My Gorgeous Neighbor Is Cooking Every Day - Chapter 37

Chapter 37

Xia Xingye was stunned. She suddenly realized why Jiang Yingyue had allowed the staff member to manipulate her phone and be fooled: it was to wait for the staff member to make a mistake, then catch her in the act and force her to apologize to Xia Xingye.

Xia Xingye’s feelings were complicated. Jiang Yingyue went to such lengths for her. She didn’t say anything, waiting for Jiang Yingyue to confront the staff member.

The staff member had no choice but to apologize to Xia Xingye.

After leaving the business office, Xia Xingye still couldn’t help but ask: “Sister, you’re a little too good to me.”

Jiang Yingyue chuckled: “Don’t you like me being good to you? Or do you want me to be less nice?”

Xia Xingye repeatedly waved her hands: “No! Of course, I want you to be nice to me, Sister. It’s just…”

She couldn’t quite finish the sentence.

It was just that Jiang Yingyue was so good to her that it was as if she considered her family. They hadn’t known each other for long. Xia Xingye considered Jiang Yingyue family because she felt she liked Jiang Yingyue, and Jiang Yingyue was the best person she had ever met and gotten along with over the years.

What about Jiang Yingyue? Was Jiang Yingyue only good to her in the same way?

Suddenly, the image of Liu Xuantong and Feng Tinglan’s interactions, and the meaning of Liu Xuantong’s previously incomprehensible words, popped into her mind.

Comparing those words with Jiang Yingyue’s current demeanor, Xia Xingye’s heart skipped a beat, and her eyes, when looking at Jiang Yingyue, seemed to flit away.

She really enjoyed being with Jiang Yingyue, wishing they could be together forever. But did she have that kind of feeling for Jiang Yingyue? She wasn’t sure.

Perhaps she didn’t.

She stammered: “Sister… I… I’m going back to school.”

Jiang Yingyue didn’t have time to stop her and ask why she was going back to school on a weekend before Xia Xingye hurriedly ran away.

Watching Xia Xingye flee, Jiang Yingyue felt a complex emotion. Although Xia Xingye didn’t say it, she sensed that Xia Xingye was avoiding her.

But why would she suddenly avoid her? Was it because of the incident with the staff member, making Xia Xingye feel that she wasn’t as perfect as she had imagined?

Jiang Yingyue felt a little disheartened. That night, she didn’t hear from Xia Xingye, nor did Xia Xingye return home.

She messaged Xia Xingye worriedly, and Xia Xingye finally replied: “Sister, I went out with my roommates to hang out. I won’t be coming home today. Sleep early.”

Jiang Yingyue looked at the message for a long time before putting down her phone. Her phone was no longer the old, broken one. Although Jiang Yingyue still wore the smart watch Xia Xingye gave her, she had also bought herself a phone. Having a phone allowed her to receive Xia Xingye’s messages faster and prevented her from missing them when the watch occasionally lost connection.

Xia Xingye didn’t return home for the next few days. It was Jiang Yingyue who called her, and the phone rang for quite a while before it was picked up.

This was completely different from how quickly Xia Xingye usually answered her calls. After the call connected, neither of them spoke. Jiang Yingyue listened to the breathing on the other end for a long time before asking: “Are you really busy these past two days?”

Are you really not avoiding me? Jiang Yingyue didn’t ask the second half of the question. She already had a vague suspicion, and asking or not asking made no difference.

Jiang Yingyue waited for a moment, and then Xia Xingye spoke, laughing: “Of course I’m busy, Sister. If I wasn’t busy, how could I not come home?”

Xia Xingye was laughing, but Jiang Yingyue frowned as she listened. Even when busy, Xia Xingye used to come home. But now, Xia Xingye just told her she was busy and didn’t explain what she was busy with that prevented her from coming home.

Because she wanted to spend more time with Xia Xingye, Jiang Yingyue hadn’t taken any work recently and stayed home. Now that Xia Xingye wasn’t home, she realized how cold the house was. She distractedly spoke a few more words with Xia Xingye before hanging up, grabbing her keys, and going out.

Jiang Yingyue didn’t know where to go. She only knew she didn’t want to stay in a house with only herself in it. She left the house and walked aimlessly. She subconsciously headed towards less crowded areas, trying to avoid the crowds on the main street.

She just walked and walked, until she reached an alley with fewer and fewer people. Even during the day, the alley was cool due to the lack of sunlight. The coolness did nothing to quell the frustration in Jiang Yingyue’s heart; instead, it fueled her anger.

She wanted to know why Xia Xingye was avoiding her.

She continued to walk aimlessly until a figure suddenly appeared in front of her. She paused, instinctively turning around to walk around the person.

The person in front heard the sound, turned around, and looked at her with surprise, calling out: “Can I trouble you to come and help me for a moment?”

Since avoiding Jiang Yingyue that day, Xia Xingye hadn’t returned home. She knew her actions were inexplicable, but she didn’t know how to interpret her moment of panic, so much so that she still didn’t know how to interact with Jiang Yingyue.

She was afraid that if she went back, she would say something she didn’t want to say that would hurt Jiang Yingyue, so she decided to avoid Jiang Yingyue for a while. She thought she was hiding her emotions well and didn’t think her tone was any different from when she used to talk to Jiang Yingyue.

She continued this for several days until Xu Youyou asked her curiously: “Why aren’t you going back to stay with your Sister?”

Xia Xingye glared at her and said: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why should I go back to stay with her? We both have our own lives.”

Xia Xingye would never have said this in the past. But now, she said it so naturally, with a hint of guilt that she couldn’t quite place.

“Stop pretending. We can all see that you two aren’t just ordinary friends. When did you two get together?” Xu Youyou was genuinely curious about when Xia Xingye and Jiang Yingyue started dating.

Their generation didn’t discriminate against homosexuality; they just saw it as being with the person one loved. Although she was later than the other two roommates to realize that Xia Xingye and Jiang Yingyue weren’t just ordinary friends, her curiosity was the strongest.

Xia Xingye was stunned and said anxiously: “We’re not together. We’re not the kind of relationship you think we are!”

Her tone was inevitably a little agitated as she said this, startling Xu Youyou. She blinked and said cautiously: “If you don’t want to talk about it, don’t. Why be so fierce? We won’t spread rumors about your relationship.”

Xia Xingye frowned and said: “We really aren’t the kind of relationship you think. Who told you that?”

Su Nian’an pulled Xu Youyou aside and explained for her: “No one told us. We figured it out ourselves. Don’t even bother explaining that you’re just ordinary friends. Ordinary friends wouldn’t be that jealous.”

Xia Xingye thought of many excuses in an instant, but after hearing Su Nian’an’s words, all her excuses vanished without a trace.

How could she explain it to them? Explain what? It wasn’t just one person misunderstanding; all three of them felt their relationship was unusual.

One person might be mistaken, but could three people be mistaken? Xia Xingye looked at the three of them awkwardly, unable to say a word.

The three of them didn’t say anything more, changing the subject to tomorrow’s classes. No one brought up the subject of her and Jiang Yingyue’s relationship again.

Xia Xingye was distracted all day. If her three roommates all thought this, did Jiang Yingyue also believe they were dating? Was that why Jiang Yingyue had been acting more affectionate than usual lately?

Xia Xingye’s mind was a mess. She wanted to figure out her feelings for Jiang Yingyue and Jiang Yingyue’s thoughts about her, but she was also worried that clarifying things would lead to an unwanted outcome.

The two thoughts collided, and for a while, she couldn’t figure anything out. Instead, she became so irritated that she just wanted to clear her mind and bury her head in the sand.

The only thing Xia Xingye was sure of was that she really liked being with Jiang Yingyue and enjoyed the time they spent together. She was very happy and felt relaxed when she was with Jiang Yingyue. But did that mean she was in love with Jiang Yingyue?

This shouldn’t be the love between couples.

Xia Xingye could only try to convince herself of this.

If this was the love between couples, wouldn’t she seem cheap? What reason did she have to fall in love with Jiang Yingyue at first sight?

She admitted she liked Jiang Yingyue a lot, but that didn’t mean she wanted that kind of relationship with Jiang Yingyue the moment she met her. Wouldn’t that make her seem very frivolous?

Given the situation, Xia Xingye knew she should talk things through with Jiang Yingyue. But when she thought that clarifying things might lead to Jiang Yingyue distancing herself, Xia Xingye felt a tightness in her chest, a painful ache.

After dinner, Xia Xingye proactively suggested going for a walk on the track field. Xia Xingye rarely suggested this before. After her suggestion, her three roommates didn’t object and happily went with her.

During the walk, they didn’t bring up the subject of Jiang Yingyue.

After an unknown number of laps around the track, Xia Xingye suddenly said: “I have something to tell you.”

She stopped speaking, and Su Nian’an and the others also stopped, looking at Xia Xingye.

Xia Xingye took a deep breath and said: “You guys were joking before, right? Although Sister and I have a very good relationship, we haven’t done anything inappropriate.”

Xia Xingye had thought about it for so long, and this was the only evidence she could confirm their platonic relationship. At most, they only slept in the same bed, or occasionally hugged, but wasn’t that normal between girls?

They hadn’t done anything else.

Seeing her three roommates look at her without speaking, Xia Xingye became a little flustered, emphasizing again: “We’re really not the kind of relationship you think.”

Before her three roommates could speak, Xia Xingye heard a disheartened voice from behind her: “Why are you hiding our relationship?”

Xia Xingye turned around in surprise, looking at Jiang Yingyue in disbelief. She stammered, barely able to speak: “Sister… you, why are you here?”

“You don’t want me here?” Jiang Yingyue looked up at her three roommates, nodded as a greeting, and then said to Xia Xingye: “Do you not want them to know about our relationship?”

“Sister…” Xia Xingye’s voice was hoarse as if her throat was parched. She said softly: “I’m not hiding anything from them. We are indeed not the kind of relationship they think.”

“What kind of relationship do they think? Do they think we’re a couple?” Jiang Yingyue looked at her. “Haven’t you been with me these past few days because you like me? You know what kind of liking I’m talking about. You don’t have to hide. I’ll find you wherever you hide.”