Ye Yiyi jogged up to the fifth floor, her steps pattering like rain, the layout etched in her mind like a well-worn map. She reached the Arts Club office and pushed the door in without knocking, her palm a quick gust.
“Coco!” Her call cut the quiet like a bell.
Tang Coco looked up, and joy flared in her chest like sunrise on frost. She never knew why, but seeing Ye Yiyi always set her heart skipping like a sparrow. She stepped over, while the two Martial Arts Club girls, sheepish as cats with stolen fish, made excuses and slipped out.
“Sister Yiyi.” Her voice was soft, a ribbon in still air.
Ye Yiyi finally saw Tang Coco, and the sight—beauty like a snow-white blossom—still caught her off guard. “Coco, you—” Her words hovered like a held breath.
Tang Coco knew what she’d say and snapped, anger sparking like flint. “Don’t start. It was all Xu Yinuo’s doing.”
“Oh? Did she bully you?” Ye Yiyi’s concern fell like a warm shawl.
Tang Coco went speechless, a flat line of ink. Did she look like a girl who got bullied—though, yes, a few times, like waves catching a careless boat.
“Anyway... forget that. Sister Yiyi, how am I supposed to walk out like this?” Her worry fluttered like a moth.
“Just go out like this; I think it looks great,” Ye Yiyi said, easy as a breeze.
Silence fell; Coco could only stare, a comic thundercloud over her head. “No way. If I go out like this, I’ll be exposed,” she hissed, clutching her mask like a secret.
“Uh... what else can we do? I can’t do your makeup here,” Ye Yiyi said, hands open like empty bowls.
Footsteps thudded at the door like drums, and Xu Yinuo walked in. “See? I didn’t do anything to her,” she clicked her tongue, eyes bright as foxfire. “Yiyi, you hid a great beauty like this?”
“It’s not Sister Yiyi’s fault. Don’t talk nonsense,” Tang Coco shot back, a small shield raised.
“Enough, Coco,” Ye Yiyi soothed, voice like warm tea. “Ignore her and think how to get out.”
“Seriously, why can’t you just go out like this? It’s school, not a kidnapper’s den,” Xu Yinuo said, helpless as a cat in rain.
Tang Coco ignored her and turned to Ye Yiyi, her eyes steady as stars. “Sister Yiyi, could you get me leave for second period? I’ll wait in the car while you’re in class.”
“Mm... that could work,” Ye Yiyi thought aloud, her brows knitting like gathered clouds. “Where will you stay until class?”
“Stay? Here. Hey, I’m requisitioning your office,” Coco said, tossing the claim like a pebble at Xu Yinuo.
“Sure, use it,” Xu Yinuo shrugged, calm as a pond.
The lack of reaction dulled Coco’s mischief like rain on a spark. “Alright then, Coco, I’ll get your leave. When class starts, find a way to the car. Here, the keys,” Ye Yiyi said, silver glinting in her palm like fish scales.
“Okay,” Tang Coco answered, settling onto the sofa, thumbs dancing over her phone like swallows. Xu Yinuo looked ready to stay and tease, but Ye Yiyi dragged her away, firm as a tide.
Left alone in the plush office, Tang Coco played on her phone, the quiet purring like a cat. Messages chimed from Meng Xiaoxiao, curious as a sparrow; Coco replied she had to leave campus for something. She didn’t dare tell what happened, or Meng Xiaoxiao would cut class and fly over like a storm.
After twenty-odd minutes, the class bell rolled across campus like a bronze wave. She waited another half hour, patience stretched like taut string, then opened the door and slipped out. She jogged toward the parking lot, a red shadow on the stairwell like a falling maple leaf.
The office was on the fifth floor, and as she passed her class’s level, a boy spotted her, a glance like a fishhook. It was Li Mao, the one often at Lu Kai’s side, who’d once had lunch with them. His stomach had been churning like a rough sea; he was just leaving the restroom, hand on the wall. He glanced toward the stairs, and that one glance caught a stunning beauty flashing past like lightning. It was only a heartbeat, but even that hurried profile shone like a crescent moon. In a blink, Tang Coco vanished around the landing, and curiosity pricked him like a thorn. “Huh? Strange. Why does that back look familiar?” The thought hung like fog. He wanted to follow, but today his condition was bad, his steps soggy as wet paper. He decided to return to class; a beauty like that would surely appear again, like a comet on schedule.
Tang Coco ran all the way to the parking area, lucky as a coin toss, meeting no one. She had no idea someone had seen her; she opened the car and sank into the seat like a sigh. After a while, waiting felt dull as gray rain, so she started the Porsche, engine purring like a big cat. She decided to take a loop and come back for Ye Yiyi, and she drove out of campus like a swift.
She headed west toward the outskirts, the road unrolling like a ribbon. First reason: she didn’t have a driver’s license yet, a paper bird still out of reach. She’d asked Li Muyan to handle it with made-up excuses, saying she could drive, like smoke covering mirrors. But the documents hadn’t come back, so she didn’t dare cruise downtown and stir useless trouble like hornets.
Second reason: the west was where she first woke, a shoreline in her memory she needed to walk again. Maybe she’d spot what she’d missed, a shell of a clue gleaming like a pearl, and that would help the investigation.
A red Porsche arrowed toward the western edge of Ninghai City, sunlight sliding over its skin like water. No one noticed a black van several hundred meters back, tailing quietly like a shadowing hawk.
