Ning Dongya pushed open the car door and signaled for me to follow. My whole body was weak, and every step I took was exceptionally difficult. Warm yellow light filtered through the glass windows of “Sweet Star Cabin,” and a familiar sweet fragrance wafted over.
The wind chimes jingled crisply.
“What are you standing there for?” Ning Dongya’s voice came from behind me.
I bit my lip and ducked inside. My gaze drifted uncontrollably toward the innermost booth by the window. My body seemed to have a memory of its own; before my brain could even issue a command, I had already walked over automatically and curled into the innermost corner.
At least here… there was a bit of cover.
My back pressed against the cold wall, and I breathed a small sigh of relief.
But before I could catch my breath, Ning Dongya walked over. She didn’t sit opposite me; instead, she very naturally sat on the outside of my side, perfectly blocking the only exit.
Meow?!
She gracefully set down her handbag and crossed her legs, instantly trapping me in this corner. Her scent tightly enveloped me.
It’s over… I can’t escape.
My whole body froze, my tail pressed tightly against the back of the chair, not daring to move an inch.
“Do you like this seat that much?” Ning Dongya picked up the menu, her silver-gray eyes scanning my tense face. “The view is good, but… it makes it easy for someone to have nowhere to run.”
As her words landed softly, my paws instantly gripped the hem of my skirt.
The waiter handed over the menu. I grabbed it haphazardly and pressed it tightly against my chest, not daring to look up at all. Ning Dongya didn’t seem in a hurry to order; she just watched me with leisurely composure, seemingly enjoying my current predicament.
After a while, she finally turned her gaze to the menu in her hand. Her fingertip lightly tapped the entry for “Classic Double Skin Milk.” Her tone was like a casual question, but her gaze hit my face like a spotlight:
“The double skin milk here, do you also like it…” She paused subtly, the corners of her lips curling into an imperceptible arc, “…with an extra serving of red beans?”
Boom—!
My mind went blank.
This sentence… this way of eating… it was “his”! It was a habit that only “he” and Ning Dongya knew about!
Blood rushed to my head, and the tips of my ears grew scorching hot, twitching uncontrollably at a high frequency. My cheeks burned bright red. I wanted to deny it, but my throat felt blocked, only letting out a discordant “purring” sound. I wanted to nod, but my remaining sanity was screaming “danger” frantically.
I froze in place, my paws gripping the menu so tightly that my knuckles turned white. My whole body was like a shrimp thrown into boiling water and cooked through—red from head to toe—yet I didn’t even have the strength to curl up. I could only endure her seemingly calm but actually knife-sharp gaze in a panic.
Help… this bad woman… she’s definitely doing this on purpose!
I gripped the menu for dear life, the tips of my paws turning white, trying to use this thin piece of cardboard to block Ning Dongya’s all-seeing gaze. Red beans… how could she know about the red beans!
“I’ll take that as a yes?” Ning Dongya gave a light chuckle. Without waiting for my answer, she raised her hand to summon the waiter and efficiently ordered the double skin milk with red beans, along with her usual mango pancakes.
I stiffly put down the menu, feeling as if I didn’t know where to put my hands and feet. The warm air in the dessert shop seemed to turn viscous, making it hard to breathe. I had to do something to break this suffocating atmosphere…
“Because… because I saw how he used to… used to eat it like that, so I tried it once. Later I thought it was pretty good, so that’s how I eat it.”
My gaze swept frantically across the table. I reached for the water glass nearby, wanting to take a sip to hide my embarrassment. However, my paw trembled uncontrollably; the rim of the glass failed to align with my lips, and a few drops of cold water splashed out unexpectedly, landing right on the corner of my mouth and my jaw.
Ugh! So clumsy!
I hurriedly set down the glass and was about to use my sleeve to wipe it when a hand with well-defined knuckles reached out first.
Holding a clean, soft tissue between her fingertips, Ning Dongya naturally reached for the corner of my mouth, gently wiping away the water droplets. Through the thin tissue, her finger pads brushed warmly against my skin.
This touch made my whole body tremble. I instinctively wanted to dodge, but my body felt as if it had been hit with a freezing spell, remaining frozen in place.
“So careless, just like him.”
Her voice was very soft, carrying an… indescribable sense of familiarity.
The tone, the movement, and even that hint of helpless indulgence—it all overlapped with that afternoon years ago, when I had just as clumsily dirtied the corner of my mouth, and she had wiped it clean while acting disgusted.
The floodgates of memory were forced wide open.
No! Don’t think about it!
I suddenly snapped back to my senses. Like being scalded by boiling water, I recoiled violently, my back slamming into the wall with a dull thud. The fur on my tail completely puffed out, and my heart hammered frantically in my chest, nearly jumping out.
Ning Dongya’s hand paused in mid-air. Seeing my overreaction, some emotion flashed quickly deep within her silver-gray pupils. She didn’t speak; she just slowly withdrew her hand, folded the used tissue, and placed it on the edge of the table.
Just then, the waiter brought the desserts. The enticing double skin milk and the brightly colored mango pancakes were placed on the table, temporarily breaking the eerie atmosphere from a moment ago.
I kept my head buried low, not daring to look at her. My ears were scorching hot; I felt like my reaction just now was practically a dead giveaway.
Ning Dongya, however, acted as if nothing had happened. She picked up a small spoon, gracefully scooped a piece of mango pancake wrapped in cream, and placed it on the plate in front of me. “Give it a try? Before…” She paused, changing her words, “I remember ‘he’ also really liked the combination of mango and cream.”
Here she goes again!
I stared at the golden mango pancake on the plate, then at the bowl of double skin milk with red beans in front of me. The sensation of her wiping the corner of my mouth still lingered, and now she was mentioning “his” preferences again…
As if Ning Dongya didn’t think that was enough, she very naturally took the spoon she had just used, reached into my bowl of double skin milk, scooped out a small corner, and put it into her mouth.
Meow-aaaaah!!! That… that was my spoon! No! That was her spoon! Reaching into my bowl!
A string seemed to snap completely in my head. Indirect… indirect kissing?!
Blood roared toward the top of my head. My cheeks, ears, neck—I felt like even the fur all over my body was burning. Actual steam was almost rising from the top of my head, and my vision began to blur and spin.
I watched as she nonchalantly tasted my double skin milk, then watched as she pushed the plate of mango pancakes she had touched in front of me, with her words about how “he” also liked mango still echoing in my ears…
Shame, panic, and those damn, uncontrollable memories erupted in my mind like a volcano.
I completely short-circuited, freezing in my seat without moving, with only the pair of cat ears on my head still twitching at a high frequency due to my overloaded sense of shame, as if they might start smoking at any moment.
Ugh, I mean, why is this woman always able to do these things so nonchalantly!
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