Chapter 7

Baselessly growing ambiguity.
#11
Luo Zhuowei had never imagined she and Chen Hang would be alone together in this situation.
After she and Chen Hang delivered the materials the homeroom teacher had asked them to take to Duxue Building, the originally just gloomy sky turned pitch black. With rumbles of thunder, heavy rain soon began pouring down.
Neither she nor Chen Hang had brought umbrellas, and Nan High was large. Duxue Building and the teaching building where Class 3 of second year was located were quite far apart. Plus, the next period's PE class had been changed to self-study, so both decided to wait here for the rain to lighten before leaving.
The stairwell that provided shelter wasn't big or small. The distance between the two of them was somewhere between unfamiliar and familiar—one step more would be overstepping, one step less would seem distant.
The gap of an arm's length was like an invisible boundary, but in the sound of rain and the silence of having nothing to say, this boundary seemed especially fragile.
Yesterday's dream during the break in the classroom had viciously seized this fleeting fragility, fermenting into disaster in her mind.
The owner of that passionate kiss in the dream was right beside her.
Heat, indulgence, oxygen deprivation, haziness.
That false yet real delusion was the dry tinder of puberty, and reality's spark set everything ablaze.
This was too terrible.
Luo Zhuowei tried hard to suppress her desire to look at Chen Hang, attempting to blindly stare at the pouring rain in front of her.
But the emotions of puberty were adept at betraying one's own thoughts. The more she restrained, the more she indulged. That secret desire was an unbearable itch, scratching at her heart again and again.
A fine, dense itch, just like this rain.
One glance.
Just one glance.
Out of the corner of her eye, she quietly noticed Chen Hang also seemed to be staring blankly at the rain. Luo Zhuowei finally lost to that strange urge in her heart.
She wouldn't be discovered. She thought this carefully, self-deceivingly closing her eyes and slightly turning her face. But when she opened them, she met his gaze.
"!"
The slight coolness brought by the heavy rain was instantly evaporated in this mutually unexpected gaze. The heat after the ice melted and clouds scattered uncontrollably rushed to Luo Zhuowei's face.
It's over.
Her mind had already sounded the alarm, telling herself to quickly avert her gaze and end this eye contact that would likely expose all her thoughts. But her body's instincts chose not to escape.
Luo Zhuowei's face still maintained a calm expression, but only she could feel that the palm of her right hand was already slightly numb from being unconsciously clenched by her fingers.
She had never known before: Was a gaze such a tangible thing?
If not, why could she so clearly feel Chen Hang's gaze somewhat at a loss, stopping on her face, then slowly sliding down, abruptly stopping at her slightly trembling shoulders?
And so this sticky, deadlocked cycle was broken.
Chen Hang's voice sounded even clearer in the rain: "Are you cold?"
Luo Zhuowei was only wearing a long-sleeved school uniform shirt. The snow-white cuffs wrapped around her wrists, which seemed overly slender to a boy. Chen Hang naturally interpreted that slight trembling as feeling cold.
Actually, that wasn't it. She wasn't cold.
Luo Zhuowei lowered her head: "Yeah, a bit."
Hearing this answer, Chen Hang didn't hesitate to take off his jacket. Luo Zhuowei then noticed that Chen Hang's shirt underneath was actually short-sleeved. Through the thin fabric, she could faintly see he was wearing a close-fitting black t-shirt underneath, with very short sleeves, almost sleeveless.
He had already extended the jacket to her before belatedly realizing he hadn't asked her permission, hurriedly adding: "Um, sorry... Do you need it?"
Something in her chest loosened.
Luo Zhuowei looked into his eyes and smiled: "Thank you, Chen Hang."
"It's fine." Chen Hang also smiled, his upturned lips unable to hide his sharp little canine teeth.
The jacket she received still retained its owner's body heat. Actually, Luo Zhuowei had always disliked touching the residual warmth from others, but this was different. Chen Hang wasn't among those so-called "others."
She didn't politely drape it over her shoulders like girls usually did when receiving care from boys. After thanking him, she directly put it on.
Chen Hang looked somewhat confused for a moment when he saw her action, but he quickly forgot about it because of the opened conversation. Luo Zhuowei also cooperatively didn't expose it, speaking softly with Chen Hang, waiting for the rain to lighten.
This kind of classmate conversation was the best camouflage. Luo Zhuowei unconsciously took advantage of the occasional moments when their gazes met to observe Chen Hang now: Having taken off his Western-style jacket, Chen Hang had also loosened his tie, letting it hang loosely in his collar.
The buttons of his short-sleeved shirt were also undone, worn casually like a jacket at this moment. The black t-shirt inside was somewhat close-fitting, outlining contours that were usually never easily revealed—slender yet containing a sense of strength.
Chen Hang, he was also a boy.
Gender awareness, this self-evident fact, was always ignored in daily life, but it would clearly appear at times when it shouldn't be noticed, revealing itself in behavior, appearance, and actions, deliberately stimulating the high-risk nerves of puberty.
This unconscious hormone was the root cause of everything.
Chen Hang was quite tall. His jacket looked somewhat ambiguously long on Luo Zhuowei. She slightly rolled up the cuffs that would cover her palms and let the hem of the jacket cover her thighs.
Actually, this image of wearing a man's oversized jacket was very easy to stimulate high school boys full of vigor. Luo Zhuowei wasn't unaware of this, but Chen Hang, who patiently found topics to chat with her and didn't let the atmosphere become awkward, seemed too upright, as if he completely didn't think of her appearance in a romantic way.
"The rain seems to have lightened a bit." After saying this, Chen Hang looked at his watch, checking how long they had been delayed here. "Let's go now, or we won't make it back before the homeroom teacher comes to check attendance before class ends."
Luo Zhuowei nodded: "Okay."
Before her words finished, she felt something gently cover her head. Before she could react to what it was, her shoulders were gently pushed by a careful force, causing her legs to instinctively follow this external force into a jog.
Having lost the shelter, the fine drizzle blew onto her calves, which weren't covered by her skirt. The shirt covering her head well protected her hair and face from the rain that would have soaked them. There was also a hand firmly pressing against the back of her head through the shirt, preventing this temporary umbrella from being blown away by the wind from running.
Thump, thump.