Won't Get Out Of My Head

Liu Mingyan had found it odd how quite a few people had come up to her throughout the day to ask if she had gotten into an argument with Sha Hualing. Even though she couldn't remember them having any interaction of that sort recently, apparently Sha Hualing had been really angry, mumbling Liu Mingyan's name from time to time.

Liu Mingyan couldn't figure out the reason why. She and Sha Hualing hadn't even talked much in the past week, since they had both been busy in their own ways and had only crossed paths a few times during that period. She had noticed Sha Hualing had a sour expression in all those encounters, but she couldn't have imagined she would have been the reason.

She didn't like that thought… Even if her relationship with Sha Hualing wasn’t exactly the closest, and at times not all that friendly, specially around the time they first met, Liu Mingyan still didn’t like the idea of Sha Hualing disliking her.

She went to a restaurant near the mountain sect to hopefully clear her mind with some other sect-members. But who would have thought she would have found Sha Hualing there… Clearly a bit drunk, given the red tint on her cheeks and the jar of wine on her table.

Liu Mingyan excused herself from her group and walked up to her. She called Sha Hualing’s name, who slowly looked up at her and made a not very pleased expression when she realized who was talking to her. An expression Liu Mingyan had grown quite familiar with that week.

Liu Mingyan raised an eyebrow. “May I know what has you in such a sour mood?”

Sha Hualing clicked her tongue and looked away. She took another gulp of her wine before responding. “I’m completely fine!”

“That isn’t what I’d call fine.”

“Oh yeah, because the beautiful and perfect girl knows everything about being ‘fine’!” Sha Hualing pouted and crossed her arms.

Liu Mingyan sighed, her expression saddening. “Did I somehow wrong you recently? You seem to be quite upset lately, and some people are saying I might be the reason.”

Sha Hualing was quiet for a moment. Then, she groaned. “God damn pretty Liu Mingyan…” She mumbled, still looking away from her.

“Huh…?”

“Stupid, strong and gorgeous Liu Mingyan…” Sha Hualing leaned her arms and head on the table. “Won’t get out of my head… What the fuck do I do about that…”

Liu Mingyan went quiet, hearing Sha Hualing call her ‘gorgeous’ made her cheeks burn a little. Even though that was something she heard many others say to her in the past, it felt a bit more… Special for it to come from her. And she couldn’t help but wonder exactly what ‘getting out of her head’ meant…

Noticing Sha Hualing hadn’t said anything else or even moved, Liu Mingyan nudged her a little. She got no response… When she leaned forward to get closer to her, she could hear Sha Hualing’s soft breathing.

Liu Mingyan held back on the urge to giggle. She must have been quite drunk, to have fallen asleep so suddenly.

She looked around for a moment. Even if Sha Hualing was strong, she wasn’t exactly in a state where Liu Mingyan could just leave her there with a good conscience… Specially not after what she had heard. She asked to pay for Sha Hualing’s bill, deciding she would carry her to her home for the night. Sha Hualing would probably be very confused the next morning, but it was the best she could do at that moment.

And maybe, later she could ask her about what her words meant.

Sha Hualing woke up with a strong headache, immediately groaning, reminded of the unfortunate side-effects of the method she chose to try to stop thinking about Liu Mingyan…

…Or the direction said thoughts about her had started to take recently.

It hadn’t worked. Even when she was pretty drunk, the thoughts didn’t stop. Even when she couldn’t quite remember the end of the night, she still had a pretty clear image of Liu Mingyan in her memory… Maybe she was starting to go crazy.

That was when a realization hit her.

The bed she was laying on smelled like Liu Mingyan.

She quickly sat up and looked around. She certainly wasn’t in her own room.

Right then, the bedroom’s door opened, and Liu Mingyan walked in. Although her mouth was covered as always, Sha Hualing could tell from her eyes that she smiled at her. She quickly figured out what had happened… She hadn’t started to go crazy, after all. She must have passed out the previous night after she had seen Liu Mingyan. Although, she still couldn’t remember the details.

“Good morning.” Liu Mingyan said.

Sha Hualing’s headache got harder for a moment, making her groan and bring a hand to her temple. “Morning…”

Liu Mingyan walked up to her, and she only then noticed she was carrying a glass of something with her.

“Here.” She handed Sha Hualing the glass, sitting down beside her. “Your head must be hurting. It’s gonna make you feel better.”

Sha Hualing grabbed the glass and, knowing the taste was probably gonna be just as bad as her headache, swallowed the contents as fast as possible. She had to fight against her body’s urge to immediately spit it out. But, at least, she knew she could trust it to be effective.

“I hope you slept well.” Liu Mingyan said.

“It was fine.” Sha Hualing avoided looking at her directly. Her cheeks burned a little as she thought about her next question. “This is… Your room, isn’t it? Where did you sleep?”

“A friend let me sleep with her.”

Sha Hualing couldn’t help but furrow her eyebrows at that. The idea of Liu Mingyan sharing the bed with another girl just… Made her blood boil a little.

Liu Mingyan chuckled. “Were you, perhaps, hoping I had slept with you instead?”

“H-huh!?” Sha Hualing’s entire face started burning. She would have preferred that. But… She cleared her throat. “What makes you say that?”

“Well, you did say something interesting last night. You said that I ‘wouldn’t get out of your head’, I think.”

Sha Hualing’s eyes widened. That did not help the burning on her face. And on top of that, she could clearly tell Liu Mingyan was smirking…

She sighed, hiding her face on her knees. She couldn’t even think of what to say. Would admitting to it just get her rejected? She did wonder if Liu Mingyan enjoyed her company as much as Sha Hualing enjoyed hers…

“I…” Liu Mingyan started talking, and Sha Hualing looked over to see her with a serious look in her eyes as she stared at the floor. “When people told me they thought you were mad at me, I got pretty worried. I was… Really glad that wasn’t exactly the case.”

“Of course I wasn’t actually angry with you. I just…” After a moment, she sighed again. She couldn’t find a way to phrase everything that was in her mind… Why did feelings need to be so hard?

There was a small moment of silence, and then Liu Mingyan took a deep breath. “If you… Want to go out sometime, I’ll be more than glad to go…”

Shocked, Sha Hualing opened her mouth, but still couldn’t say anything. She noticed a light shade of pink on the little she could see of Liu Mingyan’s cheek. It made her heart skip a beat, to see such an expression from her.

Sha Hualing forced a smirk. She wasn’t feeling that confident, but maybe if she pretended well enough, it’d ease Liu Mingyan’s worries as well. “Well, I guess I could fit you in my schedule next week.”

After a short silence, Liu Mingyan responded. “I’ll be looking forward to it, then.” Sha Hualing could tell she smiled a little. That made her feel a bit better.

She hoped she could make her smile like that more in the future…