Because I Cannot Hurt You

Xiaosi straightened up and nodded hard. "Whatever you say."

He had no wish to face the wrath of his wife.

Caihong reluctantly nodded. "Hmph."

He slowly leaned and peeked at her. "Still mad at me?"

She looked away. "I am. You shouldn't have agreed to this deal, but you did. I cannot get rid of this unnerving feeling that something bad might happen," she pursed her lips, "Sometimes, your kind heart is really a brother."

He burst into a chuckle, making her glare at him. "It's not funny!"

"It's not, but your puffed up cheeks are making me smile so much," he touched his chin, "It looks like two cute balloons that I can pop at any time."

She grimaced. "You mean to say that I am fat?"

"..."

How did it translate to that?

"Of course not! I just mean that you are cute."

"A cute fatty is what you want to say," she clenched her jaw, "You see my cheeks as two fat balloons."

He widened his eyes. "Just...how did you come to that conclusion?"

She gritted her teeth. "Zhu Xiaosi! You should have immediately disagreed, but you actually questioned me! You do think that I am fat!"

Before he could say anything in his defense, Caihong picked a pillow and threw it at him. "You are mean!"

"Hey, hey! My question was a form of disagreement!"

Her nostrils flared and she picked another pillow. Xiaosi jumped on his feet and took two huge strides back. "Calm down. Take a few deep breaths and keep the pillow down."

He was treating the pillow as if it was a bomb.

Caihong threw the pillow at him and grabbed another one at the same time. Xiaosi safely dodged the pillow.

"I don't understand these indirect forms!"

"Huh? Then what should I have said?" He was dumbfounded. In the meantime, he was running from her pillow attack.

"Of course that I am not fat!" She fumed. She was also running behind him around the room, threatening to throw the dangerous pillows at him.

"You aren't!"

"But you didn't say that!"

"I did!"

"When? Stop lying, Zhu Xiaosi!"

"I asked, 'How did you come to that conclusion?' Doesn't it mean that I was too shocked by the way you comprehended the meaning behind my compliment which means that you are actually not fat?"

"Xiaosi! 'The way I comprehended your meaning?' You mean to say that I am stupid? You mean that I lack understanding?"

"!!!"

"So on top of being fat, you are also calling me an idiot?" Caihong glared at him.

"No!" Poor Xiaosi lacked tears to shed.

The 'life-threatening' pillow attack worsened and Xiaosi now climbed on top of the bed to save himself from his furious wife.

Caihong joined him as she threw another vicious attack at him. 

"Please forgive me, my wife. I have no ill-intentions towards your weight."

"You should have thought about the consequences before hurting my feelings!"

She threw another pillow at his head and then another at his chest. The one-sided pillow fight went for a while before Xiaosi had no space left to defend himself on the bed. 

He grabbed her arms and they tumbled on the bed as she was about to throw another pillow.

They bounced on the bed and Caihong was trapped within his arms. Xiaosi grinned. "Now you are finally within my reach," then he mumbled, "Since when did this room have so many pillows?"

Since Caihong lost her only weapon of attack, she used her fingers and pinched his cheeks hard. It didn't have as much of a painful effect as she had expected.

He chuckled. "Is that your full strength?"

As he successfully riled her up, Caihong used both of her hands and pinched both of his cheeks.

"Hmm...still not very effective."

She felt extremely aggrieved. "You!"

In retaliation, she grabbed his head, brought it forward and knocked it with her forehead.

"Ow!"

She painfully rubbed her forehead as her attack backfired on herself. "How hard is your head!"

Xiaosi broke into laughter. "You...you…ahahaha!"

"Y-you are laughing…" her body trembled in rage.

"There, there. I won't laugh anymore," though he was still chuckling as he spoke. "Let me look at it."

"No need!" She turned her head away.

"Don't be stubborn. I don't want you to have a bump on your beautiful face."

Despite her protests, he made her face him as he pinched her jaw. He leaned and gently blew on her forehead and softly patted the place with his thumb. 

Caihong lifted her gaze and seeing his lips at such proximity, her heart skipped several beats. She tried to look away but in the end, her sight would always fall into his lips and she grew more and more conscious. A red tinge appeared on her cheeks as she felt his warm breath brushing on her skin. The dull pain already began to fade away.

She forced her gaze to leave the sight of his lips but then it landed on his fair neck, making her brow twitch.

T-Too close…

She blushed even harder, seeing his Adam's apple move slightly up and down.

"Is it alright now?" He asked.

He lowered his gaze and suddenly, he realized the distance between them was too close. By that time, Caihong's mind had already become a mess so she didn't quite hear his question.

Then she felt his deep gaze staring straight at her. But she didn't have the courage to look back at him. In a stupor, Xiaosi put his thumb under her jaw and forced her to lift her gaze.

They felt as if they forgot to breathe. Silence reigned in the room and the only sound they could faintly hear was of the other's racing heartbeats.

From her cheeks, she felt the heat spread to every cell of her body.

Xiaosi slowly whispered, "Your heart... I can hear it beating it very fast."

Her eyelashes trembled. "S-So is yours…"

From her jaw, his thumb traveled up to her lips that teasingly touched it. He placed her hand on his chest and said as he bridged the gap between their lips, "Right...and it's all because of you…"

Saying that, he shut his eyes as their lips finally met.