The Complete Guide to the Use and Care of a Personal a.s.sistant
Translator: Jury
Editor: NomNom
First Published on Chaleuria
Chapter Ninety-eight
Su Yuyang held onto Ling Miao"s hand, feeling that the entire situation was surreal. Ling Miao"s calm was outside of Su Yuyang"s expectations. Ling Miao"s composure worried Su Yuyang to no end—if Ling Miao was really unruffled, that would be fine, but if this was the calm before the storm…
Su Yuyang lowered his head and looked from the the corner of his eyes at Ling Miao"s expressionless face. Ling Miao seemed to notice it and turned his head to meet Su Yuyang"s searching gaze. He asked, "Is something the matter?"
Su Yuyang smiled and shook his head, the weight in his heart lifting a little. Just as Su Yuyang was about to let out the breath he was holding, Ling Miao stopped walking.
Ling Miao slowly extracted his hand from Su Yuyang"s grip. He walked in front of Su Yuyang so that they were standing face to face and said with a smile: "You"re fine, but I"m not fine. I know your relations.h.i.+p with Tang Xuan, so I want to know why you went to see him behind my back."
Su Yuyang met Ling Miao"s eyes with a steady gaze. He saw the hope and fear in Ling Miao"s eyes. He rested both hands on Ling Miao"s shoulders and smiled gently. "The matter between me and Tang Xuan—I"ll settle it myself. If you knew what it was, I worry that you"ll overthink it."
"If you leave without a word, I won"t be worried?" Ling Miao retorted. "Your expression when you got Tang Xuan"s call told me everything. Your relations.h.i.+p with him wasn"t simple. Then you told me later that you"d started co-writing a novel with him—you probably don"t know this, but I know from Feng Ji that you had an ex-boyfriend you co-wrote a novel with. Putting all the pieces together, do you think I"m overthinking it or justified in being worried? Su Yuyang, I want to go on living peacefully with you, but Tang Xuan"s appearance—no matter why—is going to affect our lives to some degree. Some things can be talked away, but some… mm?"
Ling Miao"s words were stopped by a pair of soft lips.
Strong arms encircled Ling Miao"s body. Ling Miao angrily struggled, but he was gripped even tighter in return. Su Yuyang and Ling Miao"s quarrel had already incited murmurs from the people around them, and Su Yuyang worried that they"d attract even more attention, so he ignored the surprised gazes from all directions and daringly kissed Ling Miao.
Ling Miao frowned. Su Yuyang"s kiss made him uncomfortable, but more importantly, he couldn"t breathe.
"Mm!" Ling Miao angrily stepped on Su Yuyang"s foot. Su Yuyang"s brow furrowed in pain and he reluctantly let go of Ling Miao.
Ling Miao panted for breath, his face red from anger or embarra.s.sment. He huffily turned and walked ahead. Su Yuyang followed quickly behind.
Gradually, Su Yuyang realized that Ling Miao was walking in the wrong direction. This… Ling Miao was going back to his own apartment?
Thinking of this, Su Yuyang quickly took two steps forward and caught Ling Miao as he was about to go through the gate.
"Let"s go home."
"When the matter with Tang Xuan is settled." Ling Miao didn"t struggle because struggling would definitely attract the attention of the security guard on duty. He let Su Yuyang drag him, but his tone made his att.i.tude clear.
Su Yuyang pulled Ling Miao to him and Ling Miao stubbornly turned his head away so that he wasn"t looking at Su Yuyang. Su Yuyang felt helpless, but standing at the gate to the apartment complex was too attention-grabbing, so he pulled Ling Miao into the complex.
It was a rare clear day, but there was still a slight chill in the air, so there weren"t many people outside. Su Yuyang and Ling Miao sat down in a pavilion. Su Yuyang still held Ling Miao"s hand, and Ling Miao still didn"t look at Su Yuyang.
Su Yuyang looked at the anger on Ling Miao"s face and laughed faux-lightly: "Xiao Miao, I"m both happy and sad that you"re like this."
Ling Miao didn"t show any reaction at all.
"Your att.i.tude now makes me think of when we first met." Su Yuyang"s tone was gentle with a hint of flirtatiousness. He reminisced, "At the time, if I made you the slightest bit unhappy, you"d shout and scream at me and complain that you wanted to resign. I like how you were then—it was annoying, but I could feel that you actually were happy. Our relations.h.i.+p now isn"t what it was back then, but the situation now is quite like it was then. I made you mad. But you didn"t throw your temper at me. You didn"t throw your temper at me, but I still feel your wordless anger. It"s a very suffocating feeling and I don"t know what to do to make you go back to the usual you. Tang Xuan"s appearance is very sudden and I don"t know why he"s here either. But you can rest a.s.sured. I"ll definitely settle this matter."
"Really?" Ling Miao looked at Su Yuyang suspiciously.
Su Yuyang"s downcast heart suddenly ignited and he nodded furiously. "Really! Are you still not relaxed around me?"
"If I could relax around you, I wouldn"t need to worry so much." As Ling Miao spoke he suddenly got choked up.
Ling Miao clapped his hand over his mouth so his sobs wouldn"t come out, but the m.u.f.fled sounds were especially clear in the quiet s.p.a.ce.
Su Yuyang scrambled for a tissue and gently wiped away the tears gathering in the corners of Ling Miao"s eyes. He asked worriedly, "Xiao Miao, what"s the matter?"
"What"s the matter?" Ling Miao"s punch landed on Su Yuyang"s shoulder. "I"ve been worried since last night. Worried that Tang Xuan was your ex-boyfriend, worried that he was looking for you to reconcile, worried that he"d s.n.a.t.c.h you away! And then you f.u.c.king left that early in the morning. That"s fine, but you didn"t even take your phone, so I couldn"t even find you to ask for an explanation! I was imagining you had rekindled your old love at first sight and then went to a hotel to… to wind yarn b.a.l.l.s!
"At this point, I couldn"t sit still any more. I held onto a strand of hope and called Tang Xuan, but he rejected the call outright. I"m unbearably stupid. I actually tried to contact you through my suspected love rival.
"f.u.c.k it—what suspected love rival. He"s clearly a love rival!"
Ling Miao said haltingly. Every sniffle seemed to pinch Su Yuyang"s heart.
"I"m the b.a.s.t.a.r.d. I shouldn"t have left my phone at home when I went." Su Yuyang hugged Ling Miao tightly and consoled, "I won"t leave you unable to contact me again."
"Scram!" Ling Miao cursed and broke free of Su Yuyang"s hands.
"But, you really thought Tang Xuan and I would…" Su Yuyang mentally completed what Ling Miao had probably been thinking based on the expression Ling Miao had worn, and couldn"t hold back a snort of laughter. "Xiao Miao, do you really have to give me gift-wrapped to a person like that?
"Even imagining it isn"t okay!" Su Yuyang tyrannically added.
"Give you gift-wrapped to someone else? Mm…" Ling Miao hung his head and began thinking hard. Su Yuyang saw this and couldn"t help complaining: "Hey, hey, hey, are you really going to do that?"
Ling Miao looked at Su Yuyang with reddened eyes. Under the bright light of the lamp, Su Yuyang could clearly make out Ling Miao"s expression.
"Xiao Miao…" Su Yuyang wasn"t in a joking mood any more. Ling Miao bit down on his lip, his worried expression piercing Su Yuyang"s heart. Su Yuyang stood up and looked at the apartment complex"s gate. He said lightly, "Xiao Miao, let"s go home."
Ling Miao took the initiative to hold Su Yuyang"s hand and stood to leave.
"Xiao Miao, why are you worried about me?" Su Yuyang suddenly asked.
Ling Miao said, "Ah," to indicate he didn"t understand.
Su Yuyang knew that Ling Miao was trying to laugh it off.
Why does Ling Miao have no faith in me?
Looking at Ling Miao, Su Yuyang panicked!