On a Stormy Night, the Campus Belle Knocked on My Door Seeking Shelter
Chapter 2: I’m Really Back

Chapter 2: Chapter 2: I’m Really Back

"Is this real?" Chen Mo subconsciously reached out, attempting to touch the girl in front of him.

Su Yuqing’s first instinct was to pull back, but remembering she had come to ask Chen Mo for a favor, she forced her body to remain still. She stood there quietly, allowing his trembling, warm hands to reach for her.

Just as Chen Mo’s palm was an inch from her cheek, she instinctively tilted her head back. The arc of her neck caused the damp ends of her hair to brush across the back of his hand.

"Am I really back?" As the distinct sensation of her cool, smooth cheek met his palm, Chen Mo’s Adam’s apple bobbed. A breathy whisper escaped him as the knuckle of his index finger gently brushed past a raindrop clinging to her cheekbone.

Su Yuqing’s eyelashes fluttered like the wings of a swallowtail in a downpour, casting fractured shadows beneath her eyes.

She forced herself to unclench her fists, allowing his lightly calloused fingertips to caress her cheek. The warmth was startling, making her heart flutter.

The distinct sensation, her subtle tremble—it all confirmed for Chen Mo that he was truly facing a living, breathing Su Yuqing.

SPLAT. A raindrop shattered like crystal against the corridor railing. Chen Mo’s thumb hovered half an inch from the corner of her mouth.

ACHOO! The mix of his warm palm and the surrounding chill made Su Yuqing suddenly turn her head and sneeze. The tip of her flushed nose bumped into Chen Mo’s hand before he could pull it away.

The unexpected contact made them both freeze. Her moist breath condensed on his wrist, feeling like an invisible thread winding around his skin.

"S-Sorry!" Su Yuqing scrambled back, but the wet floor caused her to slip and fall backward.

Instinctively, Chen Mo wrapped an arm around her lower back, his other hand pressing gently against her. The sharp, distinct outline of her shoulder blades—her butterfly bones—pressed into his palm through the thin fabric of her school uniform.

The mirror in the entryway reflected their intertwined forms. In her panic, Su Yuqing had grabbed Chen Mo’s arm. She was gripping him so tightly that her nails dug into his forearm. Now, as she breathed heavily, little beads of blood began to surface.

"I’m sorry, I hurt you," Su Yuqing stammered, apologizing frantically once more.

Gazing at Su Yuqing, who looked like a frightened fawn, Chen Mo suddenly tightened his grip, pulling her fully into his embrace.

Aside from the roar of the storm outside, the world fell silent.

In that moment, it felt as if they could hear each other’s heartbeats, each other’s breaths.

Though she didn’t understand why Chen Mo had suddenly embraced her, Su Yuqing chose not to move.

"Thank goodness," Chen Mo whispered to himself, his voice so low that even Su Yuqing, right there in his arms, couldn’t hear him clearly.

Suddenly, Chen Mo released her and stepped back to the edge of the light. He offered an apologetic smile. "You looked so cold, I couldn’t help but try to warm you up. Sorry..."

Seeing Chen Mo’s smile, as warm as the spring sun, a sliver of warmth bloomed in Su Yuqing’s heart, spreading through her chilled body.

"It’s okay..." she murmured, shaking her head.

"Come on in. I’ll get you a towel," Chen Mo said, ushering Su Yuqing inside.

Looking at the delicate face before him, pale from the drenching, icy rain, he was overcome by a storm of complex emotions.

In his past life, for reasons of his own, Chen Mo hadn’t been in a position to let a female classmate stay the night. He had politely refused her request, offering instead to get her an umbrella and a raincoat and escort her home himself.

But in the time it took him to turn around and look for them, Su Yuqing had vanished into the downpour.

The following Monday at school, Chen Mo received the devastating news. On Friday night, Su Yuqing had been murdered in a nearby alley, her throat slit. Her clothes were in disarray. The rumor was that an assailant had attempted to rape her. When a passerby stumbled upon the scene, the attacker slit her throat and fled.

As it turned out, the passerby had only been walking nearby. The rain was so heavy that he hadn’t actually seen or heard what happened.

The attacker had simply been spooked and ran away.

Because of this, Su Yuqing died a tragic death in the storm. Her body was washed by the torrential rain for an entire night before it was finally discovered.

However, the massive, all-night storm had washed away every single clue, making it impossible to track the perpetrator.

The case went cold. Weighed down by guilt, Chen Mo eventually decided to enroll in the police academy, vowing to solve it himself.

He worked his way up to detective, joining the criminal investigation division. After distinguishing himself on numerous cases, he finally got the chance to reopen hers.

Unfortunately, there was simply too little information to go on. No matter how hard Chen Mo worked, all he could dig up were fragmented, incomplete details from the hazy memories of people who were in the area that night.

It was impossible to piece together a full picture of the crime, let alone find the killer.

Worse, the killer never struck again in Linjiang City after that one crime.

This made the investigation all the more impossible.

This had always been a deep, unresolved weight on Chen Mo’s conscience.

He never expected that a whim—a simple walk in the rain—would lead to him being struck by lightning and, by some miraculous coincidence, sent back to the very moment he lost his chance to save Su Yuqing.

This time, he was determined to prevent the tragedy. A thought then sparked in his mind. ’I can use my years of investigative experience. I’ll go to the crime scene tonight and see if I can find the person who killed Su Yuqing.’

"Come in." As Su Yuqing stood there anxiously tugging at the hem of her clothes, she was surprised to hear him say the words.

She had already prepared answers for the barrage of questions she expected from Chen Mo. After all, she had made a strange and presumptuous request; surely he would demand an explanation.

She never imagined he would let her in without a single word of explanation.

But the fact that Chen Mo didn’t ask any questions only made Su Yuqing more flustered.

Although she had mentally prepared herself for anything when she asked to stay at his house, the reality of being alone with him in a room was overwhelming. Her heart began to thunder in her ears. With every quickening breath, the damp fabric of her uniform clung to her chest, rising and falling dramatically.

The motion-sensor light in the entryway cast a wavering circle of light at her feet. As Chen Mo turned to get slippers, the slight breeze he created carried a faint, elusive scent of sandalwood.

"My socks are wet. They’ll get your slippers soaked," she said quietly.

"Then don’t worry about slippers. Just come in. I can mop the floor later," Chen Mo said, unconcerned.

Su Yuqing nodded, but inwardly, she fought to summon her courage. Entering a boy’s home alone on a stormy night, being in the same room with him... all while her clothes were soaked through, revealing the pale skin and intimate apparel beneath. She stood before him, feeling utterly exposed.

She felt an overwhelming sense of shame and anxiety.

’But I already thought this through before I came. I told myself it would be okay, no matter what Chen Mo did.’

’As long as he lets me stay... so why am I so anxious...?’

Su Yuqing’s nails dug into her palms as she forced herself to calm down. Droplets of water trickled from the hem of her short skirt, leaving a winding trail on the floor.

She could almost hear her own ragged breaths echoing in the spacious living room, like a butterfly with rain-soaked wings beating against the inside of a glass jar.

As Chen Mo turned to get a towel, she quickly scanned the room from the corner of her eye. Crooked sneakers by the door, a steaming teapot on the coffee table, a toppled Vitasoy carton beside the TV stand—each mundane sign of life made the tension in her shoulders ease, if only by a fraction.