TIMO - Chapter 89
Chapter 89
The moment her canines pressed against the skin.
Fu Zhao felt Shi Nan’s shoulders shift slightly, then tremble with a minute, almost imperceptible arc.
But at such close range, Fu Zhao still felt it.
The soft flesh by her mouth still emanated a sweet, gentle fragrance, as if it were tempting her to do something terrible.
Fu Zhao barely hesitated before letting go of Shi Nan, clamping her lips shut and pressing them into a tight line.
“What’s wrong?” Shi Nan’s voice was still soft, but her disordered breathing was audible.
Fu Zhao could feel the slow rise and fall of her chest.
Wrapping her arms around Shi Nan, Fu Zhao suppressed the stifling feeling welling up in her heart. She let out a soft, turbid breath, her fingertips tidying the strands of hair on the nape of Shi Nan’s neck before she lowered her head to press against it again.
Not with sharp canines.
Instead, it was with soft lips, carrying the sweat that trickled down from her jawline.
She pecked gently a few times.
The restrained emotions seemed to bubble up through the gentle pressure.
Far more than a mark from canines breaking the surface of the skin, this method seemed much more intimate.
“This is also a way I need you,” she said, yet she couldn’t control her own ragged breathing. She took several deep breaths and spoke, one word at a time.
“Hugging.”
Fu Zhao held Shi Nan tightly, resting her forehead against the side of Shi Nan’s neck and rubbing it gently.
“Holding hands.”
She clasped Shi Nan’s fingers, her own nimble digits slipping between the gaps until their hands were intertwined.
“And then…”
Fu Zhao took a deep breath, lightly touched Shi Nan’s forehead, and let her gaze fall upon Shi Nan’s full, rosy lips. Her own lips slowly moved downward.
“Kissing.”
“And after that…”
She couldn’t finish the sentence, because the next second her lips were completely sealed, her body lost its balance, and her hands landed on either side of Shi Nan’s face.
Her palms touched a soft pillow.
Tears and breath touched the tip of her nose.
Soft, fine strands of hair faintly tangled around her fingertips.
It tickled.
And not just her fingertips.
The five-day susceptibility period passed.
When she opened her eyes again, the ceiling Fu Zhao saw was the one in her own room.
But she was the only one lying in bed.
She reached out to feel the temperature in the bedding beside her. There was still a bit of residual warmth, as if the other person had just gotten up.
Where did Shi Nan go?
The question popped into her head.
It seemed a trace of post-susceptibility period anxiety remained, an unease that could only be soothed by having Shi Nan in her line of sight.
Fu Zhao sat up, but her bones felt like they’d fallen apart, her body soft and weak.
It turned out the susceptibility period was far more taxing than she had imagined.
Or perhaps it was because the locations were too varied, and some places weren’t quite suitable—like the bathroom, sofa, and carpet, which were all a bit hard and not as soft as the bed.
But…
Fu Zhao lightly bit her lower lip as her earlobes began to burn. The moment she thought about the events of the past few days, her mind started to race.
It made her flush completely, and her breathing started to become erratic again.
But the next second, she immediately shook her head, trying to shake the dirty thoughts out of her mind.
She walked a few steps and went down the stairs.
She didn’t see Shi Nan inside the house either.
She rushed outside in a panic and saw that familiar figure on the swing chair in the yard. The heart that had been in her throat finally settled.
It was a beautiful day.
Although it was winter, today was bright and sunny. Warm, gentle sunlight filtered through the gaps in the leaves, falling directly onto the swing chair. A light breeze blew past, causing the dappled light and shadows to sway in a gentle arc, casting themselves upon Shi Nan, who was dressed in an apricot-colored cardigan and tight black jeans.
Her smooth, flowing black hair had grown to chest length and was gently lifted by the breeze, a beautiful and enchanting sight.
Perched on her tall, well-defined nose was a pair of rimless glasses with silver arms, the lenses glinting with a bright halo in the warm yellow sunlight.
In her clean, slender, and flawless hands, she held a book.
The title was obscured, making it hard to read.
Fu Zhao’s eyes were dazzled for a moment, and a sense of contentment welled up from the bottom of her heart. She walked over with light steps.
But before she got close, Shi Nan noticed her.
Shi Nan looked up, her tea-brown eyes glowing with a soft, gentle light behind the lenses. Then, a beautiful curve bloomed on her lips.
“You’re awake?”
Her soft, languid voice drifted over, carried on the floral-scented air.
Fu Zhao’s gaze drifted over, and she walked over to sit down next to Shi Nan. She slowly leaned into the crook of Shi Nan’s shoulder, finding a comfortable angle to rest against her.
“Mhm.”
She answered distractedly, her eyes falling on the book held between those fair fingers. Before she could make out a few words, her attention was completely stolen by Shi Nan’s gaze.
Shi Nan tilted her head down to look at her, and the soft hair on her other side cascaded down, floating gently in Fu Zhao’s field of vision.
“Do you want something to eat?” Shi Nan asked her.
Fu Zhao snuggled into Shi Nan’s shoulder, nuzzling her as she softened her voice. “No, I’ll eat later. Right now, I just want to stay with you for a while.”
“Aren’t you hungry?”
Shi Nan asked, then placed her soft palm on Fu Zhao’s forehead. After holding it there for a while, she said,
“It’s not hot. It should be over.”
Fu Zhao nodded, inhaling the clear fragrance that lingered at the tip of her nose. She closed her eyes comfortably and said nothing.
Shi Nan shifted, seeming to adjust her posture to let her lean more comfortably.
“Why do I feel like you’re the one who seems like an Omega now?” Shi Nan said this out of the blue, her voice soft and lazy, tinged with a smile.
Fu Zhao still didn’t look up. She had never really agreed with such clear-cut gender distinctions, so she just moved her lips. “These things aren’t determined by appearances.”
Shi Nan smiled, placing a palm on top of her head and rubbing it with gentle pressure. “Then I was wrong. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“I just think that the way you’re relying on me right now is very cute.”
“I like it a lot.”
Even though she had been with Shi Nan for a long time, Fu Zhao still felt a little uncomfortable with Shi Nan’s overly direct words.
She opened her eyes, her gaze falling on the book in Shi Nan’s hands, and decided to change the subject. “What book are you reading?”
Shi Nan glanced at her, seemingly a little reproachful that she had changed the subject, but she didn’t say anything. She just closed the book in her hands.
Her fingertips tapped on the cover.
Reminding her of the large characters printed there:
《Alpha Susceptibility Period and Marking Precautions》
Fu Zhao stared for a long time before she could confirm she wasn’t mistaken. She nearly jumped off the swing chair, stammering,
“Why are you reading this for no reason?”
Shi Nan opened the book again, her eyes falling on the page as she casually answered Fu Zhao’s question.
“I’m just trying to understand.”
“Preparing for the future. But I was afraid you wouldn’t be willing to read it.”
Once Shi Nan said this, Fu Zhao was even more at a loss for words. She hadn’t marked Shi Nan precisely because she hadn’t thought it through yet, but she never expected that Shi Nan seemed to care about it more than she did. Her mouth opened and closed, but all she could manage to squeeze out was,
“Why did you suddenly think of this?”
“And this book…” she paused, her eyes filled with confusion, “where did it come from?”
Shi Nan’s fingertips trembled abruptly. She lowered her lashes and paused for a long while before speaking. “It was a wedding gift from a good friend of mine.”
“A wedding gift?”
Fu Zhao’s eyes darted around in a daze, and she continued to ask, “A good friend of mine? Is it Jiang Wenqing?”
“Or Ye Er.”
Shi Nan closed the book and placed it on the table beside them, speaking nonchalantly, “Neither of them.”
“Anyway, she should… or, maybe, might come to our wedding. I’ll introduce you then.”
Shi Nan said this hesitantly, as if she wasn’t certain whether the other person would attend the wedding.
But… since the wedding gift had already been delivered, it meant she might not necessarily be able to attend the wedding on time.
She wondered what this “friend” was busy with.
Fu Zhao pressed her lips together. Seeing the slightly downcast Shi Nan, she offered a few words of comfort. “There will always be a chance to meet. Even if it’s not at the wedding, we’ll have opportunities to meet in the future.”
“Yes…” Shi Nan’s voice was very soft. Her gaze shifted from the large characters on the book to the few milky-white clouds hanging in the sky. She spoke softly, her voice laced with complex emotions.
“There will always be a chance.”
“Mhm,” Fu Zhao replied, subtly changing the subject. “So, does that mean we need to start preparing for the wedding? By the way…”
As she spoke, she remembered that inexplicable century wedding proposal. She paused, then asked tentatively,
“About the wedding, are we really going to follow that proposal?”
Shi Nan raised her eyes to meet hers, the corners of her lips lifting. “Wasn’t this decided a long time ago?”
“Is there something you’re not satisfied with?”
Fu Zhao was stunned for a few seconds, carefully considering what she was dissatisfied with about the proposal. In truth, thinking about it carefully, there was nothing to be dissatisfied with. Even holding a fireworks festival after the wedding was a Nanke Island specialty.
Rather than being dissatisfied…
It was more that she found it strange. Why was Shi Nan so supportive of a wedding proposal with such an unknown origin?
Compared to using someone else’s wedding plan, she would rather prepare it herself.
At this thought, Fu Zhao came back to her senses and said with a frown, “There’s nothing I’m dissatisfied with, I just feel like I’d rather use my own ideas…”
“More than that,” Shi Nan interrupted her, tilting her head to look over with a slight frown. “I feel like there’s one more thing we haven’t done.”
“What is it?”
Fu Zhao asked blankly, but before Shi Nan could answer, the iron gate to the yard swung open.
The sound of rolling luggage rang out.
Two figures wearing sunglasses walked in, dragging suitcases. They looked travel-worn, staring intently at the two of them, their lips pressed into a tight line.
It was Fu Wanqing and Shi Xinglan.
Fu Zhao’s breath hitched. She realized what Shi Nan had been talking about, but even so, she didn’t know what to say at this moment.
Fu Wanqing took off her sunglasses, looking at them calmly.
“I said you just had to notify me before you got married, not that you should act first and report later…”
“And acting first and reporting later is one thing…” Shi Xinglan picked up where Fu Wanqing left off, taking a deep breath and glaring at them, complaining incessantly.
“You’ve been married for five days already and still haven’t notified us, your parents.”
“Were you planning to elope?”
Comments
Post a Comment