Chapter One Hundred and Thirty-two: Do you want to become a flaw? (2/2)

But even the unspoken words in Xiao Yu’s heart couldn’t escape Yan Jin’s hearing. Yan Jin continued to press, “Why is this not good?”

“This is the first time we’re seeing each other…”

“Lies. How could the chief designer of SI not have met with me before?”

“Business-related meetings don’t count. And we didn’t see each other much even then since you don’t go to large meetings. You scarcely so much as respond to video conferencing requests.” Xiao Yu finally found an opening and seized the opportunity to criticize Yan Jin instead.

“… Last February, you confronted me outside the meeting room for an entire ten minutes. My losses were enormous.” Yan Jin deadpanned.

“What! You still want to bring this up?!” Xiao Yu couldn’t suppress his thoughts any longer and exploded. “I’m simultaneously your pet that cheers you up and your mystery designer working for free, all while posing as your boyfriend, and you still dare to nag me?!”

Yan Jin sported a confused, innocent expression. “Really?”

“You’re still denying it!”

All the words Xiao Yu was unable to cry out from long ago came tumbling out in a torrent of fury. “You said my talents were lacking, that I lacked capability, that I was jealous and arrogant, that only companies like SI would recruit such a person, that if I were at YL I wouldn’t last a week before being fired, that…”

In spite of Yan Jin’s usual evil habits which should have merited him an early death, Yan Jin really was innocent here. He allowed Xiao Yu’s tirade to subside before indulging his fancies and prodding Xiao Yu’s seething cheeks. Just as he saw Xiao Yu gather himself for another explosion, he interrupted. “But I seem to remember quite clearly that I said, ‘You’re a very interesting young man – much more interesting than all the other complacent people in the industry.’”

Xiao Yu’s eyes widened in shock. Those weren’t Yan Jin’s own words. They were the words Xiao Yu had used when he impersonated Yan Jin through [Fish and Hamster – You Can’t Have Both] while talking to Lin Zhou.

“Y-you, you already found out…”

“Like I told you last night, I already know everything.”

Yan Jin smirked a little evilly, “Back then you hadn’t changed back to this form, so both of you can be considered as two separate individuals. You can’t really blame me for insulting you then, right?”

“You even know this?” Xiao Yu was stunned. Even now, he himself didn’t comprehend the principles from which his two selves were derived.

“I have a friend who happens to be researching this. After we realized you had issues, we made an international call that night to the leading experts in the field. If you still don’t understand, I can refer you to him. Although there’s a bit of Einsteinian relativistic space-time theory you should be familiar with first. That, at least, I can help with.”

“…No. I’m not curious at all.” Xiao Yu wiped the sweat off his forehead in admiration and fear. It reminded him of his school years when he saw the school genius’ perfect exam scores.

“Plus, we had an online relationship as a foundation,” Yan Jin paused, directly taking the conversation into dangerous waters. “Nowadays when youths meet in real life, don’t they directly become a couple?”

“But there’s also cases where online photos don’t match physical appearances or differences in family status cause them to leave one another on the spot.”

Xiao Yu hadn’t entirely thought through his last statement before speaking, and before he was even halfway done, he’d wanted to face-palm. As expected, Chairman Yan sneered with the absolute self-confidence befitting a chairman, “It’s obvious that those situations don’t apply to me.”

True, someone like Yan Jin at the apex of society would always be the one to choose others, no matter how anyone looked at it.

Xiao Yu let out a squeak as if he’d gone back to being a hamster. “That’s true, but – but it was clear that my designs had been plagiarized back then. Not only did you deny it, you also insulted me back.”

Against this accusation, Yan Jin hid nothing and honestly admitted, “That’s true.”

Just as Xiao Yu’s petty streak was about to ignite again, Yan Jin added his next statement.

“On the flip side, this also shows how protective I am of others’ flaws.”

His voice was both dangerous yet tender, just like the Siren’s song.

“So, do you want to become a flaw?”

……

That afternoon, Xiao Yu laid on the sofa playing on the new iPad Yan Jin had bought, just like every afternoon. Inserting a piece of fruit into his mouth, Xiao Yu still felt as though something wasn’t quite right.

Maybe things had moved a little too quickly?

When Xiao Yu stretched his head from the sofa, he distantly saw Yan Jin with his sleeves rolled up in the kitchen washing and preparing food.

Sensing Xiao Yu’s stare, Yan Jin opened the sliding glass door and asked, “Something wrong?”

Xiao Yu felt a little silly for not having anything concrete to ask. After staring blankly back for a bit, he asked a meaningless question. “What’s for dinner tonight?”

“The groceries I ordered yesterday are a little lacking. There’s only enough to make Kung Pao chicken, stir-fried prawns, mixed root vegetables, ground pork with peppers, garlic fried mushrooms, barbeque pork, fish with eggplant and pickled cabbage, and pigeon soup. If there’s anything else you’d like to eat you can just order takeout. I already activated and authenticated the card I gave you yesterday.”

“……”

In this instant, the enlightened Xiao Yu finally understood why Yan Jin needed to begin preparing dinner at half past two. Although he still thought it was strange, Xiao Yu felt moved, but also at a loss.

Things were still happening too quickly for him.

It felt physically and mentally different to face Yan Jin as a human than as a hamster.

As a hamster, he had no qualms about acting cute and depending entirely on Yan Jin. This was the socially acceptable way for a hamster to survive – Yan Jin spoiling him was a given.

But as a human, no matter how you looked at it, proceeding so easily and quickly from stranger to boyfriend was strange.

“Hmm?” Yan Jin was curious after seeing Xiao Yu not reacting for a while.

“… I don’t have any dietary restrictions. Cook whatever you please.”

Xiao Yu retracted his head behind the sofa and absentmindedly fiddled with his lips.

It was as if he could still feel the warmth from that sudden imprint.