42 Meow!

I gulped as I stared at the man in front of me rigidly. A surge of awkwardness invading my heart.

And when I saw his lips curving upwards, I felt strangely uncomfortable. I retracted my hand from the fruits and scooted my body backwards reflexively.

But still, my eyes were locked on Jin Longwen.

"What?" He asked, smirking like the arrogant devil he was.

I gulped nervously and shook my head.

"Nothing," I stated indifferently, trying to keep it cool.

Constantly, I found myself avoiding his eyes but whenever he produced a small movement, my eyes would immediately glued back to him.

And soon, I heard a soft chuckle escaped from his lips. It tickled my ears and truth to be told, I had found his voice rather pleasing.

However, when I saw him lifting an eyebrow at me, that made him even more unbearable for me to look at for some reason.

Hence, I averted my eyes back to the silver tray and kept it there as if the world most delicious food was before me. It did help eased my nerves.

But it seemed I had relaxed myself too soon as Jin Longwen suddenly drew in and closed the distance between us. I was caught off-guard. My body flinched and I reflexively tried to move back again. But to my dismay, he had quickly grabbed on my wrist to prevent me from moving further.

"What are you doing?!" I had unknowingly raised my voice due to the shock.

"Holding on to you. What else?" He questioned me back as if I had asked something stupid.

"I know that. But what are you holding me for?" My eyebrows furrowed while I eyed him warily.

"Obviously so you don't run away." He snorted.

"Huh? Who's running away?"

He ended up flicking my forehead with his other hand. "Don't you know? you look like a scared little cat about to jump in any second."

I blinked my eyes a couple of times before touching my own face with my free hand.

"Do I?" I asked in disbelief.

But he didn't answer my question, instead, he yanked me back to my original position. Afterwards, he sat back on the bed with his hand still gripping mine. "Why are you avoiding me anyway?"

I immediately returned his question with another question and using the same tone as well. "Why are you staring at me anyway?"

"Don't answer my question with another question," he ordered.

I blinked my eyes innocently. "I only follow your step."

"Huh?" He tilted his head sideways. His face showed how puzzled he was.

"I have asked previously 'do I?' but you ignored it and went ahead with another question."

With that, I successfully made Jin Longwen speechless. His face appeared shocked with his eyes widening. Honestly, it was comical.

"That was a rhetorical question!" He exclaimed as if he was retrifying the truth and what he said was the fact.

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't have to answer your question then. Thank you for explaining."

Once again, Jin Longwen looked dumbstruck. He reached out and pinched his glabella. He seemed to be rather irritated and a bit...running out of patience?

"I wasn't talking about my question but yours, Ms. Huang," he said with a smile that seemed like he had just swallowed a fly. His voice was calm but I could sense the impending rage boiling behind it.

I looked at him wordlessly. I felt somehow....triggered.

I touched my chin as I thought to myself, 'Interesting. His arrogant smirk has completely gone now.'

And thus, I replied, "Well, do forgive me, Mr. Jin since you didn't specify which question."

I heard it then, his faint sigh. I was sure he was holding himself back rather harshly. He kept smiling though and spoke, "Anyone would automatically think that it was your question, Ms. Huang, since we were talking about yours beforehand."

I propped my head onto my hand and looked at him apathetically. "Have you not heard of Gricean maxim, Mr. Jin?"

And yes, that shut the man up. His lips just zipped like a zipper. 'I knew it,' I thought inwardly.

It was a basic linguistic law but not many people would notice. After all, the more basic it was, the more forgettable it would be. The earlier we learnt about it, the deeper the information was stored away. But me? I was a student, so...

"Well, let me explain it to you then, Uncle Jin." I stressed the word 'uncle' to emphasize his age and for that, I didn't miss the frown on his forehead. "One of the maxim called maxim of quantity, stated that the amount of information one shares should not be too much nor too less to avoid ambiguity and thus, breaking the cooperative principle where two parties become unable to connect with the issue being discussed in the dialogue."

I raised my head and pointed my index finger at the man. "Therefore, Uncle Jin, you have violated the maxim of quantity, thus creating a confusion. So next time, do clarify you sentence, Uncle Jin."

As soon as I finished my speech, the look on his face...black. So dark like the bottom of the ocean. I was pretty sure now he had lost control. Yet, minutes passed by and still I didn't hear an explosion. I tilted my head sideways.

He was holding back. But that face...

And then, it happened. My tongue slipped. "Priceless."

"What?" He asked. His voice sounding stern and heavy. "What's priceless?"

I raised an eyebrow. 'Is it finally?' I thought.

"Your expression," I replied, "Don't you know? you look like a mad cat ready to pounce in any second."

"..."

"Did you just deliberately copy my words?"

I nodded instantly. "I believe I did."

At this point, I didn't know why but, my heart was suddenly beating fast like a galloping horse and my left eye was twitching incessantly. Bad premonition?

I raised my eyes and gazed at the man sitting across me. His face was still dark but a smile had slowly decorated his face and I had to once again admit he looked charmingly attractive.

Like a magnet, he pulled me in. My eyes were glued on that devious yet handsome smile.

"One last question, did you deliberately annoy me?"

Somewhere deep within me, came a voice frantically warning me to lie right at this instant. Even when I was so tempted to admit, the word wouldn't come out. In the end, what escaped my lips was, "No, I didn't."

I lied. Ever so smoothly.

Yet, I saw his piercing eyes and I could feel it, my defensive line was falling. He was diving in for the truth. When his signature grin finally came out, that was when I shuddered.

"Well, that's it then."

I was dumbfounded. 'Huh? That's it?'

But, I was far too easy because the next moment, I saw the man grabbed the tray and pushed it aside. My eyes followed his movement until it stopped.

I looked up and the next thing I knew was everything had blurred and I felt my back bounced against the bed.

Hands locked. Legs secured. Eyes widened.

The cat had pounced!