Chapter 16
The next morning, Yun Jin rose with a pounding head. She ached all over so she sat on the edge of her bed to gather her senses. Yesterday’s memories slowly trickled in. She had overindulged in alcohol and it appeared that Ju An had sent her home.
She headed towards the ladies while ma.s.saging her temples. A hostel mate, Xiao Wen, smiled slyly “Yun Jin, how much did you actually drink? You were dead drunk.”
“One gla.s.s of beer.”
“What?! That was the result of only one measly cup?” Xiao Wen rolled her eyes. “But then again, if such a handsome guy were to send me home, I would also be drunk; drunk with flattery!”
Yun Jin smiled and washed up. However, Xiao Wen was so excited that she walked up to Yun Jin and nudged her “Oh do tell how you met that handsome guy!”
Yun Jin froze. Shen Ju An was someone every student recognized.
“The person who sent me home yesterday … ?”
“Oh quit acting.” Xiao Wen chided her. “That hottie isn’t from our school right? I just know our school won’t produce men with such an aura.”
“What aura?” Yun Jin put down the towel in her hand.
“It’s hard to describe; his build is flawless and he seemed so cool that I … Aye, it’s the same guy that Xiao Lu said was your boyfriend. The one waiting at the foot of our block. Wait, so who’s the real …”
Yun Jin couldn’t care less about what Xiao Wen was saying as she changed hurriedly before making her way to Shen Ju An’s hostel. Her confusion was increasing by the minute. She could have sworn her last memory was that of her leaning on Shen Ju An’s shoulder. What reason could there be for Cheng Zheng to have sent her back? Could something have happened that she wasn’t aware of?
When she reached Shen Ju An’s hall, his hostel-mates informed her that he had already left. Without hesitation, Yun Jin dashed towards the library. She had never wanted to see Shen Ju An more desperately. She needed to know exactly what had happened the night before.
As expected, she found him in the usual spot. When she approached him, he was buried in a book. When he finally noted her presence, he didn’t appear surprised but smiled as he usually did “You’re here. How do you feel? Are you uncomfortable anywhere?”
Yun Jin sat beside him and asked directly “How is it that he sent me home instead of you?”
Shen Ju An looked in her eyes “Is there anything wrong with that?”
“What do you mean?” Yun Jin’s eyes widened.
Shen Ju An didn’t reply. He thought for a while before slowly moving closer to her. Before she could react, he kissed her lightly on the lips before leaning back again. “Yun Jin I realise all this time we’ve been together, I have never once kissed you.”
Yun Jin finally made sense of it “So you’re bothered by his words. It’s not like that. Back then …”
“You don’t have to explain.” Shen Ju An gently cut her off. “I’ve previously mentioned that I won’t give you up because of other people’s interference, much less because of what happened in the past.
“Then why? I don’t believe it’s because he’s Zhang Jin Meng’s nephew.”
Shen Ju An smiled and avoided the question “Yun Jin, I know you very well. You may be able to kid Cheng Zheng and even yourself but you can’t hide it from me. I’ve not broken your cover because I thought you were able to let the past go. But I see now that it’s not an easy thing to do.”
“If I wanted to be with him, I wouldn’t have waited till now.” Yun Jin hated that she was the sort who couldn’t express herself easily.
“Do you not want to be with him? Or do you not dare?” Shen Ju An was unusually cutting with his words.
“I don’t love him.” Yun Jin persisted.
Shen Ju An shook his head. “Then do you love me? Do you love the ideal me, or the real me?”
“I don’t understand what you’re saying.” Yun Jin mumbled as tears pooled in her eyes.
“You do understand Yun Jin. I know we have a wonderful time together because I feel the same. But that’s only because we’re similar in many ways. This is not love. I have my pride.”
Yun Jin bit on her lip to control herself and the tears that were threatening to spill. She said stubbornly “What on earth did he say to you? Tell me.”
Shen Ju An kept his silence.
“Fine. If you won’t tell me, I’ll ask him.”
Yun Jin left the library and headed straight for the school gates. Even when she crossed paths with her fellow peers, she didn’t even bother acknowledging them.
At this moment, Cheng Zheng was still in the city at a relative’s place in an upmarket district. As he had invited Yun Jin and Shen Ju An to his place only two days previously, Yun Jin could roughly remember the way.
When she reached the apartment, Yun Jin pounded on the door with all her might. The door swung open almost immediately and Cheng Zheng stared at her with a delighted expression. But before he had a chance to say anything, Yun Jin delivered a resounding slap.
Cheng Zheng touched his cheek and shouted “Are you crazy?”
Strangely, the tears that Yun Jin had been trying so hard to keep in finally burst its banks. It seemed as though she paid no heed to Cheng Zheng’s wrath. She herself was also different from her usual peaceful manner as she grabbed his clothes and delivered punches and kicks. She cried out “Cheng Zheng you jerk! What did you tell him?”
Cheng Zheng was trying to shield his face as he slowly backed into the house.
“That’s enough. My patience has its limits. Urgh …” Yun Jin’s nails had dugged into his chin drawing blood. He was in pain and immediately grabbed both her hands to stop her.
“What’s so great about being rich?” Seeing that she could not withdraw her hands, Yun Jin was even more infuriated and she kneed him.
Cheng Zheng yelled in pain and used his strength to push her onto the nearby sofa. He then used his weight to pin down her arms and legs before yelling “You’re too much. Are you trying to end my family line?”
Yun Jin could not move. She wanted to curse at him but she couldn’t find the right vocabulary to do so. She cried out “What must I do so that you will leave me alone? How long will you continue to bully me?” Yun Jin cried and cried, as though releasing all her pent-up anguish at having lost Shen Ju An as well as all her frustration at the never-ending struggle with Cheng Zheng.
Cheng Zheng stared at her, helpless. But out of the corner of his eyes, he spied a neighbour who was drawn by all the commotion peeping in. He imagined what the noseyparker must be thinking on spying them in such a compromising position and he smiled bitterly.
After much time had pa.s.sed, Cheng Zheng could feel his shirt soaked through with her tears. Yun Jin was spent after all that crying and had stopped struggling.
She couldn’t accept that the flourishing romance she had with Shen Ju An was over when it had barely started.
After she calmed down, both of them kept quiet for the longest time and only their laboured breathing could be heard. It was only then that she realised how inappropriately tangled up they were.
“Move to a side.” Yun Jin said huffily and embarra.s.sedly.
“You still have the cheek to ask me to move? You cried so loudly just now, it was so embarra.s.sing!”
“What are you talking about?” Yun Jin attempted another kick.
Cheng Zheng deftly moved his crucial bits out of range and angrily said: “How dare you still try and kick me! I always knew you girls always act demurely in public but are such shrews in real life.”
His teeth was clenched as he touched the deep scratch on his chin “Since young, my parents have never once laid a finger on me. Yet you dare to do so even without clarifying anything. You’ll be the death of me. If it were not for the fact that it’s you, I would have …”
“And what would you do about it?” Yun Jin laughed coldly. She recalled the encounter with Shen Ju An in the morning and felt an ache in her heart. “What are you not capable of? You’re such a lowlife Cheng Zheng. What have you done this time?”
“I may be a lowlife, but your Shen Ju An is no saint either.”
“What do you mean?” Yun Jin demanded to know.
“You want to know what I told him? I merely told him the truth, in fact right in your presence. I don’t believe in keeping people in the dark.” He inhaled deeply before continuing “Besides, whatever I had to say, if he were a real man, he would have accepted my open challenge for your affections and not have given you up so readily.”
This was exactly what Yun Jin wanted to avoid hearing. She closed her eyes “Whichever way you try to deny it, it’s still all your fault. Why must you disrupt my life? If you had not appeared, my life would be great.”
“Is that so?” Cheng Zheng arched his brow before leaning in close to her ear “Are you really living well? Then why did you call my name in your drunken stupor?”
Yun Jin opened her eyes in shock. “Don’t be ridiculous! How can that be?”
“I’m being ridiculous? Why don’t you ask Shen Ju An then? He’s the perfect witness.” he said smugly.
Yun Jin went through her version of events but still had no clue what Cheng Zheng was referring to. However, he didn’t seem like he was lying.
Did I really call for him when I was drunk? What could have possessed me, she thought to herself. She retorted “Back then, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. How can you take my words so seriously? Besides, I called your name because I hate you.”
Cheng Zheng leaned in close once again with a sly grin “You hate me? That’s just great because I hate you too. In fact, I’ve hated you for the longest time.”
She could feel his hot breath on her face. She flushed a bright red and her heart beat furiously. “I told you to get up. Did you not hear me you punk?”
“You call this being a punk? You ain’t seen nothing yet.” Cheng Zheng’s eyes reflected a wildness she had never seen before. He pulled her hands and placed them over his chest while caressing her face with his other hand. Then he moved in for the kill. Unlike the previous two instances which were chaste, this was much wilder. She tried to say something but he seized the opportunity to move his tongue in.
Yun Jin was paralyzed in shock and felt that she could not even breathe. She pushed him on his chest but it wasn’t enough to get him to stop.
Only when she sensed that his wandering hand had slipped under her top did she finally muster the strength to grab hold of said hand and said: “Stop!”
Cheng Zheng’s handsome features were possessed by overzealous pa.s.sion. He couldn’t be bothered by her weak resistance and mumbled in reply “No way.” His criminal hand struggled out of her stronghold and slipped under her undergarment.
Yun Jin was so anxious that she fought her way up. However, in doing so, she felt something hard against her thigh. Having b.u.mped into it, Cheng Zheng exhaled sharply in pain as his hands moved with greater vigour.
Yun Jin felt vulnerable in this foreign situation. All the s.e.x-education cla.s.ses she attended told her that this was wrong but she was unable to stop him. Feeling anxious and cornered, Yun Jin’s tears started to fall again.
Cheng Zheng’s suppressed desires had all bubbled to the top and he wanted more. He suddenly felt a wetness on his cheek. Only then did he realise she was crying.
He reigned in his actions with an air of defeat. He buried his face into the curve of her neck and muttered dully “Not again. Sooner or later, you’ll drive me insane.”
Yun Jin struggled to get up but he pushed her back down with one hand while the other one no longer restrained her. Following that, she could faintly make out the sound of a zip being pulled.
“What are you doing now.” She asked tentatively.
“Oh keep quiet. You still dare ask when it’s all your fault?.” Cheng Zheng’s voice sounded strange.
At a ripe age of twenty, if Yun Jin was completely oblivious to what was happening, then she really was an idiot. She understood in an instant and felt hot all over. She squeezed her eyes tight and kept very still. However, as their bodies were in close proximity, she could make out his every action. He jerked suddenly and moaned before collapsing on top of her. After a few minutes, he finally got up lazily and tidied himself.
Yun Jin had wanted to wait till he was done before opening her eyes. However, he dabbed at her legs unexpectedly and exclaimed “Oh no!”
Yun Jin sat up instinctively and unfortunately faced him in his state of undress. When he saw her sit up suddenly, Cheng Zheng had felt a little embarra.s.sed and was about to twist around. However, she was faster than him and she shrieked loudly as she grabbed a cushion to cover-up his anatomy before shutting her eyes tight again.
Cheng Zheng was stunned by her actions. He growled “You have a problem you know that?”
She retorted “You’re the crazy one you flasher. Why did you exclaim just now?”
Cheng Zheng tossed the cushion aside and said coldly “Take a look at your pants.”
Su Jin lowered her gaze and gasped to see a large, sticky patch on her trousers.