The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 595: Kiss

After a moment of silence, Gao Yang stood up, having come to a conclusion.

Six Rime immediately rose to follow him, sticking close to him. Then Gao Yang headed to Fresh Snow’s room, knocking on the door three times.

“You there, Xiaoxiu?” Gao Yang asked.

“Go away! I’m fine! Don’t bother me!” Fresh Snow shouted angrily from the room.

Gao Yang twisted the doorknob gently. It wasn’t locked; Fresh Snow never knew to lock the door.

He glanced at Six Rime. “Are you coming in too?”

“No, I’ll be at the door.” Six Rime’s mission was to keep an eye on Gao Yang to make sure he didn’t spend any time alone with members of the fifth team, while Wang Xiaoxiu wasn’t part of her job.

Still, considering that Gao Yang could teleport through walls, she emphasized, “I’ll keep watch of the whole room to protect you.”

Gao Yang didn’t point out her true intention. “Alright.”

He took a deep breath and opened the door.

The bedroom was dim. A layer of white fog permeated the floor as gray blue moonlight streamed through the window, painting an ethereal picture. Walking amid the fog, every move Gao Yang made was under Six Rime’s watch.

Fresh Snow wasn’t on the bed. Gao Yang turned to the closet on the side and reached out to open the door, but the door was kept shut from the inside.

“Fresh Snow?” Gao Yang called out gently.

“Go away! Don’t bother me!” Fresh Snow was still angry. “I’m sleeping here!”

Gao Yang smiled bitterly and softened his voice. “We agreed that good friends don’t hold grudges overnight, Fresh Snow.”

There was a moment of silence. When Gao Yang tried the door again, Fresh Snow didn’t hold it close.

She had her arms around her legs as she curled up in the closet. Her large eyes were swollen from crying, and her face was covered in tears.

Gao Yang felt a pang in his chest. He took out the clothes by Fresh Snow’s side and bent down to squeeze himself into the closet, sitting shoulder-to-shoulder with her. Then he closed the door.

Faintly blue moonlight and hazy fog seeped in through the crack of the closet door, illuminating Fresh Snow’s eyes and the tip of her nose, as well as Gao Yang’s chin and Adam’s apple.

“We were wrong to dismiss you, Fresh Snow,” Gao Yang apologized earnestly. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” Fresh Snow shook her head, her tone hurt. “It’s my fault. I’m a ghost, and you’re human. That’s why I don’t understand your movies and what you’re talking about. I...I’m an idiot.”

“Fresh Snow, you aren’t...”

“No, I am.” Fresh Snow lowered her head and tried her best to keep her voice from breaking. “If only I weren’t a ghost...”

Gao Yang’s heart clenched. It was the second time Fresh Snow had said those words.

He turned to the side to find Fresh Snow’s hand in the dark, holding it tightly. “Look at me, Fresh Snow.”

Eyes still brimming with tears, Fresh Snow turned away, avoiding Gao Yang.

“Look at me,” Gao Yang said in a harder tone.

She paused before looking up, meeting his eyes in the dark.

“Fresh Snow, your mother was a life monster, and your father a human, right?”

Fresh Snow nodded.

“My mother was a life monster, and my father was a human, too, right?”

She nodded again.

“Then we’re the same.”

Fresh Snow paused.

“Do you think there’s anything different between me and the others, Lithe Snake, Nine Frost, Can, Hong Xiaoxiao, and Six Rime?”

Fresh Snow shook her head.

“Yeah, we’re not different. We all have souls, have different emotions, and we all think and love,” Gao Yang said. “Is that not the case?”

“It is.” Fresh Snow’s gaze grew more determined.

“We’re the same, too, so just like us, you have a soul, have different emotions, and you think and love.”

“Yeah!”

Fresh Snow nodded vehemently, finally without hesitation.

Gao Yang tightened his grip around Fresh Snow’s hand. “You didn’t understand the movie tonight not because you were different, but because you’re young. You have too little knowledge and life experience. Once you’re your sister’s age, you’ll understand everything.”

“Gao Yang, I think I get it now...”

Fresh Snow spoke with certainty, her eyes glinting with tears.

She stared at his face, feeling the exchanges of their breaths. Her heart started pounding again at a quicker pace, and she realized that she wanted to lean in—not to nuzzle Gao Yang’s chin with her head, but to do something even more intimate.

She remembered then what she had seen in the movie. There was something only a couple would do to each other: they pressed their lips together.

A kiss, it was called.

Fresh Snow felt lightheaded. She gently closed her eyes and was going to follow her instinct, but then ring! Gao Yang’s phone interrupted her. She jumped, and the strange urge possessing her was gone.

Gao Yang hadn’t noticed the rollercoaster of emotions she had gone through. He looked down at the caller ID and frowned. It was Green Tea.

He opened the closet and walked out, picking up the call. “Hello?”

“Elder Seven Shadow, have you gone to sleep?” Green Tea asked with a smile.

“Not yet.”

“I’m taking a stroll outside. Why don’t we have a drink? Is this a good time?” Green Tea spoke with purposeful nonchalance, which only made an alarm blare in Gao Yang’s head.

He knew that Green Tea couldn’t have come for a simple drink, but it didn’t make sense for him to come all the way here to talk about multiple personalities.

Gao Yang’s instinct told him that this was urgent.

“Sure, but I have a few friends with me,” Gao Yang said. “If you want a drink, you’ll have to drink with all of us.”

Green Tea was a bright one, and he immediately caught on that Gao Yang was under watch.

After a few seconds, the man on the other end of the line seemed to have reached a decision. “Alright. Then we’ll all drink together. The more the merrier.”

“Then come over.” Gao Yang gave him the address.

“I’ll be there soon.”

When Gao Yang hung up, Fresh Snow had already crawled out of the closet. She wasn’t crying anymore, but her eyes were still a little swollen.

“Who was it?”

“Green Tea, the big guy.”

“Oh, him.” Fresh Snow had just shared a meal and gone to a karaoke with the group, so she remembered. “Is he coming to hang out with you?”

“Yeah, he wanna talk.” Gao Yang ruffled her hair. “You should go to sleep first.”

Fresh Snow’s bright eyes shifted. “No, I’m staying up until you go to bed.”

Gao Yang thought for a moment. “Alright.”