Congratulations on Your Wedding - Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“Xixi…”

I watched shock, panic, and fear seep into Song Chenzhi’s eyes.

Beneath them was something subtler: the satisfaction of a secret desire finally fulfilled.

Perhaps I had never known him at all.

In high school, I once made an enemy of another girl over a painting competition.

One day, when I opened the classroom door, a basin of cold water came down over my head.

I had developed early. My soaked clothes clung to my body, and I immediately felt the stares from every direction—the laughter and the gazes carrying less innocent intentions.

“Don’t be afraid.”

Song Chenzhi took off his jacket and wrapped it around my shaking body. His voice in my ear was calm.

“You aren’t the one who should be afraid.”

He took me to review the surveillance footage, identified the girl responsible, and reported her to the principal. She was made to apologize to me in front of everyone.

Song Chenzhi had said lightly, “It’s my duty as class president.”

After that, I began bringing him milk.

One day, he set down his pen and looked up from his exercises.

“I heard you’re good at drawing.”

My heart missed a beat. It took me several seconds to nod.

“Oil painting is my best medium. I’m decent at sketching too.”

“Then give me a portrait,” he said with a sudden smile.

I brought him to the studio my grandfather had left me before he died, and he sat for a sketch.

Warm yellow light spilled from the lamp overhead. With one elbow draped over the back of his chair and one long, lean leg stretched out before him, he looked more relaxed than his usual aloof self.

For two and a half hours, those dark eyes stared directly at me.

When we met again after I returned from abroad, he shielded me from an unwanted drink and murmured in my ear, “It’s been a long time.”

He had seemed unchanged: quiet, detached, and controlled.

On our first night living together, he wrapped his arms around me from behind. His warm breath brushed my earlobe.

“Xixi, we’re finally together.”

His last word trembled faintly with emotion, yet even then, he remained composed.

Now, as he did this with Chen Qing in my studio, he was still perfectly dressed and outwardly unruffled.

To me, he had never looked filthier.

“So you finally caught us with your own eyes.”

Chen Qing rose with a laugh and pulled on an oversized shirt. She looked at me with triumphant provocation.

“I told you, He Xi. You’ll never beat me.”

“So what if you’re the first love he can never forget? I was the one beside him all these years. I was the one who listened to his troubles.” Her smile turned suggestive. “I’m the one who knows how to make him feel good.”

“It doesn’t matter how often he says no. All I have to do is crook my finger, and he can’t stay away.”

Barefoot, she stepped on my paints and brushes as she approached me.

“The night before your wedding, on the day of your wedding—and every time except the day your grandmother died, when he did turn me down—the two of us…”

Emotion crashed through me. I raised my hand and slapped her.

Chen Qing held her cheek in stunned silence for several seconds. Then she screamed and lunged at me.

Song Chenzhi caught her wrist.

“Enough!” he barked.

She froze at his shout. Hurt and fury spread across her face.

“And if I insist on hitting her back?”

“You can try.”

Song Chenzhi’s voice was hard. Veins stood out on the back of his hand as if he meant to crush her wrist.

Chen Qing went white. She stared at him as though he were a stranger, then silently gathered her clothes and left.

For a moment, the studio was quiet.

“Xixi,” Song Chenzhi said hoarsely. “Do you hate me?”