Chapter 4
“What did you call me?”
Ji Liang’an tilted his head to listen.
“Brother Liang’an…?”
After we married, I’d stopped calling him Brother Liang’an.
It was always “husband” instead. Ji Liang’an would blush, right to the tips of his ears.
I loved watching him blush.
So I teased him over and over.
He looked so proper most of the time, yet at certain moments he would pin me beneath him and make me call him husband again and again.
Even after the divorce, I’d kept calling him that just to tease him.
More than once, he’d reminded me, “We’re divorced. Calling me that now will give people the wrong idea.”
“So what?”
I asked him, “Is there a girl you want to pursue?”
He shook his head. Smiling, I pinched his cheek. “Me neither.”
“I’m used to it. I can’t change. You’ll have to get used to it too.”
But now I knew he had a girl he wanted to pursue. Calling him that was obviously inappropriate.
Shouldn’t he be pleased that I was being so considerate?
Why did he look
angry?
Men were so hard to figure out.
I lay down. “Brother Liang’an, I’m tired. You can go.”
Then I shut my eyes.
A long time passed. I thought he’d left.
I opened my eyes.
And jumped.
He was still in the doorway. He hadn’t moved an inch.
“Wh-what is it?”
Ji Liang’an looked at me.
His expression darkened.
“Baihe, is there nothing you want to say to me?”
“No.”
I thought a moment, then added, “Keep it down. The walls aren’t soundproof.”
He seemed not to understand. “You don’t want me to help you fall asleep anymore?”
“No need.”
How could I dare?
For the money, I’d endure it!
“And a good-night kiss?”
“You don’t want that either?”
“Huh? Did I hear that wrong?”
“The male lead actually offered to help her fall asleep?”
“Am I the only one who ships them?”
“Yes. Just you.”
“Can the comments stop ruining the mood? He only loves the female lead. Get out!”
“But this expired ship is so sweet! Does anyone get me?”
It wasn’t just the comments. I was stunned too.
Yes.
When we’d first married, I’d told him I was scared and couldn’t sleep, and asked him to soothe me to sleep.
I’d guessed he wouldn’t agree.
So at first, I’d only asked him to read me a bedtime story.
Sure enough, he refused.
I seized the opportunity to cry, clutching his collar so he couldn’t leave.
“What married couple sleeps apart? Ji Liang’an, are you impotent?”
Looking helpless, he freed himself from my grasp. “You’re too young.”
“Young or not, I’m someone’s wife!”
“You can’t marry me and then leave me all alone in bed!”
He sighed, but obediently lay down beside my pillow. I handed him a romance novel about a couple who married before falling in love and asked him to read me a bedtime story.
He reluctantly agreed.
Only, he selectively skipped every moment when the hero fell for the heroine. Listening to his lowered voice, I gradually felt safe enough to fall asleep.
Before I drifted off, I pulled him down.
“One kiss.”
“A good-night kiss.”
He froze, too nervous to move, so with my eyes shut, I kissed him wherever I happened to land.
Like opening a mystery box.
Sometimes it was soft. I knew I’d found his lips.
Sometimes it wasn’t as soft. That meant his cheek.
Funniest of all was the hard one. I opened my eyes and realized I’d bumped into the bridge of his nose.
But after the divorce, he wouldn’t let me kiss him anymore.
Even when I called him in the middle of the night asking for a bedtime story,
he’d put on a stern face and make himself perfectly clear.
“This is the last bedtime story I’m reading you.”
“Baihe, we’re divorced. You need to learn to get yourself to sleep.”