The two of them were a few meters apart, one on the bed, the other on the floor.
“Come eat something,” Xu Xingchun turned around and lowered his voice.
“Where’s my phone?” Fu Xueli broke her train of thought, suddenly remembering something else.
Oh no, she had to go to the set for filming today! Tang Xin was probably going crazy looking for her by now. Fu Xueli knelt on the bed, feeling around for her phone. She flipped over the pillows and blankets, turning the bed upside down, but there was no sign of her phone anywhere.
Could it have fallen in the car?
“Did you take my phone?” Fu Xueli asked urgently, “Xu Xingchun, my phone is missing.”
Xu Xingchun didn’t even glance at her. He opened the bathroom door and went in. Soon after, the sound of running water could be heard.
“Xu Xingchun?”
“Xu Xingchun?!”
“Xu Xingchun!!!” Fu Xueli was getting angry. She had been calling him for ages with no response. She got out of bed barefoot, paced around the door for a while, and then stood in place calling out a few times. Getting no response, she tried to push open the room door, only to find it wouldn’t budge.
It could be locked from the inside?
What kind of strange design was this room…
Only someone with severe trust issues would design it this way.
So Fu Xueli angrily went to push open the bathroom door.
This time it opened easily; he hadn’t closed it at all.
Xu Xingchun was surrounded by steam, wearing only pants. His shirt buttons were undone halfway, leaving his upper body almost bare. The belt at his waist was hanging loose, his hip bones jutting out. He tilted his head, drying his hair with a towel.
The black, austere leather really suited his skin tone.
He looked so sexy.
It was truly a feast for the eyes.
This was Fu Xueli’s first thought.
Then came an awkward silence. She quickly averted her gaze, took a step back, and deliberately put on an indifferent attitude, muttering, “I was talking to you, why do you always ignore me? Hurry up and give me back my phone.”
She showed no sense of embarrassment at having intruded on someone’s privacy.
Xu Xingchun looked up at her, rinsed his face with cold water, and said coolly, “Go eat something.”
As soon as he spoke, Fu Xueli perked up. She said resentfully, “I thought you were ignoring me? If you don’t give me my phone, I won’t eat anything.”
Her tone carried her usual spoiled and pampered air. At the same time, she seemed a bit smug. While not enough to be irritating, it wasn’t particularly pleasant for most people.
Xu Xingchun tossed the towel aside and turned to button up his shirt.
Although the porridge was bland and tasteless, Fu Xueli still managed to eat most of it under ‘coercion’.
No matter what she said, her current situation was—
Once again, she was essentially imprisoned in this shabby room.
At least Xu Xingchun hadn’t gone anywhere. He was sitting behind the desk, reviewing documents. This place didn’t look like a proper office at all, more like a temporary rest room.
Fu Xueli felt she couldn’t use normal logic to guess what someone like Xu Xingchun was thinking.
In the end, she gave up and rested her chin on her hand, lying on the bed, staring at him closely. “Xu Xingchun, what have you been doing these past few years? I think your job is really problematic. Seeing dead people all the time, and all that fighting and killing, it’s bound to give you mental issues.”
After a while, she changed her position, sitting cross-legged, and continued to spout nonsense with a pout, “You were a bit mentally unstable before, and now it seems to have gotten worse. Don’t they have any counselors at your police station to help you sort things out?”
“……”
Fu Xueli always had a lot to say, but one good thing about her was that she didn’t pretend to be reserved. She didn’t care if others responded to her or not; she could carry on a one-person show with her endless chatter.
The quiet room was filled with her incessant talking. Xu Xingchun didn’t seem to be listening, keeping his head down and rarely speaking. Only when Fu Xueli occasionally fell silent would he look up at her.
Fu Xueli tried hard to recall the past.
There weren’t many times when she and Xu Xingchun were alone together like this.
The only vivid memory she had was when she fell seriously ill in her first year of high school. Xu Xingchun had taken leave to stay by her side day and night. Back then, Xu Xingchun’s personality was at most just repressed and introverted. At least in her eyes, he was far from being as twisted as he seemed now, not as silent and gloomy.
“We can’t keep giving each other the cold shoulder like this.”
Fu Xueli rattled off a series of self-analyses, “I’m quite fragile, you know. If you really hate me, just tell me directly. I won’t cling to you stubbornly. We’re completely unrelated now, and I’m very busy with work. At worst, I just won’t come looking for you anymore. If you still want to get along well with me, leave me a way to contact you, and we can be friends again in the future.”
Her words hinted at a desire for reconciliation, albeit in a roundabout way. This was already one of the very few times in Fu Xueli’s life when she had actively lowered her head to make amends. Or to put it bluntly, to seek someone’s favor and reconciliation.
She had been the center of attention since childhood, with many friends, never lacking for clothes, money, or love. She had never tasted the bitterness of unrequited desire. She had never needed to actively maintain relationships before.
“But come to think of it, what right do you have to hate me? You were the one who left first. The mistake wasn’t mine alone. You were the one who cut off contact. Do you feel a sense of achievement now, watching me chase after you like a clown?”
Fu Xueli brought up old matters, throwing aside all dignity and propriety. She said a lot in one breath, but didn’t dare to look at his expression throughout.
Having acted in many plays, it was relatively easy for her to feign emotions without sincerity. There was both truth and falsehood in her words, and she even attempted to gloss over the past, absolving herself completely of the mistakes she had made back then.
However, this heartfelt speech received no response for a long time.
Fu Xueli then turned her head, tentatively calling Xu Xingchun’s name. Only then did she see that he was lying back in the chair, eyes half-closed, breathing softly, having fallen into a peaceful sleep.
At first, she cautiously moved her body, inching off the bed bit by bit.
Barefoot, she approached him step by step, silently.
It had been so long, too long since she had properly looked at him. To be honest, Xu Xingchun was very handsome, naturally possessing a gentle and gentlemanly appearance. Just looking at him like this was pleasing to the eye.
Otherwise, that love that ended abruptly wouldn’t have remained an unattainable ideal in Fu Xueli’s heart for so many years.
Fu Xueli hugged her knees, crouching beside him, gazing at him quietly. She secretly sniffed with her nose.
Having just showered, he had a very pleasant scent, a clean, soapy smell.
Sighing softly, her actions preceded her thoughts. She moved a little closer, her fingertips carefully touching his face, then his eyelashes, his lips.
They were all cool to the touch.
“What are you really thinking, Xu Xingchun?” Fu Xueli murmured to herself.
Just then, the door behind her creaked open. Xiao Wang, carrying takeout, pushed the door open. Seeing the scene before him, he hurriedly averted his eyes, closing the door while repeatedly saying, “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb.”
Fu Xueli froze. By the time she reacted, Xu Xingchun’s eyes were already open.
His eyes were staring straight at her, so close.
Fu Xueli steeled herself, her hand suspended in mid-air, like a statue. After much thought, she finally squeezed out a sentence, forcing a smile, “Don’t misunderstand, I’m not a pervert. I wasn’t trying to steal a kiss.”
A bit of clumsy wantonness, her eyes shifting.
Acting as if nothing had happened, yet also like an inept lecher.
She was nervous inside, lowering her head slightly, not daring to look at Xu Xingchun, afraid that he would open his mouth with mockery. She quickly stood up and jumped back onto the bed.
The room was silent for a long time. Fu Xueli had just done something utterly embarrassing, burying her head in the pillow, not wanting to lift it at all. Her previously haughty air had been completely extinguished.
Xu Xingchun made a few phone calls in the meantime. Fu Xueli kept her eyes tightly shut, pretending to be asleep.
Later, due to fatigue, she really did fall asleep.
When she woke up, Xu Xingchun was no longer by her side. Fu Xueli felt a headache, her mind fuzzy and swollen. For some reason, she felt an empty, uncomfortable feeling in her heart. She really didn’t like this feeling of being left behind.
Slowly climbing out of bed, she found her phone placed to one side. Fu Xueli picked it up and unlocked it. Countless missed calls and messages exploded in.
The last one was still from Tang Xin:
[Fu Xueli!!! I don’t care where you are or what happened, there’s a flight at 8:30 PM to Malaysia for filming. If I don’t see you there, I’m jumping off a building!!!]
Tossing aside her phone, Fu Xueli got out of bed and went to the bathroom to wash her face. Lifting her head to look at herself in the mirror, a thought flashed quickly through her mind.
Xu Xingchun opened the door and came in.
The room was empty.
He walked to the bedside and stopped. He stood alone in the room, silent, his lips gradually turning pale.
“Fu Xueli.”
Xu Xingchun called her name again, addressing the empty silence.
The dim evening glow made the curtains flutter slightly in the breeze. She, hiding behind the curtains, initially felt a sense of satisfaction at her successful prank.
But suddenly, seeing his expression, for a moment, her heart ached and she trembled.
Gradually, she began to feel uneasy. Fu Xueli regretfully poked her head out, pulling aside the curtain in front of her, and jumped down from the windowsill.
She hesitated, stammering an explanation for her behavior: “I… I didn’t leave. I was just joking with you earlier.”
But Xu Xingchun didn’t laugh. From the moment Fu Xueli showed her face, there was no ripple of emotion in his eyes. He stared at her, like the most violent storm, yet also the most silent stillness.
Although he only revealed a tiny fraction of emotion, in her eyes, it was a painful stimulus.
Fu Xueli felt a bit regretful, cautious and guilty, not daring to provoke more frenzied emotions from him.
She also felt a bit confused and wronged.
Why was Xu Xingchun’s mood so easily out of control?
“I wouldn’t leave without saying anything,” Fu Xueli said to him. Her eyes widened, her body trembling, as she took a few steps back. Her pupils contracted, her heart beating violently. Because Xu Xingchun had brushed against the skin of her neck, his fingers tracing upwards, firmly gripping her chin.
Behind her was the wall.
He leaned in, whispering in her ear.
“Fu Xueli, only pitiful men would believe your fleeting whims.”
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