Chapter 2: Business Trip
“Are you going on a business trip? When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me?”
Xia Qiange threw down the phone that was on the sofa and quickly walked up to him. But she pursed her lips and was silent. Her hand was on her heart, and she gently closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
After a long while, she opened her eyes and raised a pair of dark and gloomy eyes. Her eyebrows were tightly furrowed, but she still tried her best to suppress her tone and asked him, “Really?”
Su Yu put down the book in his hand. He opened his mouth, and a sense of a helpless and irrefutable feeling arose. He licked his dry lips and carefully looked at her expression. But she was staring at him, and it was clear that he couldn’t get away with being perfunctory.
He was touched by her soft and gentle gaze, and Su Yu quickly gave in. He shrugged. “Yes, there’s a business trip. I want to take it. There’s a subsidy. If I want to get a promotion, I have to accumulate these things in the company. And besides, you’re now…”
He reached out and touched her face, his tone gentle. “Aren’t you getting better? I can rest assured about you now.”
“I…”, she suddenly widened her eyes and was stunned for a moment. She was a little afraid to believe it. “Am I really… better?”
This illness had tormented her for too long, so long that she had slowly gotten used to it. The first thing she saw when she woke up was always him. That was enough. The tide of desire was rising and falling. She had already anchored her reef. She was no longer the her who was drifting with the waves.
“It’s been a year…”, his fingertips gently brushed over the corners of her eyes.
“A year…”, she looked at him with an innocent look, and the wavering in her eyes was not very real.
Even though they were married, there were still contradictions between them. At first, she couldn’t tolerate him leaving her sight for more than three seconds. She couldn’t stand him having contact with other women, and she could only have his scent on her. The most serious time was when he had told her that he was going to work, and that he might have less time to spend with her.
A chronic illness is a long-term process of fighting against the disease. This process is cruel and tormenting. To remove the morbid thoughts that have already penetrated deep into the bone marrow is like breaking a bone and letting out blood, and the pain of the flesh and blood breaking apart.
To love someone is to let go, to forgive him, to believe in him, and to be at ease with everything about him.
So this life, which was filled with domestic bliss, was mixed with a lot of happiness and pain. She was like a babbling baby, and she was trying to slowly break her once-crazy and obsessive view of love, and she was wanting to reshape another complete and normal her.
It was very clumsy at first. She had fallen repeatedly, had been self-deprecating, had complained, and had given up. But what occasionally made her ecstatic was that he would always hold her hand and say that she had grown a little today. So every time, she would be as happy as a child, and she would slowly gather her courage and continue to try.
She was actually not in that much pain. She was just afraid that he would leave her.
“How long…”
After a long while, Xia Qiange held his hand, which was on her cheek. Her eyes were twisted with a conflicted and reluctant emotion, and her smile was a little pale. She forced a smile on her lips. “I’ll wait for you at home.”
Her palm was rarely warm, and on the contrary, it had comforted his uneasy heart. The message in his phone was just trying to understand. He had been hesitating, and he was far from being in a hurry to make a decision.
Su Yu slowly raised a finger and stopped in front of her.
“A day?”
She suddenly let out a sigh of relief.
“A week?”, she gritted her teeth, thinking that it was not unacceptable.
Su Yu’s expression was hesitant for a while. He suddenly held her shoulders, and only then did he slowly tell her the answer.
“I have to go out for a month.”
She stared at his deep and dark black eyes in shock for a long time. She was sure that this was the truth. In the end, she almost pathetically turned her eyes away. “So long. I have to stay at home alone for a month.”
“Everyone seems to be quite busy. They probably can’t find the time. How about… I hire a nanny to take care of you?”
“But I still like the milk you cook for me…”
She knew he felt sorry for her, and her acting spoiled was almost killing. She lowered her eyes, and she was pitiful.
It was as if he had hurt her. Su Yu suddenly felt a little guilty, thinking that he might have been too hasty. He leaned down and wanted to comfort her. “You listen to me. It’s just the beginning of my career. In the future, I’ll have more and more time to spend with you…”
Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted. She suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck, and her voice was trembling, like a little animal that was waiting to be fed. She was pure and harmless and was whimpering in his ear. “Do you know what a month of a business trip means? After a month… it’s our…”
“Wedding anniversary.” He had already understood, and he had answered without any hesitation. “I’ll definitely be back in time.”
She was speechless and turned her head away, still a little unwilling. “So you’ve already thought it all out. And you’re still telling me.”
Su Yu couldn’t help but laugh. He looked at the her, who was restraining her reason, and she was like a little girl who had just fallen in love, and she was finding reasons to complain about him, and she was having a temper tantrum with him.
He deliberately dragged out his tone and teased her. “Then… who was secretly looking at my phone?”
“I… I was just looking at the time. Didn’t you ask me to record my fingerprint?”
She knew she was in the wrong and lowered her head and stared at the tips of her feet. After a long while, she suddenly raised her head and emphasized her tone, almost fiercely adding, “As your wife, Su, I have the right to check if you’re secretly doing! Bad! Things! behind my back.”
“Alright, alright. Then I’ll agree to them. I’ll leave the day after tomorrow…”
Su Yu held the back of her head and pulled her to his chest. His chin was on her forehead. “I’ll be back soon. I’ve already promised. I’ll never leave you without a word again.”
Xia Qiange was obediently held by him. She rubbed against the hollow of his neck and caressed his well-defined hand with a love that she couldn’t let go of. Her voice became a little smaller, and it was muffled and was passing through his chest, as if it were directly hitting his heart.
“I’ll really miss you.”
…
He had gotten up early, but he had not left until very late.
There had been a little accident in the morning. He had accidentally woken her up when he had secretly gotten up.
Her emotions had suddenly gotten a little out of control with her morning grumpiness. While he was not paying attention, she had completely emptied the suitcase that the two of them had packed together last night on the floor. She was crying and was clinging to him, wanting to keep him, and not letting him go.
He had ignored her and had silently picked up the things that had been scattered all over the floor. It had taken him a long time to tidy them up. His face was not very good. She had been watching on the side with an uneasy look, and her palms were full of sticky sweat.
It was not until he had finished packing again that she had run over and had grabbed the corner of his clothes. He had turned his head and had seen her self-blaming and uneasy expression. The scolding he had been thinking of had not come out of his mouth.
“I really didn’t mean to.” She was about to cry, and she was holding the corner of his clothes and was not letting him go. “I just couldn’t control myself for a moment.”
“Yeah, I know.”
She still didn’t believe her. She bit her lip and blinked her watery eyes, and she was persistent. “You must be angry with me.”
Su Yu sighed. He was really not angry this time.
He had been persuading her, and he had been comforting her, and he had been telling her to take it slow. But the one who should not have been in a hurry… was him.
His heart was paralyzed. He had been easily blunted by her. His words had also slowed down, and his four fingers were together. “Then I’ll swear, okay?”
“Don’t, don’t. I believe you, I believe you.”
She had pulled down Su Yu’s half-raised hand and had also taken the initiative to help him carry his luggage to the door. She had looked at his clear and handsome, dejected appearance, and her heart was still reluctant. She had thought of the time she would have to sleep alone at night, and she was so sad that her heart was sour. The words she had said were also filled with a childish possessiveness, and she was chattering in his ear, like an old woman who was sending her son on a long journey.
“You have to be careful when you’re alone outside. You’re not allowed to look at other girls. It’s a big summer now. Those fairies are all wearing so little. They’re so shameless. If you look at them, you’ll definitely be entangled. And you can’t give your contact information to others who ask for it. They just think you’re handsome and want to flirt with you. They’re all with bad intentions. And also… you have to call me every day before you go to bed. You have to miss me. You’re not allowed to forget me. You can’t ignore me just because of the novelty…”
“Alright, I promise you everything. I promise you everything.”
He was holding his forehead, and his temples were a little swollen. He had interrupted her still-incessant and unfinished instructions.
“Hmph, you’re in such a hurry to leave. Are you tired of me now?”
Xia Qiange puffed out her cheeks with a dissatisfied look and held him tightly again. Her slender arms were getting tighter and tighter, as if she wanted to absorb all the security she needed to live alone during this period.
She had entrusted everything to him. If she lost him, she would have nothing.
Su Yu gently stroked her messy hair from the morning. The tip of his nose was lightly rubbing against it, and he smelled the fresh and gentle floral fragrance on her.
“Why don’t you have any confidence in yourself?”, he ruffled the soft flesh on her cheeks, which had slowly been raised. The texture was getting better and better now.
“Because someone once left me without a word, and it was on my wedding day. A little kitten that has been abandoned by its master… is there any that is not clingy?”
She raised her head, and a pair of pure and harmless eyes were staring at him. The words she said were directly poking at his sore spot.
Su Yu’s mouth was so painful that he was grinning. He coughed twice, and his eyes were on the other side. “Cough cough, I think we shouldn’t mention the past.”
“Anyway… anyway, it’s just…” he raised his head and looked at the ceiling, and he had been brewing his words for a long time before he comforted her in her ear.
“The people outside are not as beautiful as you. I can’t get enough of you. How can I be tired of you?”
“Su Yu…”
There was no expected deep love. Her voice had on the contrary, suddenly calmed down, and it had brought him a hint of a chill for no reason.
“Wh-What’s wrong?”
She had slowly let go of the force that was holding him, and her tone was questioning.
“I’ve found that you’re really getting better and better at saying these sweet nothings. But I’ve clearly never heard them before. You… have you not said these things to them a few times?”
His heart had skipped a beat, and Su Yu’s face was not very good-looking.
“Is that so? This is a talent.”
“Haha…”
Xia Qiange smiled noncommittally and stood on her tiptoes and kissed his forehead.
“Be careful on the way.”
