Where Winter is Warm Where Summer is Cool

Xi Xichen stood in front of the window, flipping through the French dictionary that I kept by my bedside. He was wearing a light, coffee-colored, casual outfit, his elegant side blushed by the sunset. His soft, black hair covered his forehead and part of his eyes.

I had accompanied my aunt to her hotel and then returned to school. My plan had been to come back and get a change of clothes and my laptop before going back. I had opened the door to my dorm, and that was when I found him standing there.

I froze until he turned his head.

“Where’s…my roommate?”

He put the book back on my bedside.

“She’s out.” He said simply. “Will you go out with me?” He came over and took my hand, his tone very gentle and I found I couldn’t refuse.

Sometimes I felt that Xi Xichen was actually more domineering than Ye Lin.

The campus in the evening was quiet. The sky was not completely dark yet, its dark blue coloring appearing as a velvet-like texture. The surrounding Romanesque buildings stood quietly with their accompanying street lamps on both sides of the road. The lamps were lit up in warm pools of light, reflecting the rows of linden trees standing shoulder to shoulder next to them.

“After graduation, I will go to Finland.” I felt I needed to tell him about this.

He squeezed my hand tightly.

When will you go back to China? I thought to myself.

“Your aunt has also come to France, hasn’t she?” Xi Xichen stood still, then stretched out his hand to hook a few strands of hair that had fallen in front of my eyes, behind my ears.

The conversation between him and I had always had some inconspicuous and evasive wording. After a moment’s pause, I said, “She arrived this morning.”

I didn’t ask him how he knew about it. Many things seemed to have become the law. He doesn’t say, I don’t ask.

“If it’s Jian Anjie’s aunt, then, should I pay a visit?”

“…”

Xi Xichen chuckled. “Do you need to think about everything before answering me?” Fingertips slid across my left cheek.

I was surprised by the cold on that finger, and my face turned aside.

I felt the hand in front of me freeze. Then I heard him say in a familiar tone, “I see.”

My chest suddenly became a little stuffy, and I wanted to get rid of his hand, but he refused, “What can I do with you?” At that moment, I just wanted to say something to break the dullness. I don’t like the unknown.

“I never came to you for anything,” he said bitterly, “I just wanted to see you.”

I looked at him and didn’t answer. In fact, I didn’t know how to answer.

“If you go to Finland, and I return to my country, are you going to see me?”

What he said made me a little angry for some reason. I’d said that just to tell him what my future plans were.

I pulled out my hand forcefully, but as soon as I turned around, he hugged me hard from behind. “Anjie, did we just quarrel?”

I was stunned, both at his actions and his words.

Quarrel, no cynicism.

The hand on my waist grabbed my shoulder instead. He turned me around to face him. His slender fingers held my face, and the kiss he gave me was gently printed, as gentle as a breeze blowing over shallow water.

I had always disliked kissing. In fact, Ye Lin’s previous kisses repelled me.

However, every time Xi Xichen kissed me, it always made me feel an abnormal rumbling in my chest, even if it was as tender as a breeze on water.

The winds of change were blowing over my cheeks, bringing with them a new and unknown floral scent.