I Want to Be Your Mrs. Jiang - Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Jiang Yi finally lost his patience.
He forcefully pressed Su Xiaomi’s hands above her head, pinning her down completely.
His voice was low and sinister by her ear.
“Did you enjoy taking advantage of me? Do you believe I will not just…”
But before he could even finish his threat, Su Xiaomi, pinned beneath him, suddenly opened her eyes and stared at him blankly.
Then her lips quivered and she burst into tears with a loud wail.
Jiang Yi, hovering above her, fell silent.
He sighed, then sighed again.
“Do not cry.”
Su Xiaomi ignored him and kept crying.
Jiang Yi let out a defeated breath, quietly released her wrists, rolled off her body, and helped her up from the carpet.
While tucking her messy hair behind her ear, he said helplessly, half amused, “It feels like I am the one who got taken advantage of. I did not even cry, so why are you crying?”
Still crying, Su Xiaomi clutched his collar and hiccupped out his name again and again.
“Jiang Yi, Jiang Yi…”
Each call of his name, each tear, softened Jiang Yi’s heart.
How could there be such a girl?
No one knew how long she cried or how many times she called his name, but eventually Su Xiaomi wore herself out and fell asleep, still sniffling against his shoulder.
Jiang Yi scooped her up in his arms, grabbed some tissues from the table, and gently wiped her tear-streaked face.
Luckily she had not worn makeup.
Otherwise, after crying like this, her face would have been a complete mess.
Even now her swollen eyes, red nose, and blotchy cheeks looked pitiful.
Her clothes were soaked with tears or maybe snot.
Normally Jiang Yi hated such things, but strangely he was not disgusted by hers.
He simply used tissues to dab at the wet patches on her clothes.
Of course, it did not help much.
So he tossed her onto the sofa, ducked into his room, and came back changed out of the white tracksuit she had dirtied.
In his hands was a black cotton T-shirt.
He stood at the sofa for a long while, torn, before gritting his teeth and pulling Su Xiaomi’s damp clothes off.
He quickly slipped her into his T-shirt, then carried her into the bedroom, put her on the bed, and threw a blanket over her head before fleeing the room in a panic.
Just as he was gulping down ice water from the fridge, his phone buzzed.
It was a voice message from Lu Tu.
Jiang Yi tapped it open.
On the other end, Lu Tu asked why he had turned down a blind date with that girl named Li Jingjing.
Jiang Yi toyed with his phone, still thinking of how to reply, when another message came in.
[Why? Why? Why? Why…]
Jiang Yi replied.
[Are you a broken record?]
Lu Tu sent another message.
[As your best bro, I need to ask you something. You have never tried to find a girlfriend, and you refuse blind dates. Do not tell me you like me?]
Jiang Yi replied with a long row of ellipses.
Lu Tu continued.
[If it is not me, then it means you already have someone in your heart, right? Who is she? Do I know her? Is it that first-kiss girl you mentioned before?]
Jiang Yi replayed that message several times, then crushed the empty water bottle in his hand and tossed it into the trash.
He finally replied calmly.
[I do not know if it counts. Other people come and go. I forget them, I do not really care. But her, I did not even try to remember, yet she has stayed in my heart for years.]
Su Xiaomi did not sleep peacefully at all.
She kept having strange, chaotic dreams.
When she woke up, her head throbbed terribly.
Not just her head, her eyes and throat hurt too.
She sat up, rubbing her temples, and suddenly flashes of fragmented memories struck her.
She had followed Jiang Yi home.
They had drunk together.
She drank too much and then pushed Jiang Yi down.
Oh heavens, what had she done!
Su Xiaomi groaned, flopped back onto the bed, then yanked the blanket over her head.
Ten seconds later, she jumped out of bed, frantically searching for her slippers.
She could not stay here.
She had to run.
As she scurried around, there was a knock at the door.
Startled, she looked up, eyes still red and swollen.
Jiang Yi stood at the doorway, holding a pair of slippers in one hand and in the other was that not her clothes?
Finally realizing, Su Xiaomi glanced down at herself.
In an instant, her entire body went up in flames.
Jiang Yi had not thought much of it, but when Su Xiaomi blushed like that, he grew uncomfortable too.
His mind involuntarily recalled last night’s scenery while changing her clothes.
Big-breasted loli… Could Su Xiaomi have meant herself when she said that?
Awkward, Jiang Yi cleared his throat, forcefully shoving away those thoughts.
He set the slippers down on the gray carpet, draped her clothes over a chair, and said flatly, “There are new toiletries in the bathroom. Wash up first. I will wait outside.”
Su Xiaomi did not dare look at him, only nodded furiously with her face bright red.
Not until Jiang Yi left did she bury her face in her hands, thinking.
It was over.
Completely over.
Old embarrassment plus new shame, she was done for.
By the time she had washed and changed, Jiang Yi was already sitting at the dining table.
Su Xiaomi opened her mouth, ready to apologize properly for last night, but Jiang Yi waved her over first.
“Eat breakfast. You will be late for work. Whatever you want to say, say it on the way.”
“Oh.”
Su Xiaomi obediently sat opposite him and ate.
Just plain mung bean porridge, buns, and fried dough sticks.
But with guilt weighing heavily on her mind, she could not even taste anything, just shoveled it down mechanically.
The moment Jiang Yi put down his bowl, she quickly set hers down too, even though half the porridge remained.
Jiang Yi noticed the untouched food, frowned slightly, but said nothing.
Following him in silence, Su Xiaomi trailed him to the parking garage, got into his car, and finally blurted out as they drove off.
“President Jiang, about last night, I was drunk. I did not mean it.”
Jiang Yi said nothing, calmly steering.
Su Xiaomi tried to read his expression, but with her shallow experience, she could not tell if he cared or not.
Her guilt only deepened.
Since he would not speak, she shrank lower in her seat, wishing she could vanish.
After a long silence, Jiang Yi finally asked directly.
“Do you like me?”
Su Xiaomi instinctively nodded, then shook her head.
“No. I do not. I just drank too much. I get reckless when I am drunk. Really.”
But Jiang Yi ignored her denial, asking again.
“What do you like about me?”
Su Xiaomi looked at him without speaking.
She wanted to say so much.
She wanted to tell him she had liked him for so many years, that she had tried to give up, even thought she had succeeded.
Life without him had not been unbearable, she had lived well enough.
But the moment he reappeared in her life, she had not needed to try.
Just standing within reach was enough for all her feelings, once buried deep, to surge back stronger than ever.
She liked him so much.
Yet when he asked what she liked about him, she could not even say the simplest words.
I do not know why, I just like you so much.
And maybe because she had already been rejected by him twice before, Su Xiaomi now had a shadow in her heart about confessing again.
Back then, after being rejected, she could still run away.
But now, if she confessed and failed again, what would she do, quit her job? She had finally found work she actually liked, and her internship was almost over.
At this critical moment, she could not risk both heartbreak and unemployment.
After thinking it over, Su Xiaomi decided she could not confess.
Not now.
So she looked him straight in the eye and said firmly.
“President Jiang, I really do not like you. Last night I was just drunk, that is all.”
If Jiang Yi had not already recognized her, maybe he would have believed her acting.
But as it was, he did not believe a single word.
Realizing he did not buy it, Su Xiaomi mustered all her courage and added, “And besides, you were not the only one who suffered last night. Strictly speaking, you also took advantage of me. So we are even.”
At that, Jiang Yi’s hands slipped on the steering wheel, making the car swerve sharply.
He steadied it quickly, but Su Xiaomi was already frightened into silence, not daring to speak again until the car finally stopped in the underground lot.
She immediately tried to open the door.
But Jiang Yi was faster.
The moment her hand touched the handle, he hit the lock button with a sharp click.
Su Xiaomi yanked at the door in vain, exploding.
“President Jiang, I already explained clearly. I was drunk, I did not mean it. And honestly, nothing even happened last night, right?”
Jiang Yi looked at her leisurely.
“I just texted my assistant to bring you a change of clothes. Stay in the car and wait, she will be here soon. And as for last night, how can you say nothing happened? Did we not both take advantage of each other?”
Su Xiaomi fell speechless.
