Returning - Chapter 103
Chapter 103: The Furthest Distance
Pulling open the apartment door, Ji Sui saw Zhuang Ye slouched against the doorframe and caught the sharp smell of alcohol on him. He frowned. "Why did you drink so much?"
Zhuang Ye was so drunk he couldn't stand steady. He barely managed two upright steps before stumbling and pitching sideways again. Ji Sui had to lunge forward to support him.
Helplessly helping him shuffle into the living room, Ji Sui asked again, "What made you think of coming here?"
Zhuang Ye didn't answer. He sniffed at Ji Sui and immediately scrunched his face, jerking his head back with undisguised disgust. "What's that smell? Disgusting."
The intense sex just now had inevitably left the mingled scent of male and female fluids on him. Ji Sui felt self-conscious. He sat Zhuang Ye down on the sofa and turned away to pour him some water.
Zhuang Ye slumped exhaustedly against the sofa back, his eyes dull as he watched Ji Sui. "If I didn't come here, where else could I go? You didn't pick up my call, so I just came on my own."
He let out a few giggling laughs aimed at Ji Sui, looking rather pleased with himself, like a child thinking, See how clever I am.
Ji Sui handed him a glass of warm water and coughed dryly out of guilt. "I was in the shower."
He had been about to return the call, but then he got distracted and inflamed with lust again, too busy with a certain stimulating activity to spare a single thought for this younger brother of his.
Well, now the brother had shown up directly at his apartment. As drunk as he was, Ji Sui couldn't turn him away. He could only have Zhao Yu hide quietly in the bedroom, which made the whole situation feel like a clandestine affair.
After a sip of water, Zhuang Ye pounded his throbbing head and let out a long, ragged sigh. "Bro, I'm getting married."
"I know. If you're not willing, just tell your sister straight. She shouldn't force you."
Zhuang Ye gave a scoffing laugh. "What difference does it make? If not this one, then that one. Sooner or later I have to marry. Whoever I marry is still marrying, right?"
His laughter suddenly burst out, loud and harsh. "Marry this one, and Ling Jianwei will have to call me brother-in-law. He slept with my girlfriend, so I'll sleep with his… sister… hahahaha…"
Ji Sui shook his head hopelessly and prepared to help him into the guest room, but Zhuang Ye suddenly threw his arms around Ji Sui's waist. "Bro, why? Why did they do that to me? One was the woman I loved most, the other was the brother I trusted most. Why would they do something like that? Why stab a knife into my heart? It really hurts, bro. It hurts so much…"
As expected of a drunk person, one second he was howling with laughter, and the next second he was clinging to Ji Sui and weeping like a little child.
Ji Sui couldn't bear it, but he was helpless. He could only reach out and pat Zhuang Ye's shoulder. "Let the past be the past."
"But I can't let it go! Do you know I dream about her every single night? I miss her so much; I can't bear to lose her. And I hate her so much. How could she be so cruel? How could she treat me like that?"
Inside the bedroom, Zhao Yu, leaning against the door, unconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes.
This Zhuang Ye, sobbing without any regard for his image, was a side of him she had never once seen before.
In her memory, no matter what happened, he always wore that same overconfident, rebellious attitude. Even when dead drunk, he had never shown a vulnerable side to anyone.
"Why? Why? Xi Xi… why?"
Zhuang Ye in the living room kept choking on his sobs, repeating the question over and over.
Behind the door, Zhao Yu wanted just as much to ask her own heart: Why?
She had only been in an ordinary relationship with a boy she really liked, a boy who really liked her. Why had that caused her family to be destroyed and her to be thrown into a freezing hell?
By the time Ji Sui returned to the room, nearly half an hour had passed. Zhuang Ye had cried and raged, finally quieting down, and had fallen asleep right there on the sofa.
Seeing Zhao Yu still wide awake, Ji Sui apologetically kissed her forehead. "Tomorrow morning, as soon as he's sober, I'll make him leave."
Zhao Yu smiled and shook her head. "I'm fine. Actually, I'm asking too much, putting you in a difficult position. But I really am not ready…"
"I understand." Ji Sui pulled her into a tight embrace. "Don't worry, I understand. Hurry and sleep. Don't overthink it."
Zhao Yu hadn't been able to fall asleep, and in the middle of the night she suddenly needed the toilet.
She knew Zhuang Ye was asleep on the sofa, but physiological needs couldn't wait. She could only cautiously get up, not even daring to turn on the hallway light.
The living room curtains were drawn, so it was pitch dark. When she came out, she first carefully shone her phone toward the sofa and indeed saw a quiet figure.
Even breathing drifted faintly over. Sensing his presence from afar, Zhao Yu couldn't help taking a small step forward, then another small step.
She couldn't see his face, but she still remembered clearly what he looked like fast asleep.
A long time ago, back when she still had a girl's heart full of daydreams, her favorite thing upon waking each day was to lightly trace the handsome contours of his face with her fingertip.
And whenever he woke and caught her adoring gaze, he would always narcissistically ask, "Is your husband even more handsome today than yesterday?" Then would begin their endless flirtatious banter, which, without exception, always ended in vigorous, satisfying sex.
"Xi Xi…" The clear murmur drifted out of the darkness, instantly jolting Zhao Yu back to her senses and freezing her in place.
"Xi Xi… Xi Xi…"
Zhuang Ye's unconscious calls continued. Zhao Yu clenched her fists, turned around decisively, and entered the bathroom without looking back.
She hadn't softened her heart four years ago. Why should she pile useless worries onto herself now?
The next day when Zhao Yu woke, Zhuang Ye had already left.
Most of her things were in Ji Sui's bedroom, and her toiletries had been put away before Ji Sui opened the door for Zhuang Ye the night before. Zhuang Ye hadn't discovered anything unusual in the apartment.
Looking at the disposable toiletries Zhuang Ye had used in the trash can, Zhao Yu asked as if casually, "I remember you mentioned your younger brother was doing an MBA abroad. So has he suspended his studies to come back and get married?"
Ji Sui smiled and tousled her messy hair. "He just needs to get married; it's not like the wedding is happening right away."
Zhao Yu breathed a sigh of relief. "So he's only back temporarily? Or like your sister, first an engagement?"
"They're not getting engaged. The wedding will happen directly. The date hasn't been set yet, and it probably won't be too soon. But Zhuang Ye is already handling the suspension of his studies. The family needs him now, so he won't be returning to France for a while."
Zhao Yu's heart sank again.
Zhuang Ye had returned to China earlier than expected and was staying for the time being. This was completely outside her plan. Before, she only had to avoid Zhuang Yiqing; now with Zhuang Ye added to the picture, her risk of exposure had grown even larger.
What's more, once the Zhuang and Ling families were united by marriage, they would no longer be the kind of families who had nothing to do with each other. When both families sat down together, would anyone bring up her, the one who had originally caused all the trouble?
Both Ling Jianwei and Ling Jianyuan knew her current identity. It wasn't impossible that other members of the Ling family knew too. Once someone mentioned it to the Zhuang family, all her efforts would have been for nothing.
Ji Sui didn't notice her spacing out while brushing her teeth; he just asked curiously, "Are you that interested in my brother's marriage?"
Zhao Yu spat out the foam, rinsed her mouth, and looked at him with feigned anger. "Of course I'm interested. You never know—maybe one day you'll end up like your brother and have to marry someone for a business alliance. I want to understand the situation first. If that day ever comes, I'll just…"
"Just what? Crash the wedding, or dump me and walk away?" Ji Sui wrapped his arms around her from behind and gently kissed the skin behind her ear. "I promise, that day won't come."
After a long while more of intimate nuzzling, when he finished washing up and went to the kitchen to make breakfast, Zhao Yu finally took out her phone. She found Ling Jianwei's Weibo and sent a direct message:
[This is Zhao Yu. I want to see you.]
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