Boss, Please Go Easy On Me (GL) - Chapter 22
An Yao was momentarily stunned but didn’t show much reaction, casually opening her mouth to say, “Maybe…”
Maybe…
As the office door closed, Yan Xiaomi’s heart felt as if it had been hit. An Yao knew Li Wei Sa liked her, but matters of the heart were beyond anyone’s control. She couldn’t reciprocate Li Wei Sa’s feelings, so was it the case that in addition to friendship, she also felt guilt towards Li Wei Sa? Was that why even though she didn’t want to attend the birthday party, or the previous class reunion, she still accepted her invitation?
In fact, this was perhaps a kind of cruelty. Loving An Yao was like loving a lonely, isolated island. Yan Xiaomi suddenly felt very sad.
After work, she slipped away early by herself. On the road, she kept staring at her phone. She knew An Yao wouldn’t call her to ask why she left so early, but she still couldn’t help staring at her phone. She still cared a little bit whether An Yao would notice her. She was probably really obsessed; falling for someone could make you neurotic.
Yan Xiaomi didn’t go back to her own place but hailed a cab and traveled a long distance to find Tong Xi. Paying the fare made her heart ache. The moment she saw Tong Xi, she couldn’t help but pounce on her, “Xi… I’m in a bad mood.”
“Ouch~ My old waist.” Tong Xi, who was tackled to the ground, stared at the ceiling with her hair in a bird’s nest and her eyes glazed over, one hand braced on her waist, grimacing and crying out.
“Dead weight, get off me.” Tong Xi pushed Yan Xiaomi, who then simply lay on the floor, staring at the ceiling, silent and spacing out.
“What’s wrong?” Tong Xi stood up and kicked her hand with her foot, “Did your crush fail, or did you just break up?”
“Game over before it even started.” Yan Xiaomi felt quite depressed. What kind of situation was this? It didn’t feel like a crush, yet why was there this feeling of heartbreak from a failed crush?
“Isn’t this kind of thing pretty common?” Tong Xi, wearing a camisole nightgown, wandered between the kitchen and the refrigerator, “The number of boys you had crushes on in university almost rivaled the whole second class. Haven’t you gotten used to this feeling of a failed crush yet?”
“There were only three boys in the second class, alright?” Yan Xiaomi felt choked up hearing her bring up old memories.
“Are you really not going to get up?” Tong Xi took a bottle of iced juice and poured herself some, “That floor hasn’t been mopped for several months. Are you really comfortable lying there?”
“What?” Yan Xiaomi shot up, turning over to pat her clothes, “Not mopped for months? How do you live with such a terrible life?”
Yan Xiaomi looked around, originally wanting to find a spot to criticize Tong Xi as a way to vent, but after looking around, she froze. Was this Tong Xi’s house? It was so clean and tidy! Even the floor she had just lain on was clean and bright.
“The cleaning lady you hired is good. She made your house so clean.”
“She’s great, right? And she’s free.” Tong Xi smiled happily, truly wondering what expression that “cleaning lady” would have if she knew. She was a little expectant.
“Free? That good?” Yan Xiaomi clearly didn’t believe her. Tong Xi handed her the juice and changed the subject, asking, “What exactly happened today? You actually drove all this way to find me.”
“Actually, it’s nothing much, no illness or pain,” Yan Xiaomi sighed softly, “I just feel a little heavy-hearted and wanted to find someone to talk to.”
“This is what people often call ‘He who does not think far ahead will soon have worries,’ and also ‘Worrying about imaginary troubles.’ ” Tong Xi pinched her chin and looked from side to side, “But looking at you, you don’t seem like the type to worry about imaginary troubles and global affairs. You are more like someone who worries about trivial things. And based on analysis and judgment, your current worry is related to your work, thus related to your boss. Your boss either treats you badly…”
“Wait a minute, no…” Yan Xiaomi tried to interrupt, but failed.
“Or makes things difficult for you by giving you the runaround…” Tong Xi continued, deep in thought.
“You stop for a second…”
“Or, even more, he wants to sexually harass you,” Tong Xi said excitedly, as if she had discovered a shocking secret, then touched her chin and frowned, “Wait, isn’t your boss a woman?”
“What on earth are you talking about?” Yan Xiaomi was speechless. She forgot that this person was a cartoonist, and once her imagination was unleashed, it couldn’t be stopped.
“Your boss is a woman, right?” Tong Xi confirmed again. Yan Xiaomi nodded in silence.
“I knew it.” Tong Xi snapped her fingers, an air of triumphant mischief on her face, as if she was about to reveal a great mystery. She leaned close to Yan Xiaomi and said word by word, “Your boss must like women. That is to say, your boss is a lesbian! Hahahahahaha.”
Tong Xi suddenly threw her head back and laughed, praising her own absurd imagination.
“You, how did you know?” Yan Xiaomi looked at her in astonishment. Tong Xi stopped laughing and patted her on the shoulder, “I was just making it up.”
But seeing Yan Xiaomi’s expression, it seemed to be true. She immediately unleashed her imagination again, conjuring up various scenarios of Yan Xiaomi being oppressed by her domineering boss, begging for affection under her body every night. She looked at Yan Xiaomi with a panicked expression and asked worriedly, “Xiaomi, you haven’t been ‘done’ by your boss, have you? Did she drug you, or did she just force you?”
Remembering the woman she met last time, who was quite good-looking, but Yan Xiaomi seemed very afraid of her, Tong Xi imagined a scene where Yan Xiaomi was forcibly taken. Tong Xi’s expression was too exaggerated, and Yan Xiaomi really couldn’t bear to watch. She slapped her on the head, “What nonsense are you thinking? None of those things you’re imagining happened.”
Tong Xi tilted her head, her bird’s nest hair tilting with it, and said woodenly, “You haven’t been done anything to, so why are you upset?”
Yan Xiaomi turned her head back to face herself and sighed softly. Before she could speak, the Queen of Imagination immediately added, “Could it be that you’re unhappy because your boss hasn’t done anything to you?”
Yan Xiaomi was truly defeated by her. She let her say everything. What could she say? After staring at Tong Xi for a while in silence, she raised her hand, “You talk, you talk.”
“I’m not in a bad mood because nothing happened to me. I’m not crazy, thinking about those things all day. I’m just…” Yan Xiaomi suddenly didn’t know what to say next. Should she say she was just wondering if she had fallen for a woman?
If she said that, Tong Xi would probably spit water all over her and kill her.
“Xi…” Yan Xiaomi called her, thought for a moment, and made a surprising switch in conversation, asking, “Can you kiss me?”
Tong Xi smiled and planted a kiss on her cheek without hesitation. Yan Xiaomi felt absolutely nothing and asked Tong Xi, “How did you feel when you kissed me?”
“The same as kissing my teddy bear, or my pillow. What’s wrong?” Tong Xi suddenly realized something and excitedly grabbed Yan Xiaomi’s hand, asking, “Did your boss kiss you?!”
Yan Xiaomi felt that Tong Xi’s intelligence must be on fire today, managing to hit the nail on the head every time.
“She really kissed you?!”
Yan Xiaomi couldn’t understand why Tong Xi was so excited.
“Do you have to be this excited when you see me being bullied?”
“I, I, I’ve never seen a real lesbian in my life,” Tong Xi was so excited she was almost incoherent, “You don’t know, whenever I try to draw comics with lesbian themes, I can never find that feeling.”
Yan Xiaomi really didn’t know why a straight person would constantly think about lesbians. “So, you’ve been kissing me as a test subject all this time?”
“That just shows you’re not a good test subject. I kissed you, and you didn’t feel anything. It’s not romantic at all.” Tong Xi suddenly pushed Yan Xiaomi and asked excitedly, “Quick, quick, describe how you felt when she kissed you?”
“What feeling?” Yan Xiaomi was speechless at her question. How was she supposed to describe it? “I can’t help you with this. If you really want to know, go find a woman and kiss her. You’ll know once you kiss her.”
Tong Xi was about to pounce on Yan Xiaomi without a word. Luckily, Yan Xiaomi was quick and stopped her aggression in time, “Stop being crazy. Isn’t kissing me eight hundred times enough?”
“The previous ones were just on the cheek. They don’t count, don’t count.”
Tong Xi was held back by Yan Xiaomi gripping her shoulders but still desperately tried to lean toward her. Just as she was about to kiss Yan Xiaomi, the door suddenly opened.
A man stood at the door, looking at their strange posture—one above and one below. Tong Xi stopped and stood up, looking at the man, “Why are you here?”
“I was worried you hadn’t eaten, so I came to check. I didn’t know you had a friend over. Sorry to bother you.”
The man naturally put his key into his bag, changed his shoes, came in, opened the refrigerator, and put things inside. He didn’t seem sorry at all.
“It’s fine. She’s my best friend, Yan Xiaomi.” Tong Xi pointed to the man and introduced casually, “My editor, Shen He.”
“Mr. Shen, hello.” Yan Xiaomi smiled and nodded. Shen He turned, looked at her, smiled, and nodded. He was very gentlemanly. Yan Xiaomi thought he was great and couldn’t help pulling Tong Xi aside to whisper, “Hey, does he have a crush on you?”
Unexpectedly, Tong Xi turned her head, looked at Shen He, and asked with a smile, “Hey, Editor Shen, my best friend is asking if you have a crush on me?”
Shen He smiled. As he closed the refrigerator and entered the kitchen, he replied, “Your best friend has a good eye.”
Tong Xi scrambled to stand up and followed him into the kitchen, “What do you mean? What nonsense are you telling my best friend?”
Yan Xiaomi figured they were likely a destined couple of enemies. Tong Xi had a very masculine temper, while Mr. Shen was composed yet humorous.
Seeing her best friend about to become someone else’s girlfriend, Yan Xiaomi felt that her last sanctuary was about to disappear. Sadness, deep sadness.
Going downstairs, she heard Tong Xi shouting at her from upstairs, even with a hint of cursing. Yan Xiaomi felt like crying and laughing at the same time. Soon, Tong Xi caught up, grabbing her, “What are you doing? Leaving all of a sudden and not answering when I call. What do you want!”
After Tong Xi finished yelling, Yan Xiaomi’s eyes turned red.
“What’s wrong?” Tong Xi quickly hugged her, “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was just anxious for a moment. You know I have a bad temper. I didn’t mean to snap at you.”
“I know,” Yan Xiaomi wiped her tears, “I just feel bad and want to cry.”
When she didn’t have a crush, she was heartless, feeling that the collapse of the sky was Mount Everest’s problem and had nothing to do with her.
After having a crush, she became much more sensitive. Things that weren’t an issue became one once she thought about them. Thinking that Tong Xi would never hang out with her again once she got a boyfriend, Yan Xiaomi felt lonely and isolated. Eating alone, shopping alone, watching movies alone, watching others flaunt their affection—so miserable, so miserable.
“Cry, cry. Once you’ve cried enough, let’s go back and eat.”
Yan Xiaomi stopped crying and went back to Tong Xi’s house, feeling awkward, afraid of running into Shen He. Strangely, he wasn’t there. There was a note on the table.
—All the vegetables are cut. Just follow the recipe to stir-fry.
“Did Shen He go back?” Yan Xiaomi asked Tong Xi, who was busy in the kitchen. She replied from inside, “He lives on the floor below me.”
“Huh?” Yan Xiaomi walked over and leaned in the doorway, asking, “Then he saw me crying downstairs just now?”
“Now you know to be embarrassed, huh?”
Tong Xi chuckled.
Yan Xiaomi took a deep breath. It was nothing, anyway. It wasn’t the first time she had embarrassed herself. She remembered the day of An Yao’s birthday when she fell face-first into the cream in front of everyone—that was truly embarrassing.
Thinking of An Yao, Yan Xiaomi felt a bit down again. She took out her phone and checked. Nothing. Still quite disappointed. But that was right. She and An Yao weren’t as close as she and Tong Xi. An Yao wouldn’t care so much whether she left or not, unlike Tong Xi.
Yan Xiaomi suddenly thought that if she were really going to like a woman, she should like Tong Xi. Their feelings had been close for so many years; they wouldn’t need any adjustment to be together. But why didn’t she feel any blushing or heart acceleration when she saw Tong Xi? Was it because they were too familiar?
Her phone chimed with a text message. Yan Xiaomi opened it and saw it was from An Yao. Her heart instantly quickened, and her face flushed rapidly. It was over. She was definitely turning gay.
—I want to go see the night view of the Minglan River. Want to come with me?