Shen Mochen frowned and raised his hand to glance at the watch on his wrist. It was long after school was dismissed, and even if the teacher dragged on the class for a while, Peach should have come over by now. After thinking about it, he eventually packed up the workbook on his table and other books into his school bag, before carrying his school bag and heading to the building for seventh graders.
The lights in several classrooms downstairs had been turned off for a while now. Speaking of which, there were very few seventh graders who were willing to attend the evening self-study sessions. Shen Mochen frowned as he looked at the empty classrooms and picked up his speed towards the third floor.
At the door of the Grade Seven Class Two classroom, the lights in Peach's classroom were still on. Shen Mochen heaved a sigh of relief and directly headed into the Peach's classroom.
In the classroom, there was not a soul inside except for Peach who was fidgeting restlessly on her seat.
"Why haven't you left?" Shen Mochen walked over to her. Grabbing her bag on the table, he was about to turn away and head off when he heard Peach mumble in a sobbing tone, "Wait a minute."
"What's wrong?" From her voice, Shen Mochen could tell that something was wrong. He then walked back to her and looked at her.
Peach's eyes were glistening with unshed tears and her usual ruddy face looked particularly pale today. Furthermore, her cherry-like mouth was drained of colour at this moment.
"You're not feeling well?" Shen Mochen reached out and gently touched her forehead. Her temperature was normal and she was not feverish.
Looking a little embarrassed, Peach stammered, "No… I… I…" She then glanced at Shen Mochen and saw his questioning look. Finally, Peach braced herself and lowered her head as she muttered under her breath, "My period came…"
Silence fell between both of them.
Peach looked down at the ground as she did not dare to look at Shen Mochen. Her pale face was red with embarrassment at this moment.
"Oh." Shen Mochen's deep voice rang out, and it seemed to assuage Peach's anxiety.
Just then, a school uniform appeared in front of Peach's eyes. It was Shen Mochen's suit jacket.
"Tie it around yourself to cover it for now." Shen Mochen's had a bland expression on his face, unlike the embarrassment on Peach's face.
Peach hesitated, but still reached out and took Shen Mochen's school uniform. She tied it to her waist, covering the traces that had been left on her uniform.
"Let's go." Shen Mochen reached out his hand to hold Peach's cold hand.
The warmth radiating from the palm of his hand soothed Peach's anxiety. She looked up at Shen Mochen beside her. After giving her his suit jacket, he only had on a thin coffee colored sweater. As it was early spring, the weather was not completely warm. In the morning and evening, it was still very cold.
"Aren't you cold?" Peach looked at him and felt sorry for taking his suit jacket.
"Umm." Shen Mochen simply gave her a brief response and said nothing else.
Umm, so was he cold or not?
Peach began pondering over his ambiguous answer. Gazing at Shen Mochen's back as he silently rode the bicycle, Peach felt the frigid evening wind blowing on herself. She reached out and gently wrapped her arms around Shen Mochen's waist, and rested her cheek on his back.
Feeling the sudden warmth coming from his back, Shen Mochen paused for a moment before a faint smile formed on his lips and he slowly rode towards their home.
When they arrived at the doorstep of their houses, Peach hurriedly hopped off the back seat of the bicycle and hastily dashed into the house without even saying bye.