In Rinzhou's midsummer heat, even the cicadas' cries seemed steamed hoarse.
The overhead light in the rented apartment was off. Only a desk lamp cast a pool of warm yellow light. Yuan Su twirled a black pen in one hand and held his exam paper down with the other, his knuckles sharply defined, faint blue veins visible beneath the skin.
Pu Yu sat beside him. She had meant to help him identify gaps in his knowledge, but her gaze kept drifting to his hands.
"Permanent." She tried to pull her attention back to the textbook, her voice softened by the sweltering heat. "What does it mean?"
Yuan Su's pen never stopped. He neatly solved a hyperbola equation on his scratch paper without looking up, his voice low and slightly muffled:
"Everlasting."
"Desperate."
Yuan Su kept working through the problem, but his voice deepened a little. "In despair. Willing to stake everything."
"That word has bad connotations." Pu Yu frowned and muttered, "I don't want you staking everything."
Yuan Su turned to look at her. The chill in his eyes dissolved, leaving only a deep, smiling warmth. "Is that so? Then shall we pick another?"
Pu Yu blinked. "I like hopeful. Full of hope!"
Yuan Su said nothing. He simply reached out, caught her around the waist, and lifted her onto his lap with one hand.
"Hey! What are you doing..."
"Shh."
Yuan Su chuckled, his eyes filled with bottomless arrogance and confidence. "I could get full marks before. Now, for you, I can get every last point back. Do you trust me?"
His eyes were so deep and bright that they seemed to exert a pull of their own.
As Pu Yu gazed at him, the restlessness in her heart miraculously settled.
"I do," she whispered.
Yuan Su kissed her