Chapter 13 Part1 (1/2)
There are trade-offs to dating a celebrity.
Chapter 13.1 — An Unstoppable a.s.sailment of Fl.u.s.ter (1)
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Those fingers, so small, were clutching his palm.
That look of solemnness did not seem at all as if she was making a suggestive proposal to engage in certain pleasures together; it was wholly an expression of wanting to provide recompense after causing a mishap.
Jia He did not clue in to what exactly she had just said until she saw his gaze s.h.i.+ft downwards. Then, abruptly, she yanked her arm back. The comforter still wrapped around her, she began with all her might to regret her words. That, that, that… was just too impulsive! What in the world was that? Yesterday, it was only because there had been the three great elements of romance—alcohol, moonlight, and the late hours—that she had had the courage. But now—she fastened her gaze on Yi Wenze's shadow—this was in broad daylight, you know, under the brazen sun, aaaah…
Yi Wenze unexpectedly set down his s.h.i.+rt. Immediately, a jolt shot through her.
Oh no, oh no.
Gritting her teeth, she forced herself to hang in there. Her mind was filled only with thoughts of whether he might have gotten an erroneous impression of her, that he might mistakenly think she was the type who casually indulged in carnal pleasures and did not take any of that to heart. The room was too bright and they were also facing one another in such a state, so even more so she could feel every ounce of blood in her body surging upwards with all its might. She wanted only to explain that she actually truly… did not have any experience yet. The words had not even left her lips, however, before he, catching her by surprise, encircled her in his arms. She nearly jumped off the bed, but wrapped up like in a coc.o.o.n, there was absolutely no possible way she could make any movement.
Ah, forget it. She was doomed either way; she might as well just go for it.
She steeled her heart. ”Could you take things a little slower in just a bit? I actually… might not be like how you think I am.”
Why did it feel like, here, at such a close distance, with the sun s.h.i.+ning on them like this, they were doing the verbal run-through before filming an adult movie?
He smoothed her hair with his hand. ”What do you think I think?”
Jia He wanted to cry. She was already being so blunt. He still needed to ask?
”I mean, maybe, perhaps…” Just what's up with you? It's just, ”I've only had one boyfriend.” Is it that hard to explain?! Who said that if you've had a boyfriend, you must have done the deed? She shrank down into the comforter a little bit. ”Actually, um, well, yesterday I had a bit too much to drink. Otherwise, I wouldn't… take the initiative like that.”
This should have been something said in a happy tone while feeling all sweet about it. Why then did she actually feel as if she had committed a heinous crime?
”I know,” Yi Wenze said by her ear.
With those words, one person's face blazed brighter and brighter red while the other person's smile deepened and deepened some more.
Do you really know? There's a subtext to what I said…
She wanted to keep explaining, but he had already set her down so that she lay on the bed. At once, she clutched the comforter, convincing herself with all her might, You're not anxious, you're not anxious. Even when Yi Wenze's had taken her into his arms and lowered his lips onto hers, she, as if in a trance, was still reciting, You're not anxious, you're not anxious… In reality, she did not know that because she was squeezing her eyes shut from anxiety, her entire face had puckered together into a little bundle and she looked like a fish on a chopping block waiting for its fate.
The air conditioning had not been turned on. Her body temperature was climbing rapidly. Gradually, their breaths commingled. It was not certain who caused whose breathing to become ragged and uneven. A thin layer of sweat glazed her whole body, clammy and sticky. At some point in time, she had grabbed onto his wrist, and beneath the touch of her fingertips, his faint pulse became so very clear to her.
”I need to go out at twelve.” He finally pushed himself up onto his elbows and away from her body, saying with a smile, ”An hour is too tight.”
It was an unsuitable time and an unsuitable occasion. He did not want it to be so rushed. Neither did it need to be so rushed.
At last, Jia He seemed to startle out of her slumber-like state. She ran his words back and forth through her mind. Then—whoos.h.!.+—her face turned into a red-hot tomato.
She did not make a peep, nor did she open her eyes.
She felt the bed sink slightly before finally cluing in that the weight covering her body had lifted, and her mind felt as if awakening from a dream. When she at last dared to open her eyes for a look, he had already stepped into the bathroom.
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Whew.
Glad, or disappointed? Seriously, so conflicted…
There was merely a door separating them. When the sounds of water echoed out, she instantly crawled out from the comforter and pulled on her clothes at lightning speed. After sitting tall and in a solemn manner for one minute, she felt that something was not right. Hurriedly, she made up the bed so that it looked proper, then also tidied his clothes. After everything had been dealt with so that there were no hints of any sort of hanky-panky, her heart was finally set at ease.
And then she carried on sitting tall and solemnly.
He suddenly called to her.
Fawningly jogging over, she asked, ”Yes?”
”Help me grab a clean b.u.t.ton-up s.h.i.+rt and pants.” He made this very ordinary request.
”b.u.t.ton-up s.h.i.+rt and pants…” she repeated. The question of ”Do you need me to grab some underwear?” very logically popped up into her mind, but fortunately she was able to catch it before it spilled out, and she only gave him the garments he had requested.
It was not until that evening during dinnertime that he mentioned that he needed to be at filming site the following day to begin shooting his newest movie, and therefore he would be leaving Beijing tonight. Jia He stared stupidly at him, not quite able to process this.
Her eyes blinked and blinked. The words caught in her throat for a long time before she finally asked, ”Why didn't you tell me earlier?”
Once he was on filming site, it would be a long time before they would get to see each other, but she had not even known about this.
”The work schedule that I sent you, you didn't really look through it?”
An ”Ah?” slipped from Jia He. Immediately she realized her negligence: she had only felt sweet inside for a moment when he first sent it over but indeed had not carefully looked through and checked the actual dates and timing. With her head bowed, she cut up some vegetables, the beat of the thunk, thunksounds practically catching up to the rhythm of her heartbeat.
”I'm sorry.” The vegetables were almost done cooking when she of her own accord admitted her mistake. ”I didn't look it over closely.” Then picking up a jar of seasoning, she scooped out a spoonful and was about to dump it into the skillet.
”You grabbed the wrong one. That's sugar,” Yi Wenze thoughtfully pointed out. He watched as she scrambled to look for the salt, finding her amusing.
In fact, he purposely had not mentioned it, lest she would have been thinking about it from last night onwards.
”How long will it be this time?” Finally finding the jar of salt, Jia He scooped out a large spoonful and was about to sprinkle it in. Once more, though, he covered her hand with his.
He poured more than half of the spoon's salt back into the jar before sprinkling the rest into the skillet for her. ”About two months.”
Two months. Oh.
Jia He gave a somewhat absent-minded ”okay,” stirred the vegetables a couple of times, turned off the stove, and then removed the food from the skillet.
She carefully recalled that work schedule. Indeed, he was going to be very busy. He had always been very conscientious, taking his work seriously, which meant she definitely would not be able to frequently visit him on the set and bring about criticism from other people. Her mind was hard at work figuring out the dates. By the time two months pa.s.sed, it should be autumn.