Chapter 42 (2/2)

After that bout of pa.s.sion, the two of them cuddled quietly. When their perspiration had dried off, Yun Jin asked “Cheng Zheng, are you asleep? Can we talk?”

“Yeah?” Cheng Zheng answered blearily.

The two of them had known each other for eleven years now and they had spent three of those years as a couple. They were each other’s firsts but they never once had a serious discussion about the future nor asked what the other really wanted.

“When the child was two months old, I suddenly experienced intense pain. Actually, even before my ma.s.sive bleeding, I already feared losing it. It was the final thing on earth that linked you to me; I couldn’t lose it. As long as it was okay, I would even give my life … But I couldn’t protect it in the end. The surgery had a complication. Later on the doctor told me I would never have children again. As I lay in the hospital, I was consumed with hatred for you … because I didn’t know who else I should blame. I needed a stronger emotion to cover up my despair. So I swore, I would never wait for you. I would forget you. But, when I saw you again, I started to forget my promise. Don’t you see, my punishment has come. Every important person in my life, I couldn’t keep any one of them.”

Cheng Zheng raised his head to look at her “What rubbis.h.!.+ If I was the one who caused you to turn back on your promise then shouldn’t the punishment fall on me? You say you can’t keep anyone by your side … Well I will never leave you unless I’m dead.”

Yun Jin burst into laughter “You’re still as nonsensical as ever. Cheng Zheng, I’m an exceptionally terrible person. I thought I knew what I wanted but I keep finding that I was wrong.”

“No one said we couldn’t turn back the time. Yun Jin, let’s start over.”

“Start over?” Yun Jin appeared lost in thought “Four years ago, we loved each other so deeply yet what was the result? What more now …”

“But back then, you didn’t make me feel secure. From the moment I laid eyes on you, I was always chasing and you were always fleeing. I was too anxious and you were too sensitive … I never knew how to treat you.” He flipped over and looked her straight in the eye “I’m a simple-minded person; my love needs a guarantee.”

Yun Jin reached out to the pendent dangling around his neck “It’s not worth it. I’m nowhere near perfect.”

Cheng Zheng studied her in an exaggerated manner “How are you not perfect? I think you have everything a woman should have.”

When he saw that she wasn’t laughing, he sensed that his joke wasn’t very funny.

“If we are destined not to have children, then let us keep each other company for eternity.”

He buried his face in her chest as he continued to speak “Take me as your child and love only me …”

Cheng Zheng fell into a deep sleep from the fatigue. Suddenly, he sensed someone pinching his face and he yelped. His instincts told him it was Yun Jin and he flipped over to hug her as he drawled “If you continue pinching, I’ll bite.”

His hand landed on air before a searing pain shot through his ear. He heard a voice reminiscent of his mother “You horrible child. It wasn’t easy to arrange to come home. What are you dreaming of in the bright early morning? How dare you threaten to bite your mother.”

Cheng Zheng shot up and saw Zhang Jin Yin arching her brows as her hand continued to grip his ear firmly. Yun Jin was no longer there. He swatted her hand away before pulling the blanket over himself. He turned a bright beetroot as he whined “How can you enter without knocking?”

Zhang Jin Yin scoffed “The door could be broken down and you wouldn’t even know it. Still trying to hide? What have I not seen before? Tell me, what are you doing sleeping in the buff in the day?”

At this, Cheng Zheng’s worries dissipated; it appeared that his mother hadn’t seen Yun Jin. He was nonchalant about being caught in the act but he knew Yun Jin would have died from embarra.s.sment.

“I was feeling hot. Why, can’t I have the freedom to do so?” Without any remnant fear, he snapped cheekily at his mother.

Zhang Jin Yin smirked as she left his room “It’s in the dead of winter. Even if you’re feeling warm, you shouldn’t sleep naked.”

Cheng Zheng glanced at the clock as he dressed hurriedly. He had been asleep for approximately three hours.

Where is she? Why did she leave without saying goodbye?

As he was b.u.t.toning, he felt something amiss. He looked down; the aquamarine pendent that had accompanied him the past four years was gone.

<script>