Chapter 64

The alarm clock rung at 6:00, like it did every morning she was sleeping at home, and with a single movement of her arm Leifang stopped the sound, cracking an eye open. She looked across the bed to the empty space beside her.

Hitomi hadn't slept here yesterday, saying that she had to take care of something and while Leifang hadn't liked it, having gotten used to always sleeping together in the same bed, she had allowed her to go. She brushed her hand slowly across the space that Hitomi would usually occupy.

Because of that she hadn't gotten a full night's rest, laying awake and thinking for quite some time before she managed to fall asleep, something that always happened for a while now whenever the German wasn't sleeping by her side.

But she was slowly starting to get a hang of things. The most pride she took in was that she had found a job so quickly and did pretty good work in her own opinion. And her boss hadn't complained either, so she took that as a good sign as well.

A few weeks had passed and it was the end of April, only a few days remaining and thus far things were going pretty well. She was making good money and if everything went according to plan she would soon have enough to pay for the next semester.

Of course by the end of it all she didn't have much money to spend on anything else than groceries, so she had to make cuts here and there, but that was still a work in progress on her part.

Opening her other eye she turned around to face her ceiling, then sat up and stretched herself a little, rubbing the last bit of sleep out of her eyes. She got up from the bed and walked over to the door.

As she left the bedroom she made a turn and walked directly into her bathroom. She turned to the mirror and smiled at herself before opening her lacy nightshirt and dropping it into the laundry, followed by her panties and headed into the shower.

Usually she didn't have that much time in the morning, but her recently changed study schedule, coupled with the fact that she didn't need to go to the university today, gave her some more free time to enjoy a nice, long shower.

She spotted the bottle of shampoo that Hitomi had left here for whenever the girl slept over and, out of curiosity, decided to wash her hair with it for once.

After having washed herself sufficiently she remained in the shower a little longer, leaning against the shower wall and simply enjoying the hot water as it ran down her body. Smiling she entertained the thought of Hitomi coming to keep her company in here, like she did a lot of times that they were together. The German was definitely the more excitable of the two, not that Leifang wasn't enjoying every second of it.

Hitomi was the best girlfriend she could wish for and if she ever met one of the girl's ex-boyfriends she would have to refrain from telling them what a mistake it was for them to let go of her in the first place. The Chinese could not see herself doing that. She loved her too much for that already.

It was so strange; a year ago they had been just friends and she would never have guessed that things would change so dramatically for her. But now she was starting to be her own woman without the burden of her family's name. She was Leifang and she knew exactly what she wanted to do with her life now.

Alright, enough of the shower. She thought, turned off the water and grabbed outside the cubicle for a towel. Drying herself sufficiently she stepped out and ran a comb through her hair. As she did so she ran another hand along her legs and nodded in satisfaction as they were still smooth.

The downsides of being a woman she chuckled and started doing her hair. After she was done with that she headed back into the bedroom and towards her wardrobe, where she pulled out a fresh set of clothes, a blue blouse and a white knee length skirt as well as a matching pair of undies. Putting them on she let her eyes wander over the few articles that belonged to Hitomi and was amazed by how easily they had fallen into this pattern of having some of their things in the other's apartment.

Just who was more whipped here?

Grinning to herself she closed the wardrobe again and went to make herself some breakfast. After having eaten lightly she decided to get some training in, but since it was such a wonderful morning she decided that she would go out, put on her shoes and left her apartment, heading into the direction of the park.

By the time she arrived it was already 7:30, but still early enough that the park was mostly empty, aside from a few people doing Nordic walking or jogging. Leifang walked onto the grass and closed her eyes, enjoying the fresh air for a moment and let it relax her before moving into stance.

She moved through the forms that her Sifu had taught her, fluid as water, and wondered how the man was doing right now. She wished she could have talked to him once more, but going to Shanghai had been no option. Maybe when things were a bit more calmer she would go with Hitomi. It wasn't like her parents could stop her from visiting a good friend of hers.

Moving her hands together she opened her eyes once more and spotted a few people watching her curiously. Paying them no further mind she concentrated on her Tai Chi, letting it guide her every movement and slowly calmed down until it resonated deeply within her soul.

And in this moment she was entirely detached from her surroundings. There was only her and the Chi. To the onlookers it was only a few final movements taking up mere seconds, but to Leifang it seemed like hours.

Exhaling she returned to her starting position. And without a fanfare she turned around to head back home, a small smile on her face all the while. She had a feeling this was going to be a good day.

"Hello." she called out in Mandarin as she entered the Fu Yüan. It wasn't too busy right now so the lady that owned the restaurant could afford to sit down and chat with a regular. The people called her simply Miss Sūn and she was definitely showing her age with nearly sixty years, her greying hair kept in a tight bun. But she was still fit enough that she could run the show here.

"Hello, Leifang." the woman looked away from the costumer to greet her. Leifang walked past them and the small changing room far in the back, where she put on a little bit of make-up, her 'uniform' and, for greater effect, pulled her hair into a pair of twin-tails.

Checking her watch it was just about to turn 1 P.M., and her shift would start. She worked three times a week here, with usually five hours of work depending on how much was going on. Since she had to work earlier today it meant she wouldn't have to work too much, but at the same time that meant there wouldn't be much in terms of getting tipped.

Hitomi's pointers had been worth her weight in gold thus, and with a little creativity on her part she was making some really good money, but the number of customers was something that she couldn't control.

"You win some, you lose some." she told herself. She heard her phone vibrate, turned and took it into her hand. It was a message from Hitomi.

When are you getting off work?

She pursed her lips and texted back. Around five-ish if everything goes like expected.

A moment later she got the reply.

Come over to my place ASAP when you're finished. Cya. XXX

She had to stifle a laugh at the three X's and put her phone away before heading out. Eventually a few more costumers came and she was busy enough for the rest of her work, but the text message was still on her mind.

She wondered what she could want, and didn't it come off as kinda urgent?

Maybe something was wrong... That thought nagged on her for the whole remainder of her shift and after she was done she wasted no time to head to the next bus stop to catch a ride. Not an hour later she arrived at Hitomi's and all but ran up the stairs and unlocked the door.

"Hitomi, I'm here." she called, closed the door and walked into the living room. "What did you-"

She stopped mid sentence when she was greeted by her girlfriend standing in front of her TV and holding a small cake in her hands. "Surprise."

"I-uh, what?" was the only thing Leifang managed to say. Hitomi walked over to her and hugged her with one arm, pressing their lips together as she did so, then released her saying: "Happy Birthday, sweetie."

"My birthday?" Leifang asked.

"Yes. Your birthday." Hitomi chuckled.

God with all that had been going on she had totally forgotten about her own birthday!

"I-Wow, I-Thank you." she said and allowed Hitomi to kiss her once more.

"No need to thank me." the German said and handed her the cake. Leifang didn't fight the smile that formed on her lips as she looked at the huge 22 on top of it. Twenty two years old now.

"So how does it feel?" Hitomi asked.

"To be honest I don't feel any different." Leifang said and both of them sat down on the sofa.

"The cake is for later though, I'm making dinner at the moment." Hitomi said. "But I had to just show it off, you know?"

"Well," Leifang said and placed it on the table in front of them, turning to Hitomi and grinning playfully. "So what's my present?"

Hitomi started to look embarrassed and rubbed the back of her head. "About that...Sorry but I couldn't think of any present."

"It's okay. I was mostly joking. I don't think we both are in the position to constantly buy each other gifts. Besides your last one is still good enough for me." Leifang said and patted Hitomi's knee.

"There's something else I want to discuss though." Hitomi said, her face turning serious. She gently grabbed Leifang's hand into both of hers and held it between them. "Move in with me."

Instead of wondering if she just heard right she just took it as it was for once. "You want me to move in with you?"

"Mhm." Hitomi nodded.

"Why?"

"You are working so hard right now, and while you don't have to pay rent for your place you still have a lot of other expenses." she said. "And, well, we're always sleeping at each other's places anyway. Damn I even have a toothbrush at your place!"

She licked her lips before continuing. "I thought long about this and don't get me wrong, I'm benefitting from this as well since we can just share all the bills, but most of all I just want us to be together. So please, move in with me."

Leifang was touched. She looked out of the window for a moment thinking of what she should say.

"I couldn't sleep well last night." she eventually said and turned to look back at Hitomi. "Never can when you're not sleeping next to me these days because of all the things that happened lately. And now that you came out and said it like this..."

She nodded. "I'd love nothing more than to move in with you."

"YES!" Hitomi shouted, let go of her hand and got up from the sofa, grinning. "I already thought of where you can put all your stuff. I figured we could just place your wardrobe next to mine and-"

"Calm down, calm down." Leifang said and giggled, making Hitomi sit back down. "First things first, alright?"

Hitomi nodded. "Okay, first things first." she said and pulled Leifang towards her into an embrace. Placing her hand on the German's cheek Leifang captured her lips with her own.

This was the best birthday she ever had.

Her nostrils flared as she smelled something in the air. Pulling her lips away she asked: "What's that smell?"

Hitomi looked confused and sniffed at the air. Her eyes widened in realization. "Oh shit, the food!"

The Chinese crawled off Hitomi as quickly as she could and watched her run into the kitchen, trying not to laugh.

Living together would certainly be interesting.

Aww how cute, they finally are moving in with each other. Isn't this, like, the first step before marriage?
Well see you next week!