Finally Together
In the evening, a strong wind suddenly picked up, disturbing Wen Le’s sleep with its howling outside. Sitting up, she saw Cheng Hui already getting up to close the window.
The next morning, the news and trending topics were all about an approaching typhoon.
For the past few days, it had been raining continuously. Before leaving, Cheng Hui repeatedly reminded everyone to carry umbrellas.
In the evening, Sun Youmei suddenly returned to the dormitory, saying there might be a typhoon in the coming days. Her boyfriend found it inconvenient to send her to and from school, so she came back to stay for a few days.
Since she had already paid for her accommodation, there was naturally no reason to refuse her.
These days, Wen Le seemed to run into Zhou Kao more frequently.
Two days ago, she encountered Zhou Kao in the library. He was sitting opposite her, holding his backpack.
Wen Le glanced at him, showed no reaction, and continued reading.
Zhou Kao didn’t disturb Wen Le either; he took out a book to read by himself. He seemed to be working on a paper, and the two of them didn’t exchange any words.
However, after a while, Wen Le got up to look for a book at the bookshelf. When she returned, there was a cup of hot milk on the table with a sticky note attached to it.
The sticky note was heart-shaped and pink, with handwriting in silver ink that said, “Not competing for Level 6 or IELTS.”
Wen Le remembered the day Zhou Kao had said to her, “You’re that girl whom someone is chasing after, but you think they’re trying to beat you to win first place. Even if we’re not in the same major, as long as you’re studying in the library, and I show up next to you, you’ll think I want to compete with you in Level 6 and IELTS.”
Wen Le tore off the sticky note in speechless amazement, rolled her eyes, and almost burst out laughing.
She tore off a green sticky note from her own pad, quickly wrote a few words, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it into Zhou Kao’s hand.
Zhou Kao looked at the color of the sticky note, his expression darkening. He unfolded the note.
There were words written on it: “Don’t fall in love with me; it won’t lead anywhere.”
His lips twitched slightly. Right in front of Wen Le, he tore the green sticky note to shreds, packed up his bag without looking back, and left. He left in a confident and decisive manner, leaving Wen Le somewhat stupefied.
Such attitude. And he was still pursuing her?
After finishing her evening self-study session, Wen Le packed her bag and found her umbrella. She was about to walk into the rain when suddenly, Zhou Kao appeared seemingly out of nowhere, walked up to Wen Le, and opened his umbrella. He asked, “Miss, may I have the honor of escorting you for a bit?”
Wen Le glanced at Zhou Kao, a smile playing on her lips. She pushed Zhou Kao away and said, “No.”
Saying that, she opened her umbrella and walked into the rain with large strides.
Zhou Kao looked at Wen Le’s retreating figure, a hint of amusement in his eyes. He opened his umbrella and walked into the rain as well. He followed Wen Le all the way until he saw her off at the entrance of the women’s dormitory.
Throughout the entire journey, Zhou Kao stayed behind Wen Le, not saying a word, just walking at a distance.
In the pouring rain, Zhou Kao stood holding his umbrella, watching Wen Le enter the dormitory building.
The rain blurred Zhou Kao’s face, but his black clothes, black pants, and black umbrella still gave him a strong presence in the rain. His tall and handsome figure seemed to break through the rain, his beauty not concealed by the downpour. Instead, it added a touch of gentle and affectionate charm to his demeanor.
As Wen Le turned around, a barely noticeable smile played at the corner of her mouth.
On Wednesday afternoon, Wen Le was on duty in the Student Union office.
A male student from the Student Union came over to deliver some documents. After Wen Le finished getting the documents from him, he left. Shortly after, Zhou Kao walked in with a cup of milk tea.
These days had been marked by typhoon weather, and it had been consistently gloomy. It had rained in the morning, and now there was a brief pause, but the sky remained overcast.
The office was empty at the moment, with only Wen Le inside.
Zhou Kao walked in carrying a cup of hot milk tea and placed it on Wen Le’s desk.
Wen Le glanced up from her books and gave Zhou Kao a sidelong glance, “What are you up to? Are you that free?”
Zhou Kao responded, “Do you think I’m free?”
His eyes were deep and meaningful as he stared at her. Wen Le felt a bit uncomfortable and turned her face away.
Her gaze shifted to the milk tea. Undeniably, having a cup of warm milk tea in this gloomy weather felt rather pleasant.
Staring at the milk tea, Wen Le suddenly said, “Do you know how many calories are in a cup of milk tea?”
Zhou Kao retorted, “Do you think I’d know?”
“Forget it,” Wen Le reached out to take the bubble tea, shaking her head at Zhou Kao, “Thanks.”
Zhou Kao said, “Did you bring an umbrella?”
Wen Le replied, “Yes.”
Zhou Kao made a faint sound of disapproval, “Smart girls usually say they didn’t bring one at times like this.”
TN: LOLLLL hahahahaha i love their banter
Wen Le responded, “Then you should go find your smart girl.”
Zhou Kao sighed, “She’s right here.”
Wen Le pretended not to understand.
Zhou Kao asked her, “What time do you finish tonight?”
Wen Le answered, “Around 9:30, I guess.”
Zhou Kao glanced at his phone, “There’s going to be rain tonight. Get back earlier.”
Wen Le nodded, “I know.”
Zhou Kao said, “Can you give me a different answer besides ‘I know’?”
Wen Le asked, “What kind of answer do you want?”
Zhou Kao didn’t answer that question directly; he simply said, “I have something to attend to, so I’ll leave early.”
Zhou Kao had a company meeting that evening, it was his company meeting.
Originally, he could have held the meeting at the company, but because it was getting late and the weather had been bad recently, there were water puddles on the road and traffic jams.
Moreover, the dormitory had curfew hours. Therefore, he had borrowed a small meeting room from the university and conducted a nearly two-hour video conference there.
After the meeting, when Zhou Kao came out of the meeting room, it was already 9:30.
Looking at the sky, he felt somewhat uneasy for some reason.
His phone had been turned off during the whole meeting. When he turned it on again, he saw several missed calls and messages from his roommate.
Feeling a sense of foreboding, Zhou Kao hurriedly returned the call.
His roommate, Lan Zhixin, answered, and quickly asked, “Boss, where did you go? Is everything okay? You’re not in Building J, are you?”
Hearing “Building J,” Zhou Kao’s heart skipped a beat. His voice unconsciously tightened as he responded, “What’s wrong? What happened at Building J? I just finished a video conference and I’m still at the administrative building.”
Lan Zhixin’s voice carried a sense of relief, “Thank goodness. You scared me. Haven’t you noticed? Look at this strong wind.”
“Just now, the wind was really strong, and the rain was heavy. It was quite scary. They say that even the roofs of the temporary buildings from the neighboring university were blown away. Many large trees on our campus were uprooted, and it seems several people got injured. They say several big trees near Building J fell, injuring quite a few people. Seems like one girl got trapped under a fallen tree. I saw a video on WeChat, and they were saying that the ambulance hasn’t arrived yet, and it just happened…”
Lan Zhixin’s words were interrupted by a burst of static noise on the phone, and the call ended abruptly.
Lan Zhixin stared at the phone screen for a moment, still somewhat dazed. “What the… Why did it just hang up? I hadn’t finished talking.”
Hang Shuai’s voice came through, “Did you tell him not to go back there? Even with an umbrella, he’d be soaked in this heavy rain.”
Lan Zhixin replied, “I didn’t have time to tell him. But he’s the boss, he should have common sense. Rain or no rain, he should know.”
Hang Shuai agreed, “You’re right.”
When Zhou Kao heard about the incident at Building J, he felt a jolt in his heart. Hearing that a girl had been trapped under a fallen tree, his hands trembled, and he could barely hold onto his phone.
He had never been this scared before. He couldn’t help but remember that Wen Le had said she would leave at 9:30.
And now it was 9:40.
Panic surged through Zhou Kao, and his heart raced erratically. He tried to tell himself not to panic, to calm down.
When he heard about the incident at Building J, he had rushed out without even ending the call.
It was already 9:40 in the evening, but the wind and rain outside were still fierce. The umbrella was impossible to hold up; it had a tendency to be blown away by the wind once opened.
Zhou Kao couldn’t be bothered to fight with the umbrella. He simply discarded it and walked out into the wind and rain.
The raindrops, as big as beans, splattered against his body. After two hours of heavy rain, the drainage system had failed, and the accumulated water on the ground was now ankle-deep.
Zhou Kao waded through the water with rain pouring down on him, he was facing the wind and looking dishevelled all over, he ran towards Building J.
His heart raced with urgency and fear. He unconsciously quickened his steps, fearing that he might lose something important if he was even a step too late.
In less than 100 meters, Zhou Kao was already completely drenched. He had never been in such a miserable state before, but he had no time to care about his appearance.
Building J was indeed severely affected. It was an old building surrounded by many trees. The typhoon had uprooted the trees, smashing them against the walls and shattering the glass. Some of the damaged trees were leaning precariously, having fallen onto students passing by.
By the time Zhou Kao arrived, a crowd had gathered. He searched among the injured, but he couldn’t find Wen Le’s figure.
The students helping with the cleanup looked at the drenched Zhou Kao with confusion, but he didn’t have the time to care about their gazes. He turned and walked towards a tree.
Perhaps fortunately or unfortunately, Zhou Kao didn’t find Wen Le among the injured. However, as he approached the last tree, he saw a patch of bloodstained familiar fabric. It was a green skirt, and Wen Le was wearing a green dress today.
Zhou Kao’s heart skipped a beat, his face turned pale, his pupils constricted. He took a deep breath and wiped the rain off his face with trembling hands.
The heavy rain blurred Zhou Kao’s vision, preventing him from clearly seeing the pattern on that green skirt.
Straining his eyes, Zhou Kao tried to determine if the pattern on that long skirt was the same as what Wen Le was wearing.
Despite being just a few steps away, Zhou Kao couldn’t bring himself to approach.
He was afraid, his fingers were trembling, and he had difficulty breathing.
The night and the rain veiled Zhou Kao’s view, making it impossible for him to clearly see the pattern on the dress. He had to grit his teeth and pray as he approached to see for himself.
“Zhou Kao!”
Just then, a voice echoed from around the corner.
A voice that was familiar, clear, and gentle.
It was like redemption, causing Zhou Kao’s heart, which had nearly given out due to panic, to return to normal.
Zhou Kao turned around and saw Wen Le struggling to hold an umbrella, standing at the deserted corner.
In that moment, Zhou Kao felt both relieved and slightly amused.
Zhou Kao pressed his palm against his forehead, seemingly at a loss whether to laugh or cry.
He stood in the rain, thoroughly soaked, and it seemed that he finally realized his own dishevelled state. He wanted to turn away from Wen Le’s sight.
However, after just a couple of steps, as if unable to bear it, he turned back, took large strides forward, and tightly embraced Wen Le.
Zhou Kao held Wen Le tightly, his grip so strong, as if he wanted to fuse her into his body.
Zhou Kao’s breath remained labored in the rain, visible even amidst the downpour.
Caught off guard, Wen Le was tightly embraced by the thoroughly wet Zhou Kao. She was momentarily stunned, and then, her clothes becoming damp due to Zhou Kao’s wetness, she sensed his warmth through two layers of wet fabric. She also felt Zhou Kao’s heartbeat, which was anything but normal.
Zhou Kao’s breathing was somewhat heavy, echoing in Wen Le’s ears, as if the sound of the rain had faded away.
Zhou Kao held Wen Le tightly.
For the first time, Wen Le felt Zhou Kao’s fervent and intense emotions so overtly.
Her heartbeat seemed to accelerate in sync with his, both turning irregular in their rhythm.
Zhou Kao held Wen Le in his arms for a while, then he took hold of Wen Le’s hand and pressed it tightly against his solid and broad chest. Wen Le’s palm felt the scorching heat and the rhythmic thumping of his heartbeat. It seemed as if it was too hot for her to bear, causing her to instinctively try to pull her hand away.
However, Zhou Kao forcefully kept Wen Le’s hand firmly against his chest.
Zhou Kao held Wen Le tightly in his arms with one hand while pressing her hand against his chest with the other.
He said, “Wen Le.”
“You scared me to death.”
These five words were like a knowing strike, shattering Wen Le’s pride and sullenness.
Wen Le even felt her nose tingling, and her eyes felt slightly warm.
She seemed to understand why he had stood in the rain so late at night, his face pale and anxious.
In that moment, her heart softened, and she felt like she was willing to agree to anything he asked.
She was willing to admit that impulsiveness and the atmosphere were indispensable factors in love.
Zhou Kao raised his hand to rub Wen Le’s hair, seemingly releasing his fear, relief, and cherished feelings that had nowhere to go. He slightly lowered his head, his lips touching the top of Wen Le’s head, leaving a kiss.
His voice was hoarse to an almost indistinguishable level, “Wen Le, we’ve already missed out for so long. Please don’t reject me anymore.”
Wen Le hugged Zhou Kao back, her voice subdued, “Mm.”
She couldn’t resist his open and fervent emotions.
Zhou Kao’s cheek brushed against Wen Le’s cheek as he explored her face. He surrendered with a sigh, “No one else could make me lose control like this.”
“And if someone could, she would have to be my beloved.”
TN: AHHH YAYYY finally together!!! We’ve all been waiting so long for this haven’t we 😂
