Chapter 2: An Indirect Kiss

But where was he supposed to find sugar for Xia Zhiwei in this godforsaken equipment room?

Su Ze turned a worried circle—and spotted the cup of milk tea he had casually set on the floor earlier.

Thank goodness he had decided to enjoy life this time around. If he had stuck to the rules the way he had in his last life, he would never have taken a detour to Mixue for milk tea while fetching equipment.

Who would have thought that such a casual decision could save someone’s life?

Su Ze quickly picked up the cup, went over to Xia Zhiwei, and offered it to her.

“I’ve got some milk tea left. Would you… mind making do with this to get your blood sugar up?”

Xia Zhiwei stared at the straw he had chewed almost beyond recognition. Hesitation crossed her pale face.

But the cold in her limbs and the dizziness in her head were growing worse by the moment. Her instinct to survive soon overcame her reserve.

“…I don’t mind. Thank you.”

She lifted her shaking hands to accept the cup, carefully cradling it between her palms.

Su Ze took the opportunity to head back to the entrance and check through the little window beside it for any sign of help.

Xia Zhiwei laboriously raised a hand and tried to peel the seal off the milk tea.

Whether she was simply too weak or her blood sugar had fallen too far, she couldn’t say. Even after several attempts, she couldn’t tear open that thin film.

At last, blushing, she lowered her head, closed her lips around the straw Su Ze had used, and drank the sweet milk tea in eager gulps.

A few minutes later, as the sugar gradually entered her bloodstream, some of the deathly pallor left her face.

Su Ze came back from his lookout and plopped down beside her.

He glanced at Xia Zhiwei, who was staring quietly into space. He couldn’t understand how someone as clever as he was had ended up unable to get a decent meal.

Didn’t her family give her enough money to live on?

Getting into an elite school like Modu University was a hell of an achievement. Anyone who managed it would have been among the top students in their province, even if they hadn’t ranked first in the entrance exams.

Wouldn’t a normal family practically worship a kid like that? Why would they skimp on her living expenses?

Still, Su Ze kept those thoughts to himself.

He had spent a few years in the working world in his previous life, after all. He understood the importance of boundaries.

He barely knew Xia Zhiwei. He wasn’t about to pry into her private affairs.

They sat side by side against the cabinet, neither saying a word.

An awkward silence settled over the basement.

After a while, Xia Zhiwei began shifting her legs restlessly.

Beneath her sailor-style skirt, she pressed her thighs together and clamped her knees tight.

Her hands lay one over the other against her lower abdomen. Anxiety crept onto her beautiful face.

Su Ze had been sitting there lost in thought. Catching those odd movements out of the corner of his eye, he looked over again.

Why had she suddenly started squirming?

Had someone put something weird in that cup from Mixue?

Concerned for his fellow student, he asked, “What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?”

Xia Zhiwei kept her head down, biting her lower lip. It took her a long time to whisper, “I… need the bathroom.”

Oh. So she needed to pee!

She’d nearly scared him to death. He had been trying to figure out which bastard wanted him hurt badly enough to bribe an employee to spike his milk tea.

He had drunk some too, after all. If Xia Zhiwei had been drugged, he wouldn’t be getting off scot-free either.

An aphrodisiac would be one thing. What if it was cockroach killer or rat poison?

Su Ze got up and looked around. For the moment, he really had no idea how to solve the bathroom problem.

Expecting to find a restroom in this basement was about as reasonable as expecting to find a gold mine in the middle of the road.

He looked at Xia Zhiwei, opened his mouth, then hesitated. He had been about to suggest that, if it came to it, she could just pee right here.

There weren’t any security cameras, after all. It would only be inconsiderate—and make extra work for the cleaner.

Then again, Xia Zhiwei was a girl. She was bound to be too embarrassed to do anything of the sort.

With no better idea, he started wandering around the equipment room, hoping to find a solution.

And, wouldn’t you know it, there really was an abandoned toilet at the very back.

Su Ze tried giving its precariously hanging door a push.

The next second, it fell inward with a crash, sending a ring of dust billowing up from the floor.

Covering his nose, he peered inside. The little restroom had no light.

Apart from a yellowed squat toilet, it contained nothing at all.

Still, something was better than nothing.

If Xia Zhiwei was going to be fussy under these circumstances, she could wet herself for all he cared.

Su Ze ran back to tell her what he had found. “There actually is an old toilet at the back. It’s pretty rough, but it’s better than going on the floor.”

Her dull eyes immediately lit up.

Holding on to the cabinet, she slowly got to her feet.

She had been holding it for so long that every step was difficult. Her legs remained pressed tightly together.

They soon reached the restroom entrance.

But Xia Zhiwei stopped dead and refused to go any farther.

When she still hadn’t moved after a while, Su Ze assumed she was too embarrassed to use the toilet with him there. Taking the hint, he stepped back.

Seeing him about to leave, she hurriedly caught his arm. “You… don’t go.”

Su Ze gave her a baffled look.

She bit her lip, embarrassed. “I’m a little scared to go in alone… Could you wait outside for me?”

Su Ze stared at her.

The famously aloof campus beauty was asking him to keep her company while she went to the bathroom?

Even in a novel, that would be one hell of a plot development.

But she looked so close to tears that he decided to indulge her this once.

“All right. I don’t mind, as long as you aren’t embarrassed.”

He obligingly turned his back to the restroom.

Xia Zhiwei bit her lip as she looked at him standing with his back to her.

The thought of using the toilet with a boy right there made her burn with shame, her face flushing all the way to her ears.

But she was at her limit. There was no time to worry about that. She hurried inside and crouched over the squat toilet.

Soon, Su Ze heard rustling and a trickle of water behind him.

To distract himself from the awkwardness, he silently began reciting the periodic table.

Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron. Carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, neon…

By the time he reached osmium, iridium, platinum, gold, and mercury, the sound had finally dwindled and stopped.

Those few dozen seconds felt unbearably long to both of them, on either side of the doorway.

“Um, are you done?”

“Not yet. Just a second…”

Behind him came the hurried sounds of clothes being pulled into place and a skirt being straightened.

A little later, Xia Zhiwei emerged from the dark restroom.

There was no tap inside. She could only keep her hands behind her back, nervously rubbing them against the edge of her pleated skirt.

Su Ze turned around. Even in the weak light, he could see that her lovely face was as red as a ripe cherry.

Her pale neck and ears had turned pink too.

He couldn’t help staring. This was the first time he had seen a girl blush like this in real life.

And this was the campus beauty who always seemed so distant. Who would have thought she could look so adorable when she was embarrassed? The contrast with her usual manner was striking.

Noticing his gaze, Xia Zhiwei flushed even more deeply. Her voice was barely audible. “Um… let’s go back to the cabinet.”

Su Ze came to his senses. “Oh… right.”

They had just returned to the cabinet when footsteps sounded outside.

Chains rattled, and someone pushed the iron door open from the other side.

A figure appeared against the light, like a god descending to earth.

Su Ze was almost moved to tears. At last, someone had come to rescue him from a situation so awkward he could have dug an entire apartment out of the floor with his toes.

Then his savior opened his mouth and ruined the moment.

“Su? Where are you? Hiding in here having a wank?”

It was Su Ze’s roommate, Wang Tao.

Calling his name, Wang Tao swept his gaze around the spacious equipment room.

He soon spotted the two of them in the corner and strode over.

Once he reached them, his eyes widened. He looked at Su Ze sitting on the floor, then at Xia Zhiwei beside the cabinet.

The girl was wearing a revealing sailor-style uniform. Red marks and dirt marred her pale skin, and her disheveled clothes clung to her body.

One look at Wang Tao’s expression told Su Ze that the idiot had got entirely the wrong idea.

Sure enough, Wang Tao spoke the next second, his voice trembling. “Su… you two get this wild in a basement without even turning the lights on?”

“And a sexy little costume too… Seriously, aren’t you worried someone’ll catch you?”

At his unfiltered dirty jokes, Xia Zhiwei’s cheeks went from pink to tomato red.

She lifted her head in mortification and glared fiercely at him, her normally cool eyes full of embarrassed anger.

It wasn’t a particularly intimidating glare. If anything, it gave Wang Tao something else to wonder about.

Why did a glare from the ice queen look more like a pout?

No wonder Su had fallen for her.

Su Ze braced his hands against the floor and got up, then drove a merciless Black Mamba elbow into Wang Tao. “What the hell are you talking about? Can you get your mind out of the gutter for once?”

He turned back to the girl still sitting on the floor. “You should get going. It’s not safe to stay here too long. Someone else might turn up any minute.”

Xia Zhiwei nodded and used the cabinet door to pull herself to her feet.

She hastily smoothed her messy hair, then tugged at her short skirt, trying to coax a little more coverage out of the scant fabric.

Before leaving, she looked at Su Ze and thanked him earnestly. “I’ll go, then. Thank you so much for today.”

With that, she ducked her head, squeezed through the gap between them, and fled the equipment room in disarray. Soon, she was out of sight.

Su Ze looked away, took a trolley of basketballs, and returned to the sports field with Wang Tao for class.

…

After class, Su Ze and Wang Tao headed toward their dorm.

On the way, Su Ze gave him a selective account of what had happened.

He left out the suspected bullying. He only said that Xia Zhiwei had collapsed inside because of low blood sugar, and someone had then accidentally locked the two of them in the equipment room.

Wang Tao reluctantly accepted that nothing had happened between them.

The excitement in his eyes didn’t fade, though. Xia Zhiwei wasn’t the reason for it.

“That’s what I thought! You’re supposed to confess to our class beauty this afternoon. How could you turn around and get involved with the campus beauty instead?”

Su Ze froze. “Confess?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you ask me to order ninety-nine roses?”

Not noticing anything amiss, Wang Tao continued, “I’ve already taken the flowers back to the dorm. Xu and Zhang have got the candles and everything else ready too. All we’re waiting for is the end of afternoon classes.”

“We’re going to give Lin Wan’er the most spectacular confession ever!”

“And hey, if this works, dinner’s on you. You owe us.”

The name Lin Wan’er gave Su Ze the beginnings of a headache.

Lin Wan’er was their class’s undisputed beauty, and she had been his dream girl throughout university.

His nightmare girl would have been more accurate.

To be fair, she did have her principles. All those years, she had only ever strung him along. She had never flirted with another man at the same time.

Even so, pursuing Lin Wan’er had cost him dearly.