2.45 – Cold? - Mr. and Mrs. Jelly

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Edited by Dymens

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Bing Shi put down her sandals and made herself comfortable on the couch, entirely ignoring her parent's argument. She decided to read a few pages of the legislation.

Xuan Mu took a glance at the pair of bare feet next to him, "Cold?" Grabbing the blanket by the armchair, he draped it over her icy-cold legs.

"A bit," Bing Shi slipped her feet under his bottom to keep them extra warm, "Uncomfortable?"

"..." Xuan Mu wondered about how long she would last until she got leg cramps from his weight, "A bit." Receiving a notification from his earbuds, he went back to work on his laptop.

『Bing Shi:』 I was curious about their progress and there is none. Should I interrupt?

『Xuan Mu:』Didn't they call you whenever they argued? You helped them enough, and they still didn't learn. You can't be their love counsellor forever.

『Bing Shi:』 But they changed their behaviour towards my brothers and me.

『Xuan Mu:』 If they don't want to change themselves, what can you do?

『Bing Shi:』They are my parents. I can't bring myself to give up on them.

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"Did you hear me? Speak!" Feeling frustrated, her mother shrieked at her drunk husband. 

Bing Shi wouldn't mind if her father drank with boundaries. But he was a type of alcoholic, that would get drunk fast and wouldn't stop until he'd end up in the hospital…not once, not twice but always.

When her father continued to drink in silence, her mother's anger reached her limit, "You are a failure as a father!"

"You bitch. Repeat that!" Her father erupted, raising his hand as if ready to shut the blabbering parrot with one swift move. He stopped in midair when he felt disapproving stares from around the cabin.

"Do you think I'm scared?" Her mother cried out and started to shake his shoulders, "You never apologized, not even to our daughter!"

Ignoring his wife, her father focused on the ground as he pulled out an empty promise, "Bing Shi, I apologize. I promise this is the last time." Her father smiled obliviously at the girl, expecting her to take his side. 

When his daughter continued to be immersed in her tablet without giving him a speck of respect, he raised his voice, "Did you hear me?!" In a drunken state, he shouted out words he didn't mean, "I see. You don't have trust in your father, huh? You are not my daughter anymore! Get lost, don't show yourself before me ever again!"

*Crash*

A laptop was flung out from the table towards the drunk man, scaring everybody in the room.

Xuan Mu was about to discipline her father, but two legs obscured his movements. Gritting his teeth, he sat back down, "He is lucky that he is drunk, or else, I would have kicked him out of this plane."

Without fear, her father laughed Xuan Mu off in mockery as he turned towards the bar and poured himself another glass.

Refusing to speak to a drunkard, Xuan Mu called a security guard, "Bring him to the bathroom. I want him sober."

Soon after, a burly guard brought her father into the bathroom using force.

Her mother ran in front of Bing Shi and crouched down, "Bing Shi, please don't listen to your father's words. He is drunk; he didn't know what he was doing."

Bing Shi avoided her mother's touch, keeping her distance, she hugged her tablet.

"Bing Shi, please respond," she called out to her daughter, "There must be something that is causing your father to turn to alcohol. Maybe depression? Could you ask him what is wrong? He never listens to me."

With tears pooling at the corner of her mother's eyes, she began to plead to her daughter, "Bing Shi, you know we are doing everything for you and your brothers. Even though your father is like that, he is still your blood-related father, who loves you very much. He is a hardworking man, Bing Shi; you can't hate him. I want us to be a happy family, Bing Shi, please, don't make it harder for me."

Light brown eyes shrouded by a gray veil gazed down at the begging woman, Bing Shi spoke out without a smile, but her voice sounded… eerily cheerful, "Mum, the way you said it is like you don't want me to have any negative emotions."

"Bing Shi, you know my health is not in good condition." Her mother continued with an exhausted voice. Like a broken radio, she repeated words that Bing Shi had heard so many times that she got sick of them, "Now that you have a rich boyfriend, you don't need us anymore? Don't forget, thanks to whom, do you have everything today? Without us, you would have no clothes to wear and no food to eat."

'How much did I cost you? Why don't you add my brother's prices as well?'

"Mum, I know," Bing Shi gave her mother a light pat on the shoulder, "Why don't you calm down and take a rest? Go to the restroom to clean up and I'll take care of the rest."

"Bing Shi, you are the only one who I can depend on," while coughing through her sobs, her mother stood up weakly and hurriedly walked to the toilets for a smoke.

Xuan Mu felt the pressure on his lap disappear. He leaned over her face and kissed her curved lips, "We don't have kids, but why do I feel like a father?"

Bing Shi sat up on the couch and put her tablet on the coffee table, "You are the one to say, I feel like a mother of four."

"Does it make me a father of four? How could you not talk back to them?" asked Xuan Mu while pecking her lips.

Bing Shi would occasionally respond to his kisses; she was not in the right mood, "If I acted on my emotions like my parents, it would end up in a never-ending argument and I'm not much of a drama seeker."

A reliable pair of arms hugged her body, warming her up with his hot hands, "I wanted to kill again," his violent intentions were such a contrast to the feathery light tone in his voice.

Bing Shi studied his constant change of moods, finding them bothersome yet fascinating at the same time, "I'll grow stronger, so my tears, together with my emotions, would go only for you. Because only you are worthy of them."

Her rosy red lips were pried open by his hot wet tongue. His mind and heart eagerly devoured her love. Without a stop, their bond was growing day by day.