Holding the bouquet of roses and experiencing Ren Minghang’s nervous, intermittent quick and slow driving, Xia You’s heart also felt increasingly uneasy.
Tonight’s dinner would not end so simply.
Different from last time, Ren Minghang chose a Japanese restaurant with an elegant environment; the private room was smaller than the upscale restaurant previously, but the interior was even more refined.
Stone lanterns, two hanging pine and bamboo murals, soft tatamis to kneel on, and a tea table in black and yellow. Inside the black pottery was refreshing black tea, right next to the private room flowed a water wheel and sharply cut bamboo pipes, rising and falling with the sound of water.
After ordering food, during the wait for the dishes to be served, both were preoccupied with drinking tea.
Ren Minghang, a man, drank in big gulps. After a few sips, he had already finished his tea and did not wish for interruptions, just holding his tea cup and occasionally looking towards Xia Yun.
"How has your older brother been since he got out?" Asking about family was always a safe topic, Ren Minghang thought he had chosen carefully.
Xia You’s delicate eyebrows raised. Simon’s issue could be considered resolved, but he did not cherish Xia You’s feelings nor heed Xia Yun’s insistence on not returning to the gang. Just a few days after being released from the police station, he rejoined the gang and was missing for several days. However, such family scandals, Xia You felt uncomfortable mentioning directly.
"If there is anything, you must tell me," Ren Minghang finally put down his cup, summoning courage after setting it down, he asked: "Xiao You, I...I like you, will you be my girlfriend?"
What was expected still came, Xia You was also very nervous, her chin lowered, her fingers wrapped around the tea cup. Unlike Ren Minghang who had finished his tea, Xia You had only drunk three-quarters of hers. Both her hands and her heart could feel the perfect, calm temperature of the water in the cup. Ren Minghang himself felt like this Japanese restaurant, not off-putting, but also not evoking excess emotions.
Seeing no response, Ren Minghang boldly took Xia You’s hand that held the cup. He couldn’t accomplish many steps at once like his grandfather said; somehow, in front of Xia You, aside from love, he felt a strong urge to embrace and protect her. That urge drove his next action, an action that even Ren Bonian, if present, would applaud enthusiastically. The small tea table before them was not large, so when Ren Minghang stood up, his tall stature easily overlooked the modest tea table, his hand not staying on the cup but supporting Xia You’s chin.
He tried not to look into Xia You’s eyes, instead focusing intently on her lips, which, out of nervousness, also had taken on a rose-red color.
Xia You fully understood what would happen next. Her mind raced, her body stiffened yet maintained the standard seated posture of a Japanese woman, sitting at a ninety-degree angle.
A man’s lips are slightly colder than a woman’s, but just as soft. Different from Lin Yi’s kiss, Ren Minghang’s kiss was much more unpracticed, and Xia You, with little kissing experience herself,
initially resisted, but feeling the pair of hands holding her chin trying to stop trembling, a warmth spread through her heart. For this large boy who had shown his fondness from the beginning, her usually steady heart began to soften.
This softening made her close her eyes, setting down her tea cup, she cooperated with him, letting his tongue tentatively enter her mouth, feeling their bodies change from rigid to soft, with a faint scent of barley tea.
After the tentative try, Ren Minghang, filled with immense excitement, earnestly carried out what he considered the sacred ceremony of Xia You becoming his girlfriend. He held her tightly, feeling every inch of her skin pressing against his body, the transition from unfamiliar to familiar. At that moment, his heart "thumped" with the most shocking heartbeat of his life, akin to facing death.
Hearing the sound of the door being pushed, Ren Minghang heard Xia You "moan,"yet he did not withdraw his hands, instead he boldly crossed the table, sitting beside Xia You. Although sitting opposite and watching Xia You eat and her shy demeanor was pleasant, at that moment, he preferred sitting beside her, listening to her equally excited breathing and the scent lovelier than roses emanating from her.