The street lamps lit up one after another, dyeing the stone road a warm yellow.
Ling Ling walked beside him, her little hand never letting go of his palm.
When we returned to our temporary residence, it was completely dark.
Opening the door, the warm yellow light from the corridor flooded into the room, dyeing the floor a light golden color.
Ling Ling followed him through the door.
She had been wearing the pair of small leather shoes all day and walked all the way. Her toes were already sore from exhaustion, but she didn't say a word.
At this moment, she was standing in the center of the room, her calves wrapped in white silk were held tightly together, and the skirt of her white dress still had folds that were slightly cooled by the sea breeze. Her whole figure was like a small cake that had just been brought out of a dessert shop, just perfect.
Lu Ling put his coat on the sofa and looked back at her.
The pair of calves wrapped in white stockings were right at the edge of his sight. The lace edges of the socks were just below the knees, making the soft skin on the crooks of the legs even whiter.
He withdrew his gaze, bent down and took out a spare pair of slippers from the shoe cabinet and placed it at her feet.
"Change into it, we've been gone for a day."
Ling Ling didn't refuse. She stepped on her heels and took off her shoes. Her white silk feet gently stepped into slippers that were a few sizes too big. Then, she walked to the sofa and sat down next to Lu Ling. The sofa sank a little, and her shoulder just touched his arm.
"Lu Ling."
"Huh?"
"I'm very happy today."
She folded her hands on her knees, and her eyes fell on her toes that were together. The toes covered in white silk were slightly facing inward, touching each other, like two small animals lying next to each other for warmth.
"You went to so many places with me, bought me bracelets, and even bought me ice cream."
She paused, her voice lowered a bit, but she didn't hesitate.
"You also said you like me."
Lu Ling turned his face to look at her.
Her eyelashes were drooping, casting two small shadows on her cheeks. The ends of her twin ponytails were placed on her chest, rising and falling gently with her breathing. The bow on the neckline of her skirt was tied neatly, and she had adjusted the position several times in front of the mirror before going out today.
"Ling Ling..." He called her name softly.
She raised her head, and her big black eyes reflected the warm yellow light above her head, and also reflected his face.
Her eyes were a little red. It wasn't a grievance or sadness, but something that had been suppressed for too long finally waited for a response and couldn't wait to overflow.
"Do you think I was just impulsive?" Ling Ling said softly.
It wasn't a question, it wasn't a coquettish tone, it was the kind of calm and firm statement that belonged to the youngest Hunter Master.
Lu Ling looked at her deeply.
This sentence may be tinged with self-doubt when spoken by others, but when it comes from Ling Ling's mouth, he knows it is not.
She just wanted to put the last possibility on the table and eliminate it with him.
"I don't think you are impulsive. You know what you are doing better than anyone else." Lu Ling said.
"What about you?"
Ling Ling turned slightly sideways and knelt down on the sofa facing him.
The skirt spread out under her knees, like a small white flower. Her calves wrapped in white silk pressed against the edge of the skirt, and the lace on her socks rubbed against the suede of the sofa.
"Are you clear? You said you would wait until I grow up, and wait until I think about it... but today you said you liked me. You looked into my eyes when you said that. You are serious, right?" She looked directly into his eyes, her eyes more serious than any bounty case they had handled together.
"Seriously." Lu Ling said, but his tone seemed to be struggling.
It seems that if I continue talking, something irreversible will happen.
Ling Ling took a deep breath and held the hem of her skirt with her fingers, her knuckles turning slightly white.
"I'm serious too."
"I have been thinking about it every day since that day on the Ferris wheel. I have read a lot of books and observed a lot of adults. It is not the kind of desire that a child wants for a toy, but the kind of desire that wants to be with you all the time. I know that I am young, and I know what others will think. I have thought about all the truths you can say, and it is clearer than you think."
Her voice finally had a slight tremor, but her eyes were still firmly locked on Lu Ling.
"But you almost died. You were lying on that island, and I couldn't wipe the blood off your face. At that time, I thought... If I hadn't really told you, you would never wake up again, and I would regret it for the rest of my life..."
"So I wore the clothes you said looked good today."
She raised her hand from the hem of her skirt, gently touched the bow on her neckline, and then put it back on her lap.
"I asked you if I was pretty, I asked you if you liked me, I did everything I could."
She raised her eyes. There were no tears in her eyes, only a lake-like calmness.
"I'm not kidding. I'm serious. Do you understand?"
"Enough..."
We can't continue talking like this. Lu Ling is about to speak to stop Ling Ling.
His eyes met Ling Ling's. There seemed to be something hidden in Ling Ling's eyes, and it invaded his spirit in an instant.
It was a light golden light.
The last bit of rationality was also washed away.
Lu Ling didn't struggle anymore.
Those concerns that had been weighed repeatedly, her age, secular eyes, Leng Qing's trust... all sank into the silent deep sea after the pale golden light passed by.
Not being subdued, not being swallowed, but suddenly losing weight.
He is still him.
It's just that the restraint that had been weighing on his heart seemed to have been gently taken away at a certain moment, and the whole person seemed to feel much more relaxed.
"..."
There was silence for a moment.
Lu Ling stretched out his hand and gently brushed the corners of her eyes with his fingertips.
There were no tears yet, and he knew she was holding back.
This extremely smart girl has long since learned to swallow all the vulnerabilities in her belly.
But today she took off all her armor and sat in front of him wearing only the dress he casually said was beautiful.
"I am as serious as you are."
Lu Ling's voice was a little lower than usual, and every word seemed to be carved firmly on stone.
"That's why I keep making you wait. It's not because you're not good enough, it's not because I don't want it, it's because it's too important. It's so important that I don't dare to be hasty. Do you understand?"
The current Lu Ling is very abnormal. If it were the previous Ling Ling, you would definitely find it.
However, now Ling Ling, her love for Lu Ling has already penetrated deep into her bones...
Ling Ling looked at him blankly.
Then she suddenly smiled. The smile was very light and shallow. The corners of her mouth only curved in a small arc, but her eyes were extremely bright.
"You are really stupid." She said with a smile.
"What?"
"I've thought about it, and you've thought about it too, so why are you waiting?"
Her knees moved forward a little, the hem of her skirt wrinkled slightly under her body, and her white silk calves rubbed against the sofa cushions.
She raised her face and got closer to him, so close that he could smell the sweet fragrance of ice cream remaining in her hair.
"If you have to face another Emperor tomorrow, if something unexpected happens tomorrow... I don't want to regret it until then."
She raised her hand and gently placed it on the back of his hand, very lightly but firmly.
"Lu Ling, I want to be with you now, not in the future."
Lu Ling looked into her eyes.
There was a magnanimity and certainty in it that he had never seen in the eyes of many adults, like the sea in the middle of the night, everything could be reflected and he was not afraid of anything.
His rationality told him that he should say "wait a little longer" again.
But his reason has long since lost its voice.
It's not because impulse overwhelms reason, but because the look in Ling Ling's eyes... contains exactly what he has always wanted her to have.
Now that we already have it, what's the point of waiting?
He raised his hand and tucked the strands of hair from her temples behind her ears. His fingertips slowly slid down along the ear shell and stopped at her small chin. The movement was extremely gentle, as if he was touching a treasure that he had been waiting for a long time and finally dared to reach out to touch.
"Okay."
Just one word.
It was low and determined, as if he had finally unlocked a lock that he had been waiting for a long time.
Ling Ling's eyelashes trembled.
She waited.
From that day on the Ferris wheel, what she had been waiting for was not the future, but this sentence.
After witnessing Lu Ling dying many times, she has completely determined her heart.
Before Ling Ling could say anything else, Lu Ling had already leaned down and kissed her.
This kiss was no longer a light touch, but their lips touched gently, slowly but solemnly.
Her lips were so soft that they trembled slightly, but she didn't flinch at all.
Ling Ling closed his eyes.
Her little hand slipped away from the back of his hand and climbed up the hem of his clothes.
Those hands gripped the fabric of his shirt so hard that their knuckles turned white.
Her hands were very steady, as steady as her voice when she spoke just now. But her eyelashes were trembling, and she lightly brushed his cheek.
He held her waist and pressed her gently on the soft sofa cushion. Her twin ponytails were spread out, and one of the bow hairbands was crooked and half hung in her hair.
The skirt of the white short dress spread out under her body, like a lightly crushed flower.
The pair of white silk calves stretched out from under the skirt and overlapped on the armrest of the sofa. The lace edges of the socks rubbed against the leather surface, making a very light and fine rustling sound.
His kiss moved from her lips to the center of her eyebrows, then the tip of her nose, and then the red corners of her eyes.
Each stroke was very light and slow, as if confirming every expression and every breath she took.
Ling Ling did not urge Lu Ling, nor did he close his eyes.
She kept looking at him, her dark eyes filled with light,
"Lu Ling..."
She whispered her lover's name softly.
Her cheeks were crimson, and her bow-knot headband had been completely scattered on the carpet at some point, but she never looked away.
"What's wrong?"
"It's okay... I like you."
Lu Ling didn't speak, just smiled slightly, continued to lean in, and kissed her again.
This time it was deeper, longer and more unreserved than before.
Ling Ling awkwardly greeted this deep kiss. This was her first time trying such a long-lasting kiss, so she was being guided by Lu Ling.
Her arms unconsciously wrapped around Lu Ling's neck, gently pulling him towards her.
The floor lamp was knocked out at some point.
The moonlight squeezed in through the gaps in the curtains, drawing a narrow silver line on the floor, and also fell on the pair of neatly placed small leather shoes in front of the sofa.
The sound of the waves outside the window came from far away, one after another, like the night was breathing quietly.
The toes of those white silk calves curled up slightly at some point...