Chapter Eighty-Six: The Kiss Left Owed

After taking a shower, Yue Longze put on his pajamas. The wound on his right hand still throbbed faintly, while the injury on his left hand was not much of a problem.

Looking at both of his wounded hands, a wry smile rose to Yue Longze’s face. He did not know when these injuries would finally heal.

In warm slippers, he walked to the window and stared out at the quiet black night, thinking of Mihoko again.

Leaning silently by the window, he smoked a cigarette. When he had finished it, he flicked the butt carelessly into the ashtray and made up his mind.

Tonight, he would still sleep at Mihoko’s place.

He had no improper intentions. He only felt that, with her leg injured, Mihoko would surely need help with many things, and he might as well keep her company during this time, since after all, he was leaving soon.

After getting dressed, he tossed his previous clothes into the automatic washing machine, then put back on the thin outfit he had worn when he first arrived in this time and place.

The moment he changed into it, a chill swept through him from head to toe. It was truly freezing.

Suddenly, Yue Longze began to regret it. When Masaki Keigo had asked whether he wanted a set of clothes too, he had actually refused...

What a mistake.

He endured the biting cold and hurried to Mihoko’s home. The winter wind howled along the way, and there were almost no pedestrians on the streets at midnight; only the streetlamps stood by the roadside, casting their dim, lonely light.

After running several kilometers in one breath, he finally reached the building where Mihoko lived. Even with Yue Longze’s physical strength, such a long dash left him panting, with beads of sweat hanging on his brow.

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he quickly went upstairs and knocked on Mihoko’s door.

Mihoko, limping, made her way to the entrance. Through the peephole, she saw Yue Longze standing outside, and joy instantly flooded her heart; even the pain in her injured foot seemed to lessen.

“Azor!”

She was wearing pink pajamas, her face bright with delight as she opened the door for him, though her eyes were red, clearly from having just cried.

“Surprised? Or not?”

As Yue Longze stepped inside, he grinned and spoke. Seeing Mihoko made him happy too.

“Yes, yes, very surprised!”

Mihoko nodded eagerly and obediently, her gaze never leaving his face.

“Come sit down. You need to rest that foot properly.”

As he spoke, Yue Longze supported her to the edge of the bed.

“Go wipe off the sweat, Azor,” Mihoko said softly from the bed, looking at the moisture on his face.

“Okay.”

Yue Longze went to the bathroom and rinsed his face with hot water, washing away the sticky feeling of sweat. At once, he felt refreshed.

“I actually came because I was worried your injured leg would make things inconvenient, so I wanted to look after you,” Yue Longze said as he came out of the bathroom, wiping water from his face with a tissue. “So don’t go thinking strange things, Mihoko!”

But Mihoko had heard another point entirely.

“Don’t call me Mihoko! You have to call me big sister!”

Ever since he had called her sister at the TPC medical center before, she had grown fond of the title.

“Fine, fine. Big sister!”

Yue Longze said helplessly.

“Good boy, Azor.”

Mihoko suddenly made a mischievous little grin. “So how does Azor plan to take care of big sister tonight? Big sister was almost asleep just now!”

Yue Longze: ...

This left him at a loss for words. Seeing his embarrassment, Mihoko could not help covering her mouth and letting out a soft laugh.

“All right, I won’t tease you anymore.”

Lowering her hand, she continued, “But this room is so small. How are the two of us supposed to sleep?”

Yue Longze laughed heartily. “It’s fine. I’ll sleep on the floor.”

“But there isn’t an extra blanket,” Mihoko said.

Yue Longze paused. “Then... what do we do...?”

“We’ll sleep together.”

She dropped that sentence with a perfectly straight face.

“Ah...”

Though Yue Longze had more or less expected her to say that, hearing it with his own ears still left him startled.

He knew how she felt about him; he was not a fool.

“Your foot is injured. If I accidentally bump into it while we’re asleep...”

He tried to decline. There was a vague, unspoken feeling between him and Mihoko, but it had never been fully laid bare.

And he still had his girlfriend, Xiao Xiang... For him to sleep with Mihoko, even if only to sleep, he could not get past that barrier in his heart.

If he were single, he would absolutely have acted without another word.

“I don’t care!”

Leaning against the headboard, Mihoko turned her head away as if she were angry, puffed out her small mouth, and crossed her slender arms over her chest. Her leg, held in a cast, lay straight out on the bed.

“Uh...”

Yue Longze hesitated for a moment. “All right then. We’ll sleep together, but only to sleep!”

“Yes, yes! Okay!”

Mihoko immediately smiled brightly, as though some scheme of hers had succeeded.

In truth, ever since she learned that Yue Longze was leaving, she had cherished every moment with him. She wished fervently that until the very last moment before he departed, he could remain by her side.

Seeing her reaction, Yue Longze shook his head in helplessness. “I’d better go take a shower first. I ran all the way here, and I’m drenched in sweat.”

...

Outside the window, the alley lay silent, and the lights in the room had been switched off. Yue Longze lay on the bed with his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling.

He could not sleep. On a night like this, how could anyone sleep?

Mihoko was the same.

Every time the two of them accidentally brushed against each other, they would both recoil at once.

It was a strange feeling. They could have embraced and touched each other freely, and yet on this bed, they did not even dare to touch.

Between them seemed to lie an invisible line that neither dared to cross.

...

“Azor.”

“Mm?”

“When will you leave exactly?”

“Maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after... anyway, sometime within the next few days.”

At that, Mihoko continued, “Which country are you going to?”

“Hm?”

Yue Longze blurted it out reflexively, then immediately realized that Mihoko had always thought he was going abroad.

“Uh... France, maybe.”

He named a country at random, brushing it off.

“I’ve heard France is a very romantic country. The people there are very romantic too.”

“Is that so...”

Yue Longze answered a little absentmindedly.

“Will you hold me?”

Hearing this, Yue Longze did not answer. He merely kept staring at the ceiling. After a long while, he sighed quietly, turned onto his side, and drew Mihoko into his arms, savoring the unique, enchanting fragrance that belonged to her alone.

Mihoko curled up as though she wanted to tuck her entire soft body into his embrace, but the cast on her injured leg made it difficult.

Slowly lifting her little head, she opened her eyes wide, trying to make out his face in the darkness.

“Kiss me.”

She said it again.

Yue Longze fell silent once more. In the end, he spoke slowly. “I... can’t do that.”

Mihoko’s body shuddered, as if she had confessed to the boy she loved and been rejected. She looked deeply disappointed, terribly hurt.

“I know you must have your own difficulties.”

She paused. “So save that kiss for another time, when there’s a chance.”

The night passed in silence.

In that quiet darkness, neither of them slept peacefully.