All Mary knew was that in this moment, at this exquisite distance, they could only see each other's reflections in each other's eyes.
That was already very good.
It was so perfect that she remembered every single detail of that instant—the light, the temperature, even the man's eyes.
The girl leaned back slightly. This tiny movement completely shattered the ambiguous atmosphere that had been lingering until now.
"What are you thinking about?"
Mary spoke first, breaking the silence.
"I was thinking…" Russell opened his mouth, trying to break the awkward silence with a joke.
He wanted to ask her what she had been thinking just now, what she had wanted to do, and so many other questions.
Russell opened his mouth, but the words he was about to say were swallowed back. In the end, the only sentence he managed to utter was:
"Your perfume today smells really nice."
Mary fell silent for a moment.
Something flickered in those blue eyes.
The girl blinked, momentarily at a loss for words.
She suddenly felt like laughing, but in that moment, she felt more like sighing.
"Is that all?"
Her tone was complicated. Not disappointment or reproach, but rather an unexpected sense of surprise.
Did he do that on purpose?
At this distance, in this atmosphere, at this moment when she had bet almost all her courage.
He casually said that the perfume smelled nice.
"What was so special about this?"
The atmosphere she had worked so hard to create had been ruined by a single sentence. What an insensitive man.
But… why did the urge to get closer not disappear, but instead grow even stronger?
The girl raised her face and looked at Russell in front of her once more.
And then, she suddenly understood.
This person was trying to escape in this way.
Just moments ago, they had been so close—close enough to see each other's reflections in each other's eyes, close enough for their breaths to mingle, so close they couldn't tell which was which.
He had clearly been there too. Clearly on the other side of that boundary line, clearly suppressing the same urge to step forward as she was.
But now, he was trying to casually push this overflowing problem back into a bottle with such a light remark.
It was truly… malicious.
She thought about it.
She couldn't let him get away with it like that.
The flame that should have been extinguished flared up again at this very moment.
Mary gave a small laugh, then leaned forward completely.
No—not leaned.
More accurately, it was a direct physical attack.
The white-tea fragrance drifted over, and in Russell's pupils, that delicate face rapidly grew larger.
Before Russell could react, a soft, warm sensation touched his shoulder.
The girl reached out and wrapped her arms around his neck.
The movement was very light and gentle, as though she were afraid of hurting something precious.
She didn't use force. She simply gently pulled his head toward her.
Then, Russell felt as though his world had gone dark.
His face was enveloped in something soft and warm.
Whether it was her shoulder or the hollow of her neck, he couldn't tell.
All he felt was that he was surrounded by the scent of white camellias—so strong it felt as though a warm sea had completely engulfed him, overwhelming him.
Her silver hair flowed down like a veil, blocking out the light and everything else from outside.
All that remained was the soft sensation, the warm body heat, and the overwhelming white-tea fragrance.
His nose touched her soft cashmere scarf. Beneath the scarf, he could feel the delicate contour of her collarbone and the warm body heat of a young girl.
He could hear her heartbeat.
Very close.
So close it felt as though it were pounding violently right beside his ear.
Her heart was beating faster than he had imagined, revealing the girl's current state of mind.
She didn't look as calm and composed as she appeared.
She held him like that. As though she had finally captured a precious treasure she had secretly let escape and was now bringing it back.
Russell had completely frozen.
"What a malicious person!"
He heard the girl's voice beside him. It was very small, like a whisper, tinged with dissatisfaction.
Her hand gently stroked the back of his head. The movement was filled with tenderness, as though soothing a frightened small animal.
He could feel her body heat, her heartbeat, and the gentle rise and fall of her chest with each breath. Her breath brushed against his cheek every time.
He could even feel the sensation of her lips—
Right beside his ear.
Very close.
She was so close that with just a slight tilt of her head, she could touch his earlobe.
In that instant, Russell's mind went completely blank.
At that moment, he had no idea what his own expression looked like. He only knew that his face was burning hot.
So hot it felt as though it might catch fire at any moment.
Instinctively, he raised his hands and leaned forward behind Mary, as though about to wrap his arms around her.
From Russell's perspective, he could only see half of the girl's profile—nothing more.
She held him like a mother holding a child, burying his face in her shoulder, enveloping him completely in the white-tea fragrance.
Her breathing was very calm, yet hidden within that calm breathing was a faint tremor.
Just like her heartbeat right now—clearly fast, yet she was desperately trying to maintain composure.
"Words with a pleasant scent."
Her voice came from above. Very small, almost like a whisper.
"Then smell it even more."
As she spoke, she deliberately made her breathing stronger, as though trying to completely infuse her scent into him.
This was not an embrace between lovers, but an embrace between hunter and prey.
It was an embrace meant to brand the prey and trap it in an inescapable snare—a fall into self-inflicted corruption.
This was the girl's revenge.
She was counterattacking his attempt to suppress the overflowing emotions with nothing more than a single light joke.
She was telling him that he couldn't pretend this wasn't real.
Don't even think about trying to go back.
Footsteps echoed in the corridor. Someone passed by, then left.
It was unclear how much time had passed, but Mary finally let go.
She leaned back slightly to create distance and sat across from Russell once more.
Sunlight poured onto the girl's cheeks, illuminating her smiling blue eyes and the faintly flushed cheeks that hadn't completely faded from embarrassment.
For her, this action had been far too bold.
She had only been hugged, yet her heart had felt so happy it might leap out of her chest.
This kind of move… indeed dealt a thousand wounds to the enemy, but at the same time, it also dealt eight hundred wounds to herself.
Mary took a deep breath to calm herself, then looked up at Russell.
Russell was still somewhat dazed, his hair slightly messy from her actions.
Seeing Russell still unable to reconstruct his language system, she couldn't help but laugh.
Russell looked at her.
At her crescent-moon-shaped eyes, at the mischievous smile on her lips, and at the few strands of silver hair that had slightly fallen beside her cheek from the earlier movement.
He opened his mouth to say something, but in the end only let out a sigh.
"You…"
There was no reproach in his tone—only a helpless smile.
Mary tilted her head and laughed like a child who had successfully played a prank.
"What's wrong?"
She answered in a soft, slightly coquettish voice.
Russell looked at her, then shook his head.
"It's nothing."
Sunlight streamed in through the window perfectly, pouring onto the girl's silver hair and making it shine with a faint golden hue.
The classroom was silent.
The invisible line was still there, but it seemed a little thinner than before.
Just a little.
But for the girl, that was enough.
…
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