Chapter 59

What kind of relationship did she want?

Jiang Chao wanted none of them.

But the scorching breath brushing her face was impossible to refuse, and the body drawing ever closer was quietly cutting off every route of escape. In front of her and behind her, Sheng Huaixi stubbornly demanded an answer from Jiang Chao.

There was a faint glimmer of amusement in Sheng Huaixi’s eyes. After tossing out what she considered a simple multiple-choice question, she showed no sign of concern; instead, she even leisurely hooked a finger through the hair draped over Jiang Chao’s shoulder and played with it.

“Mm... Actually, there’s another combo option. Do you want to hear it?”

A voice suddenly sounded by her ear. Jiang Chao pulled herself back from her tangled thoughts to reality, her gaze sharpening as caution settled on Sheng Huaixi’s face.

“What do you mean?”

Jiang Chao didn’t think the extra option Sheng Huaixi was offering after those earlier choices could be any better.

Especially when the so-called “combo” coming out of Sheng Huaixi’s mouth gave Jiang Chao a very bad feeling.

Sheng Huaixi paid no mind to the tension and vigilance on Jiang Chao’s face. She only leaned in directly, her long lashes lowering slightly to conceal the excitement in her eyes. Her nose brushed against Jiang Chao’s, and her voice was intimate.

“Why don’t you choose lover plus booty call?”

“In that combination, we can both date and have sex; you don’t even have to be responsible for me. It’s a very good choice, isn’t it?”

When Sheng Huaixi said this, her eyes shone brilliantly, her tone almost coaxing.

Jiang Chao looked back at her and only felt that Sheng Huaixi’s eyes were blatantly showing how delighted she was with this suggestion.

Even the fingers tangled in her hair seemed to tighten, tugging at Jiang Chao’s scalp until it hurt.

In a way, it also made her mind clearer, and she silently sighed over Sheng Huaixi’s shameless set of choices.

“Sheng Huaixi, I’m not an idiot.”

Jiang Chao could hear the provocation in those words.

Saying that she didn’t have to be responsible for Sheng Huaixi was, in other words, saying that Jiang Chao was rejecting all the ambiguous words Sheng Huaixi had handed her because she didn’t want to take responsibility for her.

Responsibility was indeed part of it; Jiang Chao turned her face aside, silently rescuing her pitifully tugged hair from Sheng Huaixi’s hand.

The fingers tangled in her hair finally loosened. Sheng Huaixi leaned fully in, resting her chin in the curve of Jiang Chao’s withdrawn shoulder and neck.

Skin touched skin; all Jiang Chao could smell was her own scent.

The surfaces of their bodies rubbed together like two firestones; sparks flashed and crackled. The faint, tingling sensation was slowly polished into something sharper.

Even the indignation boiling up in Sheng Huaixi’s heart gradually faded with those touches, one after another.

Sheng Huaixi’s emotions slowly returned to calm. She only let her gaze drift over Jiang Chao’s reddened earlobe and leaned closer, letting her breath slide into Jiang Chao’s ear.

“Coward.”

That small complaint carried a trace of intimacy under the skin they had pressed together again.

The light breeze slipped into her ear. Jiang Chao clearly heard what Sheng Huaixi said to her.

Jiang Chao remained silent. She didn’t argue with that word; she only threaded her fingers through Sheng Huaixi’s hair and quietly said nothing.

After mulling over Sheng Huaixi’s words for a long time, Jiang Chao bit her lip until it left marks; in her heart, she also began to quietly agree with it.

She was a coward. At the very least, Jiang Chao truly didn’t dare bring up the word responsibility.

Responsibility was too extravagant for Jiang Chao; she asked herself over and over and still couldn’t do it—to take responsibility for anyone’s life.

So Jiang Chao, who didn’t dare promise responsibility for what Sheng Huaixi had offered, really was a coward.

“Yes, I am a coward. So the relationships you just mentioned—this coward isn’t choosing any of them. Keeping the relationship of cohabiting friends is enough.”

Jiang Chao felt there was no better relationship than this.

Not too close, not too far; it was the best kind of relationship her conscience could accept.

But Sheng Huaixi didn’t think so. A hard bite sank into Jiang Chao’s shoulder; Sheng Huaixi bit down with such force it felt as if a chunk of flesh had been torn away.

Jiang Chao drew in a long hiss of pain and slapped backward at Sheng Huaixi’s head, her hand sliding through her hair as though she wanted to catch the back of her skull and yank her up by it.

“Are you a dog? You say a few unhappy things and you want to bite someone.” Jiang Chao snapped.

The pain spread from her shoulder through her whole body; Jiang Chao trembled uncontrollably from the hurt Sheng Huaixi had inflicted. The immediate reaction showed in the force with which Jiang Chao pinched the back of Sheng Huaixi’s neck.

“Mm, still a mad dog.”

Sheng Huaixi didn’t care about Jiang Chao’s words. She smiled and accepted Jiang Chao’s rebuke, then casually added the second half of her self-description.

The tighter Jiang Chao’s hand gripped the back of her neck, the more warningly Jiang Chao hummed. Sheng Huaixi nodded along with the pressure of her wrist, her long lashes dropping lazily.

Her fingertips traced the bite mark she had left on Jiang Chao’s shoulder, the pads of her fingers brushing lightly over it as she checked whether the mark on Jiang Chao’s body was clear.

A perfect set of teeth marks sat on Jiang Chao’s shoulder; every gap between the teeth had been clearly recorded on her skin.

Sheng Huaixi’s eyes curved. She braced Jiang Chao’s body and sat up straight, then tapped the bite mark on Jiang Chao’s shoulder one stroke at a time, speaking softly.

“That’s my answer.”

It was Sheng Huaixi’s answer to Jiang Chao once again reducing their relationship to the word “enough.”

Sheng Huaixi’s dissatisfaction, anger, frustration... all of it was stamped onto Jiang Chao’s shoulder in the form of a single bite mark.

Jiang Chao understood. The irritation on her face gradually faded under Sheng Huaixi’s stubborn stare; she covered her forehead with her hand, and the breath she let out warmed the center of her palm.

Hot and steamy, it melted the cold in her hand and slowly softened the sword-sharp tension between them.

“Alright, let’s bring the topic back. Let’s have a very serious talk about the things you’ve done by deliberately hurting yourself to get your way.”

Jiang Chao sat cross-legged on the sofa, her lashes fixed earnestly on Sheng Huaixi in front of her. She pointed her chin toward the other side and put special emphasis on the words “very serious” to show exactly what attitude she had toward this.

Sheng Huaixi’s brows drooped. Even though she knew this was a conversation they couldn’t avoid, she still instinctively resisted Jiang Chao bringing it up.

“It can’t be changed.” Sheng Huaixi stared fixedly into Jiang Chao’s eyes and stubbornly stressed, “It can’t be fixed.”

Even if Jiang Chao said she didn’t like Sheng Huaixi being like this, even if she couldn’t accept Sheng Huaixi doing this because of her.

Sheng Huaixi was certain she would never be able to give up this method of gaining the most attention at the lowest cost.

“As long as I mess with my own body, you can’t help but pay attention to me; as long as I get a fever or catch a cold, you’ll give me the most considerate care...”

Sheng Huaixi licked her lips, forcing down her restless breathing. The light in her eyes as she looked at Jiang Chao carried a faint, obsessive redness.

“I keep thinking, if you see how wanton I am, then you’ll...”

Jiang Chao’s face turned crimson. Her ears were burning hot, and she couldn’t help but cut her off.

“Wait, Sheng Huaixi. Although, although we are indeed roommates who know each other inside and out, but—”

Her words trailed off. Jiang Chao pressed a finger to Sheng Huaixi’s approaching brow and let it slide along the bridge of her straight nose. Sheng Huaixi didn’t move at all, as though she felt no rejection in the gesture.

With a slight lift of her brows, Jiang Chao stopped being polite. She smiled and firmly pushed her outward, the movement gentle but decisive.

“Given that we’re still in an employer-employee relationship, I think it’d be better if you occasionally kept a slightly restrained image in front of me.”

Even if, in any practical sense, that image had long since vanished, Jiang Chao still hoped Sheng Huaixi would preserve a bit of it on the surface.

At the very least—

“Can you restrain your desires a little?”

The thick, almost overflowing lust in Sheng Huaixi’s eyes was like a horrifying cloud, ready to swallow Jiang Chao whole the next second.

Dense and chilling enough to make one’s blood run cold.