Honey Stewed Squid

Chapter 42 - I Like You!

Before the door slammed shut, the only thing the person on the bed did was play dead.

0.0…

She gasped incessantly for air, her mind filled only with blank whiteness, blank whiteness… white blankness.

With a bam, the room was thrown back into silence.

At last, she slowly reached her hand down, noiselessly tugging on the bed sheet beneath her, and rolling her body, she wrapped her entire self into the sheet. Where was it, where was it? Oh, right, hanging on her arms… The bed sheet covered her face. Deep breaths, deep breaths. But her fingers still felt weak, with no strength in them.

When she was completely dressed again, she finally poked her head out from the sheet—

Eh? He really did leave?

He wouldn’t be mad, would he? Just now, she had kicked him a few times, and her knee seemed to have, um… Would that hurt?

That part seemed to be very fragile… right?

Tong Nian exhaled a lengthy breath. With a sense of defeat, she sat on the bed, wavering on what to do.

T.T What should she do? …

She had said she would stay with him forever…

She touched her hand to her chest, wanting to curb her heart that was beating overly rapidly. An image suddenly popped into her mind. He had actually used his teeth! She threw herself down onto the pillow, her entire body like a boiled shrimp, emitting heat from inside to out…

* * * * *

Gun strode out of the room, still holding his t-shirt as remorse came over him.

You are such a foocking good-for-nothing, Han Shangyan!

Irately, he stormed away while pulling on his shirt. After taking a dozen or so steps, he could not hold himself back and gave a fierce kick at the wall.

The several young, grinning team members who were coming toward him and about to call out in greeting each froze in shock, not daring at all to move. Pretend to be dead, pretend to be air, pretend to be anything! Even pretending to be that wall that was kicked is fine. Just do not let Leader notice us…

Gun did not even remotely glance at these few kids and brushed right past them. Without saying a word, he left the K&K headquarters.

He went into the underground parking garage and then drove the car out, heading straight to the shopping mall in the city centre.

Striding to the first basement level, he began to look at display counter after display counter and buy item after item—profiteroles, macarons, puddings, strawberry cake. In the end, when he had a stack of itemized bills and had brought them over to pay with his credit card, even the girl at the cash register thought that this super hot guy was going to hold a party for preschoolers and kindergarteners in his home.

According to the pitiful, little experience he had in raising pets, when you made a cat mad, buying its favourite food of fish guts for it was a good plan. He truly did not have much for experience in sweet-talking and coaxing girls, but it seemed, before, whenever Solo had money, he had liked to buy all sorts of weird but expensive snacks for appledog… So when he put these two pieces of experience together, he had made this decision.

It required some effort to get the things into his car and even more effort to get them upstairs to the gaming house.

This was mainly because it was hard to get a good handle on balancing everything, for fear that the cakes and goodies inside the boxes would flip over.

Half an hour later, he was once again standing in front of the door to his room in the living quarters area. Suddenly, he thought of a question. What if the kid had run off? What should he do then? Go to her school to look for her? That would be a little simpler. If she had run back home, though… He recalled the actions he had once taken to deliberately cause her parents to loathe him. It seemed a little like… his hands were bound and there was nothing he could do?

To think, he would actually be in a situation where he was powerless, with nothing he could do.

When this idea, which was one that was rare to him, popped up in his mind, a self-mocking smile appeared on his lips.

Pulling out his key card, he swiped the door open.

The instant he pushed open his room door, he saw the kid toying around on his computer with her chin resting idly on one palm. The clothes that had been tossed at the foot of the bed were now all folded into a pile.

Very good. From the looks of it… she was in a very good state.

He gave a brief glance at the computer screen, but noticing it was only a webpage, he did not look closer.

“You’re back?” She turned her head, smiling adorably and very bashfully.

Very good. From the looks of it, her mood was pretty good, too.

On the sill of the hung window, he set down that pile of boxes made up of different shades of pinks, reds, soft greens… as well as various other colours that, with one glance, you could tell were ones that young girls would like. Wordlessly, he walked over, bent at the waist, and, slipping one arm around her back and the other under her legs, lifted her up.

And then, he switched their positions so that he was sitting on the chair.

The moment she was placed onto his lap, her arms immediately snaked around his neck…

“I’m not in a very good mood. In Sanya, I got in an argument with some friends from the past, and we nearly came to blows.”

“Mm…” Feeling that this position was not very convenient, she adjusted herself to sit straddled across his thighs.

His brows creased together. This type of position… “At the expo, I heard someone say you wanted to be a video game cosplay model, and I wasn’t too cool about that, either.” After all, those cosplay costumes were just too revealing, and her figure was too good. It simply was not appropriate for her to be that kind of spokesperson.

“Oh…” Her eyes twinkled. “You’re jealous.”

……

He felt something wasn’t quite right.

This feeling…

Swiftly, he searched around the room for something that could confirm his suspicion. And then, he successfully found, in the wastebasket, two cans—beer. That little body had already seamlessly snugged itself tight up against him. He wanted to move back to evade her, but there was no room to move…

Stay calm, Han Shangyan.

Stay calm.

Very good. Stay away from her chest. As much as possible, stay away from it.

Soft and inexperienced were her lips as well as those small hands that were lightly caressing his neck and collarbones while she, in passing, murmured, “I… don’t really know how. I searched up a bit on the Internet…”

Gun used a few seconds to completely, clearly understand the meaning behind those words. Once more, he swept his eyes over the computer screen.

Sheet!

He closed his eyes.

The next second, he felt a warmth press against his tightly shut eyelids.

A peck was placed on each the left and right sides. Then, it was the bridge of his nose…

He stayed completely motionless, trying as best as he could to not allow himself to feel too much. He could not even dodge too much. The kid’s heart was too much like glass, too sensitive… But this time, he absolutely could not let himself do something rash and improper. At least, he needed to wait until things were truly official and blessed, or maybe… they would just altogether get engaged. Then, afterwards, they could talk about that.

“Han Shangyan, is it your, your first time?”

… He truly did not want to talk to her.

But considering that she was someone who would clearly remember things that had happened, even after she sobered up, it was better if he answered.

So, he had no choice but to give a very low “mm-hmm.”

Because of this one word, a silly giggle came from her. Muah! She kissed him on his lips. “Mine.”

……

Done with her silly grinning, she quickly began to follow the strategy guide, trying to strip him of his top.

Gun inhaled deeply. With his elbows, he held his shirt down, not letting her take it off. The result, however, was that the hem was pulled up, and her little hand moved in directly to begin feeling, kneading, fondling. “Does that feel good?”

Sheet.

He was going to go berserk.

Couldn’t throw her. If he threw her, she would cry again. He needed to hurry and think up a plan, one that could pull away her attention. He opened his eyes, intending to swiftly seek out a way to counter this, make a decision, and then escape from this predicament. He had not expected, though, that the moment his eyes opened, he would see her, head lowered in a well-behaved manner, intently untying the bow that was at the chest of her blouse. Next, she began undoing the buttons.

Practically simultaneously, he seized her hands and, in a raspy voice, stopped her. “Alright, stop playing around now.”

In that instant that he grabbed her hands, the tips of his fingers also touched that part that should not be touched. He held his silence and suppressed himself, forcing himself to not look at this enchanting trap that Tong Nian had set. Yet, the latter was still somewhat bemused as hazily she contemplated, was the problem because the sequence of actions had been wrong?

Oh, right. Some of the strategy guides online didn’t involve taking off the clothes…

She nodded, her face completely crimson. Once again, she encircled her arms around his waist and, with slight apprehension, consulted him, “Is doing that kind of like… spraining an ankle? Or maybe as painful as breaking a bone?”

……

This question that was spoken aloud wafted lightly into air.

……

The scent of her body was too seductive. He wanted to bury his face deep into the long hair at the back of her slight neck, that place that was most fragrant, most soft and that most caused a person to want to leave something behind there. Thinking this, he truly did draw himself close to that place that belonged to him.

And, in passing, he also reminded himself silently, “Stop right here. It can only go as far as this…”

The pounding of his heart was becoming increasingly intense and heavy, so stiflingly forceful it was somewhat painful.

“Han Shangyan,”—she raised her head, his kisses tickling her slightly—“I like you.”

I like you so much I wish that there were twenty-five hours in a day to be with you.

To stay close to you. To be able to see you when you’re angry, see you when you smile, see you when you lose your temper, see you when you’re intently at work…

Inhaling her scent—this scent that belonged to him—he answered her in a voice so soft it was practically inaudible. “I heard you.”

I am yours. Sooner or later, I will be. Do not feel anxious and the need to rush… You’re still young.

These words, however, were curbed and kept in his heart. He could not say them out. Such words were ones he would never in his lifetime be able to say aloud.

But, he had already thought them many times. Those several nights in Sanya, late in the night. Some moments when he had been watching the kids doing their training. Some moments when he had been bored while participating in those commercial events. And even when he had been having breakfast; or on the road, rushing to the airport; or at the exhibition centre, standing far off and watching her for half an hour as she signed away, occasionally rotating her wrist before continuing to bury her head in her tiring work of autographing…

“Oh, right…” The kid’s hands were still, with all seriousness, following the strategy guide, feeling about inside his clothes. Rather shyly, and very considerately, she asked, “Do you need to take a look at the strategy guide first?”

……

……

……

……

“… No need.”