Chapter 65: 60

As the end of February was approaching, the Lunar New Year’s fervor was ramping up. The entire road leading up to the campus gates was adorned with red lanterns and decorations. The Christmas trees from the previous month were still up, and each was decorated with small lights and colorful gift boxes, creating a lively, magical atmosphere among the freezing, foggy mist.

A quiet and steady snowstorm had graced the town overnight, falling steadily throughout the night. The next morning, the entire town had turned into a vast expanse of pure white.

All in all, S University was very considerate of its students and faculty. Asides from the first years, each year’s finals were all scheduled for before New Year’s. When Qin Juran had been dealing with Feng Jing earlier, she had used an app to browse through nearby hotels, but now they were constantly sending notifications of full rooms.

Qin Juran then opened her phone to browse movie theatre shows. Most of the seats on the night of New Year’s Eve were all full except for a few scattered individual seats. The only other options were New Year’s parties at dance clubs and such.

Since Lin Wei and Zhou Ziqing’s group already frequented these types of places, there wasn’t much of a ceremonial vibe in going there to celebrate New Year’s. When Lin Wei forwarded Qin Juran the details, he asked whether or not she had plans, and invited her to tag along on their trip to a hot springs villa.

Zhou Ziqing was hosting.

Qin Juran informed him that she already had plans.

Although she didn’t inform Ruan Nan directly, with Lin Wei’s personality, word of this easily made its way to her.

The day after the last day of finals was New Year’s Eve. At noontime, Qin Juran texted Ruan Nan: 【Ah-Ruan, are you on campus?】

【Mhm.】

【Good, good. I was worried that you’d go with the others to the hot springs.】

……

""

【Ah-Ruan, I had initially reserved movie tickets for tonight, but something came up and I have to quickly head back to District A. I already bought the train tickets, so would you be able to give me a ride to the station?】

【Family emergency?】Ruan Nan inquired, alarmed.

【No, no, I’ll tell you about it tonight~】

【What time is your train? I’ll come wait for you at your dorm.】

【Perfect.】Qin Juran replied.

【Thank you, Ah-Ruan.】

As Ruan Nan stared at the screen, she pouted to herself. She began to doubt whether Qin Juran’s insinuation was even intentional; when she make a point to tell Lin Wei that she had plans, was that just referring to her own plans? She was even going back to District A on New Year’s Eve and making her drive her.

Despite everything, Ruan Nan couldn’t let her go to the station all by herself.

At 9 o’clock in the evening, Qin Juran once again dressed up in her wine-red dress and paired it with dangling, glittering tasseled earrings. She topped off the outfit with a light white down jacket. Huang Ying complimented her look with a thumbs up.

“Juju, will it work?” Huang Ying’s eyes glinted with excitement. She was even tempted to pack herself into Qin Juran’s suitcase just to watch the entire scene.

Qin Juran applied her lipstick, pursing her lips in front of the mirror. She spritzed some perfume, then took a deep breath and nodded.

At 10 pm, the Porsche was parked out at the front of the building, right on time. Qin Juran lugged her small 20-inch suitcase downstairs, placing it in the trunk before getting into the passenger seat.

Ruan Nan was also wearing a white puffer jacket, her hair knotted in a top bun. Although her makeup wasn’t as dazzling as Qin Juran’s, she still looked gorgeous.

Catching a whiff of Qin Juran’s perfume when she climbed into the car, Ruan Nan couldn’t help turning to look at her.

However, she was rather taken aback by what she saw. She asked, furrowing her brows, “Why are you so dressed up for a train ride?”

For once, Qin Juran didn’t have a comeback and merely fluttered her eyelids with a nod.

Ruan Nan still had a sense that something was off, but Qin Juran did pack her suitcase and everything. She wouldn’t go that far to lie to her, right?

Ruan Nan started the car, asking as she began driving away from the campus: “What’s with the sudden trip back to District A?”

“One of my friends from junior high is going through something, so I’m going back to help her.”

Ruan Nan’s grip on the steering wheel tightened. She had never heard of a friend that she was this close to.

The snow from last night still had not fully melted, so Ruan Nan drove very cautiously and slowly. Although the average time to the train station was supposed to be 40 minutes long, the trip took nearly an hour.

When Ruan Nan noticed Qin Juran looking at the time in concern, she couldn’t help tightening her grip on the steering wheel. As they drove through a tunnel, she asked, “What’s the matter with your friend?”

Qin Juran turned to face her: “Ah-Ruan, you’re interested in hearing? Then, Ah-Ruan, could you help her come up with a solution as well?”

“Let’s hear it first.”

""

Qin Juran pressed her lips together, then began: “This friend of mine, she has a girlfriend who she really, really likes, and their relationship was always going great. Recently, she went on a business trip with a fellow girl on her team; whether she was purposely being provocative or had an ulterior motive, this teammate had made a few moves on my friend, which my friend’s girlfriend then found out about.”

Ruan Nan felt her heart drop, and she whipped her head around to look at Qin Juran, who continued without reacting:

“The problem is that my friend didn’t realize that her girlfriend was suffering in silence, sulking all by herself, and she had even interrogated her girlfriend about this matter. Now that she knows how the problem has arisen, she wants to make the situation clear to her girlfriend, but she’s scared that she won’t be forgiven.”

Qin Juran faced Ruan Nan:

“Ah-Ruan, you tell me: can she be able to come clean and be forgiven?”

As the car exited the tunnel, the warm lamplights overhead once again illuminated the road, reflecting upon the shining snow piled on the ground. The usual rumble of the car was dampened by the snowy road, and it felt as if they were gliding across. After a while, Ruan Nan asked, “This friend of yours – was there anything going on with the teammate, or did she ever, even a little, like that girl?”

You are reading story Running Away Hand in Hand with the Second Female Lead at novel35.com

“No.” Qin Juran shook her head very firmly.

“My friend,” Qin Juran shifted in her seat so that she could look unwaveringly at Ruan Nan in the driver’s seat.

“She has liked her girlfriend for a very long time. In her eyes, all of the world’s beauty and tenderness are reserved for her. She is willing to do anything for her, and all of her new experiences are made better with her by her side. Her way with words is very rough; whether in confessing or explaining, the words that come up never seem good enough. But she believes that she still has to say it out loud, or else nothing would change.”

When they were close to the train station, Ruan Nan stopped the car and parked on the side of the road before continuing.

The wheels screeched softly as they came to a stop. The streetlights ahead lit up the car, and the snow was still drifting down softly with no sign of stopping.

Without making a sound, Ruan Nan turned to look at Qin Juran.

“That’s right, the friend that I’m talking about is me.”

“Ah-Ruan,” Qin Juran called out softly as she pulled up a video on her phone screen and held it before Ruan Nan.

In the frame was a female student. She waved to the camera in greeting:

“Hello, Ruan Nan. I am Zhang Ziqing from the medical department, and I was one of the team members of leader Qin Juran for the competition. Regarding Qin Juran’s behavior during the training period and the competition period, let me explain it to you briefly.”

“Qin Juran and Chi Ying never interacted alone outside of the team, and even if they did, then it was instigated by Chi Ying behind the pretense of the competition, but Qin Juran always treated her with an indifferent attitude. The picture from that day was taken after I insisted that Qin Juran hold up a wine glass to pose with. During the time that you called her, Qin Juran was accompanying me in the bathroom. She hadn’t even had a drop of alcohol, nor did she have any inappropriate contact with Chi Ying…..”

When the minute-long video came to an end, another one of Qin Juran’s teammates popped up on the screen. Each of the members followed one after the other in recounting what had happened that day in their own words. It seemed that Qin Juran only told Zhang Ziqing of her true intention behind the video, since everyone else seemed to assume that it was a romantic gesture for her girlfriend, and they all ended their speeches with a blessing for her.

The videos ended with the chubby boy from the Literature Department’s blessing of “Wishing Qin Juran and Ruan Nan all the best and an everlasting romance,” which seemed to echo throughout the car.

“Is it too plain, Ah-Ruan?” Qin Juran took back, a wry smile on her face as she looked at Ruan Nan.

Ruan Nan dropped one of her hands from the steering wheel, turning to meet Qin Juran’s eyes: “You found out?”

Her eyes betrayed a sense of grievance, but her voice still carried a tone of pride. Qin Juran nodded: “Because there really wasn’t anything from the start, I never imagined that there would be such a misunderstanding. The night that I first figured it out, I wanted to go straight to Chi Ying and force her to explain to you, even if meant dragging her by the hair, but I didn’t want to create even more misunderstandings. So I could only come up with this.”

“I’m sorry, Ah-Ruan. I shouldn’t have hidden the fact when Chi Ying came to our dorm that night. But everything that happened afterward, that my teammates talked about, is the truth.”

When she finished, she reached out to unbuckle both of their seat belts and looped Ruan Nan into a soft embrace.

After a long while, Ruan Nan muttered indignantly: “Liar.”

“Mm.” Qin Juran didn’t let go, only holding her tighter.

“Big fat liar.”

“That’s right, I’m a big fat liar.” The light from the streetlamp didn’t quite reach Qin Juran’s face. As the snow fell on relentlessly outside, Qin Juran continued to hold Ruan Nan in her arms, the curve of her lips growing into a bigger smile.

When Qin Juran finally released her arms, Ruan Nan asked, “So just to explain this matter, you went all the way to pack up your stuff so that you could trick me into sending you to the train station?”

Qin Juran reached out to fix a lock of Ruan Nan’s hair: “Of course not. Ah-Ruan, come with me.”

After getting a look at the time, Qin Juran immediately got out of the car. Ruan Nan followed, and as soon as she locked her car, she was pulled away by Qin Juran. This area by the train station looked pretty much foreign to her, and white snow had blanketed all of the buildings and roads so that everything seemed to glow in the light.

It was now 11:48, and Qin Juran didn’t want to dawdle anymore. As if making up for lost time, she quickly led Ruan Nan through the empty streets and alleyways until they came to a medium-sized building. They first climbed up the external staircase, then entered the connecting corridor. There was practically no one else in the building, and the lighting was very dim. As if anticipating Ruan Nan’s apprehension, Qin Juran gripped Ruan Nan from the back and led her forward.

As the two trekked forward, Ruan Nan was filled with both nervousness and excitement. The staircase on this floor was very dark, and she hesitantly leaned against Qin Juran as she climbed up. Only when she made it to the rooftop that the staircase led to, did she finally realize where they were.

S District’s train station was built in the architectural style of the Republic of China, and there was a bell tower right in the center of the city not far from there. Standing amongst the neon lights of the modern high-rises lining the rest of the city, this structure remained a distinctive charm of the city.

This rooftop had no evidence of anyone else prior, as the ground was still blanketed with a smooth, thin layer of snow. In her white puffer jacket, Ruan Nan looked like a small penguin as she tiptoed carefully across the roof.

Qin Juran followed behind her, explaining, “Ah-Ruan, I combed through the maps and tourism guides for this city, and this rooftop has the best view of the clock tower, as well as the fireworks later.”

In the distance, the whistle of the train echoed. The entire sky was dotted with falling snowflakes that floated down to eventually settle upon the retro-style lampposts as well as the clock tower that seemed to be looming over patiently.

Ruan Nan stood on the rooftop overlooking this town that appeared almost unrecognizable. The entire world seemed to have been put under a spell; the beauty of it all was simply unbelievable.

She turned to look at Qin Juran, whose hair, eyelashes, and clothes were already dotted with white snowflakes, although the softness in her eyes seemed warm enough to melt them. Her mouth was curved in a bright, tender smile. Her white down jacket was left unbuttoned, and with every step forward, the ends of her red dress grazed the snow on the ground.

“How beautiful.”

Ruan Nan murmured in a daze as she stared at Qin Juran, unsure of whether she was referring to the scenery or the person.

Qin Juran’s smile grew. She walked up to Ruan Nan and encircled her from behind.

By 11:59 pm, a crowd had gathered in the square around the tower, and fireworks burst in the sky with a crackle, accompanied by the cheers of the crowd. The multicolored fireworks depicted large, dazzling patterns in the sky, creating a show of flowing light and overflowing color. The bright rays across the night sky were dazzling beyond compare.

“TEN, NINE, EIGHT, SEVEN……”

The exuberant cheers from the spectators in the square became louder and louder. Qin Juran rested her hands upon Ruan Nan’s shoulders, looking at her earnestly as she spoke: “Ah-Ruan, because of you, I…..”

“WOOOO~”

Before she could finish, the crowd roared as the countdown hit zero. The entire sky was immediately filled with a dazzling white as a multitude of fireworks erupted at once, and the grand clock tower rang a low, reverberating sound just as it struck midnight.

Amongst the train whistles, the roaring crowd, and all the festivity surrounding them, Qin Juran took the opportunity to plant a kiss.

Because of you, I am starting to yearn for the full wonder and beauty of this world that was not supposed to belong to me.

You can find story with these keywords: Running Away Hand in Hand with the Second Female Lead, Read Running Away Hand in Hand with the Second Female Lead, Running Away Hand in Hand with the Second Female Lead novel, Running Away Hand in Hand with the Second Female Lead book, Running Away Hand in Hand with the Second Female Lead story, Running Away Hand in Hand with the Second Female Lead full, Running Away Hand in Hand with the Second Female Lead Latest Chapter