Side Story 3 - Xiao Zhuangzhuang and Xiao Tiantian’s Wonderful Days (3) - The End
Rebirth of a Fashionista: This Life Is Soo Last Season
"What did you just call me?"
"Sweit, isn't that your name?" I tilted my head and stared at him with a baffled look. I wasn’t allowed to call him Xiao Tiantian, so if I didn't call him Xiao Tiantian, I had to call him Sweit. What's wrong with that?
His expression changed. I looked at him and realized that I didn’t have the energy to guess his thoughts. I'd better wash up and go to bed. I was very tired because I had been running around to many places in the past few days.
"Shen Yang," he called out to me from behind.
I turned to look at him and gave him a questioning look. What's the matter?
"Do you really…like Norbert?" He was a bit hesitant when he asked the question, but he still stared me straight in the eyes.
"Radish Bun said that he will pamper the person he likes,and that he wouldn’t fight against her, but I just want to hit him," I scratched my head and added, "I don’t think that counts as like, right?"
Sweit seemed relieved and relaxed after hearing my response.
"Ah!" I suddenly exclaimed and looked at him. "You hit me too. So, you actually don't really like me."
“…”
Seeing that he had nothing to say, I went back to my room.
After I finished showering, I was just about to dry my hair when I heard someone knocking on my door.
"Sweit?" When I opened the door and saw him, I tilted my head and asked, "What's up?"
He appeared to be at a loss. "You…you can continue to call me that."
I was even more perplexed than he was.
He pursed his lips and uttered two words with much difficulty, "Xiao Tiantian."
"That won’t do. You said it yourself. If I call you that again, then I don't need to look for you anymore. Although you don't like me, I still want to see you sometimes." For example, after seeing many eyesores, I especially want to see him in order to cleanse my eyes.
His face twitched. "I don't dislike you."
"Oh." I looked at him. He changed his mind all the time, so I didn't bother to guess whether his words were true or false.
I was so sleepy that I yawned. I turned and walked back in and said, "Sweit, please help me tell my parents that I'm not eating dinner anymore. I'm going to get a good night's sleep. Remember to close the door for me, thank you."
I was about to jump on my bed when my hand was grabbed. I turned my head and saw Sweit standing behind me.
"Are you sleeping when your hair isn’t even dry yet?" His expression dimmed a little.
I shook my head and the droplets of water from my short hair fell on his face. His expression turned a few shades darker, so I hurriedly said, "Sorry, I didn't mean to."
"Are you really going to act so estranged from me now?" he asked with clenched teeth.
"What are you talking about? I just want to sleep." I pushed him away and threw myself directly on the bed. I hugged my pillow and went to sleep.
I was so tired that I fell asleep within a few seconds. Before I fell asleep, I sensed someone wiping my hair with a towel.
When I woke up the next day, I was surprised to find that Sweit was still at my place.
"Aren't you busy? Don't you have business to discuss?"
He looked at me deeply and said, "That day…"
"Which day are you referring to?"
"Shen Yang, are you doing this on purpose?" He ground his teeth.
I was confused.
"In short, I will only explain this to you once. What you saw that day at the clubhouse was just an act. I drove you away because the man you saw was a ruthless man who liked to use illegal means to grasp onto other people's weaknesses and achieve his goals."
"Oh," I answered casually.
"How come you aren’t asking me anything now?"
I looked up at him silently. In this world, the most difficult thing to comprehend was his thoughts. Previously, he condemned me for asking too many questions, and now he was saying that I was asking too few questions. What on earth did he want?
"Shen Yang!" He seemed to be dissatisfied with my silence, and he shouted with a gloomy expression.
I looked up at him.
"You're not planning to talk to me?"
"It’s not like that."
"Then, you don’t have anything you want to say after hearing my explanation?"
I thought about it seriously and shook my head. This was just who I am. I never bothered with matters of the past. Besides, how could an awesome person like me be someone else's weakness? So what he said had nothing to do with me.
Sweit left with a darkened expression.
I didn't ask him to stay either. In any case, he could do whatever he wants. I can’t possibly control him, so I might as well not talk about it. If I were to say anything and got rejected later, it would only make me feel bad.
I spent the whole day watching dramas at home, and when it was time for dinner, I ate. After eating and resting for a while, I washed up and went to sleep.
While I was drifting off to dreamland, I heard a knock at the door.
I squinted and got up to open the door. My eyelids were heavy due to sleepiness and I didn’t open them. I only asked, "What's the matter?"
Then, one hand pressed on my shoulder and pushed me into the room. I was turned around and pressed up against the wall, and I could smell a faint trace of alcohol.
I instantly sobered up and asked, "Sweit, you haven’t left yet?"
"You want me to leave so badly? Didn’t you say that you want me to be your sparring partner? Now that you have another practice partner, you’re not looking for me anymore?"
"Ah?" I stared at him with a puzzled look on my face.
"Say something. What do you want from me?" His fist came flying, and it landed next to my ear.
"Shouldn't I ask you that? Before, I wanted to box with you, but you were unhappy. And now, you are unhappy because I didn't ask you to be my sparring partner? How come you are even more fickle than a woman? I’m really unable to make sense of your thoughts."
You even got drunk and came here to act crazy in the middle of the night, hmph!
I extended my hand and pushed him. "Leave, I'm going to bed." However, he didn’t move.
"Shen Yang, you were born to be with me," he clenched his teeth. "Tell me honestly, do you still like me?"
"Sweit?" I looked at him in surprise.
"Don't call me Sweit!" He forgot his manners and roared in a low voice.
"Gudile…" Before I could finish saying his last name, he closed in and bit my lips. When I opened my mouth in pain and wanted to cry out in surprise, he stuck the tip of his tongue in…
My eyes widened and my scalp felt numb.
Only after a long while had passed did he let me go.
"I… You… " I spoke a little incoherently. I didn't know what to say. "Umm, isn't this something that only couples do?"
"In the eyes of others, we were always meant to be together."
"But you don't like me. Why should we care about what other people think? If we don't like each other, we don't have to force ourselves."
"Who said that I don't like you? If I don't like you, would I come back to see you in the middle of the night? If I don't like you, would I kiss you?"
I blinked. "Then, do you also like that big-boobed girl you hugged the other day?"
"I'll repeat myself again, I was just playing along according to the circumstances."
"Hmph, when one puts on an act, they have to act the entire set and I’ve seen many of those. You'd better not kiss me. I don't like to touch things that have been touched by others. I feel like I'm sharing my underwear with others," I pouted.
"…"
He was half-angry and half-smiling when he admitted, "I haven't kissed anyone but you."
"I don't know which of your words are true. You tell me not to call you Xiao Tiantian, and then you say that I can call you Xiao Tiantian."
"Call me that a few more times."
"What?" I froze.
He then continued, "Ever since I found out what Xiao Tiantian meant, I hated this name bitterly. I’m a man, yet my nickname is Xiao Tiantian. It's so disgusting. But even after you were beaten by me, you still liked to call me that. At that time, I found you quite hateful for calling me that all the time, but afterwards, I often thought of you. Then, I had to go for my assessment, and I struggled while thinking of you, year after year. Finally, I passed the assessment, and I rushed back to see you."
"I dislike the nickname, but I don't hate it when you’re the one calling me that. I just… When I saw that you didn't like me as much as I thought, I was very unhappy. I initially thought that I would feel a lot better if you didn’t call me by that disgusting name, but when you really changed the way you addressed me, this place here…" He paused and held my hand against his heart.
"It hurts."
"You said that when you stopped calling me Xiao Tiantian, it means that you don’t like me anymore."
"I realized that no matter how disgusting my nickname was, it was nothing compared to you not liking me. I put up with this disgusting nickname for more than 20 years, and I can put up with this nickname for my whole life, but I can't stand losing you for even a moment."
I looked at him and said, "It's just a nickname. There's no need to describe it as something you have to put up with. If I change the way I address you, then you won't have to put up with it anymore."
"Why can't you understand? I want you, and I want you to continue to like me."
I was very confused. Since he hated this nickname so much, then I could just change and call him by his name. Why did he get more agitated instead? Every time I called him Xiao Tiantian in the past, he was very unhappy, and he even beat me over it when he was young. He just said that the nickname was disgusting, and since he didn’t like it, then all the more I shouldn’t call him that. I should just call him by his name.
"It must be because you are drunk. Go back to your room and have a rest. If you have anything to say, we'll talk about it tomorrow." I felt that it was necessary to have a good chat with him when he sobered up. Otherwise, I would become more confused by his words.
"Shen Yang!" he shouted at me angrily, "It's just calling me Xiao Tiantian, yet you can’t even utter those words?"
"Tomorrow, I'll call you that tomorrow." I firmly believed that he was drunk. Otherwise, why would he ask me to call him by the nickname he detested the most?
I resolutely pushed him out of the door and bade him farewell, "Good night!"
Then, I closed the door and locked it.
Despite the constant knocking at the door, I went back to bed and fell asleep.
The next day, when I saw him, I greeted, "Good morning, Sweit."
His slightly smiling face instantly darkened.
"Did you turn a deaf ear to what I said last night?"
I blinked innocently and said, "No, I remember everything."
"Then why do you still call me that?"
"Isn't your name Sweit? If I don't call you Sweit, what do I call you?"
He gritted his teeth. "Call me Xiao Tiantian!"
Everyone in the room turned to look at him.
"But you said that if I called you Xiao Tiantian, then I shouldn’t look for you again."
"I take my words back."
"How can you do that? The words that you have said are like spilled water. You can’t get it back. Besides, you really don't have to force yourself. I already know that you don't like your nickname."
He stared at me with a helpless look, as if there was nothing he could do about me.
For many years after that, I also proved to him that I wasn’t a fickle person. If I said that I wouldn’t call him by his nickname, then I wouldn’t. Moreover, I would never force him to put up with the nickname that he detested O(∩_∩)O.
So, Sweit Gudilesi’s last words included this one sentence:
Dear, please call me Xiao Tiantian.
--THE END--