The Senior Student (female) Is Not Human - Chapter 23
Chapter 23: The Lie
“Point it out to me.”
In a secluded corner of the campus, on a pitch-dark path, two figures walked slowly, one behind the other.
However, the distance between them was erratic, alternately close and far.
“Ouch.”
It was the sound of Xie Shiwei unintentionally stepping on a stone, twisting her ankle, nearly spraining it, and accidentally bumping into Jiang Xiyao.
She hastily steadied herself, her palm, clutching the smooth, silky corner of Jiang Xiyao’s clothing, was anxiously beaded with sweat. Fearing she might anger the other woman and be abandoned, she gripped even tighter.
“I-I’m sorry, it’s too dark here… I can’t see. Sister, I didn’t mean it…”
Xie Shiwei explained cautiously.
Although she didn’t know if Jiang Xiyao had forgotten her phone, or was simply so familiar with the school paths that she walked ahead with such calm audacity in the dark.
Yet, Xie Shiwei felt remarkably secure. In the very darkness that usually terrified her, and on a road that was long and seemingly endless, she walked with an inappropriate sense of elation.
It turned out that when there were no scary, fanatic fans of Sister Jiang lurking nearby, and it was just the two of them alone, she didn’t want to run away.
For a moment.
Xie Shiwei started to like the night.
Jiang Xiyao stepped onto a stair, paused, and looked back.
Since she hadn’t given a warning, her sudden stop ensured that the fool, following her with complete trust, unfailingly bumped into her again without any defense.
This time, it was her forehead hitting Jiang Xiyao’s chin.
Before Jiang Xiyao could speak, the girl, who was now covering her head and ‘ouch-ing’ louder, only rubbed the injured spot cursorily before looking up at her: “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Sister. Did I hurt you?”
“I was distracted and didn’t notice you stopped. It’s all my fault for being too clumsy. Are you alright?”
Jiang Xiyao had lost count of how many apologies she had heard from Xie Shiwei tonight, certainly more than she had heard in several centuries.
After all, others, even those who killed her, would only say, “It’s all your fault, you deserved to die!”
She saw Xie Shiwei tentatively reaching out, only to stop midway, hesitate for a long time, and then retract her hand.
Jiang Xiyao’s eyes paused.
She had never seen this gesture.
When humans could only look at her from afar, their eyes were filled only with the obsession and fervor of wanting to get closer. And as they gradually approached and touched her skin, that obsessed love would turn into the murderous intent to destroy her.
No one had ever withdrawn their hand the moment they were able to touch her.
So, Jiang Xiyao, who was usually disgusted by being touched without her permission, suddenly grabbed the girl’s wrist in this moment, forcing it forward to rest against her cheek, allowing her to check.
At the same time, her pleasant voice finally spoke: “I’m fine.”
Xie Shiwei felt her entire arm go instantly weak and numb!
Ah ah ah, what is Sister doing! Is, is she hurt from the bump? It must be hurt, right? But I don’t dare to rub it, ah ah ah!
Her fingertips froze, not daring to make the slightest movement, terrified that any motion would make her seem like a pervert fondling a beautiful woman’s cheek. Her face flushed red with nervousness.
But her fingertip pads acted on their own, conveying a cool, slick sensation, silently tempting one to confirm, to stroke, to fiercely—
“G-g-good! It’s good that you’re not hurt! That’s wonderful!”
Xie Shiwei frantically pulled her hand back.
Close call, close call! Thank goodness I held back! I didn’t take advantage of Sister!
Jiang Xiyao frowned, listening to the relief in her loud, boisterous tone, yet observing the way her actions immediately sought to avoid contact with her.
For a moment.
She suddenly suspected that Xie Shiwei had always avoided contact with her because, in reality, she didn’t like to be touched by her at all.
She keeps saying it’s me who doesn’t like it, but the one who truly dislikes it is Xie Shiwei, isn’t it?
Otherwise, how could you explain that when I hold her hand and let her touch me, she avoids me like the plague?
Jiang Xiyao sneered silently.
Very well, she’s uncovered another one of Xie Shiwei’s lies.
Today, she wanted to see just how many more lies Xie Shiwei had told her in the past.
Jiang Xiyao simply uttered the word “stairs” expressionlessly. Before Xie Shiwei could react, she abruptly grabbed the girl’s wrist and pulled her forward.
Xie Shiwei stumbled onto a step, thinking Sister Jiang was annoyed with her bumping and that she was about to fall badly. She instinctively shielded her face with her other hand, but found only flat cement ground ahead.
The sound of an old iron door being pushed open reached her ears.
The girl was suddenly pressed down onto an armchair. The fragrance around her nose was abruptly mixed with the dusty, musty smell of a long-closed dark room. She sneezed, then belatedly asked:
“S-Sister, where are we? This doesn’t seem to be my department building or my dorm?”
The answer came as a “snap” of the light switch being flipped.
Xie Shiwei saw a jumble of blurry blocks of color again. Among the many colors, a vibrant red that flashed nearby was more eye-catching than the others.
Though she couldn’t see anything clearly, she instinctively pursued this beautiful color with her gaze.
Until that unique fragrance stopped in front of Xie Shiwei again—
A cold, hard, round frame was suddenly hooked between her right eyebrow bone and lower eye socket.
Xie Shiwei instinctively blinked, realizing that the fuzzy, blurry world in her right eye was slowly becoming bright and clear.
Sister Jiang actually had a lens with the exact right prescription for her here?
In the gradually clarifying world, the first thing she saw was the lower half of Jiang Xiyao’s face.
Even only revealing her jawline, the tempting crimson lips and the alluring red mole were captivating.
As Xie Shiwei’s heart pounded faster, she saw the red lips curve and part to utter:
“When did I promise to take you back to your dorm or department?”
Xie Shiwei: “…?” She guessed not.
She blinked obediently. From the coldness falling near her face, she realized Jiang Xiyao had fitted her with a monocle attached to a chain.
Supported only by her eyebrow bone and eye socket, Xie Shiwei was terrified it might fall and break at any moment, so she cupped her hands loosely in front of her eyes. She tried to stand up:
“Well, thank you, Sister, for lending me a pair of glasses. I’ll clean them and return them to you another day?”
Xie Shiwei did have a spare pair of glasses in her bag.
However, today, she had been temporarily assigned to deliver documents to the activity center during her work-study program at her department. Thinking she’d be quick, she hadn’t brought her backpack.
Now that Jiang Xiyao had specially found her a usable lens, she just needed to turn on her phone’s flashlight, walk slowly on the way back, and everything would be fine!
—Wuwu, Sister Jiang saved her again. She is the best person in the world!
Xie Shiwei, overwhelmed with gratitude, had barely lifted her butt off the chair when a hand pressed her back down.
Jiang Xiyao rested one hand on the chair armrest, leaning over to look at this person who, once given freedom, would instantly revert to her true nature and think only of how to quickly get away from her: “How will you thank me?”
Xie Shiwei instinctively held her breath, pressing back hard against the chair. No matter how many times, it was hard to get used to such a stunning face leaning close to her.
Stay strong, blockhead! You must hold back! You swore today you wouldn’t fantasize about Sister anymore!
Xie Shiwei, struggling with self-control, avoided eye contact and answered vaguely: “A-anything, anything is fine. Whatever you need me to do, Sister, I can do it.”
As she struggled to endure, Jiang Xiyao pressed closer instead of retreating.
The silky black long hair draped over the beauty’s shoulder, coolly brushing past the girl’s small nose.
“Is that so?”
Jiang Xiyao drew out her tone lazily, as if confirming her sincerity.
But she didn’t give Xie Shiwei a chance to reply. Her red lips, almost touching the girl’s ear, suddenly curved into a smile, and she whispered:
“Alright then, take them off.”
She had decided to verify Xie Shiwei’s third lie.
Xie Shiwei: “…?”
I knew it, the blockhead started again! The moment I heard Sister’s voice, I started speeding without permission!
The girl blushed and stuttered her reply: “O-okay, no problem—but Sister, I didn’t quite catch that, what did you ask me to take off?”
Hearing her unhesitating agreement and seeing her face flush as if she were oxygen-deprived and about to faint, Jiang Xiyao finally retreated slightly, allowing fresh air to pass through sparingly.
She wouldn’t let Xie Shiwei faint so easily.
“Be my model.”
With that, Jiang Xiyao turned and went to the area where art supplies were stored.
Xie Shiwei gasped for several breaths, finally realizing that the room was an art studio.
But unlike the dimly lit studios she remembered, filled with strange oil paintings, scattered brushes, pencils, and messy palettes on cement floors, this studio was very stylish.
The window had layers of luxurious lace curtains, and the corner held an exquisite electric fireplace, its warm glow burning and providing endless warmth on the autumn night.
Even the wall had an artistic flair; a corner was carved out and encased a delicate miniature world under a crystal ball.
Xie Shiwei, seeing this unexpected sense of warmth in the small studio, stared blankly for a long time. It wasn’t until Jiang Xiyao sat down in front of a canvas and instructed her that she looked away:
“Put the clothes you take off on the chair.”
“Go sit on that sofa.”
Following her pointed finger, seeing the sofa covered with a snow-white, long-pile blanket that could almost serve as a small bed, Xie Shiwei suddenly realized that everything she had just heard seemed to be true.
Taking them off was real, and posing as an nude model for Sister’s painting was also real.
Wait—
How could I agree to this, ah ah ah ah?! And why would Sister, with those eyes that never look at ugly things, choose me as a model?!
Jiang Xiyao hadn’t seen her move and noticed her fingers were firmly welded to the hem of her clothes. She couldn’t help but offer a mocking smile:
“What’s wrong? When others asked for your help, you rushed to choose music for them even though you couldn’t understand the melody.”
“Now that it’s my turn, asking you to sit and be a model where you don’t have to do anything, you start dragging your feet?”
Xie Shiwei, frantically building up her courage, shook her head slightly in shame: “N-no, I, I didn’t… I-I just, I don’t know how…”
Jiang Xiyao, who had heard her countless explicit inner thoughts, would not be easily fooled by her pretense of shyness.
She made a move to get up from the canvas: “You don’t know how to take off clothes? Do you want me to help you?”
She didn’t actually want to paint anyway.
She just wanted to confirm if some people’s constant internal thoughts—flirting with her and saying they waste a pair of pants every time they see her—were another lie.
“N-no, no, no, no, I can! I can do this! I can do it myself, Sister!”
Just the thought of being Sister’s nude model was making smoke pour out of Xie Shiwei’s head.
How could she dare to imagine Jiang Xiyao, with those precious, perfectly proportioned hands, personally helping her take off her clothes?
Turning her back was Xie Shiwei’s last bit of self-deception. With trembling fingers, she continuously hypnotized herself that this was for art, and that Sister, being so pure, definitely wouldn’t have a mind full of trashy thoughts like hers.
Sister is such an impressive specialized admission student, she must have seen many nude figures. Her eyes will only see merciless lines and colors!
But even though Xie Shiwei tried to restrain herself tonight, desperately guiding her thoughts down the straight and narrow.
When she removed the clothes one by one, down to the last, thinnest piece of triangular fabric.
She still saw a patch of damp, dark mark through the clear lens on her right eye.
Witnessing this body’s joyful evidence of “betrayal” of her will, the body felt no shame but rather pride. Xie Shiwei felt her lower abdomen heat up again.
She didn’t even dare to take large steps toward the sofa.
Afraid of leaving an unusual shimmer on the deep, clean wooden floor of the studio.
When she stopped in front of the sofa, Xie Shiwei’s toes, stepping on the cold floor, were all flushed red, like a perfectly cooked shrimp. She stared at the snow-white, delicate blanket on the sofa, which looked incredibly expensive.
Xie Shiwei finally couldn’t help but look imploringly at the person behind the canvas.
“Sister, c-could you… lend me a few tissues?”
Her vague tone was her last veil of modesty: “I’m afraid I’ll stain your blanket.”
Jiang Xiyao propped her chin on her hand, watching her profile the entire way.
The timid girl, who was extremely afraid of the blurred world, had obediently shed her old-fashioned, self-protecting “turtle shell,” but was reluctant to part with the monocle and had not chosen to remove the Buddha beads from her wrist.
The delicate silver chain dangled by her small cheek, swaying as she moved.
The unconscious hanging end collided with the Buddha bead bracelet, which symbolized restraint, introversion, and abstinence.
Even though the girl’s arms were constantly held nervously in front of her chest, concealing everything except her arms, waist, and long legs, Jiang Xiyao realized with such clarity—
She was being seduced.
By the Buddha beads, by the monocle, by this body that was concealing itself, yet hadn’t fully revealed its form.
Jiang Xiyao, who for the first time saw “seductiveness” in the Buddha beads, wondered if there was something wrong with her eyes.
Could it be that taking off the skin near her eye to embed the lens and lend it to Xie Shiwei had affected her own vision?
Jiang Xiyao was pondering the source of this temptation, and her answer to the girl was somewhat distracted:
“You’re not dirty. Go ahead.”
But the person standing in front of the sofa showed no further movement.
It wasn’t until Jiang Xiyao unconsciously began to compare the whiteness of Xie Shiwei’s skin with the whiteness of the cashmere rug that she noticed her dawdling.
“Xie. Shi. Wei.”
As the faintly warning tone sounded, Xie Shiwei’s body obeyed the command faster than her mind.
The girl practically fell onto the soft rug of the sofa with her legs pressed together, like a poor little lamb whose hooves were suddenly pushed together.
At the same time—
Xie Shiwei distinctly felt that the slight coolness, which she had managed to hold in with subtle internal force while her movements were frozen, had all fallen onto the blanket the moment she sat down.
Furthermore, as she looked up in panic, meeting Jiang Xiyao’s pitch-black eyes and confirming that the other woman had been watching her the entire time.
Her shameless body was even more eager to show its loyalty to its self-recognized “new master.”
Xie Shiwei realized with shame and despair that she could never break her sexual addiction to Jiang Xiyao.
From the day she unilaterally started using Jiang Xiyao as an object for her fantasies, she had been systematically conditioning herself to react the moment she saw this face.
Whether she was truly in love with Jiang Xiyao or not, her body had already made the choice for her.
Jiang Xiyao saw the teardrops welling up again at the corners of her eyes, about to fall.
Although she didn’t know if Xie Shiwei was embarrassed or angry, she deliberately said:
“Ah. I suddenly remembered that this blanket is very expensive. If it gets wet, I’ll have to throw it away.”
A malicious glint flickered in the depths of Jiang Xiyao’s eyes, though she was smiling:
“So, catch your tears. Don’t let them fall onto it.”
The moment she finished speaking.
The person sitting on the sofa tensed up completely, wiggling her toes with extreme guilt.
Jiang Xiyao tilted her head, examining her, and showed a surprised look: “What, has it already dripped onto it?”
She saw the girl’s clear, innocent, doe-like eyes widen dumbly, and her small face alternating between blush and paleness. Just as the girl forgot to breathe…
“No.”
Jiang Xiyao slowly shook her head, concluding to herself: “I didn’t see your tears fall.”
After a pause, she pretended to curiously examine her model: “Your tears haven’t even fallen yet. Why are you so nervous?”
“—Unless, some other place has already wet my cashmere blanket?”
Xie Shiwei was speechless from her questioning.
Her ears felt like the spout of a kettle letting out steam when the water boiled, and her face was so hot it was scorching without needing to be touched.
She opened her mouth, her expression pleading, her voice so hoarse she didn’t recognize it herself:
“I-I’ll wash it. N-no, I’ll buy you a new one, Sister…”
Jiang Xiyao stood up and walked toward her.
As she stood in front of the girl, her slender, enchanting figure seemed to block out all the light in the studio, completely covering her in shadow.
Seeing her locked prey completely lose the ability to think from shame and distress, even forgetting to run, Jiang Xiyao finally curved her lips in pleasure:
“For my property, I should at least know the reason why it was damaged, shouldn’t I?”
“Xie Shiwei, how did you ruin it? How did you wet it? Did you fail to catch tears flowing from somewhere else, allowing my cashmere blanket to be stained by water it shouldn’t have touched?”
The girl was so pressured by her questioning that she even forgot she was wearing the monocle, shaking her head vigorously in distress.
Her lower lip was bitten so hard it left deep teeth marks.
Jiang Xiyao suddenly raised both hands, stopping her movement which nearly flung the delicate lens off her face.
Holding her face like this, the expert seductress slowly occupied the absolute center of her widely opened, frantic eyes.
Ensuring that Xie Shiwei could no longer look away from her—
Jiang Xiyao finally let out a slow smile.
She asked coaxingly:
“Which part is being so naughty?”
“Xie Shiwei, tell me with your own mouth.”
“Then, use your hand to point it out to me.”