Her hands, her lips, her breath – they wove together into a poem of awakening, at times tender, at times passionate. Finally, Li Wu released with a low gasp between Cen Jin’s fingers, bringing their intimate moment to an end.
“Good boy.” Cen Jin ruffled his hair with her other hand. She tried to rise from his lap, but he pulled her back down, holding her tight.
The young man exuded an air of fragility and satisfaction, like a rain-soaked blade of grass trembling after a downpour.
“What’s wrong?” Cen Jin asked as her shoulder blades ached from his fierce embrace.
Li Wu remained silent, refusing to let go.
Noticing another shift in his demeanor, Cen Jin chuckled. “Alright, young man, will you let me wash my hands?”
Li Wu’s face flushed as he released her.
Cen Jin left the study, her knees slightly weak. Standing before the bedroom vanity, she found her reflection as flushed as if she’d been drinking. She let out a soft laugh, took a deep breath, turned on the faucet, cleaned her fingers thoroughly, and splashed some cool water on her face.
When she emerged, Li Wu stood there properly composed. Upon seeing her, he pulled her back into his embrace, instantly melting against her like an oversized plush toy or human-shaped ornament.
He was like a puppy – clingy when hungry, clingy when full.
Cen Jin felt both endeared and exasperated. She nudged his shoulder and asked, “What will you do when summer break ends and you go back to school?”
Li Wu remained unmoved, mumbling, “Just go to school.”
“Hmm?” Cen Jin wasn’t satisfied. “Won’t you miss me?”
“Will you,” he lifted his head, eyes dark and bright, “miss me?”
“I’ll be too busy working to miss anyone.” At the mention of work, her previously forgotten bad mood flickered back to life, and Cen Jin’s lips turned down.
Li Wu noticed and tilted her chin up, studying her face. “Did something happen at work?”
Cen Jin pinched his cheeks in return and pouted. “You must study for many more years. Don’t enter the workforce too early. Once you enter society, it’s too easy to be crushed. You’ll encounter many situations beyond your control.”
“Then when can I marry you?” he suddenly asked.
Cen Jin froze, then gave his back a playful smack. “Marriage? You’re not even of legal age!”
Li Wu fell silent for a few seconds before lowering his voice. “I will be,” he added, “as long as you still want to be with me then.”
Cen Jin’s heart clenched. “Why so humble, little one? I’m not the fickle type.”
Li Wu gazed at her deeply and quietly before responding, “Mm.”
“Are you angry with me?” Cen Jin started tickling him.
Li Wu was most vulnerable to tickling. He immediately broke into a grin, showing his beautiful white teeth as he dodged and said, “No.” But Cen Jin wouldn’t let up, chasing him with her “magic hands.”
The roughhousing ended with Li Wu lifting Cen Jin off the ground.
They cuddled on the couch and started watching an old movie – their daily ritual of intimate time together. Previously, Cen Jin would lean against a cushion, but now she had a warm human chest that seemed custom-made for her, perfectly cradling her back and automatically adjusting to her movements.
However, the owner of said chest wasn’t very well-behaved, occasionally reaching out to caress her, or placing light kisses on her hairline, nape, and earlobes.
These seductive little actions often made Cen Jin’s scalp tingle and body grow weak with desire. She wanted to pounce on him and take him right there.
But Cen Jin hesitated to act on these impulses.
Perhaps it was because Li Wu was too pure and innocent, or because she still felt an insurmountable barrier in her heart. Though they were equal in material terms, she felt they weren’t quite equal spiritually. If they progressed to that level, their relationship would become more complex and weighty.
She wasn’t particularly traditional about chastity, but she wasn’t sure if Li Wu was. Most importantly, she hadn’t thoroughly and carefully considered their future yet. For now, she just wanted to enjoy dating and living in the present.
So until she deliberately broke through that societal barrier herself, she probably wouldn’t initiate their most intimate physical relationship.
These thoughts had a hint of “player” to them, but Cen Jin knew she needed them to stay level-headed. Li Wu was too tempting, both inside and out. He was handsome, vigorous, intelligent, passionate, and most importantly, he loved her – loved her with pure intensity. This devoted, all-or-nothing love carried a fatal attraction. Every day spent with Li Wu felt like being a thousand-year-old celibate spider demon from the Spider Cave facing Tang Monk’s flesh, walking the line between sensuality and rationality, always on the verge of failing and falling into the abyss.
They carried on this way until summer break ended.
In September, the hormone monster finally returned to his cage at school, and Cen Jin’s taut nerves relaxed. She found time to meet with friends.
When Chun Chang heard about her predicament these past months, she was dumbfounded and mockingly praised: “Sister Jin, my dear Sister Jin, calling you a ninja would be an understatement.”
“Stop teasing me. But honestly, since he went to school, I miss him.” Cen Jin sipped her coffee, showing that smile common to all women in love.
This smile could transport them to an intimate private world even in the most crowded, noisy places.
Chun Chang broke out in goosebumps. “Then let him come home every day.”
“He’s busy with courses and lab work, where would he find the time? Even if he had it, I don’t. In a while, I have to go back to the corporate grind,” Cen Jin glanced at her watch and smiled.
She suddenly grew serious and looked at Chun Chang as if about to announce major news: “I’ve been considering something this past month.”
Chun Chang raised her eyebrows. “What? How to take a virgin’s first time?”
“No, can you get your mind out of the gutter?” Cen Jin’s lips twitched as she stated flatly, “I don’t want to do creative work anymore.”
“What?” This shocked Chun Chang more than hearing her friend could resist sleeping with her young boyfriend for a month. “Then what will you do?”
Cen Jin said, “I want to transfer to Account Management.”
Chun Chang’s mouth fell slightly open. “No way, you’ve made it to Deputy Creative Director and suddenly want to switch to account service? Who makes that kind of move? You might as well go client-side.”
Cen Jin brushed her hair back. “When I first came to Ao Xing, I didn’t want to just do creative work. I wanted to move toward strategy, but later because some of my work was quite good, the department didn’t want to let me go, and I was enjoying myself, so it got shelved. But last month’s incident was a wake-up call. I’ve decided to leave my comfort zone and spend a year or two in client services, building connections for my plans.”
Chun Chang blinked. “What plans?”
Cen Jin smiled brightly, her eyes gleaming. “I want to open my own creative boutique or MCN company.”
“Oh my god!” Chun Chang could have swallowed two eggs whole. “Really? Does turning thirty make everyone so ambitious? My mom also decided to open a pancake stand when she was thirty. Why don’t I have such enlightenment?”