Attention Sir, I Have Your Heart Handcuffed!-Chapter 658: Epilogue 18: She has a boyfriend now

Stop being awkward, the meal has already been delivered.

He became more at ease even in the darkness, walked over to take the meal box, then walked back confidently to stand in front of her, took her hand, and placed the meal box into it.

He held her hand steadily, and her heart began to race again.

Ever since he had subconsciously grabbed her hand and written "wait" in her palm, he became more and more unhesitant to directly grab her hand.

At first, she thought he didn’t do it on purpose, just subconsciously; but gradually, she realized that wasn’t true... he was intentionally grabbing her hand, and ever since he held her hand, he no longer grabbed her arm.

She felt a bit resistant to this subtly advancing mode of interaction. She still had Yan Qi from the internet on her mind, making it difficult for her to accept this growing subtlety.

So she pulled her hand back, trying not to touch him, "You can put it down first, I’m not in the mood to eat, I’ll eat later."

Her resistance, through her fingertips, seeped in. He couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.

What was she resisting him for? Was it because the awkwardness from earlier hadn’t passed?

Or, did she not like him getting closer to her?

Could it be... her feelings towards him were different from his towards her?

He felt a bit annoyed, strongly held onto her hand, not allowing her to pull it away, nor allowing her to push away the meal box. He stubbornly pressed the meal box into her palm and insistently brought it to her mouth.

Shi Nian was also annoyed, struggling to avoid it: "I said I don’t want to eat right now, I just don’t want to eat!"

He became anxious, grabbed her hand, turned her palm up, and hastily wrote: You said you should eat well!

But with so many words, how could she differentiate them, and he was hurried, scratching her palm painfully and itchily.

She then shook her hand more forcefully: "I don’t know what you’re talking about, in any case, I just don’t want to eat, let go of me!"

Unreasonable annoyance rose layer by layer, winding around and around, unable to be shaken off.

But how could she be his opponent? He wrapped his arms around her, enclosing her, preventing her arms from moving freely. This posture was almost like a half-embrace. She couldn’t exert any strength, feeling even more awkward.

She had to lower her head, unable to hold back a frustrated sigh: "Alright, I surrender, isn’t that enough? I’ll eat, and you eat your meal too."

He smiled slightly in the darkness.

She was indeed stubborn, but when it was time to be gentle, she wouldn’t just stiffen up, a girl who knows when to advance and retreat.

He smiled and sat back down, but didn’t rush to uncover the meal box, just placing it on his knees, unable to resist sitting up straight, quietly "gazing" in her direction in the darkness.

Rustling sounds, she opened the meal box lid.

The fragrance of food drifted in the darkness.

Then she paused in her movement, followed by a small gasp.

He smiled in the darkness.

She hesitated for a moment, then looked over at him in disbelief, softly asking: "How come it’s, um, Dried Orange Peel Duck?"

The fresh scent of the orange peel subtly flowed in the air.

She felt her eyes getting a bit wet, couldn’t help but sniff: "Did you tell them, didn’t you?"

He sat in the darkness, silently smiling, then slowly opened his meal box, letting the scents of the orange peel intertwine and flow together in the air.

Shi Nian scooped a large spoonful and stuffed it into her mouth, her eyes completely misty.

Not just Dried Orange Peel Duck, but very high-quality orange peel.

Though all called orange peel, the grades are different. In recent years, Dad has gotten older, always having digestive issues and phlegm in autumn and winter, so Mom prepared orange peel for soups and teas for him. Back then, Mom was reluctant to use the best Guang Chen Pi, but in recent years, what she bought for Dad was always Guang Chen Pi.

The red tangerine itself isn’t worth much, but the tangerine peel isn’t the same as orange peel, it needs to be sun-dried and stored for over a year to be called orange peel, which involves manual drying and storing. And even among Guang Chen Pi, there are different grades. The older it is, the more it needs to be turned and selected each year, the more expensive it gets, Mom used to buy ten-year-old Guang Chen Pi for Dad. One pound costs 2000 yuan, almost half of Mom’s monthly salary.

Ten-year Guang Chen is naturally incomparable to orange peel dried for just a year, she could tell by the smell.

The high-grade Guang Chen that used to be too precious to use at home, unexpectedly found its way here under such circumstances.

Thinking further, her eyes welled up more, realizing it was certainly he who had specifically requested it from those people.

This was his intention, she understood.

.

Sitting in the darkness, food didn’t hold much meaning for him, but her soft sobs and gentle chewing sounds made him unable to stop smiling.

This was the greatest reward for him, he knew he had done the right thing.

He wanted to make her happy, he thought he’d managed to do that, didn’t he?

Shi Nian swallowed the food in her mouth, tilted her head in his direction, and softly said, "Thank you."

Listening to his chewing sounds that weren’t loud, she gently said, "You should eat more. It’s good for your health."

He laughed, couldn’t help but extend his long arm, and his fingertips landed on the top of her head.

Subconsciously, he wanted to rub her head.

But he stopped, remembering how she had resisted him before. Awkwardly, he withdrew his hand, yet couldn’t help but sigh softly.

A thousand words in his heart, unable to speak; but even if he could, he dared not reveal his identity to her.

She wasn’t an ordinary girl; she liked reasoning and had a talent for it. If he told her he was Yan Qi, she might piece together the past and present events and guess her current predicament was related to him.

.

Today’s mood, because of the bathroom incident and the dried orange peel duck, became increasingly strange.

Shi Nian spoke no more, quietly finished her meal, and when he had finished eating, she quietly cleaned up the food boxes, placed them in the garbage bag at the door, and sealed the bag tightly.

The air still carried a faint scent of dried orange peel; with neither of them speaking, she knew it felt a bit odd. Taking a deep breath, she softly said, "The quality of the dried orange peel in the dish is very good, and it was plentiful. I saved some, will soak them in water later, to brew tea for you. You, won’t find it distasteful, will you?"

He smiled silently, stretched out his hand, tapped twice on her arm.

Let’s not even talk about the dried orange peel picked from the dish, even if she was to give him arsenic, as long as it was from her, he would drink it.

Shi Nian relaxed after this, with a hint of mischief, slowly said, "Do you... have a girlfriend?"

Tang Yanqing’s pores instantly enlarged when he turned to "stare" in her direction.

But the next sentence she followed up with made his pores close back up.

She said, "I mean, you’ve been missing for so many days, your girlfriend must be worried about you."

She continued, "... someone would be worried about me as well, yet I have no way to inform him, which makes me feel a bit uneasy."

He took deep breaths, was she indirectly telling him that she had a boyfriend?

She soon gave him the answer: "Hmm, the person I talked about... is someone I like."

.

He forcefully turned his head, looking to the other side.

He understood himself, from the behavioral analysis perspective, his actions represented [avoiding reality].

He couldn’t accept such a reality, couldn’t!

Considering why she said it in such a way, it’s because he had touched her before and accompanied her to the bathroom, so she resisted inwardly, and used this tactful method to remind him, right?

But didn’t she understand, she’s saying it too late?

If she wanted to completely distance herself from him, she should have said it when he first entered this room; no, she should have said it three years ago when they met online!

Now... for three whole years, there’s no room in his heart for any other woman. Every time M Country has a Gay parade, his grandfather looks at him with worried eyes, fearing he might announce coming out.

And he has crossed oceans to come before her, even—what’s done is done, there’s no possibility of going back.

In the darkness, the atmosphere suddenly tightened.

Shi Nian felt it, but could only continue speaking with a forced smile.

"... Would you like to hear the story of me and him?"

He stood up with a bang, walked towards the farthest wall, walked up to the wall’s edge, and rested his forehead against the wall.

How could he possibly want to hear her say anything? Unless he was sick!

.

He was angry, she knew.

She didn’t feel good about it either, but her inner anxiety grew heavier.

A girl’s intuition sounded alarms constantly: this strong reaction from him could only prove her intuition wasn’t wrong, he truly had developed subtle feelings for her, just like she had already sensed.

Because, from a psychological perspective, a person can’t be completely indifferent to someone else going to the bathroom, and a guy especially can’t accept that the girl he likes also has to use the bathroom.

But he was able to hold her hand, accompany her into the bathroom, and find ways to help her overcome the noise issue...

This proved that he doesn’t see her as an outsider in his heart anymore.

She could understand that in desperate situations, one might develop unusual dependence on a companion. But as they relied on each other for survival, should it be mixed with love? Shouldn’t it?