Chapter 26
Chapter 26
Su Ziyue was dazed when she saw the words ‘I’m busy’ on the screen. She then put her cell phone away. Hmph! Who wants to have dinner with you anyway?
Su Ziyue stuffed her cell phone back into her bag with a sullen look on her face. When it was time to get off work, she was the first one to dash out of the office. Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.
She noticed the house was empty when she reached home; Qin Muchen hadn’t come back yet.
Su Ziyue turned around and took two apples from the fridge, one in each of her hands. She curled up on the sofa comfortably and started eating the apples while watching television.
By the time she finished watching the seven o’clock variety show, she started to feel hungry already. However, Qin Muchen still hadn’t come back yet.
Frustrated, Su Ziyue made a call and ordered food delivery. Before she could clean up after having her dinner, she fell asleep while curled up on the sofa.
Around midnight, she suddenly felt that she was being carried by someone, her body floating mid-way in the air. Startled, she woke up immediately and asked, “Who is it?”
Su Ziyue heard Qin Muchen’s voice coming from above her head before feeling his warm breath on her face. “It’s me.”
Su Ziyue was dazed before she finally came to her senses. Through the light in the room, she could
see his face clearly. With a cold look on her face, she struggled to get down. “Put me down.”
“Okay.” Despite his reply, Qin Muchen put her down only when they reached the bedside.
Su Ziyue pursed her lips; she rolled over and wrapped herself in the blanket.
Qin Muchen could tell why Su Ziyue didn’t want to talk to him. Therefore, he sat down by the bed and asked gently, “Are you angry with me?”
Su Ziyue ignored him.
He continued his efforts to cheer Su Ziyue up. “I really had something important to do just now.”
“I don’t care whether you really have something to do or not, just don’t disturb me when I’m sleeping, alright?” Su Ziyue sat up on the bed suddenly and gave him a cold stare before covering herself in the blanket again.
The expression on Qin Muchen’s face changed slightly. As expected by Su Ziyue, he kept quiet without saying another word. He turned around and went to the living room to clean up the food delivery container eaten by Su Ziyue before going into the bathroom.
Su Ziyue pulled the blanket down from her face slowly when she heard the door being closed; she felt very hot covering her head with a blanket in the middle of summer.
Earlier on, she had noticed there were no cigarette or alcohol smells on Qin Muchen. In fact, he smelt rather fresh; it seemed like he wasn’t the type to go out and fool around.
…
The next morning, the person beside Su Ziyue was already gone by the time she woke up.
When she walked into the dining room, she noticed that breakfast had been prepared, and the sullen look on her face faded away gradually.
She sat down at the table and started having her breakfast; she couldn’t tell how she felt at the moment.
Yesterday, he didn’t make breakfast for me. Was it because he was mad at me? Moreover, he came back so late last night—where did he go? What did he do?
Su Ziyue soon realized that she barely knew Qin Muchen at all when she thought about this. However, he knew her family and background very well; he even began to get used to her habits.
Should I find out more about Qin Muchen?
She kept pondering over this. By the time she reached office, she was still thinking about this question.
As soon as she sat down, she heard her colleagues beside her chatting in low voices.
“My boyfriend didn’t come home last night. I wonder if he’s dating another girl behind my back.”
“Just ask him, and then you’ll know.”
“How am I supposed to ask him something like that? Oh man, it really bothers me very much! I didn’t dare to call him and ask either. It’s not like you don’t know he’s…”
“In that case, why don’t you tail him instead?”
Tail him? Su Ziyue was dazed when she heard that. Is it really necessary to tail a guy if a girl wants to know his whereabouts? With that being said, it would be difficult for me to ask him personally as well.
“What are you guys talking about? Who are you guys tailing?”
Suddenly, a clear, cheerful voice of a girl interrupted the colleagues. Su Ziyue automatically raised her head to look at the girl who had spoken just now and saw a familiar figure.
“You’re back, An Xia!”
“I just came back yesterday. What are you guys talking about at work today? Who are you going to tail? Is your boyfriend dating another girl behind your back?”
“Oh, he won’t do that…”
As the girls chatted along, they began to tease and joke around with each other.
As for Su Ziyue, she was in a daze while staring at the girl whom her colleagues addressed as An Xia. All of a sudden, she lowered her head nervously.
An Xia was her best friend during high school; she was also Su Ziyue’s only friend.
However…
…
For the entire day, Su Ziyue remained in her seat without moving around in the office; she was in a bit of a daze too.
When it was about time to clock off, it rained all of a sudden.
Su Ziyue didn’t bring an umbrella with her. She frowned and was about to run out of the building directly when someone next to her passed an umbrella to her. “I have two umbrellas; I can lend you one, and you can return it to me tomorrow.”
Su Ziyue froze there without moving an inch. The voice belonged to An Xia; Su Ziyue had recognized her voice when she was talking in the office this afternoon.
“Eh? Why aren’t you saying anything? You don’t want it?” As she said that, An Xia turned to look at Su Ziyue’s face. Then, she was dazed too. She asked hesitantly, “Zi… Ziyue?”
“You’ve got the wrong person,” Su Ziyue replied in a panic before turning around and dashing into the rain.
An Xia chased after her immediately. She finally caught up with Su Ziyue after chasing for quite some distance on the street. Grasping Su Ziyue’s collar with one of her hands, An Xia growled, “Su Ziyue, if you’re so brave, don’t call me and don’t come back from overseas either! Damn! I’m so tired from all the running and chasing…”
Su Ziyue was soaking wet being drenched in the rain; her face had become slightly pale as well. Realizing that she couldn’t run away anymore, she simply stared at An Xia without saying a word.
An Xia glared at her angrily. “Say something! Have you gone mute after staying overseas for so many years?”
Su Ziyue lowered her head and stared at her shoes. She said quietly, “I’m sorry…”
“You…”
An Xia lost her temper the moment she heard that. She was about to scold Su Ziyue fiercely when a person pulled her aside suddenly. She didn’t see it coming at all; if she hadn’t held onto the fence beside her in time, she would have fallen down on the ground.
“What happened? Are you hurt?”
An Xia was being dragged away from Su Ziyue; Qin Muchen appeared in front of her, holding an umbrella in his hand. He studied An Xia carefully with a hostile look in his eyes.
“What are you doing? Step aside and mind your own business!”
Su Ziyue noticed Qin Muchen’s hostility toward An Xia too, so she pushed him away immediately.
Qin Muchen looked grim. “I’d need to take care of you if you catch a cold for being in the rain; do you still think this has nothing to do with me?”
“I…” Su Ziyue became quiet when she noticed the grim look on his face.
…
In a café, Su Ziyue and An Xia—who already changed into clean and dry clothes—were currently sitting face to face across the table. Qin Muchen stayed in his car outside; he didn’t go in.
Su Ziyue stirred the coffee in front of her nervously. “How have you been all these—”
An Xia interrupted her and shouted resentfully, “What do you care about?”
“Four years have passed, and yet, you’re still so unladylike,” Su Ziyue said in a low voice.
“You’re aware that four years have passed, huh? Goddammit! We promised to go to the same college back then. I only found out that you were f*cking out of the country when school started…” Although An Xia sounded angry and harsh, her eyes were reddened with tears.
“I’m sorry…” Su Ziyue was just as sad as An Xia when she thought about the incident which happened that year. “Back then, my grandfather insisted on sending me overseas, and I didn’t have time to call you…”
Truthfully, she didn’t dare to call An Xia. That was because she didn’t want to drag her one and only true friend—who always treated her nicely from the bottom of her heart—into the mess she was in.
“If everyone can just apologize when they do something wrong, we wouldn’t need the police anymore, would we?” An Xia gave her a death stare. “Su Ziyue, how dare you didn’t call me even after you came back!”