Upon hearing what Yu Chen had said, Luo Xiaolei froze for a second before she began coughing heavily.
"Cough, cough… w-what did you just say?" she asked the moment she succeeded in stopping herself from coughing. Her eyes were filled with nothing but disbelief as she looked at him with wide eyes.
But Yu Chen was calm as usual. He inclined his head slightly and repeated his words with a serious tone. "They are not awful because they are marks crafted by you."
The second time Luo Xiaolei heard it, and had finally confirmed that he really said that unbelievable line, she didn't just feel her face overheating, this time, she also felt like blood was about to gush out of her nose.
She was so stunned she suddenly jumped off him. She stood before him, looking at him, while he too, gazed up at her.
And then, unexpectedly, the first thing Luo Xiaolei did when she finally snapped was lifted her hand and place it on Yu Chen's forehead as though she was trying to check his temperature.
What she did made Yu Chen's brows crease but he soon realized why she was reacting this way. Thus, he decided to speak up to try to erase whatever it was that was causing her to not believe what he said.
"I'm not sick." He assured her, rendering Luo Xiaolei speechless as she quickly retrieved her hand off him.
"Oh," she could only utter when Yu Chen continued speaking.
"What's wrong? Did I say something wrong?" he asked innocently and Luo Xiaolei swallowed before she face palmed herself, shaking her head.
"No, sorry… I'm just… I'm just so surprised. I just find it hard to believe…" She admitted, smiling awkwardly.
"Hard to believe?"
"Well, you know… I mean, when did you… the innocent pure maiden learn to talk like that?!!" right after Luo Xiaolei blurted those words out, she immediately gasped and covered her mouth with her palms.
Shooot!!! Oh my gosh!!! I actually said it out loud!!!!
Luo Xiaolei bit her lip hard as she quickly started to explain, praying that he censored out the 'innocent pure maiden' in her sentence and didn't hear it at all.
"No, no, I mean… please forget what I just said. What I mean is I didn't know you're so good at… giving heart fluttering pick up lines even though you are... Anyway, I just didn't expect it and it shocked me. I thought it wasn't like you at all because you almost sounded like a playboy for a moment." She said, forcing a smile.
After hearing her explanation, Yu Chen simply blinked at her silently for a while before he replied.
"You don't like it when I sound like playboy?"
"Well, honestly… I kind of… yeah, I guess?"
"So you mean don't like what I said?"
"No, no, that's not it! I'm not saying I disliked what you said. It's just that they were not good for my heart."
"Not good?"
"Yes, you might not believe but I felt like having a heart attack. You don't have any idea about the impact of your words, do you?"
As soon as Luo Xiaolei said those words, Yu Chen's gaze dropped. He was silent for a moment before he lifted his face again and looked at her. "I dint mean to sound like a playboy. But… what I said was sincere. I really meant it."
Luo Xiaolei: ". . ."
Luo Xiaolei's lips subconsciously parted as her chin dropped. She gave up. She always knew Yu Chen would always be honest so she was not doubting him at all. She just couldn't believe it and she didn't even know why she was acting like this. And maybe, she was actually just so affected, not just because of what he said but also because after this one night, Luo Xiaolei felt that Yu Chen seemed a bit different.
She tried to think that she was imagining things but the longer they talked to each other like this, the more she was convinced that what she noticed was not a delusion.
Could it be that he changed because he had been tainted by her? Oh gosh… what am I even thinking?
In that moment, Luo Xiaolei sighed and her hand landed on Yu Chen's hair. A smile carved on her face as she looked at him. "I know…" she uttered before she bent down to survey his neck.
Her embarrassment returned as she looked at the marks on his neck but her reaction wasn't that severe anymore.
"We have to hide these." She then said. "It will be very embarrassing if anyone sees this. They will surely think I am bullying and taking advantage of you." Which was somehow, correct… sigh…"Wait a bit, I'll get a concealer."
As soon as Luo Xiaolei was back, she immediately started her new task. She sat beside Yu Chen and leaned in on him when the man spoke.
"I don't really mind if…" he didn't even finish his sentence when Luo Xiaolei cut through him.
"I mind." She said, her eyes still on his neck and Yu Chen immediately gave in.
"I understand." He replied and obediently sat there as Luo Xiaolei began applying the concealer.
"And this is not just because of embarrassment on my part okay? I just don't want anyone to misunderstand you if they see your neck like this."
"I don't really care about what others will think."
"But I care. I don't want anyone to find out that you're an inno… anyway, I can't let the world know about the existence of a certain endangered spe… I mean, I want to be the only one who knows about the fact that…" Gosh, Luo Xiaolei! What the hell are you saying?!! Get a hold of yourself!!
"Anyway, I just don't want anybody to see it. Since you called these as marks crafted by me, then let this be for my eyes only. I don't really like showing such a work of art to other people…" Wait… w-what did I just say? Did I just called these hickeys 'work of art'?!! My goodness!!!