Chapter 66: Mine

The bedroom curtains were tightly drawn, casting the room into deep shadow. The air was filled with the faint scent of lavender, a calming aroma that, however, did nothing to soothe the restless heartbeat at this moment.

Ming Can was completely sunk into the soft bedding. The man’s scorching breath sprayed against her neck, sending a tingling sensation that spread rapidly from point to surface, coursing through her entire body. She clutched the bedsheet fabric, at a loss for what to say.

Chi Xiao had merely repeated what she had just said.

Leaving her no room to argue.

Otherwise, she would be contradicting herself.

Although both involved sleeping while holding each other, being pinned down by him felt entirely different from lying on top of him earlier.

For the first time in her life, Ming Can found herself in such a narrow, air-tight space. Chi Xiao probably wasn’t putting his full weight on her, but simply holding her and confining her to the bed was already dangerous enough, overwhelmingly oppressive.

Ming Can struggled slightly: “I’m not the same as you.”

“How are you not the same?”

Chi Xiao lifted his head to look at her, his eyelids half-open, the sharp lines at the corners of his eyes giving him a fierce appearance. His gaze, in this dim light, appeared dark and intense, unfathomable.

Ming Can: “When I held you, I was really sleeping. You’re not doing that now.”

Chi Xiao said lazily: “I’m really sleeping too.”

After speaking, he stopped looking at her and lazily pulled her closer, his strong arm wrapping around her slender waist, bringing her completely against him.

In the faint light, Ming Can saw his head resting right next to her face. His handsome, cool features were turned toward her cheek, so close that his tall nose bridge almost touched her skin.

A moment later, he pretended to close his eyes and feigned sleep.

Ming Can’s legs were pinned by his, making it almost impossible to move.

She had never been this close to a man before, and it was the first time she truly experienced the stark difference in strength between men and women.

Ming Can used all her strength to bend her knee and kick Chi Xiao lightly, whispering, “Stop pretending, brother.”

“I really want to sleep, I’m extremely tired,” Chi Xiao said. “What did you think I was going to do?”

Ming Can was speechless. She turned her face away, looking to the side, and said, “I didn’t think you were going to do anything.”

The man chuckled softly against her ear: “It’s fine if you did.”

“Really, I didn’t mean to!” Ming Can pressed her hands against his chest, pushing him away slightly. “It’s just… you’re heavy, you’re crushing me!”

“Then you get on top.”

With that, he wrapped his arm around Ming Can’s waist and rolled her halfway across the bed.

Caught off guard, Ming Can instinctively grabbed Chi Xiao’s shoulders, her lips brushing against his forehead as she tumbled onto him.

Just as she steadied herself, she heard his low, hoarse voice, innocent yet infuriating: “You’ve already kissed my whole face.”

“It wasn’t on purpose,” Ming Can retorted, now on top and finally feeling a bit freer. She raised her hand and punched him lightly. “You totally deserved it.”

The sensation of his skin still lingered on her lips. Though his complexion looked cold, it felt scorching to the touch.

Ming Can’s breathing grew even more rapid. The bed felt like a trap, with an endless abyss below. If she wasn’t careful, she might fall into it and never escape.

She couldn’t stay here any longer. If this continued, she really didn’t know what might happen.

They didn’t even have any kind of relationship yet.

Just then, a faint rustling sound came from beside them. The two-meter-wide bed had Ming Can and Chi Xiao on the left side, while a little child lay on the right.

“Mom? Dad?” Miaomiao rubbed her eyes and crawled out from under the blanket, mumbling sleepily, “Stop fighting…”

Miaomiao’s voice suddenly brought the atmosphere to a halt.

“Sorry, did we wake you?” Ming Can hurriedly explained. “We weren’t fighting.”

Miaomiao opened her eyes wide and looked at them: “Really? You’ve fought before, don’t lie to me.”

Ming Can: “When did we ever—”

Suddenly, she realized that Miaomiao was referring to a story from another time and space.

Chi Xiao also seemed to understand, as if recalling something. He smiled and asked Miaomiao, “Did we fight on the bed before too?”

Ming Can: “Why are you asking him that!”

“I don’t know if it was on the bed. But it was in the bedroom,” Miaomiao said, yawning. “The door was tightly shut, and you wouldn’t let me in.”

Chi Xiao: “I see…”

Ming Can, sitting on top of Chi Xiao, felt the vibrations of his meaningful laughter through his chest. Her legs felt weak, and she raised her hand to punch him again: “Stop laughing. It’s all your fault for waking Miaomiao.”

“He should be waking up around this time anyway.”

Chi Xiao lay lazily on his back, suddenly grabbing Ming Can’s wrist and pulling her down. His other hand covered the spot on his chest where she had punched him, and he said with a teasing tone,

“You hit me again. Do you really like fighting, huh?”

His eyes were half-closed, looking at her with an almost lawless expression.

Ming Can struggled to free her hand and only dared to retort after climbing off him: “Who likes fighting? My hand hurts from hitting you.”

Miaomiao blinked, watching his parents.

A series of “beep—beep—” mechanical sounds echoed in his mind, all things a child shouldn’t hear!

So annoying!

Miaomiao boredly patted the blanket, only to see his mom hurriedly get out of bed, put on her shoes, say goodbye to him, and leave without even glancing at his dad, as if eager to escape this place.

After Mom left, Miaomiao crawled over to Dad and whispered in his ear, “Dad, are you and Mom having a fight?”

“No, she’s just in a hurry to go back and catch up on sleep.”

Chi Xiao threw off the blanket and sat up, ruffling Miaomiao’s hair. He told him to lie in bed for a while longer while he went to take a shower before coming back to help him wash up.

Miaomiao didn’t understand why Dad needed to take a shower so early in the morning, but he nodded blankly, pulled up the blanket, and rolled back into bed, rolling left and right to pass the time.

Dad took so long.

Miaomiao dozed off again and woke up after a while, only to find Dad slowly walking out of the bathroom.

“Dad, carry me.”

Miaomiao didn’t feel like walking and lazily stretched out his arms. Chi Xiao tossed the towel he was using to dry his hair aside, bent down, and picked him up from the bed, carrying him to the bathroom.

Miaomiao wrapped his arms around Chi Xiao’s shoulders and let out a soft “hiss”: “Dad, you’re so cold. Did you take a cold shower?”

Chi Xiao didn’t respond. He brought Miaomiao to the sink, set him on a stool, and squeezed toothpaste onto his toothbrush for him.

The mirror reflected the similar faces of the father and son. Miaomiao looked up at Dad’s reflection in the mirror and noticed a faint curve at the corner of his lips, his eyes slightly upturned, as if he were in a very good mood.

Miaomiao, with toothpaste in his mouth, mumbled, “Dad?”

Chi Xiao: “Hmm?”

Miaomiao pricked up his ears.

Unbelievable.

He actually heard Dad humming a song in his heart.

After rinsing his mouth, Miaomiao asked curiously, “Dad, are you in a good mood today?”

“Mm,” Chi Xiao looked down at him, his voice gentle. “Your mom gave me a New Year’s gift.”

“Ah…” Miaomiao’s little voice wavered, a bit jealous. “What gift?”

Chi Xiao bent down, holding a towel soaked in warm water, and carefully wiped Miaomiao’s fair little face. He said slowly, word by word, “It’s a gift that you received a long time ago.”

Not long after Miaomiao came to Ming Can’s side, she had accepted him, her son from the future, and treated him as her own.

Today, Chi Xiao had finally crossed that line in her heart.

He had obtained the ticket to be close to her.

–

After leaving Ming Shu’s villa, Ming Can walked with her head down and didn’t run into anyone, smoothly making it back to her bedroom.

The heat on her body hadn’t completely dissipated yet, and she felt sticky all over. She took off her outer clothes, grabbed a towel, and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

After the shower, she felt much more comfortable. Ming Can threw herself onto the bed and slept freely until the sun was high in the sky.

On the first day of the New Year, there was no need to visit relatives. Ming Can went downstairs for lunch at noon and, after eating, returned to her room to lounge around again.

She rarely had such lazy days. Ming Zheng thought that since it was the New Year, he should let her rest comfortably, so he didn’t call her to participate in any activities all day.

In the afternoon, Ming Can curled up in a cigar chair and checked her phone, replying to New Year’s messages one by one.

In the high school best friends group chat, Rui Yiqing and Zhuang Fu had been performing a duet for over a hundred messages. Ming Can finally made a belated appearance, hesitating whether to bring up the topic of relationships.

After last night and this morning, her mindset seemed to have changed quite a bit, but she had no experience with this kind of thing and really needed someone to guide her.

Unfortunately, after she spoke, the two in the group seemed to have disappeared simultaneously, and no one replied for a long time.

Ming Can continued scrolling through her message list and saw that Xu Jiayun had sent her a message an hour ago, asking if she could call her.

Ming Can immediately called back.

The other end picked up quickly, the voice filled with annoyance: “Volcano, you finally responded to me!”

Xu Jiayun chattered on the other end of the phone, venting about how Cheng Xiuyuan, the super-saintly guy she had liked for so long, had realized how important Xu Jiayun was to him after she saw through his true colors and gave up on both their friendship and romantic feelings. Now, he was chasing after her.

Xu Jiayun: “Our family tradition is not to visit others on the first day of the New Year, but he actually showed up at my house this morning with gifts. It’s insane.”

“Same here, we don’t visit on the first day either,” Ming Can said. “What did you say to him?”

“Just told him I don’t like him anymore and don’t even want to be friends,” Xu Jiayun said, her mind clear. Once she let go, she let go completely, with no lingering attachments. “But I feel like he hasn’t given up. He keeps messaging me on WeChat.”

After a pause, Xu Jiayun sighed: “And we’ve been friends for so long. I don’t want to say anything too harsh. I still want to save some face for him.”

“True,” Ming Can said. “Hurting someone’s self-esteem isn’t good.”

There was a moment of silence on the other end.

Xu Jiayun: “You actually said something like that! Since when do you care about a guy’s self-esteem?”

Ming Can’s face warmed: “Never mind me. Let’s talk about your situation. If he keeps bothering you, how are you going to handle it?”

Xu Jiayun thought for a moment: “I could say I’ve fallen for someone else. That should make him back off.”

Ming Can laughed: “Who are you planning to use as a shield?”

Xu Jiayun laughed too: “Let me think… Senior Chi Xiao seems like a good fit.”

Ming Can froze at the mention of his name, the smile fading from her lips.

After a long while, she replied stiffly: “How is he a good fit?”

Xu Jiayun explained: “He’s the senior he admires the most, and the line of people who like him stretches from the west gate of the school to the east gate. One more person wouldn’t make a difference. No one would care.”

Ming Can fell silent again, then said: “Didn’t you prefer warm, kind guys before?”

“I still do. Senior Chi Xiao’s type would freeze me to death. I’d be scared,” Xu Jiayun said. “Anyway, it’s just a shield. I’ll just pretend to chase him…”

“No.”

“Huh?” Xu Jiayun seemed not to have heard clearly. “What did you say?”

Ming Can: “I said no.”

Xu Jiayun: “Why not?”

“Because… you’re my good friend,” Ming Can pursed her lips, her mind suddenly calming down. She clearly understood her own feelings and spoke each word carefully, “And Senior Chi Xiao is mine.”

Xu Jiayun was still waiting for the second half of her sentence. After a while, when nothing came, she couldn’t help but ask: “Yours what?”

…

What was he to her?

She wasn’t sure yet.

But in any case—

Ming Can took a light breath and rephrased: “He belongs to me.”