Chapter 19 – some
She had only spent a couple of days agonizing over it before the day came to pay the rent.
A large sum of money was going out, and there was no one to share the cost with her. Xiang You was so pained by it she wanted to cry.
After thinking it over from every angle, she finally decided to pull Meng Ou over.
Although her motive was to find someone to split the rent with, the thought of Meng Ou actually moving in made her so nervous that it was as if she had gone back to the days when they had just started dating.
Back then, the two of them had already known each other for more than a year.
Yet once they had taken on the title of boyfriend and girlfriend, it seemed as though so many things had become different.
Seeing him made her happy and sent her heart racing. Every intentional or unintentional brush of their bodies brought with it thoughts running wildly out of control.
Even though they had already touched each other countless times while roughhousing and fooling around, one day after they had confirmed their relationship, Meng Ou started mouthing off again. Xiang You habitually smacked him, but the moment her hand touched his arm, she suddenly felt too embarrassed to continue downward.
His skin was a temperature completely different from hers. The ten fingers were connected to the heart, and so her heartbeat began to lose its rhythm too.
What she had touched was her boyfriend.
This person who always made her angry and always made her happy was now her boyfriend.
That thought simply kept bubbling up inside her, gurgling “gu-lu-lu” all the way to the surface.
Meng Ou was quick enough to catch her wrist. “Can’t bear to?”
One sentence, and all the turbulence in her heart vanished without a trace.
Xiang You pulled her hand back and smacked him even harder than before. “You’re nuts!”
And now, she was going to live with Meng Ou.
They would have a brief “home” of their own.
Of course, if things worked out, they could have a forever home together someday, too.
It was with this feeling in her heart that she opened the door for Meng Ou.
It was drizzling outside, and he had not even brought an umbrella. He had walked all the way over in the rain.
The hood of his black hoodie was still covering his head. Xiang You raised her hand to pull it off for him, and saw a string of water droplets clinging to his eyelashes. Every blink sent several of them tumbling down.
His eyes were also a little brighter than usual. He gazed at her with a radiant smile, then, without giving her a chance to object, lowered his head and kissed her first.
The kiss left her nose smelling of rain.
And from then on, whenever there was a drizzly day, she would think of that brief kiss.
Meng Ou was smiling at her, his face positively radiant.
And together, they were about to begin a new life.
Meng Ou did not have much luggage. Although he had brought two suitcases, one of them was only half full.
Xiang You led him to the bedroom, and together they filled the closets.
It was not just the bedroom. In the washroom, their toothbrushes and toothbrush cups stood side by side. A gray towel rested against a pink one. In the shoe cabinet by the entrance, beneath her pretty little leather shoes, sat a row of canvas sneakers and athletic shoes.
And Xiang You’s housewarming gift for him was a pair of matching slippers.
They were fluffy, one decorated with a little cat’s head and the other with a little dog’s head.
Unfortunately, Meng Ou was such an annoying bastard that he thought it was fun to make the little dog’s head bob back and forth. Whenever he had nothing to do, he would lift his foot and waggle it around. Before a week had passed, one head fell off, and a few days later, the second one fell off too.
Xiang You lowered her head and stared at the lonely pair of little cats on her own feet, so angry that she did not want to speak to him.
But that night, when she came out to get a glass of water, she found the living room brightly lit.
Meng Ou was sitting on the sofa, head lowered as he sewed the slipper.
There was no sewing kit in the house. The logo on the plastic bag beside him proved that he had just ordered one through delivery.
He had not forgotten to treat himself, either. He had bought a sewing kit and also picked up an ice cream. With both hands busy, he simply held it between his teeth.
Hearing her footsteps, Meng Ou freed one hand and took the ice cream out of his mouth.
Xiang You looked at him with a stern face, then at the little dog’s head, then at the ice cream.
Meng Ou gave two awkward little laughs and pointed behind him with one hand. “There’s another one in the fridge. Do you want it now?”
As the saying goes, you can’t hit someone who’s smiling, and Xiang You did not even know what to say to him.
She went to the fridge and took out the same kind of ice cream, then sat on the sofa and ate it while watching him sew.
Although Xiang You had never done needlework herself, even a complete outsider like her could tell just how terrible Meng Ou’s technique was.
The needle jabbed here and poked there, the thread was laid down in complete chaos. Luckily, the little dog’s head was big enough to cover some of the mess underneath.
The slipper was a little ugly after being sewn back together, but he himself was still handsome.
His head was slightly bowed, exposing his long, slender nape. His eyes were narrowed just a little, so focused that even his eyelashes trembled.
He held the embroidery needle like a surgeon’s scalpel, making every stitch with utmost seriousness...
And then stabbing it into an utter disaster.
It took him a full quarter of an hour before he finally finished sewing both of them.
Meng Ou confidently held them high in the air, only to discover that they were crooked beyond belief.
One was up and to the left, the other down and to the right. Within the limited range available, they had gone as far apart as they possibly could. To make matters worse, their eyes were also glaring sidelong at each other, like the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.
“They’re hideous,” Xiang You said disdainfully.
“I worked so hard to sew them...” The more Meng Ou spoke, the less confidence he had.
“Look...” Xiang You raised both feet, showing off the perfectly straight little cats on them.
Meng Ou refused to be outdone. He put on the slippers and raised his leg to press it against hers.
The contrast was nothing short of brutal.
“Mine are one of a kind. You wouldn’t understand.” Deeply wounded, Meng Ou withdrew his foot and began searching for an excuse.
“One-of-a-kind ugly?” Xiang You had finally caught a chance to mock him, so of course she was not going to let it go.
Meng Ou waved his hand in exaggerated disdain. “I don’t talk to people with no sense of aesthetics.”
“You mean you have a sense for ugly things!” Xiang You relentlessly pressed the attack.
Meng Ou suddenly turned around and looked at her very seriously. “Youyou, you’re really beautiful.”
Xiang You, inexplicably praised, froze for a moment before understanding what he meant.
She angrily picked up the cushion from the sofa and began pelting him with it.
Meng Ou laughed even as he was being hit. When he could no longer dodge, he simply stretched out his long arm and forcibly pulled her into his embrace.
There was still a cushion between them.
A cushion’s distance was just enough for the two of them to stare at each other face-to-face.
“Youyou.” Meng Ou’s voice dropped a little, taking on a hint of suggestiveness.
But Xiang You was still hung up on what had just happened. “You’re not allowed to say I’m beautiful!”
Meng Ou could not help but laugh softly. “Then I can’t bear to say you’re ugly, either.”
“Th-then stop talking!”
After all, nothing good ever came out of that mouth anyway.
If his mouth could not talk, what was he supposed to do?
Meng Ou stared intently at her, then suddenly swept the cushion aside and kissed her.
When the third button of her pajamas had been undone, Xiang You pushed him. “Back to the bedroom.”
“Whose?” Meng Ou asked.
Xiang You thought hard, but could not come up with an answer.
Choosing either one seemed strange.
She simply refused to answer. “Didn’t I tell you not to talk?”
Meng Ou really did begin saying nothing at all. He pried apart her knees, hooked his arm behind her knees, and lifted her upward.
Xiang You let out a startled cry and tightly wrapped her arms around his neck as he carried her all the way into his bedroom.
The pair of precariously wobbling little cats were caught by her toes as she clung to them, but pitifully, they still fell off halfway there.
Xiang You grabbed the back of his shirt and shouted at him, “My slippers fell off!”
Meng Ou did not even turn his head. He flung his own pair backward.
The two crooked little dogs spun through the air and came to rest beside the little cats.
Meng Ou really did not say a word all night.
Although it was possible to carry on without speaking, Xiang You was inexplicably unaccustomed to it. She always felt that the silent Meng Ou had become a little fiercer, and it frightened her.
Pleasantly asking him to speak did not work, so Xiang You could only glare at him aggrievedly, pressing her lips together and refusing to speak either.
Then he thrust forward and broke her resolve in a second.
Xiang You was angry, aggrieved, and afraid.
And happy.
A strange feeling.
She hooked her arm around his shoulder from behind and angrily gnawed at his shoulder.
She bit hard, and Meng Ou did the same.
She stopped moving, and Meng Ou stopped moving too.
It was not enough that he would not speak. He did not even have an expression on his face.
He simply kept looking at her with a smile that was almost, but not quite, a smile.
The light from the bedside lamp was dim and yellow, and it made him look even fiercer.
Xiang You withdrew her hand. She stopped biting him, and stopped pushing him too.
She simply pouted and let her tears fall.
Meng Ou lowered his head and very gently kissed away her tears.
Even his other movements became gentle.
But Xiang You did not want to make a sound, so she held her arm across herself and bit her own forearm.
Meng Ou pried her hand away with slightly more force and put his own arm in its place.
Xiang You turned her face away, as though she did not even want to bite him.
That bastard Meng Ou actually bit down harder again.
Xiang You was so angry that she burst into loud sobs, crying as she said, “Say something. I’m really scared.”
Meng Ou stopped moving. He leaned down closer to her, burying himself a little deeper.
He carefully cupped her face and whispered beside her ear, “I love you.”
She thought that she really had lost to Meng Ou.
Her emotions were a single thread fluttering through his hands.
Looking back, it seemed that every day of living together had been happy.
Probably because Meng Ou was simply a happy person.
Although his greatest pleasure was making Xiang You angry, he also had the ability to coax her back into a good mood every single time.
Neither of them knew how to cook, but they could not possibly order delivery every day.
So they studied recipes together.
Neither of them had even gotten through the beginner stage, yet they always loved looking at complicated dishes.
After looking through them, they would go to the supermarket together to buy the ingredients.
Xiang You really liked going to the supermarket with him.
Under the bright lights, walking between rows of neatly arranged shelves.
Two outsiders to cooking would put their heads together over which vegetables to choose, and they would also buy some snacks and daily necessities.
Imagining themselves slowly filling their home together, little by little.
The ingredients were brought home, and they cooked them with equal seriousness.
One washed, one cut; one stir-fried, while the other handed over the seasonings.
The roles often changed, but the dishes they produced remained eternally terrible.
Blaming each other was also part of the fixed routine.
Sometimes they would even “set each other up.”
They would deliberately “defer” to each other by placing a huge helping of food into the other’s bowl. “You worked hard cooking. Eat more.”
Only to be repaid with an even bigger helping. “You worked harder. You eat more.”
In the end, they would both stare at the heap of dark cuisine in their bowls with furrowed brows.
Even when they bickered and fussed, even when they ate terrible food, they were happy for some reason.
Those were the last days they would spend inside the ivory tower.
They had only just lifted the veil of society, and what they saw at first was still a beautiful landscape. Everything seemed good.
On the day her internship ended and they moved out of the rented apartment, Xiang You stood surrounded by luggage in the entryway, staring blankly at the room that had once again become so spacious, and remained there for a long time.
They had not even lived there for very long, but because Meng Ou had been there, the apartment had been given memories that were special.
Meng Ou did not hurry her. He stood beside her in the entryway, looking inside with her.
The dining table where they had eaten together was bare and flat. Xiang You had originally bought a bouquet every week to put there, but when she replaced the wilted flowers a few days ago, she had thought about how they were about to move out, and in the end she had not bought new ones.
The TV cabinet was empty too. Meng Ou’s game console had once sat there, and every now and then the two of them would curl up together on the sofa and play games.
Although Xiang You did not often play games, she was unusually serious about them.
Every time they played a game that required cooperation, if Meng Ou made a mistake, she would immediately complain about him. If she made a mistake herself, she would get so worked up with herself that her eyes would turn red.
Meng Ou was utterly helpless. He had never imagined that playing a game could actually make someone cry.
He was about to go comfort her, but Xiang You pushed him away. “Why did you put the controller down? Hurry up, we’re almost there!”
So Meng Ou kept working the controls, while repeatedly stealing glances at her.
Watching her cry her eyes out while still seriously battling the game.
She would wail at the “defeat” on the screen, then, refusing to accept defeat, immediately start another round.
Until they finally cleared the level. The little girl was still sobbing with hiccups, yet she did not forget to smile at him, showing all eight of her teeth.
So silly and so cute.
And Meng Ou liked that stubborn streak in her. He liked the unyielding resilience beneath what seemed to be a fragile exterior.
But someone like that was also destined not to compromise easily.
When it came down to it, Xiang You was the one who first suggested leaving.
Even though she would look back every few steps.
Meng Ou pushed the luggage behind her, both hands occupied, so he rubbed his chin against the top of her head instead.
Xiang You touched her head and looked back up at him.
“Later, we’ll have a real home of our own here,” Meng Ou said very seriously.
Xiang You’s lips puckered, and she turned her head away without answering.
At the time, Meng Ou did not know why she had gone silent.
He guessed that perhaps she was too sad to speak.
The second day after returning to school, Xiang You received a bouquet by delivery.
It did not need a name attached to it. She knew who it was from.
Little daisies paired with sunflowers, a small handful, just enough to fit into the tall-necked flower vase.
Xiang You gave them a simple trim, arranged them in the vase, and placed it on her desk.
Just like that handful of flowers she had placed on the dining table every week before.
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