Cinderella Innocent and Boss Charming - Chapter 194

Chapter 194 The Same as Before
There was no light on on the balcony, but a thin layer of light reached outside from the room and illuminated the balcony a bit. Gu Nianbin stood there quietly in front of the window with his tall figure like a tree. He put one hand in his trousers pocket and held a cigarette with the other hand. From where Du Xiaoxian was standing, only a side of his face could be seen. His lips were tightly shut, and the curve of his chin was somewhat hard. He seemed to be angry. Or maybe he was just sad.

Suddenly, Du Xiaoxian felt a sharp pain in her heart. She quietly returned to the hall. However, she was at a loss and didn’t know what to do. She didn’t even know what was wrong with her? Why did she eavesdrop on his call?

After returning from Jinxiu Department Store that day, Gu Nianbin opened his mind to Du Xiaoxian and they had a conversation in his office. He hoped that she would not mind Xia Xiaowan and not overthink. He also said that Xia Xiaowan was actually very pitiful, so they should try to understand her. She silently listened and nodded, but the text messages on Xia Xiaowan’s phone flashed in her mind.

She was not a woman who would overthink, and she did not even like complex emotions. She always chose to give up every time there was something she couldn’t figure out. But this time she couldn’t do it. Gu Nianbin told her not to overthink. She didn’t want to overthink either, but she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t help but think about the text messages.

She became extremely sensitive. When the phone rang on the dining table, she was sitting on the sofa and watching TV. However, her attention was quickly attracted to the dining table. She did not intend to answer the call because it was Gu Nianbin’s phone and he was in the kitchen.

When Gu Nianbin heard the ringtone, he came out and glanced at his phone. He rejected the call and went back into the kitchen. He was preparing hot milk for her. She was not in good spirits lately, and Gu Nianbin thought she should drink some milk to calm the nerves before going to bed. So he would prepare for her a glass of bedtime milk every night.

Gu Nianbin came out of the kitchen with the milk and put his phone into his trousers pocket. Just as the milk was delivered to her, the phone rang again and Gu Nianbin said, “Drink it while it’s still hot.” Then he walked to the balcony and answered the phone.

Her instinct told her that the call was from Xia Xiaowan. Gu Nianbin didn’t answer the phone in front of her because he was afraid that she would hear their conversation, but he was also afraid that there was something Xia Xiaowan needed, so he had to answer the second call.

She did not drink the milk and quietly walked to the door. Gu Nianbin’s voice was not loud, but she could hear every word he said clearly.

He said, “Of course, it’ll be the same as before. Don’t you believe me?”

Only this sentence made her feel that something collapsed in her heart. The same as before? It was what he said! But how could it be the same? With her standing between them, how could it still be the same as before?

In the past, she only wanted to silently stay by Gu Nianbin’s side and be an invisible woman, but now, she did not want to be that kind of woman any longer. Because it was very painful. As long as she thought about sharing Gu Nianbin’s love with another woman, she would feel so pain that she could not breathe.

Du Xiaoxian stood in the middle of the room, dumbfounded for a moment. Then she picked up the glass of milk, which was already cold, and drank it. The cold milk was like paste stuck in her throat, which could not get up or down, and it somewhat made her feel disgusting. However, she slowly endured the disgusting feeling and swallowed it all down one mouthful at a time.

Gu Nianbin was still on the balcony, and he must be also in pain. Du Xiaoxian sighed, took the glass to the kitchen and put it back on the rack before washing it clean. Then she silently walked into the room to sleep. As long as she fell asleep and woke up the next morning, it would definitely be another beautiful day.

She lay in bed and forced herself to sleep, but the more she forced herself, the more she could not fall asleep. She could only open her eyes and look at the ceiling. On the night she read the text messages, she thought she might as well quit and let Gu Nianbin and Du Xiaoxian be together. It was better to suffer alone than make the three of them suffer. She had always been a woman who could come and go easily, but it was harder to give up her feelings for him than she had imagined. As long as she thought of leaving Gu Nianbin, her heart would be like getting pricked by a knife, and it would make her lose hope for life. No matter what, she could not bear to part with Gu Nianbin, so she could only put it off day by day.

But putting things off was not the right way to go. No matter what, the day when they had to part from each other would come. On this day, Gu Nianbin came back from work. She stood at the entrance to get his slippers, but Gu Nianbin stood there motionlessly. He looked at her helplessly and pitifully. “Xiaoxian, I’m sorry, we can’t be together anymore.”

Her mind was blank as she stared blankly at him as if Gu Nianbin was a stranger. He had said that he would never separate from her and would never drive her away! However, he did not deliver that promise. Perhaps he really did his best. Otherwise, he would not be so tired, so haggard, and so pitiful when looking at her.

Her heart was suddenly broken like glass into pieces. She felt as if her entire body was about to break. She fell off bit by bit in the wind. She was just curious. The windows were closed, so where did the wind come from?

He sighed softly, looked deeply at her, and then turned around and left.

And she collapsed to the ground, watching the door closing slowly and howling with tears…

“Xian’er, Xian’er, wake up.” The faint voice gradually became clear. Du Xiaoxian opened her eyes. In the darkness, Gu Nianbin looked at her anxiously. “What happened to you? Did you have a nightmare?”

She stared blankly at him for a long time before letting out a sigh of relief with lingering fear. It turned out to be a dream. Fortunately, it was a dream!

Gu Nianbin touched her forehead and said, “What were you dreaming about? You are sweating so much. I’ll get a towel to wipe it off for you.”

“Don’t leave.” She threw herself into his embrace. “Don’t leave me.”

“I’m not leaving. Tell me, what were you dreaming of?” Gu Nianbin said, feeling worried in his heart and holding her tightly.

Du Xiaoxian remained silent and buried her head in his arms, listening to his heartbeat, which was the only thing that could calm her when she was uneasy.

“Did you recall…” Gu Nianbin asked tentatively.

Before he could finish the question, Du Xiaoxian shook her head. “I dreamt that a bear was chasing me, and it made me fall down the cliff.” She lied, just in front of him, and she lied so smoothly.

Without any doubt, Gu Nianbin kissed her hair affectionately. “What’s wrong with you recently? Are you thinking about the exhibition and feeling pressured?”

“Teacher He will be back tomorrow.” Du Xiaoxian said, “But I’ve completed so few paintings. I don’t know what to draw.”

“It doesn’t matter. Take your time. If you don’t want to draw, you can rest for a few days,” Gu Nianbin said. “How about we going out and playing for a few days when Shao Boqing comes back.”

Du Xiaoxian shook her head. “I don’t want to go out on such cold days.”

“Then how about going somewhere hot.” Gu Nianbin touched her head. “How about going to the seaside?”

The sea! Du Xiaoxian’s eyes lit up. She had never been to the seaside before, and she had only watched it on TV. There were always vast oceans, pure white beaches, gentle sea breezes, and seagulls gently sweeping across the surface of the sea…

“Isn’t it cold at the seaside?” she asked.

“Fool.” Gu Nianbin chuckled. “At times like this, we are certainly going to the beach that is not cold.”

She wanted to go out with him, just like they did in Tong Mountain, without Xia Xiaowan or anyone they knew, only the two of them. Du Xiaoxian thought that if there was a trip like that before she left, it would be very beautiful.

She said softly, “Alright, let’s go to the seaside. I’m very happy to see the sea once in my life.”

“Why is it once?” Gu Nianbin smiled and said, “As long as you like it, you can go to the seaside as many times as you want.”

No, just once. she said silently in her heart. Once is enough.

With this appointment, she felt relieved, because there was finally a deadline and she didn’t have to waste any more time thinking about when to leave. From now on, she no longer felt sad and sorrowful. Every minute and second she stayed by Gu Nianbin’s side was incomparably precious. She had to be happy every day.

Du Xiaoxian made up her mind not to entangle herself with thinking about leaving. Unexpectedly, at the next noon, Du Yuehua called to invite her to dinner, and Du Xiaoxian went to have dinner with him happily.

After arriving at the place, however, she found that Du Yuehua was unhappy. He directly put a newspaper in front of her and said, “I’ve told you that you and Gu Nianbin are not meant to be together. You just don’t believe me. Read it yourself!”

Du Xiaoxian was confused and picked up the newspaper. It was the news of Shao Boqing’s getting married. She browsed it roughly and said, “Brother Ah Yue, what’s wrong?”

“Look here.” Du Huayue pointed at a small paragraph and showed it to her. Bored on night shift yesterday, he sat in the duty room and looked for some dated newspapers to read. In the end, he read the news about Gu Nianbin and Xia Xiaowan. The newspaper said that after waiting for many years, the infatuated prince finally waited for his beautiful princess and they were happy together. There was a photo of Xia Xiaowan holding Gu Nianbin’s arm. The two of them were looking at each other and smiling. This scene was obviously meant something. Du Huayue was so angry that he didn’t even get enough sleep in the morning before coming to Du Xiaoxian to figure it out.

After reading that short paragraph, Du Xiaoxian finally understood why Cheng Mingchi called her that day and asked whether she and Gu Nianbin were getting along. It turned out that everyone already knew about it and she was the only one who was still kept in the dark.

After a while, she said, “I knew it.”

Du Huayue was stunned. “You knew it? Then how could you still be with him…”

“Miss Xia was the one that Young Master had been waiting for. It was just that when she came back, Young Master was already with me.” Du Xiaoxian pursed her lips. “So, you can’t blame Young Master for this. He was afraid I would be sad so he kept it from me. He said that he had already made it clear with Miss Xia on everything. Actually, I knew that he was in pain.”

“Then what are you going to do now?” Du Huayue looked at her anxiously. “You can’t just go on like this, can you? Are you going to compromise and be Gu Nianbin’s mistress?”

“No.” Du Xiaoxian said, “I will leave. They’re meant to be together. I shouldn’t stand in their way and make both of them suffer.”

“What do you mean by standing in their way?” Du Huayue said angrily, “It was Gu Nianbin who pursued you.”

Du Xiaoxian was soft-tempered and didn’t like to argue with others. She just lowered her head and didn’t say anything.

Du Huayue asked again, “When are you going to leave him?”

“Soon. I’ll need a little more time,” Du Xiaoxian said with difficulty.

“Don’t wait any longer. Move out today and come to my place.” Du Huayue stopped suddenly. He was still living in the company dormitory. How could he bring anyone in? Not to mention, it was a girl whom he was going to bring in.

“Okay, you can wait a few more days until I rent an apartment and then you can move out.” Du Huayue said, “Tell him everything now. We cannot be fooled by the rich even if we are poor. Do you hear me?”

“Brother Ah Yue, please give me a few more days.” Du Xiaoxian pleaded, “Mr. Shao hasn’t returned from his honeymoon yet, and he has to do all the work in the company by himself. When Mr. Shao returns, I’ll tell him. Okay?”

Du Huayue glared at her. “This kind of thing has to be done quickly. It’s not good for you to delay it longer. Xiaoxian, we’re both from Daliang Mountain and should be of straightforward personality. You can’t embarrass our hometown!”

As he spoke, Du Xiaoxian’s phone rang. She picked it up and saw that it was Gu Nianbin calling. So she made a shush gesture to Du Huayue and answered the phone.

“So what if I’m here? Can’t anyone know about that?” Du Huayue was angry and said loudly.

Du Xiaoxian was so scared that she hurriedly covered her phone with her hands, but Gu Nianbin had already heard it. He asked her whom she was with. Du Xiaoxian hesitated for a moment before saying that she was having dinner with Du Huayue.

Fortunately, Gu Nianbin didn’t say anything and hung up after giving her a few instructions.