The Complete Guide to the Use and Care of a Personal Assistant
Translator: Jury
Editor: NomNom
First Published on Chaleuria
—
Chapter Ten
Su Yuyang’s lips moved slightly like he was trying to tell Ling Miao something, but Ling Miao couldn’t hear anything. Then Su Yuyang raised his hand and pulled Ling Miao’s head down, and Ling Miao lowered his head towards Su Yuyang. He heard Su Yuyang vaguely murmur one word.
“Sugar?” Ling Miao parroted Su Yuyang, and Su Yuyang nodded.
“What sugar?”
“Room, glucose, water.” Su Yuyang weakly named several things.
Ling Miao frowned and helped Su Yuyang up. He murmured to himself the few things Su Yuyang had mentioned and entered Su Yuyang’s room.
“Glucose?” Ling Miao glanced around the room once and noticed the glucose Su Yuyang had mentioned. Now Ling Miao understood why Su Yuyang had been so anxious to eat breakfast. Su Yuyang had low blood sugar, and his condition would easily flare up if he didn’t eat breakfast.
After drinking the glucose solution, Su Yuyang gradually came to. Ling Miao considered lecturing Su Yuyang, but remembered that he was in no position to be giving a lecture and said nothing. However, there was one thing he absolutely needed to clarify.
“Su Yuyang…” Ling Miao made a fierce expression, but then he looked at at Su Yuyang’s still-pale face and felt that his earlier tone had been too unfriendly. He paused. “Su Yuyang, you asked me to make food, but there weren’t even any ingredients, so it’s your own fault that you passed out. You can’t fire me because of this!”
“You…” Su Yuyang weakly said one word. Two seconds later, he couldn’t hold back a laugh: “Ling Miao, thank you.”
“Thank me? Don’t jump the gun. I’m not done with you! Explain, why are you making fun of me?” Ling Miao quickly resumed his fierce expression. He bared his teeth as he looked at Su Yuyang like he intended to eat him.
When his fierce demeanor entered Su Yuyang’s eyes, though, Su Yuyang interpreted it differently: Cute.
“For three years I’ve lived here, and for three years I’ve gotten takeout. But the delivery service doesn’t deliver breakfast, so for three years I haven’t eaten breakfast. Then I got low blood sugar,” Su Yuyang explained to Ling Miao.
Ling Miao gave Su Yuyang a big thumbs-up. “Karma! In those three years, if you had just looked at a recipe book, you could have learned to cook some dishes. You… tsk tsk tsk. Boss master, your fingers sure are precious.”
“When I was young I tried to learn to cook and got burned badly, so from then on I’ve been scared to go near a stove.” Su Yuyang was also frustrated that he hadn’t been able to learn to cook in the past three years. Hearing this, Ling Miao really didn’t know if he should lecture Su Yuyang for being a coward or sympathize with him.
At this point, both of them were speechless. Su Yuyang closed his eyes, his thoughts unknown. Ling Miao lowered his head and started reading a novel on his phone.
“Ling Miao, let’s go to the supermarket in a bit.” Suddenly, Su Yuyang raised a suggestion.
Ling Miao agreed: “Sure.”
Su Yuyang lay on the sofa and Ling Miao sat by his side next to his hand. If Su Yuyang raised his hand, he would be able to touch Ling Miao’s hair.
Su Yuyang’s body reacted before his brain, and by the time he realized what he was doing, his hand was already on Ling Miao’s head. Ling Miao raised his head abruptly in response, and distress flashed in his eyes as he narrowed them at Su Yuyang.
“Xiao Miao…”¹ Su Yuyang murmured, like he was addressing a lover.
Su Yuyang’s voice was hoarse, almost as if he had just cried. Ling Miao’s lips fluttered slightly; he wasn’t sure how to respond. Su Yuyang gently ruffled Ling Miao’s hair, his indulgent smile heart-stirring.
Su Yuyang’s hand moved downward along the side of Ling Miao’s face, fingertips lingering against Ling Miao’s soft skin in a caress. Sunlight shined behind Ling Miao, haloing him in a thin veil of gentle light, and making it seem like Ling Miao belonged in a celestial realm.
As Su Yuyang’s fingers touched Ling Miao’s soft lips, Ling Miao jumped roughly and stood up, batting away Su Yuyang’s hand: “Su Yuyang, you keep touching my face here and there—even if you like men, you can’t just take advantage of me! No wonder you stuck to me that day at the interview. I understand completely, now. So you really had designs on me! I’m warning you…”
Ling Miao’s thin lips opened and closed, the pale pink blinding to Su Yuyang’s eyes. Su Yuyang really was blinded, but he ignored his own dizziness. He grasped the back of Ling Miao’s head then moved his own lips forward, and the words Ling Miao had yet to say were smothered between Su Yuyang’s lips.
“Hsss—” Su Yuyang suddenly let out a pained hiss and released Ling Miao.
Su Yuyang’s eyes showed confusion, as if he, too, didn’t understand why he was doing this. “Su Yuyang, even if you are my boss, you can’t have other intentions towards me. And…”
“And?” Su Yuyang’s eyes went cold, and the chilly air they radiated could have frozen Ling Miao solid. Ling Miao’s rambling, stubborn attitude instantly softened, and he smiled as he said, “Su-ge, weren’t we going to the supermarket? When should we go?”
Su Yuyang looked at Ling Miao’s grinning face. This was markedly different from the earlier fierceness. The key point was that there had been no transition between the two. This phenomenon resembled the weather: random, like the abrupt change between a clear, sunny day and a raging thunderstorm.
[Table of Contents] | [Chaleuria is on Twitter!]
Translation notes:
[1] “Little Miao”, a common diminutive form.