Two Faced Lover - Chapter 35

35: Bathroom

Meng Xuran’s intermittent sobs echoed through the phone.

This seemed… quite troublesome.

Without further thought, Bo Mingyan hurried to the master bedroom door and politely knocked.

As soon as the first knock landed, Meng Xuran’s tearful, frustrated complaint came through both the door and the phone simultaneously: “What kind of time is this for manners?! Just get in here!”

“…” Bo Mingyan sighed obligingly, hung up, and turned the doorknob.

The master bedroom was spacious—comparable to the living room. The last time Bo Mingyan had entered was to deliver medicine, and she hadn’t looked around carefully. Now, scanning the room, she found no sign of Meng Xuran.

“Meng Xuran?” she called tentatively.

Before the words fully left her mouth, faint whimpering sounds came from the direction of the bathroom.

“Hey! I’m here!” Meng Xuran’s voice carried a distinct nasal quality.

Bo Mingyan followed the sound. Just as she reached for the bathroom door, it creaked open a crack on its own. Bo Mingyan froze. Below her, a soft “meow” sounded.

Xiao Man, an expert at door-opening, hooked its claws into the gap, widened it with a push, then slipped through like liquid shadow.

“…”

This cat was truly something else.

Pulling the door open fully, Bo Mingyan was met with a rush of steam carrying rich floral fragrance.

Her gaze followed Xiao Man’s feline strides. The shower glass door was also ajar, steam billowing out relentlessly.

By now, Xiao Man had padded across the tiled floor, leaving damp paw prints, and was nuzzling against Meng Xuran’s side. Its fluffy black tail swayed slowly, brushing against slender, pink-tinged legs.

Bo Mingyan’s long lashes lifted slightly.

Meng Xuran was half-collapsed beside the bathtub in a rather… dramatic pose—one hand clutching the rim, her posture sinuous. A loose white robe draped haphazardly over her, the collar slipping off one shoulder to reveal delicate collarbones. Raven hair cascaded in slight disarray over her shoulders.

The robe split at her thighs, exposing crossed legs—smooth, perfectly proportioned, flushed faint pink from the heat.

Black against white. A study in striking contrast.

Meng Xuran twisted her neck to look up. Tear tracks still glistened on her porcelain skin under the fluorescent light, her red-rimmed eyes swimming with pitiful tears.

The moment she saw Bo Mingyan, the floodgates opened. Pearly tears rolled from the corners of her eyes—right past that alluring beauty mark.

Steam wreathed around her, casting a hazy, tantalizing aura.

It would have been a perfectly ethereal scene… if not for the slipper stuck comically around her ankle.

Bo Mingyan tilted her head slightly.

“You’re still laughing! I’m in so much pain, come help me.” Meng Xuran said, her voice trembling with anger as she saw Bo Mingyan’s actions and the movement of her throat, knowing she was secretly laughing.

Her tone, having cried, had become even thicker.

Bo Mingyan rubbed her ears, suppressing her smile, and asked very straightforwardly, “How do I help?”

“Help me get this shoe off.” Meng Xuran lifted her foot and ordered, like a pampered young lady.

Bo Mingyan raised her eyebrows slightly and walked over slowly.

Meng Xuran had also tried to get up herself, but her slipper was stuck, and her butt hurt from the fall. Plus, she had been soaking in the bath for a little too long and couldn’t muster any strength. She started sobbing helplessly again, complaining in a pitiful voice, “It’s stuck so badly, it hurts.”

Bo Mingyan couldn’t bear to watch anymore and quickened her pace. When she got to Meng Xuran’s side, she crouched down and reached out, but didn’t make any further moves.

The pinkness had faded from the two legs in front of her, and they were so white they were almost blinding. Bo Mingyan was a little unsure of where to start.

Just as she was hesitating, Meng Xuran directly lifted her foot and put it in Bo Mingyan’s hand. She sniffled and urged, “Hurry, hurry! I think my foot is going to swell.”

Bo Mingyan sighed softly.

The slender, jade-like foot rested in Bo Mingyan’s palm, thin, delicate, and pristine white. The peach-pink nail polish made her toes look small and cute, and her ankle was slender.

But the slipper wouldn’t come off, and with just a little force, Meng Xuran would yelp. Xiao Man also started meowing along with her, and the two of them were so loud that Bo Mingyan’s head was about to explode.

Bo Mingyan put her foot down, “There’s no way to pull it off. I’ll go get scissors, this shoe is going to be ruined.”

Meng Xuran said “Oh.”

Bo Mingyan left immediately, and Meng Xuran frowned.

About two minutes later, she came back carrying a pair of slippers before taking the scissors from the cabinet. They were the pair she had bought on her last business trip, but because the shoes weren’t pretty, Meng Xuran had never worn them after returning.

Meng Xuran wanted to say that she didn’t want to wear those ugly shoes, but when Xiao Man went to rub against Bo Mingyan’s feet, her eyes involuntarily fell there too. Bo Mingyan was wearing the same pair of shoes.

Just now, Bo Mingyan hadn’t been wearing these shoes.

The words that had reached her lips were immediately swallowed back. Meng Xuran’s slender eyelashes, still wet with tears, fluttered like butterfly wings, causing ripples in her heart.

Bo Mingyan asked, “Want to cut it yourself?”

“Do you think I can cut it like this?” Meng Xuran’s heart calmed instantly. She gestured at her current half-sitting, half-lying position, “Isn’t that bullying the weak?”

As soon as she finished speaking, she felt overwhelmingly wronged, the tip of her nose turning red again.

Bo Mingyan sighed. “…Got it, weakling.”

Meng Xuran wiped her tears. “…Thank you, sister.”

The word “sister” slipped into Bo Mingyan’s ears, making her freeze for a moment.

She quickly gathered her thoughts, crouched down, and placed the slippers beside Meng Xuran’s feet. Using her fingers, she pried open the shoe’s upper, then carefully slid the scissors into the gap.

The moment the back of the scissors lightly touched the top of Meng Xuran’s foot, she hissed as if Bo Mingyan had stabbed her with the blade.

Bo Mingyan immediately stopped. “Did I poke you?”

“Not yet, but I feel like you’re about to,” Meng Xuran demanded. “Go slower, be gentler.”

Bo Mingyan felt she was already going slow and gentle enough.

Someone was just being fussy for no reason.

Still, Bo Mingyan responded with patience, “Okay.”

Soon, the slipper’s upper was cut open.

Holding the ruined slippers, Bo Mingyan asked, “Should I throw these away?”

“Mhm.” Meng Xuran nodded.

Bo Mingyan tossed the cut slippers into the trash bin near the sink outside, put away the scissors, and turned back to see Meng Xuran still sitting on the floor, rubbing her ankle. “Why are you still sitting there? Isn’t the floor cold?”

“It is, but I can’t get up.” Meng Xuran pouted. A little embarrassed, she mumbled in a tiny voice, “My butt hurts.”

Then she looked up at Bo Mingyan with eyes that screamed “weak, pitiful, and helpless.”

“Got it, I’ll help you up.” Bo Mingyan wasn’t sure how many times she had sighed by now. She really was starting to suspect she owed Meng Xuran from a past life.

Walking over, Bo Mingyan bent down and wrapped an arm around Meng Xuran’s waist.

Her slender waist was as delicate as a willow, so narrow it seemed one could encircle it with a single hand. The fragrance from her hair lingered in the air, and Bo Mingyan’s movements paused slightly as she was abruptly reminded of the dream from the night before. Her spine stiffened, her fingers unconsciously tightening before quickly relaxing again.

“Aiya, no no—” Meng Xuran hooked her arm around Bo Mingyan’s to steady herself as she stood up. Her bottom ached, her feet hurt, and she felt as though her entire body was about to fall apart. Then, Bo Mingyan pinched the soft flesh at her waist, causing Meng Xuran to instantly lose all strength, collapsing weakly into Bo Mingyan’s embrace like a boneless creature.

Sensing Bo Mingyan’s stiffness, Meng Xuran suppressed her surging emotions and tactfully put some distance between them. She adjusted her bathrobe before lifting her gaze to observe Bo Mingyan’s reaction.

Bo Mingyan’s eyes were half-lowered, her gaze peering out from beneath thick lashes, locking onto Meng Xuran’s.

The air froze for a moment.

Xiaoman let out a meow, tilting its head as it studied the two of them.

Bo Mingyan averted her eyes, her smoke-gray pupils dark as a midnight forest. Her voice carried a hoarseness she herself hadn’t noticed: “What’s wrong now?”

Though her words sounded like a question, there wasn’t a trace of impatience in her tone.

Meng Xuran licked her dry lips and said, “I fell hard. I can’t walk.”

Bo Mingyan asked, “Not even a little?”

Meng Xuran lowered her eyes to the floor, biting her lower lip with pearly teeth, as if contemplating whether she could manage.

After a moment, she declared with absolute certainty: “Mhm! Not even a little!”

Bo Mingyan: “…”

Such confidence hardly matched the claim of being unable to walk at all.

Meng Xuran blinked and said, “Why don’t you carry me out?”

Had it not been for that dream, Bo Mingyan might have agreed. But now, she didn’t want to deepen the awkwardness by staying too close. After a few seconds of consideration, Bo Mingyan said, “Hold onto the wall first. Wait for me.”

Confused but obedient, Meng Xuran complied. She watched as Bo Mingyan stepped out of the bathroom, growing slightly anxious.

Remembering how Bo Mingyan had refused to carry her last time, Meng Xuran added, “I’ve seen your athletic ability firsthand. It’s just to the sofa—such a short distance. You can’t possibly be unable to carry—me—”

Her voice trailed off, the last words fading into silence. Her eyes widened slightly as she watched Bo Mingyan wheel a rolling office chair into the bathroom.

Gritting her teeth several times, Meng Xuran barely managed to maintain her composure.

Bo Mingyan made a “please” gesture. “It’s fine if I can’t carry you.”

“…” Meng Xuran pursed her lips and extended her hand like an empress.

Seeing Meng Xuran puffing her cheeks like a pufferfish, Bo Mingyan’s lips curled into a faint smile. For some reason, her mood was inexplicably good.

She helped Meng Xuran settle into the chair and then pushed it out of the bathroom, casually asking, “What happened to you?”

Meng Xuran lowered her eyes, fiddling with the tie of her bathrobe. “I was draining the tub after my bath when you called. I rushed to grab my phone and slipped.”

Bo Mingyan raised an eyebrow. “Taking a bath at three in the afternoon?”

Meng Xuran’s fingers paused on the tie, her gaze flickering. “Does bathing have to be at a specific time? I just got that massage tub and hadn’t had the chance to use it properly. Since I had nothing else to do and was tired from yesterday’s activities, I thought I’d try it out.”

There was no need to explain in such detail. Bo Mingyan felt an indescribable sensation but didn’t respond.

After a few seconds of silence, Meng Xuran swallowed and said, “Do you want to try it too? It’s super relaxing.”

Her tone was perfectly steady, making it sound like nothing more than a sincere, generous invitation.

As she wheeled the chair to the sofa, Bo Mingyan grabbed a thin blanket and handed it to Meng Xuran to cover her legs. She happened to catch sight of Meng Xuran’s raised foot—the ankle still slightly red—and joked, “So I can end up slipping in the bathroom like you did?”

The next second, she heard Meng Xuran drawl, “Sure. I’m generous—I’d carry you out.”

Bo Mingyan: “…”