woman wearing irish linen shirt

Small street lamps light up the well-tended lawn.Miss Pender briskly came out from the front door and greeted me, more moving than any other dream.

The light and shadow under the night covered her with a layer of soft water mist, and Miss Pan De seemed to have just stepped into life through a movie filter.My mind froze suddenly, she had already caressed my face.

"You look good." Miss Pender's eyes were full of light, "It's like cheeks kissed by good luck."

I took off the bag and carried it in my hand: "That's my makeup base. And the blush—I put it on with lip gloss today. So it probably turned out that I kissed myself."

"Why don't you look at me?"

She was wearing a loosely woven cheese yellow sweater at the moment. The neckline was a bit wider, revealing her shoulders, making her figure look slimmer.Among the warm fabrics, looming are the unique curves that can only be seen on the seashore.

Miss Pender was wearing a white bikini.

I can't say I noticed it at first glance.

I shook my head slightly: "Just watching the road. You just said, in the middle of dinner cooking?"

"Yeah. Peter's the chef, and he's still making the bolognese, and we're going to have pasta for dinner." She glanced at me. "No sauce, um, but I mixed a little lime and apple cider vinegar. "

I paused: "With pasta?"

"Yes." She laughed, "You can still eat Peter's pate, he prepared a lot."

I sighed softly, dumbfounded.Stretching out a hand to wrap Miss Pender's shoulders, I whispered, "It's not easy being a dancer."

"Wait a minute."

"Ok?"

She put her arms around my neck, kissed each side of my cheeks, and said in a very satisfied tone: "It's all right now."

I reacted for a moment: "So you are good luck itself?"

"I just think this look is more suitable for you." Miss Pan De raised her eyebrows, "Just now you looked like you just walked through a storm."

"It rained heavily today." I said charades she couldn't understand, "And earlier, I did walk around in the heavy rain."

Instead, she patted my head: "Sounds like hard work."

Also, Miss Pender opened the door before I could criticize her.

This villa is small in size, but it is divided into a considerable area of ​​front and back yards, and even an atrium, which has a wonderful sense of Zen.From the first glance, it is clear that the building was designed and rebuilt by a special person, and it is very close to the soft decoration style of Miss Pande's apartment.

She knew the way very well, and took me to a room on the second floor to put my bag.In the wardrobe with the door open lay Miss Pender's bag and another coat of hers.There is really no trace of life here, and the overall look is like a luxury suite in a Southeast Asian resort hotel, but I still feel that something is wrong.

On the way to the kitchen, I said, "Are you sure this is your friend's house?"

Miss Pender looked at me with guilty and playful eyes.

I knew it well, and her friends were close at hand, so I stopped asking.

Today is still those old acquaintances, Peter, Weng Kexin, a pair of partners in the dance classroom, and "Asia's strongest".They greeted me casually, the strongest in Asia seemed to be not good at cooking, and invited me to play games together.I exchanged pleasantries with them as if I belonged to this group.

Miss Pan De acted coquettishly and kept her composure today. She put on her apron, raised her head, and didn't say much.I lowered my head and just smiled, and went over to tie the straps for her and tied a beautiful knot.

Ke Xin looked surprised when he saw it, and looked up and down there with great fanfare.I asked myself if I didn't make too intimate gestures, so I said, "Why, are you too grown-up?"

When I was in college, I might have thought it weird to see my friends tie each other aprons.At that time, there was an FTM (FemaleToMale) from Sloan School of Business who was dating a senior in the same dormitory. Vivienne and Lao Bai often came to visit us. We rarely talked to him actively, and occasionally he felt out of place. .Later, he had an in-depth talk with us through his seniors, thinking that we had some misunderstandings about transgender people: but there was no such thing at all.

For those of us who are less than 20 years old, he looks like a person living on the back of the moon in a suit and leather shoes all day long.

Lao Bai's yin and yang line at the time was at the top of the list: "You even have a job? Uh!" He said it with the snobbish expression that white girls must have when they gossip.

The not-so-adult Weng Kexin pulled back my thoughts: "No, you're fine, you're just fine, Yao."

I frowned slightly: "Um...thank you?"

Saying that, I walked over to stand with her.Weng Kexin took out a large bag containing about five or six pieces of chicken breast from the sink and handed it to me, saying, "Sonnie Asia is too much."

The too hot lady who was named immediately raised her head: "She doesn't know how to cook, why don't I take care of it for a while."

I'm also not sure if it's "too hot".Perhaps a "too sharp" lady?

"I'll chop stuff," I whispered. "I'll chop it over and over until it's pureed, and I'll hand it over to you guys for chicken balls, right? But I see there's a crusher in there."

"no no--"

"No, no, no," Peter and Miss Pender said almost at the same time, "That kind of meat will be very mechanical and lose its vitality."

I was dumbfounded: "Then use a kitchen knife?"

Miss Pande came over with a smile and took my hand: "Why don't you play games?"

"I'm chatting with Kexin." I obediently returned the meat to her, and leaned in the corner of the counter, "Let me stay here for a while, and I promise not to make trouble, okay? I promise."

She took a breath quietly: "well, if you insist."

After speaking, I turned around and went back to cook with them, leaving me with a handsome back.

I go to the high chair and sit down.Weng Kexin may have whispered: "Do they count as PDA?"

I say "probably" quietly because all three of them in the kitchen should be able to hear her.

"What's a PDA?" Peter asked.

"The abbreviation of 'public intimacy'." Weng Kexin shook her head, she peeled the skin so fast, I couldn't understand how she managed to maintain the speed while talking, "Now I want to take back the preface, and you too, Yao."

I didn't dare to shake my legs anymore, with a look of disbelief: "I didn't do anything."

Weng Kexin's tone was very strange: "Yes."

Miss Pan De said: "Can't you not answer her words?"

Before I had time to say anything, Weng Kexin interrupted again: "I'm serious."

I wanted to ask for details, but I didn't dare to open my mouth, so I bit my lower lip in embarrassment.

Peter came to the rescue: "She said that Sonia has a romantic atmosphere all over her body today, looking at her phone all the time, and showing that stupid smile."

Miss Pender turned her head, smiling smoothly, and raised one eyebrow slightly.

Peter and I quickly lowered our heads one after the other.

Weng Kexin may have caught a glimpse of me laughing, and even after hearing Peter's explanation, I laughed more obviously, so I sighed and said: "O love bird."

It seems that being young is indeed beneficial. In such an occasion, everyone shut up, and she dared to stir up trouble.

However, before switching to airplane mode at noon today, I made a point of saying hello to Miss Pender.Knowing that there will be no news from my side, why is she checking her phone frequently when she is partying with friends?

Because of what happened during the day, I couldn't help but think about it.

I really have too many questions to ask her.

The food in the evening was, to be honest, pretty mediocre.Watching people cook is often the easiest time to arouse my appetite, but even so, I don't feel anything in my heart.There is a bottle of sugar-free black pepper juice in the refrigerator, which is not like what Miss Pender said earlier, there is nothing; but when I took it out, they all looked at the bottle like a plague god.

With due respect to the wisdom of the masses, I put it back again.

The game showdown between Asia's strongest and them is not over yet, so we decided to have dinner 10 minutes late.As I helped set the plate, I joked, "Shouldn't I be here?"

"Huh?" Miss Pender raised her head.

"I just counted, including me, there is just one more visitor." I deliberately poked my head left and right like a thief, "Your neighbors won't complain about us, will they?"

She shook her head with a smile and said, "You're not a visitor."

I realized the meaning of what she said, and answered with a vague voice, my ears were hot.

At this moment, a faint sigh came from behind.

Weng Kexin crossed his arms: "PDA should be counted as an act of mental violence against others, do you know that?"

Peter simply pretended not to hear, and went back to the kitchen to take out an arm-long oversized pepper grinder.

I looked at the troublemaker who made the "KGB" have to pretend to be deaf and dumb.

Miss Pender doted on her.

If I was one year younger than her instead of one year older, would she let me do the same?

During dinner, I kept thinking about what I had and what I didn't, and after dinner they would play guessing games together. Every time my thoughts wandered to business, something just happened to pull me back, back to the living, Beside Miss Pender, who was laughing with her friends.

I seem to have split my body and mind, half of my mind wanders outside, and the other half stays here to circle around.

But is this really a deal?

The last time I played games with someone around the carpet in the living room, some people sat cross-legged, some people squeezed on the sofa, everyone felt relaxed and happy as long as they were with each other, it was ten years ago.

How can I doubt her?

How can I feel that, even at a certain moment, she once harbored malice towards me?

When I went back to the room, I walked a little ahead, trying to persuade myself not to think wildly, but on the opposite side of depression, the messy thoughts in my heart were almost growing exponentially.

There is clearly only one me in the world, but out of thin air, many hands come out, one pair and two pairs, rushing towards my neck, trying to make me obey orders, make me a slave of doubt; And retained such slavery.

Am I suspicious of her?

As she had repeated a hundred times, Miss Pender gently stroked my face with the back of her hand.I took her skin in my mouth and kissed her lightly, and my eyes met, but her eyes were full of worries that I had never had before.

What made her so sad?

Is it me?

Is it herself?