IMGH Chapter 39

Pressing Too Hard Backfires

Jiang Yi had been lying in bed for a while before he realized he hadn’t seen Qiu Rui since waking up. Thinking about the layout of the apartment, he figured Qiu Rui was probably in the living room by now. Worried that Qiu Rui might feel uncomfortable with Xiao Wenya sleeping on the sofa while he was stuck in the living room, Jiang Yi thought it over and sat up from the bed.

Xiao Wenya, who had been watching television on the sofa, heard the movement and turned her head in alarm. “You foolish boy, why are you getting out of bed? Get back in there and lie down this instant!”

Jiang Yi stepped out of the bedroom and spotted Qiu Rui standing by the floor-to-ceiling window. His expression was slightly uneasy, but when he saw Jiang Yi, the tension in his face loosened a little.

Without drawing attention to himself, Jiang Yi subtly curled a finger and gestured in Qiu Rui’s direction, signaling him to come into the bedroom.

At the same time, keeping his expression perfectly natural, he answered Xiao Wenya, “Mom, I’m just going to the bathroom!”

Xiao Wenya heard this and turned back to the television. Qiu Rui stood frozen in place, hesitating for a moment before drifting toward the bedroom. As he brushed past Jiang Yi, their eyes met briefly — and he quickly looked away, his expression unmistakably unnatural.

Jiang Yi smiled bitterly to himself. It seemed his relentless pressing had frightened Qiu Rui.

In the moment he had been lost in thought, Qiu Rui had already floated into the bedroom. Xiao Wenya stared at Jiang Yi, who was still standing motionless in the living room like a telephone pole, and asked, puzzled, “Son, didn’t you say you were going to the bathroom? Why are you still standing there?”

Jiang Yi snapped back to attention, scratched his hair, and let out an awkward laugh. “I’m going, I’m going!”

Watching the bathroom door remain shut, Xiao Wenya murmured to herself, “This kid is acting a little strange today.”

Jiang Yi returned to the bedroom and found Qiu Rui hovering half-suspended beside the small sofa at the foot of the bed, lost in a daze.

Jiang Yi quietly pulled the bedroom door shut. Qiu Rui turned around, saw what he had done, and furrowed his brow.

Jiang Yi smiled at him. “Sorry you have to put up with the small sofa tonight. Once my mom leaves tomorrow, I’ll move out to the living room.”

“This is your home to begin with — there’s no need to be so polite about it.” Qiu Rui couldn’t help feeling tense. He didn’t dare look at the man’s slightly pale face, and instead kept his gaze lowered, fixed on the golden embroidered pattern on the cushion of the chaise lounge.

Jiang Yi let out a nearly inaudible sigh. Qiu Rui’s restrained, awkward manner made him deeply uncomfortable inside. He wanted Qiu Rui to like him, and that desire made his words and actions unavoidably eager. He had originally thought that if he pressed a little harder — if the two of them spent their days and nights together — Qiu Rui would gradually develop some small fondness for him.

But just how was he supposed to make Qiu Rui like him?

The bold confidence he had once held was slowly giving way to a creeping sense of defeat with each setback — and yet that very defeat reminded Jiang Yi that he needed to try harder.

The road ahead was long, riddled with thorns, and bound to be a difficult one. But Jiang Yi hadn’t entertained even the slightest thought of giving up on this relationship.

He had to make Qiu Rui fall in love with him. Otherwise…

The bedroom was quiet and still. Without someone chattering away, the atmosphere felt heavy and oppressive. Qiu Rui raised his head and saw Jiang Yi sitting blankly at the edge of the bed, seemingly lost in thought, his expression tangled with conflict and pain. Having read people all his life, Qiu Rui could guess something of what was on his mind.

Being a trapped soul in an unfamiliar place had not thrown Qiu Rui into panic. Learning that his physical body had become a vegetable had not frightened him. And yet now, the slightest shift in Jiang Yi’s expression was enough to disturb his inner world.

Since meeting Jiang Yi, the composure and steadiness that lived deep in his bones — his ability to remain unmoved in the face of change — had been gradually worn down and crumbled away by the man’s shameless persistence and earnest confessions.

Emotions he had never felt before rose in his heart like wave upon wave, stirred up by a man who was ordinary in every conceivable way. The fact that he had been affected — that he had even begun to care about this man’s feelings — infuriated the cold and detached Qiu Rui.

He would never allow anyone to disturb his emotions, sway his thoughts, or shake the foundations of his heart.

Qiu Rui’s gaze sharpened all at once. The look he fixed on Jiang Yi was colder and more resolute than anything he had ever shown before.