Snow-Kissed Rose (GL) Chapter 68.1

Huai Xu's voice was very low, and there was barely a gap between her lips when she spoke. Nevertheless, her voice was inherently clear and possessed a moistness unique to women. It also felt like a rose in her throat, as Song Yingshi swore she could smell the scent of roses in her breath.

Fortunately, as the others were merrily counting down the penalty game, Huai Xu's voice was only audible to Song Yingshi and Wan Jiao.

When Wan Jiao overheard Huai Xu's words and the somewhat pleading tone Huai Xu used, even as a straight woman, her heart couldn't help but tremble. If even an outsider like her couldn't resist Huai Xu's voice, it went without saying Song Yingshi would succumb to it immediately…

With such thoughts in mind, Wan Jiao shifted her gaze toward Song Yingshi.

Song Yingshi no longer moved her hand. She didn't remove it from Huai Xu's hand, either. Instead, she pointed at Huai Xu with her other hand and said, "Haha, so you're afraid of being tickled?"

Wan Jiao: ?

Was that what mattered the most?

Song Yingshi was unaware of what others thought. When she saw Huai Xu quietly looking at her, she stopped laughing and said in a coaxing tone, "It hasn't been a minute yet. Since you won't let me move, you do the moving."

Tao Qin and Quan Yuanyuan excitedly clenched their fists under the table and exchanged glances.

Was this a conversation they were supposed to hear?!

Everyone stopped counting the time and began heckling. A few trainees were too shy to join in on the merrymaking, so they simply put on an embarrassed smile.

It took Song Yingshi a moment to react to this sudden development, but she quickly realized that her friends had misinterpreted her words. She gave everyone an amused smile and said, "Get your mind out of the gutter."

Song Yingshi didn't harbor any explicit thoughts when she worded her sentence, so her friends' heckling didn't faze her.

"Hey, don't stop touching! The penalty game's not over yet! Or are you chickening out?" Tao Qin said provocatively.

"Who's chickening out?" Song Yingshi snorted. Then, she stretched her eyebrows frivolously, creating a playful atmosphere as she said in a cold voice, "I'm just worried it'll be too much for your eyes."

"Too much? What's too much? Nothing's too much for us!" Tao Qin retorted.

Going with the flow, Song Yingshi said playfully, "Look at you all, getting so excited from a simple hand-holding. If we…"

Before Song Yingshi could finish her words, she suddenly felt a warm yet cooling sensation brushing across the back of her hand. While maintaining her confident smile, she turned to look at Huai Xu.

Huai Xu had her gaze lowered, her fingertips gently tracing the pale green blood vessels on the back of Song Yingshi's hand. Her fingers moved down Song Yingshi's hand bit by bit, eventually stopping on a mole on Song Yingshi's wrist before pressing down hard.

The collision of bones through layers of flesh and skin caused Song Yingshi to feel a slight numbness in her wrist.

However, Song Yingshi didn't care about the numbness, her line of sight falling on a gap between Huai Xu's hair.

Amidst Song Yingshi and Huai Xu's silent interaction, someone resumed the one-minute countdown, and everyone else followed suit, with Tao Qin's and Quan Yuanyuan's voices being the loudest.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven…"

The tip of Huai Xu's right ear poked out from her long, smooth hair, looking like a piece of crimson jade.

"Six, five, four…"

Song Yingshi couldn't see Huai Xu's expression, but as she stared at Huai Xu's flushed ear, she could sense Huai Xu's seriousness and persistence as Huai Xu caressed her hand.

Flesh pressed against flesh, fingertips pressed against fingertips, fingers intertwined like the teeth of a comb, and blood coursed through pale blue veins.

"Three! Two! One!"

When the countdown ended, neither Song Yingshi nor Huai Xu retracted their hands.

Song Yingshi felt her heart was a cool, minty sparkling drink on a summer day, bubbling with fine, crisp joy in the sweltering heat.

…

There was a recording session in the afternoon, so after a few games of Werewolf, everyone returned to their respective rooms to tidy themselves up, making it convenient to get their hair and makeup done later.

Song Yingshi followed Huai Xu back to their room in a good mood. However, after she poured two cups of water and turned around with Huai Xu's mug, she failed to see Huai Xu anywhere.

Just as Song Yingshi wondered where Huai Xu had gone, she heard running water from the bathroom.

Hm? She's taking a shower?

…

As lukewarm water poured over her head, Huai Xu closed her eyes and raised her head, letting the water slide down her hair and splash on the floor.

Amidst the rising steam, Huai Xu couldn't help but recall the scene just now. Immediately, her throat rolled, and her breaths grew heavy.

The lukewarm water soon started to feel scalding, so Huai Xu quickly turned off the shower before what was supposed to be a refreshing shower turned into a sauna.

After drying her body, Huai Xu looked up and froze—

She had forgotten to bring a change of clothes.

Unlike her previous teasing of Song Yingshi, Huai Xu had genuinely forgotten this time, her mind preoccupied with the "penalty game" just now.

Resigning herself to fate, Huai Xu approached the door and called, "Little Shi?"

Outside the door, Song Yingshi looked toward the bathroom and answered, "I'm here."

Huai Xu loosened her knitted brows and said, "Can you help me get a change of clothes? Anything will do."

As Huai Xu finished speaking, she waited for a moment before she heard the sound of approaching footsteps. Just as she was about to ask if Song Yingshi had brought a change of clothes, she heard Song Yingshi suddenly laughing and saying, "You used the same trick last time."

Huai Xu: "..."

"I'm not tricking you this time. I really did forget," Huai Xu sighed helplessly.

"I don't mind," Song Yingshi said.

"What?" Huai Xu responded in confusion.

Meanwhile, Song Yingshi leaned against the wall next to the bathroom, one of her legs slightly curled as she said to Huai Xu across the door, "You can come out directly. It'll be more convenient that way."

Huai Xu was silent for a moment.

Under normal circumstances, Huai Xu might've accepted this invitation and stepped out without hesitation. But she had just finished showering, and there was a recording session in the afternoon. Work still took priority, so she needed to avoid losing control.

"Did you forget that I promised I wouldn't flirt with you anymore," Huai Xu said calmly.

"I guess you have a point," Song Yingshi said, dragging out her voice.

Subsequently, Huai Xu heard footsteps moving away. After a while, the footsteps returned, followed by a knock on the door.

"Open the door," Song Yingshi said.

Huai Xu pursed her lips, twisted the door handle, and lowered her gaze as she extended a hand through the door gap, saying, "Give it to me."

Huai Xu didn't look at Song Yingshi, so she didn't know what expression the other party was making. However, she didn't bother to shyly cover herself, either.

After Huai Xu put on the clothes she received from Song Yingshi, she stepped out of the room and did her best to remain calm.

Song Yingshi was still standing outside the bathroom. When she saw Huai Xu coming out, she pointed her chin at the mug in her hand and said, "I poured you some water."

Huai Xu glanced at the mug.

"It's already cooled. Do you want me to warm it up for you?" Song Yingshi asked. She remembered Huai Xu preferring warm water, and that was what she poured for Huai Xu. But the water quickly went from warm to cool in the air-conditioned room.

Huai Xu accepted the bug, took a few sips, and shook her head, saying, "It's just right."

A cup of cool water was exactly what Huai Xu needed right now.

Thus, Song Yingshi went quiet for a while.

In the room with only the barely perceptible sound of the air conditioner, Huai Xu gradually relaxed. After wiping her hair dry, she reached for the hair dryer while checking the time, only to be interrupted by Song Yingshi.

While leaning against the dressing table, Song Yingshi reached out to touch Huai Xu's hair and volunteered, "Should I dry your hair for you?"

Huai Xu could feel Song Yingshi's breath hitting her face.

The Song Yingshi of today was much livelier than usual. For a moment, Huai Xu thought they had gone back to the time before she exposed her sexual orientation.

Huai Xu was a little unaccustomed to Song Yingshi's sudden intimacy, so she subconsciously stepped away. However, Song Yingshi quickly responded, "Are you doubting my hair-drying skills?"

"No," Huai Xu answered.

"Let me do it, then," Song Yingshi said as she snatched the hair dryer before Huai Xu could reach it. Then, holding the hair dryer with one hand, she lifted Huai Xu's hair with the other hand.

The hot wind coming out of the hair dryer broke the silence in the room, but it also put a halt to the conversation between Song Yingshi and Huai Xu. After all, even if they spoke, the noise would obscure their words and make conversing difficult.

Amidst the noise, Huai Xu looked at the mirror. In the mirror, she sat in front of the dressing table while Song Yingshi stood behind her, looking focused. She could also see Song Yingshi's beautiful fingers running through her hair.

When Huai Xu looked at herself in the mirror, she felt like a child being cared for. She had long since grown used to being independent. She also possessed memories of the future, so she couldn't help but find this situation unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

After Huai Xu endured this situation for five minutes and saw that Song Yingshi was still immersed in her own world, she said, "I'll do it myself."

Song Yingshi didn't catch Huai Xu's words, so she turned off the hair dryer and asked, "What did you say?"

"You can go freshen up. I'll blow my hair myself," Huai Xu said, reaching for the hair dryer in Song Yingshi's hand.

However, Song Yingshi refused to let go.

After a moment of silence, Huai Xu suddenly thought of something and asked, "Do you have a reason that requires you to do this?"

Huai Xu had long since noticed that Song Yingshi's behavior would occasionally go outside the norm. When she considered how she had supposedly reincarnated and inherited memories from her past life, she couldn't help but wonder if there was something compelling Song Yingshi to behave strangely.

This was also the only explanation Huai Xu could think of right now. Otherwise, she couldn't understand why Song Yingshi would want to dry her hair for her.

Song Yingshi: "..."

This time, it was Song Yingshi's turn to fall silent.

A few seconds later, Song Yingshi gritted her teeth, held Huai Xu's jaw with one hand, and forced Huai Xu to face the mirror. Then, she sneered, "Are you unhappy that I'm being nice to you?"

"I'm not used to it," Huai Xu said, pursing her lips.

"Baby, you don't even mind letting me see this and that, yet you mind letting me dry your hair?" Song Yingshi said, raising an insincere smile.

This and that? Huai Xu looked at Song Yingshi's disingenuous expression in the mirror, her mind having trouble figuring out Song Yingshi's motives.

Song Yingshi also looked at Huai Xu in the mirror, her fingers casually hooking up a lock of Huai Xu's hair. After glancing at the hair, she carefully tucked it behind Huai Xu's ear before leaning forward and whispering, "Your skin is so pristine."

Huai Xu's breath stiffened.

Song Yingshi turned the hair dryer back on. As noise filled the room once more, Huai Xu heard Song Yingshi saying in a light and admiring tone, "Every part of you…is so beautiful."