Chapter 22

+— Author’s note —-+

Edited by Psycho S

Proofreaded by P.D Webb.

+—————–+

When they were alone, everything seemed to be okay. That was until his behavior began to change immediately whenever Bing Shi left him alone to do her chores like cleaning up the house, or helping out her parents with their company. He would accuse her of cheating and right after that, he’d tell her not to socialize with other people if she could avoid socializing. Not only that, he’d tell her to always go home after school and to never go out with others.

Bing Shi wasn’t stupid. She knew he was too obsessed with her. She was curious about obsessive men. She couldn’t understand why women wanted to run away from them. In exchange for their freedom, they would be pampered! She would gladly stay at home all day just to play games and read novels. That’s because she felt the freest in her room.

The only thing she had against obsessive men, was how disrespectful they behaved towards women; she was always wondering if the obsessed man ever loved whoever they were fixated on. They abused them and acted like perverts; it’s like they only thought with their lower parts.

.....

Xuan Mu, on the other hand, had never been disrespectful towards her. He respected her every wish and never once acted like a pervert.

‘Xuan Mu is a nice gentleman. He is a lot smarter compared to them.’

Not going out to meet with others? Not talking to others if it wasn’t a necessity? Everybody would run away from a person like that.

But Bing Shi’s way of thinking would make one wonder what was going inside her head. After many years of observations, she found out what was wrong with herself.

She didn’t argue with him. She did as he wished. In a relationship, it was about two people making each other happy. Thanks to Xuan Mu, she felt happy. She took it as a type of negotiation; he agreed to her conditions, so it would only be fair for her to agree to his.

If it could comfort Xuan Mu, she wouldn’t socialize with others. It wasn’t like she ever cared about socializing. She didn’t need lots of friends. One true friend was more than enough. She found him amusing. It was fun reading his conversation with others. But the only thing she couldn’t tolerate was him, accusing her of cheating!

?Bing Shi:?I don’t cheat! Stop spamming me! You’re so unreasonable!

Falling on the bed, she typed on her phone in frustration.

?Xuan Mu:?People are dangerous! What if they turn you into a cheater?!

‘Why don’t you want me as much as I want you?’ Sitting before his computer, he clutched his phone with a displeased expression. Why couldn’t she understand what he was going through? ‘They are going to steal you from me...I can’t let that happen...Only I can love you...Nobody else can...’

?Bing Shi:?I know they are bad! I’m not that easy to sway!

She was so angry that she blocked his number on the messenger app.

‘That’s what you get for accusing me!’

‘Did she block me? No...No!’ Xuan Mu panicked. He started to scratch his chest. ‘If I do nothing, Bing Shi will disappear!’

He quickly returned to his computer and sent her a message through another program.

?Xuan Mu:? Didn’t you say communication is the key to success? So why are you running away?! Don’t run away from our problems!

‘Please. Don’t leave me.’ He quickly typed out before she could block him here too. He still didn’t know her address; only she knew his. Was this all part of her plan?

‘She can’t run away from me!’ He went crazy. She didn’t talk to him the whole day! His thoughts were full of Bing Shi and how she would be leaving him. His imagination, much to his disdain, made it easy to think of her finding a replacement for him. He was hurting so much that he wanted to kill himself... Or atleast try again, with a more hopeful outcome.

?Xuan Mu:? Bing Shi, please, come back. I’ll die without you.

Xuan Mu knew she was in an invisible mode. But feeling ignored felt the same as if she wasn’t here. He started to panic again.

‘Don’t ignore me. Speak to me, please.’ Forlornly, he stared at his laptop with a frown. Negative thoughts swirled inside his head, ‘It was my fault, Bing Shi left because of me. She doesn’t love me.’

Soon, he perked up. He found a loophole in her message. Happily, he tried to call her via VoIP.

(A/N: VoIP like Skype, Discord, Teamspeak.).

‘He’s the best, isn’t he? He found a solution and, at the same time, respected my wish of not calling me via phone.’

Rubbing her teary eyes, Bing Shi picked up his call with a smile.

“Bing Shi, I want to kill myself for hurting you. I don’t deserve you,” Xuan Mu knew she felt pressured by his suicidal thoughts; she felt responsible for him. Because of that, he took full advantage of her insecurity. As he listened to her breath audibly catch in her throat, he knew that it worked out.

Bing Shi panicked, “Just stop accusing me of cheating! I hate cheating! You have no trust in me! And stop hurting yourself!” She started to cry.

‘No. Don’t cry. Please, don’t cry.’ Xuan Mu pleaded. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I know you’re not a cheater. You’re a good girl.”

“Why are you always accusing me of cheating?” Bing Shi resumed her cry; in their own way, both of them started to solve their problems through communication.

“I always have nightmares of you leaving me because of somebody else. So I have to assure myself that you are not leaving me. It’s like a spell to heal myself,” Xuan Mu confessed. ‘Now, she’ll think that I’m crazy.’

“You should have said that sooner. Stupid nightmares, stop hurting my boyfriend!” said Bing Shi with a face full of worry.

“Mm, I’m sorry. Yeah, stupid nightmares!” Xuan Mu finally calmed down.

“I’m sorry for running away. Also, I’m not a good girl,” Bing Shi didn’t feel like a good girl. Not right now, at least... How could she feel like a good girl after knowing she made him want to kill himself?

“There’s a new MMO, want to try it out?” Xuan Mu chuckled weakly as an attempt to change the topic.

“Yup,” Bing Shi giggled while sniffling softly. She took his bait gladly.

When Xuan Mu and Bing Shi became an online couple, Xuan Mu wanted them to look the same; she adhered to his desire and so, whenever they played a game, both of them were usually the same gender. Their clothes and hairstyle were also identical. The only difference was the class they chose, the colors of their outfits, and the names above their heads.

Xuan Mu was always in all white, with the name Shiro while Bing Shi was always in all black, with the name Kuro. Together, they were like the classical yin and yang couple.

(AN: Shiro=White, Kuro=Black)

· · ———- · ???· ———- · ·

After a year of dating online...

?Bing Shi:? Let’s meet up in real life.

She didn’t even let Xuan Mu prepare his heart. She blurted such a shocking announcement out of the blue again.

‘Huh? Whaaat?!’ The young Xuan Mu jumped out of his chair; the chair fell from his sudden movement. He closed the distance between his face and his smartphone. Making sure he was not hallucinating, he rubbed his tired eyes and read her message again and again, triple checking he wasn’t reading it wrong.

His whole being became hot and nervous at the same time.

He looked at his heart area and started to rub it, trying to calm down his heart, which wanted to jump out of his chest. ‘Bing Shi, what are you doing to my heart?’

On Break