The Healing Sunshine (一厘米的阳光)

Chapter 23.1 - Time's Length (1)

The next day, when Jǐ Yi awoke, the hands of the clock were already pointing at 3:36 in the afternoon.

Crawling out from beneath her quilt, she quietly slipped off the bed, hoping to first take a shower while he was still asleep. Beside her, Jì Chengyang, who had fallen asleep still fully garbed in his regular clothing, showed no signs of waking.

In her memories from her adolescent years, she had never before seen such a weary and fragile him...

After a shower, she stepped out from the bathroom, her hair still dripping wet, contemplating whether she should wake him to eat something, or allow him to sleep a while longer and simply wait until dinnertime to solve both issues together.

While she was thinking this, she heard a sound behind her.

At the same time, there was also some noise at the front door. Jǐ Yi's eyes fixed on He Feifei as the latter walked into the home with keys in hand. "You still haven't gone into the office yet—" The voice abruptly cut off. The person speaking was shocked into silence by the emergence of Jì Chengyang from the bedroom.

Horror managed to successfully appear on He Feifei's face; then horror became daze, speculation, realization, awkwardness...

"Teacher Jì, ah, such a coincidence..." He Feifei forced a laugh. "Well, then, uh, I didn't sleep at all last night, and I'm especially sleepy. You guys carry on. I'm heading to bed first." Tossing out this last sentence, He Feifei hightailed from there and shut her own bedroom door.

<>Please support this translation by reading it at its actual site of posting, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com, instead. Thank you.

Jì Chengyang, in contrast, was very much unflustered.

Last night, he had slept beside her in his button-up shirt and pants, and after an entire night of slumber, there were already some wrinkles in that shirt. However, his build was tall and physique was good, and clothes wore well on him. Hence, he did not appear unkempt and, as a matter of fact, exuded a languid feel. His hair was still so black but was much softer than before, and as he had just awoken, it was even a little disheveled...

He seemed as if he wanted to say something to her, but in the end, he did not choose, in this time, on this morning, to say it aloud.

<>Copyright of Fanatical, hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com. Translated with the express permission of the author for hui3r[dot]wordpress[dot]com only

Having her co-worker, who was also her roommate, walk in on such a situation left Jǐ Yi with a feeling of awkwardness intermixed with some sweetness. With her hands, she lightly tugged at some of the creases in his shirt, murmuring, "You should have taken your clothes off last night to sleep..." The rest of the words did not leave her lips, for even she detected where this sentence was not quite right.

"Yes," he agreed with a low chuckle, "I should have taken off my clothes to sleep."

Jǐ Yi knew he did it on purpose. Gnawing lightly on her lip, she stiffly changed the topic. "You slept for so long. Are you still tired?"

"Yes." He continued smiling. "The bed is too small. The length and width both aren't really suitable for me to sleep on. I reckon your landlord never even considered renting the home out to men, and that's why such a small size was ordered. The square metreage of the bedroom is too small, too." He extended his arm to touch the upper part of the doorframe. "When I'm walking around in your home, I keep feeling like I'll run into something."

You're so tall; of course you feel it's small here...

Jǐ Yi, conversely, was very pleased with her new home. Sweeping her eyes all around, she said, "It's pretty good. I don't need much space anyway. I have very little stuff, so just a little corner will be enough for me to store everything."