Xiao Zhiren came back to her side with a bottle of water in hand. He twisted the cap while sitting beside her on the floor and passed her the bottle.
Ru's eyes were stuck to each and every movement of his. As if she was trying to etch it in her memory. And it did. The way this long legs wrapped in cotton pants strode around, the way his eyes focused while his slender but strong fingers twisted the cap of the plastic bottle. All of it got stuck in her memory.
Sensing her gaze on himself, Xiao Zhiren didn't feel flustered at all. Instead, he felt something rippling inside his heart. With the exact same shamelessness as she had, he said, "I know I'm handsome. No need to be starstruck."
Ru almost spurted the water out of her mouth that was yet to be swallowed. It took a bit of effort to shove that water down her throat. "Lofty much?" She raised a single brow at him whether it was in sarcasm or amusement only she could tell.
Xiao Zhiren gave a sly smile and put his arm over her shoulder as if giving her a side hug. "Learned it all from you." Ru's attention wasn't on his words anymore, rather it was on the presence of his firm hold on her shoulder. That hand on her shoulder wasn't repulsive. It was like a silent remedy that slowly pulled her out of whatever was happening in the previous days.
Beside her, Xiao Zhiren was observing her actions as well. He saw the way her hand lifted to slap his own but then stayed down with a conflicted look on her face. He was certain that she was having a hard time deciding whether to let his hand stay or push it away. But when she clenched her hands into fists and didn't push him away, Xiao Zhiren felt accomplished. She was finally willing to give him leeway. And it was all he needed to crawl into her heart.
Gulping down the whole bottle of water, Ru took a deep breath and something caught her eye. "You ran around my apartment in your shoes?"
Xiao Zhiren raised his eyes before looking at his feet. Indeed, in his anxious state, he forgot about changing into slippers. While rubbing the nape of his neck, he said, "Actually, I was too anxious. I didn't realize it."
"Why were you anxious?" Ru's outburst was misplaced at least that's what Xiao Zhiren thought.
And that's why he managed to say, "This is your own fault! If you don't make me always so worried about me, I wouldn't lose my senses. But no! You love getting in trouble and that makes me scared. What do you expect? Blame yourself since you mean so much to me that I can't even think straight when it comes to you."
Ru's eyes widened while she was left stunned. Why was he being so blunt? His bluntness was getting to her. Since she was the one who made him worried so it was all her own fault. Although this logic didn't make sense to her, somehow it felt good when she heard it.
'Good?' Ru shook her head getting this ridiculous thought out of her mind. 'There is nothing good about this. So, cut it already!'
Even if she denied it with all her might, even she knew that his words had stirred her emotions. In her slightly flustered state, she said, "I-I don't give a bloody hell! Yo-You ran amok like a crazed man in my apartment."
"So what?" Xiao Zhiren questioned noticing the way her pupils were rolling upward in an attempt to hide her emotions.
"Who's gonna clean it now?"
Xiao Zhiren brought his face inches away from her and whispered, "Who?"
As his breath fanned over her face, Ru tried to lean back only to realize that there was a wall behind her. She held her knee to hide the shaking, turned her face sideways and said, "Obviously, you'll have to do it yourself."
"I'll do it." Xiao Zhiren readily agreed but Ru felt his breath getting closer. Suddenly, Ru's body stiffened because of a warm touch on her neck. Xiao Zhiren was nuzzling her neck and the feel of his nose caressing the exposed side of her neck made Ru's mind go blank. He dropped a feather-like kiss at the junction where her neck and jawline connected. "But I have a condition."
Ru was clutching her clothes tightly while that simple touch of his kiss ignited her skin. She felt like ants were crawling on her body since the tingling was so strong. What was this feeling? She couldn't tell. No one had ever touched her so intimately before.
She refused to meet his eyes while Xiao Zhiren held her chin and turned her face. Ru still kept her eyes heavenwards. She didn't want to look into his eyes. She was able to ignore the passion in his eyes last time but she was certain that he would break all her walls if she just looked into his black orbs.
There wasn't a tinge of shyness on her face. And Xiao Zhiren was amused by this fact since from long he knew that she wasn't someone who could be embarrassed. She didn't possess that coquettish nature of girls. It would be a miracle if she ever acted coy. But he wasn't counting on it at all.
With a sly smile, he asked, "Don't you want to know about my condition?"
Ru felt like she had fallen in her own trap. Seriously, how could her words come to bite her like this? This was so wrong. But why wasn't she pushing him away?
'Isn't it obvious? You don't want to hurt him.' Her conscious was back to guide her.
'Don't spout nonsense!' Ru inwardly bellowed.
'Aiyayaya! Dear Ru'er, right now you don't trust your own strength which had been unleashed. Accept it that's the reason, you're not even touching him. Ru'er is scared!' That mocking from her conscious might have felt like a nuisance to her but Ru knew that every said word was the truth.
She just couldn't bring herself to hurt him.
Xiao Zhiren didn't disturb her internal battle. He knew perfectly well when to push and when to pull away. He couldn't scare her now. That would be so not beneficial to his chase. Oh, yes! This had indeed become a chase from courtship. Because neither Ru was a normal girl who he could woo nor did he was someone who knew how to court someone.
Instead, calling it a chase was better since both of them was chasing something. He didn't know what she was chasing. But he was certainly chasing her for years. And he couldn't just change that.
"What is the condition?" Ru stammered her words out while willing herself to look into his eyes. It took everything within her to stop from snapping her resolve that was crumbling under his intense gaze.
"I lent you something the last time we met. Give it back." Xiao Zhiren's words made Ru frown.
When did she borrow anything from him? What him? She had never borrowed anything from anyone in her life! Not even a single favor!
"I didn't borrow anything from you." She answered plainly after thinking thoroughly.
"Yes, you didn't ask to borrow it but I still lent it to you. Why are you shirking away from the responsibility?"
"But I really didn't. Okay, tell me what did you lend me?"
Her stubborn denial was a great show for Xiao Zhiren. His hand dropped from her shoulder to her waist and he pulled her body close to his own and as her mouth opened to shout at him, his lips descended to capture hers.
Last time when asked what the kiss was like, Ru couldn't say much since her mind had gone blank. But this time was different. She felt the intensity of his touch hundred folds or much more than that.
Her lips didn't move at all since she had no clue what to do and it gave Xiao Zhiren the chance to do whatever he wished to. Lightly sucking on her lower lip, his tongue darted out to trace the seam of her lips. Unlike the last time, he didn't taste the alcohol or tobacco from her. This time she tasted much more intoxicating to him. So much so that Xiao Zhiren felt like drowning in her taste.