Chapter 49.3: What Do You Think? (3)

The two hours were almost up by the time they had their fill of food. Ji Fanyin looked at Song Shiyu and gently asked, “Is there something bothering you?”

Song Shiyu glanced at his watch before replying, “I’ll tell you later.”

Ji Fanyin caught his drift right away.

He was probably the kind of person who spent a bomb on his idol’s newest album in order to get a random handshaking event ticket. 

Oh well. The recording company has no reason to complain as long as it receives its money, right?

So, Ji Fanyin cleared the table and washed the dishes. When her timer finally rang, she casually made her way to the doorway to grab her bag.

“Were you intending to talk about this?” Ji Fanyin pulled out the painting from her bag and placed it on the table.

“That’s one.” Song Shiyu glanced at the painting on the table and quickly noticed the anomaly. “You didn’t unwrap it?”

“Isn’t that better for you?” Ji Fanyin casually pushed the painting toward him. “You’ll be gifting it to Ji Xinxin anyway, so you should be glad that it’s in pristine condition. Let’s get straight to the point. What’s your offer?”

“I’ll pay double.”

“Fivefold,” Ji Fanyin nonchalantly upped the price. 

She didn’t spend a cent on it, but that was no reason for her not to squeeze out every bit of value in it.

“Fine,” Song Shiyu paused for a moment before adding, “but you have to listen to what I’m going to say next.”

“Go ahead.” Ji Fanyin graciously allowed him to speak his mind.

“I think that…” Song Shiyu interlocked his fingers tightly on the table as he struggled to find the appropriate word choices to relay his thoughts. “… I’m willing to give it a try with you. You said that you don’t like me, but you have a deeper understanding of my habits and preferences, more than anyone else… Xinxin can’t compete with you on that.”

Ji Fanyin’s eyebrows shot up. She was amused by what she had just heard.

“I know that Xinxin won’t accept me, so you should give this some thought too. I’ll become a good boyfriend to you. I’ll try my best to like you.” Song Shiyu fiddled with his thumb. “But the transactions between you and Bai Zhou… and your other ‘clients’ as well, they’ll have to stop. If you need money, I can give it to you.”

He took in a deep breath before staring intently into Ji Fanyin’s eyes. 

“… So, are you willing to become my girlfriend?”

Ji Fanyin waited two seconds to see if he had anything else to say. Then, she smiled and displayed a graceful middle finger to Song Shiyu. “What do you think?”

“… Ji Fanyin, I’m serious about this.” Song Shiyu frowned.

“I was also serious when I told you that the ‘Ji Fanyin’ who liked you is dead,” Ji Fanyin looked at the man in front of her in bemusement. “… When you explained to me that it wasn’t a date yesterday, I thought to myself: It can’t be that Song Shiyu actually thinks that he can go back? But you were actually harboring such thoughts?”

That message Song Shiyu sent to her yesterday felt incredibly awkward, almost as if he was trying to explain himself to her. She found herself thinking ‘It can’t be, right? Surely it can’t be?’, but as fact would have it, he was really thinking of it. 

It was hilarious yet pathetic at the same time. 

“Did your dates with Ji Xinxin disappoint you? Is your fantasy of her shattered? Is that why you started thinking to yourself: Ji Fanyin’s act is better than the real thing?”

Song Shiyu’s complexion turned awful.

“You don’t believe that I don’t harbor any feelings for you anymore?” Resting her chin on her arm, Ji Fanyin looked at Song Shiyu with sympathetic eyes. “Song Shiyu, think about it. Was I not direct enough, or are you too delusional to admit that your charms no longer work on me? Is it that hard for you to believe that the dog who has been at your beck and call all this while has finally awoken from its foolishness?”

It was not that Song Shiyu couldn’t understand her words. He was just terribly unwilling to acknowledge it.

“Dating you? All the men must have died out for me to even consider it.” With a chuckle, Ji Fanyin pushed the painting toward Song Shiyu. “I’ve already heard you out. I’ll leave the painting here. Remember to transfer me the money.”

She stood up and gazed down on Song Shiyu.

“Goodbye, Song Shiyu.”