Past eleven at night, Ninghai City’s downtown still buzzed like a beehive, while the distant villa district lay calm like a moonlit lake.

In Ye Yiyi’s bedroom, two silhouettes curled under the quilt, and Tang Coco wrapped her from behind like a warm ribbon; the words she’d brought from Mo Zitong had been poured out like hot tea, with a few gentle blossoms of praise tucked in.

“Is it really like that?”—her voice a thin thread trembling in the dark.

Ye Yiyi tucked herself tighter, holding the arm Tang Coco had slid around her; her heart felt tangled like knotted yarn, stunned that years of pain could come from a mirage of a misunderstanding no ordinary person could believe.

“Yes. At her place today, I tripped her Anomaly Power by accident, and that scene you saw flared up like a spark in dry grass,” Tang Coco said, her tone bruised like dusk.

“Alright, drop the pity act,” Ye Yiyi said, words tapping like rain on glass. “You’re that strong—how could someone who just learned to control her Anomaly Power pin you? You were pulling your punches like a boxer in slow rain.” She pinched the soft skin of Coco’s arm with a teasing snap.

“Tss—” Pain pricked her like a nettle.

“Coco…” Her breath brushed the air like a feather.

Ye Yiyi rubbed the spot she’d just pinched, her fingertips tracing warmth like a lantern glow, and spoke softly.

“Mm?” Tang Coco’s answer was a small ripple in a quiet pond.

“You Abnormals… do you all like to hide things and tell no one, like burying jewels under snow?”

Silence pooled like ink.

“Yiyi, we do it to protect others,” Tang Coco said, tightening her hold like ivy climbing a wall.

“But… do you know?” Ye Yiyi’s words came like a slow bell. “Given a choice, someone wants truth more than safety—like choosing a candle over a shield.”

Silence rippled again, dark and deep.

Tang Coco understood what she meant, and guilt settled in her chest like a small stone.

“I’m sorry, Yiyi…” Her apology fell soft as rain on moss.

She spoke in a low voice; Ye Yiyi was quiet for a breath or two, then turned toward her like a petal opening.

“Coco, please trust me. No matter what happens, I… love… I love you,” she said, the words shy as swallows, her cheeks blooming pink like peach blossoms.

“Of course. I believe you,” Tang Coco answered, her smile warm as sunlight on snow.

Seeing that glow, Ye Yiyi finally couldn’t hold back; she leaned in and kissed Tang Coco, the touch like a spark on silk, and Coco didn’t refuse—she knew the night would unfurl its curtain—so the two entwined like vines and held each other close.

——

Morning came, crisp as a fresh leaf, and the two got busy early: Ye Yiyi would go find Mo Zitong, and Tang Coco would head to Gu Xin’s to prep for the evening banquet.

“Yiyi, you don’t need to see me off. I’ll grab a cab to Xin’s,” Tang Coco said, stepping back into the room in a breeze of color.

She’d put on white cropped casual pants and white canvas shoes; her long legs carried the look like willow branches in spring, with a pink cartoon tee on top, and her long white hair tied into a single ponytail like a streaming tail of cloud.

“Are you sure?” Ye Yiyi asked, worry thin as frost on glass.

She wore a black long dress and black strappy heels; her black hair lay smooth down her back like satin, her whole presence touched with a mature glow like late autumn sun.

“It’s fine. Don’t forget I’m an Abnormal; who’d dare try anything?” Tang Coco lifted a small pink fist, lively as a sparrow.

“I’m not worried a man will lure you off. I’m worried a beauty will,” Ye Yiyi shot back, her side-eye flicking like a silver fish.

“Uh—o_o!”

“Ha… haha… no way. I’m heading out!” Tang Coco scratched her head, then bolted like a startled rabbit; with that nimble dash, it looked like nothing major had happened last night.

“Honestly, sometimes she’s just a scruffy kid,” Ye Yiyi murmured, shaking her head with a helpless smile as she smoothed her dress like silk on a loom.

Tang Coco ran out of the villa, clipped on the sunglasses from her pocket like a dark leaf over her eyes, and strode toward the gate like a runner on a sunlit path.

Out here, far from the city and tucked in a wealthy villa belt, taxis were scarce as cranes in winter; after more than ten minutes, an engine growled like a prowling cat, and Coco slipped behind a tree, shadowed like a deer in brush.

A silver Porsche glided out of the district like a fish of light; when it vanished down the road, Tang Coco stepped from the tree’s shade like a ghost leaving ink.

It had been Ye Yiyi behind that wheel, and Coco hid because she knew Yiyi’s heart like a map—if she saw Coco without a cab, she’d insist on driving her; Coco didn’t want to bother her, not when Yiyi had finally loosed the old knot to go see Mo Zitong, so Tang Coco chose to walk, feet steady as a pilgrim on a quiet road.

Just as she decided to follow the roadside like a river’s edge, a horn chirped behind her.

Beep-beep—