Ruan Yang felt uncomfortable from his staring so she covered up her face with the blanket.
Li Shaobin felt even more hurt. “Do you really dislike seeing me so much?”
“What are you talking about?” Ruan Yang had no choice but to peek her head out and she saw him looking dispirited.
“You know very well.” Li Shaobin felt a mixture of emotions. “After you regained your memory, you’ve been treating me coldly. You don’t even want to sleep with me anymore. Ruan Yang, don’t you think you’re too much? You’ve already had sex with me. You must take responsibility after having sex.”
Ruan Yang didn’t have much energy to begin with. After he said that, she didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. She said, “You came back drunk last night and reeked of alcohol. I wasn’t used to the smell and that’s why I came out here to sleep. Can’t I even do that?”
“Of course I wouldn’t smell good,” Li Shaobin said gloomily. “If I reeked of alcohol, you should’ve helped me take off my jacket and shoes. I was still wearing my shoes when I woke up in the morning. Do you not want to even touch me anymore?”
“I wanted to but you wrapped yourself up so tightly I couldn’t. You even kicked my hand.” Ruan Yang flipped over to face the couch. “Don’t bother me. I still want to get some more sleep.”
Li Shaobin heaved a sigh of relief. So it wasn’t that she didn’t want to sleep with him. However, he still felt uneasy. “Ruan Yang, what are your thoughts now? Are you going to leave me?”
Ruan Yang froze. She also felt weird about this relationship, but she couldn’t deny that the amnesia did make her accept a man all over again with her 18-year-old mentality. If it was before she lost her memory, she never would’ve believed that a man would be serious towards her.
Even so, she still felt very insecure.
Could love still be trusted?
She was uncertain.
“That’s why I didn’t want you to regain your memory.” Li Shaobin suddenly sighed.
Ruan Yang felt complicated. “The person you fell in love was 18-year-old Ruan Yang, not the current me, right? The 18-year-old me was confident and lively. She’s also brave and undaunting in the face of love. The current me has nothing at all.”
Li Shaobin was stunned. He didn’t know much about relationships but he understood what she was feeling. “To me, there isn’t much of a difference, I guess. Your amnesia allowed us to get to know each other all over again. To be honest, I didn’t think that I would fall for you either. During this period, I’ve been half-lying to you about certain things. When I fell for you, I also wondered if I should like you and I was annoyed by the fact that the women I liked always had something to do with Xin Ziao. If I were to get with you, Xin Ziao would definitely mock me, and I was such an egotistical person. However, from the moment I started pursuing you, I thought things through. I’m not afraid of being laughed at. Ruan Yang, I like you as a person. I like everything about you; whether you’re 18 or 26, I like it all. Besides, I’m very grateful for that car accident. If you hadn’t lost your memory, I’m afraid we would just be simple acquaintances and I also wouldn’t be able to get to know how nice of a person you actually are.”
Ruan Yang’s eyes felt hot for some reason so early in the morning. “What’s so nice about me? It’s shameful to be with me. You’ll be laughed at.”
Li Shaobin frowned. He thought for a while and said, “Actually, Old Song knew about you and Xin Ziao last year because I told him. I didn’t like Xin Ziao for a very long time and have always wanted to make some trouble with him, so I found out about the two of you when I had him investigated. I still had a lot of photos of you and Xin Ziao in the Maldives. I also knew that… Xin Ziao abandoned you in the Maldives and left in advance because of Zhao Zhu. And I knew very clearly how badly and pathetically you cried. Ruan Yang, I’ve seen even the worst side of you.”
Ruan Yang’s mouth was agape. She felt utterly embarrassed. “Hey, you even stalk… others and take photos? That’s so low.”
Li Shaobin felt aggrieved. “I didn’t leak them. I wanted to, but Old Song stopped me…”
Ruan Yang threw a pillow at his face. “If you had leaked them, it’d be over between us. Tell me—what else do you know?”
Li Shaobin covered his head pathetically with a bitter face. He didn’t expect Ruan Yang to be so fierce. “Mm… didn’t you go to Singapore with Changqing previously? Xin Ziao went over too. The day after you returned from Singapore with Xin Ziao, he went out to have a meal with Zhao Zhu and her dad. You don’t even know about it.”
“Really?” Ruan Yang fell silent suddenly because she recalled that the day she returned from Singapore, she even had a fight with Xin Ziao on the road. Actually, deep inside, she couldn’t bear to let go of the relationship and she was also secretly waiting for him to call her to apologize. He did call the next day, but she didn’t know that he actually had a meal with Zhao Zhu and her father.
How silly. She kept believing him time and again.
And Li Shaobin had always been aware of it.
“Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” she said with annoyance. “Did you think I was a joke?”
“You weren’t even my friend at that time and you were no one to me too. Of course I wouldn’t feel the need to tell you. Besides… I was thinking that I had a show to watch.” Li Shaobin glanced at her meekly, afraid that she would throw a pillow at his head again. However, she didn’t move this time, so he stuttered, “Actually, I kind of looked down on you then. I also kind of disliked you. I thought you were really superficial and had no taste. Why would you like someone like Xin Ziao?”
“Then why do you like me now?” Ruan Yang clenched her teeth. She had never felt so embarrassed before.
“That’s why I say I’m a generous and forgiving person.” Li Shaobin took the chance to praise himself.
Ruan Yang scoffed and retorted, “Then do you know what I felt when I met you for the first time? My god, I wondered how it was possible that a man with such bad taste could exist. It was as if I just saw a piece of graffiti with multiple colors. Could you get any cornier? The scary part was that you were so confident. Hasn’t anyone told you about that before?”
Li Shaobin’s face flushed red with annoyance too. “You’re no better than I am. So what if you dress smartly? You were still toyed by a man.”
“Shut up.” Ruan Yang was so embarrassed her anger grew as she continued whacking him with the pillow.
Li Shaobin covered his head and ducked to the side pathetically. He said angrily, “Let me tell you. A man like Xin Ziao is too sly. You’re no match for him. He was really impressive during high school—he made all the girls in our class crowd around him all the time. Just because he’s rich, he would treat some female classmates to breakfast then treat others to ice cream. In any case, he was the scheming type.”
“I think you just bear a grudge against him because he snatched your first love away.” Ruan Yang took the chance to make a dig at him.
“That’s part of it, of course. That’s why I understand everything about him so clearly.” He snorted. “He even wrote a love letter to Song Yunyang when he was in the first year of high school but he got rejected. Song Yunyang likes Old Song.”
“Alright, cut it out. It’s over between me and him. There’s no point talking about it.” The more Ruan Yang listened, the dumber she felt.
Li Shaobin thought she was hurt and he quickly said, “Actually, you don’t have to be so pessimistic. Even though Xin Ziao kept lying to you, abandoning you, and ended up getting married to Zhao Zhu, at least he really likes you. I’ve never seen him pester a woman like this.”
Ruan Yang scoffed. She really didn’t know if he was trying to comfort her or attack her again. “Stop talking to me. You reek of alcohol and you haven’t brushed your teeth. Your breath stinks.”
“Ruan Yang, you’re too much.” He was actually so badly scorned by someone. Li Shaobin glared at her with his face red with fury before turning around to the bathroom to shower.
Ruan Yang lay back down but she no longer felt sleepy. She thought about how Li Shaobin already knew about all her embarrassing and pitiful stories and felt extremely embarrassed.
She covered her face with the blanket. How did she end up getting together with him because of these turns of events?
She really couldn’t lift her head up anymore.
…
Li Shaobin came out after showering and sauntered around her on purpose. “Do I smell bad now? I’ve washed up cleanly inside and out.”
Ruan Yang rolled her eyes at him lazily. “Stop wandering around in front of me. I’m not in a good mood.”
“I’m not in a good mood either.” Li Shaobin was angry.
“Go and get changed quickly,” Ruan Yang said angrily. “Your subordinate said you have to play golf at nine.”
“You just can’t wait for me to leave, right?” Li Shaobin pouted. “You can only wield your might in front of me.”
He snorted and quickly went to get changed before she blew her top. The temperature in Guangzhou wasn’t very cold so he put on the suit and black pants Ruan Yang bought for him previously. He paired the clothes himself this time. However, since all the clothes he wore were bought by Ruan Yang and she didn’t choose bright colors, he would still look good no matter how he paired them.
…
When it was 8:30 am, the hotel staff sent up their breakfast. He sat beside Ruan Yang to eat his breakfast on purpose. Guangzhou was known for its delicious breakfast. Just a glance made Ruan Yang hungry, but she was only wearing a pair of panties so she was embarrassed to go outside.
Li Shaobin ate for a while and saw that she was still lying there, so he assumed she was still angry. He walked over and lifted her blanket up. “Say, why are you so petty? Get up quickly for breakfast…”
He froze before finishing his sentence. Ruan Yang was wearing nude-colored thermal wear without a bra and as for her bottoms, she was only wearing a pathetically short pair of panties.