Chapter 8 No Second Chances
“What are you thinking about?” Xu Yan turned off the faucet and pulled my hand out of the cold water.
He pressed my hand against his chest, then drew me into his arms.
“If both Xu Jiaqing and I liked you, and you had to choose again…”
“I’d choose you.”
The reason was simple. Feelings weren’t a game.
There was no infinite retry.
You couldn’t treat it like a game at the start, then wake up to so-called true feelings midway and expect everyone else to restart with you.
Was that even possible?
I shot back at Xu Yan, “If I hadn’t figured out Xu Jiaqing’s scheme in time and kept chasing him like he was some perfect god, and ended up with him…
With what you know about him, do you think he would’ve actually fallen for me?
Or would he have just waited until he got what he wanted, then told me the truth and dumped me? ”
Xu Yan didn’t answer.
We both knew Xu Jiaqing had been aiming for the second outcome from the very beginning.
“I thought you were going to say something like a real woman doesn’t choose—she takes both. Don’t take the second half of that apology letter seriously. I only wrote it to test you. My taste can’t be as bad as my brother’s.”
After Xu Jiaqing finished speaking, he slumped weakly against the kitchen doorway. When he saw Xu Yan and me still holding each other, he said impatiently, “Didn’t you say you were washing fruit for me? I’ve been waiting forever.”
It hit me. “Xu Jiaqing… were you eavesdropping on us?”
“Learned it from you. My brother didn’t kick me out, so what right do you have?”
He avoided my eyes, his voice dropping suddenly. “Tian Wan, you’re not my Sister-in-Law yet.”
“You…”
Xu Yan held me back and quickly changed the subject. “What do you two want to eat tonight? I’ll cook.”
Xu Jiaqing glanced at me. “I’m not feeling well right now. Needs to be light. Absolutely no spice.”
I curved my lips. “Right! Then tonight you can have pickled cucumbers with plain porridge.”
“Tian Wan, you…” Xu Jiaqing’s emotions swung too hard, and he was still running a fever.
He almost fainted. Xu Yan and I rushed to catch him.
His head lolled, deliberately putting his weight on my shoulder.
I gritted my teeth. Together with Xu Yan, we got him back to the bedroom.
Once he was lying down, Xu Jiaqing’s face still looked awful, but his attitude suddenly softened a lot.
He said to Xu Yan, “Brother, can I have your matsutake chicken soup noodles tonight?”
“Sure. I’ll go get the ingredients.”
I turned to follow Xu Yan. “I’ll go with you.”
Behind us came Xu Jiaqing’s coughing fit. “Sister-in-Law, why don’t you stay and take care of me? I already went to the hospital. It’s not contagious. Don’t worry.”
I frowned. “Stop pretending.”
He laughed. “I’m not pretending. You’re not that full of yourself to think I actually like you, right? You’re avoiding me now, but when you marry my brother later, are you going to keep avoiding me then too?”
I forced a smile. “Fine. You want fruit, right? I’ll get it now!”