After Failing To Tame The Scumbag - Chapter 2

“Don’t look at me with those eyes.”

“Have you completely passed out?” After a long silence, Yun Chuxiu blinked her sore eyes extremely slowly. She reached her hand toward Ji Jin’s face, but as if stung by the scorching breath, she withdrew it halfway.

The car was terrifyingly quiet. Yun Chuxiu didn’t attempt to start any conversation that might soften the atmosphere, she simply maintained her habitual icy calm, isolating all sources of heat from her line of sight.

Whether for better or worse, the traffic had been congested on the way there, but the road back after picking her up was completely clear.

Everything went smoothly. Ji Jin, who was clearly feigning sleep, had no intention of causing real trouble for Yun Chuxiu. Once they arrived, she obediently opened her eyes. With a subtle push of her finger, she slid the small box, now heated to a boil by her grip into a hidden corner and continued to act as if nothing had happened.

“I accidentally fell asleep… I was just so tired. As soon as I’m by your side, Axiu, I lose all my willpower,” Ji Jin muttered, hanging her head guiltily. She followed cautiously in Yun Chuxiu’s shadow as they walked, unsure if she was explaining herself or just talking to herself.

Yun Chuxiu turned on the lights. The cold glow fell upon her like a layer of frost.

Ji Jin shut her mouth and timidly edged forward. The moment she stepped into the room, she shivered from the blast of the air conditioning.

Yun Chuxiu still ignored her. Ji Jin stood rooted to the spot, feeling awkward for a long while. Eventually, she took a deep breath: “Axiu…”

“Drink this,” Yun Chuxiu said, emerging from the kitchen. She held a cup out to her. Even before it got close, the pungent, sharp scent of ginger was overwhelming.

Ji Jin’s brows knitted instantly. Her eyes darted around, accurately targeting the sobering tea bubbling away in a pot on the side.

She had always hated the excessive stimulation of ginger. Yun Chuxiu was well aware of this.

“Isn’t there some of that over…” Ji Jin swallowed hard, speaking hesitantly.

“I made this myself. You don’t want to drink it?” Yun Chuxiu calmly cut her off. Her voice wasn’t loud, in fact, under the rising steam, it sounded somewhat refreshing. “Since you’re so ‘heavily intoxicated,’ don’t even think about continuing to be willful.”

With a bitter face, Ji Jin silently accepted the steaming ginger water. She swallowed hard several times but couldn’t bring herself to take a sip.

“Axiu,” Ji Jin reached out with her free hand. After a moment’s hesitation, she hooked her pinky around Yun Chuxiu’s and gave it a small tug. “Can I not drink this?”

The corners of Yun Chuxiu’s mouth curled slightly. She didn’t pull her hand away, but she didn’t agree either. “If you’d rather have a headache, then suit yourself.”

“…I’ll drink it.” Ji Jin felt stung by that cold smile. Her face turned slightly pale, and without another word, she tilted her head back and swallowed the spicy ginger water in one go, leaving not a single drop.

“I finished it all,” she said, showing the cup which now held only a few slices of ginger. Fearing that Yun Chuxiu might walk away the next second, she changed her grip from a hook to a firm grasp, forcing their fingers to interlace. “Please don’t be mad at me anymore, okay?”

“I’m not angry,” Yun Chuxiu said after a moment of silence, her eyes casting downward slightly. “You just drank too much. You’re an adult, and besides, there was a reason for it.”

Instinctively, Ji Jin felt that this reaction wasn’t right. The spiciness spreading through her mouth almost clouded her senses, but even so, the moment Yun Chuxiu averted her gaze, Ji Jin felt a surge of aching soreness that was almost sharp.

Don’t. Don’t look at her with those eyes…

Ji Jin’s fingers tightened unconsciously. Her eyes were wet. After waiting a moment, she lowered her head and slowly shuffled forward, her movements urgent yet carrying a sense of cautious, clumsy entreaty.

Yun Chuxiu felt an even stronger urge to sigh.

It was obvious Ji Jin didn’t believe her, but the truth was, her “I’m not angry” wasn’t just a comforting lie.

From their first meeting until now, the way Ji Jin looked in her eyes had never changed. Seven years had passed in a flash; Ji Jin was like a deeply rooted tree, occasionally blooming, occasionally bearing fruit but a tree was a tree. She knew Ji Jin stood right there, neither growing branches toward anyone else nor letting her roots rot.

As a girlfriend, Ji Jin had done well enough. It was just… just that she was always unwilling to take that next step.

Looking at Ji Jin’s fragile, pleading expression, the faint spark of frustration in Yun Chuxiu was completely extinguished. She could only helplessly pat the hand that refused to loosen its grip and say softly: “Let go first, then go take a shower. You smell terribly of alcohol. If you still want to get into my bed, go clean yourself up properly.”

Ji Jin nodded hastily, still staring at her fixedly. Only after confirming there were no strong negative emotions in those eyes did she reluctantly let go and shuffle toward the bathroom.

Yun Chuxiu finally managed a breath of relief.

She sat behind her desk for a moment. Not until she heard the sudden rush of water from the shower did she pick up her phone and dial a number.

The phone rang for five seconds before the other side picked up.

“Everything I asked you to arrange earlier… cancel it all. It’s no longer needed.”

The voice on the other end was a bit distorted. Hearing this, the person likely misunderstood something, as their volume suddenly spiked.

Yun Chuxiu rubbed the space between her eyebrows, suddenly feeling a suffocating exhaustion. “No, it didn’t succeed. There’s nothing to congratulate me for.”

The other end went silent for a moment, and the volume dropped instantly.

Yun Chuxiu considerately soothed the other person’s agitated mood. “We didn’t break up, and there’s no need to be angry for me. Actually, this isn’t bad… at least for now, it’s fine.”

Once this incident passed, they would return to their usual way of interacting dating, intimacy, relying on one another… they just wouldn’t have that single piece of paper, a marriage certificate. It was no big deal.

…No big deal.

Yun Chuxiu hung up. Her heart felt as though it were being squeezed by an invisible hand, both sour and swollen.

Right then, the sound of water in the bathroom stopped.

Yun Chuxiu closed her eyes, forcibly pressing the “pause” button on her uncontrollable emotions.

“Axiu,” Ji Jin walked over in her slippers. Whether intentionally or out of haste, her bathrobe was tied loosely, so loosely that it seemed a single touch on the belt would cause it to fall wide open.

“It’s late. Don’t you hate staying up late, Axiu?”

Ji Jin leaned down, bracing herself against the chair. Her height of over 170cm completely blocked Yun Chuxiu’s view. As if playing a prank, she let that “belt of destiny” dangle right into Yun Chuxiu’s open palm.

The exposed fair skin had been steamed to a light pink by the vapor. When Yun Chuxiu looked up, she saw everything she should and shouldn’t have seen.

Yun Chuxiu: “…”

With a swift motion, Yun Chuxiu swatted away the hand that was tentatively reaching toward her.

I’m already starting to regret not refusing to let her sleep here, Yun Chuxiu thought helplessly. In this situation… there’s no way to think rationally at all.

“Axiu, I’m really so sleepy.”

Seeing that her tactic was working, Ji Jin deliberately crouched down and rested her head on Yun Chuxiu’s lap, whimpering and humming as if she truly were drunk.

A certain spot in the depths of Yun Chuxiu’s heart was gently stirred.

The words Yun Chuxiu originally intended to tell her to go upstairs first were swallowed back down. In a gesture of compromise, she ran her hand through Ji Jin’s soft, pleasant to the touch hair. “Then let’s go up together. If we delay any longer, it really will be quite late.”

Only then did Ji Jin breathe a silent sigh of relief.

Too much had happened tonight, especially… that. She had no real solution for it, she could only fudge her way through it time and time again, evading the silent night and waiting for the sun to rise as usual the next day.

Aside from that…

Aside from that.

Ji Jin pursed her dry lips, instinctively rejecting the potential outcomes of either answer.

If only days could keep passing like this forever, she thought. Neither moving forward nor backward, just maintaining the status quo indefinitely… what would be so bad about that?

Tucked inside the thin quilt meant for two, Ji Jin stared intently at the frosted glass, through which no silhouette could be seen. After listening to the smooth flow of the shower for a while, the sleepiness that had been suppressed by intense emotion finally staged a counterattack.

Ji Jin shook her head. Stubbornly propping herself up on the mattress with her elbows, she forced herself out of the soft warmth of the covers.

This was the scene Yun Chuxiu encountered when she emerged: Ji Jin’s eyes were blinking rapidly like a lightbulb with a loose connection just when you suspected they would stay closed forever, she would manage to force open a tiny slit.

“…”

Yun Chuxiu felt a slight urge to laugh. Under these circumstances, she naturally didn’t believe the other woman’s consciousness could be considered clear, at the very least, Ji Jin probably couldn’t string together a complete sentence.

And indeed, that was the case.

The moment Yun Chuxiu touched the edge of the bed, Ji Jin’s valiantly struggling eyes surrendered to deep sleep. Her hands, however, continued to fumble beneath the quilt until they found and embraced Yun Chuxiu’s waist.

She was like a dodder flower, needing to draw life force from her host.

“Ji Jin… what on earth am I supposed to do with you?”

Yun Chuxiu indulged her, letting herself be pulled into the warm embrace. One second, two seconds, three seconds… after an unknown amount of time had passed in the darkness, she suddenly reached out and pressed her hand against Ji Jin’s heart.

Thump-thump, thump-thump, thump-thump…

It beat like a slowly ticking clock.

The next day, Ji Jin was the one who woke up a step behind.

The space beside her was empty. Looking up, she didn’t see the expected sunlight streaming in instead, there was only the “pitter-patter” of rain drumming against the glass.

How utterly unromantic.

Ji Jin muttered a complaint, checked the time on her phone, and turned off the alarm before it had a chance to ring.

“Axiu…”

“Axiu…”

“Axiu”

Nothing. Nothing here either.

Ji Jin received no response. After wandering around the second floor, she headed downstairs, her hazy eyes snapping wide awake in an instant.

The living room? Empty. The study? Empty. The dining room? Empty… wait.

Ji Jin stared blankly at a certain nightmare-inducing little box on the dining table. It was that specific kind of horror where you think you’ve escaped a ghost in the dead of night, only to turn around and run straight into it.

Because the light had been too dim the night before and she hadn’t dared to open her eyes, it was only now, in the bright light of day, that she could finally see the object in its entirety.

It was a pale purple velvet case. Under the natural light, it possessed a faint, shifting luster. Even without being opened, its presence was impossible to ignore… which made it seem even more terrifying.

Ji Jin briefly recalled the agonizing sensation of that box nearly burning a hole through her palm.

The beautiful jewelry box had transformed into a monster capable of crushing her poor little heart!

Ji Jin took a deep breath. Her mind began to envision a hundred different ways to “humanely eliminate” it from her sight. But no matter which method she chose, she would collide head-on with a massive iceberg; there was simply no way to plot a safe course.

The more she thought, the more helpless she felt, and the more bitter her heart became so much so that she didn’t even notice the figure she had been searching for appearing by the edge of the kitchen.

“Ji Jin.”

The “Great CEO Ji,” who had been lost in deep, agonizing thought, immediately snapped to attention.