I Really Want to Strangle You

"What if I leave you someday?"

"I'll bring you back."

Xi Jin's tone was flat, as if he were talking about something perfectly ordinary.

"I'll lock you up in handcuffs and keep having sex with you until I get tired of it."

"..."

The breeze swept across the lake, carrying the scent of spent fireworks. Nan Xingyu shivered.

"Are you scared?"

Xi Jin tilted his head and looked at her, a show of innocence in his smile.

But a vicious, perverse ruthlessness lurked in his eyes.

Nan Xingyu's expression stiffened. "Yes."

Xi Jin said, "Then don't make boring jokes like that. It's not funny at all."

With that, he released the sky lantern in his hand.

The warm yellow light rose slowly into the sky, leaving his palm behind.

It drifted farther and farther away.

He tightened his grip on Nan Xingyu's hand and looked up at that point of light in the night sky.

"Nan Xingyu, I canceled your school transfer application. You must really hate me for it, don't you?"

He held her fingers and paused. "You wanted to choose a school close to home, which would put you far away from me."

He smiled silently. "You had it all worked out long ago, didn't you?"

"..."

Nan Xingyu pressed her lips together.

When she said nothing, Xi Jin went on, "After we graduate, I'll come south with you."

"..."

Nan Xingyu looked up at the outline of his profile, and it was as if something had been overturned in her heart.

Xi Jin had never been interested in the New Year festivities.

Besides, Jiangzhou was small to begin with, and there wasn't much to see.

Before long, the two were tangled up together in the car.

Nan Xingyu stroked the burning side of his neck, feeling his pulse beat beneath her fingers.

Her hazy gaze rested on his face, lost in passion.

Though she couldn't stand his obsessive nature,

they had always been very compatible in this respect.

Afterward,

Xi Jin took wet wipes from the car's center console and helped clean her up. "When are you going back to Jingzhou?"

Nan Xingyu still had one foot against his chest. "In previous years, it's always been after the fifteenth."

Once he was done, Xi Jin took her ankle and lowered her foot. "Not this year."

"Why not?"

"February 14."

Xi Jin looked at her. "We're getting our marriage certificate."

"..."

Why was he still thinking about that?

Nan Xingyu braced herself against the seat and sat up, looking down as she straightened her clothes. "We... didn't we agree to wait until you reached the legal age?"

"No."

Xi Jin didn't know why, but even when he was with her, he always felt uneasy. Her hypothetical question just now, especially, had sounded like a prelude to parting.

"We can get our marriage certificate abroad. You're coming with me on the tenth."

"..."

She had to find a way to keep him calm.

Nan Xingyu nestled into his arms, her tone coaxing. "Xi Jin, don't be like this, okay? We're still young. Can we talk about it in a few years?"

"No."

"..."

Nan Xingyu pushed him away. "You're being unreasonable!"

Xi Jin caught her hand. In the dim car, his eyes shone brightly.

"Nan Xingyu, I can't wait. I want to marry you."

He had a very bad feeling.

He looked at the person before him. She was as dazzling as the fireworks tonight, yet like fireworks after they bloomed, she seemed as though she might vanish at any moment.

Perhaps she had been too well-behaved lately.

It made him feel as though she were "plotting" something again.

"Don't think you can fool me. In a few years, you'll have another excuse, won't you?"

"..."

"Nan Xingyu, I won't give you the chance to fool me. You have to come with me on the tenth."

"I won't."

Nan Xingyu turned her head away.

Xi Jin's brows drew together slightly. "Believe it or not, I'll tie you up and take you with me."

Nan Xingyu turned back and met his irritated gaze. "There you go again!!"

Her chest rose and fell slightly. "You're always like this. Whenever I don't listen to you, you resort to force. How am I supposed to dare stay with someone like you?"

"So this is what you really think."

Xi Jin's voice turned completely cold, all the tenderness from their passion moments ago gone without a trace.

"Nan Xingyu, you need to be taught a lesson. If I don't get rough with you, you'll never learn to behave."

"..."

Nan Xingyu was so angry with him that she was speechless.

Only at times like this did she feel that her plan to "slip away" was the wisest choice she had made.

He would never change.

"February tenth. Have your luggage packed."

Xi Jin showed no intention of negotiating. "If you're not afraid of alarming your parents, I wouldn't advise having someone restrain them in advance."

"They're my parents! If you dare lay a hand on them, I'll fight you to the death!!"

"Try it."

Xi Jin raised his cold eyes slightly, utterly unafraid.

"Believe it or not, I'll die right in front of you!!"

"Go ahead." Xi Jin sneered. "At worst, we'll all die together."

"Bastard!!"

Unable to contain her anger, Nan Xingyu slapped him across the face.

Smack.

Xi Jin pressed his tongue against his cheek and raised his icy eyes.

"Are you going to hit me again?"

"..."

"If you're going to hit me, get it all over with now. On February tenth, I want to see you, or I'll bring people to your house."

"..."

Eyes red, Nan Xingyu pounded on his chest. "Xi Jin! You bastard! What gives you the right to force me like this?!"

Xi Jin didn't dodge, letting her vent.

Finally, annoyed by her blows, he seized her wrists and roared,

"Nan Xingyu, you're the one forcing me!!"

His other hand closed around her neck, lifting her in front of him.

"Do you know that sometimes I really want to strangle you?"

His fierce gaze bore into her.

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have all these inexplicable feelings out of nowhere. I often ask myself whether you love me, and I'm constantly watching how you treat me."

"I'm afraid you'll run away, afraid you'll fall for someone else..."

"What on earth are you?"

"Did heaven send you to torment me?"

"What did I do wrong in my past life?"

"To make every one of you come and torment me?!"

"..."

Nan Xingyu stared at his eyes as they slowly grew wet.

"Nan Xingyu, why?"

Xi Jin let go and leaned down, resting his forehead on her shoulder.

"Why do you have to torment me like this too?"

"I only want you to stay by my side. Is that wrong?"