Paper Lover At Old Town Bookstore Chapter 38

Still can’t accept it?

As soon as his fingertips touched my waist and abdomen, I shrank suddenly as if I had been burned. Then I raised my hand and pushed his hand away with such force that I was stunned for a moment.

“Don’t touch me.”

The three words squeezed out from between the teeth, with a biting chill and lingering anger, as cold as the morning frost outside the window.I turned my back to him, my shoulders trembling slightly with suppressed anger, and I didn’t even want to give him another look.

Song Zhili’s hand froze in mid-air, the temperature of my skin still lingering on his fingertips, and his eyes were instantly flooded with loss and bitterness.He opened his mouth, as if he wanted to say something, but looking at my tense back, he just let out an almost inaudible sigh and silently withdrew his hand.

There was an awkward silence in the room, except for the heavy breathing of the two people.After a while, I heard him get up gently, his movements were so gentle that he didn’t want to disturb me.He did not come closer, but walked out of the bedroom with steady steps, and then there was the sound of water running from the kitchen faucet.

After an unknown amount of time, he came back with a glass of warm water and gently placed it on the low cabinet beside the bed.”Drink some water,” his voice was low and restrained, with careful tentativeness, “If your body still hurts, I’ll get you some ointment.”

I still didn’t look back or respond, I just bit my lip and buried my face in the pillow.The temperature of the water glass came through the glass, and the slightly cool air was filled with steam, but the chill in my heart did not subside at all.

This forced entanglement has long drawn a deep gap between us. No matter how gentle and careful he is at this moment, he can’t erase the humiliation and hurt engraved in his bones.I always kept my back to him, with a cold face and said nothing, even my breathing was deliberately steady, refusing to respond to all his temptations.The warm water on the low cabinet was steaming and gradually cooled down, just like the anticipation in his eyes sank little by little.

Song Zhili stood by the bed in silence for a long time. Finally, he didn’t bother him anymore. He just turned around and started to clean up the room silently.He picked up the clothes scattered on the floor one by one and folded them neatly; he collected the ointments and empty towels on the bedside table and threw them into the laundry basket; even the stained sheets on the sheets, he found clean bedding and replaced them carefully, so lightly that there was almost no sound.

His figure moved back and forth in the room, with a kind of awkward ingratiation and confusion.But when I looked at his back, the anger and humiliation in my heart became more intense – did he think this could make up for the damage last night?Can the traces left by coercion and plunder be erased?

As he bent down to straighten the folds at the end of the bed, I couldn’t hold it in any longer.He suddenly sat up from the bed, grabbed the glass of water that had already cooled down on the low cabinet, and threw it hard at his back!

With a “bang”, the water glass hit his back hard. The cold water instantly soaked through his shirt. The glass fragments flew everywhere and landed on the floor with a crisp sound.

Song Zhili’s body suddenly stiffened and he slowly turned around.A large area of ​​his back was wet, and water dropped down along the fabric of his clothes. There were still a few drops of water on his hair, but there was no anger in his eyes when he looked at me, only deep exhaustion and bitterness.”Still can’t accept it?” His voice was hoarse, and his eyes fell on my face, asking with a hint of despair.

I stared at him, my eyes red, but I couldn’t say a word.Anger flooded me like a tide, but when I saw his appearance, an indescribable feeling surged in my heart, making me even more irritable.

Glass shards were scattered on the floor, reflecting the morning light and stinging the eyes.

The shirt on Song Zhili’s back had already been soaked with cold water and clung to his back. A few strands of wet hair hung in front of his forehead, and water droplets rolled down his jawline, but he seemed not to feel the coldness and stinging at all, and just turned around slowly.

He didn’t care about the water stains on his body or the scattered glass shards, he just walked towards me step by step.Each step was taken very slowly, with an almost crushing heaviness. The fatigue and bitterness in his eyes were gradually replaced by red eyes, as if the emotions that had been suppressed for too long were finally about to be unbearable.

When he reached the bed, he stopped and leaned slightly to look at me.Red bloodshot eyes covered the whites of his eyes, and his eyes were filled with grievance, despair, and a trace of humble prayer.

“It doesn’t matter if you hate me.” His voice was extremely hoarse, with a strong nasal sound, and every word seemed to be squeezed out from his throat. “It really doesn’t matter. You can hit me, scold me, whatever you want…don’t ignore me.”

His hand was hanging in the air, as if he wanted to touch me, but he was afraid of being pushed away by me again, so in the end he just stopped stiffly.”Qiu Sheng, I can’t live without news from you, and I can’t watch you treat me coldly, like a stranger.”

His voice was choked and his eyes were even redder, “Even if you hate me, as long as you are willing to pay attention to me, as long as you are still by my side, that’s enough.”

Looking at his appearance, the anger in my heart seemed to have been punctured, and I was deflated, but a more complicated feeling surged up again.

His paranoia and tyranny once made me hate him to the core, but the fragility and humbleness in his eyes at this moment made it impossible for me to say anything more hurtful.

My fingers were clenching the sheets tightly, my knuckles turning white. I turned my face away, not daring to look at his red eyes. My throat seemed to be blocked by something and I couldn’t say a word.

When the alarm clock broke the silence in the early morning of the third day, I rubbed my still sore waist and abdomen, and deliberately moved gently when I stood up – Song Zhili finally stopped pestering me last night, and there was no movement after staying in the guest room for half a night.

After washing, I looked in the mirror. The light blue marks on the side of my neck had not completely faded away. I casually grabbed a high-collared shirt and put it on, hiding all my embarrassment in my meticulous workplace attire.

When we drove downstairs to the company, the morning light was just right.Walking into the lobby, the receptionist nodded respectfully: “Good morning, Director Song.” I nodded in response, and out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of Xu Xingruo standing at the elevator entrance. She was wearing a well-tailored professional attire and exquisite makeup. When she saw me, she just curved her lips politely, and there was no trace of familiarity in her eyes, as if we were just colleagues who had known each other.

I withdrew my gaze and walked into the elevator first. We arrived at our respective floors in silence, with clear boundaries.

In the office, Lin Zhiqing was already sitting at his workstation full of energy. When he saw me coming in, he immediately smiled and raised the document in his hand: “Good morning, Brother Song! This is the market research data you want. I’ve sorted it out.”

He came closer and said with his usual teasing tone, “But to be honest, it’s a bit unusual for you to wear a turtleneck today. Did you do something ‘bad’ secretly?”

I patted his head away and put my bag on the desk: “Don’t be poor. If you have any questions, just ask.”

“Hey, there are two data that I’m not sure about. I want to confirm with you.” He straightened his expression, pointed at the marks on the document and started asking questions. The logic was clear, but occasionally he would insert a few irrelevant gossips to try to liven up the atmosphere.

I listened patiently and answered them one by one. I ran my fingertips across the keyboard to deal with the work, but my heart was rarely quiet. As the president, Song Zhili rarely came to the marketing department unless there were important projects to connect. Today, he did not show up in the company from morning to night. News came from the secretariat that he had gone to deal with personal matters. Without the pressure of his eyes and the paranoid temptations, it really allowed me to regain some of my focus as the director of the marketing department.

The whole day’s work is not considered busy, but mostly routine matters such as project promotion and document approval.Occasionally, colleagues came to ask questions or held short department meetings, and I handled them with ease. I just deliberately avoided all topics that might mention Song Zhili.

Lin Zhiqing is still the “ambience person” in the office. During lunch, he was still teasing the new dishes in the cafeteria. In the afternoon, he came over to share a funny video he had just seen. Although I wasn’t too interested, he occasionally made me curl my lips.

As I was getting off work, I had just finished processing the last document when my phone vibrated.I clicked on it and saw that it was a message from Song Zhili, with only five short words: “Waiting for you downstairs.”

The fingertips paused, and there was an inexplicable resistance in his heart, but he knew his temper. If he didn’t respond, there would probably only be more difficult consequences.I turned off the phone screen and got up to pack my things. Lin Zhiqing came over and said, “Brother Song, are you going to have a meal after get off work? I found a super delicious barbecue restaurant!”

“No,” I shook my head and picked up my coat, “I have something to do at home, so I’m leaving first.”

When I walked out of the office building, I saw the familiar black Maybach parked on the roadside.

Song Zhili was sitting in the driver’s seat with the window down. He was wearing a dark suit. He had lost his fragility and embarrassment from last night and turned back into the powerful CEO. However, there was still a trace of unnoticeable nervousness hidden deep in his eyes. When he saw me coming, he immediately opened the door and said, “Get in the car.”

I didn’t move, just stood there and looked at him: “Mr. Song, I can go back by myself.”

His brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, but his tone was a little softer: “Get in the car, I have something to tell you.”

The evening breeze blew by, bringing with it a bit of coolness, and the colleagues around me who were getting off work occasionally cast curious glances.

I didn’t want to get entangled here, so I finally opened the door and got in the passenger seat.The car was filled with a faint scent of cedar, which was consistent with his scent, making me tense up subconsciously.