NOVEL WEB Chapter 8 - Midnight
After enduring two agonizing hours, the horror movie finally ended.
At this point, He Gu was already on the verge of collapse. His entire body felt feverish, his heartbeat and breathing were a mess.
Seeing the movie credits start to roll on Xiao Ying’s phone, He Gu immediately jumped up from the bed, escaping the dangerous yet tantalizing position.
However, as soon as He Gu stood up straight, he immediately felt discomfort in a certain area, forcing him to awkwardly hunch over slightly.
He took out his phone and checked the time: 11:37 pm.
There were only 23 minutes until midnight!
“It’s getting late, let’s rest,” He Gu said hurriedly.
After speaking, he swiftly refilled the parrot’s water and food, then carried the birdcage outside to the dorm room door, hanging it on the door handle.
Then he returned to the dorm room and climbed straight into his own bed.
Xiao Ying glanced at He Gu who was already lying on the top bunk, and curled her lips: “Well you sleep first, I’m going to take a shower.”
He Gu: ???
Are you Shizuka?
…
Xiao Ying took her toiletries and went into the bathroom, bringing He Gu’s towel with her this time.
Soon, the sound of running water could be heard from the bathroom.
He Gu watched the time approaching midnight, feeling a bit anxious.
One of the rules stated that he couldn’t speak to Xiao Ying between midnight and 6am!
Judging by this, Xiao Ying would definitely finish her shower after midnight.
What if she tried to speak to him afterwards?
After thinking it over, He Gu decided to sleep first.
If he was asleep and didn’t respond to Xiao Ying, that shouldn’t count as rejecting her right?
At the moment, this seemed like the only solution!
With this thought, He Gu immediately closed his eyes, trying to fall asleep as quickly as possible.
However, perhaps because he was nervous, He Gu lay in bed with eyes shut tightly, yet was unable to fall asleep no matter what.
Time ticked by second by second.
Soon, the lights in the dorm room went out.
He Gu knew this meant it was midnight and the dorm’s electricity was cut.
The pale moonlight shone in through the window, spilling onto the floor of the dorm room.
The sound of running water from the bathroom still continued, seemingly unaffected by the lights going out.
He Gu continued lying on the top bunk, painfully keeping his eyes closed, still unable to fall asleep.
After some unknown amount of time, the sound of running water suddenly stopped.
In that instant, it was as if the entire world went silent.
He Gu’s heart skipped a beat, not moving a muscle, continuing to lie there with eyes shut tightly, pretending to be asleep.
Soon, the bathroom door opened.
Tap tap…
Tap tap…
The sound of Xiao Ying’s footsteps in slippers approached step by step.
“Are you asleep?”
Xiao Ying’s voice rang out in the darkness.
He Gu kept his eyes closed tightly, trying his best to maintain steady breathing without any response.
After waiting a few seconds without a response, Xiao Ying didn’t call out to He Gu again. She sat on her bed and started drying her hair.
Lying on the top bunk, He Gu breathed a slight sigh of relief, hoping Xiao Ying would quickly dry her hair and then go to sleep.
In the darkness, He Gu could hear the rustling sound of Xiao Ying drying her hair, and faintly smell the scent of shampoo in the air.
This process felt extremely long to He Gu.
He Gu realized for the first time that pretending to be asleep could also be very painful.
After some unknown amount of time, the sound of Xiao Ying drying her hair finally stopped.
Following that, He Gu heard Xiao Ying’s footsteps heading towards the bathroom direction, then the blow dryer turned on.
The dorm’s electricity was forced off at midnight, but the power outlets still worked, so the blow dryer could still be used.
It was very difficult for girls with long hair to fully dry it with just a towel, the hair needed to be towel dried halfway before using a blow dryer to finish, this He Gu knew.
Whirrrr—
The blow dryer kept buzzing, He Gu continued to agonize in bed pretending to sleep.
After a while, the blow dryer stopped.
He Gu waited for a bit but didn’t hear Xiao Ying’s footsteps, she seemed to still be by the sink?
“A beauty’s rouge, a fickle heart…blood…”
Faintly, He Gu seemed to hear Xiao Ying softly singing.
The voice was very small, vague and indistinct, but it was clearly Xiao Ying’s voice.
Hearing this faint singing, He Gu strangely felt a sense of panic.
After waiting a while longer, Xiao Ying still hadn’t returned, the faint singing continued intermittently from the sink direction.
He Gu carefully turned over, opening his eyes just a sliver to peek.
After just one glance, He Gu’s entire body stiffened.
Under the pale moonlight, Xiao Ying’s bare back faced He Gu as she sang softly facing the mirror, her long hair draped loosely.
Most bizarre was that she had no towel wrapped around her body, her fair skin seemed to glow under the moonlight…
Seeing this bizarre scene, He Gu’s scalp tingled.
Yet after just one peek, He Gu couldn’t help but want to look a few more times…
Thus, He Gu maintained his sideways sleeping position, squinting his eyes slightly, quietly listening to Xiao Ying’s singing.
However, he had just looked briefly when Xiao Ying’s singing suddenly stopped.
The next moment, He Gu saw Xiao Ying abruptly turn around, looking towards him expressionlessly!
He Gu’s heartstrings which had just relaxed instantly tensed up again. He quickly shut his eyes.
Yet Xiao Ying didn’t make another sound, seemingly continuing to stare at He Gu.
Just like that, the dorm room became deathly silent.
The whole world seemed to have lost its sound, He Gu could hear his own heartbeat.
Not knowing what Xiao Ying was doing, or if she was still staring this way, He Gu didn’t dare open his eyes, not even daring to move a finger.
Maintaining this standoff for some unknown amount of time, unknowingly, He Gu fell asleep just like that.
…
Also unknown how long he had slept, in his groggy state, He Gu was awakened by some sort of sound.
He Gu opened his eyes, the dorm room pitch black.
Coming to his senses, the first thing He Gu carefully peeked towards the sink direction, Xiao Ying was no longer there.
But from the lower bunk across from him, there seemed to be some sound.
This sound…seemed like the sound of brushing teeth?
Recalling the pink toothbrush He Gu had seen in Xiao Ying’s suitcase, could Xiao Ying be brushing her teeth in the middle of the night?
He Gu carefully angled his head to look at the lower bunk across from him.
Due to the dim lighting, He Gu couldn’t see clearly, but he could make out someone lying on the bed, it should be Xiao Ying.
“Mmm…”
“Hmm~”
Faintly, He Gu suddenly heard Xiao Ying’s voice…