HC Chapter 8

HC Chapter 8: I Fear You (VII)

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Jing Rong leisurely smiled, and his eyes flashed with genuine joy. He stood up from the armchair and walked towards the bed, only to lean over Dong Ci – trapping her in between his arms.

“Dong Ci, how about we make a deal?

“What kind of a deal?” she cautiously asked.

He was still wearing the same bathrobe as yesterday, and as he leaned over, the collar loosened up and a large patch of his naked chest was revealed underneath. Dong Ci avoided the sight by turning her to the side.

“In the new semester you will be able to smoothly enter the ‘A’ class under one condition: you must be with me until we graduate from high school.”

“I can enter the ‘A’ class with my own abilities!” Dong Ci refuted. She didn’t understand why he constantly kept bringing up this subject as a bargaining chip. As long as her performance in the tests was stable, it wouldn’t be difficult to achieve her goal.

“Naïve,” Jing Rong spat out, his gaze boring into her as the corner of his mouth lifted. His cold fingers gently grasped her chin, making her face him as he spoke. “Have you already forgotten what we talked about yesterday? Even if you can enter the ‘A’ class on your own, I can still prevent it from happening. If you don’t believe me, you can try taking this gamble, and see whether it pays off.”

“…”

“But…” Jing Rong paused slightly to observe her reaction. Seeing her blankly staring back, he gently asked, “Dong Ci, do you think that you can afford this risk?”

She was silent.

As seconds slowly ticked into minutes, with neither of them talking, the answer to the question became obvious.

Dong Ci’s lips gradually curled into a self-deprecating smile. Yeah, she couldn’t afford to gamble – Jing Rong undoubtedly forced her into a dead end. Not only was she trapped here physically, with him still keeping her in between his arms, but she also had no escape route from the situation he had just described.

Dong Ci lowered her head, her palms curling into fists.

“What would I be required to do?” she asked after regaining her voice.

“It’s simple: you would just have to obey me and avoid angering me.”

Jing Rong had been expecting this kind of result, so he wasn’t surprised to see her submit. He leaned to the side and kissed her cheek, then smilingly reassured her: “As long as you’re well-behaved, I will indulge any of your desires – within limits set by me, of course.”

“Just until we graduate from high school?” Dong Ci asked, to make sure.

Jing Rong unintelligibly grunted into her neck while his lips moved to shower her with kisses. He wasn’t going to give her a clear answer.

After all, who could tell how long it would take? If the interest in her dissipates tomorrow, then he will let her go tomorrow. And, if not? Well…

“I will accept this deal only if it won’t affect my studies,” Dong Ci tried to negotiate, but the other person was becoming more and more excessive. She finally couldn’t bear it and pushed at his chest. “One more thing… You can’t touch me.”

The heat on her neck suddenly disappeared as Jing Rong slowly raised his head to look at her with a smile.

“What do you mean by not letting me touch you? I can’t kiss and hug you, or… I can’t have sex with you?”

Dong Ci’s cheeks heated up as she became embarrassed. She angrily cried back, “You can do nothing: no kissing, no hugging, and definitely nothing even more excessive!”

“Tch,” Jing Rong clicked his tongue. Then he shook his head and sighed, his hand reaching out to stroke her forehead as he softly stated, “I just said that I want you to be obedient. Why are you getting angry with me?”

He leaned slightly away from her and curiously tilted his head.

“If I can’t touch you, then what do you want me to do with you? Would I still need you?” Jing Rong’s eyes cooled down as he questioned her. “Do you think that I am so lonely that I found you just to accompany me as a friend?”

“Jing Rong, there’s been no clear relationship between us from the very start. Do you think that I would sell myself completely because of this kind of a deal? Who would agree?!”

Jing Rong raised an eyebrow as he listened to the girl’s arguments. He was about to interrupt her when his dark eyes suddenly flashed with understanding, and a smile spread over his lips.

“Xiao Ci, it turns out that you want to have a clear identity?” he asked with delight. His thin lips kept smiling, and even his eyes softened as they gazed at her. “If you follow me, then you will naturally be my person. Did you think that I would treat you as some kind of secret mistress?”

When Dong Ci understood what he was talking about, her brows slightly furrowed, and she asked, “Jing Rong, do you like me?”

He constantly appeared in front of her ever since their first meeting. And afterward, he kept on trying to control her life more and more. Now, he even kidnapped her to his house and threatened her with school matters. She didn’t dare to think about what would happen if she had to be his girlfriend for a whole year.

Besides, Jing Rong’s character was unpredictable, and his way of doing things was slightly strange. She wouldn’t be surprised if all of these threats and control issues were his way of expressing his affection, so she casually asked this question to understand him better.

But to Jing Rong’s ears, this question seemed very direct and sharp. For a while, he was stunned and didn’t know how to react.

“Do I like you…” Jing Rong’s slender fingers stroked his chin while he thought about it. After half a minute he answered, “I like you now, but I can’t guarantee how long this ‘like’ will last.”

Dong Ci lowered her eyes as the corner of her mouth stiffly rose. From his answer, she understood that he didn’t actually like her. After all, those kinds of words could only be said by someone, who honestly didn’t know what they liked, or what this feeling of ‘like’ was.

“You still can’t touch me,” she finally said, going back to the original topic. Her fingers lightly brushed against the expensive and soft bed sheets, while she continued in a muffled voice, “As long as you promise not to touch me, I will agree to the rest of your conditions. Otherwise…”

“Otherwise?” Jing Rong laughed. “Xiao Ci, do you think you have any bargaining chips? To think that you would actually dare to discuss with me the conditions…”

Dong Ci really had no chips she could throw, but she wasn’t willing to sell herself to an unfamiliar stranger. Anyway, it wasn’t a big deal even if she didn’t get into the ‘A’ class!

Such thought flashed in her mind, making her heart waver.

But she had been studying for so long and so hard just to be able to enter the ‘A’ class, and then move on to a good university!

She was capable of entering the best class in school. If she missed this opportunity because of her entanglement with Jing Rong, she wouldn’t be able to forgive herself later.

“Okay, don’t frown so much,” Jing Rong said, straightening up. The smile on his face faded until it almost disappeared as he observed her indecisiveness. “You wouldn’t be able to resist me even if I kissed or hugged you whenever I wanted. But, since you are so reluctant, I won’t take the initiative to touch you. Anyway…”

Jing Rong suddenly stopped talking as his eyes cunningly flashed.

Anyway, in the future, there will be a time when you come to me and beg me to touch you.

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There were a lot of worries on Dong Ci’s mind on her way home.

When she finally reached the apartment, her mother was already cooking lunch. At first, the older woman seemed very happy – up until she saw her daughter’s face.

“What happened to your mouth?”

Dong Ci touched the corner of her lips, remembering the wound where Jing Rong bit her. She awkwardly smiled and made up a random excuse, “I accidentally bit myself while eating dinner at Zhang Yiyi’s house last night.”

“Why are you so careless?” Dong Ci’s mother came closer to take a look at the small injury. But it wasn’t serious, so she couldn’t help but ridicule, “Xiao Ci, I didn’t expect that you like to eat meat so much. It’s good that I made you braised ribs today – hopefully, it’s enough for you to be full!”

It was meat again…

Dong Ci had no appetite, and there was even a nauseous feeling when she heard what her mother prepared for lunch. But she also couldn’t refuse to eat a meal that her mother cooked so painstakingly – she would shove it down forcefully if she had to.

Because Dong Ci didn’t dare to tell her mother about the stomach-ache, she could only secretly take the medicine.

Her sickly body really made her miserable!

Dong Ci walked up to her room and wearily lay down on the bed, covering her eyes with her arms and. A few seconds later, she released a deep sigh.

It seemed as though ever since her father left, she never had an opportunity to relax.

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Ever since that night, Jing Rong has never appeared in front of her. Dong Ci also gradually forgot about him, concentrating all of the attention on her studies.

The time seemed to go back to how it was before she met him…

The winter vacation was soon approaching, and the city was completely covered in snow. Dong Ci stared at the lifeless trees outside the window as her mind kept wandering.

A sudden cough in the room snapped her out of her thoughts. Dong Ci quickly got up and poured a cup of hot water.

“Mom, drink more liquids.”

“Cough, cough…”

Dong Ci’s mother was afraid of infecting her daughter, so she kept covering her mouth as she coughed. Her cheeks were flushed because of her strained lungs, and there seemed to be something blocking her throat – her voice was so hoarse, that just listening to it made others uncomfortable.

“Mom, don’t go to work tomorrow,” Dong Ci softly persuaded. She sat down on the bed and leaned over to pat her mother’s back, trying not to show how painful it felt to be of no help.

“Stop talking nonsense! If I don’t go to work, how can we live?” her mother sharply replied. She had already taken several days of sick leave, and her supervisor’s patience was completely exhausted. If she continued this way, she wouldn’t be able to keep her job.

“But you…”

“Relax, Xiao Ci. Your mother is alright,” the older woman said in between coughs. “As long as you study hard and get into a good university, your mother won’t feel tired.”

A huge sense of powerlessness swept over Dong Ci, but she bowed her head and said nothing.

She must be obedient, she must learn to be sensible and, most of all, she must study hard and plan for her future. This was the only way that she could lighten her mother’s burden.

But it seemed that Heavens weren’t planning on sparing them.

The next day, her mother had a high fever, and Dong Ci rushed her into the hospital. The doctors took care of her mother by giving her medicine and injection. However, just as the situation seemed to be getting better, her mother’s phone rang.

Dong Ci glanced at the sickly woman, who finally settled into a peaceful sleep, and hurriedly walked out of the room.

“Hello?” she answered the call when she was sure that she wouldn’t disturb the patient.

“Song Quingmei, do you still want your job? Three days of sick leave, and you still dare to not show up today?”

“My mother has a fever. She is now in the hospital and hasn’t woken up yet.”

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