After Cat A Saved the Wrong Female Lead - Chapter 40

Chapter 40: A Kind of Silence

That night, Tang Li didn’t go back to her room.

Not out of impulse.

Not out of need.

She just… didn’t want to leave.

She lay beside Qin Shiyang on the bed, both of them facing the ceiling. Not touching.

The rain had stopped. The window was cracked open. Cool air drifted in.

Neither of them spoke.

The silence wasn’t heavy.

It was… tentative.

Like something waiting to be named.

….

Tang Li turned slightly, her voice soft.

“If I asked you something selfish, would you say no?”

Qin Shiyang didn’t look at her. “Depends on what it is.”

Tang Li exhaled. “Stay like this. Just for a while.”

Qin Shiyang nodded.

She didn’t ask for clarity.

Didn’t ask what “this” meant.

She just stayed.

….

They fell asleep like that.

A careful distance between them.

No arms reaching.

No hands searching.

But the space was full. With warmth. With something nearly—almost—safe.

….

In the morning, Tang Li woke first.

Light spilled gently through the curtains.

She looked at the outline of Qin Shiyang’s face, relaxed in sleep.

And for a moment, she imagined tracing the shape of her cheek.

But she didn’t move.

She just watched.

As if she were trying to memorize something.

Something fleeting.

Something she didn’t quite have the right to claim.

….

Qin Shiyang stirred.

Their eyes met.

Tang Li whispered, “Morning.”

Qin Shiyang’s voice was still drowsy. “You didn’t run away.”

Tang Li smiled faintly. “Did you expect me to?”

“Maybe.”

Silence.

Then, Tang Li said, “I wanted to see if the quiet felt different in the morning.”

Qin Shiyang looked at her, confused. “And?”

Tang Li turned her gaze to the ceiling again.

“It does.”

….

They got out of bed slowly.

Quietly.

Almost cautiously.

Neither acknowledged what had shifted.

But both knew something had.

Not love.

Not yet.

But something close.

The kind of closeness that didn’t beg to be named.

Only to be kept.