My Merman Husband Won't Admit He Loves Me - Chapter 3

When I came downstairs the next morning, I was surprised to find Shen Qingyan making breakfast.

He wore a white shirt and black dress pants. A black suit jacket lay on the living-room sofa. Apparently, he planned to go out later.

He brought out two plates, looking rather awkward.

“Didn’t you say a while ago that you wanted me to make you breakfast? Ahem. I just felt sorry for you, so I decided to grant your wish. Just this once.”

His gaze wandered. His ears were red.

I finally remembered. I had said that.

“Thanks. I appreciate it.”

Happy to let someone else do the cooking, I picked up my chopsticks and dug in.

Halfway through, I received a text.

It was from the Animal Affairs Bureau. Did I have time to meet? There was something they needed to discuss in person.

I thought it over. I had no plans, so they sent me the address.

With barely an hour until the appointment, I wiped my mouth and picked up my jacket.

“I’m done. Something came up, so I’m heading out.”

I stood to leave.

I’d done this plenty of times before. Today, however, Shen Qingyan sprang to his feet across the table.

“Where are you going? You’re meeting someone else?”

His voice was icy, his expression grim.

Puzzled, I nodded. His eyes suddenly reddened.

That was when I finally noticed the comments floating overhead.

[Has she forgotten? They were supposed to go to the dessert shop today and learn to make doughnuts.]

[He got up two hours early to pick his clothes, do his hair, and make breakfast.]

[Why do I feel sorry for him? Snap out of it. Feeling sorry for a man is where tragedy begins!]

I’d suggested the doughnut class two weeks ago. But he hadn’t answered or even nodded, so I’d assumed he didn’t want to go and forgotten all about it.

“Oh, right. The doughnuts.”

His eyes lit up again. He nodded, looking as though he expected me to start coaxing him any second.

I glanced at the time on my phone and began to sweat.

You couldn’t just stand up the Animal Affairs Bureau.

“Um, something urgent came up. If you want to go, go ahead without me. I’m going to be late. See you!”

I grabbed my jacket and fled, terrified that one second’s hesitation would earn me a lethal smack from a fish tail.

I’d barely made it outside when a choked shout followed me.

“Jiang He, you liar!”

Then came sobbing that sounded like a kettle coming to the boil.

The bureau’s representative was a cute young woman. She’d arranged to meet me at a cat café.

Two hours later, I slowly emerged from a room full of meows, holding a compatibility report.

The result for Shen Qingyan and me was ninety percent.

“Miss Jiang, we’re very sorry. A system error caused the bureau to calculate your compatibility with Mr. Shen Qingyan incorrectly. The latest report puts it at only ninety percent. You are entitled to divorce, and as compensation, we can match you with a new spouse. What do you think of the lion whose compatibility with you was ninety-five percent?”

The young woman smiled sweetly with a cat in her arms. Her words, meanwhile, fried my brain.

How was I supposed to tell Shen Qingyan? Would he rip the roof off my house?

I went home. Shen Qingyan was still on the sofa, and his expression turned frosty when I came in.

I barely noticed his look. I walked toward him, trying to work out how to bring up the compatibility issue.

The closer I got, the worse his expression became.

Finally, he frowned.

“What’s that smell on you? You stink!”

Did I?

I instinctively sniffed myself.

Nothing.

Then I remembered the cat café. That must be it.

Fish hated cats. Fair enough.

My phone rang. It was my best friend, so I answered and headed upstairs as we talked.

When she asked what I’d done that day, I gave her the abbreviated version.

“Chatted with someone at a cat café.”

“Yeah, fluffy tails. Really cute.”

I kept walking, oblivious to the change in the man’s expression downstairs—or the comments racing above my head.

After fetching a set of documents from the study, I returned to my bedroom. I’d only just opened the door when someone pushed me inside from behind, then pinned me against it.

A warm, damp kiss landed on my lips. Shen Qingyan’s cool, crisp scent surrounded me.

His kisses wandered from my mouth to my ear and down my neck. Something cool touched the hollow beside my throat.

I lifted his face in my hands and found myself looking into tear-filled eyes.

Large tears rolled down, turning into pearls that struck the floor at our feet. His skin burned beneath my palms.

His ears, human moments ago, had sprouted blue-violet fins. His legs had already become a fish tail.

His clothes were nowhere to be seen. His tail kept brushing my thighs and the backs of my hands, while his face nuzzled unconsciously into my palms.

His heat had come early.

The realization worried me.

“Shen Qingyan, mm—”

He kissed me again before I could finish.

Even after a long while, his tears didn’t stop. The instant our lips parted, he caught my hand with a sob and placed it on his curled-up tail.

He sounded hurt. Pleading.

“Stroke it. Please? My tail is cute too. Don’t like someone else’s tail…”

“Don’t leave me…”