Chapter 196：For As Long As I Live

Xiao Ping wakes up and notices she is not in her bedroom. Once her eyes gets used to the darkness, she recognizes that she is now in a hotel room. She quickly pulls the blanket that covers her. She is not naked, but she is not wearing her dress neither. She is now in an oversized T-Shirt. It must be Yu Jin's, she thought. Then another thought hits her. How can she changes her outfit ? She gasps as she realizes the answer. In shy, she covers her face with both hands. Yu Jin must have seen her naked! How can she face him later on ?! And then she remembers, where is Yu Jin ? The other bedside is empty. She crawls to the other side of the bed and looks down to the floor. There he is. Yu Jin is sleeping soundly with a smile on his face. Oh.. he must be very happy after seeing me naked, Xiao Ping grunts as a voice of her embarrassment. Without a sound, Xiao Ping goes back to her side, stands, then changes again into her dress. After that she sneaks out of the room.

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The next morning, Yu Jin wakes up only to find out that Xiao Ping is already left the room. His T-shirt that used by her is neatly folded on the bed. He sighs. But then he remembers the passionate kisses they had last night. Xiao Ping kissed him non-stop. Her kisses was so hot. She was so hot. He barely not able to restrain himself over her continues seduction. If only he didn't remember that Xiao Ping was drunk and whatever she did she might not remember it, he would definitely just let his instinct did the job. But he didn't. Instead, he took her to his hotel room, while refrained his lust, changed her clothes and let her sleep peacefully. He was afraid that he might unconsciously did something to her while he was sleeping, so he took the floor as his bed. Yu Jin's face is red. He even gets turned on just to remember it.

"Stop it," he warns himself as he shakes his head. He must find her now. He determines to have her back again. This time it's forever. Yu Jin walks himself to the bathroom to prepare himself.

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"Xiao Ping, there is a man in the information desk asking about you," a girl whispers to Xiao Ping. Xiao Ping who is still serving a customer neglects the information she just heard. "Thank you for shopping with us. Enjoy your day," Xiao Ping says to the customer as handing her shopping bag with a little bow. She then busy doing some notes.

"Hey, didn't you hear me ?" the girl jumps to her. Xiao Ping nods. "I hear you. But I'm working now," Xiao Ping answers her. "I can replace you temporarily. Go meet him. You won't regret it. He is soooo handsome," The girl encourages Xiao Ping with excited face, especially when she said how handsome the man is. "Then maybe you should be the one who meets him, since you seems like interested of him," Xiao Ping says to the girl teasingly.

The girl clicks her tongue in disappointment. "Unfortunately, he is looking for you, not me," she says. "Why don't you want to meet him ? Is he a bad guy ? Is he trying to.."

"Okay.. okay.. I will meet him," Xiao Ping finally gives up. It is better for her to just meet "the guy" rather than to explain the reason why she is unwilling to.

Xiao Ping walks to the elevator. She waits for a moment before the elevator's door is opened and brings her to the ground floor. As she expected, the guy who is looking for her is Yu Jin. As Yu Jin becomes excited to see her, Xiao Ping is getting nervous. Without being told, suddenly her feet bring her to the opposite direction from where Yu Jin stands.

"Eh.. ? Xiao Ping ? Hey, Wait !" Yu Jin tries to chase her, but his right leg is preventing him to walk fast. When he arrives to where Xiao Ping stood, Xiao Ping is already inside the elevator. "Wait !" Yu Jin holds the elevator's door with his stick, then limping entering the elevator.

"Why are you running from me ?" Yu Jin asks after catching Xiao Ping. They are now inside the elevator. "Nothing," Xiao Ping answers with a stern face. The elevator goes up. "What do you mean 'nothing' ? You obviously ran from me just a minute ago," Yu Jin confronts her.

"Just.. what do you want ? I'm very busy," Xiao Ping changes the topic. Before Yu Jin answers her, the elevator's door is opened. Four persons walk in the elevator, so Yu Jin must postpone whatever he wanted to say. The elevator makes another stop with a 'ding' voice before. This time, Xiao Ping gets out of the elevator without any warning. Yu Jin who is blocked cannot chase her.

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Someone drops a box of toy on the cashier table. "Now, can I have your time to talk ?" Yu Jin asks Xiao Ping who is behind the door. Xiao Ping tries not to react with the thing Yu Jin buy. It is a children toy truck. The similar toy trucks are displayed near the cashier desk. He obviously just randomly picked it without even thinking. "300 yuan," Xiao Ping says to him. Yu Jin takes out his wallet and gives her the money. "I just want to talk to you shortly. It won't take long," he says in whispering tone. "There are still more customers behind you," Xiao Ping responds to him with a fake smile. Yu Jin sighs to gather his patience. "Okay, I will wait for you there until your shift is over," he says, pointing at a coffee corner that also belong to the department store. "Okay," Xiao Ping nods to him while handing his shopping bag. "But I want you to think of my question carefully," Yu Jin grabs her wrist. "Will you forgive me and get back to me, this time it's for forever ?" he pops out the question before letting go her wrist and walks to the coffee corner.

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It's 6 PM. Yu Jin has been sitting inside the coffee corner for about five hours. He picks a place where he can see Xiao Ping, to make sure the girl won't skip away again. He is very nervous. At first he was confidence that Xiao Ping would say 'yes'. After all, that's what the last night kisses seemed to say. But the sober Xiao Ping reacted different. She even avoided him in purpose. Maybe she still hurt of his act. Maybe she doesn't want to be with him again. Those thoughts make Yu Jin nervous. He even ordered chamomile tea as his third order to calm him down.

6.10 PM, Yu Jin can see Xiao Ping walks toward the coffee shop. She looks very nervous, but she doesn't back down. Reluctantly, she approaches him and sits on a chair across him. "Do you want anything for drink ?" Yu Jin asks her. Xiao Ping shakes her head. Still, Yu Jin orders an orange juice to the waiter.

Xiao Ping frowns to know his act. "You always like that," she says in protest.

"Like what ?" Yu Jin asks.

"You just do what you think is right. You never wanted to listen to me," Xiao Ping explains to him.

"Don't you love orange juice ?"

"Yes, but I don't want it right now."

"Okay, I will drink it then," Yu Jin says calmly.

"It's not the problem. The problem is you have never listened. When it comes to certain things, you never want to listen to me. No matter how many time I said to you, you never believed me," Xiao Ping speaks her mind. Yu Jin is stunned.

"I did, didn't I ?" he says in murmur.

Xiao Ping nods. "It's tiring, you know.." The orange juice is arrive and placed in front of her. Xiao Ping unconsciously takes the glass and sips the orange juice. "And when you had problems you kept pushing me away, or worse.. you left me," Xiao Ping continues her words. Yu Jin lows down his head. "If you want me to be your partner, you will have to trust me and let me involve in your problems."

"I will work on that. I promise you," Yu Jin says. "I know it now, thanks to you. I will work on it."

"But you will leave me again.."

"No, I won't. I promise you, I won't leave you. It was my biggest mistake.. leaving you," Yu Jin says.

"How can you expect me to believe you, after what you did ?" Xiao Ping asks him with hurtful tone.

Yu Jin gropes his pocket to take out a box. He then moves down on the floor with one knee before opening the box. "I'm tying my knot to you now. Marry me.."

"What ?! You can't ask me to marry you. I don't even know whether I want to go back to you again or not."

"Look.. I knew from the beginning, I only love you. So, I don't mean to push you. Whether you want to marry me or not, I have tied my knot to you."

"You.."

"It will be better for both of us if you agree, though.."

"Just think about it. Bring the ring first while you think about it. I don't mind waiting for as much time as you need," Yu Jin says, putting the ring onto Xiao Ping's palm then closes it. "I'm sorry I hurt you. I'm sorry I left you. It won't happen again. I promise you I won't leave you or to push you away. I promise to trust you more. I promise to be the last resource of your happiness. For as long as I live."

"You stupid!" Xiao Ping scolds him between her sobs then chuckles. "You only asked me to marry you, not actually married yet. You don't have to utter so many promises to me."

"My promises apply even when you don't want to marry me..."

Xiao Ping sighs. She then frees her hand from Yu Jin's grip and opens her palm. "Okay then," she says, taking the ring and putting it on her left hand's ring finger.

"It's a yes ?!" Yu Jin asks in disbelief. Xiao Ping nods. Yu Jin kisses her on lips. "I love you," Yu Jin whispers to her with teary eyes. "I love you, too.." Xiao Ping responds with a tear falls from her eye.

THE END