Give Me Another Smile

It had already been over a month since Tang Yu returned to school. After such a long time, everyone's curiosity about her had long faded, and they were now focused on schoolwork instead.

Even though Tang Yu had already experienced the tension of high school during her previous life, she still couldn't help but sigh when facing it again. High school was essentially a battlefield for adolescents seeking a better future, and she was now standing on this battlefield for a second time.

Lights out started very early in the dormitory. Because of this, Tang Yu would always have to rely on her desk lamp for over an hour to revise her studies. After this situation continued for over a month, she could feel her eyesight deteriorating a little.

After failing to see what the teacher wrote on the blackboard again, Tang Yu finally decided to get her eyesight checked.

Yu Wanrou had already found a new job. Her job this time offered her more flexibility, but it didn't change that she still needed to board and disembark planes almost on a daily basis. Hence, when Tang Yu went home for the weekend, she returned to an empty house.

Tang Yu had given her mother a call before returning home. However, her mother appeared to be busy as she said to her amidst a noisy background:

"Mommy's still busy with work, Little Yu. I've already transferred some money to your card. If anything urgent comes up, look for your Aunt Wang; I've already informed her beforehand. I'm hanging up now."

After turning on the lights in her room, Tang Yu opened a locked drawer and took out the debit card inside. Then, while feeling the card's texture with her fingers, she thought, It's already been a month since I went to the hospital… She got hurt because of me, so it'd be heartless of me not to visit her at all…

Tang Yu immediately decided on her itinerary for the next day and stuffed the debit card into her card holder. Then, she dropped her bag on the bed, took out a few light-gray T-shirts and black pleated skirts from the closet, set them aside, and entered the bathroom with a fresh set of pajamas.

…

Tang Yu felt soothed when the hot water poured from the shower and ran down her body. Gradually, her milky white skin turned light pink under the comforting heat.

Before Tang Yu could unwind completely, the sound of an untimely doorbell reached her ears.

It's fine. They'll probably go away after a while. I'll deal with it after the shower, Tang Yu thought, refusing to part with her warm shower.

Unfortunately, not only did the doorbell not stop ringing, but the interval between each ring also grew shorter and shorter to the point where the melodious bell began to sound harsh. Gritting her teeth, Tang Yu turned off the shower, wrapped herself with the bath towel hanging on the side, and put on a bathrobe on top of it. Only after wrapping herself tightly did she leave the bathroom.

While making her way downstairs, Tang Yu tied up her slightly messy hair with a hair tie she had grabbed on her way out of her bedroom, the few strands of hair she missed hanging off her shoulders and dripping water onto her bathrobe. There was also a thin layer of water vapor covering her face.

After arriving at the door, Tang Yu looked at the electronic display by the door and saw a handsome boy in a sky-blue school uniform standing outside the door. The boy held a plastic bag while jabbing the doorbell with his elbow as if playing.

Wen Tao? Why is he here? Tang Yu wondered. Then, she turned on the intercom and asked, "Why are you at my house?"

Wen Tao looked around for the source of Tang Yu's voice. After spotting something like a small radio by the door, he raised the plastic bag in his hand to the camera above the door and said, "Big Bro asked me to deliver food to you. She says you might not eat anything if you are alone."

"How does she know I'm back?" Tang Yu asked. She knew the answer more or less but pretended not to know anything.

"Uh...because... Because I saw you on my way home, so..." Wen Tao stammered, feeling a little guilty for his stalker-like behavior.

So you reported my itinerary to her, Tang Yu mentally finished Wen Tao's sentence for him.

Opening the door, Tang Yu poked half her body through the gap and said, "Thank you for making this trip. You can hand me the things here."

Wen Tao momentarily froze when he saw Tang Yu's current attire. Then, he promptly looked away while stiffly holding up the plastic bag in his hand.

Once Wen Tao felt the weight in his hand disappearing, followed by the sound of the door closing, he breathed a sigh of relief and wiped the non-existent cold sweat on his forehead. Then, he left the house while lamenting his horrible timing under the gaze of the setting sun.

...

Shortly after Wen Tao left Tang Yu's house, the phone in his pocket rang.

"How did it go? Did you deliver the food?" A muffled voice came through the phone. It sounded like the person on the other end of the call was eating something.

"I handed her the food already, but it seems I disturbed Sister-in-law's bath..." Wen Tao answered.

"What?!" The tone of Yin Zhao-an's voice was raised by several decibels.

Wen Tao moved the phone away from his ear and set it to speaker mode. Then, while massaging his aching ear, he hurriedly explained, "I didn't see anything. Sister-in-law was wearing a bathrobe, and she had her hair tied up, and...that was all I saw."

"You call that nothing?! Erase that image from your mind right away! Right away!!!" Yin Zhao-an screamed, her emotions running amok. However, it appeared as if someone had reminded her about her current whereabouts as she quickly reigned in her temper and started to talk in a whisper. Even so, her tone made it very obvious she was gnashing her teeth as she said, "I don't care what it takes, but forget everything you saw."

Before the call disconnected, Wen Tao faintly heard a low-pitched complaint, the exact words being, "Even I haven't seen her in a bathrobe before..."

Wen Tao nearly broke out into laughter when he heard these words. With such a strong possessive desire, Yin Zhao-an would be telling a blatant lie if she said she didn't have any feelings for Tang Yu.