Cma 38

The boy's fingertips were warm and soft. When they brushed against her ear, the deafening music had just stopped, and his voice was right beside her, amplifying all sensations infinitely.

Lin Tiao felt that she might faint from her racing heart at any moment. She stiffened, afraid to move, her voice becoming stiff as well, “Then I won’t wear it.”

Jiang Yan lightly responded, and as he withdrew his hand, whether intentionally or not, he pinched her flushed ear.

For a moment, Lin Tiao really wanted to flip the table and pry open his head to see what messy things were stuffed inside.

This guy's ways were becoming increasingly inscrutable.

If this continued, she would inevitably fall into his hands, and if that happened, it would be too unfortunate, far worse than all the misfortunes she had encountered in the past sixteen years.

Lin Tiao imagined a scene in her mind:

In the classroom during class, a handsome boy was lowering his head to take notes, but under the desk, he calmly reached out his hand and secretly hooked her finger.

"..."

Damn.

Why does she feel that this scene is inexplicably a bit sweet?

The more Lin Tiao thought about it, the deeper her frown became, completely unaware that the person sitting next to her had gotten up and left their seat at some point.

Her dazed expression was so clear that Meng Xin, sitting across from her, poked her shoulder. “What are you thinking about?”

Lin Tiao came back to her senses, letting out a soft “ah” and shaking her head. “Nothing much.”

She glanced over and saw the empty seat next to her, then asked, “Where's Jiang Yan?”

“I don’t know. He was just here; he probably went to the bathroom.” Meng Xin finished peeling the last shrimp, her hands covered in grease. “Tiao Tiao, come with me to the bathroom. I need to wash my hands.”

“Okay.”

After the two girls greeted the boys, they got up to find the bathroom.

There was a public restroom behind the bar, with dedicated staff to maintain and clean it, making the environment much cleaner than a typical tourist area.

After washing her hands, Meng Xin felt a bit uncomfortable in her stomach. “Tsk, I need to take care of something in there. Wait for me outside, okay?”

Lin Tiao didn’t feel anything in particular, just nodded. “Sure, go ahead.”

After Meng Xin went in, Lin Tiao stood under a coconut tree outside, looking down at her phone.

The night breeze was gentle, carrying the residual warmth of the day.

She sent Jiang Yan a WeChat message:

“Where did you go?”

She received a reply soon.

“Look up.”

Lin Tiao paused for a moment, as if a switch had been flipped, and then looked up.

A few meters away at the bathroom entrance, the boy stood there with his phone in hand, the harsh white light shining down, clearly illuminating his expression.

He took a step toward her, walking steadily, leaving the light and shadow behind him.

Lin Tiao remained still, putting away her phone and watching him.

Jiang Yan stopped a step away from her. The evening breeze tousled the hair on his forehead. He raised his hand to smooth it down, his voice slightly scattered by the wind. “Are you going back?”

“You go back first. I’ll wait for Meng Xin.”

The sea breeze carried a faint scent of smoke, and Lin Tiao lowered her gaze to look at him. The boy’s expression was calm, with a hint of subtle melancholy in his brow and eyes, appearing weighed down by thoughts.

He looked completely different from the Jiang Yan who had pinched her ear just minutes ago.

“Okay.”

After a moment, he nodded. As he walked past her, Lin Tiao caught a stronger whiff of smoke.

He never smoked.

At least, in the time she had spent as his deskmate, she had never seen him smoke, nor had she ever smelled smoke on him.

This was the first time she had encountered such a situation.

Lin Tiao pressed her lips together, suddenly turning to call out to him, “Jiang Yan.”

“Hmm?” He turned back, standing in the shadows, the colorful lights behind him accentuating his dull expression.

“You…” Lin Tiao hesitated, struggling for a few seconds before sighing. “Forget it, it’s nothing. You can go back.”

Everyone has moments when they're feeling down. Some people like to talk about it, while others prefer to keep their emotions hidden. He probably leans more toward the latter.

She couldn’t pry into his feelings every single time.

Jiang Yan stood still, silent for a while.

From a distance, the stage was blaring with loud music, and when the sea breeze carried it over, it still left a long echo.

After quite a while, Jiang Yan finally moved, but instead of walking back, he returned to her side and said without any preamble, “I’m fine.”

“I know.” Lin Tiao looked up at his sharply defined profile and repeated, “I know you’re fine.”

“Mm.”

“Then aren’t you going back?”

“I'm staying with you,” he said softly.

Meng Xin hadn’t come out yet. It had been about ten minutes since she went in, and Lin Tiao's legs were getting sore from standing still, so she couldn’t help but shift her weight.

Jiang Yan looked over at her movement.

The girl was wearing denim shorts, her slender, straight legs exposed. The whole curve was straight and smooth, with her knees rounded and fair, stopping just above her delicate ankles, which had a slight indentation and two shallow dimples.

Jiang Yan discreetly averted his gaze.

He couldn’t look.

Taking too many cold showers in this weather wasn’t good either.

Suddenly, the music in the background became softer, playing a song that was popular everywhere. Lin Tiao had heard it many times during her first year and was quite familiar with the melody.

At this point, she could hum along to the rhythm without even realizing it.

“How can a summer breeze…”

Her voice was neither too loud nor too soft, and she hummed along until the end.

Jiang Yan lowered his head, listening to her soft voice, and an infinite tenderness surged in his heart.

Another five minutes passed.

Just when Lin Tiao was starting to wonder if Meng Xin was planning to stay in there, she finally came out, looking a bit less lively than before.

Lin Tiao's urge to tease her immediately dissipated as she walked over to support her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine; I just squatted for too long and my legs fell asleep.” Meng Xin had washed her hands clean and was now leaning against Lin Tiao. She looked up and saw Jiang Yan standing in the shade. “Hey, big shot, what are you doing here?”

“I’m waiting for you.”

“Wow, I’m really flattered.” Meng Xin suddenly perked up, like she had been given a boost of energy, and moved her legs. “Okay, I’m back to life!”

---

The three of them quickly returned to the dining area.

Guan Che and the others had almost finished eating. Upon seeing the three, he smiled, “If you hadn’t come back soon, we would have had to call the police to look for you.”

“The headline would be ‘Searching for Lost Older Children.’”

Jiang Yan shot a sidelong glance at Guan Che, who quickly quieted down. He made a zipping motion with his hand near his lips, closing his mouth immediately.

Lin Tiao didn’t pay much attention to this and, after sitting down, glanced at the now-quiet stage, pausing. “Isn’t that Hu Hang Hang? What’s he doing? Is he planning to stay here as a guitarist?”

Song Yuan, sitting next to her, explained, “That lead singer just said it’s tourist time and asked if anyone wanted to go up and sing, so this guy went up.”

Lin Tiao looked again at Hu Hang Hang, who was still tuning his guitar on stage. “I’m starting to feel worried for the customers of this place.”

Meng Xin agreed, “Me too.”

As the music prelude started, Lin Tiao noticed Jiang Yan’s fingers, resting on the table, tapping along to the rhythm, and surprisingly, he was on beat.

“Walking in the wind, today the sunshine is suddenly so gentle…”

While Lin Tiao was still in a daze, Hu Hang Hang on stage had already started singing.

She was stunned.

People really shouldn’t be judged by their appearances. Hu Hang Hang, who usually looked goofy and frivolous, surprisingly sang very well.

After finishing a song, he received quite a bit of applause.

Hu Hang Hang returned to his seat with a big smile, and Lin Tiao sincerely apologized, “Sorry, Fatty. I take back my previous misunderstanding of you. You’re an amazing Hu Hang Hang.”

Hu Hang Hang laughed and scratched his head, picking up a cup of water and gulping it down. “I’m just at an average level. You haven’t heard Yan sing; that’s what you call good.”

“His voice is like a heavenly sound,” he added.

Lin Tiao turned to look at Jiang Yan and tentatively asked, “Do you want to go up and show us your beautiful singing voice?”

In truth, Lin Tiao could guess that Jiang Yan’s singing skills were probably not bad. Just from that last song, he hadn’t missed a beat for at least half of it.

Jiang Yan leaned lazily against the back of his chair, the warm yellow light enveloping him, and his face was sharply defined. He lightly shook his head. “I’m not singing.”

That was the answer she had expected, so Lin Tiao wasn’t too disappointed. She shrugged slightly and spoke casually, “Alright, I guessed you wouldn’t sing anyway.”

“Why would you think that?” he asked, lowering his voice slightly.

Lin Tiao leaned sideways, resting her arm on the table with her head propped up, her almond-shaped eyes clearly showing her amusement. “Because you’re afraid that if you go up to sing, it’ll expose the truth that you actually can’t sing at all.”

This was clearly an obvious and flawed way to provoke him, but Jiang Yan seemed to enjoy it. “So you really want to hear me sing?”

Lin Tiao stared at him, pretending to regret it. “It doesn’t matter if I want to hear it; you won’t sing anyway.”

“Then do you want to hear it or not?” He seemed very fixated on this question.

After three seconds of silence, Lin Tiao nodded. “I want to hear it.”

“Okay,” he said.

—

“Then I’ll sing for you.”

In October, the coastal city was still hot, but the wind blowing in from the sea brought a coolness that dissipated the heat in the air and added some humidity.

After saying this, the boy stood up and walked toward the stage, the lights in the square stretching his figure.

Lin Tiao quickly replayed the earlier conversation in her mind:

“Do you want to hear it?”

“I want to hear it.”

“Okay.”

“Then I’ll sing for you.”

Why did he have to say he’d sing for her?

Lin Tiao truly felt like she was done for.

She was back to the state she was in earlier in the car: heart racing, mind blank, not knowing what to think at all.

She couldn’t stop replaying those few lines of dialogue in her mind like a movie, over and over again, completely uncontrollable.

She looked up and saw the boy on stage. He was speaking to the guitarist beside him, his expression serious, the colorful lights occasionally shining on his face.

It seemed he was talking about something funny; he smiled, took the microphone that someone passed to him, and placed it on the stand in front of him.

He bent his head down, adjusting the position.

He turned slightly, keeping rhythm with the people behind him.

He laughed and spoke.

Every movement of his was magnified infinitely in Lin Tiao's eyes; someone so dazzling was impossible to ignore.

The lights on stage suddenly dimmed. The boy stood there, tall and languid, one hand on the microphone, moving his lips.

“I found a love for me darling, just dive right in and follow my lead"

His deep male voice slowly echoed in the night sky, and the surrounding chatter gradually quieted down.

Lin Tiao froze the moment he began to sing. She had heard this song many times before, but what was even more unforgettable were the scenes it evoked: the shyness of the male lead when he sees his crush, the smiles shared between them in the snow, and that embrace amidst the vast snowy mountains at the end.

Each fragment made it hard for Lin Tiao to forget.

At this moment.

The gentle, dazzling boy stood on stage, the night sky filled with brilliant stars. He stood there, looking up at her until he seemed to gaze into her heart.

In that instant, Lin Tiao finally understood.

The disordered and uncontrollable heartbeat she felt in his presence.

It wasn’t a sickness.

It was something called

Heartbeat.

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