Luo Xiaolei could hear the rapid thumping of her heart against her chest. She was caught off guard by his sudden, disconcerting movement. It startled her; making her freeze for a brief second.
She could tell he was still not calming down at all. His palm on her eyes was cool, as if it wasn't the same warm hand she held last night, and then she felt him lean his forehead on the back of his palm which was covering her eyes before he spoke.
"I'm sorry…" his voice was seemingly skeptical, his tone sounded as hard as his clenched jaws. "I can't calm down unless I…" He left his sentence hanging. "I don't want you to see me like this. So go home first, I'll follow once I calmed down." His voice had become a soft murmur, but still livid. And she could tell that he was struggling.
Common sense told her to just listen to him and not make things harder for him but just the thought of leaving him here made her bite her lip hard.
"No, let's go home together." She insisted. Then she heard the sound of his cracking knuckles as Yu Chen's other hand clenched even tighter. What she heard should be a warning – a warning telling her to be terrified and just go home as he ordered. She knew that it was dangerous to go against someone this angry. She was aware of the risk of him snapping at any moment and might even end up hurting her unintentionally due to his excessive anger. She should have flinched away and left him by now so he could make himself calm down yet here she was, stubbornly insisting to take him home. What was worse was that, her fear was now nowhere to be seen and she even seemed to be starting to feel mad about something.
She herself was surprised by everything that she was saying and doing at the moment. She couldn't help but ask herself what Yu Chen, this big panda, had done to her for her to suddenly become this foolishly brave and stubborn towards him.
"Xiaolei… please." He said through his teeth. She could tell from his voice that he was reaching his limit but Luo Xiaolei was not giving in. She raised her hand and touch his unyielding hand that was covering her eyes.
"Let me see your face first." She said but she heard him gnash his teeth.
And then he replied. "No. Listen to me and go home." This time, his tone was harsh. This was the first time he spoke like this to her since the first time they met. She could now hear the real threat in his voice but then again, this didn't scare her at all, instead, unexpectedly, it made her mad.
"Ugh!! Yu Chen!! Why are you so stubborn?! I said I don't want to leave you here alone! Do you understand? And could you please remove your hand now? I told you I'm hungry, but you're making me angry instead! Ahh… I can't even think properly anymore you see? I'm so hungry here, so let's go home, now!"
Lou Xiaolei face palmed herself inside her head just after she burst out like that.
What followed her outburst was a deep silence. She felt him become completely still again, as if he was now in a daze, so she took advantage of that and pulled his hand off her face. As soon as she succeeded, her hands swiftly moved to his hood and then, in a blink of an eye, her hands were already wrapped around his neck.
Their eyes finally met. Now that she saw his hardened yet still gorgeous face and his dangerous eyes burning with nothing but rage, a small feelinng of her fear returned, and yet she was fascinated. 'Luo Xiaolei, fear and fascination shouldn't be in the same sentence you know?'
Luo Xiaolei let go of a long deep sigh. She realized why she was suddenly mad. She was mad with herself because she couldn't calm him down. That she held no power to at least melt the rage in his eyes.
But she was not depressed by it. Instead, she suddenly had this urge to conquer him at all cost, to melt his frozen stiff body and make him relax, so they could finally go home together.
As she looked at him, she bit her lip hard again. And then, her eyes narrowed. She remembered a certain romance book she read written by her favorite author, entitled, 'Taming My Superhuman Wifey'. The book was about a self-proclaimed pervert guy and his journey on how to tame his superhuman wife he called 'Beauty'. The superhuman wife was a product of some experiment so she tends to turn into her beast mode once triggered becoming an unstoppable monster sometimes.
Somehow, Luo Xiaolei can't help but compare Beauty's beast mode to Yu Chen's temper. And she honestly found it really similar. 'Wait… could it be that Yu Chen is like Beauty? A product of some experiment?!'
Luo Xiaolei face palmed herself again. 'Luo Xiaolei, how old are you? How could you compare reality to a fictional character? Ah, I can't believe this, I think I'm really hungry now… my brain is all messed up… sigh…'
At that moment, while Luo Xiaolei was trying to clear her mind, she saw Yu Chen suddenly squeeze his eyes closed. It looked like he finally reached his limit. His hands slowly moved to her hand and she knew he was going to remove her hands off him. What was about to happen made her feel anxious. She could just tell that once she let him slip away from her grasp, she wouldn't be able to stop him anymore and she would be going home alone, without him.
That made her feel worse. She refused to let go but what could she do if she had no effect on him? That realization strangely stung her and her grip on his neck tightened.
And then, suddenly, a scene in that book flashed across her head. It made her smile and shake her head in disbelief because of the idea she was actually thinking about. She thought about the consequences if this trick won't work on him and she could only laugh inwardly at herself.
In the end, she decided to do it anyway. 'Whatever… who said that everything that happens in fictional stories never happen in real life?' she told herself and once Yu Chen started to pull her hands off him…
Luo Xiaolei tip toed, leaned in on him, and then, she kissed him.