you look at me…”
“It will always be from the perspective of the stars.”
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