If my intelligence is at an acceptable level, He Shi’s words are very easy to understand.
At the thought that this was some kind of information revealed to me by someone close to my future wife, I couldn’t contain my joy.
“What are you doing?”
I turned my head to look at Mo An. I saw that although he still wore that usual unfeeling expression, there were still some emotions on his face that hadn’t faded yet.
It was hard to say if they were good or bad, but his eyes, which he hadn’t pulled back in time, were clearly dodging mine.
I stuffed my phone into my pocket, adjusted the seat back, and lay straight down, looking at my beloved beside me in a very good mood.
After a long time, just as I estimated that the spark of curiosity and teasing that had just ignited in Mo An was about to go out, I spoke.
“Want to know?”
Mo An turned to look at me. Before he could utter any of those cold, hurtful words of rejection, I said in a lighthearted tone:
“I’m just not telling you. I’m going to keep it a secret.”
For the rest of the time, Mo An completely ignored my existence.
As long as he was by my side, I wasn’t particularly worried about him being angry. Instead, after I relaxed, I discovered that Mo An’s emotions seemed to have been affected by what just happened.
Because the car speed was significantly faster than before. This discovery made my mood even better.
So good, in fact, that I couldn’t help but hum a little tune.
When I started humming, Mo An glanced at me again. His eyes looked like he wanted to say something, but he paused for a moment and gave up.
This discovery made me feel that Mo An tonight was not as invincible as he was on ordinary days.
It seems the “boiling a frog in lukewarm water” method is quite useful after all.
After that, the two of us fell into relative silence. I watched my beloved, and he drove his car.
This rare beauty soon gave me a drowsy feeling. Sure enough, I am an unreliable fellow once I’ve had alcohol.
I finally had a chance to look at my future wife up close in broad daylight (metaphorically), and as a result, before long, I fell asleep.
I was gently shaken awake by Mo An.
The feeling of being shaken awake from a dream is not pleasant, especially when one is intoxicated.
Actually, my sleep during this recent period hasn’t been very good. Before, it was because I was forgetting food and sleep trying to find a certain someone who ran away after sleeping together; later, it was because I was drowning my sorrows in alcohol. It only got a bit better recently after finding that person.
It’s just that meeting new difficulties on the road to chasing my wife makes one feel very frustrated.
I don’t know why, in this cramped space of Mo An’s car, I would sleep so deeply.
It definitely wasn’t just because of the alcohol; most of the reason was because that person I wanted to be near was by my side.
His scent enveloped me, giving me a full sense of security.
Therefore, once this beautiful feeling was broken, my first reaction was annoyance.
I raised my hand and swatted away the hand that was gently pushing me, saying in a none-too-good tone:
“Go away, don’t bother me.”
After saying that, I turned over and continued to sleep. However, the person who just pushed me had no intention of giving up on waking me up.
After a while, he pushed me again. It wasn’t the gentle behavior from before; he grabbed my arm and started to shake it.
“You Quan…”
In my daze, I heard that familiar voice. My actions made a judgment a step faster than my logic.
“Mo An?” I asked softly.
Before receiving a reply, I reached out and grabbed Mo An, pulling him onto me.
With my future wife in my arms, just when I thought my long-held dream had finally come true and I could do this or that next…
A fist hammered right into my chest.
Then, the warm body that had just entered my arms pulled away.
My sleepiness vanished instantly. One hand rubbed my chest while the other massaged my temples.
“Are you sick?”
Before my reason had fully returned, I saw Mo An looking at me with a darkened face.
Aggrieved. I felt very aggrieved too. I can’t catch my future wife, and the people around him still bully me, making me do legwork and even designing to kick me out of the game.
Alcohol gives a coward courage. At that moment, I shot back at Mo An:
“Yes, I am sick.”
Mo An didn’t know what trick I had up my sleeve; he didn’t speak, just looked at me.
I sat up and looked back at him, not backing down.
“Aren’t I just sick? Lovesickness. Can’t you see I’m already terminally ill?”
It would have been better if I hadn’t said it. Once I did, Mo An’s gaze became even colder.
His eyes seemed to want to express something, yet he was suppressing it intensely. I wasn’t in a hurry; I just looked at him provocatively.
Although I wasn’t speaking nicely, what I had just stated were facts; Mo An had no grounds to find fault.
After a long time, Mo An finally spoke: “You Quan, I am not a plaything. Don’t waste your time on me.”
This, this, this?
How deep must this misunderstanding be?
I gave him my whole heart, and he actually thought I treated him as a plaything.
Anger made my face somewhat distorted at that moment. “Mo An, why on earth do you think I treat you as a plaything?”
Mo An didn’t say much, responding briefly: “Is that not the case?” As he said this, he raised his hand to brush back the hair on his forehead.
Only then did I see that the back of Mo An’s hand was red. It must have been from when I unconsciously hit him while pushing him away earlier.
My heart ached. When people with fair skin get even a small injury, it’s particularly obvious.
I forcibly grabbed his hand and looked at it carefully.
“I’m sorry…”
“What are you doing?”
Mo An spoke while pulling his hand away, looking like he didn’t want any physical contact with me at all.
A drunk person’s strength might really be much greater than usual. I felt like I hadn’t used much force just now; how could the back of Mo An’s hand be so red and such a large area? Looking at it made my heart tighten.
“Does it hurt?”
The undisguised concern in my tone made Mo An’s struggling movement freeze. Before I could make my next move, Mo An abruptly jerked his hand away.
I saw that Mo An was on the verge of exploding. In order to stay with him properly for a bit longer, I didn’t forcibly grab his hand again.
Sitting there, I asked again in a gentle voice:
“Does it hurt?”
“It doesn’t hurt,” Mo An answered after a long pause.
Then there was silence again.
I knew that I should actually get out of the car now, because clearly, the destination had been reached.
But because of that interrupted question just now and the act of not being forgiven, I was unwilling to get out.
I had finally managed to tear a hole in his defenses just now, giving that guarded person the impulse to have a proper chat, but the atmosphere was suddenly broken. It clearly wasn’t a rhythm where the conversation could continue, but on such a matter of principle, I felt it was necessary to explain properly.
“Mo An?”
“You should get out of the car.”
I want to explain; you want me to leave.
I wasn’t without my own emotions in my heart.
“Can’t you just listen to me for once?”
“There’s no need.”
Mo An didn’t even look at me when he said this; he turned to look out the window.
“How is there no need? Do you know how I searched for you after you left that night? Do you know how I’ve lived through this period? Do you know that day outside the company, when I saw you, what kind of ecstatic mood of finding something lost was?”
I am human too, and I have emotions. Once the emotions surged, all the suppressed suffering from this long period rushed to my heart. That feeling of grievance seemed to increase the more I spoke. Since the person involved is here, let him feel it properly.
That little heartless thing actually said I treated him as a plaything.
Who is playing whom isn’t necessarily certain yet.
Mo An didn’t pick up the conversation, nor did he turn his head to look at me. His indifferent appearance successfully enraged the extremely aggrieved me.
I reached out, grabbed his shoulders, and forced him to turn around to face me.
“Can’t you just face me?”
Mo An just looked at me with those eyes that had very little warmth, making my anger flare up.
“You really don’t care at all?”
“You don’t care about that night, and you don’t care about me?”
Mo An took a deep breath, then suddenly swatted my hands away and quickly opened the door to get out of the car.
It wasn’t until the cool night breeze hit my face that I realized what had just happened.
Mo An had shaken me off in a fit of exasperation and gotten out.
He stood not far in front of the car, with his back to me. Mo An’s figure looked somewhat thin and weak under the illumination of the dim lights.
Unexpectedly, I discerned a trace of loneliness and desolation from that silhouette.
I quickly shook my head, thinking I was really drunk tonight.
With Mo An’s way of winning people over, the colleagues around him and that “female devil” (boss) would be willing to work themselves to death for him. They could even ostracize me, the “Crown Prince” what else wouldn’t they do to support Mo An?
For someone who was practically the center of everyone’s attention, would he be desolate? Desolate my ass.
I rubbed my face with my hand and then I also got out of the car.
I stood still behind Mo An. The sound of my walking wasn’t quiet, but Mo An didn’t turn to look at me.
I didn’t care; as long as you aren’t indifferent to me, it’s fine.
“Mo An, can you face this relationship of mine seriously?”
Mo An didn’t say anything; he turned to walk back toward the car.
In such a situation, how could I let him leave easily?
I, You Quan, am that kind of person once I’ve fallen in love, I’ve fallen in love, even if it’s with a man.
If we’re going to talk, we have to make things clear and explain it properly.
Being a shrinking turtle is not what a man should do.
I reached out and pulled him. “Where do you think you’re going?”
Mo An turned to glare at me. I glared back, not backing down.
Anyway, I’ve committed enough “crimes” tonight; I didn’t care about adding one more for being overbearing and unreasonable.
“Let go,” Mo An said coldly.
“No. If I let go, won’t you just leave?”
Not only did I not let go, but when Mo An spoke, I suddenly increased the strength of my grip as a show of force and status. Later, realizing that a certain someone’s skin was too sensitive, I loosened the pressure a bit.
When Mo An looked at me, I said another sentence with somewhat insufficient confidence:
“I’m just not letting go.” The persistence and grievance in my tone went without saying.
Mo An stalled with me for a while before finally speaking.
“You Quan, can you be a bit more mature?”
What I feared most was Mo An saying I wasn’t mature enough. Although I just graduated, and I am younger than him.
It’s just age…
But it doesn’t mean I’m not mature.
“How am I not mature?” Anyone would care if their partner called them “little” or “young,” right? Even if he’s a future partner, I can’t stay indifferent.
Mo An pondered for a long time before speaking. I thought he was going to say something significant, but it turned out to be this sentence that made me extremely unhappy:
“For adults, sleeping together for one night is very normal.”