Chen Linyun did not know what to do. 'She's giving me the cold shoulder. How long will it last? We have to resolve it tonight.'

"Jinxu." She did not respond. 'Probably she didn't hear. It's the earphones.'

"Jinxu." He asked again, this time rubbing his index finger on her forearm.

She looked at him, stared at him. "What?"

Chen Linyun pursed his lips. "About what happened earlier…"

Xue Jinxu raised her hand, index finger pointing up, signaling him to keep quiet. "Let me sort out my emotions first. We'll talk later."

'Is that a good thing? She's keeping it in all this time. She might just erupt later. Or, she's trying to dissipate it slowly…"

'One thing's for sure, she's affected, just like previously. It's my fault. I wasn't careful enough.'

'Jinxu, dear, talk to me please.'

He was there at the living room standing while watching her as she lied listlessly on the couch.

Chen Linyun exhaled and paced across the room. He could not get calm. This whole waiting was unnerving.

*Ding* *Ding*

The doorbell disturbed the silence. Xue Jinxu stood up from the couch and answered the door.

She came back with two large boxes of donuts.

She delivered one box to their bedroom. She went to the kitchen, and fetched a bottle of red wine and a wine gla.s.s. Afterwards, she locked herself in the bedroom.

She sent a WeChat message to Chen Linyun. "I want to be alone. Don't disturb me. We'll talk in the morning."

Chen Linyun saw her message and grew more tensed. He wanted to knock on their bedrooom's door, and convince her to talk, yet he didn't. He respected her request.

'Where will I sleep, then?' Chen Linyun eyed the empty guest room. No one had been using it since Xue Guangxi left.

He replied to her WeChat. Their conversation was…

Xue Jinxu : "I want to be alone. Don't disturb me. We'll talk in the morning."

Chen Linyun : "Okay. Where will I sleep, dear?"

Xue Jinxu : "Here. I'll unlock the door later. Just, let me be alone for now."

Xue Jinxu : "I left one box of donuts on the table. That's your share."

Chen Linyun : "Sorry Jinxu. You must be feeling awful. Just letting you know, my conscience is clear."

After a long while, Chen Linyun was notified of another WeChat message.

Xue Jinxu : "I know."

He slowly exhaled the breath he did not know he was holding. Xue Jinxu seemed to understand, however, her emotions had been dictating otherwise.

At the other side of the door, inside the bedroom, the sight was unpleasant. The lady was sitting on the floor, while silently eating her donuts and weeping at the same time.

*Sniff* *Sniff*

Just when she had sobered up, she sighed deeply, then another wave of sobbing came by her.

In her mind, one particular scene was kept playing on loop: Chen Linyun actively grabbing that lady's wrist. She saw it herself. It simply wouldn't stop playing in her head.

One box of donuts had twelve pieces in them. Xue Jinxu was nearly finished with one box. Only two pieces left, and one of them already on her hand, ready to be devoured by her any moment.

She unlocked the door and went out after finis.h.i.+ng her donuts. It was already around eleven in the evening.

Chen Linyun went on vigil outside the bedroom door. He was pulling his hair out of vexation. When she came out, his heart broke even more at the sight of her. Her cheeks were messy with sugar and cream from the donuts, some of her locks escaped her messy bun, and there was an evident vertical trail of tears down her eyes.

"Jinxu. Jinxu, you shouldn't be crying over that." He wrapped her tightly in an embrace while trying to clean up her cheeks with her thumb.

"I only came out to get more donuts. Are there more left from your share? Mine's all finished." She said, staring blankly at s.p.a.ce.

"It's all yours. Jinxu, it pains me to see you like this. But darling, this is uncalled for." Chen Linyun said.

Jinxu turned her head on his direction. "Uncalled for?" Her voice was clear as day, and a little bit eerie. Suddenly the ambiance became so similar to a horror movie. Suddenly Xue Jinxu appeared possessed. Even if her head only slightly turned towards him, it's as if it could turn at full 360 degrees, just like in horror movies.

Two words from Xue Jinxu were enough to send chills and gooseb.u.mps to Chen Linyun. He stepped back several steps from her.

"Darling. Jinxu, dear." Chen Linyun did not know what to do.

Xue Jinxu dragged herself slowly towards the dining table where the unopened box of a dozen donuts was located. She sat on a chair while opening it. Then started nibbling at one. Her tears soon started flowing again.

"Does the donut make you cry?" Chen Linyun asked such a stupid question just to break the awkward silence.

She glared at him in return. "What do you think?"

"Okay, let's talk about it. I'm ready." She said. "Explain everything. I will listen." She wiped her cheeks roughly, some tissue in her spare hand.

"My boss is… that lady's father…" He started. "She was there to visit her father. She went to the director's office in the afternoon."

"It was raining, she didn't have an umbrella, as was I. So we were waiting for the rain to subside at the building's foyer, with other employees."

"She tried to strike a conversation with me, which I very slightly indulge, only answering politely. Just a few words in response, sometimes even one word. Believe me!" Chen Linyun was desperate to get to her.

"Your hand, why are you holding her hand?" Xue Jinxu interrogated.

"No, I wasn't." At that the wife glared even more at him. "I really wasn't. I was perspiring, and she somehow wanted to offer her handkerchief to me, offered to… wipe my forehead with it." He said slowly, like a child confessing his sins to his parents.

"But, I grabbed her wrist just in time, and rejected it." He added swiftly.

Xue Jinxu's hands were both clutched so hard. The pitiful donut in one of her hands suffered tremendously. It was nothing but squished messy donut. Her mouth was twitching from contempt.

"Calm down, Jinxu." Chen Linyun who was seated across her stood up, and clasped her clenched hands. He was trying to free the pitiful donut from her one hand and to soothe the other with his touch. He was trying to calm her nerves.

"Which hand? Don't touch me." Xue Jinxu said calmly, but she was extremely extremely scary. She closed her eyes and took several breaths.

"Right hand." Chen Linyun said.

"Wash your hands thoroughly, repeatedly. One hundred times!" She gave Chen Linyun's penitence. "The nerve of that girl! Crossing my bottomline!"

"Can you leave that place? I don't like it." Xue Jinxu was ranting non-stop now. "I don't like you going there."

"But, Jinxu, I just entered recently. Give me a month to wrap things up and do our objective."

"Do it in a week." Xue Jinxu set the deadline. "Your business is doing well, isn't it?"

"Avoid the girl at all costs, Chen Linyun!" She said, almost begging. Her eyes nearing tears again.

"I'm already doing that. This won't happen again. I'm sorry Jinxu."

He went towards her and hugged her while repeatedly apologizing.

Thus, like the doting husband that he was, he was prepared to leave the ministry in a week at the wife's bidding.

'I can make the necessary connections in a week. I don't have to be there. The director won't let me do it myself, my way anyway.'

"Will we see that lady at Aunty's birthday?" She asked that same question again. They had talked about it before.

"Most probably. Darling, I'm begging you, don't make a scene alright?"

Xue Jinxu did not answer.