To Covet (GL) - Chapter 19

No one had ever told me about Yu Zhouwan’s past, including herself.

Feng Jia had truly been a part of her past and was still a part of her present. For me, Yu Zhouwan’s appearance in my life was abrupt, just as it had been ten years ago. It was like an NPC suddenly appearing in a poorly made game after you’ve been hitting “skip” the whole time.

The difference with a game is that a real life can’t be restarted. I didn’t know where this plot would lead me.

Seeing my silence, Feng Jia raised an eyebrow in confusion. The GPS announced that we had arrived at our destination. She pulled over and stopped the car.

Feng Jia mumbled something to herself. I couldn’t hear what she said clearly. She wiped her eyes and put her glasses back on. When she turned to look at me, she was vibrant again.

“Will you come back to Linzhou again, Teacher?”

“Probably not.”

The outside of the car suddenly got dark.

I had thought their parting that day was just a small fight. I sighed, lamenting the unpredictable nature of things.

To be honest, I didn’t feel much regret. If they hadn’t broken up, what I did to Yu Zhouwan tonight and before would be like forcing her to cheat.

“When you came to see my sister before, she seemed to be in a bad mood that day,” I said, quickly considering all possible words in my mind.

“No, that day I went to see her to… well… return something,” Feng Jia said very vaguely. I asked what it was, but she was focused on the road and didn’t answer.

“Do you need me to give it to her?”

“No, it’s nothing important. Don’t worry about it. I can get rid of it myself.”

She seemed to think the word “get rid of” was inappropriate. She was silent for a few seconds, unable to find a suitable excuse. She reached into the plastic bag in the passenger seat and handed me an apple.

“When are you going to Nan Gang, Teacher?”

“Next month.”

“Are you going alone?”

Feng Jia said “huh?” in confusion. Then she realized I was being nosy. “Of course. I’d be worried about scaring people if I went with half a person,” she replied with a hint of sarcasm.

A warm, yellow light suddenly lit up the car.

“Do you want to come up and sit for a bit?” I asked, opening the car door and stepping out.

“No, it’s too late. I don’t want to bother you,” she said, looking back to make sure I hadn’t left anything behind.

“Thank you, Teacher. You worked hard.”

I waved goodbye to Feng Jia. In the rearview mirror of the car as it drove away, I saw a figure standing on the steps of the community garden, watching everything.

I had a heavy apple in my hand.

I carried it up the steps and then stopped on the platform, looking up at her. The light from the small garden was completely invisible from this angle. In my eyes, she was a black silhouette cut from the background of the garden. She was there, and yet she wasn’t.

Yu Zhouwan didn’t say anything to me. I walked toward the elevator to the garage. She followed.

“Where’d you go?”

She pressed the button for our floor, and the door closed.

I couldn’t help but be a little sentimental. If she had asked, “Where did you go?”, I would have thought she was a little worried about me coming home late. But with one word missing, the scale tipped toward a tone of accusation.

“I went shopping,” I said, swinging the bag on my arm.

“Then the phone call…”

“I didn’t really want to answer it.”

I was trying to hide something.

If I had answered the call in front of Feng Jia, I’d be afraid that my thoughts, which I had just managed to focus on other things, would once again be filled with the scenes from the hotel bed.

I had to admit I was taking advantage of the situation. Yu Zhouwan had sex with me. I felt like she wanted to have me when she knelt between my legs and licked me.

“Why?”

She glanced at me. There was no hurt or anger from being offended, because she was simply curious. So she asked.

I scratched my earlobe. It had been itching ever since I got into the elevator.

“I wouldn’t get lost. It’s okay if I come back a little late.”

“I told them I left my things in the room. I took the card and rushed back to find you,” Yu Zhouwan sighed. “You suddenly disappeared and wouldn’t answer your phone. You…”

“Why did you go look for her?” It was only then that I realized her mood had completely soured.

“We ran into each other.”

“Huh?”

I told her what happened in the store, leaving out the part where I followed her.

“Oh, you bought tableware…” Yu Zhouwan sneered.

“What are you laughing at?”

“It’s childish.”

“Who?”

The fingerprint lock on the door flashed a blue light.

“So, they broke up?” I glanced at the living room. No one was there.

“Didn’t you get an answer from her?” Yu Zhouwan poured herself a glass of water. “Didn’t she drive you back? Didn’t you talk to her?”

“We did,” I said, sitting on the floor.

“What did you talk about?”

Yu Zhouwan turned her head, watching my mouth with a wary look, as if she would immediately get angry if I said something I shouldn’t.

Even though I knew that was impossible.

I suddenly understood why I could never have a deep conversation with Yu Zhouwan about certain topics. I knew nothing about her past—her life experiences for more than ten years. This led to me only being able to see what was on the surface when I looked at her expression, like now.

It was only when we were in bed that she was willing to temporarily shed her shell and let me glimpse her true self—in a dominant way, forcing her to submit and give up everything.

“We talked about you.”

Yu Zhouwan’s expression froze. This was the answer she least wanted to hear.

“If there’s anything you want to know, just ask me directly,” she said, standing up and moving to the sofa to hug a pillow. “I’m your sister. There’s nothing I can’t answer.”

It felt like she was ready to tear open a book page by page and lay it all out in front of me.

I stood up and shook the dust off my palms.

Yu Zhouwan’s entire head was almost buried in the soft pillow.