He softly called her name, his panting growing heavier, until an ultimate, utterly cared-for pleasure completely submerged him.
The room still held the lingering afterglow, and he said languidly, "You're a calculating girl. You never controlled me, nor did you cling to me, yet you knew how to make me addicted to you, keeping the initiative firmly in your hands."
Susu retorted, "You say I don't trust you, that I always feel you're scheming against me, but aren't you the same? If I'm good to you, can't it simply be because I like you?"
Xin Che chuckled at her words, "You really are a young girl who won't let things go when she's in the right..."
On the way to the Company the next day, the late summer heatwave beat against the car window. Susu said, "I want to stay at Xiao Fei's house for another night today. Tomorrow, after you've slept until you wake up naturally, come pick me up and help me take my things home."
Xin Che gripped the steering wheel with one hand, "Are you planning to discuss with her again whether or not to keep this child?"
Susu joked, "No more discussion. I plan to go out drinking and clubbing with her tonight..."
Xin Che glanced at her, "Stop joking, I'm being serious."
"I am being serious," she said pitifully, "I haven't even enjoyed a few days of single life before I have to become a mom..."
"Once the child is a bit older, you can do whatever you want." After a moment, Xin Che couldn't help himself, "So, when you broke up with Chen Ming back then, it wasn't entirely because of me? You also wanted to experience single life for a while? But Chen Ming thought you gave him up because of me?"
"Are you asking if you took the blame for me?"
"I didn't mean anything by it, just asking casually. We'll inevitably run into him at work in the future."
By evening, under the warm yellow lighting, Susu and Xiao Fei were nestled face to face on the sofa. Xiao Fei held a glass of red wine and sighed, "Ji Xiaoran is so pitiful. She's busy with her career every day and has no time for relationships. She and her boyfriend tacitly go their separate ways. Then, when she truly wants to get married, her boyfriend runs off with you. You're also unfortunate, having to become a mom so young. What's most infuriating is that Xin Che got all the benefits. This world is too unfair to women."
Susu finally seized an opportunity to ask her, "Then why did you still call him and tell him to go to the hospital?"
"You can't leave him... If you really went through with the surgery behind his back, who knows what he would do." Xiao Fei put down her wine glass and raised an eyebrow at Susu, "If I were you, I'd go find Chen Ming and ask him directly if he's still willing to have you. If he is, then abort the child and reconcile with him. I think... Chen Ming is still the best."
Susu grabbed a throw pillow and threw it at her.
Xiao Fei caught the pillow and burst out laughing, "Just kidding, I'm being serious. Your boyfriend asked you to marry him and have the child. Shouldn't he be talking about money with you now, instead of feelings? Since you moved into his house, he's let you spend his money freely; as a boyfriend, he's pretty good. But what about the future? When you two get married, will he still plan to be like this? Isn't that letting him off too easily?"
Susu understood in her heart that Xiao Fei was right. Xin Che was no longer the green kid fresh out of college; he was well-versed in worldly affairs, and his eleven years in the industry coincided with the golden age of China's finance sector. If he didn't proactively discuss marriage terms and provide practical assurances in the next few days, she would have to reconsider the child's fate.
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