" Can I remove the belt?"

I was startled. Panicked, I shrunk back and turned towards the door.

I clearly understood what he meant.

" Are you angry?" he saw me look unhappy and immediately normalised his earlier cynical tone. " Okay, I wont tease you anymore, But can I give you a suggestion?"

"What suggestion?"

Hearing his sincere tone, I thought he would say something like, "next time remember to take an umbrella with you" or "go home and take a bath so you don"t catch cold."

" For your body, 70C may be more comfortable. Although, from my point of view, if you wear this size, it looks more attractive to men.."

Ugh!

Of all the advice I had ever got, this was the most shameless one.

I clutched on to my clothes tightly. I was shivering uncontrollably. I shrunk my body on the leather seat, as if I wanted to meld myself to the door.

He was still watching me, staring at me with no expression on his face.

In this narrow s.p.a.ce, I felt that his gaze and the words he was using were invading all my senses. It was as if he was visually stripping me

I thought of slapping him angrily and then getting off the car. From now onwards, I would break off all contact with him.

But in reality what I was feeling was not anger.

I was a bit scared. I was trembling … but I could feel a small cl.u.s.ter of flames in my belly slowly warming my drenched body. The warmth spread over my limbs and I felt like my body was on fire.

This was a feeling I had never experienced; every nerve seemed oversensitised and I felt a strange ache spread throughout.

The love song continued playing..

He stretched out his hands, grabbed my coat and pulled it. I thought…

I was stunned. I tried to resist, but he carefully arranged the coat so it covered me completely

Finally, he patted me on the head and laughed.

Not a nasty smile, a sunny smile with a slight hint of…

I was completely confused. My whole body and mind was messed up

What had he wanted to do to me?

_______

Back at the apartment, we hurriedly ran to catch the elevator. In the elevator, I shrank back, deliberately keeping a distance between us.

" Why are you coming back so late?" I tried to re-arrange my expression as soon as Qin Xue entered the elevator.

" Ah, I was in the library to write a report"

Qin Xue looked at my clothes, then at Ye Zhengchen standing next to me.

" Did you come back just now?"

There was an added emphasis on the ‘you"

" I went to work at the convenience store. I just got off work."

" Oh!"

As the elevator reached, I slowly walked out and then looked back

I saw Ye Zhengchen and Qin Xue staring at each other wordlessly

The kept staring at each other till the doors closed. I suddenly felt a hollow feeling in my chest

Throughout the night, I lay in the tub, hot water over my body, trying to annihilate the ache in my body

Throughout the night, I could hear the music being played next door, the very suggestive "fragrance in heaven"

(TL: the same song being played in the car)

…… …

The next day, Qin Xue took the initiative to invite me for lunch. She wore a red dress , had applied very subtle makeup and had a light fragrance on. She caught attention wherever she went.

I suddenly remembered how Li Kai had described Qin Xue"s beauty. He had described her as a fresh lily, untouched and pure, someone who would keep people at arm"s length. I was a rose, charming and delicate looking, but if someone tried to grasp me, my thorn would p.r.i.c.k them and draw blood.

I would like to tell Li Kai now, that he was wrong. Qin Xue was the rose, flirtatious but dangerous.

" Bo Bing..", Qin Xue quietly started , " I wanted to tell you a few things. I shouldn"t say them, but since we are friends.."

I knew what she wanted to talk about.

" Ye Zhengchen and I are only friends, nothing more."

" I understand that you don"t really have anything going on, he wont…" she suddenly stopped and smiled coldly at me instead.

Her smile reminded me of the first day I started understanding Ye Zengchen, and the comments people made about him.

Qin Xue said, "Bo Bing, Ye Zhengchen changes women faster than anything. He gets bored easily and is only interested in pursuing new things.."

I didn"t know how fast he changed women. But in the five months that I had known him, he had already changed three cars.

Qin Xue sneered, " A woman can maintain her beauty for a decade.. but the novelty factor cannot be maintained for a long time. A month? Two months?

Qin Xue and I chatted for more than an hour in the cafeteria. What she said added to the information I had already gathered over the last few months

…… …

She told me that when she had just arrived, Ye Zhengchen was very kind to her. He went with her to buy things, helped her organise stuff at home and even helped repair her home appliances.

In the morning, he would drop her to school; in the evening, he would again pick her up and take her back home.

When she fell sick, he took her to the hospital in the middle of the night

Once when he had to attend a meeting in Hokkaido, he got Qin Xue along as well. They partied happily in Hokkaido for almost a fortnight

But when Qin Xue fell in love with him, she lost her novelty factor for him. He was no longer interested in her.

The more Qin Xue tried to fight it, the more Ye Zengchen deliberately avoided her. Gradually he completely and coldly alienated himself from her.

When Qin Xue fell seriously ill and was admitted to the school hospital for a week, even though he accompanied the professor on his round, he never came to her ward.

The day she was discharged, she saw him driving a brand new BMW coupe with another girl.

The girl had blonde hair, thick eyelashes framing large eyes and was dressed in a very short miniskirt. She looked like a beautiful Barbie doll

She had hated him at first, but gradually she had forgiven him as well. After all, if only for a brief moment, they had experienced happiness

She said she was telling me all this just so that I wouldn"t follow her footsteps and  make the same errors.

How could I not understand all this ?

Women were often very naive. They fell in love with a man knowing that he was not in love with them. They would ignore all the warning signs that showed he was a playboy and would never give her a commitment

The woman, while drawn towards such a man like a moth to a flame, would always innocently think that she would be his last one.

She would never realise till it was too late that she would never be his end, but that man would certainly bring an end to her happiness!

…… …

In the afternoon, I didn"t feel like doing anything. I didn"t want to go to cla.s.s, I didn"t want to go home. So I sat alone in a daze in the research room till six when I suddenly remembered that I was supposed to work at the convenience store today.

At work, I made a lot of silly mistakes. I gave a customer cold milk when he asked for hot milk, I forgot to ask customers for change and even forgot to bag the purchases of some customers.

My boss was very tolerant and kept saying "Never mind" for every mistake I made.

At ten minutes to ten, Li Kai took over.

As I stood at the door, I looked at the dark night. My eyes teared from the glare of lights.

I laughed at myself, then forcing down my gloomy emotions, I slowly trudged back to my apartment

Earlier, even if I were tired and hungry, I would rush back to my apartment as if injected with stimulants. Today, I had nothing to look forward to. I was tired and sad, dragging every step of the way.

Suddenly I was scared. Scared that one day, when Ye Zhengchen was tired of me, when he would be thousands of miles away, how would I even finish this long journey home everyday ?

Standing outside my apartment door, I looked at the next door out of sheer habit. Then I bit my lips and tried to force down the emotions of gloom that were threatening to overwhelm me.

I took the key and opened the door. I was tired, hungry and really wanted to cry…

Suddenly, Ye Zhengchen appeared behind me and caught my wrist.

" You finally came back ! Come with me."

He dragged me without any explanation all the way to the rooftop.

As we stood on the rooftop, I took in the panoramic view of the city at night.

Green and white lights dazzled along with the stars in the sky, a beautiful combination of the sights of heaven and earth

On the newly cleaned and tidied rooftop, a barbecue had been set up. I could not imagine how he had done all of this with one hand.

" Did you have dinner?" he asked as he handed me some grilled steaks. " Try the culinary craft of the young master!"

I ate the steaks silently as I felt my eyes tear up.

"How is it? Tasty?" he stared at me nervously, "this is my first time cooking for a woman."

As I swallowed the steak, I could not help but start crying

Hastily, he hugged me. "I know what I cooked is difficult to eat. You tell me that, but please don"t cry so sadly."

I clung to him tightly. Such a man, how could I guard my heart against him even though I knew he would hurt me in the end?

” Girl, has the old j.a.panese scolded you ? Don"t cry! Sooner or later, I will wreak revenge against him on your behalf."

"No,"I shook my head, "I miss home. I want to go home."

" OK, we will return home. I will open a hospital there and make you the Dean.."

"Really?"I looked up in his arms and stared at his face dreamily, " Then I am coming with you.."

" I will make you Mrs Dean", he solemnly promised.

" Shut up!" I pushed him away, " I would rather never marry my whole life than marry you"

"Wont you regret it if I got married to another woman?"

How could I have any regrets? I was not going to fight for it, I was not willing to pay the price for such an a.s.sociation, so, rightfully, I could not have any regrets.

Even if I fought for his affections, even if I were willing to pay the price, eventually he would move on

"Brother, are you ok now?" I wiped me tears and concentrated on finishing my steak

He sat next to me and took out a lovely watch from his pocket, very similar to the one he was wearing

He placed it in front of me. " This is for you".

Miumiu : I cant help but feel that our poor YZ is misunderstood. He seemed to have genuinely helped QX when she first landed in j.a.pan, but his kindness was misunderstood as love. He was very helpful to BB as well when she lost her way to the supermarket. BB is even more tragic. She knows she has fallen for YZ, and thinking that they have no future, she has every intention of keeping it simple and superficial with YZ. But ,ah, the torture of maintaining friendship when your heart is overflowing with other,deeper emotions! Let me know what you think!