Chapter 287: Seoul Version Of [Burning Winter]
As the movie’s end credits rolled, the lights in the theater also came on.
And at this moment, Lin Xiaolu was almost entirely leaning against Lin Xiuyuan.
Her hands were tightly clasped around his arm, as that had become her only support.
Then she slightly lowered her head, her gaze falling on her own toes, letting Lin Xiuyuan beside her support her as they followed the other person’s pace, shuffling out of the theater one step at a time.
Her slightly weak, powerless long legs, and the indescribable cool, damp feeling at the hem of her skirt, made Lin Xiaolu feel as if her soul had been drawn out, her mind a complete blank.
Only her body’s instinct to cling to the damned “culprit” beside her remained, grasping for that sliver of safety and reality.
Until Lin Xiuyuan gently shielded her head and helped her into the front passenger seat.
Until the soft leather seat supported her weak body, and after watching him walk around the front of the car and get into the driver’s seat, Lin Xiaolu finally broke free from the environment that had made her blush and her heart race.
She let out a long, deep sigh of pent-up breath.
And as this breath left her chest, the shame and the belated, intense sense of shyness washed over her like a tsunami.
Her beautiful eyes gazed at the man beside her, whose lips were still curled into a smug smile, instantly igniting her anger. She screamed, “Ah~ Lin Xiuyuan, I’m going to get you!”
Then, like a provoked little deer, she lunged forward, butting her small head.
Her small pink fists landed haphazardly on his firm chest and arms.
Lin Xiuyuan, who was being pounced on and criticized, laughed heartily. He didn’t stop her, letting Lin Xiaolu’s kitten-like strength “abuse” him, finding her embarrassed and annoyed face extremely cute.
After she had hit him for a while, when she was slightly out of breath.
He suddenly seized the opportunity, extended his arm, and easily held the slender Lin Xiaolu.
Then he tucked her under his arm and held her firmly by his side.
Next, he raised his free right hand, high and down, and lightly, not too hard, slapped her slightly jutting, perky buttocks that were exposed due to her posture.
“Slap! Slap! Slap!”
Several crisp sounds rang out, accompanied by Lin Xiaolu’s startled tremor and whimper.
“Still don’t admit you’re wrong? Still dare to challenge your superior?”
Lin Xiuyuan smiled and leaned his head close to her reddened ear, his voice teasing as he breathed onto it, “Yoona, if you keep being disobedient like this, I’ll have to take you to experience what the legendary ‘Parking Lot God’ is like.”
Having just gone through a “thrilling” experience, and with her body still highly sensitive, Lin Xiaolu immediately felt a vague sense of threat from somewhere.
She was instantly scared speechless, shaking her head frantically, her body twisting and struggling in his arms, her voice tinged with panicked crying.
“No, no, I don’t want to. I’m wrong, I’m wrong. Xiuyuan~ I’m wrong, I really know I’m wrong, please don’t.”
Her upturned little face had slightly red eyes.
Her clear, bright deer eyes were now covered with a thin layer of moisture, it was unclear if she was truly scared or if it was some natural bodily reaction.
Her long eyelashes trembled with moisture, her fair cheeks flushed red, and her slightly parted lips were moist and alluring.
Seeing Lin Xiaolu’s wronged and pitiable appearance, as if she had suffered a great injustice, instantly struck a chord in Lin Xiuyuan’s heart and aroused his even deeper, wicked thought of continuing to “bully” her.
So, as Lin Xiuyuan’s eyes darkened, his breathing quickened, and he considered whether to put his “threat” into practice.
To “teach” this unknowingly seductive little vixen a lesson in this small space…
“Ring ring~~”
A crisp phone ringtone suddenly sounded, like cold water suddenly poured from overhead, instantly extinguishing the amorous flames that had just risen in him.
Lin Xiuyuan paused, clicked his tongue, and then dejectedly took out his phone to look.
Upon seeing that the name flashing on the screen was “Sulli,” he raised an eyebrow and quickly pressed the answer button.
“Hello, Jinjin, what’s up?”
He tried to make his voice sound steady.
Sulli’s voice, cheerful yet with a hint of something else, came from the other end of the phone, “Oppa, are you awake? Want to come out and have lunch with me? There’s also a friend I haven’t seen in a long time who wants to meet up.”
Sulli’s words were very vague, posing a riddle.
But Lin Xiuyuan still caught a key piece of information: “a friend I haven’t seen in a long time.”
Thinking this, his gaze unconsciously shifted to Lin Xiaolu.
Lin Xiaolu was also looking at him at that moment, their eyes meeting, and they both saw the same confusion in each other’s eyes.
Then Lin Xiaolu seemed to suddenly think of something, her eyes widening slightly, her lips silently forming a name: Goo~ Ha~ Ra!!
This made Lin Xiuyuan finally realize.
So it was her.
He then replied into the microphone, “Sure, Jinjin, send me the location, and I’ll be there soon.”
“Okay, I’ll send it to you on Kakao later.” Sulli hung up crisply.
As soon as the call ended, Lin Xiaolu had already taken the opportunity to break free from Lin Xiuyuan’s arm and quickly moved back to the front passenger seat.
While tidying her clothes and hair that he had messed up, she used the back of her hand to cool her still hot cheeks.
“Goo Hara? When did she get back?” Lin Xiuyuan knew there was no opportunity now, so he asked while fastening his seatbelt.
Hearing his voice, Lin Xiaolu shook her head, her breathing still a little unsteady, “I don’t know either, I hadn’t heard about this. But Sulli suddenly called to ask for a meal, and specifically mentioned ‘a friend,’ I guess she might have some ‘ideas’.”
Saying this with hidden meaning, Lin Xiaolu didn’t forget to look at Lin Xiuyuan beside her.
Lin Xiuyuan naturally understood what she meant by “ideas.”
So he slowly started the car, his gaze fixed ahead, his tone calm but with a hint of consideration, “Meeting up is fine, but other things will have to wait until all the trouble she’s in is completely resolved. No rush before then, we have time anyway.”
Hearing this, Lin Xiaolu also nodded in strong agreement.
She understood Lin Xiuyuan’s thoughts very well; if Goo Hara’s troubles weren’t properly dealt with, they would definitely become deeply entangled in the future.
At that time, it would be bad for Goo Hara herself, and also for Lin Xiuyuan’s tavern “church.”
Following the navigation, Lin Xiuyuan quickly drove to a star-rated hotel in Seoul.
The Spanish restaurant chosen by Sulli and Goo Hara was on a high floor of this hotel, so they could directly take the elevator from the underground parking lot to the restaurant floor.
Eating at the hotel meant not having to go out onto the street, reducing unnecessary contact and trouble.
As the elevator reached the floor, Lin Xiuyuan, with Lin Xiaolu, entered the elegant restaurant with its quiet, dim lighting.
Then his gaze swept around and he quickly spotted two familiar figures in a windowside booth.
Sulli and Goo Hara, who had arrived a few minutes earlier, had clearly just sat down, and their lemon water had barely been touched.
When Lin Xiuyuan and Lin Xiaolu appeared, Goo Hara, who was sitting facing the entrance, was the first to spot them.
However, when she saw the tall, slender, and charming figure next to Lin Xiuyuan.
Her already large eyes widened even further, filled with undisguised surprise and… a burning fire of gossip.
The ambiguous information, true or false, that she had heard from Sulli last night seemed to be completely confirmed by the eye-pleasing scene of “handsome man and beautiful woman walking side by side” before her.
Lin Xiuyuan was tall and steady, Lin Xiaolu was elegant and lively; their height proportions walking together, and the natural closeness they exuded.
It was as beautiful as a promotional photo shoot, they were perfectly matched.
At this moment, Sulli, sitting opposite her, also noticed the unusual look in her best friend’s eyes.
She followed her gaze and, upon seeing Lin Xiuyuan and Lin Xiaolu walking together, a hint of surprise flashed across her face.
But it quickly turned into a bright smile, she waved, and called out loudly, “Oppa, Yoona unnie, over here.”
Lin Xiuyuan and Lin Xiaolu smiled and walked over quickly.
“When did you guys arrive?” Lin Xiuyuan, reaching the table, naturally pulled out a chair and let Lin Xiaolu sit down first.
“We arrived a few minutes before you, oppa. We just got here not long ago,” Sulli replied with a smile, and at the same time, thoughtfully got up and sat on Goo Hara’s side, leaving the seat next to Lin Xiaolu for Lin Xiuyuan.
After the four were seated, they exchanged a few brief pleasantries.
However, as they spoke, Goo Hara’s gaze seemed to be drawn by a magnet, sweeping back and forth between Lin Xiuyuan and Lin Xiaolu, with inquiry and intense curiosity.
Later, after the waiter brought the menu and they ordered.
During the wait for the food, Goo Hara’s undisguised scrutiny finally made Lin Xiaolu, sitting opposite her, unable to help but laugh.
Tilting her head, she teased Goo Hara, “Hara, what are you doing? Why are your eyes so wide staring at us? Is there something on our faces?”
And thinking that Lin Xiuyuan seemed to be living with Sulli, but now acting so intimately with Lin Xiaolu, Goo Hara’s gossip and worried feelings could no longer be suppressed.
Plus, she wasn’t one to be shy, so she directly asked a blunt question, her gaze sweeping over the two of them one last time, with a tone of teasing and seeking confirmation, “Unnie, you and Xiuyuan are…?”
Upon hearing this, Lin Xiaolu immediately curved her signature deer eyes, smiling with a “pure and harmless” expression. She waved her hand, her tone relaxed and natural.
“Us? We’re nothing, just friends, just normal friends.”
Lin Xiuyuan, who was beside her, habitually scalding the tableware with hot water he had just gotten from the waiter.
He echoed without looking up, smiling slightly, “Yeah, just friends.”
But the subtle, teasing, and lazy inflection in his voice made Lin Xiaolu glance at him, glaring at the guy with annoyance.
Yet, the memory of that hand, which had been mischievous in the dark corner of the movie theater, flashed through her mind at an inconvenient moment.
Her cheeks flushed hot, the confidence she had just mustered instantly dissipated, and she guiltily lowered her eyes, instinctively closing her legs.
Across from them, Goo Hara took in all of their exchanged glances, one person’s “protesting too much” and the other’s “pretending to be calm but actually guilty” small actions and expressions.
She screamed internally: You expect me to believe you’re just friends?? That’s ridiculous!!!
If she could believe that, she felt she should dig out her eyes that had seen too much and jump off this high-rise restaurant.
She wasn’t a fool or blind; even a blind person would have heard the wrong tone in their words.
But thinking that these two clearly had some special situation, and Lin Xiuyuan also had the even more absurd relationship of “living together” with Sulli, Goo Hara felt like her CPU was about to burn out.
She couldn’t help but cast a confused and somewhat odd look at Sulli, who was sitting beside her, smiling as she watched everything.
Sulli, upon receiving Goo Hara’s knowledge-seeking and shocked gaze, naturally and tacitly guessed what she was thinking.
She picked up her water cup and took a sip, then grinned. Her smile was pure yet carried a hint of unpredictability. She replied softly, “Ah, unnie, why are you looking at me? Yoona unnie and oppa are indeed friends.”
However, this answer held no credibility in Goo Hara’s mind.
So she immediately leaned close to Sulli’s ear and whispered in a very low voice, “Are you crazy? They can’t be just friends looking like that. Then what are you and him?”
Tickled by Goo Hara’s breath, Sulli smiled again.
Then she paused, turned her gaze to Lin Xiuyuan, and replied naturally and intimately, as if stating the simplest fact, “As for me and oppa, we are naturally family.”
As the word “family” came from Sulli’s mouth, carrying an irrefutable intimacy and sense of belonging, it instantly cast another layer of intriguing color over the already complex and delicate relationships.
It also made Goo Hara completely unsettled.
Looking at the three people in front of her.
Sulli, who calmly declared they were “family.”
Lin Xiaolu, whose eyes were sending longing glances but who stubbornly claimed to be “just friends.”
And Lin Xiuyuan, who smiled at the corner of his mouth, at the center of the storm, yet appearing unaffected.
She felt that the scene before her was more exciting… and chaotic than any TV series or movie she had ever watched.
Just as Goo Hara was about to say something more, her peripheral vision seemed to catch something. Her focus quickly shifted from Lin Xiuyuan and Lin Xiaolu, and she looked up towards the entrance.
Sulli, sitting next to her, did the same.
“Huh, Hyomin??”
“It’s Hyomin unnie.”
