At that time, the sentence she said to Cheng Jinyan the most frequently was, “When you grow up, don’t be like your dad and become that kind of boring person who only knows how to work all day long.”
Cheng Jinyan sat on the recliner, picking up the book lying next to it that Meng Chu had been reading last time.
Yet in the end, he had still become exactly that kind of boring person who only knew how to work all day long.
Cheng Jinyan lay completely down, covering his own face with the open book.
I am so incredibly sorry about all of this.
However, I still miss you so incredibly much.
It was already an hour later when Cheng Jinyan finally discovered that Meng Chu was not at Home.
At that time, he woke up in the Study and realized that he had actually fallen asleep for real.
He turned his head to look out the window, listening to the sound of the torrential rain outside, as it was precisely the white noise of raindrops hitting the glass surface that had woken him up.
Afterward, he went to the room, wanting to check on Meng Chu.
Who knew that upon pushing the door open, he would find the lights on but the person completely missing.
After that, he went to her studio, then to Momo’s room, and finally searched every single room inside and out throughout the entire Home before finally confirming that she was genuinely not at Home.
Cheng Jinyan glanced at the watch worn on his wrist, noting that it was already 10:20 PM.
Yet she was completely absent from the Home.
Cheng Jinyan stopped searching around and immediately gave her a phone call.
Meng Chu was standing beneath the rain awning at the mall entrance when she received this call from Cheng Jinyan.
She had originally hesitated over whether to answer it or not, but she eventually connected the call in the end.
“Hello,” Meng Chu spoke up softly, sounding slightly guilty.
Cheng Jinyan, however, asked directly, “Where exactly are you right now?”
Meng Chu thought about it for a second and explained, “I suddenly realized that I had left something behind at the mall we visited today, so I came over to get it. I am heading Home right now.”
“You realized you lost something, so you just ran back to get it all by yourself?”
Cheng Jinyan asked in a low voice.
He had practically repeated everything she just said, but it sounded as though he couldn’t comprehend it at all.
“Mhm, that is exactly how it happened.”
Meng Chu replied softly in a quiet voice.
“Meng Chu,” the Cheng Jinyan on the other end of the line suddenly called out her name.
Meng Chu sensed that the tone in which he called her name had suddenly turned exceptionally serious.
“You lost your item at the mall, and it is so late, so why didn’t you let me accompany you when I was clearly at Home as well? Do you have any idea how worried I was deep down when I couldn’t find you at Home?”
Cheng Jinyan’s voice suddenly became extraordinarily earnest.
His pitch hadn’t actually risen; it was just a slightly hoarse sort of questioning.
Meng Chu heard the deep care in his voice and instantly said with guilt, “-I am so very sorry.”
But the other end fell silent for a moment before he said softly a long while later, “-I was just too worried. Are you still at the mall right now?”
“Mhm, I am waiting for a car to get ready to head Home.”
Meng Chu obediently replied to his statement over the phone.
It was just that the sudden torrential rain made hailing a taxi exceptionally difficult.
It also happened to coincide with the mall closing at 10:00 PM, meaning the last wave of customers was leaving the mall en masse, and everyone was trying to hail a car.
Meng Chu found that there were already 30 or 40 people waiting in line right in front of her.
“Wait for me over there, I am coming to pick you up,” Cheng Jinyan said in a deep voice.
How could Meng Chu possibly refuse him at a time like this, so she just obediently nodded her head.
She then sent him her location via WeChat, telling him that she was currently waiting over by the east entrance of the mall.
While she was waiting for Cheng Jinyan, the people around her gradually left one after another.
By the very end, she was actually the only person left standing there.
This couldn’t help but remind her of that other time when it was also pouring rain, and she had similarly been standing under the awning taking shelter.
It was just that back then, she had no idea how she was supposed to get Home.
But right now, her heart felt incredibly secure and peaceful.
Because she knew full well that someone was coming to pick her up.
An unknown amount of time passed as Meng Chu watched the vehicles driving back and forth on the road, but because the rainy weather blocked her line of sight, she could only see a blurry shadow of many cars passing by.
Finally, a black SUV approached and slowly pulled to a stop by the side of the road.
Meng Chu’s heartbeat instantly sped up at that sight.
She stared intently at the car until the door swung open and that tall, slender figure appeared.
Meng Chu originally wanted to walk over, but she obediently remained standing in place, watching as Cheng Jinyan opened an umbrella and walked steadily toward her.
Amidst the torrential downpour and the moisture filling the air, he took step after step directly toward her.
It was just that when Meng Chu saw Cheng Jinyan’s lips pressed tightly together, she could tell that he wasn’t in very high spirits at all.
“Let’s go Home,” Cheng Jinyan said in a low voice.
His tone of voice was much better than it had been on the phone just now, making it clear that he was restraining himself.
He was likely very worried about her deep down, yet he didn’t want to lose his temper with her.
Thus, even though his lips were pressed tightly together, his tone still remained quite gentle.
Meng Chu stared right at him but didn’t leave immediately, instead looking at him and saying softly, “Cheng Jinyan, please don’t be angry.”
“I am not,” Cheng Jinyan seemed to let out a tiny sigh before finally explaining, “It is just that, suddenly not being able to see you…”
It made him feel a little bit afraid deep inside his heart.
He didn’t say this sentence out loud because he felt it sounded a bit too dramatic.
Meng Chu thought about it for a moment before finally bringing out the item she had been hiding behind her back the whole time.
She was seen holding a bag in her hands.
Cheng Jinyan recognized at a single glance that it was a bag from a jewelry brand.
Meng Chu looked right at him. “Actually, when you mentioned marriage symbols in the mall tonight, I understood exactly what you meant. The reason I didn’t respond to you wasn’t because I didn’t want to buy matching rings.”
Cheng Jinyan was somewhat surprised by this explanation.
He saw Meng Chu press her lips together slightly, seemingly bashful and slightly embarrassed.
She said in a very small voice, “I wanted to secretly buy them myself afterward to give you a surprise.”
Hearing this, Cheng Jinyan was completely stunned.
He had assumed her evasion was because she felt things were progressing much too fast between them.
He had completely never considered that this could actually be a possibility.
“And as for why I suddenly came out to buy this,” Meng Chu looked at Cheng Jinyan, tears welling up in her eyes once again, but she desperately held them back, merely gazing straight at him as she said earnestly, “It is because I wanted to make you happy.”
Even though she was clearly the one crying uncontrollably tonight.
Meng Chu knew perfectly well that the person who was truly hurting was Cheng Jinyan.
When he spoke those incredibly calm words, Meng Chu knew he must have definitely experienced an immense amount of agony.
Which was why he made himself seem so utterly unbothered.
Meng Chu forcefully held back her sobs. “Even if it only has a tiny bit of an effect, I still wanted to make you a little bit happier tonight.”
As soon as her voice fell, she saw the long-handled black umbrella originally shielding them overhead suddenly drop to the side, while the person who had been gripping its handle leaned forward at this very moment, abruptly cupping her cheeks.
This kiss arrived swiftly and passionately, no longer a mere probe to slowly close the distance between them.
Her soft lips were sucked on, followed by a deep and driving exploration, displaying a forceful and unquestionable resolve, as if this was the only possible way to truly make her his.
When affection surged to its absolute peak, there was an intense desire to completely merge the other person into one’s own flesh and blood.
It was clearly still raining outside, with dense raindrops slanting down under the night breeze, occasionally landing right on their bodies, yet neither of them cared at all; their scorching kiss seemed to completely ignite the surrounding air, such that even the pouring rain couldn’t dispel a single ounce of the heat wrapping around them.
Cheng Jinyan cupped her cheeks with both hands, densely and continuously kissing her lips and the corners of her mouth, even entangling her tongue until Meng Chu felt as if she was about to completely lose her breath.
However, this sensation was far too intense, being something she had absolutely never experienced before in her life.
She only felt as if something was driving straight into her, making even her scalp tingle with utter numbness.
And that extremely sticky, wet sound of their fervent kissing clearly should have been drowned out by the noise of the torrential downpour, yet Meng Chu’s ears picked it up with perfect accuracy, as all of her senses were being infinitely magnified at this exact moment.
Cheng Jinyan’s emotions were also thoroughly unleashed at this moment, as he no longer hesitated in the slightest.
He forcefully and straightforwardly controlled her everything, from her soft lips to her breathing, and even the very rhythm of the heartbeat jumping within her chest.
Finally, just when Meng Chu was truly about to suffocate from lack of air, Cheng Jinyan gently released his hold on her.
It was just that as the distance between the two widened slightly, Cheng Jinyan’s dark eyes drooped down, landing directly on her face, and those normally calm and self-possessed dark eyes now carried a suppressed reddish hue at the corners, looking as if he had been holding himself back far too fiercely.
Meng Chu felt a bit numb from being stared at by him and was just about to lower her head.
Yet Cheng Jinyan drew close once again, and this time he didn’t proactively lower his head, but rather gently supported her waist, seemingly half-embracing and half-holding her to make her stand on her tiptoes, forcing her to actively tilt her head up and lean toward him instead.
This kind of posture made Meng Chu feel a little bit flustered in her heart.
But when their lips connected once more, she actually sank into this fierce and lingering intimacy quite rapidly.
An unknown amount of time passed, and the excessively lengthy entanglement caused the very concept of time to blur.
When Meng Chu was released once again, the light in her bright dark eyes was no longer quite so clear and transparent, carrying a blurry and hazy sensation instead, as if her eyes were completely covered by a layer of thick mist.
The mall, which was excessively bustling and lively during the daytime, seemed exceptionally quiet and secluded all around due to this sudden downpour.
Even if she were beaten to death, Meng Chu could have never imagined that she would one day be kissing so recklessly out in the open like this.
By the time she looked at Cheng Jinyan, before she could even say a single word.
It was actually Cheng Jinyan who slightly hooked the corners of his lips and slowly spoke up first.
His deep voice could be heard still carrying a faint trace of panting from the lingering afterglow of their kiss.
“I am more than just a little bit happy right now.”