Did My Wife Break Up With Me Today? - Chapter 57

Chapter 57: “Can You Give Me a Chance to Pursue You?”

For a moment, the car fell into a silence so profound that not a single sound could be heard.

Chen Kongqing lowered his head so far that if there had been a crack in the floorboards, he would have crawled right into it.

Suddenly, there was a muffled thud.

Chen Kongqing glanced sideways, only to find that the man beside him had already climbed out of the car.

“…?” What did this mean? Had he scared him away?

Abruptly, the passenger door popped open.

The “rabbit,” head still bowed, saw a pair of long legs come to a halt in his field of vision. His gaze slowly traveled upward.

A slender hand rested on the car door. Xu Jingmo stood before him, looking down with lowered eyes. “I… want to walk you up.”

Actually, Xu Jingmo wasn’t exactly staring at him; his eyes were drifting. Whenever Chen Kongqing’s gaze tentatively tried to meet his, Xu Jingmo’s eyes would shift away.

In truth, Chen Kongqing didn’t dare look the doctor in the eye either, so his gaze usually veered off halfway through, pinning his sight firmly to the ground.

The rabbit stepped out of the car with his eyes cast down. Although the rain had stopped, the ground remained wet.

Chen Kongqing led Xu Jingmo into a small alley. The bluestone pavement of the alley was old and uneven, with small puddles forming in the depressions and patches of dark green moss growing in the crevices.

Only now did he notice that Dr. Xu was wearing a pair of expensive-looking, thin-soled handmade leather shoes. Stepping onto the wet, slippery stones, they looked entirely out of place.

As the rabbit spaced out, Xu Jingmo surveyed the old alley and then looked down at the boy walking beside him. “You moved here?”

“A bit… a bit further ahead.” Chen Kongqing snapped back to reality and pointed forward.

Xu Jingmo: “Okay.”

Beihe Street was part of Kun City’s old quarter. Because of its historical and cultural sites, it had never been demolished or reconstructed. Thus, the streets were still lined with low houses and paved with bluestone.

Chen Kongqing stopped in front of an old residential building. “It’s here. Sixth floor. Um… there’s no elevator. Maybe Dr. Xu… should just leave me here.”

“I want to walk you up,” Xu Jingmo said immediately, without a hint of hesitation.

Chen Kongqing licked his lips. “That… that’s fine too.”

The air was filled with the crisp sound of raindrops falling from the eaves—a refreshing sensation that usually follows a heavy downpour.

The stairs in the old building were made of bare cement without any tile finish. They were narrow; walking side-by-side was a squeeze, so they walked one after the other.

They climbed all the way to the sixth floor. Chen Kongqing pulled out a metal key and turned the lock of the small, old-fashioned security door.

He hadn’t previously thought the door was particularly small—until he saw Xu Jingmo having to duck his head to enter. Only then did he get a visual sense of just how cramped the space was.

The rabbit scratched the back of his head. “Um, it’s a bit small. Dr. Xu, you… please have a seat.”

Luckily, he had bought a small single-person sofa yesterday; otherwise, he wouldn’t even have known where to offer a guest a seat.

“Should I take off my shoes?” Xu Jingmo surveyed the tiny room where the entire layout could be seen in a single glance. His first impression was that it was clean. Only after that did he realize how small it was.

He was a bit worried about tracking dirt into the rabbit’s little nest, so he stood somewhat hesitantly on the rug.

“No need,” Chen Kongqing said as he poured a glass of water. “Besides, my slippers are too small. You won’t fit into them.”

“It’s fine, I’ll get it dirty if I walk in like this.” As he spoke, Xu Jingmo opened the shoe rack himself. The shoes inside were neatly arranged. He randomly pulled out a pair of cotton slippers.

Chen Kongqing turned around with the water glass in hand. He saw Xu Jingmo wearing the cotton slippers he had bought previously because he thought they were quirky.

There was nothing inherently wrong with them—except they featured a pair of “Evil Carrots.” One carrot had its mouth open in an angry shout, while the other stared with wide eyes and a downturned pout. Overall, they looked very eccentric and “hard to mess with.”

Chen Kongqing: “…”

The man walked toward him. Only then did Chen Kongqing notice that most of Xu Jingmo’s heels were hanging off the back of the slippers.

“Black Cat Sheriff,” who had been lying lazily on the cat tree, suddenly jumped down as if catching a familiar scent. Having not seen the man for a few days, the kitten was growing faster than people; its face was beginning to fill out and round into a “jowl” shape, transitioning from a small fluff-ball to a large fluff-ball.

“Meow, meow.” The kitten gave Xu Jingmo a rare, gentle greeting. It even trotted over to the man with its tail high. Then, it rubbed its round head against the man’s trouser leg. “Meow~”

It was as if it was saying: Human, did you get lost?

Xu Jingmo leaned down, picked up the cat, and sat on the sofa. Chen Kongqing happened to hand over the water glass at that moment.

“So well-behaved,” Xu Jingmo murmured, stroking the kitten. His voice was as pleasant as ever.

The tips of the rabbit’s ears instantly flushed red. He began to doubt himself. “Am… am I usually not well-behaved?”

Xu Jingmo looked up from the water glass toward the young man standing beside him and explained hurriedly, “No… I meant Black Cat Sheriff.”

Now it wasn’t just his ears; the rabbit’s cheeks began to burn too.

“Oh… right. He has… he’s been much more well-behaved lately.” Chen Kongqing haphazardly set the water glass on the small coffee table matching the sofa. He rubbed the back of his neck and turned his head, not knowing where to look.

Black Cat Sheriff flicked its tail sharply against Xu Jingmo’s chin, its jet-black pupils staring at the man as if giving a signal.

“You are usually very well-behaved,” Xu Jingmo added, as if understanding the hint. His Adam’s apple bobbed slightly. “It’s just that lately, you haven’t been paying any attention to me.”

Chen Kongqing, with his back to him, didn’t turn around, but the red on his ears deepened by another degree. “I… I…”

He didn’t know how to explain, because he had been intentionally avoiding Dr. Xu and ignoring his messages.

Black Cat Sheriff’s tail swept across Xu Jingmo’s chin again.

Xu Jingmo reached out and caught the lively tail. His gaze remained fixed on the rabbit’s thin, slender back. “Can you pay attention to me in the future? Give me a chance.”

Chen Kongqing really didn’t know where to look, but he didn’t dare turn around either. Even with his back turned, he felt like he was being stared through.

“Can you give me a… chance to pursue you?” Xu Jingmo’s fingers toyed with the fluffy cat tail as he finally spoke those unadorned, direct words again.

Once the words were out, his throat felt parched.

Pursue. Chance.

Listening to these words, Chen Kongqing had to reconsider the situation. Xu Jingmo… was he really… confessing to him?

From the moment they left the hospital until now, Dr. Xu had been expressing his feelings. So it wasn’t a misunderstanding, and it wasn’t because Dr. Xu had smoked too much.

Dr. Xu really… wanted to court him?

Actually, it wasn’t like he disliked Dr. Xu. In fact, he liked him quite a bit.

Chen Kongqing bit his lower lip hard and, in a burst of courage, spun around. The moment he turned, he fell right into Xu Jingmo’s phoenix eyes.

Those eyes again. He couldn’t help but doubt himself: Was it because of that dream that he had a natural affinity for people with phoenix eyes? Just like he had with Ling Xiao.

But Ling Xiao was that kind of person.

His last relationship was so painful that it had left him resistant and skeptical. Of course, he knew Dr. Xu wasn’t like that. But looking into those deep phoenix eyes—eyes identical to those in his dream—his thoughts became a muddle again.

He had no chance to escape; his gaze was swiftly captured.

As their eyes locked, Chen Kongqing released his lower lip. “Dr. Xu, I don’t know… I don’t know how I feel.”

“It doesn’t matter, Chen Kongqing.” Xu Jingmo finally let go of the tuxedo cat’s shiny tail. His parched throat felt as if it were suddenly being replenished by a spring. “I’m just asking for a chance, not asking you to agree to be with me right now. You can take your time to think, and decide based on how I act. Is that okay?”

He framed it as a question with only two possible options.

Chen Kongqing lowered his eyelids slightly, thinking seriously. There didn’t seem to be a reason to say “No.”

Five seconds later.

“I… I guess so,” the rabbit replied.

Xu Jingmo hadn’t expected that he would receive this answer on such an ordinary afternoon—a day where the sun had just come out after the rain. There was a tuxedo cat squirming in his arms. He couldn’t help but wonder why it couldn’t be the rabbit squirming in his arms instead.

Chen Kongqing also hadn’t expected that on such an ordinary afternoon, after a few lines of dialogue, everything would become so extraordinary.

He had agreed to Xu Jingmo’s plea to pursue him.

…

By nighttime, the rabbit was wide-eyed, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep. Someone had said similar things to him before, but the feeling was entirely different. His heart was still beating irregularly. Suddenly, the phone on his pillow lit up.

The rabbit put down the plush carrot he was hugging and rolled over to check his phone.

Lnk: 【Are you asleep?】

Azurite: 【Not yet.】

Lnk: 【Do you have any plans for tomorrow?】

Chen Kongqing looked at the message, blinked, and typed truthfully: 【I’ll probably go to the lab.】

Lnk: 【Okay.】

Lnk: 【Then get some sleep early. Goodnight.】

Chen Kongqing was a bit dazed. Go to sleep early? Usually, in this situation… shouldn’t he ask what time he’d be finished or when he’d be free?

Has Xu Jingmo never pursued anyone before? He seemed even more clueless than Chen Kongqing.

Looking at the silent phone, Chen Kongqing eventually just typed two words: “Goodnight.”

The next day, he went to the lab as usual to work on his report. With the start of the semester approaching, he had to speed up, or he wouldn’t make it in time for the competition.

Working intensely, he didn’t check his messages much, only glancing at them while eating a sandwich at noon. Xu Jingmo had only sent one message, asking if he was already at the lab.

Chen Kongqing replied casually with two words: 【I am.】

Having calmed down, he thought that perhaps Dr. Xu was just saying he’d pursue him. Maybe he was just playing around? But what was the fun in that?

The rabbit frowned, took a giant, angry bite of his sandwich, and buried his head back into his work.

By 6:00 PM, he was too hungry to keep going. Only then did he take off his lab coat, yawning as he listlessly walked downstairs.

By the time he stepped out of the hall, night had already fallen. Chen Kongqing rubbed his sore eyes and walked down the stone steps.

When he opened his eyes again, his blurry vision was filled with a bouquet of fresh flowers.

“Student Chen, are you free to grab dinner together?”