Pat Me Please

There were times when Su Chang had to admit that she was a woman easily pacified. One or two words of tenderness from Yu Zhou were often all it took; Su Chang typically didn’t need to hear a third. Or perhaps their period of reconciliation had not been long enough, still tinged with some lingering unease. As she reminisced about the earlier days of silent stalemate or the days spent without Yu Zhou’s voice in the room, she found comfort as long as Yu Zhou offered a word or two

After that Weibo post went up, it really didn’t stir up much controversy. After all, Yu Zhou was a writer of baihe novels, so it wasn’t unusual for her to be non-straight. If anything was amiss, it was that Yu Zhou rarely shared personal matters on Weibo.

So, familiar fans joked with her in the comments, saying, “Hey Chai, you’d better handle this properly. Your mom would bless you no matter who you’re with. But please don’t let any of the couples in the Super Topics become a reality; or if you became popular because of that, what would we do?”

Yu Zhou had few couples, one with Xiang Wan and another with Peng Xiangzhi. While the fans didn’t take these couples seriously, they loved joining in the fun.

After reading through two or three hundred replies, Su Chang discovered none of them mentioned her.

For the first time, she experienced the feeling of being invisible in the online world, as well as having no sense of existence in her relationship with Yu Zhou.

Thus, the joy that the Weibo post initially brought Su Chang, a joy born from the unspoken agreement between two people, gradually became tinged with bitterness.

In January, as scheduled, the new audio drama Yu Zhou was collaborating with Xu Wangmian started recording. The studio was rented from Ling Yue Studio, with Yu Zhou serving as the supervising producer and screenwriter throughout production. She was always conscientious, but this time even more so, as the lead actress, Xu Wangmian, had rushed from North City to record. Given the tight scheduling, Yu Zhou meticulously checked through their notes, worried about making any mistakes that would trouble Xu Wamgmain to record again.

The studio’s heating was cranked high and Yu Zhou undid several buttons on her cardigan. Every now and then, she would glance up at the observation window, exchange some words with the director, then her head would duck down again, word by word, sentence by sentence, she would check the script.

The soundproof door was knocked, and the door was slightly opened. The sound editor, whom she had met a couple of times, peeked out to greet Director Zhao, saying, “Director Zhao.”

She spoke softly, afraid of causing any disruption to the people inside.

“What is it?” Director Zhao asked, turning around in her chair.

“Sis Chang came over, said she wanted to see the recording.” The young woman whispered before she stepped aside, letting Su Chang enter.

Yu Zhou got goosebumps.

Su Chang’s footsteps were always light, exuding an unhurried elegance. This was particularly evident when walking on the studio carpet, reminiscent of a graceful cat. However, her silhouette drew closer, casting a cool shadow over Yu Zhou’s back, accompanied by the gentle aroma of a woody perfume lingering in the air.

She remained silent, yet Yu Zhou could feel her heartbeat climbing along her ribs.

How could Su Chang be here? Was she here to see her, or was she simply dropping in to greet her colleagues?

In fact, Yu Zhou and Su Chang hadn’t intentionally avoided each other. It was known by everyone in the SC studio, but they hadn’t crossed paths in other work settings. Apart from Director Zhao and Miss Xu, there were several co-actor VAs behind them, whom Yu Zhou wasn’t very familiar with.

Yu Zhou began to feel nervous and felt like the recording studio had become even hotter.

She made up her mind and decided to act according to Su Chang’s actions.

Su Chang’s gaze swept over Yu Zhou. As soon as Yu Zhou saw her entering, her shoulders shrank immediately, her silhouette appearing as if it had been possessed by a quail, and all the hairs on her body seemed to plead, “Madam CV, please spare me.”

Su Chang smiled as she heard the boss’s chair squeak. Director Zhao was about to get up: “Ah, Sis Chang is here.”

“I happened to be working in the booth next door today. After I finished recording, I heard that Wang Mian was here, so I came over.” Su Chang’s noble voice was just slightly over half a meter behind Yu Zhou, neither too far nor too close.

The supporting VAs who had originally been sitting on the couch came over to greet Su Chang.

Su Chang nodded, responding with a smile to each one.

“Are you recording an audio drama?” Su Chang asked.

“Yes, a baihe one,” Director Zhao swung her chair, pointing her chin towards Xu Wangmian, “Miss Xu and Xian Ning are the leads, they are recently quite popular online. Xian Ning hasn’t arrived yet, so she’s recording first. Would you like to sit? I can get a chair for you.”

“No need, my back is a bit sore, I’ll stand,” Su Chang said softly.

Backache? Yu Zhou’s ears perked up like a rabbit’s, instinctively wanting to turn around to look at her, but suppressed the urge.

From her elevated position, Su Chang watched her every movement and smiled without saying anything.

Director Zhao, who was always good at discerning thoughts from facial expressions, followed Su Chang’s gaze and naturally noticed Yu Zhou.

“Oh,” Director Zhao nudged the armrest of Yu Zhou’s chair, “This audio drama is written by Chaicha, didn’t you two collaborate a few years ago?”

She couldn’t remember the name of that audio drama.

“‘Shrine’,” Su Chang took over the conversation and added leisurely,” Miss Yu, are you also here?”

Pretending to be surprised, Yu Zhou, as a producer, would give Su Chang a negative score for this performance.

There was a hint of teasing in her tone that outsiders couldn’t distinguish, but Yu Zhou caught it. Su Chang rarely strung out her speech, but when she teased or played tricks on Yu Zhou, she often did.

A spotlight “clicked” and shone upon her, coming from the untouchable goddess, Miss Su.

Yu Zhou found no way out. She raised her hand to tidy up the hair near her temple, turned around, and said with a slightly raised voice, “Miss Su, hahaha, I apologize. I was fully focused on the script and didn’t notice you.”

Didn’t notice? Su Chang raised her eyebrow. From the moment she walked in the door, Yu Zhou had been practically burying her head in the script in front of her. For someone who has a 100 kg curiosity, she didn’t even turn her head when another person entered the room.

She really hadn’t noticed.

Yu Zhou blinked while looking at her. At this moment, Su Chang crossed her arms  with her white forearm prominent under the rolled-up sleeves of her shirt. Her four straight fingers tapped against her arm leisurely.

Then she tilted her head slightly, returning Yu Zhou’s gaze.

Damn, Yu Zhou was dodging her gaze like an escaping bug. For some reason, whenever Su Chang was a bit aloof outdoors, her charm skyrocketed, making Yu Zhou somewhat fearful to look directly at her.

What kind of script was Su Chang acting now? Yu Zhou thought quickly in her mind.

It seemed like Su Chang didn’t particularly want to acknowledge their relationship either, but she didn’t seem too pleased with Yu Zhou’s behavior.

Yu Zhou didn’t know what she was dissatisfied with.

What? Should she have pounced on her, clinging to her delicate shirt like a koala, saying: “Sweetheart, your wife has missed you so much muamua!”

That thought brought a chuckle from Yu Zhou.

Seeing the people around her all looking at her, she quickly put on her serious face, subconsciously biting her lower lip.

Su Chang furrowed her brows, indicating that she should stop that bad habit. Seeing Yu Zhou reflexively let go, Su Chang shook her head, chuckled, and softly said, “Just continue with what you were doing, I won’t disturb you. I’ll just greet Wangmian when she comes out and then leave.”

After saying so, she tilted her chin up, turning her attention to Xu Wangmian through the observation window, who was listening intently.

Yu Zhou sighed inwardly, praising her for being such a considerate and tactful girlfriend. She must have known that Yu Zhou hated to suddenly become the center of attention.

Moreover, she hadn’t wash her hair yet.

Yu Zhou turned back to her work.

But, with Su Chang standing behind her, how was she supposed to work…

Yu Zhou felt as if her ears were perked up, even the shallow breaths Su Chang took were crystal clear. It was actually quite an interesting situation, Yu Zhou thought. This game of acting like strangers under the public eye was a little thrilling. For some reason, the more she had to act indifferent, the more her thoughts seemed to be involuntarily led by Su Chang.

She couldn’t escape for even a millisecond.

The next moment, she heard the supporting VA Xiao Lin on the side saying, “Ah, Miss Su, are you wearing a wedding ring?”

Su Chang was still crossing her arms, a plain ring on the ring finger of her right hand radiating a misty sheen.

Just like scallions, her fingers were fair, delicate, and somewhat captivating.

“Hmm?” Su Chang glanced down at her hand.

Yu Zhou was akin to hearing the soft sounds of her fingers brushing against her shirt, faint and delicate, just like sweeping snow.

Then she heard Su Chang softly laughing and gently said, “Nope.”

“Just wearing it for fun.”

Upon hearing this meaningful sentence, Yu Zhou involuntarily began to recall.

Remembering the moment before getting up today, lying in the crook of Su Chang’s arm, she habitually played with her fingers.

Yu Zhou found them more and more pleasing to her eyes, and so, on a whim, she pulled out a ring from the bedside table, picked up Su Chang’s right hand and slid the ring on her finger; all the while saying: “Your fingers are really thin, it looks good on your middle finger, it also looks good on your ring finger, though it’s a bit loose on your ring finger. Hanging here on your knuckles, it feels pretty cool.”

The lazy Su Chang lifted her hand to inspect it before simultaneously bringing Yu Zhou over to her for a thorough investigation of her own hand, asking: “Are they thin?”

“How thin?” She looked at Yu Zhou and asked again.

Yu Zhou stated that she had no concept of it, so they subsequently spent 40 minutes having the measurements taken by Yu Zhou.

Yu Zhou’s ear turned red in the recording studio, and it was evident that Su Chang noticed it too as she let out a soft giggle.

After laughing, she propped her right hand on the table with her thumb gently flipping the script in the corner, and then she lowered her head to ask Yu Zhou, “Are you recording this page?”

No, it wasn’t that, it was flirting. Yu Zhou felt she was being passionately teased.

Because not only did Su Chang’s shadow cast over her, accompanied by the sound of her voice, Yu Zhou felt a gentle brush of Su Chang’s knee against the side of her leg.

Yu Zhou sighed with a damp feeling in her heart as she nodded in reply, “Mm”.

She was a little uncertain of what to do next.