Sugar-Sweet - Chapter 3

The next morning, before I was properly awake, my brother started pounding on the door. He demanded Wen Yu’s bank card so he could return it.

He had barely driven away when Wen Yu sent me a picture of my brother getting into his car.

[Your brother is gone, baby. Can I come up?]

[Whatever.]

A few minutes later, someone entered the code to my brother’s front door.

I looked up and met Wen Yu’s eyes again.

This time, he did not stand there coyly. He rushed over and pulled me into his arms.

“I really can’t live without you, baby.

“I love you so much. I can’t bear to have you away from me for even a minute.

“Do you know how I survived last night?”

His voice choked. He sounded like a poor abandoned puppy.

I patted his head to calm him.

“I’m hungry.”

Wen Yu released me. “Then come to my place. I’ll cook for you, okay?”

I thought about it, glanced at the door he had forgotten to close, and nodded.

“Okay.”

Half an hour later, Wen Yu and I arrived at his home.

It was a forty-square-meter one-bedroom apartment with no bathtub.

I did not like it.

Wen Yu had already crouched in front of me. He lifted one of my feet as naturally as could be, removed my shoe, and slid on a fluffy pink slipper.

His thumb stroked my ankle. He gazed up at me with a mixture of adoration and shyness.

“This is our home now. Do you like it, baby?”

I shook my head honestly. “No.

“I still like the big two-hundred-square-meter apartment.”

Wen Yu went still. Hurt and self-reproach filled his eyes.

“I’m sorry I’m so poor, baby.

“But I promise I’ll work hard and buy you a big apartment someday.”

My eyes crinkled with my smile. “Okay.”

He gave me snacks and went to cook.

I crunched potato chips while surveying his home.

The living room was clean and orderly. There was a cat bed and a climbing tree, but no cat in sight.

The windowless bedroom was dim, though the bed was perfectly made.

Inside the wardrobe…

I found several dresses I had mysteriously lost, along with a pile of ropes and handcuffs.

Wen Yu walked in and froze. Flustered, he slammed the wardrobe shut.

“Baby…”

I crunched another chip. “Are those for me?”

He nodded bashfully.

I took two steps back. “My brother was right. You’re mentally ill.”

Wen Yu shook his head at once. “I’m not, baby. I’m perfectly healthy!”

“I don’t believe you.”

“What would make you believe me?”

I tossed the empty chip bag into the trash, wiped my fingers, and considered.

“Get examined.”

Wen Yu opened his mouth, then drooped like a balloon leaking air.

“I’m sorry. I’m… not entirely well.”

His eyes reddened. Anxious and miserable, he confessed what my brother had already told me.

But Wen Yu insisted, “I take all my medicine. I listen to the doctors. I’m trying so hard to become normal.

“Please don’t hate me, baby.

“I can earn money. I can cook. I’ll buy you a big house. Please don’t leave me.”

He looked at me imploringly.

I raked both hands through my hair.

“Fine.”

His drooping face brightened instantly, and he wrapped me in a delighted hug.

“You’re so good to me, baby. I love you more than anything.”

I looked at the tightly closed wardrobe, deep in thought.