Love for One Night

Ch 2: Over-the-Shoulder Throw (3)

Sandra stood under the showerhead, leaning on the water pipe, lost in thought.

Yao had been her Sanda partner for a year now. He had once been the most promising player on the team but ended up far from home after a defeat he should never have suffered. The difference in physical strength between men and women is significant. Even among men, the 6' 3" tall Yao and Sandra were not in the same weight class. But Sandra preferred training with him because it was the most challenging.

They grappled, laughed, argued, and bantered like brothers. Because of this, Sandra's ex-boyfriend, who was quite possessive, had been insanely jealous at one point, leading her to stop asking Yao to be her partner for a long time. But Sandra never found it awkward. To her, Yao was just a big target—she could kick, punch, and throw him around as hard as she wanted without worrying about injuring him.

After her breakup, with no one to interfere, Sandra asked Yao to train with her again. Yao noticed that after a few days apart, the girl seemed much more aggressive. Sometimes, he had to use all his strength to keep up with her in their training.

Sandra was simply venting—releasing the anger from being betrayed and expelling the invisible oppression and gloom within her. She pushed herself to the point of physical and mental exhaustion, so she wouldn't dream at night. But she pushed too hard. During a warm-up, she overexerted herself and strained a back muscle.

After the injury, something between her and Yao seemed to shift. A couple of concerned words, a few patches of medicated plaster, a helping hand with massages and stretches—these should all be normal among teammates, right? So why did it feel different?

It just felt different.

Sandra suddenly realized that Yao seemed to treat her differently than he did the other teammates. Could it be that women really start acting flirtatious with everyone after a certain kind of experience? Or had she simply been oblivious before?

Sandra twisted the shower knob, shivering as the cold water poured over her. Calm down. Calm down. Even if she had been dumped by her boyfriend, even if she had a one-night stand with a stranger, she couldn't just give up on herself and cling to the next man she saw. A twenty-year-old woman is in her prime. Why let herself fall into another exhausting and heartbreaking relationship? For now, she should simply let herself sway freely in the wind for a couple of years.

Sandra swung her bag over her shoulder and walked out of the women's locker room with a confident sway.

Yao was waiting for her in front of the gymnasium. The sunlight behind him blurred his features, but the soft orange glow of the sunset framed his silhouette. His white sportswear, tall and upright posture, and angelic aura made her squint.

Truly, without a boyfriend, even a boar might start looking like God.

Not that she was calling Yao a boar. While he wasn't particularly handsome, he was decent-looking and presentable. Still, Sandra figured the reason she could always treat him like a buddy—with casual physical contact and no romantic sparks—was probably because he wasn't her type.

She didn't consider herself obsessed with appearances, but as an art major student, her pursuit of beauty was naturally a bit more exacting. It was essential to find someone with good moral standing, of course, but they also had to be pleasing to the eye. Looking at Yao didn't stir any romantic feelings; instead, it made her competitive spirit ignite.

To be fair, Yao's height, build, single eyelid, and small eyes were probably quite appealing to some girls. Athletic and sunny, yes, but not a fashion icon. Fashion sense, after all, required talent.

It took natural advantages plus effort to truly captivate someone. Take that guy from The Roxy for instance—blessed with a great frame, long and graceful muscles, handsome features, lively expressions, and an edgy but perfectly tailored fashion sense. Simply put, he was...

Damn it, why was she thinking about him again?

"Yao, why haven't you left yet?" Sandra swung her bag at him as she walked over. "Waiting to treat me to dinner?"

Yao caught her bag and slung it over his shoulder alongside his own. "Can't you exploit me a little more tactfully? If I end up too broke to get married, you'll have to compensate me."

"I'm motivating your determination to earn money! How do you expect to afford a wife by slacking off like this every day?"

Yao hooked an arm around her neck and pulled her along. "If I can't afford a wife, I'll just marry you."

"If you dare marry me, I'll eat you into bankruptcy."

"If you bankrupt me, I'll sell you to pay off the debt..."

Sandra jabbed him in the chest. "Wow, Yao, I didn't know you were so sleazy."

"...Let me calculate. With pork prices rising, how much could I sell you for?" Yao dodged her second jab and began counting on his fingers. "No, better feed you more to fatten you up first—more profitable that way..."

"Did you just call me a pig?"

"If you're eating me into poverty, what else could you be?"

Laughing and bantering, the two left the gymnasium.

As they walked, Sandra stopped abruptly. Yao turned back, puzzled, and saw her staring ahead with an unusually serious expression.

"Why'd you stop?"

"I think that's my roommate," Sandra said, squinting at a girl in a short skirt sitting on a bench in the distance.

Yao followed her gaze. "You mean April? Must be a mistake. How could that girl be April? Isn't she always wearing those big glasses? And no way she'd wear something so skimpy in the middle of winter."

"Idiot, glasses can come off, and clothes can be taken off too." Sandra's words were confident, but she was also unsure, so she didn't approach right away.

Yao patted Sandra's back. "Come on, let's go check it out up close. You'll know if it's her."

"Wait," Sandra grabbed him, pulling them aside.

"What now?" Yao ducked behind a light pole that was far too slim to hide his figure and looked down at Sandra. "Why are we acting like paparazzi?"

"Look, a handsome guy just walked over."

It was a tall young man wearing a tilted top hat in a flamboyant manner. His face wasn't visible, but he had on a slim-fit gray long coat in a rather eccentric style.

Yao scoffed. "You girls are so strange, calling a guy like that handsome. What's he think he is, starring in a movie?"

Sandra responded with an even more disdainful "tch." If Yao wore that coat, it'd just look like a burlap sack. Despite their similar heights, he didn't have that flair.

April seemed to know the man. She stood up to greet him, but her posture was tense. She looked like she was either freezing from wearing too little or shrinking back out of fear. The man reached out as if to put his arm around her, but April dodged. He opened his coat slightly and said something. April turned her head away angrily, repeatedly shaking her head and stepping back. Her legs hit the bench behind her, and she stumbled backward. The man caught her, pulling her into his open coat.

What the hell—this guy's a pervert! Could this guy be the so-called boyfriend April mentioned? The one who made her blush while watching romantic action movies and nervously ask what it felt like? He didn't look like anything decent.

Sandra was starting to fume when the man arrogantly pinched April's chin. Before Yao could react, she rushed out from behind the pole she was hiding like a little steam train.