Innocence

Gu Tuantuan’s face turned into a tomato—even the tips of her ears were red. She pretended not to hear him and made up an excuse, “I have to go now. I have other plans.”

Hugging the paper bag to her chest, she turned and hurried away.

To be honest, it was an escape. She didn’t want Jiang Ye to see her blush—it was too humiliating.

Jiang Ye stood there dumbfounded and watched the dust trail behind her. Suddenly, a shrill whistle blew. It was the coach signaling the end of the rest break, and that practice was resuming.

Jiang Ye made a decision. Walking over to the bench area, he stopped the tanned boy who had called out to him earlier, “Liu Kai, play for me. I need to step out for a minute.”

Liu Kai opened and closed his mouth wordlessly like a fish. He was filled with a sense of incredulity and terror. He glanced at Coach. Aw hell no! His face was already dark and brooding like that of an executioner’s…

“N-n-n-n-no! Brother Jiang, don’t do this to me!” Liu Kai shook his head vehemently from side to side.

Leaving halfway through a practice match, what a big joke! Coach’s going to put someone’s head on the chopping block, and it ain’t going to be his. He wanted no part of it.

“Tsk!” Jiang Ye clicked his tongue and frowned. “Don’t be a wuss. I’ll be right back.” Waving his hand at Liu Kai, he turned and jogged away.

Liu Kai walked onto the court with a sour expression on his face. Seeing the looks of surprise all around him, he hurriedly explained, “Uh, Brother Jiang had to go sort something out, so he asked me to play in his place.”

After speaking, he sent a beseeching smile at Coach.

He showed a smile that was uglier than crying.

The corner of the coach’s mouth twitched. Jiang Ye always gave him a headache. He was a good seedling but too unruly—he just did whatever he wanted.

Coach swept his eyes over the players then let out a discontented snort, “Continue practice!”

Just as Liu Kai was about to breathe a sigh of relief, a senior hooked an arm around his neck, “Let’s go, kid.” He pointed at the scoreboard, “We’re thirteen points ahead right now. If they catch up—” His voice drifted off, and he put on a you-know-what’s-going-to-happen face. Patting Liu Kai on the back, the senior ran away laughing.

Liu Kai’s expression turned ugly.

Gu Tuantuan was walking along the quiet path. There wasn’t a single soul in sight—only the giant weeping willow trees with their long, sweeping branches lining the side of the road. Suddenly, footsteps pounded down the pavement behind her, quickly approaching. She turned around to see Jiang Ye jogging towards her; she breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “What are you doing here?”

Jiang Ye came to a stop in front of her, not even the slightest bit out of breath, “I was worried that you would get lost and take the wrong bus.”

Gu Tuantuan pouted, “No, I would not!”

Jiang Ye chuckled at her retort, “No? Then who cried until her eyes were all red and puffy because she got on the wrong bus?”

She couldn’t believe Jiang Ye was bringing that up; she was still a kid back then! At the time, she was in elementary school and had accidentally taken the wrong bus after school. She didn’t realize it until she had gotten off of the bus in a completely unfamiliar place and couldn’t find her way back home. She was so scared that she cried until her parents finally came to pick her up. By that point, her eyes were already extremely swollen.

Jiang Ye had teased her about it for a long time after. It became a sore spot that she had always wanted to forget.

Angry and embarrassed, she snapped back, "Well, no matter how bad it looked, it’s still not as bad as your eye when you got stung by that bee!”

When they were young and still running around their neighborhood, Jiang Ye saw a beehive and insisted on whacking it down for honey. But instead of getting any honey, he got stung by a bee. His right eye became so swollen that he couldn’t even open it.

Remembering his miserable face, Gu Tuantuan snickered out loud. “Your eye looked just like a steamed bun! It was this big!” She gestured with her hands.

“Was not!”

“Was too!”

The floodgates to her memories burst open. She remembered all sorts of embarrassing stories from Jiang Ye’s childhood, and they spilled out like a broken dam from her vindictive little mouth.

From time to time, Jiang Ye would throw in a rebuttal. But for the most part, he just listened to her with a light smile.

The two of them bickered all the way to the bus stop, retelling each other’s embarrassing tales.

Whenever Gu Tuantuan became embarrassed, she’d forget that she was still wearing a skirt and send him a flying kick. But Jiang Ye was good at evading, which only made Gu Tuantuan even more incensed.

They chased each other around the empty promenade. Jiang Ye looked at Gu Tuantuan’s small figure and couldn’t help reaching out to pat her head. This action accidentally messed up the girl’s carefully brushed bangs.

All of a sudden, Gu Tuantuan erupted. She had a sneaking suspicion that he had done it on purpose. After all, he could never beat her in an argument; this was the only way he could get even.

She tried to retaliate and rub Jiang Ye’s head in return, but the boy was too tall. No matter how she jumped, he could easily avoid her.

At some point, Gu Tuantuan’s entire body was pressed against Jiang Ye. When he looked down, he could see past the neckline of her dress—he had a clear view her milky-white breasts flattened against his chest. Even through their clothes, he could distinctively feel the contours of the two soft mounds.

He gulped and wrapped his arms around Gu Tuantuan’s body. The girl was completely engulfed within his embrace.

“What are you doing?”

Jiang Ye lowered his voice and said, “Let me hold you for a while.”

Gu Tuantuan struggled futilely before reluctantly relaxing. She leaned her head against Jiang Ye’s chest and grumbled softly, “Fine, but you have to let me rub your head for as long as I want.”

His arms tightened around her and chuckled—the sound rumbled from deep inside his chest.

I love this chapter. I think Jiang Ye was trying to cheer her up by teasing her. He’s not used the quiet, dress-wearing girl, and prefers her usual loud, tomboyish self… so he bullies her like a little boy bullying the girl he likes. He's also totally letting her "win" the arguments…

So cute ><

XX Umi Yuki