Chapter 82: An Impulsive Kiss
Watching Su Yuqing’s seemingly exhausted state, Chen Mo couldn’t help but chuckle. ’I didn’t realize her ears were so sensitive.’
However, he wasn’t doing this purely for the sake of teasing Su Yuqing.
Rather, he was confident in his skills and thought he could make Su Yuqing feel truly at ease.
After all, although she had finally voiced the sadness she had been suppressing, it had clearly left her feeling down. Chen Mo hoped that through some actions that could bring her joy, he could dispel any trace of gloom that had accumulated in her heart.
He did indeed succeed. Su Yuqing, who had been immersed in memories of a stormy night with her heart entangled in unpleasant emotions, now had no mental space for anything else after experiencing his masterful ear-cleaning service.
Her ears just felt tingly and itchy, yet a comfortable sensation lingered throughout her body.
This comfortable feeling dispelled the gloom in her heart.
Soon, Chen Mo began to rinse the remaining shampoo from her hair. As the hairdryer roared to life, his long fingers moved through her hair, gently massaging it.
The hot air, carrying the sandalwood scent of the shampoo, blew against her face. Su Yuqing saw the young man’s focused profile in the mirror, and her heart fluttered.
Soon, her hair was dry, and it now had a somewhat fluffy texture.
"Alright, beautiful, your hair is all washed. Now for some conditioner."
After working his magic, Chen Mo smiled at Su Yuqing and asked, "So, are you satisfied with the service?"
Su Yuqing instinctively started to say "thank you" again, but she stopped the words at her lips.
She smiled and nodded.
"Just a nod? After all my hard work, don’t I get a little something as payment?"
Chen Mo had only been teasing, thinking he’d find a time to have Su Yuqing give him a massage as payback. But he never imagined that the moment he finished speaking, the sandalwood scent of shampoo, mingled with her own unique fragrance, would suddenly drift over to him.
Her warm lips, like dew-kissed cherry blossoms in early spring, grazed his cheek as lightly as a dragonfly on water, leaving behind a damp sensation and a lingering, trembling warmth.
Chen Mo’s fingers, hanging at his side, curled unconsciously. The softness of her hair still lingered on his fingertips. The mirror reflected his reddening ear tips and his eyelashes, which had frozen in place.
He had only been joking around, but he never, ever expected Su Yuqing to suddenly make such a bold yet innocent move.
When the sandalwood scent of the shampoo, mixed with her unique fragrance, unexpectedly wafted over, his mind instantly went blank, as if time itself had frozen in that moment.
His cheek first felt a soft warmth. The sensation was like a feather brushing past, yet it carried a heart-stopping electric current that shot through his entire body.
His body froze on the spot as if under a paralysis spell, but his heart pounded like a war drum, threatening to burst from his chest.
He felt his breath catch in his throat and could only stand there foolishly, letting the faint, feminine scent linger at the tip of his nose.
Su Yuqing’s cheeks were already as red as ripe apples. After kissing Chen Mo, her eyes were filled with shyness and panic, like a startled deer.
She didn’t dare to look into Chen Mo’s eyes. She only gave him a quick glance before turning and running out of the bathroom like a gust of wind.
Her footsteps were frantic and hurried, her pace extremely fast, as if something terrifying were chasing her.
After returning to her guest room, Su Yuqing slammed the door shut with a BANG, leaned her back against it, and covered her scalding face with her hands, panting heavily.
Her mind kept replaying the impulsive scene from moments ago, and her heart was beating ridiculously fast.
She couldn’t believe she had done something so impulsive. Shyness and regret intertwined, making her wish she could find a hole to crawl into.
Meanwhile, in the bathroom, it took Chen Mo a long while to slowly come back to his senses.
In the mirror, the young man’s lips were pressed into a restrained, flat line, but a subtle smile flickered in his eyes, like the shimmering light on the waves of a rising spring tide.
He raised his hand and gently touched the cheek Su Yuqing had kissed, a silly smile spreading across his face.
The smile was filled with both surprise and sweetness, as if he had just woken from an incredibly wonderful dream.
His heart felt like it had a little deer running wild inside, and the image of Su Yuqing running away shyly kept flashing through his mind.
Though it was the dead of night, their two restless hearts were beating wildly for each other across the distance.
Su Yuqing panted, her back pressed against the door, cooling her cheeks with the backs of her hands.
Moonlight streamed through the sheer curtains, pooling like a river at her ankles. She stared at the swaying tree shadows on the tile floor, then suddenly reached up and tousled the fluffy crown of her head—the warmth from Chen Mo’s fingertips, which had just run through her hair, now seemed to be searing a path down each strand and straight to her heart.
’It’s over, it’s over, it’s over, what should I do... How could I have been so impulsive...’
Her mind a tangled mess, she just wanted to take a quick shower to calm down.
After putting on a shower cap and getting into the bathroom, Su Yuqing tried to cool her burning body under the stream of warm water.
As the warm water washed over her, Su Yuqing’s mind kept replaying the scene of her boldly kissing Chen Mo’s cheek.
’Will he think I’m easy?’ Su Yuqing bit her lip, her brows knitted together, her heart full of worry.
She remembered Chen Mo’s reaction after the kiss. ’He went so stiff... he must have been shocked, right?’
She was afraid that this kiss would make Chen Mo look down on her, thinking she was a girl with no self-respect who goes around kissing people.
The mere thought of this possibility felt like a thousand needles pricking her heart, causing an intense pain.
A child who was suppressed in their family of origin will often fail to realize their own worth, thus falling into a cycle of anxiety and insecurity.
In other words, no matter how excellently she performed, she never received affirmation from her family, which led her to self-doubt and self-criticism.
Therefore, even though Su Yuqing could sense Chen Mo’s affection for her, she was still afraid her instincts were wrong—that his affection for her hadn’t reached the point where she could kiss him so casually.
Just as Su Yuqing was lost in her wild thoughts, the water suddenly turned cold, making her shrink back instinctively.
Only then did she realize she had turned the hot water valve to the lowest setting.
The condensation on the mirror slowly dripped down, revealing the faint pink on her collarbones, flushed from the steam, like an unbloomed cherry blossom bud on an early spring branch.
She hurriedly reached out to wipe away the water streaks, only to see in the mirror a glisten in the corner of her reflection’s eye that could have been either a water droplet or a tear.
After her shower, Su Yuqing got into her pajamas and was lying on her bed, lost in thought, when suddenly there was a KNOCK KNOCK at the guest room door.
"Come in."
After speaking, she quickly and shyly buried half her face in the goose-down quilt, looking toward the door in embarrassment.