After Failing To Tame The Scumbag - Chapter 19

“What ‘start’ are you talking about?”

Yun Chuxiu was truly not angry.

Seven years was long enough to see a person’s true colors while mistakes had been made, they hadn’t reached the point of being unforgivable.

…Ah, “forgive.”

When did that word even enter the vocabulary between them?

“Alright, stop acting like a spoiled child,” Yun Chuxiu patted her. She patted once, twice, three times, but the person buried in her embrace refused to look up.

Yun Chuxiu: “…”

Silence fell for a moment. Feeling a mix of exasperation and amusement, Yun Chuxiu decided not to wait for her to sort herself out. She reached out, grabbed a handful of hair, and tilted the head back.

Ji Jin, unable to avoid it, was forced to meet her gaze.

Though her emotions had stabilized significantly, the light in Ji Jin’s eyes was still fragmented and messy, as if someone had stirred and shattered the reflections within.

Yun Chuxiu paused. Her hand moved from the hair to cradle Ji Jin’s face. Her tone was calm and nonchalant as she said, “I have to go back and clean up the house in a bit. If you want this face to be the last impression I have of you today, then by all means, continue.”

Ji Jin swallowed hard. Her turbulent and helpless state of mind cooled down under Yun Chuxiu’s detached demeanor. After confirming several times that the other woman truly harbored no negative emotions, her thoughts unexpectedly drifted elsewhere.

“Why is it the ‘last’?” Ji Jin blinked, hiding the fragile light in her eyes and beginning to ask the obvious, “Can’t I go home with you?”

“Then why do you think I’m moving out?” Yun Chuxiu pressed a finger against Ji Jin’s forehead, poking her until she leaned back, and took the opportunity to break free from her hold. “Stay here and behave yourself.”

Ji Jin’s gaze followed her closely. Seeing Yun Chuxiu pick up her bag to leave, she stood up from the floor and gave a dry, hollow response: “…Oh.”

…Even more like a puppy now.

Yun Chuxiu withdrew her wandering gaze, suppressing the messy “puppy-coding” thoughts in her mind, pretending she hadn’t noticed a thing.

In the blink of an eye, the sun had set.

Yun Chuxiu returned from the studio to the villa she had barely lived in.

She possessed an understated need for control over her own territory. Unless necessary, she rarely allowed others inside, preferring to handle simple cleaning and organizing herself. Because of this, Ji Jin hadn’t realized that the phrase “cleaning the house” was merely a hollow excuse.

…There was no helping it; suspecting Yun Chuxiu was something Ji Jin wasn’t always capable of doing.

Perhaps that was another puppy-like trait?

Yun Chuxiu chuckled to herself. After a moment, as she surveyed the overly cold and lifeless house, the smile that hadn’t quite reached her eyes slowly faded.

It wasn’t just one person who wasn’t used to this.

Before this, she had invested too much energy and emotion into that person, thinking that no matter what happened, she could calmly taste the final fruit, whether sweet or bitter.

Instead, what hung there was just an empty shell.

It deflated at a touch, crumbled at a rub.

“What a hassle…” Yun Chuxiu leaned against the lounge chair by the window, holding a slim lady’s cigarette. She lit it, brought it to her lips, and then pulled it away, unaccustomed to the sensation.

Since her life had improved, she hadn’t smoked in a long time. She had long forgotten the feeling of venting frustration this way.

Thinking back, it shouldn’t be this bitter.

Yun Chuxiu tilted her head slightly. The timing was poor, there was no bright moon, no scorching sun, only vast swathes of a pale, defeated sunset.

The flick of her finger as she tapped off the ash felt like a rehearsal for yet another flashback.

Unfortunately, even this long-awaited atmosphere didn’t last long.

The cigarette was only halfway burnt when the phone beside her rang. The sound wasn’t loud, yet it harshly shattered the silence.

“Sister Xiu?” The pause before answering was a bit long. On the other end, Lin Xing sounded hesitant, as if he could see through the screen. “Am I disturbing you?”

“No,” Yun Chuxiu snapped out of it, stubbing out the spark of the cigarette. She regained her usual calm demeanor. “Is there something you need?”

The other side paused, then the tone noticeably brightened.

“It’s nothing major,” Lin Xing tried to suppress his excitement but failed, resulting in a fidgety tone. “The sister from that old band happens to be back. She wants to see you. I figured it’s been a long time since you two met, plus we could celebrate for you… cough.”

“Celebrate what?” Yun Chuxiu narrowed her eyes.

Lin Xing cleared his throat loudly several times. Realizing the other side was waiting quietly and he couldn’t bluff his way through, he explained weakly. “It’s not exactly a celebration, it’s just… Sister Xiu, aren’t you ‘splitting the family’ with that person now? After all, it’s the start of a new life…”

“…I didn’t break up with her.” Leaving aside how the news traveled so fast, wasn’t this level of schadenfreude a bit too blatant?

Yun Chuxiu wanted to refuse, but the other person seemed to anticipate her answer. Without waiting for her to speak, he hurriedly said in a pitiful tone: “Not even this time? …Sister Xiu hasn’t hung out with us in a really long time.”

Yun Chuxiu was weak against people acting vulnerable. Her career had been on the rise these past few years, and she had indeed been busy. Any free time she had was given to Ji Jin. Looking back, she had long since drifted away from her old friends.

“Alright,” she pinched the bridge of her nose. She felt as though the drink from earlier was having a delayed effect; though she agreed, her thoughts were like a tangled ball of yarn that she couldn’t straighten out.

Her right eyelid kept twitching.

“…It can’t be that bad, right?”

At the Juan Niao (Tired Bird) Bar, Lin Xing leaned toward a tall woman, watching her wipe a glass in her hand over and over. He clicked his tongue. “Sister Meng Lin, you said you weren’t nervous besides, Sister Xiu doesn’t even drink, does she?”

“I know,” Meng Lin gave a polite smile. The butterfly tattoo near her right eye twitched along with her expression, looking as if it were about to take flight. “I just want to mix a non-alcoholic drink. I used to block plenty of drinks for her naturally, I know her preferences.”

Lin Xing: “…Isn’t that my job?”

“Oh, I forgot,” Meng Lin said, surprised but with zero intention of handing it back, her tone extremely dismissive. “Maybe next time.”

Lin Xing: “…”

Lin Xing gave a heavy cough. His fake coughing for the day was over quota, his voice cracked at the end, sounding like a flat-billed duck, slightly ridiculous. “I have to remind you, Sister Xiu is currently ‘spoken for.'”

Meng Lin smiled, straightening her back slightly. Her 175cm height suddenly became very prominent.

She noncommittally rolled her neck and chuckled softly, “I know, of course.”

“Even though I lost touch with Chuxiu for a while after leaving the bar scene, technically, I watched her get together with that person with my own eyes.”

“Wouldn’t you agree?”

Meng Lin looked up, as if she had an internal tracking radar. She easily locked eyes with Yun Chuxiu, who had just walked through the door. Under the warm glow of the lights, the butterfly at the corner of her eye seemed to come alive once more.

“Long time no see.” Yun Chuxiu looked at her old friend with some surprise. The woman’s aura had changed significantly. It had only been five years, but the person who used to lean against her cracking inappropriate jokes now appeared much more mature.

“…Long time no see.”

Meng Lin watched her quietly. All the words she had prepared in her head went unused, only the corners of her lips kept curling upward uncontrollably.

It had been 1,820 days since they last met.

“Surprised to see me?” Meng Lin mixed her a beautiful drink, blue on top and green on the bottom, instantly pulling her back into those noisy, bustling times.

Yun Chuxiu took it, her expression softening. “I am indeed surprised.” Taking in the changes in Meng Lin’s expression, she swirled the cold glass and suddenly shifted the topic: “I thought you didn’t want to see me.”

That was why, when Lin Xing mentioned the “band sister,” she hadn’t even considered Meng Lin.

After all, it was fine if Lin Xing didn’t know because he was an outsider but they both knew very well that after the way they had broken up back then, it was basically impossible to return to their past relationship.

Yun Chuxiu had imagined their reunion before, perhaps an accidental encounter where they’d exchange a greeting, or perhaps not even that just a meeting of eyes followed by walking past each other.

“Do you not resent me anymore?” As if ignoring the sudden change in Meng Lin’s gaze, Yun Chuxiu said casually, “This kind of drink is a bit too sweet. I don’t like it anymore.”

“I’ll change it for you,” Meng Lin’s expression stiffened, part shock and part genuine concern. “Is your bad mood today… because of my appearance?”

Of course not.

Yun Chuxiu leaned lazily against the bar. she glanced at Lin Xing, who had immediately gone silent upon sensing the wrong atmosphere. She gave a helpless smile and said, “I wouldn’t say I’m in a bad mood, I’m just tired after a long day of tossing and turning.”

Meng Lin sighed. “So even your unhappiness isn’t because of me?”

After a brief silence, she answered her own question:

“…That’s fair. We haven’t met in so many years. Chuxiu might have already forgotten me.”

Lin Xing, attempting to redeem himself, spoke up bravely: “Sister, can you please act normal?” Caught by the other woman’s peripheral gaze, his voice grew lower and lower: “…This isn’t an 8 PM soap opera.”

In his memory, this sister wasn’t like this…?

“Mhm,” Yun Chuxiu frowned. She didn’t like this inexplicably clingy attitude. After a random hum of acknowledgment, she felt even less like talking.

Meng Lin stared at her silently for several minutes, her straight back curving slightly. She remained quiet as she picked up another empty glass.

“It’s okay if you don’t like sweet things,” bright juice was poured into the glass, making her long fingers look somewhat pale. “Blame me for not contacting you for so long. Now, everything has to start from zero.”

“What ‘start’ are you talking about?”

A voice abruptly cut in.

Yun Chuxiu turned her head. Ji Jin was standing behind her with a fake smile. No one knew where she had popped up from. After delivering that line, she simply stared Meng Lin down, though her hands weren’t idle.

With one hand, she gripped Yun Chuxiu’s waist with the other, she tucked a stray lock of hair back into place.

Touching upon those eyes that had widened in surprise, Ji Jin leaned down, pressing against the crook of Yun Chuxiu’s neck. She nibbled at her ear, whispering tender words.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming to see an old friend?” She smiled, the hand around the waist slowly tightening, her words laced with hidden meaning. “Drinking these messy drinks from outside will only make you feel unwell.”