Then he stood up, wearing slippers, and crouched down in front of her—even with his height, even if both were crouching, their eye levels still wouldn’t be equal. He stuffed the needles and yarn into her hands: “Take it.”
When Chi Yao crouched down, Lin Zhexia’s gaze fell on his open collar.
She dazedly took the needles and yarn, saying: “What next?”
Chi Yao reached out to adjust her posture: “Next, I’ll teach you, little blind one.”
Knitting a scarf naturally required hands-on teaching.
The young man’s fingers rested on her hands, guiding her to loop the yarn.
Chi Yao’s fingers were longer than hers, completely covering hers when overlapped. This was more direct and prolonged than any previous contact between them.
When she made a mistake, Chi Yao would gently tap her knuckles with his fingertips.
“You blind people, since your eyes can’t see, your other senses should be more sensitive,” he said. “Remember the movements yourself.”
Lin Zhexia had only been joking when she said she was blind.
But now she had a kind of indescribable, strange feeling.
It was indeed somewhat similar to being blind.
Because she truly felt that what she saw with her eyes was gradually being overlooked, while other sensations were infinitely magnified.
The warmth of his hands.
The subtle movements when he gently squeezed her fingers.
…
Even his shallow breathing.
Lin Zhexia’s fingers grew increasingly stiff, and she forgot even the movements she had previously memorized.
The air seemed to stop flowing.
In the frozen atmosphere, she felt somewhat at a loss.
Until Chi Yao noticed she had been making the same mistakes with her stitches and stopped.
Lin Zhexia seized that moment to catch her breath and broke the atmosphere: “Did… did you not secretly learn this before?”
Chi Yao raised an eyebrow in confusion, as if asking why he would learn secretly.
Lin Zhexia said slowly: “Because you wanted to show off your superior scarf-knitting skills in front of me, taking pleasure in crushing me.”
After hearing her words, Chi Yao was silent for two seconds.
Then he said, “Yes, I learned it.”
“I’ve been knitting scarves in a textile factory since I was one year old.”
“By age three, I could knit fifty scarves a day and was an outstanding employee at the factory.”
“How’s that answer?” Chi Yao said. “If you’re not satisfied, I can give you another one.”
“…”
Lin Zhexia shook her head: “You don’t need to change it, this answer is already ridiculous enough.”
Chi Yao lowered his eyes, looking at the tangled mess of yarn in her hands, and said exasperatedly: “The way you knit.”
It’s a complete disaster.
Before he could finish, Lin Zhexia suddenly stood up.
“I’m, I’m tired of knitting.”
She stammered: “That’s enough for today, I’m going home.”
When Lin Zhexia left Chi Yao’s place, it was already dark outside. As if trying to cover something up, she stood at the door and rambled on nonsensically to Chi Yao: “Remember to hide the needles and yarn well, don’t let anyone find them. If He Yang comes to your place and sees them… although he probably wouldn’t tell anyone either. Anyway, I just don’t want him to know. No one should know. You have to hide them well.”
Without waiting for Chi Yao’s response.
She turned and pushed open the building door, running back home.
After returning home, she went to the kitchen to get a glass of water to calm herself.
It must have been because they were too close just now.
Not used to it.
After all, Chi Yao was a boy.
It’s normal to feel awkward, right?
Even the best of brothers would feel awkward.
Yes.
Awk-ward.
She took deep breaths while holding her water glass.
Holding the glass, she unexpectedly noticed that the bathroom light was on, and slight sounds were coming from inside.
It seemed like… someone was vomiting.