“Since you’ve asked me to buy it, although the price is a bit high, I still have to admit it.”
The woman’s words froze all his expressions.
She then took out banknotes from her pocket, placed them on the table, and then opened her palm to him.
”What are you doing?” he asked.
”Getting change. Let’s calculate, you still owe me… thirty-eight yuan.”
”You…”
”No change right now? It’s okay, you can owe me, and pay me back sometime later.” Zhi Wei slightly bowed, preparing to leave.
He took a quick step to block her path.
”What else do you want?” she was annoyed.
”What do you want?” Shang Peng was also getting angry. Couldn’t this woman just speak directly?
”I need to go back to work now, is that not okay?” This was her biggest compromise in changing her mind.
”You’re not feeling well—”
”That’s my family’s business, don’t worry about it. Now you should go upstairs and find that woman.”
”You’re jealous.” His tone was certain, and his expression was gradually turning joyful.
Zhi Wei looked up, glaring at him fiercely. She was so unwilling! Unwilling to have her feelings so easily grasped by him.
And him? He was like the wind, sometimes wildly sweeping, sometimes gentle, moving her heart with different rhythms. However, did he know that she always feared the desolation left behind after the wind passed?
She trembled in the wind, unable to hold onto it.
Zhi Wei’s heartache finally came out: “Yes, I am jealous! Are you happy now? Just like I said before, I’m afraid I’ll lose miserably, because I can’t play this game, because I… I found that I can’t help but care about you, but you at this moment… that Lin Yu Jiao, she—”
”She’s in the past, completely in the past, you have to believe me.”
”Of course I believe that. There are too many women in your past, Lin Yu Jiao is just one of them, and… who will be next?” Zhi Wei bit her lip, slowly saying: “I just don’t want to be that one.”
”Zhi Wei… no, you’re not, you’re absolutely different.” Shang Peng opened his arms to her, but hugged empty air.
”Don’t touch me with your dirty hands! I don’t want to share with other women! Go back and serve that woman!”
”Dirty?” Shang Peng looked at his hands, his expression twisted, his voice low: “I never knew how to serve women, except… today.”
His final gaze fell on the sugar packet in her hand, a bitter smile on his lips. “Do you want to know what makes me think you’re different from them?”
”The only difference is probably that you haven’t gotten me yet.” She gave a bitter smile. And after getting her? The result would still be the same, he would eventually get tired and leave gracefully.
”No, I should say you’re the only one I want to seriously possess.” Shang Peng sighed, a self-deprecating smile: “I admit, initially because of curiosity and competitiveness, I set up that game to approach you. Later, I slowly discovered that I was attracted to you, but I also told myself that this was just novelty at work, and I believed it would pass with time, but… is that the problem! Everything is different from what I thought!”
Zhi Wei stared at the man’s slightly excited expression, her mood also surging like waves.
He walked towards her, solemnly saying: “Do you know why I immediately chose to leave after you refused marriage that night? Because I didn’t want to continue facing that… painful feeling. That feeling was so strange to me, strange to the point that… I didn’t know how to face it, so I wanted to quickly return to my original world.
Yes, there are constantly women around me, because I believed that would help me return to the starting point, and then I could adjust all the rhythms you disrupted.”
”You succeeded, didn’t you?”
”You’re silly. If that were true, our reunion wouldn’t have been like that.”
Reunion? Zhi Wei again thought of the scene at the police station, especially that moment when he came rushing in disheveled, that moment that once made her want to rush forward and cry!
”Do you know what I was really thinking when we reunited?” he spoke.
”What?”
”I started to worry.”
”Worry?”
”This is where you’re different from other women. Other women don’t make me worry about anything, because everything is a fixed pattern, come together if it fits, separate if not. I just need to fulfill my obligations and enjoy the pleasure I should get, never needing to carefully consider anything. But facing you… I’m like being tied up hand and foot…”
He turned away, starting to get a bit irritated. “I’m like I’m possessed, thinking about this and that, until I’ve lost all my playboy skills. Believe me, I absolutely don’t want to be so pure with you, only…”
Only he cared too much? Only because he wanted to consider everything? Zhi Wei’s thoughts settled, various past scenes emerging.
She finally realized her naivety. It turns out her easy escape wasn’t her luck, but his deliberate blessing…
”Why?” she wanted to know the real reason.
”Because I’m stubborn.” He turned back, facing her again, “I realized I’m doing something masochistic. I actually hope to get your heart before getting your body. Tell me, am I not ridiculous?”
”I…” she shook her head, the words she wanted to say stuck in her throat, only letting his every word gradually dismantle her defenses.
”I’ll tell you another secret.” He clearly wanted to speak casually, but his handsome face was tightly drawn, “Actually, I’ve been… afraid.”
”Afraid?” This word made Zhi Wei’s eyes widen slightly.
”Yes, afraid. These two words are incredibly shameful to me, but I… am truly afraid, afraid that… you would reject me again.”
No, don’t say more… Zhi Wei suddenly realized how cruel she was, because she was letting him tear off his proud mask with his own hands, and that process was absolutely painful.
Shang Peng suddenly let out a sigh, “It turns out that being honest isn’t so bad after all!”
After muttering to himself, he turned his gaze back to her, his eyes firm and warm.
“Actually, I should say I’m the foolish one. When I could slip away from another woman’s bed because of a phone call from you, I should have understood clearly that in my heart, no one else can replace you.
So this time, I tell myself that I must grasp this – this is no longer a game. It’s just that… some things are beyond my control, like certain facts from the past. Lin Yujiao is one such example. I can only try my best to change the future, though I don’t know if this future is still in time…”
Zhiwei looked up and saw the hidden pain and struggle on the man’s face. The knot in her heart gradually began to loosen…
At this moment, she suddenly understood. This man originally belonged to the urban jungle, with his own hunting territory, and now, he was trying to change his original pattern because of her intrusion.
“It’s not too late,” she sniffled, choking up: “I just hope this future comes a bit faster, because a very bad-tempered woman is already getting impatient.”
“Wei…” Shang Peng’s gloomy expression instantly cleared, opening his arms to her again.
This time, she took the initiative to pounce.
Zhiwei hugged him tightly, murmuring: “I was too excited just now. But… when I saw that key in her hand, I was so, so sad. And when I realized I had no right to be sad, I hated myself even more. I hate that I fell in love with you. I don’t like this feeling, do you know? I don’t want to compete with other women, everything shouldn’t be like this…”
“Of course it shouldn’t be, and it won’t be like this anymore,” Shang Peng took her hand, “Come, I’ll take you upstairs.”
“What for?”
“To get the key back.”
“I don’t want to, you go!”
“Are you at ease?”
“You—”
“Okay, I was just kidding. I promise you, besides you, I won’t hand over that key to anyone else.”
“I don’t want to… Mmm…”
Her mouth was blocked as he lowered his head to kiss away her excess words.
His burning lips pressed against hers, his tongue directly diving into her mouth…
