Chapter 28.5: I want to marry you tomorrow
The old recliner although is very wide, but it is inconvenient for her feet. It is uncomfortably to lie on it. Any gentle movement will issue a squeak sound. So she dare not move, and her body becomes stiff. Soon, she felt like her waist is broken. For a long time, she could not feel any sleepiness. Soon, she saw a little light coming through the gap of the curtain. She found Zheng Xie deep in sleep, half of his bed empty.
He He wrapped herself with the quilt and roll into a cylinder. She move to the bed and fell slowly onto the half empty side of Zheng Xie’s bed.
She is very quiet and careful hence did not even touch Zheng Xie. But he seems to be alert as he sat up and at the same time, the reading lights lighted up.
“Xiao He He, what do you want to?” Zheng Xie asked with a thick nasal voice.
“Sleepwalking. I was sleepwalking.” She did not expect him to sleep so lightly and with great embarra.s.sment, lying flat on the bed, with half closed eyes. Subsequently she issued light breathing while pretending to sleep. But she flet tha Zheng Xie had been leaning against the bed, no longer lie down with the light still on.
“He He.” Zheng Xie sounds exceptionally husky above her. She did not dare to open her eyes and lay down motionless. After a long while, Zheng Xie said: “I know that you are not asleep. Think about my proposal, to go abroad to study for 1 or 2 years. When you come back, we will get married.”
Xiao He He opened her eyes and looked at the direction of Zheng Xie. But although he had the desk light switched on, but he was hidden in the back light. She could see the outline but could not see his expression but only see that he was looking at her.
The light just happen to shine on He He’s face. And he was glancing at her. He He guess that her own facial expression must be very dull.
She shifted her position, trying to get out of the light range but without any success. Zheng Xie discover her motives, and slightly adjusted the lighting direction. After the lights were shifted, the environment become less intense. He He asked: “Two hours ago, you were ignoring me. Now you actually said you want to marry me. Are you fully awake?”
“I don’t want to get you into the middle of the mess and incriminate you wrongly while letting Auntie Lin loses any face. So I needed a little time to resolve the situation while also need time for everyone to forget about what happen. He He, I thought you can understand.”
“How come you don’t ask if I am willing to marry you?” He He gain her courage and asked. She felt that lying there with Zheng Xie is uncomfortable so she squirm to sit up while still being wrapped around with the quilt. Later, she found that sitting side by side with him is more ambiguous, so she lay back down into the coc.o.o.n-like laying.
In her toss and turn period, Zheng Xie kept quiet. Until she lay down again, he said: “You had taken the initiative to climb into my bed, so I thought you would not object.”
“When I was younger, I often sleep in your bed.” He He then refute. She found these words with different implication, so her face started to heat up.
As a child, she did often sleep in his bed. She often ran out from her room at midnight and squeeze into his bed. Once he locked the door. At the entrance, He He silently cried outside of his door. Don’t know how he heard, he finally opened the door to let her enter.
He He has a bad sleeping habit. She often sleep in a rough way, with her feet pressing onto Zheng Xie’s stomach, her head arch under his armpit. So he would often took the advantage of her sleeping, and using the quilt, wrapper her tightly into an infant state. This caused her not being able to move. Later, it became her habit, sleep with the quilt wrapped around her body into a tubular shape, just like a big fruit pancake.
But this was a long time ago now. Probably from the time he started high school, He He is not allowed to sleep in his bed. If He He have to rely on him and still wants to sleep in his bed, he would lie on the couch. After a period of time, He He no longer rely on him.
Zheng Xie took the opportunity of discussing with He He the issues on hand at night when her brain is still in a chaos. He ignored her and continued: “Since you do not have a boyfriend and I no longer have a fiancée, then of course we should get married. If it is not because of what you did…. Maybe now we would have already got married.” Zheng Xie calmly explained, as the saying goes: “The sun rises in the east and rotate to the west. This is the revolution of the Earth.”
Xiao He He got up again and got rid of the quilt. She sat down with Zheng Xie, feeling that her position is relatively stronger now. “Brother, you like to keep your promises. You should be more carefully before you speak.”
“Do you think that I am saying it casually?”
“If it is not because you found out about the incident, you would never had the thought of marrying me. You do not need to be held for a lifetime. I had said so many times, I do not need any compensation. In fact, all these years, if it is not because of Shi Lin and Cen Shi appearing, I really had forgotten about the incident. How come you do not believe that I am telling the truth?”
“He He, all these days where we were apart, I did not had a comfortable life. You also did not had a comfortable life. I think that is enough to prove that we should be together.”
“That is because you were harboring the guilt towards me. And I was afraid of affecting your normal life. If not, I accidentally spilled the beans, you would not know anything. Everything would have still been the same.”
“Didn’t you asked me, why did we break up? Wei Qi asked me if I love her. Looking into her eyes, I could not say the words that she wishes. Also, when you were with Cen Shi, I see it as an eyesore. If you are also entangled into the problem….”
“Ah, you do not necessarily love her, because you really do not love anyone. That include yourself. But you cannot deny that you like her a lot. But you were too honest of a man, refuse to lie. She certainly did not leave you because you did not say those words. But she left because she loves you more than you loves her. So she decided to walk away. As for Cen Shi….. because you do not like him, so you see him as unsightly. In the cases of those that you do not hate, such as Brother Shi Lin, and those that you had recommended to me in the past, if I chooses to be with them, you would be happy.”
Zheng Xie said: “He He, can you dwell on this point. We are talking about the future.”
“But you cannot deny that if that incident did not happen, or you do not know, then you would not make this decision?”
The outcome of this quarrel is Zheng Xie re-wrapped He He from head to toe and then throw her in the middle of the bed. And he slept on the chaise.
He He tired and sleepy and finally fell asleep. When she opened her eyes, the sky started to light up. She dreamt that she was in the cable car up the mountain. Staggered and long after, woke up. She found herself still crouched in the coc.o.o.n-shaped roll but was lying on her own bed. Probably when she was dreaming, it was Zheng Xie throwing her back into her room.
Early in the morning, Aunty w.a.n.g came back from the country. She saw the sunken eyes of Zheng Xie and was surprised and distressed. She persuaded him to go back to work a few days later. Later, she saw He He’s trotter foot and almost collapsed: “I only left for one night only!”