On the next day.
Luo Xiaoxi hesitated before she made the call. Finally, she still called Su Yicheng. Surprisingly, Su Yicheng picked it up. In the past, if she woke him up this early, he would have hung up the phone directly.
“Do you have time?” She was half-asking and half-begging. “Come and give me a ride to the company.”
Su Yicheng was just in the garage for his car.
He had early scheduled a sport gathering for today with Luo Boyan and some other guys and did not expect a call from Luo Xiaoxi at this time.
For some unknown reason, he suddenly hated the desperately trying Luo Xiaoxi and involuntarily spoke with the hint of a sneer in his tones. “Did the injuries on your feet recover so quickly?”
“I only need to attend classes today. My foot injuries won’t matter.” Luo Xiaoxi was not in the mood to waste time on him. “Do you come or not? I can call my agent to pick me up.”
Su Yicheng opened the door and thought for a moment, and then he sat on the seat. “I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”
“Alright, buy me breakfast on the way.” Luo Xiaoxi was asking for more. “I want a barbecued pork rice noodle roll and a tea egg from the rice noodle roll diner downstairs.”
Su Yicheng gritted his teeth. “Luo Xiaoxi, don’t push it.”
“Is that what you called ‘push it’?” Luo Xiaoxi chuckled. “Well, yes, I did. So what!”
Su Yicheng hung up the phone in a bad mood. Then, he called Shen Yuechuan, telling that he would skip the gathering for some temporary arrangement.
“Didn’t you say you’re free today?” Shen Yuechuan guessed right. “Are you caught up by Luo Xiaoxi? It doesn’t make sense. Everyone knows that she can’t hold you. Otherwise, you’d have been hers long ago.”
That was true. However, technically speaking, he was not caught up by Luo Xiaoxi. He had promised her himself.
Su Yicheng suddenly felt restless, hung up the phone and drove out of the garage.
Soon, he arrived under Luo Xiaoxi’s apartment. Beside the gate, there was indeed a rice noodle roll diner.
Usually, food from restaurants that were well-remembered by Luo Xiaoxi and Su Jianan were not bad in taste. As expected, the diner was almost full and people lined up at the register.
Su Yicheng could hardly take a step forward—he had not lined up for food in ages.
However, since he had promised Luo Xiaoxi, he summoned up the courage to stand at the end of the line. Soon, a few girls in the front spotted him and the customers in the diner also cast their eyes on him. He could only stay calm and looked at the line in the front.
“Hello, are you in a hurry?” Some daring girl was trying to chat him up. “You can line up in front of me if you are.”
He smiled politely. “No, thank you. I’m not.”
“You’re welcome.” The girl stared at him more boldly and supported her chin with her hands like a cute girl who was playing coy. He smiled as a courtesy and looked away, but, he suddenly remembered Luo Xiaoxi.
The second time Luo Xiaoxi saw him, she said that she liked him, and if he did not accept her love, she would have to pursue him instead.
He took it only as a small girl’s joke, but she had already taken it to the next level. The reason was. “You’re pleasing to the eye, and my eyes enjoy watching you.”
Then, every time they met, Luo Xiaoxi would stare at him in a direct way, like her eyes were glued on him. Her beautiful eyes had the hint of a smile. He had never been afraid to look into others’ eyes, but he only feared to look into Luo Xiaoxi’s.
Such pure and strong love was seen in her eyes. Back then, Su Hongyuan was holding him down everywhere and he was facing with huge pressure. He had long warned himself not to be tangled up in love problems, so he chose to ignore Luo Xiaoxi’s love and her eyes.
Looking at it now, he had never shirked in front of pressure, no matter how huge it was. However, before he consolidated his position in the business community, he really did not dare to face Luo Xiaoxi’s eyes.
He did not want to ponder on the reason behind that.
“Hello, what can I get you?”
The cashier brought Su Yicheng back from the memory 10 years ago. He ordered two barbecued pork rice noodle rolls, two tea eggs, and a basket of soup dumplings.
“They’ll be 45 yuan, thank you.”
Su Yicheng opened his wallet but discovered that he did not have any cash, so he had to ask if they accept card payment. The cashier shook his head smilingly. “I’m sorry. We don’t accept cards here.”
He was feeling a headache and was thinking if he should get the assistant to pay for him. Suddenly, someone called him. “Boss Su.”
It was the company’s deputy manager. He was just walking into the diner and still wore that shocked face. He did not hesitate to ask. “Do you have any cash?”
The deputy manager had long figured it out just now. He took out a 50-yuan bill from his wallet and handed it to the cashier. He was slightly surprised and asked Su Yicheng, “Boss Su, the breakfast… is for Ms. Luo, right?”
Su Yicheng’s eyes were confused. The deputy manager hurriedly added, “I live downstairs from her. I often run into her and occasionally have meals with her.”
Su Yicheng knitted his brows—Why did Luo Xiaoxi have meals with everybody? Did she really not pick?
Soon, a waiter sent the packed breakfast. Su Yicheng thanked the deputy manager and left the restaurant.
Luo Xiaoxi lived in room 1603. Just as he walked out of the elevator, he found the door wide open. His pulse quickened and hurriedly walked in. “Luo Xiaoxi!”
“I’m in a shower.” Luo Xiaoxi’s voice sounded in the bathroom. “I’m done.”
After that, the bathroom door swooshed opened. Luo Xiaoxi walked out with a plain and beautiful face. She had been smiling, but unexpectedly, she found Su Yicheng’s eyes a little gloomy.
She was confused. “What?”
“Let the door wide open in a shower?” Su Yicheng was scolding her, his face sunken. “Luo Xiaoxi, do you have any sense of safety?”
“I thought that I’d be taking a shower when you came, so I let the door open. Don’t you hate waiting the most? I feared that you’d drop the breakfast and leave.” Luo Xiaoxi let down her hair and walked toward him. “But why are you mad? Are you worried about me?”
She grinned cheekily, while Su Yicheng was really upset. He tossed the breakfast bag in her hands. “I’m worried about your IQ.”
“You don’t need to!” Luo Xiaoxi took breakfast and walked to the kitchen. When she was unpacking, she said, “I almost know the entire building. Nothing can go wrong. And, when Dad bought me an apartment here, he likes here because it’s safe.”
After that, Luo Xiaoxi found Su Yicheng had also bought a basket of soup dumplings, and an extra barbecued pork rice noodle roll and tea egg.
She was curious. “Haven’t you had breakfast either?”
Su Yicheng walked to her. “Thanks to you.”
“You promised to me to come. I wasn’t pestering you.” Luo Xiaoxi split the bamboo chopsticks. “How can you blame me?”
“How can I blame her?”
If it were not for her, he would have been enjoying his morning tea on the green lawn.
However, Luo Xiaoxi was right. He had promised her.
Su Yicheng was destined not to have a smooth day today.
Luo Xiaoxi saw the anger between Su Yicheng’s eyes and brows and wisely chose to lower her head to eat. Su Yicheng looked charming and gentle in usual days, however, when he got mad, she could not hold him. That was also the reason why the employees both hated and loved him.
After breakfast, it was just one quarter after eight. Luo Xiaoxi slipped into a pair of sneakers. “Let’s go.”
Today, she compromised and put on a sports suit.
However, in the past, she believed in “looking fine every minute”, so she would put on makeup and a dress every morning. Then, she would change into a sports suit in the company. Looking back, wasn’t the drama yesterday due to her outfit?
Thus, she had better keep a low profile in the future. It was impossible for Su Yicheng to run into her every time. Even if he did, he would not necessarily bother to save her every time.
Before the car drove for a long time, Luo Xiaoxi found that Su Yicheng was not driving to Lu Enterprise Media. She asked him in doubt. “Where are you taking me to?” Anticipation was escaping from her tones.
Su Yicheng said coldly. “The hospital.”
In an instant, Luo Xiaoxi turned into a frosted eggplant. “I thought you’d take me somewhere and do something to me when my feet are injured.”
“…” Su Yicheng’s brain chose to automatically ignore the sentence.
He naturally went to the hospital to change the dressings and clean the cuts for her. The process was not painful, and Su Yicheng did not accompany Luo Xiaoxi to the treatment room. Thus, the doctor smiled. “Ms. Luo, actually, Mr. Su really cares about you.”
Luo Xiaoxi smiled back and did not agree or disagree. She just commented in her heart. “He really cares about how to refuse and bad-mouth me, so I really hope he can do something else to me.”
“Yesterday when he deliberately got you mad, he was trying to distract you.” The doctor said, “Before we taking out the shards, you were so afraid. But think about it, did you notice it when we really pulled out the glasses?”
She really did not notice it when they did it. She nearly went mad at Su Yicheng’s words and was caught up in a fight with him. When she realized it, the doctor was already cleaning her cuts.
However, it was purely coincidental, right? Su Yicheng really wanted to make fun of her, and the distraction was just a coincidental bonus.
She did not believe that Su Yicheng would care about her. He would only laugh at her IQ, her ability and question her everything.
After changing the dressings and wrapping up the cuts, Luo Xiaoxi hobbled out. Su Yicheng stood outside with a sullen face, nothing could be read on his face.
She had never seen Su Yicheng like this, but she could not figure out anything. Thus, she walked to him and patted him. “A penny for your thoughts? Let’s go.”
Su Yicheng collected himself, drove Luo Xiaoxi away from the hospital and sent her to Lu Enterprise Media’s gate.
“Thanks.”
Luo Xiaoxi unfastened the seat belt and was ready to get off, but Su Yicheng suddenly stopped her. “Xiaoxi.”
“What?” Luo Xiaoxi twisted around. “What is it?”
Su Yicheng seemed to think of something. He loosened his grip on the steering wheel and his voices returned to normal. “Nothing. Go ahead.”
“I’m going.”
Luo Xiaoxi closed the door for him and slowly walked into the company. Soon, some colleagues found about her feet. They warmly asked her about the injuries. She simply said she was accidentally cut by some shards of glasses last night. They helped her walk inside the building, and on the way, she received a lot of warm greetings.
She was easing going and people all liked her.
At some point, outside the building, Su Yicheng rolled down the window to watch her. When her figure disappeared out of sight, he fished out a cigarette and deftly lit it up. Just when the cigarette reached his lips, something Su Jianan said crossed his mind:
“Cigarettes take away many lives every year. Brother, for me, will you try to quit smoking to stay with me to the very end? I’ve seen so many people getting cancer from smoking and died. They left their loved ones and never had the chance to be with them anymore. In time, not only you will suffer, but people around you will also suffer.”
At that time, there was nobody except Su Jianan around him, but now…
Eventually, Su Yicheng still put the cigarette out and drove away.
—————