Perchance to Dream

31. Help Unwanted

...how about now?

Two figures stood in a snowy clearing, wreathed by the bare brown branches. One was a tall man, imposing and elegant; the other a slim girl with graceful bearing and poise.

Ling Fengxiao was near enough to Mei Yanran to envelope her misty breaths in the chilly air within the hues of his black robes and cloak. He seemed to have locked around her like a cage, or perhaps the night itself, dark with endless depths.

She found it pleasantly warm in his shadow.

"Well?" Ling Fengxiao asked again when there was no reply.

"Um," Mei Yanran replied intelligently. A thousand thoughts were currently swarming in her head: how close they were, how husky his voice sounded, how his perfect skin could rival the female lead.

And...he smells really nice too!

It was sort of a deep woodsy scent mixed with the crisp cold of snow and sweet traces of South Heaven Fragrance she'd seen burning in the guest hall earlier.

Sensitive but manly, Mei Yanran decided, even as Ling Fengxiao wrinkled his brows. He leaned down further until their noses were almost touching, giving her a mild heart attack as a battle played out in her head.

Eskimo kisses! Eskimo kisses! Her inner devil was squealing like a fangirl. If you were a little taller, your noses would be touching by now!

No, it's too soon! You can't take advantage of his innocent heart like this! Her inner angel-slash-conscience was throwing propriety in her face.

But just look at those lips! the devil whispered seductively.

They're holy ground! the angel was firm. No trespassing allowed!

—

Did I scare her? Ling Fengxiao wondered. As a general rule, girls from outside the capital were more conservative and timid than their peers when it came to men. At most, he meant to catch her off guard, not stun her out of her wits.

Although, the way she's creasing her brows doesn't look like fear...

Before he could think of what to do next however, there was a sound thump on his back. Ling Fengxiao froze as Mei Yanran patted him firmly on his waist.

"Ha..hahahah! N-not bad!" she managed to chirp out. "But you're supposed to bend from the lower back, not the upper torso!"

That was a tough call, Mei Yanran exhaled internally. But I don't want to scare him off with my feelings on our first date!

The cool surface of his cloak took some heat away from her burning face as she poked him gently once more. "Right here, feel it?" Thank God I'm being so professional.

As she beamed at him, Ling Fengxiao's mind was silently reeling.

What does she mean by touching me out of the blue? Such a brash and bold girl...

If he wasn't so sure she was harmless, he'd be ordering his guards on her now. Any other assassin with a dagger in their hands could have stabbed him straight through the spine just then!

"Why the lower back?" Ling Fengxiao asked as he straightened up, distancing himself in the process.

"Because that's where your back begins, at the base of the spine," Mei Yanran explained. "Dancers need to use every inch of their bodies, so that means stretching from the beginning of our joints! You'd only be doing a half-stretch if you started midway up."