Chapter Thirty-Eight: Coward

Qiu Jieqin first shuddered as if struck by lightning, then remained utterly still, frozen like a clay statue. After a few seconds, her eyes flooded with tears that quickly spilled over, streaming down her cheeks in an unstoppable torrent. Though she was crying, her expression was radiant with happiness. Wiping her tears and laughing through her sobs, she said, “You’re terrible! It took me such effort to stop crying just now.” As she spoke, she stood up, skirted the tea table, and threw herself at me with arms wide open.

I could feel the excitement and joy welling up inside her, and I smiled as I opened my arms to welcome her embrace. But her leap was so forceful that her arms hooked tightly around my neck and her whole body crashed into my chest. The moment I caught her slender waist, her momentum tipped us both backward—the front legs of my chair lifted off the floor, and we toppled over.

I cried out, “Hey!”

Qiu Jieqin exclaimed, “Ah!”

With a thud, we landed on the ground as the chair overturned. My legs were still hooked over the chair, and Qiu Jieqin lay on top of me. Though she wasn’t heavy, a hundred pounds or so still left me gasping in pain, my face contorted as I drew sharp breaths.

At that moment, the door opened and the tea attendant appeared, her expression startled as she took in our awkward tangle on the floor. Both Qiu Jieqin and I blushed furiously, mortified by the scene.

Fortunately, the attendant quickly regained her composure, gave a discreet bow, apologized, and promptly withdrew, closing the door behind her.

Qiu Jieqin and I exchanged glances and couldn’t help but burst out laughing. She scolded, “It’s all your fault! How embarrassing!” I protested, “My fault? You’re the one who jumped on me—I’m the victim here! Ow, it hurts, get up, you’re crushing me!”

She scrambled off me at once and helped me to my feet. Rubbing my still aching waist, I shook my head and said, “If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have said those words. Look at how excited you got—you nearly cost me half my life!” As I spoke, I picked up the overturned chair and sat down again.

Qiu Jieqin huffed, “Don’t you dare!” and immediately plopped herself onto my lap, wrapping her arms tightly around my neck. I gave a wry smile, wary of another collapse, and instinctively held her waist to steady us.

She leaned in, her breath warm against my ear, her voice syrupy and soft: “What was it you just said to me? I want you to say it again!”

Smiling mischievously, I teased her, “I said, you nearly cost me half my life!”

She wriggled in protest, pouting sweetly, “Not that! The words you said before I got up—I want to hear them again.”

Basking in her coquettishness, relishing the unparalleled delight of the moment, I gently caressed her cheek and repeated, “I said, let’s be together. Will you be my girlfriend?”

Happiness blossomed across her face as she buried her head under my chin and murmured, “Tang Qian, you’re awful! I’ve waited eight years for you to say those words. Eight years!” With that, she began to weep again, softly, her sorrow and grievances welling up. I knew how much she had endured, how coldly I’d treated her before. So I held her tightly, silently, letting her pour her heart out in my embrace.

At last, she stopped crying, dabbing at her eyes with my collar. I stroked her hair, my heart overflowing with tenderness. She lifted her gaze to me, her teary eyes brimming with emotion. “I’ve finally waited for this day,” she whispered. “Tang Qian, you mustn’t go back on your word. If you do, I’ll die just to spite you.”

I smiled. “Don’t talk about dying. Nonsense. I promise you, I’ll treat you well from now on—I’ll make up for everything I owe you.”

Qiu Jieqin beamed, though disbelief lingered in her voice. “Tang Qian, it feels like I’m dreaming. I can’t believe this is real. Hold me tighter, kiss me—let me know I really have you.”

Still smiling, I bent down and pressed a deep kiss to her slightly parted lips.

Fifteen minutes later, we paid the bill and left the teahouse, flustered by the tea attendant’s knowing glances. Qiu Jieqin nestled happily against me as we strolled slowly down the street, my arm wrapped protectively around her.

It was late, and few taxis passed along the quiet lane outside the apartment complex. We would have to walk to the main road to find one. Suddenly, Qiu Jieqin seemed to remember something. “You already have a girlfriend,” she said. “I won’t allow you to play pretend boyfriend for that woman boss of yours. I want you to refuse her.”

I sighed, “Do you think I want to? That dreadful woman threatened to fire Cheng Jia if I didn’t agree. I had no choice—I couldn’t let Cheng Jia get hurt because of me.”

Qiu Jieqin snorted and stomped her foot, pulling away from my arm, her face stormy. “And you say you don’t like Cheng Jia? For her, you’ll let someone threaten and manipulate you. Have you ever done that for me?”

I laughed, “I’ve just never had the chance. No one’s ever used you to threaten me. Even if I wanted to, how could I?”

She was left speechless, stomping her foot in frustration.

Then I sobered and spoke earnestly, “Cheng Jia is a good, kind girl. I think of her as my little sister—nothing more. When I transferred to the planning department, she was the only colleague who treated me kindly and helped me. If she hadn’t secretly warned me this time, I might have been stranded in the middle of nowhere by Hua Jingjing, my life in peril. To put it bluntly, I owe her my life. How could I be so selfish as to let her suffer retaliation for helping me, to watch her lose her job because of me? No, I couldn’t do it!”

Qiu Jieqin had no answer, and could only look at me with wounded eyes. I reached out and gently stroked her delicate cheek. “If you truly love me,” I said softly, “you’ll understand. Some things, not even on pain of death would I do. But others, even if it means suffering greatly, I have to do. Do you understand?”

She nodded, her voice small. “I understand. But what if that woman keeps using this to threaten you and forces you to do things you don’t want to do?”

“Hua Jingjing has already sworn this is the only time. She promised she’d never trouble Cheng Jia again.”

“You actually believe her oath?”

“I have no choice but to believe it. What else can I do? Whatever her faults, Hua Jingjing is still a person of status. She wouldn’t stoop so low as to break her word, would she?”

Qiu Jieqin snorted. “I doubt it.” Yet she leaned into me once more and warned, “Since you’ve made up your mind, I can’t stop you. But I want you to stay away from her as much as possible—don’t let her turn this act into reality. She really does like you, and she’s definitely up to something. Be careful. Don’t give her any opportunity.”

I laughed heartily, hugging her as we continued down the street. “There you go again—don’t get paranoid. It’s too exhausting. Come on, let me walk you home.”

She pouted, “I mean it. Don’t brush me off.”

Just then, an empty taxi drove by. I flagged it down and we both climbed in.

When we reached her home, she lingered in the car, her eyes sultry, a blush on her cheeks, looking at me as if wanting to say something but unable to. Sensing her thoughts, I instinctively reached out and caressed her cheek. “Go to bed early,” I murmured. “I’ll call you tomorrow, all right?”

Disappointed, she pouted, mumbled a listless “okay,” and got out of the car. As I waved goodbye, she suddenly leaned back in, pressed a deep kiss to my lips, and whispered with a laugh, “Coward!”

She giggled as she closed the door and ran off.

Touching my lips, I could only smile wryly. I couldn’t understand it myself—Qiu Jieqin and I were now lovers, so why didn’t I feel eager to take our relationship further? Was it just that I was too old-fashioned, too traditional?

Lost in thought, I didn’t notice the driver asking where I wanted to go. “Back to where you picked us up,” I said at last.

As the taxi sped away, I sat there, still pondering. My fingers lingered at my lips, and I suddenly remembered the strange question Hua Jingjing had asked me as she left: “When couples say goodbye, what do they usually do?”

Recalling Qiu Jieqin’s farewell kiss, enlightenment struck me—it was a goodbye kiss.

A goodbye kiss?

I remembered how Hua Jingjing had looked, angry and embarrassed, calling me “not just a scoundrel, but an idiot!” Her eyes, her expression—could it be that she wanted a goodbye kiss from me, too?

I sat stunned for a long while before finally chuckling at myself. “Impossible,” I thought. “She was just teasing me.”

Back home, I washed up and went to bed, but Qiu Jieqin’s disappointed look and her parting words—“Coward!”—kept flitting through my mind.

I didn’t know when I finally fell asleep. The next morning, remembering it was Saturday and I didn’t have to work, I ate breakfast and began thinking about where to take Qiu Jieqin for a day of fun. Just then, my phone, which I’d left on the table, started ringing incessantly. I picked it up and answered, “Hello, who’s this?”

Hua Jingjing’s laugh came through the receiver. “Lazybones, are you up yet? I’m downstairs at your building. Hurry up—we have a lot to take care of today!”

Startled, I hurried to the window and glanced down. The red Ferrari was parked outside, and Hua Jingjing was leaning out the car window, waving and smiling up at me.