When I Meet the Moon - Extra Chapter 3

Extra Chapter - Yun Ye and Yin Yunyi (Part 3)

With a backpack slung over his shoulders, wearing a duck-billed cap and translucent sunglasses, and dressed in a simple white tee, he stood by the subway station exit. Dressed in light travel gear, he didn't look like someone who had just come from a long journey.

They hadn't seen each other in a year and a half.

Compared to that winter break, Yun Ye had grown taller once again, his frame completely filled out. Standing on the street, he exuded an extraordinary presence.

Nanwu's summer was scorching.

Yin Yunyi held a parasol aloft as she walked to the subway entrance.

Catching sight of her, Yun Ye tucked his phone into his pocket and walked toward her.

During the year or two spent preparing for the college entrance examinations, Yin Yunyi had frequently dreamed of him—always the Yun Ye from their junior high and early high school days. Yet right now, standing right where she was, it took her a long while to process what was happening.

She stood dazed for a few seconds, until Yun Ye was already standing right in front of her, the canopy of her umbrella casting a shadow over the greater part of his face.

She wanted to see his entire face.

Quite naturally, Yin Yunyi handed the parasol over to him.

Taking it seamlessly, he stepped forward another step.

Now, both of them were safely beneath the umbrella's shade.

"Hey there, YY," Yun Ye hooked the corners of his lips.

Yin Yunyi looked up. Beneath the translucent brown lenses were those familiar eyes. She moved her lips, but for the longest time, managed to utter only two words: "Yun Ye......"

A profoundly intense emotion fermented between the two of them; both exercised immense self-restraint to curb the sudden, overwhelming urge to embrace each other.

Yin Yunyi smiled softly. "Those sunglasses look nice."

"Oh." Yun Ye casually removed the sunglasses.

Once again, Yin Yunyi clearly saw those clear, untainted eyes. Tilting his head slightly, he shoved the umbrella handle back into her hand. "Hold this."

She instinctively raised her hand to lift the umbrella higher, but mindful of her height, Yun Ye lowered his head, gradually drawing closer to her.

Her heartbeat grew faster and faster.

Yun Ye pivoted the sunglasses around and slowly slid them onto her face. Stiff as a board, Yin Yunyi felt his fingertips lightly brush against the strands of hair by her ear. The world before her instantly took on a light brown tint, and Yun Ye's eyes were less than ten centimeters away from hers.

It felt ticklish against her ear where the glasses frame had caught in her hair, and Yun Ye was gently smoothing it out for her.

Before she even knew it, her slender fingers had grasped his hand.

Yin Yunyi had no idea why she reacted that way, and the moment both of them realized it, they froze in unison. Fortunately, the sunglasses concealed her emotions; her sole reaction was to repeat those two words once more: "Yun Ye......"

Abruptly, the gentle, familiar scent of laundry detergent from his clothes washed over her in an overwhelming wave.

Yun Ye pulled her straight into his embrace, one hand cradling the back of her head as Yin Yunyi rested her chin against his shoulder, still dazedly clutching the umbrella.

Instantly, a blush crept across her face, her eyes drooping downward to stare at the curve of his neck for several seconds.

Logically, Yin Yunyi wanted to push him away. Yet after her body stiffened for a few brief moments, her other hand slowly reached toward his back and wrapped her arms around him.

So this was what it felt like to be completely unable to control oneself when finally meeting the person lingering in one's every thought.

Yin Yunyi remembered back in junior high, when school let out and she walked out carrying her school bag, she would occasionally spot boys and girls in identical uniforms embracing and kissing.

Back then, she had found it immensely embarrassing. Whenever other people's gazes drifted over, she would lower her head and quicken her pace to escape.

Yet one day, she had witnessed that exact same scene unfold inside a dream.

Only, that time, the boy had raised his head and looked at her with drooping, listless eyes.

Back then, she hadn't understood why her deskmate had randomly wandered into her dreams.

Then she looked toward the young girl held tightly in his embrace.

It was herself from junior high.

Five whole years had passed since that first dream.

And now, she was truly, genuinely holding Yun Ye in her arms.

It was summer, and both of them wore light, thin clothing. Walking down the street, Yin Yunyi felt as though she could still sense the warmth radiating from Yun Ye's body, along with the pressure of his fingers tightening around her shoulder.

When the two of them arrived at a dessert shop and took their seats, Yin Yunyi lightly pinched the fabric of her skirt, stole a sideways glance at Yun Ye, and murmured, "Just this once."

Realizing what she was referring to, Yun Ye propped his chin in his hand, his gaze drifting evasively toward the window as he uttered a feigned, nonchalant "Mm."

Yet the tips of his ears had turned conspicuously red.

Obliviously, Yin Yunyi asked, "What brings you to Nanwu?"

Yun Ye paused, seeming caught off guard by her question.

Yin Yunyi scooped up a spoonful of soft-serve ice cream, noticed his gaze, and asked with a puzzled look, "Is something wrong?"

"Nothing much." Yun Ye spun a white lie. "Came here for a graduation trip, and learning how to drive along the way."

"Huh?" Yin Yunyi bit down gently on her spoon. "But isn't your dad a driving instructor?"

"......"

Yun Ye was left momentarily speechless, answering with a single syllable: "Right."

Yin Yunyi: "Then why did you come all the way to Nanwu to learn how to drive?"

Yun Ye cast a glance at her. Her almond-shaped eyes were wide open, reflecting the indoor lighting.

Yun Ye stared right back at her. "......Nanwu has better weather."

She let out a slow "Oh."

Yin Yunyi couldn't afford to stay out too late. Once Yun Ye walked her to the vicinity of her residential complex, she gave him a small wave goodbye.

With a minimal expression, he nodded in acknowledgment. Still wearing a smile, she turned and slowly walked toward her building.

Her figure gradually vanished from his field of vision.

Yun Ye turned around as well.

While purchasing his ticket at the subway station, memories of their interaction just moments ago bubbled up. The corners of his lips curved upward in an involuntary smile as he hummed a tune lightheartedly, spinning a subway token around between his fingertips.

Pulling out his phone, he saw that Yun Li had placed several missed video calls.

Yun Ye called her back, intentionally holding the phone at a bit of a distance. True to form, Yun Li's voice boomed through the speaker: "Yun Ye!!"

Yun Li glared at him fiercely through the video feed.

Having bolted all the way to Nanwu, Yun Ye felt a twinge of guilt. Operating on the assumption that she couldn't possibly find out, he blustered defensively, "What is it?"

Yun Li: "Can you be a little more subtle when you sneak off to Nanwu?!"

Yun Ye: "......"

Yun Ye: "Damn it, Mom and Dad found out?"

The moment Yun Li got home, she had discovered Yun Ye was missing.

Really missing.

He had claimed he was going to stay at a classmate's place to hang out for a month.

Perhaps stricken with a guilty conscience, he had even cleaned up his entire room before walking out the door.

Yun Yongchang had placed a single phone call to the parents of the supposed classmate, only to be met with a denial, after which calls to Yun Ye went straight to voicemail. Putting two and two together instantly, Yun Li guessed he had run off to Nanwu and forcibly provided cover for him.

Furious, Yun Li demanded, "Who did you learn this from? If you're going to run off to Nanwu, couldn't you at least discuss it with me first?"

The person on the screen leaned closer to the lens, rubbed his eyes, and stared silently at her without saying a word for a long stretch.

Yun Li: "Why are you looking at me like that?"

Yun Ye: "Didn't you just ask me where I learned it?"

"......"

Two years ago, she had indeed pulled the exact same stunt, packing up and heading off to study in Nanwu before telling anyone.

Yun Li swallowed hard, momentarily unable to find a logical argument to defend herself. A moment later, she resorted to sheer bluster: "The circumstances were different."

Yun Ye: "Oh."

"......"

Defeated, Yun Li dropped her tone and asked him amicably, "Where are you staying?"

Yun Ye: "Found a capsule hotel, a little over a thousand a month."

Capsule hotels were similar to youth hostels; each sleeping pod was barely a meter wide, and the bathrooms had to be shared with strangers.

Yun Li frowned deeply. "Surely it hasn't come to that."

Yun Ye: "I need to sign up for the same driving school as Yin Yunyi, so I had to stay here. I'm low on cash."

The master plan to come to Nanwu and take driving lessons alongside Yin Yunyi had already taken shape right after the college entrance exams.

Yun Ye had spent a period working as a private tutor, and once he saved up enough money, he happily scampered off to Nanwu.

The face on the screen suddenly pressed right up against the lens. His eyelids drooped, his features illuminated by the glow of the phone screen, and amusement danced in his eyes. Yet instead of looking at the camera, he was clearly absorbed in a separate app interface.

Speechless, Yun Li muttered, "I'll give you some money, go rent a decent place. Or you can just stay at the apartment I used to rent—the neighborhood is pretty nice, and I still have the contact info for the real estate agent back then. Parts of Nanwu can get a bit sketchy, so stop running around aimlessly."

He remained pressed close to the camera, seemingly typing away and completely ignoring everything she said.

Yun Li: "......"

Yun Li: "Yun Ye, are you even listening to me?"

Absentmindedly, Yun Ye replied, "Nope."

With a subtle upturn of his lips as he replied to a message from Yin Yunyi, the minimized video window vanished entirely the moment he finished.

Yun Ye tossed an emoji at Yun Li, and unsurprisingly, he found himself blocked.

"......"

Standing in place, Yun Ye scratched the back of his head. Letting out a long sigh of exasperation, he resignedly sent the driving school's name and the address of his capsule hotel to Yun Li via text message.

Then he tucked his phone back into his pocket and looked out over the entirely unfamiliar subway platform.

Yawning, he boarded the subway amidst the crowd. As he gripped the overhead strap, his mind drifted back to the hospital: not long after he regained consciousness, Yin Yunyi had walked into his ward with reddened eyes, her hair disheveled and looking utterly exhausted.

Back then, Yin Yunyi had overcome every obstacle just to find him.

And so, whenever she wished to see him, he would appear just the same.

When they finally received their driver's licenses, Yun Ye headed home first, with classes set to begin in another two weeks.

Neither Yun Ye nor Yin Yunyi ever placed romance at the absolute pinnacle of their priorities. The two of them had mapped out numerous futures intertwined with one another—advanced studies, careers—with the mutual understanding that they would always keep pace side by side.

Aside from that embrace shared upon reuniting in Nanwu, their most intimate gesture was sitting together on the steps of the teaching building to eat boxed lunches when they ran out of time to visit the cafeteria. If a stray grain of rice clung to the corner of her lips, Yun Ye would smile with his eyes crinkled, hand her a tissue, and tease, "Got a grain there. Wipe it yourself."

A short semester flew by, and Yin Yunyi and Yun Ye saw each other every single day. After evening self-study sessions concluded, Yun Ye would walk alongside her through the campus grounds, listening to the hum of summer insects and the tranquil stillness of autumn.

They hadn't been entirely free of unpleasant friction, either. On one occasion, Yin Yunyi caught wind of rumors floating around the department claiming that Yun Ye was severely strapped for cash, making do with just a single vegetable dish and a meager portion of rice at the cafeteria.

Later on, for her birthday, she received a rather expensive gift from Yun Ye.

Insisting on transferring the money back to Yun Ye, she was flatly refused by him. Both of them possessed stubborn streaks, but they managed to patch things up soon enough.

Following a five-year unrequited crush, two years of silent companionship, and these past few months of sharing every waking hour, their relationship had reached an unspoken consensus.

Only the final layer of paper remained to be pierced.

During the school sports meeting, Yin Yunyi was drafted to run the 3,000-meter race. Unlike their junior and senior high school days, the sports meet at the Western University of Science and Technology wasn't organized strictly by classes, nor was it surrounded by throngs of cheering onlookers.

Even so, plenty of athletes still marched out in groups.

Yin Yunyi's athletic coordination was nothing to write home about. Fearing she would make a fool of herself in front of Yun Ye, she hadn't breathed a word to him about participating.

Shortly after the starting gun fired, the rest of the pack pulled far ahead. Trailing two laps behind everyone else and pushing herself to complete the full distance with every ounce of remaining strength, Yin Yunyi felt as though she might collapse and pass out on the track at any second.

Panting heavily, she stumbled over to the shaded area beside the spectator stands.

Her legs felt as though they were about to give out entirely.

Stinging sweat blurred her vision. Closing her eyes for a brief moment and opening them again, she found a familiar silhouette materializing right before her.

Yun Ye offered her a bottle of water. Instead of taking it, Yin Yunyi looked up in embarrassment and asked, "Did you watch my race just now?"

Still holding out the bottle with a smile that blended seamlessly into the sunlight, he shook his head in mock cooperation. "Nope."

Knowing he was lying, Yin Yunyi let it go, lowering her head to massage her aching legs.

Yun Ye asked, "Can you walk?"

With sweat still beading on her forehead, Yin Yunyi's gaze drifted toward a nearby bicycle. Pulling coaxingly on the hem of his shirt, she barged, "Could you go borrow one?"

Yun Ye promptly intercepted a passing bicycle and asked the student riding it, "Hey, mind lending me your bike? I need to give her a ride back."

The male student looked from Yun Ye to Yin Yunyi and asked, "Is she your girlfriend?"

Yun Ye frowned. "Why do you need to know?"

With utmost composure, the student replied, "If she's not your girlfriend, I can give her a ride back instead." Without missing a beat, he turned directly to Yin Yunyi: "Classmate, if you're not feeling well, let me take you to the campus clinic."

"......"

Likely failing to anticipate that someone would attempt to poach his territory right before his eyes, Yun Ye stared speechlessly at the guy, then flagged down another passing bicycle. This time, the owner readily agreed.

The bicycle's rear rack was made of metal, so Yun Ye untied his jacket and strapped it across the seat to cushion it. Hopping on effortlessly, he tilted his head toward Yin Yunyi and said with an upbeat lilt in his voice, "Let's go."

Yin Yunyi slowly perched herself on the backseat, her hands grasping the fabric at his waist on either side.

Red running tracks, patches of green shade, paved roads, and crowds of people flashed past them.

Pulling her gaze back to the broad back right in front of her, she looked lower down to her own hands clutching his clothes, causing the fabric to bunch up into jagged folds.

On other bicycles carrying passengers around them, the girls all held onto the boys with affectionate, relaxed embraces.

Desiring to take their relationship to the next level apparently didn't require any grand justification after all.

Simply because whenever the impulse to hold him washed over her, she wanted to be able to do so without restraint.

Reaching around from behind, Yin Yunyi wrapped her arms tightly around his waist and felt his body tense up abruptly.

A soft voice drifted to him through the rushing wind: "Yun Ye, when are we going to officially get together?"

The roar of the wind muted Yun Ye's voice considerably, yet she still heard those two words with crystal clarity.

"Soon."

When the mid-term exams drew to a close, both Yin Yunyi and Yun Ye scored well across their respective subjects. This marked their very first official date since arriving at the Western University of Science and Technology.

Yun Ye had driven his family's car over to the entrance of the student dormitories.

Rarely one to go out for leisure, Yin Yunyi had been clumsily applying makeup in her dorm room. The moment she slipped into her dress, her roommates began teasing her relentlessly: "Yunyi, are you going out on a date?"

Embarrassed, Yin Yunyi mumbled, "No...... just hanging out with a friend."

"Which friend?"

Deciding there was no need to hide it, Yin Yunyi answered honestly, "Yun Ye, from our same major."

Her roommates widened their eyes in absolute shock, squealing in excitement. "You mean that tall, drop-dead gorgeous guy? Holy crap, you guys are going out alone?! Is he chasing you? Or are you chasing him?"

Faced with a barrage of questions, Yin Yunyi didn't know which one to answer first. After pondering for a moment, she offered a gentle smile. "Mm, yeah. The tall, drop-dead gorgeous one."

One of her roommates sighed enviously, "Yunyi, you are so lucky. I want a boyfriend who's that tall and handsome too."

That seemed to encapsulate the image Yun Ye had held in her heart all along.

Or perhaps not.

Back when they were teenagers, the boy hadn't been tall at all.

She hadn't fallen for him because he was tall and handsome, after all.

After all, back when the boy was shorter than her, she had already given him her heart.

Stepping outside, she spotted Yun Ye waiting downstairs by the dorm building. Dressed in a white tee and casual trousers, he blinked in surprise the moment his gaze landed on Yin Yunyi, taking a few seconds to process the sight before slowly murmuring, "You look great."

Carrying a slim-chained shoulder bag, Yin Yunyi was unaccustomed to Yun Ye offering direct compliments like that. Seeking a distraction, she changed the subject: "Where are we going?"

"Let's go back and take a look at our old high school." Yun Ye jingled the car keys in his hand.

The high school department remained just as aged and weathered as it had been years ago, untouched by any major renovations.

After leading Yin Yunyi back into their former classroom, Yun Ye excused himself on the pretext of heading to the restroom and vanished for a while.

The golden light of dusk flooded the entire classroom. Yin Yunyi sat atop a desk, gently swinging her legs back and forth as she gazed at the blackboard on the podium. Years had passed, and it had long since been replaced with a brand-new one.

A sudden sound shattered the quiet.

She watched as a drone drifted in through the doorway, hovering slowly right in front of her with a postcard clipped to its frame—

[Yin Yunyi:

There's something Yun Ye wants to tell you.

—Class 15, Grade 2]

Yin Yunyi's heart skipped a beat.

Following the drone, she walked slowly past the classrooms and corridors they had once traversed together, finally coming to a halt on the basketball court.

The basketball court had been freshly repainted with crisp white boundary lines over pristine asphalt. Though the ground was brand-new, it effortlessly summoned memories of those countless days and nights when the boy sprinted across the tarmac, his breathing growing shallow after shooting a basket, droplets of sweat tracing his movements against the earth—reminding her of something she only understood now: those gazes had never been accidental glances tossed her way.

Surrounded by the dense sheen of sweat on Yun Ye's skin, white, glowing scented candles arranged on the ground formed the shape of a dried cherry blossom—the very first letter of her name. Yin Yunyi suddenly recalled that her pencil case back in middle school had been printed with cherry blossoms.

No wonder every single gift she received later on featured cherry-blossom-themed wrapping paper or cards.

Taking in the scene before her, Yin Yunyi reached out, caught the drone, and plucked the postcard from its clip.

Before Yun Ye could even speak, a smile bloomed across her face as she said softly, "Yun Ye, I like you—"

"I want to be with you."

Before Yun Ye could deliver his prepared lines, he blinked in a half-beat of bewilderment and stammered, "I hadn't started yet."

"I know," Yin Yunyi looked at him earnestly. "I've liked you for years. I fell for you first, so I wanted you to know first."

Ever since she realized she had to tilt her head upward to meet the boy's gaze, or perhaps even earlier—the moment she caught herself unconsciously keeping her eyes fixed on him.

Yun Ye tucked his hands into his pockets, letting out a boyish, self-deprecating laugh a moment later. "You got it wrong, though."

Years ago, right around the time you started liking me, I had already fallen for you too.

And just like you, I've loved you all this time, deeply and without reservation.