Ye Mingxin squeezed a bit of dish soap into her hands, rubbed them together until it foamed, and then smeared it onto the ring. Then she gently pulled off the ring.

Han Feixu held her ring finger that was finally free, but did not leave as she felt it was too heartless to just disappear like this. So she sat down at the counter and asked “What type of alcohol is this?

“This is a whiskey, an original 1942 Singleton. The flavor isn’t as good as the 1941 one.”

Han Feixu observed the 1942 whiskey that was older than her grandfather with bright eyes. She grabbed a wine glass from the rack and pushed it forward, the meaning of her gesture quite clear.

Han Feixu usually drinks cocktails. Her alcohol tolerance is rather low, so even a single sip of whiskey can make her dizzy. Ye Mingxin understood this and shook her head, “No, you cannot drink this.”

Han Feixu stared challengingly at her, “How do you know if I can drink this or not? I have never gotten drunk before!”

Ye Mingxin looked at her in amusement, “The 16-year-old you isn’t legally allowed to drink alcohol yet, so of course you wouldn’t have gotten drunk. This bottle is a lot different from your usual drinks. You should go back to bed. You have to get up early tomorrow.”

The 16-year-old Han Feixu indeed cannot drink legally, but, at the same time, the 16-year-old Han Feixu was in one of the most rebellious periods of her life.

With her butt firmly glued to the seat, refusing to budge, she said, “I’m not leaving. You will pour me some of that whiskey.”

Ye Mingxin wasn’t one to be swayed. She directly put the lid back on. Han Feixu still reached for it, however, and Ye Mingxin helplessly said, “You really can’t drink. Be good, stop throwing a tantrum.”

The words “throwing a tantrum” were like bullets from a silencer and directly silenced Han Feixu’s protests. She withdrew her hand, her ears red as she stubbornly spoke, “Who’s throwing a tantrum? I just wanted a sip….”

Ye Mingxin placed the bottle back in the glass cabinet.

The two sat facing each other, but neither of them moved or spoke.

Before Han Feixu came down, Ye Mignxin had already drunk half of the bottle. Her alcohol tolerance is not bad, but even she can’t handle one with such high alcohol content. Ordinary whiskey only has around 42% alcohol content, but this bottle has 49.5% which is equivalent of half a bottle of baijiu*.(T/N: Similar to soju in Korea, a drink with very high alcohol content, around 40-65% or sometimes even higher) 

Her cheeks were blushing red and her eyesight was slightly blurry. Her pupils seemed to glow under the dim and warm light, making her seem even more charming than usual.

Han Feixu’s ears were already red from the earlier interaction, but now her entire ears were red and were about to spread to her face. She coughed and lowered her head to avert her eyes from the sight before her, “I don’t think what you said was right.”

Ye Mingxin tilted her head, not understanding what she meant.

“First of all, I want to clarify for myself. I am not a heartless type of person who leaves after taking advantage of someone. If I wanted to marry someone, I would most definitely only marry the person I love the most. Everyone nowadays likes to say they don’t believe in love and that this society is one where pure feelings such as love have long disappeared and now only money rules. But I still believe in love. And I believe marriage to be a very sacred thing, so I wouldn’t marry someone so casually.”

Han Fexiu held the ring in her palm, fiddling with it and flipping it back and forth to watch the diamond sparkle in the light.

“My mother says that I am a nostalgic person, someone who cherishes things from the past such as old friendships. In fact, I haven’t changed my good friends after so many years, and I would even keep old scraps of paper as treasures to remember them by. Of course, it’s not always a good thing to be nostalgic. After all, nostalgia includes not only the good memories, but the bad memories as well.”

She thought of something from the past and paused before slightly changing the topic, “My mother also said that I can be a bit excessive on some things. I tend to have black and white views of love and hate. She said that this character of mine will cause me to suffer in the future. I have forgotten if her words came true or not, if I indeed suffered or not, but at this moment, I still think it is a good thing to be a little excessive.”

Ye Mingxin stared at her intently, as if she could only see Han Feixu. She watched as Han Feixu held the ring like a treasure, and then carefully observed her expressions as she continued to speak.

“Look, I’ve kept this ring well-protected in my wallet for so many years. You’ve known me for so many years, so you must know how distracted and scatterbrained I can be. I lose things all the time, but this wallet is the only thing that I never forget to take with me so I always put my important things in here.”

“I used to put my Exam Admission ticket for my high school exams in this wallet. And now, I have also put the first ring you ever gave me in here.”

Ye Mingxin finally understood what she meant and her eyes fell onto Han Fexiu’s palm.

Han Feixu stayed silent, but seeing that Ye Mignxin only stared at the ring but did not speak, she added another sentence.

“So, saying that ‘I’ don’t love you anymore is a bit exaggerated. I still keep the ring you gave me, and, ahem,  although I can’t wear it anymore, you can think of this as a symbol. A symbol that I have not forgotten your kindness towards me.”

Han Feixu’s logic was like that of a child, but Ye Mingxin could still understand the meaning of her words and suddenly realized why Han Feixu had kept that ring by her side all this time.

She is nostalgic.

Nostalgic for those beautiful moments of the past, evident in even Yiyi’s name. (T/N: Yiyi’s full name is Han Nianyi with the character “Nian” meaning “to miss, to long for, remembrance” etc.) 

When a person longs for the past, it is because the present isn’t as good.

Two drops of tears suddenly fell onto Han Feixu’s knees. Han Feixu raised her head in surprise to see tears in Ye Mingxin’s eyes, but there was also a smile on that tear-stained face. A sad smile that threatened to tear Han Feixu’s heart in two.

“I know I wasn’t good enough.”

“I know I’ve made you sad, but I’ll change. I promise. You can help me change, ok?”

She grabbed Han Feixu’s hand, her voice imploring, “Han Feixu. Little Xu. You can’t just leave me like this. You’re too cruel to me. Why are you the one who gets to come and go? You were the one to approach first, but the one who leaves in the end is also you. I don’t want any of them, you tell them to leave! To beat it!”

The last few words were shouted at a loud volume when Ye Mingxin finally let go and then covered her head in frustration. Her last few words were too incoherent for Han Feixu to understand. She could only sit there, frozen in place, and not understanding what was going on. Her eyes turned to the whiskey bottle beside them. She placed the ring down and then tentatively reached a hand out towards Ye Mingxin, “Ye Mingxin? What’s the matter? Are you drunk?”

She could not be considered to be drunk. Instead, it was more like the anxiety she had in the first place had expanded and the emotions that have long been suppressed in her heart suddenly exploded all at once.

Ye Mingxin cradled her head in one arm while the other arm pushed Han Feixu away. This was the first time Ye Mingxin has resisted Han Feixu’s approach.

She took several deep breaths and then weakly said, “I’m fine, I just need to rest for a while, you…you should go back to bed first.”

How could Han Feixu leave in this situation? She doesn’t know how to comfort people, in fact she has never really comforted people before, let alone someone stimulated by alcohol. She stood up, then silently pulled her chair closer to Ye Mingxin and then sat on the chair again.

She sat next to Ye Mingxin quietly, close but not so close as to actually touch her. In the heat of the summer weather, she wore thin clothes and the heat from her body brushed against the other party.

The warm feeling gradually eased the anxiety, drying the cold sweat that broke out on her neck. The closed eyes belonged again. The environment around her is one that she is familiar with and the person beside her is her lover. There are no horrific hallucinations from her nightmares here.

Ye Mingxin lowered her arms, and turned her head. Han Feixu felt her movements and turned her gaze innocently onto Ye Mingxin.

In Ye Mingxin’s mind, not much time has passed. Perhaps only a minute or so. But, in reality, half an hour has already passed. It took her half an hour to calm down. This entire time, Han Feixu didn’t dare to touch her and could only sit there and wait. She was even ready to drag Ye Mingxin onto the couch if she fell asleep due to the exhaustion.

Han Feixu was unsure if Ye Mingxin had returned to normal yet as the other party only continued to look at her quietly, “Are you feeling better–mmph!”

Ye Mingxin had leaned over and pressed her lips against hers. Her movements were strong, yet gentle, and Han Feixu was so surprised that she didn’t have time to resist. Once her reflexes did react, she did not want to resist.

It…it felt a little bit good.

Ye Mingxin’s skills are good, as she had several years of practice. In comparison, Han Feixu was like a child. She didn’t even dare to respond in any way until Ye Mingxin slowly coaxed her into it, patiently teaching her with her lips.

Once Han Feixu finally got it, her brain felt like it was about to run out of oxygen.

Ye Mngxin finally let go of her lips and Han Feixu fell forward, laying on her chest as she panted for air. After a while, she finally raised her gaze and Ye Mingxin looked back down at her with a pair of gentle and affectionate eyes. Her voice was a little hoarse as she said, “I’ve missed you, Little Xu.”

Han Feixu gave her a strange look, “Missed me? Have I not been here with you every day?”

Ye Mingxin’s lips curled up slightly and whispered some words into her ears.

Han Feixu didn’t read the mood at all and with a serious face said without even lowering her voice, “You wanna do it? What do you want to do?”

Ye Mingxin “…..”

She leaned forward in resignation and said it again, this time making it more clear. Han feixu’s face instantly turned as red as a Dior 999 lipstick. A second later, she stuttered out, “B-B-B-B-But, I-I haven’t cut my nails yet!”

Ye Mingxin’s smile turned even more enchanting, “It’s ok, there’s no need.”

Han Feixu: ….Hah?????

---

T/N: 

*cough* Han Fexiu, you’re a bottom.