After a few seconds, Duan Jiaxu tugged at the corner of his lips. As if implying something, he slowly uttered five words, “Get used to it sooner.”
Sang Zhi’s movement paused for a moment. She swallowed the pearls in her mouth and remained silent.
They went to the cinema to collect their tickets.
With a few minutes left before the screening began, they found seats and sat down to wait. Although it didn’t feel too cold while drinking, after holding it for a while, Sang Zhi still felt that the drink was quite cold.
Noticing that she kept switching hands while holding the drink, Duan Jiaxu simply reached out and took it from her.
Sang Zhi cast him a sidelong glance but didn’t say anything. As they were about to enter the theater, she couldn’t resist pointing at the drink and said, “I want to drink.”
Duan Jiaxu handed her the drink, but it wasn’t as if he was giving it back to her. He just brought the straw to the edge of her lips, lifted his eyelashes slightly, and looked at her with an unchanged expression.
Sang Zhi didn’t have the audacity to drink from the straw while his hand was there, so she tried to take it from him.
Before she could touch the cup, Duan Jiaxu spoke up, nonchalantly saying, “Drink the drink if you want. Why are you taking the opportunity to touch Gege’ hand?”
”… ” Sang Zhi endured it and put on a stern face. “Who wants to touch your hand? I’ll drink it myself.”
Duan Jiaxu: “Don’t you feel cold?”
Sang Zhi: “No.”
Duan Jiaxu gave it back to her: “I’ll hold it for you if you don’t want it.”
”No need,” Sang Zhi glanced at his palm and whispered, “You’ll feel cold too.”
Hearing this, Duan Jiaxu curved his lips, extending his hand in front of her without a hint of seriousness. “How about warming me up then?”
Sang Zhi didn’t budge, just continued sipping her drink.
He didn’t seem to find it awkward either. He withdrew his hand and calmly said, “Let’s go, the screening is starting.”
They both stood up.
After a few seconds, Sang Zhi suddenly pulled out a hand warmer from her bag and handed it to him. “I brought one, you can use this.”
Duan Jiaxu was momentarily stunned.
Sang Zhi explained in a low voice, “My hands are cold, so I can’t warm yours.” After saying that, she pretended to be composed as she glanced at him, adding, “And besides, well, holding hands isn’t quite appropriate.”
Duan Jiaxu turned his head to look at her, paused for a few seconds, and agreed in a somewhat echoing manner, “Indeed, it’s not quite appropriate.”
”…”
The two found their seats.
Duan Jiaxu placed the bag he had been carrying for Sang Zhi onto his lap and tore open the hand warmer packaging. In a cultured and gentle tone, he commented, “I have no official status, after all.”
”…” Sang Zhi’s mind went blank, and she set down the drink she was holding.
At the same time, Duan Jiaxu placed the hand warmer into her hand.
The movie began to play, and the background music started, silencing all her words.
After the movie ended, it was already time for a meal.
Although Sang Zhi had spent most of the movie thinking about his words, after more than an hour had passed, she didn’t feel comfortable bringing it up again.
The two of them found a restaurant to have dinner.
Afterwards, they returned to Duan Jiaxu’s place and picked up a cake from a nearby bakery.
Back at Duan Jiaxu’s house, Sang Zhi took off her shoes and noticed a new pair of women’s slippers on the shoe rack, which happened to be her size.
She glanced at Duan Jiaxu but didn’t proactively pick them up to wear.
Instead, Duan Jiaxu placed the shoes in front of her and calmly said, “I bought them for you.”
He placed the cake on the dining table and then headed into the kitchen.
Sang Zhi reluctantly put on the slippers, walked over, and opened the cake box.
Just as she took the cake out, Duan Jiaxu also emerged from the kitchen, holding another cake in his hands.
Sang Zhi’s actions paused. “Why are there two?”
”I made this one,” Duan Jiaxu said, “I was worried it might not taste good, so I ordered another.”
Sang Zhi blinked. “You can bake cakes too?”
”I learned a bit while working at a café before,” Duan Jiaxu said casually as he prepared to insert candles into the cake. “Which one do you want to use as the birthday cake?”
Sang Zhi pointed to the one he made. “This one.”
”How many candles should I put?”
”Just one is enough.”
Duan Jiaxu’s eyebrow raised slightly, his tone carrying a hint of refusal. “Nineteen candles.”
Sang Zhi was speechless. “How am I supposed to blow out so many?”
”Young lady,” Duan Jiaxu said nonchalantly, “You need to acknowledge your age.”
The cake shop provided two packs of candles, with twelve candles in each pack, so there were enough. Sang Zhi couldn’t help but quip, “When it’s your birthday, you’ll have to ask someone else for an extra pack of candles.”
”If it’s my birthday,” Duan Jiaxu was quite biased, “One candle will suffice.”
”…” Sang Zhi felt annoyed and said, quite grudgingly, “Then I’ll make sure to put twenty-six candles on yours.”
Duan Jiaxu just chuckled, inserted the candles, and then went to the coffee table to grab a lighter and a pink bag. He lowered his eyes and slowly lit all the candles.
Sang Zhi ran to the entrance to turn off the lights.
When she came back, Duan Jiaxu had already lit the candles. His face was bathed in warm candlelight, flickering in and out, his expression not entirely clear, but it appeared particularly charming and soft.
All in all, this was also the first birthday Sang Zhi had celebrated together with him.
Duan Jiaxu began to sing “Happy Birthday” to her in a low, gentle voice that echoed through the living room. After the last note of the song faded, Sang Zhi made a wish and blew out the candles with a forceful blow.
She managed to extinguish only about half of them.
Her mouth twitched, and she blew a few more times before successfully putting out all the candles.
Watching her actions, Duan Jiaxu burst into laughter, his chest heaving, and his shoulders trembling. Then, he got up and turned on the lights. He then handed her the pink bag. “Birthday gift.”
Sang Zhi accepted it. It was a bit heavy. She thanked him and, suppressing her curiosity, picked up the cake knife and started cutting the cake.
After just one slice, Duan Jiaxu took the knife from her hand and sliced a small piece for her. He glanced at the bag placed nearby and suddenly asked, “Do you want to see the gift someone else gave you?”
Sang Zhi glanced at it and shook her head. “I’ll look at it later.”
Duan Jiaxu didn’t insist and then asked, “Is that guy pursuing you?”
Sang Zhi thought for a moment: “I guess so.”
Duan Jiaxu chuckled lightly, dragging out his tone as he asked, “Are there many people pursuing you?”
Thinking back to her earlier boasting at the hospital, Sang Zhi wasn’t sure how to respond. She could only offer a vague answer, “Not bad.”
Soon, Duan Jiaxu asked again, casually, “Are there any conditions for someone to pursue you?”
Sang Zhi was puzzled: “What conditions? It’s not like choosing a candidate.”
”Then tell me,” Duan Jiaxu’s tone remained light, as if just having a casual conversation, “what conditions would someone need to meet for you to be interested?”
Sang Zhi looked up, hesitatingly saying, “Good-looking.”
Duan Jiaxu: “Uh-huh.”
”Good temper.”
”Yeah.”
”Taller than me.”
”Yeah.”
”Aligned values.”
”Okay. Anything else?”
Sang Zhi held a fork and took a bite of the cake. “That’s it.”
”You just described conditions that I meet,” Duan Jiaxu said, using his finger to swipe a layer of cream and lightly brushing it onto her cheek. “So, let me ask you something.”
”…”
It felt like something anticipated for a long time was finally about to happen, accompanied by an intense sense of foreboding.
Sang Zhi locked eyes with him, almost able to predict his next words, but her heartbeat still skipped a beat. She felt so nervous that she had trouble catching her breath. She licked off the cream from her lips, looked at him, and asked tentatively, “What is it?”
Duan Jiaxu chuckled, his gaze ambiguous yet serious.
Unlike before, this time he didn’t have any pretenses or speak in vague terms. He straightforwardly revealed his hand to her.
”Can I woo you?”
Finally!!!! (≧ヮ≦) 💕
Peek-Aboo 
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