The clock on the wall ticked away, and time passed second by second. The light from the computer screen shone on Chu Ge's face, revealing how his tense expression slowly calmed.
"Actually... we've kissed and hugged, eaten and slept together. You were already my girlfriend..." Chu Ge spoke again. "At least, that's what I've always thought. I think deep down you acknowledge it too. Otherwise, how could my Qiu Wuji possibly kiss a man?"
Qiu Wuji stared at him, wide-eyed. After a long, long while, her vanished wits seemed to slowly return, and she struggled to put words together. "Y-you mustn't think being your girlfriend means you can do anything you want! Saying this at a time like this... you..."
"No..." Chu Ge cut her off. "There's no point fooling others and ourselves... I want to tell everyone that Qiu Wuji is my girlfriend, that it isn't pretend. And I hope Qiu Wuji will tell everyone that Chu Ge is her boyfriend, that it isn't a misunderstanding. We... what exactly is so shameful about us that we have to keep trembling like this?"
Qiu Wuji fell silent. She stared at him for a long while, and instead found her pounding heart slowly calming too.
She finally understood why Chu Ge was so calm. Once they said things openly, that was all there was to it.
Why keep that knot tangled up in her heart?
Qiu Wuji thought distractedly for a moment, then suddenly smiled radiantly. "All right."
That smile was like the moon emerging through clouds, flowers blooming everywhere. The whole autumn night brightened.
Chu Ge whipped his head around, his face filled with delighted surprise.
Honestly, he really hadn't expected Qiu Wuji to answer so readily.
They might have kissed and hugged, but acknowledging it was a ceremony of