Chapter 8.2: To Turn from Pa.s.sive to Active Behaviour
Although Xu Mo Ting has spent some time overseas and was exposed to the Westerner’s easy and open approach to love relationship, his view on love is nevertheless traditional and cautious. It can also be said to be “faithful unto death”. He didn’t like to look around. Hence when he has made up his mind on something, he will not make many changes again. In his view, there was nothing wrong with this kind of att.i.tude. Everyone also has their own course in life. Once it has been confirmed, his usual practice was to walk all the way to the end.
After putting the keys on the table, he lifted his eyes to glance at the person holding onto the door rail: “Are you intending to continue to stand in the doorway?”
“No ah.” An Ning smiled, put her hands behind and slowly walked in. Cry …… dead meat! She has just bullied him in the restaurant …… will he retaliate ah? Up until now, An Ning still could not figure out why she threw herself at him and took the initiative to kiss him. Moreover it was under the watchful eyes of so many people …… She must be out of her mind.
She carefully set foot in the house. This was the first time An Ning entered Xu Mo Ting’s residence. The place was very clean and neat. The floor was covered with creamy white carpet. In the middle of the living room stood a simple looking movable bookshelf. The sofa is light colour, very matching with the carpet. The bedroom and the kitchen are open plan so they appeared s.p.a.cious but not empty. Everything was just right …… He is really a meticulous person?
After regaining her composure, she saw that person standing by the bed and was in the process of taking off his black cardigan. An Ning was stupefied until became over-indulgence. Wah, nice body and the skin also good …… wrong wrong …… “Why are you undressing?”
He frowned, “I don’t like my clothes to have the smell of deep frying fumes.” He has already taken out a white shirt and put it on.
Shedding tears, she was not CJ (Chun Jie means pure in Chinese) ……
Unexpectedly, he laughed softly: “What do you want me to do?”
“No ……” This was definitely from the bottom of the heart.
Mo Ting looked at her. She immediately pulled herself together and spoke out: “You do your work la. I will sit beside you and read but will not disturb you.”
Actually Xu Mo Ting did not pay any more attention to her. He switched on his laptop and got down to business.
Time pa.s.sed by, there was a unique kind of quietness in the atmosphere around them.
An Ning took a book called “International Politics” from the shelf to look over. At the beginning, she was browsing quite seriously. After about a quarter of an hour, she felt the book was somewhat dull. Thus she has nothing to do, so she secretly observed him …… Under the light, Xu Mo Ting’s silhouette was very good looking. The way he was holding his pen and writing with it was unique and stylish.
An Ning was a little lost in thought. She picked up a pen and started to draw on a rough paper ……
“Why are you moving?” He tilted his head to her side.
“…… I did not move ah.”
Xu Mo Ting smiled with his eyelids half-closed: “In that case, what are you looking at?”
“…… I am not looking ah.” She cautiously bowed her head to flip over a page of “International Politics.”
An Ning felt there was a psychic force circulating in the originally quiet atmosphere. When she lifted up her head, Xu Mo Ting has already walked to stand in front of her. She could not help looking slightly stunned when he reached over …… to brush aside her hair.
An Ning forced herself to remain calm and tried to smile: “Have you finished your work?”
Mo Ting just looked at her. His hand slowly slid down, pa.s.sing the eyes and cheeks …… the moment his lips touched her lips, Mo Ting felt she trembled slightly once.
He held back and repeatedly reminded himself to take it easy. He can’t afford to make any mistake this time as he clearly understood she was not accustomed to feelings that were too intense or pa.s.sionate. This was why his att.i.tude has always been somewhat reserved. However, he now discovered that he felt a bit difficult to remain clam and collected, especially when she was at somewhere within easy reach.
“An Ning, do you want to kiss me?” He lifted up his head and said that in a persuasive and enticing voice.
The atmosphere was very quiet until An Ning seemed to be able to hear the sound of her own heartbeat
On Xu Mo Ting’s side, he was a little bit nervous.
An Ning steeled herself because at that time, she was thinking: It was such a disadvantage to be kissed with such intensity every time, moreover …… All right, she has indeed been tempted. When she came round, she held out her hand to embrace his neck right away and pasted her lips directly on it. Because she was too abrupt in getting up, she stumbled. As a result he was thrown on the sofa …… just like a l.u.s.ty and hungry wolf? An Ning’s face was burning red. Whereas the person lying beneath appeared like he has been bullied.
She was about to move away in embarra.s.sment but she has second thought: Since it is already like this, she might as well carry it through (how can you think like this?) ……
Recalling the way he kissed her, she stuck out her tongue to lick his pursed up lips. The person underneath looked at her with his pitch black eyes and held out his hand to touch her waist. He gently opened his mouth to let her penetrate deeper ……
…… In the moist and warm breath, there was a kind of indescribable palpitations ……
Suddenly the sound of the opening of the door startled the two persons on the sofa. The person who felt unjust raised her head in a daze. She almost fell off the sofa but luckily Xu Mo Ting swiftly embraced her. When Mo Ting saw who has come, he was also slightly surprised. He quickly regained his composure and addressed that person.
Mom? Auntie …… it was hard for the shocked An Ning to calm down…… wasn’t she violating her son in hunger just a moment ago?
An Ning buried herself in Xu Mo Ting’s neck and thought she might as well suffocate to death on the spot. Anyway Mo Ting did not intend to let her go. He turned around and asked his mother: “Why did you come?”
Mrs Xu has already regained her composure because after all, she has experienced much of life. She just smiled and said: “I’ve come to bring you something to eat. You’ve a friend with you?”
An Ning pondered. No matter how humiliating, she still needed to politely greet people …… She was about to push aside the person holding her but the other party refused to cooperate by still holding on to her. An Ning was puzzled and looked up. She discovered that he was also looking at her. His eyes revealed his calmness as well as pa.s.sion. An Ning blushed, when the other party whispered something in her ear. Then he casually loosened his grip, got up and walked over to Mrs Xu to take the bag of food into the kitchen: “Did you come over by yourself?”
“Yes.” Mrs Xu was smiling and followed him into the kitchen. An Ning has already stood up and greeted softly, “Hi auntie.” What did he mean “You can continue later ……” ah?
“h.e.l.lo.” Only now, Mrs Xu dared to brazenly look at her from head to toe once. Initially she did not want to frighten her but she cannot help from asking: “Little girl and Mo Ting are schoolmate?”
“Yes ……”
“Mom, do you want tea or purified water?”
“I’ll stay for a while then leave. You go and get busy with your work, no need to care about me. Why didn’t you pour a drink for little girl?” Mrs Xu saw the coffee table in front of An Ning was empty.
An Ning glanced at the cup Xu Mo Ting previously handed her (the Queen’s cup). Oh no, she has been screwed? “Well …… auntie, I am not thirsty, so it does not matter.”
Mrs Xu noticed that she spoke softly and gently with a bit of timidness, so she cannot help but felt relief by saying: “No need to be nervous. Just treat chatting with auntie like you normally chat with your mother at home.”
An Ning nodded. Actually she was not really nervous, but merely …… embarra.s.sed.
Mrs Xu will not meddle much with his only son’s private life because of her optimistic att.i.tude. However her son has a girlfriend now, so she felt this was not trivial. Previously when he was overseas, he was a loner. She even advised him before if he was interested in a female schoolmate, he can try and date her. The outcome was he always said that he currently has no such intention. As time pa.s.sed by, year after year, as his mother, she was really a bit worried that her aloof son, will eventually tell her that he was “not going to get married”, so much to worry ……
She cannot help but carefully size up the girl in front once again. She is really pleasant to the eyes. People of her generation believe in looking at facial features. Oval-shaped face, philtrum clear, transparent eyes, all most suitable to set up a warm home. She did not expect her own son will like this kind of gentle type.
“What is your name?”
She disclosed her name. An Ning answered all the questions that were asked.
Mrs Xu read it aloud once and was wondering: “How come this name is a little familiar-sounding?”
An Ning acknowledged her name is quite common.
At this time, Xu Mo Ting said softly: “Her name is quite common.”
“……” No need to be so blunt, right?
Mrs Xu laughed: “When are you going to auntie’s home to have a simple meal?”
An Ning looked helplessly at someone who was leaning against the washbasin but did not bother to come over. He was aware of her appeal for help so he helped her to answer: “Next weekend la, she is quite busy lately.”
“……”
Mrs Xu was quite comforted: “Your father is also very busy during this time period. The son bringing his girlfriend home can probably let him rest for a day.”
An Ning: “……” All senior cadre families are also like that, “obstinately clinging to one’s course”?
Before leaving, Mrs Xu lightly caressed her long hair and smilingly said: “After six or seven years old, this is the first time I’ve seen Mo Ting so clingy.”
Clingy?
Hence An Ning gazed at someone who was flipping over some information on hand and talking to a colleague on the phone …… auntie, you must be mistaken.
When it was nine o’clock, Xu Mo Ting sent her back to the university’s dormitory. When he was driving pa.s.sed a restaurant, he turned his head to ask her: “Do you want to eat supper?”
The car has already stopped in the parking lane, An Ning: “……”
She has been left speechless continuously today. Actually she was irritated. After thinking carefully, although she was in a dominant position, it seemed because she was the one who was enticing him so she got to be in this dominant position …… in the end, she met with his parent unprepared. Although on the surface, all was calm and quiet, uh …… in fact it also seemed calm and quiet?
The more she thought about it, the more she felt something was wrong. She kept on feeling she got screwed ……
When they pushed the door to go in, they ran into a customer disputing at the counter. After An Ning took a closer look, she discovered the customer looked familiar. The reason why she could recognise her with one glance which was a rare case, was because this person inflicted an injury on her face not long ago.
When An Ning was walking behind her, she happened to move back. Xu Mo Ting reacted timely to pull that carelessness someone back to his side first.
The girl who turned round was startled by the two persons in front of her. She glared fiercely at An Ning like she has recognized who she was. She has just frowned, then she also saw the person who stood next to her. Did not know why she was frightened. Finally, she only said: “I am dead meat, really bad luck!” She swore and stepped out of the restaurant.
An Ning was puzzled: “Very bad luck to see me?”
Xu Mo Ting smiled and went to sit down. Then he asked, “Do you know her?”
An Ning thought for a while. In fact, she is not good at retelling society type incidents, so she only said they have met once before.
Mo Ting was also not interested to ask further on this. He signalled the waiter to come over and ordered two cold mung bean soup.
“Eat a bit less at night.”
An Ning looked at him. Finally she turned her head to look at the nightscape outside the window. That is right, she was the one who wanted to come to eat supper ……
“But you should eat a bit more.”
An Ning turned her head back.
The tall and handsome guy opposite said very seriously: “Next time, when you want to kiss me, you will have a bit more strength.”
…… This is precisely what is called real bullying? Suddenly An Ning came to realize …… she was the one who has been bullied by him all along … right?
That day someone returned to the dormitory with her stomach full. Qiang Wei and Mao Mao had already come back from watching the movie. They kept saying: “Nowadays, the men are very pure and innocent ah.”
“……”
“Meow Meow, when is brother-in-law inviting us to have a meal ah?” Qiang Wei.
“Yes ah, the end of the year is approaching, so the landowner’s home has no surplus grain.” Mao Mao.
“If you are talking about landowner —— Xu Mo Ting is precisely that.” Zhao Yang.
“……” An Ning.
The day’s final curtain dropped.