A Love Confession - Chapter 15

Chapter 15 - Intertwined Palms in the Dark

Xu Sui handed the Band-Aid over, and Zhou Jingze took it, slipping it into his pocket as he looked at her: "Have you eaten?"

"No." Xu Sui's mind felt a bit dazed, prompting her to utter the two words almost instinctively.

Zhou Jingze nodded, his voice raspy: "Then keep me company while I grab a bite."

"Ah, sure," Xu Sui replied, while mentally offering three silent apologies to Hu Xixi.

Zhou Jingze walked forward with his hands in his pockets, and Xu Sui noticed a white plastic bag hooked over his little finger, with medicinal liquor faintly visible inside. After taking a few steps forward, Zhou Jingze noticed she hadn't kept up, stopping to turn back and look at her.

Xu Sui hurried to catch up. She desperately wanted to ask questions like "Is the injury serious?", but his emotional atmosphere was rather chilly tonight, and besides, in what capacity could she ask? Realizing this, the words died right on her lips.

The two of them arrived at a dumpling shop. The eatery was on the verge of closing, and the proprietress stood by the stove letting out a yawn, her eyes reddened from an entire evening of heavy steam.

"Little Zhou, you're here?" the proprietress greeted with a smile.

"Yeah, how's business today?" Zhou Jingze asked.

The proprietress rubbed her eyes and said, "It's been pretty good today. As soon as it gets cold, takeout orders pick up too, and it's been a bit too busy to keep up." With one hand in his pocket, Zhou Jingze smiled and said, "Hard work."

Zhou Jingze lifted his hand to point toward a nearby spot, gesturing for her to sit down. Xu Sui sat down, pulled out a tissue to wipe off the table, and looked over.

Zhou Jingze stood there and spoke to the proprietress: "Two bowls of water dumplings."

After placing the order, Zhou Jingze sat down across from her. His distinct, clearly defined knuckles tapped lightly against the tabletop as if deep in thought. He was never much of a talker to begin with, and since Xu Sui wasn't particularly skilled at making conversation either, an awkward silence stretched out between them.

The proprietress served two steaming bowls of dumplings, followed immediately by two marinated tea eggs on a small bone plate which she set on the table, her tone hearty and bright: "We're about to close up, these are on the house."

"Thank you," Zhou Jingze said politely.

A brimming bowl of dumplings was placed in front of Xu Sui. She picked up a small condiment bottle and poured a generous amount of vinegar into it as if it didn't cost a dime. Seeing this, Zhou Jingze raised an eyebrow: "You can handle that much sourness?"

"Just flavoring it," Xu Sui explained.

"You can try it," Xu Sui said with a smile, "but you should only add a little bit."

After all, her way of eating wasn't typical, and an ordinary person's stomach wouldn't be able to handle it. Taking her suggestion, Zhou Jingze added just a touch of vinegar, and sure enough, it piqued his appetite a bit.

As they sat facing each other eating, Xu Sui could tell he was in low spirits, so her mind frantically searched through jokes and memes she had seen online.

"Let me quiz you on a few questions," Xu Sui said, looking straight at him with a serious expression. "Why did the frog lose to the dog in a swimming competition?"

Zhou Jingze: ?

"Because the frog used the breaststroke and committed a foul."

Zhou Jingze twitched the corner of his mouth. Undeterred, Xu Sui continued: "Why can Xiao Wang comfortably whistle while brushing his dentures at the same time?"

Zhou Jingze: ?

Dimples bloomed on Xu Sui's cheeks: "Because he was brushing fake teeth!"

...

After paying the bill, Zhou Jingze walked out of the shop. The snack street had long since emptied of pedestrians. He walked forward with his hands in his pockets while Xu Sui kept her head down, racking her brain to figure out where she had gone wrong. It was clearly a funny joke.

A sudden thought occurring to her, Xu Sui hurried to catch up with Zhou Jingze and tapped him on the shoulder: "Since that didn't work, I'm going to have to pull out my ultimate killer move."

"What's that?" Zhou Jingze turned back.

Xu Sui was wearing a hoodie today. She pulled the hood up at some point, tucked her arms inside her sleeves, opened her eyes wide, and pulled a funny face at him while playfully tugging down her lower eyelids with her fingers.

Yet her eyes were large and clear, and clad in a white hoodie, she possessed zero intimidation factor.

Fiercely adorable in a milky, harmless way.

"What are you doing?" Zhou Jingze raised his eyebrows.

"Playing a ghost. Doesn't it look like one?" Xu Sui's expression was full of innocent confusion.

"What kind of ghost?"

"A happy ghost," Xu Sui replied.

This answer made Zhou Jingze burst into laughter. His chest vibrated and he couldn't hold back his breath, breaking into the first genuine smile of the evening—not the kind that mechanically twitched at the corners of his mouth.

Struggling to pull her arms back out of her sleeves, Xu Sui muttered as if talking to herself: "You finally laughed."

He was finally happy.

After parting ways with Zhou Jingze, Xu Sui walked back to the campus at a brisk pace. Reaching the dorm, she pushed open the door, and 1017 scampered out to scurry around her feet. Without time to pay attention to the orange cat, Xu Sui apologized to Hu Xixi, who was lying in bed: "Sorry for the delay, Xixi, something came up."

"It's fine, thanks for your hard work."

After taking a shower and climbing into bed, Xu Sui fished out her phone and found a new text message.

Sent by zjz: [Thanks for tonight.]

Xu Sui typed out "You're welcome" in the chat box, but decided it felt too formal, deleted it, and sent a new one: [No problem. Did you get back safely?]

The tight grip she kept on her phone relaxed when the screen lit up two minutes later. zjz: [Got back. Just finished a shower.]

The corners of Xu Sui's mouth curled upward as she sent a cautious reply: [Then good night.]

Xu Sui enjoyed a sound sleep. In stark contrast to her good mood, Hu Xixi's mood lately wasn't quite as pleasant. Sheng Nanzhou had called her several times, every single one of which she ignored.

His attempts to send snacks through intermediaries proved equally ineffective, as Hu Xixi rejected them all outside her door.

When Xu Sui and Hu Xixi went outside the campus to buy milk tea, Xu Sui tentatively asked if she truly didn't plan on forgiving Sheng Nanzhou. The young lady replied: [Not forgiving him even if I die. He went way too overboard this time.]

Sheng Nanzhou hadn't spared any effort in badgering Hu Xixi in the past, and this time he knew he had genuinely crossed a line. However, Hu Xixi wouldn't answer his calls and refused to see him face-to-face, so he begged Zhou Jingze to use the pretext of treating everyone to dinner. His plan was for Xu Sui to lure Hu Xixi out so he could apologize in person.

Zhou Jingze agreed, adding a swift kick to Sheng Nanzhou's shin for good measure: "I told you to bully her less."

"Yes, yes, Lord Zhou—no, Uncle, I was wrong," Sheng Nanzhou pleaded in a mock kneeling posture.

Sitting in his chair, Zhou Jingze leaned forward to grab the phone off the desk and message Xu Sui, coaching her on how to lie.

When Hu Xixi heard Xu Sui mention that Zhou Jingze had won a flight competition and secured prize money to treat everyone to dinner, she was half-sceptical: "He's only a freshman, what kind of flying!"

"Helicopter flying, he... doesn't he have a private license?" Xu Sui momentarily stumbled for words, glad she managed to pull a reason out of thin air.

"Fine, I suppose. Sheng Nanzhou isn't coming, right?" Hu Xixi asked while trimming her fingernails.

Following Zhou Jingze's instructions that a lie must be told while looking someone straight in the eye for them to believe it, Xu Sui forced herself to meet the young lady's gaze, feigning calm as she answered: "He's not coming."

Hu Xixi finally agreed to go to the dinner.

On Wednesday evening, following the address provided by Zhou Jingze, Xu Sui and Hu Xixi arrived at an upscale European-style hotel in the city. The moment they stepped inside, a waiter wearing a red bow tie came forward to greet them, guiding them to swipe a card and board the elevator straight up to the 23rd floor.

As the elevator doors slid open, an intricate, handmade imported patterned carpet stretched directly beneath their feet, and warm glass chandeliers hung overhead. Walking forward alongside Hu Xixi, Xu Sui glanced at the other patrons moving about, whose upscale attire radiated wealth and distinction.

A wave of acute awareness washed over her—Zhou Jingze truly came from an extraordinary background and was exceptionally brilliant, making the gap between her and him starkly real.

Arriving at private room 2309, Hu Xixi pushed the door open and immediately spotted a mousse cake placed right in the center of the table, along with Sheng Nanzhou, whom she desperately wanted to punch.

Realizing she had been played, Hu Xixi instinctively reached out to shake Xu Sui, shouting: "Oh, so Xu Sui, you've even learned how to lie now."

"I—" Desperate to dodge, Xu Sui instinctively ducked behind Zhou Jingze.

With a piercing gaze and an unreadable expression, Zhou Jingze spoke up unceremoniously: "I taught her."

"Alright," Zhou Jingze shoved his hands into his pockets and tilted his head to look at Xu Sui standing behind him. "Accompany me downstairs to buy a pack of cigarettes."

This was Zhou Jingze's way of carving out space for the two of them. Catching his drift, Xu Sui followed him downstairs.

The pair headed to a nearby convenience store amidst gusts of chilly wind. Zhou Jingze went inside to purchase a pack of cigarettes, and while he was paying at the counter, Xu Sui's stomach chose that exact moment to let out an uncooperative growl.

"39.8," the clerk wearing an orange vest announced.

Pausing mid-reach for his wallet, Zhou Jingze glanced sideways at her slightly flushed ear tips and let out a lazy, amused chuckle. "Get her a serving of oden too."

Standing in place, Xu Sui started waving her hands to refuse, but Zhou Jingze had already turned around, fished a cigarette out of the pack, and clamped it between his lips. With a sharp click of his lighter, he brushed past her, dropping a low rumble right beside her ear:

"Order whatever you want, little one."

While Zhou Jingze stepped outside to smoke, Xu Sui sat inside the convenience store's counter seating area to eat her oden. She had ordered two skewers of fish balls, a skewer of kelp, a sausage, and a few other small snacks, finishing every last bite.

As she ate, she kept stealing glances through the glass window at the man smoking not far away.

Once Xu Sui finished eating, Zhou Jingze gestured for her to come outside. The moment she stepped up to him, he efficiently stamped out his cigarette butt and checked the time:

"That's about enough time, let's head back up."

The two of them took the elevator back up together. As luck would have it, they were the only occupants inside the car. Xu Sui stood slightly toward the front while Zhou Jingze stayed near the left-hand side, leaning his head back against the wall. His Adam's apple rolled slowly up and down, exuding an inexplicable allure.

"Do you think they'll make up?" Xu Sui asked.

The elevator indicator screen flashed to show they had reached the 11th floor. Just as Zhou Jingze opened his mouth to reply, a heavy thud shook the entire car, and the elevator shuddered violently.

In the next second, with a sharp snap, the elevator lights cut out entirely, plunging the interior into pitch-black darkness. The absolute dark magnified every shred of fear and claustrophobia tenfold.

Never did they expect to run into a one-in-a-million elevator malfunction. A wave of panic seized Xu Sui, and she instinctively turned around, only to find she couldn't see Zhou Jingze anywhere in the dark.

"Zhou Jingze?"

After calling out twice with no response, Xu Sui fought hard to suppress the rising panic in her chest and immediately pressed the emergency alarm button. A voice responded through the intercom system. The moment Xu Sui spoke, she noticed her voice was trembling:

"Hello, the elevator has broken down here. Could you please send someone to help as soon as possible?"

"Hello, could you please specify your current location?" the maintenance staff member asked.

"Building F, 11th floor," Xu Sui forced her voice to remain steady before adding urgently, "Please hurry."

Ending the call, Xu Sui felt her way through the dark toward the back of the elevator. Pulling out her phone, she checked the signal—one single bar—and the battery indicator read 3%. Utilizing the meager illumination from her phone screen, she peered forward.

She discovered that Zhou Jingze had slumped down into a corner at some point. With his eyes tightly shut and his eyelashes trembling, beads of sweat the size of soybeans were rolling down his forehead.

Her heart tightening, Xu Sui hurried over to squat in front of him, giving his arm a gentle nudge: "Zhou Jingze."

Struggling to force his eyelids open, Zhou Jingze shot her a single glance before letting his head drop back against the wall. He felt like a sponge sinking endlessly into the depths of a dark ocean—helpless and terrified.

His mind flashed back to that damp attic, with dark spiders crawling all over the walls. A suffocating sensation closed in around him, feeling precisely as though someone had clamped their hands around his throat, robbing him of oxygen inch by inch. He struggled frantically to escape, only to realize all his efforts were entirely futile.

Squatting beside him, Xu Sui watched as Zhou Jingze struggled to catch his breath, his chest heaving violently, sweat plastering down his dark eyelashes, and his face drained of all color.

Back when they were classmates in high school, she had heard rumors that he suffered from claustrophobia, but she had always assumed it was a joke. It turned out to be entirely true.

Seeing him in such intense agony, a sharp pang of heartache rippled through her core. Xu Sui's heart twisted into a tight knot—not born from her usual romantic infatuation, but from a desperate longing to do something, anything, to alleviate his present torment.

If she could, she would gladly bear this suffering in his place.

Hesitating for a fleeting second, Xu Sui gently closed her hand around his wrist and whispered: "Don't be afraid."

With his eyes clamped shut, Zhou Jingze felt himself plunging deeper into boundless darkness, much like a cargo container sinking into the deep sea, utterly sealed off while seawater seeped inward from all sides, drowning out his throat, mouth, and nose bit by bit.

Amidst the pitch-black void, someone caught hold of his wrist. Warmth began to seep over piece by piece like a soft feather or a beam of sunlight, and he clearly heard a gentle voice repeating over and over:

"Don't be afraid."

Struggling to lift his heavy eyelids, a soft-featured face came into view. Her dark, clear pupils mirrored his face alone, acting like a drifting piece of driftwood seized in the middle of a dark night.

Following the connection of that hand, he turned his grip over, his fingers sliding slowly downward. His broad palm pressed firmly against hers as if ironing out the creases of each other's blood vessels, thick calluses brushing against tender skin, until their palms locked tightly together in the dark.