The Zombie I Flirted With After Losing My Memory, Who Was Pretending to be an Alpha, Is Actually My Ex - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: I Like You

The clock on the wall ticked away, the hour hand pointing to ten. They had been away from the library for nearly a day. The completely sealed space had no windows; with no way to see the sunrise or sunset outside, it was easy to lose track of time.

The air conditioner’s draft brought a hint of warmth to the body. Teng Xi carried food and water toward the laboratory bench. Using an alcohol lamp and a brand-new beaker, she boiled some water. Looking at the crates of canned survival rations, Teng Xi resignedly picked out a few types that looked somewhat appetizing and heated them up together.

Small bubbles rose from the bottom of the beaker, the sound of them popping reaching Teng Xi’s ears with precision. She leaned against the edge of the table, her eyes fixed unblinkingly on the mound curled up on the bed.

The aroma of food soon drifted through the lab. After searching for a long time, she only managed to find some glass stirring rods; she sighed helplessly, forced to use them as makeshift chopsticks.

“Sister Xie, time to eat.”

The small protrusion on the bed remained motionless, as if she hadn’t heard her speak at all.

“Sister Xie?”

Looking at Xie Jinbing huddled alone under the quilt, Teng Xi found it a bit amusing. In the past, she had never seen her act so petulant.

“Ah, I cooked so much delicious food. If Sister doesn’t want it, I suppose I’ll have to trouble myself to finish it all alone,” Teng Xi said in a “tea-flavored” (manipulative/playful) tone. To ensure the person muffled under the quilt could hear, she leaned in close to the edge of the bed, but the mound still didn’t budge.

“I’m really going to eat it? Eating it all?” Teng Xi took a bite, intentionally making loud chewing noises, yet she was still ignored.

She immediately sensed something was wrong. She reached out tentatively to hook the corner of the quilt, but no one stopped her. She gently lifted the quilt and saw the other’s eyes were tightly shut. It wasn’t until she heard Xie Jinbing’s rhythmic breathing that she breathed a sigh of relief. She hadn’t even realized her hands were shaking uncontrollably; water spilled from the beaker, landing warm on the back of her hand.

Exhausted from prolonged physical exertion and uncontrollable crying, Xie Jinbing had quickly drifted into a heavy, dazed slumber. She wasn’t sleeping well; her brows were knit tightly, and her eyeballs moved rapidly beneath her eyelids.

She was clutching Teng Xi’s personal T-shirt tightly, pressed under her face, trying to find a sense of security in the lingering scent.

Teng Xi tried to pull it away but couldn’t; instead, the other woman gripped it even tighter. Teng Xi sighed. She never imagined Sister Xie would care so much about the marking. Even though she clearly needed her closeness, she endured it in silence, holding onto her clothes instead.

Looking at that exquisite sleeping face, Teng Xi knew she had to wake her. She needed to replenish her energy and fluids, otherwise, she wouldn’t last through the next few days.

Xie Jinbing opened her eyes blearily. Coaxed by Teng Xi’s gentle whispers, she reluctantly swallowed some sugar water, murmuring and humming with very little consciousness regained.

After cooking some food for herself, Teng Xi shed the blanket draped over her shoulders and climbed into bed. She pulled Xie Jinbing into her arms. The smooth skin pressed against her made her feel a bit flushed, but she restrained herself, merely kissing the nape of her lover’s neck. Xie Jinbing shifted uncomfortably but soon fell back into a deep sleep.

When she woke again, it was past six in the evening. Teng Xi felt the body in her arms struggle slightly; she opened her eyes to meet a pair of beautiful peach-blossom eyes.

“Morning,” Teng Xi flashed a brilliant smile, feeling her grin was impeccable—surely brighter than the sun outside. She was like a puppy wagging its tail, waiting for its master’s praise.

The “master” gave her a cold stare.

“Is Sister angry?” Teng Xi nuzzled her cheek against hers. Seeing the person in her arms struggling to escape again, she tightened her hold.

With her hands pinned, the person in her arms drove a knee upward. Teng Xi, as if expecting it, dodged nimbly and used her limbs to flip over and pin her down. She gripped her extremely slender wrists, but saw her knitting her brows as if in pain.

Teng Xi was startled. She scrambled up in a panic, holding her helplessly: “Did I hurt you? Where does it hurt?”

Xie Jinbing wrinkled her small face. Feeling the touch of skin against skin, she pointed to her waist. A warm palm was immediately pressed against it.

Seeing the person in her arms squinting her eyes comfortably like a cat, Teng Xi couldn’t tell if her anger had subsided. But as the saying goes, a fight at the head of the bed is settled at the foot; anything that can be solved in bed isn’t a problem. The hand on her waist gradually began to wander.

A predatory gaze fell directly on Xie Jinbing. Sensing it, she glared at her. Teng Xi immediately tucked away her metaphorical fox ears and dutifully went back to rubbing her waist.

“Can you tell me how we met?” Teng Xi rested her chin on the crown of her head, pulling up the quilt that was sliding off their bodies.

Waiting for a long time without an answer, Teng Xi almost thought the person in her arms had fallen asleep, but she saw her staring with wide eyes at the main door.

“Is the question that hard to talk about?” Teng Xi waved a hand in front of her eyes. Seeing her finally blink and look at her, she pointed at the pure white door. “Or has Sister shifted her affections to that door?”

Xie Jinbing tilted her head slightly to look at her: “You.”

“What?”

“Like you.”

This confession came so abruptly that Teng Xi’s brain stalled for a moment. Her mouth started rambling again: “Ah, haha, I knew it! I’m loved by all, a beauty that makes fish sink and geese fall, makes the moon hide and flowers blush. Sister saw me once and couldn’t help but throw herself into my arms. A lovable person like me…”

Xie Jinbing slapped her forehead, successfully shutting her up.

“Hospital.”

“?”

“Met.” Last night’s exertion had been harsh, making her already partially recovered voice even hoarser; she could only utter words in fragments.

“We met at the hospital?”

Xie Jinbing nodded.

Back then, she hadn’t been transferred to the mental hospital yet. She was working at another Red House facility and became Teng Xi’s attending physician.

At that time, Teng Xi had been carried into the ER covered in blood. It happened to be her shift. The dense scars all over Teng Xi’s body had left her momentarily stunned, but the heavily injured Teng Xi had actually turned things around to comfort her, telling her not to be afraid.

“What kind of person… was I before?” Teng Xi asked hesitantly. In this moment, she desperately wanted to understand her past self and the bits and pieces of their history, but a voice deep inside was screaming ‘Don’t ask.’

“Cowardly.”

“?”

“Heartless.”

“?”

“Vicious.”

“?”

“Ungrateful.”

“?”

“Cunning.”

“A beast in human clothing.”

“…”

“Are you sure you aren’t talking about your ex-girlfriend?” Teng Xi’s lips twitched. The hand rubbing her waist moved upward as a punishment, causing her to shiver and whimper for mercy.

“Then how long have we been together?” Teng Xi asked.

Hearing this, Xie Jinbing looked up to meet her eyes: “Five years.”

Five years. Teng Xi had even taken her to see her grandmother. Yet, five years later, she could heartlessly say the words “I’ve fallen in love with someone else.” She really wanted to demand of Teng Xi who that person was—how they could so easily insert themselves into a five-year relationship and make the person who once said “It has to be you” change her mind.

After they broke up, she had spent a period of time in a daze, then proactively applied for a transfer to this mental hospital in the suburbs. She thought she would never see Teng Xi again in this lifetime. She never expected fate to play a trick on her—returning Teng Xi to her side just as she was seeking death, and an amnesiac Teng Xi at that.

But Xie Jinbing had also thought self-destructively countless times about that nearly one year they were apart. Would Teng Xi have marked another girl? Taken another girl to see her grandmother? Carried another girl up a high mountain at one in the morning just to see the next day’s sunrise? Walked into snowy mountains and crossed deserts with another girl, doing everything they had once done together?

She was only human; she could be jealous. Fortunately, she hadn’t smelled anyone else’s pheromones on Teng Xi, otherwise she couldn’t imagine what she would have done.

Xie Jinbing reached up somewhat urgently to kiss Teng Xi. They became entangled. She turned and sat astride her, her bare skin pressing close.

Teng Xi was startled by the sudden move and quickly held her waist.

When the kiss ended, both were breathless.

“What are you laughing at?” Teng Xi saw her suddenly start to smile and smiled back, revealing two canines.

Xie Jinbing laughed even more happily. She wrapped her arms around her neck and buried her head in Teng Xi’s shoulder, her body shaking with laughter.

She loved Teng Xi. She loved her so much that even if another girl existed, she couldn’t control the urge to snatch her away. The pleasure of this moment made the blood in her entire body boil.

“Do you like me?” Xie Jinbing’s muffled voice came from her neck.

“I do.”

Seeing the somewhat unusual Xie Jinbing, Teng Xi firmly believed that actions spoke louder than words.

“Mark me, okay?” Xie Jinbing was losing control of herself. Her body trembled, and even the final syllable of her words carried a shiver.

Teng Xi’s movements paused. She blinked her puppy-like eyes: “Sister, can you tell me about my background? I have amnesia.”

“…”

Xie Jinbing looked at Teng Xi, who was using such clumsy methods to change the subject, with a speechless expression: “You… you aren’t… incapable, are you?”

Teng Xi’s temples throbbed. She squeezed the other woman’s hand with a bit of force; she really wanted to prove her capability through physical action: “Do my hands look like they’re useless?”

Soon after, a low sob filled the room, and hormones with nowhere to dissipate grew wild.

An hour later, Teng Xi was kicked off the bed again. She rubbed her sore bottom and blinked aggrievedly: “Sister…”

“Get out!” Xie Jinbing felt like crying. How did this person’s stamina keep getting better?

It took quite a while before Teng Xi earned her right to get back on the bed. She immediately hugged her obediently, acting extremely well-behaved. Her “puppy” head nuzzled against her face: “Sister, tell me more about yourself, okay?”

Xie Jinbing hummed twice but didn’t object: “I am an orphan.”

Teng Xi didn’t expect her to be so direct.

“I have no family,” Xie Jinbing began to speak slowly.

Since her earliest memories, she had been in an orphanage. Most of the children around her had been abandoned by their families because of physical illnesses. As a “normal” person, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t fit into the groups of children. However, life didn’t teach her to endure; instead, it fostered her rebellion. She learned to solve things with her fists and learned to work herself to death to make herself better.

“Why didn’t you go with someone else?” Teng Xi held her tighter with heartache. Logically, a child like her should have been snatched up for adoption.

Xie Jinbing fell silent. It wasn’t that no one wanted to adopt her: “The director wouldn’t allow it. I was a major attraction for the orphanage; I attracted more people. Every time adoption was discussed, the director would find various reasons and show them other children. In the end, even if that family didn’t adopt a child from our home, they would donate supplies.”

But there was also a “Mother” in the home who was good to her. She would secretly give her food, take her out to play, and teach her games and writing. she gave her motherly warmth. But even such a good person couldn’t overcome the torment of illness and passed away when she was in high school.

Teng Xi held her tight, somewhat regretting asking the question. Changing the subject, she asked again: “Does Sister know Dr. Shi Yun?”

“Your little lover?” Xie Jinbing’s eyes narrowed slightly, looking at her dangerously. “Talking about another woman in my bed?”

Especially since she did not like that woman, Shi Yun.

Teng Xi raised both hands in a gesture of surrender: “How would I dare? Since I have Sister, my eyes and heart are full of you. I can’t live a single day without you QAQ.”