Chapter 2
Chapter 2
I heard it. So what?
Gu Yushu set down his briefcase and came over to me. As though he were cradling a pool of clear spring water or plucking a peach blossom, he gently lifted me up.
In just a few easy movements, he carried me to the dining table and set me down.
“Look at you. You haven’t been eating properly. You’ve lost weight again.”
“I can’t help it. I’m a mushroom. What kind of mushroom binge-eats?”
I choked him off with that one. His expression darkened. “And you won’t even sleep properly in bed. Why were you crouching in the corner again?”
“I don’t know. I just feel safer in corners.”
“You…”
Before he could finish, some helpless emotion seemed to creep over his face, and the clear light in his eyes dimmed at once.
“Do whatever you want.”
With that, he took off his travel-worn coat and went alone to the bathroom to shower. Listening to the rush of water inside, I felt a little awful.
“Hey, Gu Yushu.
“Do you think I’m useless?”
After all, I was only a mushroom.
“No!”
His muffled reply came from inside.
For some reason, though he answered without hesitation, it made me feel faintly uneasy.
Soon, the sound of water stopped.
Bare-chested, Gu Yushu stepped out from behind the frosted glass door, one long leg appearing first. He wore a pair of beach shorts with the hems washed until they curled. He looked thoroughly unkempt, yet from that decadence emerged a strangely captivating air.
Profound, melancholy, and impossible to read.
Seeing him sit down on the sofa, I hurried over and burrowed against him. “Gu Yushu, you’re so warm.”
“Aren’t you a mushroom? Why do you care if it’s warm or not?”
Feeling deeply offended, I smacked him.
“None of your business.”
He smiled faintly. When he spoke, his words came slow and gentle, mild as a gentleman’s. “From now on, if someone knocks on the door, don’t answer it no matter who it is.”
“Why?”
“Aren’t you afraid some mad scientist will drag you off and dissect you?”
The moment he said that, a chill shot up from my feet. I stammered, “A-are mushroom spirits really that rare?”
“Of course. There’s only one in the entire world, and she’s in my home.”
With that, he leaned in and pressed a tender kiss to the corner of my lips.
I did not doubt that he loved me.
If he did not love me, why would he look at me with eyes so full of tenderness?
But that night, when we lay in each other’s arms, he watched me in the dark. His gaze seemed clear enough to see straight through, yet it carried layer upon layer of inscrutable mist and rain.
As if possessed, I spoke. “Gu Yushu.”
“Mm?”
“If it weren’t me, what kind of woman would you like?”
“Someone like you.”
“I don’t believe you. You must have some ideal woman in your heart… Like a girl who’s pretty, good at making money, and has a nice personality?”
What man wouldn’t like a woman like that?
Seeing me act unreasonably, clearly determined to make him give me a proper answer, Gu Yushu slowly traced a finger over my brow and eyes while speaking softly.
“Mm. I did, once.”