My Sister Likes My Sister - Chapter 9
Chapter 9: Don’t You Feel a Little Reluctance to Leave?
But Yu Si-yan, feeling petulant, didn’t want to get involved. She just focused on eating until she was full.
As soon as she wiped her mouth clean, Shen Jianlan gestured for her to come closer.
Yu Si-yan: “?”
She saw the other woman carefully pick up a cotton swab, break off the back end, and let the povidone-iodine soak into the tip.
Shen Jianlan held out her hand and said softly, “I’ll put the medicine on for you.”
Yu Si-yan subconsciously licked her lips. The cut, not too big or too small, had already scabbed over during the night, but if it were to be bitten a few more times… it certainly wouldn’t hold up.
Last time, she had bought the medicine. This time, Shen Jianlan was personally applying it.
A strange feeling welled up inside Yu Si-yan. She quietly moved closer, her long black hair tied up high in the back. Her red lips were slightly parted, and she leaned against Shen Jianlan, inhaling her clean, grassy scent.
When the cotton swab, soaked in iodine, came close, she instinctively closed her eyes like a child.
After a long wait, she felt a slight coolness on her lips. At the same time, Shen Jianlan’s other hand gently cupped her chin.
Yu Si-yan was instantly unable to move. Her foxy eyes opened, her long lashes fluttering slightly as she stared at the woman across from her without moving.
Shen Jianlan seemed oblivious to her gaze, focused only on applying the medicine.
The cotton swab glided over the cut on her lip with such a light touch that Yu Si-yan almost doubted whether it had even picked up any iodine. But seeing Shen Jianlan’s determined expression, she figured it must have.
After applying it once, she gently rubbed it back and forth a few times before Shen Jianlan finally seemed satisfied. She carefully wrapped the swab in a tissue and put it in the trash on the table.
Yu Si-yan wanted to snuggle in her arms for a while longer, but she watched Shen Jianlan get up without hesitation and, in a few swift movements, neatly clean up the leftovers on the table.
The messy mix of bowls, chopsticks, bones, and soup was transformed into neatly sealed plastic containers, placed back into the original takeout bag, and zipped up.
The table was instantly clean, as if nothing had ever been on it.
Yu Si-yan suppressed the urge to bite her lip. She watched as Shen Jianlan walked back to her side, standing straight, looking as if she would say “goodbye” at any moment.
This time, there were no flowers, but there was a personal application of medicine and a verbal farewell.
She felt like she shouldn’t be unsatisfied.
Especially since the other person had even brought up “next time.”
Yu Si-yan slowly got up under her calm gaze, a growing smile in her foxy eyes. “You’re leaving already?”
Shen Jianlan gave a faint “Mm.” Her expression was hard to read, showing no hint of reluctance to part.
Yu Si-yan leaned in, wanting one more kiss, but since her lips were medicated, she could only wrap her arms around Shen Jianlan’s neck and lean close to her cheek. “Don’t you feel a little sad to leave, sis?”
Her lips were close to Shen Jianlan’s ear, her breath fragrant.
Shen Jianlan found that she couldn’t understand Yu Si-yan.
Sometimes she whined and clung like a child, but other times, she was condescending and could easily control her very lifeblood.
Perhaps those brief moments of vulnerability and reluctance were real, but in the end, they weren’t enough.
Shen Jianlan just curved her lips, maintaining a polite smile. “I do.”
It was a perfunctory politeness that sounded like a brush-off to Yu Si-yan.
She took a step back and scrutinized Shen Jianlan.
It was strange. Now that she was neatly dressed, it was as if the glacier that had finally melted had frozen over again, and she couldn’t see through to her thoughts at all. It was hard to imagine the fiery passion of last night.
There was nothing she could do. It seemed she was destined to accept this farewell.
Yu Si-yan laughed self-deprecatingly and thoughtfully walked to the door to get Shen Jianlan’s coat.
She helped Shen Jianlan button up her coat one button at a time, intimate and gentle like a lover. But Yu Si-yan’s own sweater was still loosely on, and she wasn’t wearing pants, exposing her two beautiful legs.
Yu Si-yan had nowhere to go. She thought for a moment and then lazily sat back down on the bed, hugging the teddy bear, and waved at Shen Jianlan. “Then goodbye, sis.”
As her smile blossomed, she looked effortlessly carefree, as if she could just fall into a lazy sleep again at any moment.
Shen Jianlan nodded. “I’ll get going then.”
Before she left, she paused at the door for a while. Just as Yu Si-yan suspected she might want to stay, the woman suddenly turned around and walked back to her bedside in a few steps.
Yu Si-yan was already half-lying on the bed, playing on her phone. She noticed Shen Jianlan’s return and looked up.
Shen Jianlan stopped at her bedside, bent down, and slipped a sticky note into her hand. She opened her mouth. “This is my email.”
“If… you want to, you can contact me.”
Yu Si-yan didn’t have time to look at the note. She didn’t hesitate to grab her wrist. “Don’t you have WeChat?”
Their eyes met in mid-air. After a long moment, Shen Jianlan shook her head. “I don’t usually use WeChat.”
Yu Si-yan stared at her. “Then Q…”
She was interrupted before she could say the next letter. “Just contact me by email.”
Shen Jianlan’s tone was almost a plea. Yu Si-yan let go of her hand and watched her walk away in a daze, getting faster and faster, almost fleeing in a panic.
She came to her senses and read the string of characters on the sticky note.
It wasn’t a common email suffix, so she couldn’t figure out any other contact information from it.
Yu Si-yan saved the email address to her contacts. The other person’s nickname showed up.
It was just a simple letter: LAN.
Yu Si-yan looked at it for a while and then laughed, shaking her head.
What era was this? Besides business cooperation and sending résumés, who still used email to communicate?
Especially for discussing something like this.
But on second thought, this method of communication seemed to suit them perfectly. It was private, discreet, and had no strings attached.
Otherwise, if the relationship fell apart, they would have to worry about whether to delete each other as friends.
Now, all it took was sending one less email to solve the problem.
Yu Si-yan shook her head, a mix of amusement and frustration. With her stomach full, sleepiness slowly crept in. Since she had a membership that allowed for a 6 p.m. checkout, she just lay back down.
She fell into a deep sleep.
When she woke up again, dusk had already settled.
Winter days get dark early. When she pulled back the curtains, the city lights of Lin City were already glittering outside.
Looking out from the high-floor, floor-to-ceiling window, the elevated highway was a river of cars not far away. A large screen in a shopping mall was playing various ads. Closer, a crowd of people was moving slowly, and the lights of old, run-down buildings were turning on one by one.
She checked the calendar on her phone. The New Year was getting closer. The most obvious sign was that the traffic on the elevated highway was heading in one direction.
Out of the city.
The people who had been drifting outside were all rushing to leave Lin City and return to their hometowns with their families.
Lin City was great—bustling and prosperous, with everything one could need—but it was too big and empty. For those without roots, it was always a transient place.
But it was also a great place to hide loneliness. The few locals didn’t have much of a holiday spirit, and even if they did, you wouldn’t be able to see it.
Yu Si-yan stood quietly in front of the window for a while, then expressionlessly closed the curtains again.
Pretending she knew nothing.
She would forget about the holidays that were so important to ordinary people and just live her most normal day.
At least she wasn’t empty-handed now. She had a respectable job that everyone envied, a stable, high salary, and she could meet up with people whenever she wanted.
At thirty, with a few years of savings, her situation was much better than when she had just graduated.
At the very least, the power of money could make a person feel a little less lonely.
Yu Si-yan was planning what to eat for dinner when the perfect alert sound came from her door.
She opened the door, and the little robot gave her a big smile.
Just like last time.
The things Shen Jianlan had ordered were still perfectly suited to her taste.
Yu Si-yan laughed to herself as she ate the seafood congee.
How did Shen Jianlan know she would sleep in until this time? And how could she be so thoughtful as to arrange her meal, ensuring that her experience was pleasant from beginning to end?
In every way, Shen Jianlan was a highly qualified, even excellent, lover.
Yu Si-yan couldn’t help but wonder, “Has she always been this considerate?”
She hadn’t eaten pork, but she had seen a pig run.
Yu Si-yan sent a message to the “pig.” “When you’re in a relationship, how do your girlfriends treat you?”
Guan Xianglin: “?”
Yu Si-yan explained, “Like, are they very considerate and thoughtful? Do they order takeout for you and stuff?”
Guan Xianglin: “…”
Guan Xianglin: “Of course they do.”
Another message quickly followed. It was Guan Xianglin’s slightly helpless tone. “Sis, you’re not getting so excited about someone ordering takeout for you that you’re going to keep showing off to me, are you?”
Yu Si-yan: “Have I been showing off?”
Guan Xianglin immediately sent a screenshot. It was Yu Si-yan’s own words from last time, in black and white: “The chicken soup is so good. The irises are so beautiful.”
Yu Si-yan: “…”
Yu Si-yan: “Then is it not appropriate for me to show off this time?”
Guan Xianglin: “You can send it. I can just read it and not reply.”
“Oh.” Yu Si-yan typed quickly. “But this time, she personally went downstairs to get the takeout for me and even put medicine on my lips.”
Guan Xianglin: “Oh.”
Yu Si-yan: “But I just woke up and received the dinner she arranged for me.”
Guan Xianglin: “Okay, she’s so in love with you.”
Yu Si-yan: “[Blushing][Blushing][Blushing]”
Guan Xianglin: “I’m going to screenshot this and send it to the group chat so those little girls can see how you’re acting.”
Yu Si-yan smiled as she typed. “You try it.”
The conversation ended there. Yu Si-yan put down her phone, feeling completely satisfied. For some reason, the seafood congee in her mouth tasted even more delicious.
The room was warm, and so was her stomach.
At least at a time like this, having someone think of you was a great warmth.
Yu Si-yan ate all the congee. Without even realizing it, she was cleaning up the takeout containers just like Shen Jianlan had.
Before leaving the room, she looked back to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything.
The lights in the room dimmed. Yu Si-yan knew the cleaning staff would soon be arranged, and everything in the room would be replaced.
As if their time together had never happened.
But at least this time, it seemed she had a slightly better chance of things continuing than she did last time.