After a flush of water, Yudong opened the Glass Door and slowly walked back to the dining table.
On her pale face, one could even faintly see red finger marks.
“Yudong, how did you…”
Yezhe could still notice these abnormalities. It wasn’t just on her face; Yezhe felt like Yudong was completely off after she came out.
Compared to her happy self from just a moment ago, the girl now seemed like a different person altogether.
“Yezhe, drink some Alcohol with me.”
Yudong pulled her stool back and sat down quickly.
She ignored Yezhe’s question, her tone carrying an unquestionable coldness as her hand reached directly for the can of Beer on the table.
“Yudong, are you… alright.?”
“Hmm? You don’t want to drink?”
Answering with an irrelevant question, Yudong tilted her head and squeezed out a smile at Yezhe.
Her hands never stopped trying to open the Beer; she even sped up a bit.
“Drink with me.”
The plastic wrap made a “ripping” sound over and over as Yudong’s nails tore at it.
Perhaps because she was moving too fast, her fingertips slipped several times while grabbing the film, making Yudong a bit impatient.
“Thanks.”
If her previous actions were those of a person tearing with their hands, then the girl now possessed the ruthlessness of a shredder; she only stopped once the plastic film in her hands had been torn to shreds.
Ignoring Yezhe’s surprised gaze, she pulled out two cans and hooked her fingertip through the ring pull on the Beer can.
She opened it, letting the splashing foam soak her fingers, and shoved it into Yezhe’s hand, which was suspended in mid-air.
Yudong also held a can in her own hand, placing it quietly on the table.
“What’s wrong? You don’t want to drink?”
Seeing that the boy’s hand in the air refused to move, Yudong seemed a bit angry.
“You promised me.”
As soon as she spoke, the girl nearly slammed the Beer can onto the table.
After a loud bang, she rose into a half-squat on her chair, leaning her whole body toward Yezhe.
“Yudong, slow…”
Yezhe’s words were cut in half, glared back into his stomach by the girl’s gaze.
Right now, the girl was looking down, pressing her gaze tightly against Yezhe’s.
Her heavy breath hit his face again and again; there was practically no distance between her lips and the boy’s nose.
Her forehead was pressed directly against his.
Their cool skin touched, with a few thin strands of bangs caught in between.
Due to the pressure, they dug slightly into the boy’s skin, the mild stinging sensation making him a bit uncomfortable.
At this distance, unless Yezhe closed his eyes, it was impossible for him to ignore Yudong’s gaze.
Or rather, the girl did this specifically to make Yezhe look directly at her…
To look directly at her determination, to look directly at her madness, and to look directly at her unreserved, almost sickly love for the boy.
This gaze was like a bottomless black hole, drawing in Yezhe’s line of sight bit by bit.
An invisible pressure spread from her pupils like a fine net, or like endless seawater, intending to wrap him up tightly and make him lose himself completely.
This look…
It couldn’t help but remind Yezhe of the crazy look in the girl’s eyes the First Time he went to the Hospital…
If there was one difference, compared to the confusion of that day, this time there seemed to be an added layer of determination…?
The two stayed in this stalemate for who knows how long.
The breath hitting Yezhe’s face grew hotter, yet he clearly felt the surroundings were terrifyingly cold.
“I’ll drink, I’ll drink…”
After a long silence, Yezhe finally agreed to the girl’s request. Hearing the boy’s consent, the girl let out a burst of joyful laughter.
Yet this laughter felt more like a warning, sounding exceptionally abrupt in this quiet space.
After moving her face away, the girl’s gaze remained glued to Yezhe, unwilling to look away for even a second.
If I had refused just now… what would have happened?
What was I thinking?
Yezhe wasn’t very sure… he couldn’t guess what the girl wanted to do right now.
He was even a bit afraid, but he didn’t know the reason for his fear…
However, if I had refused… things would have definitely become serious.
Just like that night.
Thinking of this, a cold sweat actually broke out on the boy’s back; he was a bit panicked.
“Yezhe, you really are the best…”
A faint sound came from the girl’s throat as she raised her bottle and clinked it against the can in Yezhe’s hand.
“Cheers.”
And so, the girl placed her delicate lips against the rim of the can.
Her hand and head tilted back sharply, and the slightly bitter wheat juice flowed downward toward her stomach, pulled by Earth’s gravity.
“Cough, cough!”
However, the movement was a bit too forceful. The moment the liquid touched her mouth, a violent coughing sound suddenly erupted.
The bitterness of the Beer and the stimulation of the carbonation charged at the girl’s taste buds with lightning speed, and her eyes turned red from the discomfort of choking.
But she didn’t stop, even as the Beer surged up from her coughing and sprayed into the air, even as the pale yellow liquid overflowed from the corners of her mouth, flowing down her neck and soaking the fabric on her chest.
……
Yudong didn’t know how to drink Alcohol.
Even if she did, she would only try fruit wines that were slightly sweet on the palate, rather than bitter wheat juice.
Compared to fruit wine, Yudong felt that drinking Beer and spirits with such obviously unpleasant tastes was clearly a form of masochism, so she didn’t understand why some people were addicted to Alcohol, when it clearly tasted deathly awful.
Beer is slightly bitter on the palate, and spirits are pungent, but while fruit wine also has an alcohol content—some even similar to Beer—it doesn’t cause discomfort when drinking.
It was more like Chocolate wrapped in a sugar coating; one wouldn’t get drunk, yet could still relatively experience the feeling of Alcohol, though a bit of bitterness could still be found if tasted carefully.
Why would anyone like to drink it?
Every day near evening, she would always see one or two, or even a group of middle-aged men storm into the Store with the force of thunder. They would order some side dishes, bring a case of Beer, lift their shirts to reveal fatty beer bellies, and either squat on their stools or shout loudly. Or they would fill small cups with spirits and silently look out the Window alone, picking up the glass from time to time and finishing it in one gulp.
Usually, by the time they were halfway through drinking, Yudong would get off work.
And when the girl had finished packing up to leave, it was exactly when the alcohol was starting to go to their heads.
There were either sounds of “Drinking games!”, deafening laughter, or the subconscious sighs produced when stimulated by spirits.
Noise was inevitable. Seeing this scene day after day couldn’t help but make the girl think.
Drinking allows one to forget pain, so they can laugh without restraint.
Drinking can also stir up pain; she had seen with her own eyes people drinking spirits while shedding tears.
Some fear pain, so they want to use the momentum of the Alcohol to forget it completely; some remember pain, so they use the pungency of the Alcohol to constantly warn themselves.
Thus, Yudong believed:
“Alcohol” = Increasing/Decreasing “Pain”
In the past, the girl had wanted to try what it felt like to be drunk more than once.
If I get drunk, can I forget these unhappy things?
If I get drunk, would I have the liquid courage to confess my feelings to the boy?
If I get drunk and then sleep, would I no longer have to endure the pain of insomnia?
Or could I, after getting drunk, have a good, long cry without any worries?
……
Unfortunately, fruit wine doesn’t make people drunk.