Chapter 649: Suffocating memory
Standing in front of the shopping complex, Ruiling and Xinyue had their heads turned away from each other.
Ruiling pressed her brows helplessly. She liked Cheng Ling but right now, she lamented that he insisted on going shopping together.
That too with this man who I don't think knows enjoyment means…
"You can leave if you want to," Xinyue shrugged. "It's not like Dad is spying on us."
Her mouth twitched. "What do you mean? Are you stingy that you don't want to spend money on me? I don't think this is what a gentleman should act like."
He grimaced. "Hey! I don't want you complaining and crying. That's why I said that you are free to leave. As for Dad, I will just lie to him that you bought whatever you wanted and then I dropped you home."
Ruiling glared at him. "You are horrible. How can you think of lying to him? Uncle Cheng is so sweet and adorable. I don't want to lie to him even if he cannot see us right now. So, I will grit my teeth and go with you."
Xinyue raised his brow and shrugged. "Sure. Whatever."
They stepped inside the mall, and Ruiling noticed that Xinyue's eyes darted from here to there quite frequently.
"Is-Is anybody stalking us?"
"What? Of course not."
"Then why are you looking around like that? It doesn't seem that you are window shopping."
"Out of habit. That's my line of work. I am always alert at all times. It's beneficial if I find something or someone who would prove useful to me later on," he smiled with a calculated hint.
Ruiling looked at him in disdain. Then she sighed and pulled his arm towards her. "At least for a few hours, throw your work out of the window. You are shopping, not…" she cleared her throat and whispered, "spying."
Xinyue frowned and stared at her as if she was a strange alien. "YOU are out shopping, not me. I am just here to pay the bills."
"..."
She gnashed her jaw. "Idiot! Am I supposed to talk to a ghost while shopping? Then what's the use if you are here with me? I would have went alone!"
"Do you want to?"
"..."
"Gosh, you are so different from sister-in-law Lihua. You don't have any right to call her dumb when you are the dumbest person here! You have no delicacy at all!"
"..."
Fuming in anger, she stomped her way inside a luxurious and branded clothes shop. She walked towards a place where beautiful dresses were neatly lined up in hangers. Each one of them looked exquisite. Ruiling's mood immediately lightened up, and she picked one dress whose color she liked the most.
"Hehe I will try this-"
"Ugly."
Ruiling turned to look at Xinyue, who was lazily leaning against a pillar with his arms folded. She then noticed the women at some distance giggling and dreamily staring at Xinyue, clearly smitten by his beauty.
She didn't know why, but she felt irked.
These all women…they are getting fooled. He is only beautiful on the outside, but his heart is all black!
She narrowed her eyes. "What ugly?"
"The dress. It's ugly."
She choked. "Excuse me? This is one of the topmost fashion brands in China."
"Ugly," he yawned.
Her mouth twitched. "It's cute."
"Ugly."
"..."
Ruiling quietly kept the dress back on the hanger and moved her fingers past the other dresses. Then she selected another one and before she could take it out, Xinyue's voice came out again. "Ugly."
"..."
She clenched her jaw and went to pick the third dress.
"Ugly."
Then the fourth.
"Ugly."
"Ugly."
"Ugly."
"Ugly."
"!!!"
Ruiling flared up in anger and faced him, keeping her hands on her waist. "Are you making fun of me?"
Xinyue sneered. "I don't have time for that. What should I do if all your choices are ugly?"
She trembled and turned her back, refusing to look at him. "You are just teasing me and wasting my time on purpose. Now, I won't ask you-"
Suddenly, she felt a shadow loom over her as she felt surrounded by Xinyue's figure towering upon her. She, who was feeling slightly chilly because of the air conditioning, felt stranglely warm, especially when his chest ever so slightly bumped on her back.
She stiffened and stood still.
When he stretched his arm and held the hanger, her breath hitched the moment his hand rested atop hers. He pushed the dress away and put it back to its place. Then she watched his fingers flow against the fabric of the dresses. For some reason, she wanted to look up at him and know what his expression seemed like. But she couldn't lift her head.
At the end of his search, Xinyue picked out one light golden sunny dress that was embroidered with a violet shade lace at the border of the sleeves. The contrast of yellow and violet looked pretty.
"Try this."
She stiffened again, feeling his voice too close to her ear. "W-Why?"
"Because this is not ugly."
Her brow twitched. She snatched the dress from him and hurried towards the changing with room, wishing that the drumming of her loud heartbeats would stop.
"Hmph. I…I don't think this is all that good."
Xinyue chuckled. "We will see that after you come out wearing that dress."
Ruiling felt irked and shut the door behind him. She breathed hard, placing her palm on the chest.
What is wrong with me? He just chose a dress for me!
B-But it's not my fault if my heart is racing. That idiot doesn't have any sense of distance at all!
She changed into Xinyue's selected dress while mumbling her complaints. But as she looked around the changing room, she froze as she recalled a certain memory.
It was of the time when she had dragged Shen Yang into this small, constricted space and kissed him. It was also the day when Wei and Lihua caught them together.
Ruiling clutched the hem of her dress, her body shivering as she felt breathless.
No, no! I am not thinking about that bastard at all! Shen Yang is gone from my life. He is gone. He is gone...
In the end, she weakly collapsed on her knees, tears spilling out that silently stained the sunny dress with gloom and despair.
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