Inextricable

Chapter 6

Xu Xingxing’s legs softened like broken strings as soon as the man finished. She started sliding down towards the couch, but before she could reach it, she was suddenly lifted up by her waist.

She found herself leaning against Huai Jing’s chest, and could feel the man’s heart beat violently against her back, which allowed her to gradually return to her senses. She then hurriedly touched his hand and said in a hoarse voice, “I-I c-can stand on my own.”

When Huai Jing heard her stutter, he smiled, did not insist, and released his grip on her waist.

The moment the man let go, Xu Xingxing’s body went soft again, and at the same time, she felt something flowing out from her body. This unexpected incident caused her to stiffen.

The man chuckled on seeing this, and before she could react, had brought her into a princess-carry in his arms.

“No…” Xu Xingxing, with a red face, struggled to get out of Huai Jing’s hold.

“Do you want me to put you down?” Huai Jing teased her.

“I…” Xu Xingxing looked at him anxiously.

Seeing the look on her face, Huai Jing laughed out loud and carried her to the bathroom.

Xu Xingxing took another shower, and put on her clothes before leaving the bathroom. 

When she left the bathroom, she came across Huai Jing, who was now wearing a different set of clothes. He had changed into a shirt and trousers, which highlighted his long figure, broad shoulders and narrow hips. He was standing in front of a floor-to-ceiling window while clipping on a pair of French cuffs with his bony and dexterous fingers.

 Hearing the sound behind him, Huai Jing turned his head to see Xu Xingxing looking at him. 

Xu Xingxing’s body was still weak, and if she had not been wearing a long skirt, the slight trembling still present in her legs would have been noticed.

“Washed up?” Huai Jing asked in a relaxed tone, “I have to go out for a while, you can rest here, and the housekeeper will prepare lunch for you.”

“No thanks,” Xu Xingxing refused, and began to pack her things, “I’ll leave right away.”

The relationship between them was purely physical, and nothing else, so she could not allow her mind any rest here, let alone have his housekeeper cook for her.

‘In this relationship between the two of us, I must not be the weaker party,’ she thought.

Huai Jing didn’t care about her response, and after he straightened his cuffs, he handed Xu Xingxing a pill and a glass of water. He then said, “Sorry, I didn’t wear a condom either last night or this morning. This contraceptive pill is very harmful to the body, so I will pay attention to this in the future. Anyway, you read my medical reports last night, so there should be no problem, right?”

Xu Xingxing swept a glance at the water and medicine being offered to her by Huai Jing, then took it and swallowed it directly without any hesitation. Actually, she didn’t need to take any contraceptive pills, for even after being married to her ex-husband for so many years, she had been unable to get pregnant. It would be a miracle if she became pregnant after this. However, she didn’t show any objections to taking the pill out of fear that Huai Jing would think she wanted to give birth to his child.

As Xu Xingxing walked down the stairs, a white-coloured fur ball approached her the cat raised its head, and with its blue eyes aimed at Xu Xingxing, screamed softly, “Meow~”

When she heard the soft meowing, her rigid heart softened, and the corners of her mouth curved upwards. She squatted down and reached out to rub the cat’s head. The cat seemed to know that she was leaving, so it rubbed against her palm while gently squinting its eyes, displaying a reluctance to part.

“Do you like cats?” A husky voice sounded from the top of the stairs, and Xu Xingxing let go of the cat to look up. The cat also followed the action to look at its master.

With one person and one cat staring at him, he pulled on his suit jacket and started walking downstairs with a smile.

Only when Huai Jing was nearly at the end of the stairs did Xu  return to her senses. She shyly withdrew her gaze and stood up, then nodded and said, “Well, I want to have a living creature to accompany me.”

Actually, Xu Xingxing had always held a soft spot for small animals, but because of her previous in-laws’ dissatisfaction with her, she could not raise them.

“Take it with you.” Huai Jing stared at the cat at his feet.

Xu Xingxing looked at Huai Jing with wide eyes, stunned at this.

“I can’t raise it, and it’s not even close to me. Usually, my housekeeper is the one taking care of it, so if you like, you can take it home.”

Xu Xingxing stared at Huai Jing, and concluded that he was not joking with her, so she smiled at him and said, “Thank you.”

Huai Jing’s gaze lingered on the blush on her neck as he replied, “You’re welcome.”

Raising a cat was not an easy job. When Huai Jing gave her the cat, he gave her its supplies too. This led to Xu Xingxing waiting at the bus stop on the coastal road carrying a large pet carrier and a pile of daily necessities for cats.

Although the weather was getting hotter and hotter, she didn’t feel uncomfortable because of the cool sea breeze around her. 

Huai Jing had proposed to send her back, but she refused his kindness.

It was better to have a neat and clean relationship, one without any dependance or owning anything to each other, so that they could break up cleanly at any time. That was what Huai Jing had said at the beginning, and Xu Xingxing, who had the same desire, was also satisfied with it.

                                                                   ………………………………

The weekend passed quickly. Xu Xingxing met Chen Wanwan in the break-room when she reached work on Monday. Just as Xu Xingxing was about to speak, Chen Wanwan glanced at her and said, “Why are you wrapped up so tightly?”

Xu Xingxing, who was wearing a turtleneck sweater, which was covered by her small coat, said, “It’s a little cold.”

“Okay, okay.” Chen Wanwan didn’t inquire further because she was curious about Xu Xingxing’s blind date. “The guy you had a blind date with gave you a high evaluation, so what do you think about it? If you like him, I’ll tell those people, if you don’t, then I’ll help you refuse.”

Xu Xingxing frowned as she recalled her blind date, and said with her lips pursed, “Let’s refuse.”

Chen Wanwan looked at her absent-minded appearance and asked coldly, “Have you gotten yourself a man?”

“No…no.” Xu Xingxing was stunned after hearing Chen Wanwan’s sudden question, and almost poured hot water onto her hand.

However, Chen Wanwan didn’t seem to believe her. “Hm…look at your ruby and rosy complexion, it’s like you’re being nourished by a man.”

“What are you talking about? No…” Xu Xingxing tried to keep a calm face while denying Chen Wanwan’s words.

“Ha…Haha…take it easy. I’m just joking!” Chen Wanwan laughed at Xu Xingxing.

…………………………………………..

Xu Xingxing was still a bit tired after her crazy weekend with Huai Jing. While she was translating a document, Li Miaoxue came over and placed a folder on her desk. Xu Xingxing looked up to see  her not-so pleasant face staring at her. 

“Why did you make such a low-level mistake?” Li Miaoxue pointed at the folder.

Xu Xingxing, puzzled by this, took the folder and flipped through it, then explained to Li Miaoxue, “I didn’t translate this.”

“Do you mean to say that I’m wrongly accusing you?” Li Miaoxue asked angrily.

Xu Xingxing looked at Li Miaoxue, then glanced towards Chen Wanwan, who was seated far from her before she put down the folder and said, “I’ll change it right away.”

“I want it today,” ordered Li Miaoxue.

It was clear that Li Miaoxue was deliberately looking for a fault with her, so that she could deliberately find fault with Chen Wanwan. If she had a conflict with Li Miaoxue now, then Chen Wanwan would also come to help her. As she originally joined the company because of Chen Wanwan’s connections, and since Li Miaoxue is an old employee of the translation department… If there was a quarrel, it would not benefit either Chen Wanwan or her.

So Xu Xingxing went over the document, and while the translation errors were very low-level, the document was very long and needed to be changed from beginning to end. After she finished the work at hand, she began to revise the document.

At seven o’clock in the evening, Xu Xingxing’s WeChat rang. She rubbed her neck, then looked around the office, only to realise that there were very few employees still working overtime.

When Xu Xingxing opened the screen and glanced at it, her heart tightened.

The Wechat had been sent by Huai Jing, and the content of the message was very concise—

[Huai: Come to my house tonight.]

She locked the screen quickly, and after being dazed for a while, unlocked the phone again, typed a few words and sent it.

[Xingxing: No, I have to work overtime tonight.]

After Xu Xingxing sent this message, she put down the phone and continued to work. Half of the mistakes in the document had been corrected, and if nothing else interrupted her, she should be able to go home before nine o’clock. She hadn’t known that she would end up working overtime today, so she hadn’t even poured out extra cat food for Mimi when she left in the morning.

Xu Xingxing started to work again, and her WeChat vibrated again. She glanced sideways, only to see the notification of having received a WeChat message displayed on the screen, but no message content was displayed.

Huai Jing was her secret. When she had returned home yesterday, she had changed all the mobile phone prompts to the “do not display content” function.

Xu Xingxing clicked to read the WeChat sent by Huai Jing.

[Huai: Would you like to try fast food?]

Xu Xingxing did not understand what he was trying to say through this message. She pursed her lips and typed a few words—

[Xu Xingxing: What is fast food?]

Before she could lock the screen, she received the next message—

[Huai: Come to the underground garage.]

End of chapter 6