Love Late

Translator: dairytea

Proofreaders: ayszhang, Marcia, mao, marigoldmochi

 Vol. 2

Here"s the last part of chapter 20! :)

 “Shu Nian, Ke Luo has something to say to you.”

Ke Luo was a bit hesitant. I shot him a “give-it-your-all” look and, with a twist of my mouth and awrinkle of my nose, gestured him to go on over.

After Ke Luo slightly dithered for a while, he finally said,“Yeah, let’s talk in the living room.”

Shu Nian looked at me, and then looked at him.  He wiped his hands on his ap.r.o.n and followedhim into the living room.

I intentionally stayed in the kitchen and idly looked around forsomething to eat.  My mouth had nothingto do, so if I didn’t chew on something, I’d get antsy.

Just as I was rummaging through the fridge and chewing through atightly-sealed package of beef tendons, I heard a sudden noise fromoutside.  When I poked my head out to look,there was one more man out there with a b.l.o.o.d.y nose and a swollen face frombeing badly beaten in the living room.  What the f.u.c.k? He has the nerve to show up?

And Ke Luo, this not-so-bright guy, actually stood in thedistance generously giving them some s.p.a.ce to talk at a moment like this.  Why the heck was he mimicking me with thisn.o.ble act of his?  Shouldn’t he be standingin front of Shu Nian, in between the two, making a move to fend off XieYan? 

Shu Nian’s eyes turned red with rage.  A bunny will bite if forced into a corner.  It was my first time hearing him say so muchin one breath.

“I know that women may be able to do things that I can’tdo.  There are all these problems becauseI’m not a woman.  But don’t tell me it’syour first day realizing I’m a man.  Ifthis is a taboo, you shouldn’t have been with me from the very beginning!  After all these years, isn’t it too late foryou to blame me for being a man?

“I can be greedy too!  AndI’m selfish as well!  There’s no way forme to be generous enough to see you marry someone else and still stay by yourside as your secret lover!”

Xie Yan was agitated to the point that his vein was almostexploding.  “You’re the one who’s p.i.s.singme off!  You actually want me to make adecision?  Have I ever taken off myring?  Every single person at work knowsI’m engaged!  It’s because I’m with youthat I’m tolerating these things. Otherwise, do you think I like giving my sperm?  Do I like having dinner and sharing socialniceties with some girl?  If it weren’tfor you, I wouldn’t be doing any of this! 

“How could I marry someone else? I secretly settled the dating matter because I was afraid of worryingyou.  Xiao Xi’s affair was alreadypainful for you.  I didn’t want you tosuffer from the pressure again.  You haveyour brother and Ke Luo now.  I’m not thebest person, and I cause so much trouble. If you can’t bear it anymore and suddenly leave me without a word likebefore, hiding who knows where, then what am I to do?!”

Shu Nian’s hand shot out and made contact.  The sound was loud and clear.  He really used all his strength.  I stared stupefied.

“Don’t make excuses!”

A grown man like Xie Yan was so unruffled by it that his eyesreddened.  “I’m not!  Don’t tell me you can put up with my parentscontinuously coming up with new ways to hinder us from being together!  If I abandoned my family and became apenniless good-for-nothing, would you still be able to love me for the rest ofyour life?  I can’t live without youanymore, and I’m so scared of it!”

The useless guy gave him another slap in the face and actuallycried out with tears, “You have to realize that I can endure anything.  I’ll follow you even if you become a beggar.  But you can’t be unfaithful, you can’t lie tome, and you can’t become someone else’s husband!  If you really have a change of heart andthink someone else is better, then don’t keep me around anymore.  Or else I won’t just stand there and justwatch you guys be happy.”

The young master of the Xie household, who was slapped twice, tightlyembraced him.

Ke Luo silently walked to the door, and I also slipped awaywithout a sound.  I closed the door afterthe two of us walked out to leave some s.p.a.ce inside for the two men.  Although that guy wasn’t bright, perhaps hedidn’t need me to worry about him after all.

Sure enough, it’s better to convey your love out loud.  It’s the same even for those who are as muchin love with each other as they are. People are full of insecurity. Regardless if it’s Shu Nian or Xie Yan, we are all scared of not beingable to completely possess something forever.

The two of us stood awkwardly outside the door for a while.  Ke Luo fell into silence.  I patted his shoulder.  “Let’s go drink.  My treat.”

I never would have thought that this time, what seemed like aserious crisis was so easily settled. Bystanders really have no way of understanding the workings of the mindof a person in love.

I felt a little guilty towards Ke Luo.  I was the one who had pointlessly instigatedhim.  And, as a result, before he couldmake his move in time, he was completely defeated yet again.

He was full of hope, but then was killed with one shot.  If.u.c.king know the utter feeling of a broken heart all too well! Become a patron at www(dot)patreon(dot)com/dairytea

I took the silent, tall boy into a bar and unrestrainedlyordered some drinks.  We sat across fromeach other drinking one drink after another.

“Come on, let’s have a toast. Uncle Lee gives you an apology.  Thistime it’s Uncle Lee’s fault for making you suffer.”

Ke Luo said, “No, I’m all right.”

“Yes, you’re all right,” I consoled him.  “Finish these drinks, sleep it out, and onceyou get up, you’ll be fine.”

I rambled on as I kept urging him to drink more.  But the one who was drinking most vigorouslywas me.  Ke Luo stopped drinking afteronly two drinks.

“Come on, drink some more. Drink your worries away. Actually, you like Shu Nian so much that you’re even happy for him nowthat he’s happy, am I right?  Spill outall your sorrows right now and I’ll listen. Don’t hesitate to say whatever is on your mind.”

Ke Luo held my gla.s.s down. “Lee, you’re drinking too much.”

“Oh, that’s right.  It’syou who should be drinking more.  I’lldrink with you.”

“I didn’t intend to take advantage of the situation and pursueShu Nian.”

“Yeah, yeah.  Don’t besad.  Xie Yan isn’t as good as you.  This was only by luck and chance.”

Ke Luo thought for a moment. “I care about Shu Nian, but even if they break up, I don’t intend totake the opportunity to be together with Shu Nian.”

“Is that so...?”

He said, “I’ve fallen for someone else.”

“What?”  I was alreadymore or less drunk as I looked up at him smiling.

“I’ve fallen for someone other than Shu Nian.” 

The smile on my face froze. It was as if a loud thunder resounded in my ears, and my head suddenly feltswollen.

“I’m sorry, I have to go. I have something to do.”  Iquickly pushed out my chair and shot up. I turned around to leave, even forgetting to pay my bill.

I still couldn’t bear it. I wanted to continue acting calm by playing the good senior and drinkingwith him until dawn.

But it was as if my chest was about to burst open now.

There are three things on earth that you cannot hide: sneezes,poverty, and love.

“Lee, what’s wrong?”  KeLuo was somewhat helpless as he chased after me and grabbed me.  His strength was so great that, for a moment,I actually couldn’t walk any farther.

I couldn’t resign myself to it. I couldn’t stand it.  He finallywasn’t infatuated with Shu Nian and could love someone else.  Was this my punishment for not perseveringuntil the end?

If it was Shu Nian, then I could forget about it.  I’d already accepted that.  Everything is first come, first served.  It was just bad luck that I didn’t meet him whenhe was seventeen.  That was fate.

If he had wanted to offer his entire life to Shu Nian, I wouldhave acknowledged my defeat to that bit of his untainted stubbornness.

But now he was telling me that he had given up.

Yet I had given up before he had told me.  In the end, I missed my chance once again.

Just like opening a bottle, I had finally loosened it afterexerting all my effort, but as it turned out, the one to open it wasn’tme.  I had to watch with eyes wide openas someone else swallowed him down.

I want to f.u.c.king cry right now.  Ialways said Shu Nian was useless, but as it turned out, I wasn’t any betterthan him.

With blood-shot eyes, I seized his collar and took theopportunity to roughly push him against the wall.  I could care less about the sidelong glancesfrom the people in the bar.

“Who’s the b.a.s.t.a.r.d that cut in line?”

Ke Luo widened his eyes at me. “What?”

“Who have you fallen for? Zhuo Wen Yang?  Lin Jing?  Or is it someone else?!”  I already felt myself losing my mind.  “You brat! No matter how you look at it, I should be the one who’s at the front of theline now!  Wasn’t I second in lineearlier?”

Seeing Ke Luo’s stunned look angered me so much that I couldn’tcatch my breath.  Perhaps it was all inmy mind that I was even second in line.  What the f.u.c.k is this?  What kind of s.h.i.tty world is this?  How f.u.c.king pathetic am I?

Not only my chest, but even my head felt swollen as if it wasabout to split open.  Who knew how manyyears it had been since I’ve had my emotions stirred up like this.  My vision turned red.

“Let me tell you, regardless of who it is, it’s all thesame!  I just want you!  If I’m no match for them in some aspects, Iwill definitely beat them in other aspects! I’ll try harder than anyone else in pursuing you.  There is no one in this world that could bemore fixated with you.  You’ll regret itif you let me slip by you!”

I said it as I gnashed my teeth. My ears were buzzing, and then I forcibly blocked his mouth.

My mouth only touched his, and in an instant, I couldn’t feelanything.  The entire world turned pitchblack.  Spots of bright colors flashedout from the darkness.  There was nosense of vision, no sense of hearing.  Whatremained was only the sensation of our tongues touching.

When our lips parted, I felt like my blood pressure was alreadyso high that I was unable to support it. I couldn’t breathe.

Images of Ke Luo seemed to be overlapping a little.  I saw his lips move, but I couldn’t hear him.

Next thing I knew, my vision turned dark.  It really was completely pitch black.

Within the borderless, muddled tranquility, I faintly heardsomeone saying something all of a sudden in a very low voice.  Aware that my current situation was “right inthe middle of waking up,” my heart jumped all at once.

Am I dreaming after all?

I first opened one eye, and then the other eye.   The room was empty.  A snow-white ceiling, a snow-white bed sheet,a snow-white everything.

s.h.i.t, I was taken to a hospital again.

If the hospital fee could acc.u.mulate VIP points like at some entertainmentplaces, I probably already would have been a VIP this year and could evenexchange points for a great amount of prizes, like a blanket and a tea set.

The door of the room quietly opened, and the person who enteredmade my heart pound fiercely again for a while.

“Ah, you’re up.  Are youfeeling a little better?”

I forced myself to calm down. “What happened to me this time?”

Ke Luo sat by my bedside. “You had a sudden heart attack and pa.s.sed out in the bar.”

I immediately had gooseb.u.mps. “Heart attack?!  How severe wasit?”  AmI going to die?

“Ah.”  Ke Luo feltsomewhat awkward and comforted me by saying, “It’s nothing.  Don’t worry. The doctor said that you drank too much and after that, youwere…too…excited, so, uh…”

I stiffened on the bed. All of a sudden, I found that I couldn’t show my face to him. 

A strong, healthy man like me actually had a sudden heart attackbecause of him.

I really liked him more than I had originally thought.

We both fell into silence in extreme awkwardness.  Ke Luo slightly diverted his gaze, looking elsewhere.  His face reddened a little.  “Do you really like me that much?”

“….” Do not repost! You should only read this at BLtranslation(dot)blogspot(dot)com.

“Do you truly want to maintain a relationship with me?”

I was ashamed and resentful at the same time.  Youstill ask me that even after I had a heart attack for you? Only read at BLtranslation(dot)blogspot(dot)com.

He sat there quietly for a while with a slightly flushed face,and then bowed his head at me.  “I’msorry, Lee.”

I suddenly felt like I couldn’t breathe and only after I hadstraightened up a little, did I say, “That’s fine, that’s fine.”

“I’m sorry for making you wait so long.  I didn’t realize it in the past…in fact, lateron…I just…never had the nerve to say it. And I didn’t know whether you saw through it.  I thought I had made it rather clear to you.  I should have confessed it early on.”

“It’s all right.”  I wavedmy hand.  “You can leave now.  I want to sleep.”

Ke Luo sat there not budging, a bit baffled and hesitant.  “Lee?”

“I really want to rest.  Justleave.  Go find that new love of yours.”

“….”

“Although you deserve to be criticized for being fickle, I canunderstand.  What’s more, I don’t believeShu Nian would mind.  Anyway hurry up andleave.”  I was more or less certain bynow that the person was Lin Jing.  I had alreadylong since felt that it wasn’t a typical relationship between them.  They lived under the same roof, and thecloser you are, the easier it is for you to get what you want.  “Even though he’s capricious, perverted,gluttonous, lazy, has a bad mouth, loves to spend money recklessly, and isabsent-minded when doing things, he’s not bad at heart.  You should cherish him well.  Oh, yeah, remember to get the door on yourway out.”

Ke Luo showed an awkward and somewhat enduring expression.  “Lee, even though I don’t think what you’vesaid is wrong at all…”

“Huh?” Read full chapter at BLtranslation(dot)blogspot(dot)com.

“But are you sure you haven’t gotten the wrong person?  Did you hear what I told you last night?”

“….”

“Uh, do you really evaluate yourself like that?”                          

“…!”

“Lee?”

“.…”

“Are you okay?”

“.…”

“Doctor, doctor!  I thinkhe’s having a stroke!”

 -------------------------------------------------------------------

Dairytea: So it"s a happy ending for the two couples! Hehe. Only Lee would have a confession scene like that~<333 and="" now="" we="" just="" have="" the="" epilogue="" left="" to="" finish="" off="" the="" main="" story="" ^u^="">

Epilogue