Taking Advantage, Then Trying to Run - Chapter 10

I was pressed for time that day, so instead of cooking, I ordered several dishes from a restaurant.

When I laid them out on the table, Hai Yan didn’t reach for her chopsticks. Her first question was, “Jiejie, how much did this cost? I’ll pay you back.”

I lowered my lashes to conceal the violence stirring in my eyes.

After a deep breath, I maintained my gentle smile. “Not much. Eat first, and we’ll settle everything together later.”

She refused to pick up her chopsticks.

I didn’t urge her. I simply picked up mine and began eating.

“I’m hungry too. You don’t mind if I have some, do you?”

She stared.

“Of course not… You bought it.”

My smile faded a little, but I said nothing.

I ate without looking at her.

She watched me for a long time. Only when her stomach growled did she finally lift her chopsticks.

I put a braised chicken leg in her bowl. “I ate too much this morning and I’m not very hungry. I bought all the chicken legs for you, so you have to finish them.”

She thanked me, then quietly began to eat.

I stole a glance at her.

For the first time in my life, I had no idea what to do with another person.

I couldn’t draw near, yet I couldn’t stay away. I couldn’t treat her lightly, yet I didn’t dare press too hard.

She wasn’t like the young college men I’d dated before.

She wasn’t someone I could toy with.

If I wasn’t prepared for a serious relationship, I should have kept my distance from the beginning.

My fingers tightened around my chopsticks as thoughts churned through me.

The meal passed in fragments. I had no idea what I’d eaten.

I packed up the trash, didn’t linger, and soon said goodbye.

—

Over the days that followed, I brought her three meals a day without fail.

I quickly learned her preferences.

She liked chicken better than pork, and sweet flavors better than savory ones.

She wasn’t fond of vegetables, but whenever they were served, she finished every bite rather than waste food.

I prepared vegetables in every way I could imagine and discovered she liked vegetarian dumplings best.

After several days of feeding, healthy color visibly returned to her face.

I drove her to a follow-up at the hospital, paid for a full examination, and booked a specialist to check her leg. Only after confirming there was no serious problem did I relax.

She improved day by day. At first she could move only by hopping; now she could slowly inch forward on both feet.

Yet for some reason, the more she recovered, the longer her silences became. If I looked away for a moment, she would sink into thought, as if her soul had left her body.

I couldn’t understand what occupied her mind. Hai Yan was a riddle to me. She rejected my attempts to solve it and refused to loosen her boundaries.

Had I frightened her that drunken night?

I couldn’t blame her if I had.

Ever since then, I had been unable to stop thinking about her. It was perfectly natural that instinct would warn her I was dangerous and make her hide.

The only person to blame was me, the pervert.

“Come here. It’s time to change the dressing.”

Sitting on the bed, I patted the space beside me.

She bit her lower lip. “Jiejie, I can do it myself…”

I smiled at her without moving.

Over the past few days, I had discovered that neither force nor persuasion worked on her. What she couldn’t withstand was gentle persistence.

Sure enough, when I neither grew angry nor lost my smile, but silently made clear that I intended to treat her wounds, she soon surrendered.

She walked over slowly and sat beside me.

I peeled back the tape bit by bit and removed the gauze from her face.

I had seen the wound several times already, yet its ugly severity still caught my breath.

I had better never find the hit-and-run driver. If I didn’t flay a layer of skin from him, my name wasn’t Nan Zhiyi!

Carefully, I cleaned the wound, applied medicine, and covered it with fresh gauze.

The room was so quiet that only our breathing could be heard.

I tended every injury on her body with the same care. By the time I finished, half an hour had passed.

My phone showed ten at night.

I packed the medical waste and was about to leave when she called after me.

“Jiejie.” Her dark voice held me, her eyes fixed on mine. “Why are you so good to me?”

I froze.

Her eyes shone like obsidian soaked in water.

My mind went perfectly blank.

My lips parted. I wanted to answer, but no words came.

I’d thought this was the sort of thing that didn’t need to be said.

In the adult world, matters often didn’t need to be spelled out.

Wasn’t it enough to show your intentions through action?

After everything I’d done, why did she think I was treating her this way?

This wasn’t something she should make me say aloud.

None of the young wolves before her had ever asked me that question.

I would invite them for a drive, buy them dinner, give them a pair of Air Jordans, and before long we would reach a tacit understanding and get together.

When it ended, there was no need to announce that either.

I prepared a parting gift, politely asked him to move out, and told him to study hard, find a good girl one day, and forget about me.

They left sensibly.

Almost none of them made a scene.

From the beginning, we all knew it was only for fun.

Those relationships could never last.

Hai Yan was different.

She was as pure as a fairy tale.

Her body was mature enough to attract another adult, yet in some ways her heart remained that of a child.

That meant she needed a clear answer.

No ambiguity. No evasions.

Black was black. White was white.

In that moment, I finally understood.

I understood why I’d been so anxious and uncertain.

Why I hadn’t dared use any of my old methods and could only clumsily cook for her, bring her meals, and tend to every small need.

Why I couldn’t say the words.

Because I wasn’t worthy.

She was too good. Her youth should not be stained by an adult like me, someone who had always treated romance as a game.

She deserved better.

A self-mocking, relieved smile appeared on my face.

“Because you’re a child.”

I put on my usual gentle expression. “Hai Yan, this is the last meal I’ll bring. Starting tomorrow, I’ll hire someone else to deliver your food. My company has a major project, and I can’t get away. Sorry.”

Without looking at her again, I turned and fled.