Awkward Chapter 96

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The two were passionately kissing in the alley when suddenly, one of their stomachs growled.

Chen Mo ignored it, continuing to kiss Ye Mu’s soft lips.

Ye Mu knew he was hungry and gently pushed his shoulder. “Let’s head to the market. It’s time to prepare dinner.”

Chen Mo was reluctant to let go, stealing a few more quick kisses. “You cooking?”

Ye Mu helped straighten the creases in his collar. “Yes. What would you like?”

Chen Mo didn’t have any particular preference and simply said, “Anything you’re good at is fine. Last time, the pickled fish and sticky rice cakes were great.”

Ye Mu frowned slightly, hesitated a bit, but then agreed, “Sure, but I’m missing some ingredients, so the taste might be a bit off.”

Chen Mo didn’t mind. Seeing the ring on Ye Mu’s finger sparkle made him feel content, and he said a rare sweet  comment, “As long as it’s made by you, it’s fine.”

Ye Mu gave him a sidelong glance. “Let’s go. We’ll check if there’s any fish on the south side.”

With that, he stepped out of the alley and turned left.

Chen Mo caught up, walking beside him. As they walked silently, he suddenly reached out and held Ye Mu’s hand.

The action was more awkward, clumsy, and yet full of excitement than before, but it was sincere, with no more reservations or hesitations.

The warmth of their touch was reassuring, calming in an indescribable way.

Ye Mu didn’t say anything, but his thin lips curled slightly, revealing a faint smile.

The flickering neon lights at night cast a gentle glow on his fair, delicate face, giving it a unique softness.

Chen Mo turned to look at him, his dark eyes shining like stars, and he spoke in a low, gentle voice.

Ye Mu didn’t catch it and casually asked, “What did you say?”

Chen Mo’s lips twitched slightly, his profile sharp and handsome. “If you didn’t hear it, then forget it.”

What I said was that I love you.

Ye Mu glanced at him, noticing his overly sentimental expression, and couldn’t help but retort, “Are you out of your mind?”

Chen Mo half-closed his eyes, tilting his head slightly, “Can you stop being so sharp-tongued? You’re ruining the mood.”

Ye Mu closed his eyes briefly, “I can’t help it when I’m with someone like you.”

Chen Mo’s mood soured a bit, “What do you mean, ‘someone like me’?”

Ye Mu’s expression remained unchanged, “Are you really asking for a list of your flaws?”

Chen Mo tightened his grip on Ye Mu’s pinky, pressing down hard, “Do you know what it means to quit while you’re ahead?”

Ye Mu’s face remained indifferent, “Let go, or I’ll take off this ring and throw it in the river.”

The muscles on Chen Mo’s face visibly stiffened, and after hesitating for a moment, he loosened his grip slightly, “I was just joking. Don’t take it seriously.”

Ye Mu let out a cold laugh, “Really? It didn’t seem like a joke. By the way, don’t you think you’re a bit narrow-minded?”

Chen Mo’s expression darkened, “I don’t think so. People used to say I had the patience of a saint.”

Ye Mu couldn’t help but smile sarcastically, “Then they were definitely lying. You’re the most petty man I’ve ever met.”

Chen Mo’s voice dropped to a dangerously low tone, “Do you want me to sue you for defamation?”

Ye Mu was unfazed, “Go ahead, before we register our marriage.”

Chen Mo’s eyes deepened, “Is that a threat?”

Ye Mu shrugged casually, “Take it as you will.”

Chen Mo didn’t back down, continuing to stare him down.

The two continued their bickering as they walked, their figures gradually disappearing into the horizon of the street, merging with the deepening night.

The journey, filled with little quarrels, took up quite a bit of time. By the time they had finished grocery shopping and returned home to cook, it was nearly 7:30 PM.

The fragrant rice and the colorful dishes on the table were enough to whet anyone’s appetite.

But Chen Mo, still brooding over their earlier spat, barely touched his chopsticks.

Ye Mu glanced at him indifferently, then kicked him under the table. “Not hungry?”

Chen Mo’s face remained expressionless, his tone tinged with indifference. “Hungry, but who can eat when the cook’s so petty?”

Ye Mu’s lips twitched slightly, “Can you stop being so dramatic?”

Chen Mo, his tone haughty and infuriating, replied, “Tch, I just can’t help it. I’m emotionally scarred now. What are you going to do about it?”

Ye Mu stared at him in silence for two seconds, then unexpectedly gave in, “Fine, I take back what I said. Now eat before the food gets cold.”

Chen Mo wasn’t satisfied with that, though. He pushed further, “Is that all?”

Ye Mu, realizing he had no other choice, patiently said, “Okay, I’m sorry, alright?”

Chen Mo, always one to take advantage, pressed on, “Apology accepted, but I still feel a bit uncomfortable. Maybe if someone were to… you know, give me a little something afterward, it might make me feel better.”

Ye Mu glared at him, his temper rising, “Get lost. Not a chance.”

Chen Mo let out a cold laugh, “Why not? I’ve done it for you so many times. Can’t you return the favor just once?”

Ye Mu pursed his lips, frowning, “Can you stop bringing that up?”

Chen Mo suddenly lost his appetite, feeling a bit dejected, and just stared at him without saying anything.

The two of them remained at an impasse, silently challenging each other’s patience.

After about five or six minutes, Ye Mu finally raised his hand, rubbing his temples in defeat. “Fine, I get it. But I’m not very skilled, so don’t start complaining afterward.”

Chen Mo, his mood shifting quickly, couldn’t help but smile slightly. “Don’t worry, I won’t. Just thinking about the feeling of your mouth makes me almost shoot it out already.”

Ye Mu shook his head helplessly and pushed the dish towards him. “You’re such a d*mn scoundrel.”

Chen Mo lowered his head and silenced his relentless mouth with a domineering kiss.

Ye Mu instinctively wanted to pull away, his neck retracting slightly.

Chen Mo held the back of his head firmly, his tongue exploring every corner of Ye Mu’s mouth, drawing out a kiss that was both passionate and sensual.

Ye Mu’s breathing grew heavier, and he rasped, “Let’s eat first.”

Chen Mo pressed against him suggestively, leaning close to his ear to whisper something provocative.

Ye Mu, unable to control his rising emotions, snapped angrily, “D*mn it, Chen Mo, don’t push your luck!”

Chen Mo bit his ear and laughed, his hand roaming restlessly. “Give it a try, I promise you’ll be flying high.”

Ye Mu swallowed hard, feeling his control slipping, when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get the door,” he said, quickly walking past Chen Mo.

Chen Mo, still unsatisfied, gave him a playful pinch on the butt, his eyes filled with unrestrained desire.

Ignoring him, Ye Mu walked to the door, his face flushed.

Since there was no peephole, he simply asked, “Who is it?”

After a few seconds of silence, a cold, stern voice came from outside, as chilling as a towering iceberg on a dark sea. “It’s me.”

Ye Mu froze for a moment, his hand stiffening on the doorknob. After a brief hesitation, he opened the door.

The night was deep and heavy. Yan Chen stood quietly in the darkness, holding a paper bag, his long, narrow phoenix eyes cold and deep like an endless abyss, exuding a silent pressure.

Ye Mu stared at him for a while, not saying a word.

Yan Chen lowered his gaze, his eyes briefly pausing on the lingering moisture at the corner of Ye Mu’s lips, his brow furrowing deeply.

Realizing this, Ye Mu wiped his lips. In the dim light, the silver ring on his middle finger stood out prominently.

Yan Chen remained silent, his heart suddenly pierced with pain, his eyes becoming lifeless.

Ye Mu stood there for a long time before finally speaking, “What do you want?”

Yan Chen’s expression was indifferent, his voice cold but commanding. “Aren’t you going to invite me in?”

His aura was chilling and intimidating, but Ye Mu didn’t back down. His gaze was distant as he replied, “Whatever you have to say, say it here.”

Yan Chen smiled, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “After eight years together, do you really have to be so heartless?”

Ye Mu’s face was expressionless. “When you kicked me out of that villa, you didn’t care about our past either.”

Yan Chen’s figure was shadowed in the bleak night, his tone dark, “So, you’re still holding a grudge?”

Ye Mu lowered his head, his bangs covering his eyes as he spoke with detachment. “I have no right to hold a grudge. I brought all of this on myself.”

Yan Chen looked at him, his eyes filled with sorrow. “Do you regret it?”

Ye Mu closed his eyes. When he opened them again, there was only calm. “Yes, I regret it.” He regretted everything—wasting so much time and emotion, doing things that violated his morals, harming both the Ye family and himself, and even indirectly causing the rift between him and Chen Mo.

Yan Chen’s eyes were deep as the night sky. “I regret it too. If I had known how much I would care about you, I would have treated you well from the first day we met. There wouldn’t have been any hurt or hesitation.”

Ye Mu looked at him with a distant gaze, his eyes filled with rejection. “Saying this now only makes me feel sick.”

Yan Chen’s eyes dimmed, and he was silent for a moment as he caught the familiar scent of food wafting from inside. “Are you still making pickled fish and glutinous rice cakes?”

Ye Mu’s tone was emotionless. “He wanted them, so I made them.”

Even though time had wiped away many things, some memories couldn’t be erased.

Like these two dishes—because Yan Chen loved them, Ye Mu had spent half a year perfecting their recipes. But out of ten times, seven or eight of them had ended up in the trash.

Yan Chen’s eyes were as dark as the abyss. He swallowed hard and said with difficulty, “You used to make them only for me.”

Ye Mu lowered his eyes. “That was in the past. Eight years have erased too many things. What we had is long gone. If there’s anything left, I’ve chosen to forget it.”

Yan Chen forced a smile and pulled a bottle of alcohol from the paper bag he was holding. His voice was low and slow. “What about this alcohol? Do you remember it?”

This alcohol represented one of their warmest memories. Ye Mu loved alcohol, so he had brewed it by hand for him. The sweet, fragrant liquid had given their relationship its first and purest stirrings.

Ye Mu’s eyes were cold. “I remember. It’s one of the foolish things I used to do.”

Yan Chen’s gaze was filled with an inextinguishable sadness. “You don’t have to be so hard on yourself.”

Ye Mu glanced at the bottle of alcohol, feeling a wave of impatience. Without thinking, he grabbed it and smashed it to the ground. “That’s enough, Yan Chen. I don’t know what you’re still hoping for, but I gave up on you a long time ago.”

The sound of breaking glass filled the air, mingling with the smell of alcohol. There was no emotion on Ye Mu’s face other than deep disgust, as if the past had tainted his life.

Yan Chen’s face was desolate. He stood there silently, his eyes gradually filling with bloodshot lines as he stared at Ye Mu. “Am I really that unbearable to you?”

Ye Mu looked at him with deep rejection in his eyes. After a long silence, he clenched his fists and finally spoke, “It has nothing to do with you.”

Yan Chen’s dark lashes lowered, casting a shadow over his eyes. “Then who does it have to do with?”

Ye Mu bit his lip hard, his eyes filled with an indescribable bitterness. “I’m just disgusted with myself.”

Yan Chen said nothing, just looked at him.

Ye Mu lowered his gaze, his voice hoarse and trembling slightly as he struggled with himself for nearly half an hour before finally speaking. “Do you know, Yan Chen, that after almost nine years, we were a mistake from the very beginning.”

The cold night was oppressive as he stood there, his words slow and deliberate. “A mistake?”

Ye Mu looked at him with bitterness and despair. “Do you know why I clung to you so desperately back then?”

Yan Chen’s lips moved slightly, his voice low. “You said you loved me.”

Ye Mu laughed, filled with self-mockery. “No. Back then, I clung to you like a madman. No matter how you humiliated or insulted me, I never gave up, all because of a fleeting moment of infatuation at a bar.”

Yan Chen squinted, as if trying to recall. “When did you see me at a bar?”

Ye Mu swallowed the bitterness in his throat. “Yes, when did you ever go to a bar? For so many years, I foolishly believed I had won, that I had you. But in the end, I realized I had made the same mistake as you.”

Yan Chen was puzzled. “What do you mean?”

Ye Mu’s smile was sharp. “Do you remember the time you framed me and sent me to prison? After you took those documents, I was at a loss. All I could do was dig into your past. Maybe it was fate playing a cruel joke on me, but I found nothing useful. Instead, I discovered that on the night nine years ago, when I thought I met you at a bar, you were actually abroad on a business trip for your father.”

Yan Chen’s eyes wavered with an inexplicable fear. “So what?”

Ye Mu’s lips were pale. “So it means that the person I met at the bar that night wasn’t you.”

Yan Chen’s throat tightened. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

Ye Mu’s lips were bloodless. “No, it means everything. I was a fool, an obsessive idiot who thought I had you, that I owned you. But in the end, it was all just a lie.”

Ye Mu lowered his gaze, his voice tinged with bitterness. Though he spoke softly, his words carried a firm certainty: “I never truly fell in love with you, Yan Chen.”

Yan Chen was momentarily stunned. When their eyes met, it felt as though something inside him shattered. After a long pause, he asked hoarsely, “What are you even saying?”

Ye Mu’s eyes were filled with deep exhaustion and despair. He lowered his head into the shadows and said quietly, “Haven’t you understood yet? You and I were just a misunderstanding.”

Everything—every single thing—was just a misunderstanding. I feel nothing for you now; only deep regret and unresolved turmoil remain. If I could choose again, I’d rather have never met you.

Yan Chen suddenly felt a stinging sensation in his eyes and let out a bitter laugh. “Ye Mu…”

At that moment, he could hardly say anything else; just calling Ye Mu’s name was painful, as though his throat were burning. The truth, like a sharp knife, had cut through all illusions and delivered the most brutal blow. It turned out everything was just a disgraceful joke; they never even began, let alone was anything more.

Under the bleak night sky, the man’s figure appeared frail and desolate, engulfed in an overwhelming sense of despair.

“Just go.”

Ye Mu’s eyes were heavy with fatigue. After saying that, he quietly closed his eyes and gently shut the door.

Once again, the night grew silent.

Who was crying? Who shed those bitter tears? It no longer mattered.