The Eighteenth Song – 《Come a Little Closer》

T/N: The Chinese name of this song is 靠近一点.

After reconciling with Lu Chengze, we fell into a state of being “head over heels” with each other in an instant. Whenever we had time, we would chat on WeChat and tell each other nonsense with high sugar content. I was too lazy to travel far for a lunch appointment, so I ordered two sets of meals with him at KFC. During this period, I met his colleagues, three men and one woman.
——When passing by our table with a tray in hand, all of them were teasing and did not forget to make a few jokes.

One of them also called him: “Zeze.”

When they were far away, I had a drink of hot milk and also called out: “Zeze.”

Lu Chengze, who was removing the hamburger paper, stopped moving his hands, looked at me, and smiled.

Advertisements

I said, “So that’s what your colleagues call you.”
Lu Chengze said, “Yeah.”
Every time he looked directly at me with his clear eyes, I couldn’t help but play a prank: “I’ll call you that as well, okay, Zeze?”
Lu Chengze handed over the hamburger: “Why?”
I said, “Because the repeated name is very likable.”
Lu Chengze raised his eyebrows slightly and countered, “Oh, Miaomiao.”

My apple muscles were squeezed closer to my lower eyelid: “No matter my age, my parents never called me that.”
He curled his lips: “Then let me set the precedent.”
I laughed, it was inevitable that I couldn’t do anything to him. I was feeling curious about addresses: “Am I still “Sugar” in your WeChat?”
Lu Chengze nodded, picking up his phone and tapping it a few times before putting it back on the table, turning it around, and pushing it to me.

I was very happy that we had each other at the very top of our WeChat chats. This was a happy ending and the best beginning. I was Sugar, he was Panda, and they were all things that could bring happiness to human beings.

The following parts of the text will be scrambled to prevent theft from aggregators and unauthorized epub making. Please support our translators by reading on secondlifetranslations (dot) com. If you are currently on the site and and you are seeing this, please clear your cache.

R ypjle, “Ebld eke usw es kv? R xlyd, vbl Fvknju.”
Nw Ubldtgl eked’v ydpola xl aktbv yoyu; bkp talyvlpv nsdnlad oyp bkp psnkyz pvydekdt sd xu lde: “Gx R Fvknjkle vs vbl vsr?”
R elzkclayvlzu zlqv bkx bydtkdt: “Twb? R nyd’v alxlxcla, R vbkdj usw pbswze cl.”
Mbld R vssj swv xu rbsdl, ralvldekdt vs nsdqkax, “Xjyu, usw yal kdelle yv vbl vsr.”

Nw Ubldtgl zssjle yv xl yde pxkzle.

“Xjyu, R’x alzklhle,” bl pyke.
Jwv bl eked’v pllx vs oydv vs vyjl xu xsckzl rbsdl vs nblnj qsa bkxplzq; bl pllxle vs cl nsdhkdnle.

Mbld, bl ydpolale xu qkapv iwlpvksd: “Mbl qkapv eyu.”
R eked’v kxxlekyvlzu wdelapvyde, yde alrlyvle: “Mbl qkapv eyu?”
Nw Ubldtgl pyke: “Mbl eyu R yeele usw, R Fvknjkle uswa nbyv.”
R oyp hlau pwarakple: “R esd’v clzklhl kv.”

Tl qasodle: “Ebld es usw vbkdj kv oswze cl xsal clzklhyczl qsa xl vs byhl Fvknjkle uswa nbyv?”
R vbswtbv qsa y obkzl: “Gv zlypv obld ol’hl xlv?”

“Gal usw ps nsdqkeldv kd uswa yrrlyaydnl, Ikjk?” Tl pvyavle fsjkdt ycswv xu saktkdyz dyxl.

R iwknjzu eldkle: “Rv’p dsv…” Wkdl, kv oyp xykdzu clnywpl —— R oldv sd vs pyu: “Rv oyp sdzu yqvla R xlv usw vbyv R Fvknjkle uswa nbyv, clnywpl y nsdnalvl alyzkvu nyd tldlayvl xsal kdvlalpv yde ellrla qakldepbkr. R esd’v zkjl hykd olc nbyvp.”

Nw Ubldtgl zssjle yv xl nzlyazu: “Ps usw byhl vs cl ps aswdeycswv obld raykpkdt psxlsdl?”

I admit: “Well, my WeChat friends are ranked according to their appearance, Lu Chengze is first. Are you satisfied?”

Advertisements

Lu Chengze smiled contentedly: “I have always wanted to tell you one thing.”

Me: “Yes?”

He said, “The second time I connected your headset, I knew you were you.”

I opened my eyes wide: “What do you mean you knew that I was me?”

“In the whole subway car, I could tell from a glance that it was the person who suddenly stood up and looked around. But you didn’t seem to like looking backwards.”

He stated unhurriedly:

“Actually, I followed you when I saw you get out of the car. If you didn’t get off the car early that day, I most likely would have gotten off at your stop and taken a taxi to the company.”

“But I probably wouldn’t send you the recording.”

“Because I didn’t think you wanted to know me yet.”

“Do you remember? When we were first adding each other as friends, I told you, I needed to make sure you want to know me before I dared to fire off the signal.”

“I recorded that message several times, and what you heard was the final version.”

His words were like a flower being stripped layer by layer, the closer to the center you were, the more intense the fragrance became; a wonderful sweet scent which would make one dizzy.

Advertisements

“It worked very well, especially when I saw you standing there like a spell to freeze you in place had been casted, leaving you motionless.”

He fell into the memory: “…Very cute.”

Despite using the adjective, “very,” and the description, “cute,”, I still feel ashamed because of my confused and surprised stupid look back then.

I couldn’t bear to recollect.

I held my forehead: “So why didn’t you ask me face to face, you made it all so complicated.”

“Maybe I was…” Lu Chengze paused for a moment, “Afraid that I’d scare you?”

“One more thing,” he said. The most extreme sentence: “I stayed up all night at the company the night before and didn’t sleep well. I had a day off the next day, but in the morning there was a bug to be fixed and I was called over. I felt that I might not have looked too…”

“Okay.”

Me: “?????”
Even if the dark circles on your face fall to the corners of your mouth, no girl would refuse to give you their contact information, okay?

Under my ten thousand kinds of puzzled look, he was still sincere: “I was a little irritable and drowsy that day, but when the notification about your earbuds popped up, I really felt like a surge of electricity ran through me, and then I saw you—— Wow, it turned out that this was the girl who freeloaded off my playlist twice. Later, I sat there and didn’t dare to look at you again, but for some reason, while keeping my head down, I smiled for a long time, the entire trip. Believe it or not.”

I believed it.

How could I not believe it? Was I not the same way when I first saw him? It’s just that day, I put myself on my best behavior in order to show the “best” version of myself, but luckily, he had seen my contrasting inner core before I painted on the camouflage used to adapt to the environment and objects.

Advertisements

But I was still a little disbelieving: “So when you saw me for the first time, you secretly crushed on me?”
Lu Chengze had no hesitation or ambiguity: “Yes.”

When he spoke, his eyes were always focused on my face, and he seemed to place his full attention on me, but his smiling eyes didn’t feel pressuring/oppressive in the least: “After I arrived at the company, I was nervously waiting for you to add me. In short, I smiled the entire day, because every now and then I would think of you.”

Forgive me for using a cliché to describe this moment: Lu Chengze, my fated Lu Chengze.

He was a bullet that penetrated directly into my heart, guns and roses. There was no defense, nor was any defense needed. It only passed my view for a short moment, and a review was superfluous. Spring did not need to be predicted.

How could he be so moving and his words so infectious? It made me want to cry and laugh. D*mn it, my eyes must have reddened because Lu Chengze had an apologetic expression on his face. He handed over a napkin that was in front of him.

I took it, closed my eyes, shook my head, and laughed: “What are you doing, saying all of this while we’re out?”

Lu Chengze said: “I just wanted to say it all of a sudden, but I definitely didn’t want to make you cry.”
I snorted: “Why is that?”
He said, “To bring you closer.”
I said, “We slept in the same bed last night while hugging. It doesn’t get any closer than that, right?”

He didn’t say anything and pursed his lips. A gleam of anticipation flashed in his pupils.

Who could withstand being stared at like this, this gaze which was both attacking and begging. I tilted my head, cleared my throat, and called out solemnly, “Lu Chengze.”
He sat upright and gave a: “Mm.”
I smiled: “Do you want to be my boyfriend?”
He also smiled, and began to do what he was good at, playing with words: “Be confident and remove the first five words.”

Lu Chengze.
My boyfriend.

I threw a fry over. He gave a big smile in response.

Our faces, at this moment, must have been very red, like having held our breath for too long in a honey pot.

Advertisements

At night, we got off work together for the first time and in the subway, shared my Bluetooth earbuds.

The return trip playlist was, as usual, provided by Lu Chengze.

In the past, when I commuted alone, I was more vigilant. I never closed my eyes in the subway car to rest. No matter how tired I was, I forced my eyes to stay open and on my phone. But today, I closed my eyes with confidence, because I had a shoulder that I could rely on, and the owner of that shoulder was also holding on firmly to my hand. In this moment, I had no fear. Anyway, there was someone acting as my eyes. Even if the wind came, it would come to a halt before me and if the world was dark, there would still be his warmth and music.

The first two songs were in English; I was too lazy to listen carefully to the meaning of the words. The third song was in Chinese, and it was difficult to even try to not understand it..

“I don’t know what words can describe my feelings for you
You’re from the north and say you are not used to my southern accent
Why are you so far from me? Come on, hurry and come closer
I’m definitely not a jerk. Please don’t reject me so hurriedly
I want to be a small beast which can protect you
But when I’m before you, I can only show you my gentle side
As your Saint Seiya, the flames of my will light up my universe
I give you my support, my shoulders can be your pillow

　　……

All along, you were that fairy
Why did you descend to the human realm
And land right in front of my door
The autumn breeze brought you to my side”

The corners of my lips were no longer relaxed. The higher they went, the more lively they became.

When the male voice sang the line, “You told me to quit trying these kinds of routines. But I’m serious, I’m not a child”, I followed with four words: “That’s right, quit it.”

Lu Chengze didn’t say a word, only clasping my hand tighter and tighter, so tight that my knuckles started to hurt a little. What kind of strength was this, something which would make all the girls who were in love feel joy, my boyfriend was serious, and he wanted to hold on to me forever and never let go.

The author has something to say:
《Come a Little Closer》, the lyrics of this song are very sweet.