Lin Songmei was dressed and ready to go. Checking the time, Songmei saw that she still had a little over four minutes before the agreed meeting time. To her own surprise though, Yan Mingqing had still not come down from upstairs.

Having talked a bit on the way back from the training center, Songmei had figured out that Mingqing wasn’t planning on wearing a dress or a skirt. Given that she didn’t think that Mingqing was one to wear short-shorts during the tail-end of winter, Songmei was willing to bet that Mingqing was going to wear some long pants and a blouse.

Songmei hoped that Mingqing hadn’t slipped in the shower...

Even if Mingqing did, given how strong they were, it’d leave a bruise at most...

Befuddled, Songmei decided to think about other things to calm her nerves. Was her dress fine?

Songmei’s nerves would just not go away. Without even noticing, her hands kept smoothing her dress out over her legs as every attempt to make her brain think of something else failed.

Washing machines?

Well... what about that time with Mingqing where the two of them saw a washing machine flying out of the main Westriver transport hub.

Bricks?

Mingqing was apparently really good at the brick-laying game... Though Songmei hadn’t heard much about it recently. It seemed that everyone had been a little too busy to play on a regular basis.

That, or they just talked about it when Songmei wasn’t there.

Or maybe Songmei had just started naturally tuning it out, very possible.

Liu Xueli?

Even though their master Xueli was a real... interesting person, Songmei could only think of the long hours she and Mingqing had spent sitting together at the edge of the koi pond.

Those days, weeks, had been some of the most peaceful in Songmei’s life. Everyday she and Mingqing would train and go to “school” though it really didn’t teach much. Just before dinner, she and Mingqing would do their homework together, completing it before dragging Xueli along to the dining hall.

After dinner, the three of them would play cards, hang out, watch movies—they’d do everything. Of course, oftentimes Mingqing and Songmei would just kick Xueli out and do stuff on their own, but Xueli seemed more than happy to let them bond on their own.

Careful not to touch her own face, Songmei stared out the window reminiscing on the nights that she and Mingqing had spent, staring at the field of stars that seemed to blanket Starlight lake.

They had even sung to each other!

... Looking back, Songmei had no idea why she didn’t realize some of her feelings earlier.

Letting out a long sigh, Songmei stared at the ceiling. Why did these few minutes have to feel so long? Why did her heart beat so fast? Why was Mingqing so dang hot?

Well... Songmei wasn’t complaining about the last one though.

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Before Songmei realized, the door upstairs cracked open, and footsteps began to walk downstairs.

Spinning as if she was dodging a punch from Wang Taigang, Songmei’s brain took a second to process the... sublime sight in front of her. With Mingqing also freezing at the top of the stairs, Songmei and Mingqing had a great view of each other.

Just as Songmei had expected, Mingqing had worn a blouse and some pants—prediction one, on point! Anything else that Songmei had tried to predict had all been wrong though. She also could easily see why Mingqing had taken a while.

Mingqing was good at putting on makeup, so it was obvious that the picture perfect makeup that Mingqing was wearing hadn’t taken the time—as a side note, for someone who had grown up having others put makeup on for her, Songmei was always baffled by how fast and well Mingqing could put on makeup.

However, one thing that did deviate from Mingqing’s usual ‘look’ was the prominent braid that Mingqing had her hair in. Having braided all of her hair into one intricate braid that came down her left shoulder, Songmei was amazed at how well Mingqing had pulled it off.

Mingqing was a walking disaster when it came to styling hair. For someone so godly at makeup, Mingqing trying to style her hair was like Xueli trying to seem young—it just didn’t work. Because of her lack of skill in that department, Mingqing was always one to just use a claw clip or clip adjacent and pin back her hair.

“Y... Y... You look really good.” Songmei stammered as Mingqing made her way down the stairs. With a closer look, Songmei could also see that Mingqing had worn silver-white jewelry. Songmei didn’t want to extrapolate or anything, but she had an inkling of a feeling that it was to match her own hair and eyes.

Just an inkling. One could never be sure, of course.

“You look beautiful as well,” Mingqing laughed as Songmei stood up, seeming unsure on what to do. “Well, you always look beautiful.”

Getting sent over the moon, Songmei lost the ability to breathe for a second as she smoothed out her dress for the millionth time. “You... You always look beautiful...”

“Why thank you,” Mingqing smiled, opening her arms to offer a hug. “And I knew it, you do look good in a dress!”

Taking the hug, Songmei gave a long squeeze while making sure that her lipstick didn’t get onto Mingqing’s spotless white blouse.

Her mouth just didn't seem to work! Frustrated but also flustered, Songmei’s mind spun at breakneck speeds, trying to sort out the conflicting thoughts in her head. Of course she wanted to crawl into a hole. Falling apart and forgetting how to breathe after just seeing your girlfriend came with that.

But also Songmei really quite liked Mingqing, if that wasn’t clear yet. Therefore, the best hole to crawl into would be Mingqing’s arms! But that didn’t work since Mingqing was the one flustering her!

Why was it so hard...

Mingqing, on the other hand, was fine. Well, she wasn’t fine but she looked fine. She had also lost the ability to breathe for a second, and, now, was very much chanting in her head about how sexy and fine Songmei looked in her dress.

That was shut, locked, and suppressed to stay in her own mind though, Mingqing had an image to keep after all.

-------

Standing in place in their living room for a couple minutes hugging, Mingqing patted Songmei on the back, asking, “Feel any calmer now?”

“No,” Songmei retorted, not even half a second after Mingqing had finished her sentence, “You’re too pretty, it's unfair.”

“Well, you are too, so I guess that’s two of us,” Mingqing grinned, loosening her embrace to let Songmei take a step back. “Why the conflicted look? You can talk to me if you want, you know I’m here for you.”

“It’s nothing, I’m just debating whether or not to do something...” Songmei murmured, squinting in mock annoyance seeing the teasing look on Mingqing’s face.

“Just do it~ I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Mingqing poked with an—admittedly—very beautiful smile.

Pondering for a couple of seconds, Songmei, exasperated at Mingqing, opened her arms for another hug. Getting a raised eyebrow that seemed to say “that’s it?” from Mingqing, Songmei beckoned her forward anyway.

Once near, Songmei reached up, cupping Mingqing’s face. Getting an innocent few blinks from an unexpecting Mingqing, Songmei grinned, grabbing her and pulling her in for a soft kiss.

A few... or more than a few moments later, Songmei let a now pink-cheeked Mingqing go, a bright and refreshed smile back on her face. “Alright! I feel much better now! That was revenge for the kiss you gave on the training field!”

Grabbing Mingqing’s hand, Songmei pointed towards the door, “So, ready for shopping?”