Chapter 392 - I Messed Up
"En. It's a small French perfumery called Sang Bleu," Jin Liwei confirmed.
Iris alternated looking at him and at the purchase of business agreement in her hands. The documents were written in three languages: Chinese, French and English. The pile was certainly thicker than the documents she received for Gold Heights last Christimas.
She didn't know exactly what to feel at the moment. Why did the man keep on buying companies for her? At this rate, she would end up owning all of the companies in the world if he kept on buying and gifting them to her on every single special occasion.
"Darling, why?" she asked, feeling exasperated. At the same time, she also found him adorable.
He reminded her of their cats. Both Ice Cream and Popcorn loved bringing them goodies as a display of their affection. The goodies included their toys, Dom's newly laundered socks (they couldn't handle the used ones, Popcorn once puked after smelling them), and some small dead animals like grasshoppers and birds.
Jin Liwei was like the cats in the sense that he frequently gave her goodies as well. It was just that his definition of goodieswere extravagant surprises and companies.
"You don't like it?" he asked after realizing that she didn't look excited about his present.
He looked a little hurt when he didn't get the reaction he expected. However, he quickly covered it up behind an impassive expression. His lips pressed into thin line. Then he grabbed the documents from her and marched away.
"What are you doing?!" Iris was horrified when she saw him toss the documents into the trash can. She ran and picked up the documents from the trash. "Darling, how could you?!"
"You don't want it, then it's useless. It belongs to the trash now," he said in a cold voice. "Throw it away."Her chest hurt hearing the coldness in his tone. She immediately felt sorry for not reacting enthusiastically at his present for her. However, she didn't want to lie to him and give him a fake reaction. And even if she were to do that, he would probably detect that she was just pretending anyway.
"No, this is your anniversary present for me. I'm not going to throw it away," she said.
"Throw it. I'll get you another present," he replied. His voice was still cold.
She didn't like this cold Jin Liwei, especially now that it was directed at her. Her eyes watered without her control, feeling guilty and hurt at the same time. But bubbling beneath these emotions was anger.
How dare he act cold to her? There was a strong urge to lash out at him, but she quickly controlled it. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths to calm herself.
"Let's go to sleep now. It's late," she heard him say.
When she opened her eyes, he was already walking away. Her chest tightened, as she watched him disappear in their bedroom without waiting for her.
Huh? Were they fighting? Was this really happening during their anniversary? No!
A sense of panic flooded her. Without thinking, she immediately ran after him. She didn't see him when she arrived at the bedroom. Her panic intensified. Hearing some noise from the bathroom, she tossed the documents on the bed and headed there. She found him removing his belt in front of the sink. He was already shirtless.
She was momentarily distracted by his naked torso. His wide shoulders, muscled chest and hard abs…she almost drooled. She shook her head out of her daze, trying not to think too much of his deliciousness. This wasn't the right moment!He only gave her a glance before ignoring her. Then he proceeded to brush his teeth, acting as if she wasn't even there.
"Darling?" she called in a small voice.
However, he didn't reply. He continued brushing his teeth.
"Don't be mad anymore. Okay?"
No answer.
"Darling, I'm sorry."
Still no answer. The anger burst forth from within her.
"Jin Liwei, why are you ignoring me?! You're being so childish! Answer me!" she shouted in frustration.
When he still didn't respond, her eyes filled up with tears. She was feeling sorry, hurt and angry all at the same time. This combination of emotions didn't feel good at all.She roughly wiped her eyes with her hands, not wanting to cry, but the frustration was starting to get the best of her.
Yes, she acknowledged that it was her fault for not appreciating his present for her. She now realized that she hurt his feelings. She felt sorry, but did he have to react so strongly and coldly like this? Although she wanted to blame him too, she didn't want them to fight, especially since it was their anniversary today.She walked behind him and hugged him by the waist. Her chest pressed against his back. He froze a little but otherwise continued ignoring her while rinsing his mouth. It frustrated her even further. Reining in her temper, she forced herself to calm down.
"Darling… I'm sorry. Please don't be mad anymore. Let's not fight, okay?"
When he continued to ignore her, she couldn't hold it in anymore. She quietly burst into tears behind him. She pressed her face against his back to prevent herself from sobbing aloud.
Jin Liwei stiffened when he felt something wet on his back. His heart jumped in dread.
"Love?" he called out to her.
He became alarmed when he felt her tremble. His back became increasingly wet. His heart sank.
"Are you crying?" he asked and tried to turn to look at her. However, her hands tightened around his waist, preventing him from doing so.
When he heard soft whimpers behind him, he used his strength to forcefully untangle her hands from around his waist and turned to look at her. Then he finally saw her weeping face.
Torrents of tears flowed down her eyes. Her cheeks were completely wet. Huge drops of tears dripped down on her dress and to the floor. She was biting her lips so hard that they began to bleed, just because she didn't want to cry loudly.
Fuck. I messed up, was all he could think about.He immediately pulled her into his embrace.
"No, no. Please don't cry. Love, my baby girl. Please, no. I'm so sorry. It's my fault. Everything is my fault."
All of these words tumbled out of his lips in a panic. He leaned back from the embrace to look at her. Her face was completely wet and her lips were bleeding. He grabbed a towel from the rack and wiped the blood first before using the other parts of the towel to wipe her tears.
"I'm sorry, love. I didn't mean it. Don't cry anymore, please."
She opened her mouth to say something but couldn't because of the intensity of her weeping.
He pulled her again into his embrace. He kissed her head and rubbed her back to soothe her while murmuring apologies to her.
Then she finally broke her silence and started wailing against his chest. Hurt and anger poured from her loud cries, echoing throughout the entire bathroom. The sound tore painfully at his heart.
"Jin Liwei! Y-you're an…a-asshole!"
"Yes, yes. I'm an asshole. I'm sorry."
She cried harder. "W-why am I in l-love with…with an asshole?!"He could only tighten his embrace around her.
"Today is our…anniversary, you j-jerk! Why are we fighting?!" She tried pushing him away but he didn't let her go. She wanted to stop her pathetic crying but couldn't. It was as if a dam broke inside her and started gushing without her control. "We're fighting because of a damn company? Huh, Jin Liwei? Y-you're going…to f-fight me because of a fucking company?!"
His heart twisted hearing her words. The fact that she was cursing when she usually didn't was already an indication of how upset she felt. With every heartbreaking cry she released, his heart felt like it was tearing into pieces.
He was completely regretting his immature behaviour earlier. He was hurt by her unenthusiastic reaction. He didn't feel appreciated when he made all the effort of making her happy. He allowed the hurt to cloud his maturity.
Looking directly at her eyes, he told her, "No, we're not going to fight because of a company. I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking clearly. Forgive me. I love you so much."
Iris cried harder after hearing him say he loved her. "I love you too, y-you asshole!"
A faint smile lightened his remorseful expression. He continued embracing her, as she continued to sob all over his naked chest.
She cried for a long time, releasing all of her frustrations in one go. Her sobs gradually became whimpers until she completely stopped crying. When she finished, she felt utterly exhausted.
Jin Liwei lifted her chin. Her eyes, nose and lips were now red and swollen. But to him, she looked so beautiful. He dipped his head and gently kissed the side of her swollen lips, avoiding the part she bit so he wouldn't hurt her.
"Forgive me?" he asked.She nodded.
He instantly felt relieved.
"Forgive me too?" she asked next.
"Of course, love."
Finally, she started to smile a little. It was like bright sunshine peeking through stormy clouds. She playfully punched him on the chest.
"Happy anniversary, asshole."
He chuckled softly. "En. Happy anniversary, love."French for "blue blood"