While he was in a trance, Jiang Xiaobai waved her fair and delicate hands at him. When Xiao Su came back to his senses, he coughed. “I guess I’ll just help you this one time—just this one time.”
“No problem!” Jiang Xiaobai nodded her head hard. “Once is good enough! Let’s go!” As she finished, she proceeded to reach for Xiao Su’s arm as she stood up. Xiao Su’s eyebrows shot up as he saw what she did. “Miss Ghostwriter, even though I’ve agreed to help, you—” As he paused intentionally, his gaze fell on Jiang Xiaobai’s hand. She looked in the same direction and understood what he was trying to say.
However, not only did she not let go of Xiao Su’s arm, she proceeded to lock it in her arm while looking innocent. “Are you trying to keep a distance from me? But, Mr. Xiao, when we meet my mother later, you’ll be my boyfriend, so we have to look more intimate. Hence, we should start practicing now.”
Xiao Su was rendered speechless. Looking serious, he questioned, “I think I’ve just regretted my decision. Can I go back on my word?”
When Jiang Xiaobai heard that, she quickly put both of her hands around his arm tightly. “Too late!”
Her nervous look amused Xiao Su and almost made him chuckle. In the end, he decided to hold it in and let out a sigh. “Even if we are to practice, let’s wait for a little.”
“No. We don’t have much time left, and you’ve never met my mother before so you have no idea what she’s like. So… I suggest we start getting to know each other now.”
Xiao Su squinted. “Getting to know each other?”
“Yep!” Following that, Jiang Xiaobai, like an investigator, bombarded Xiao Su with questions about every single person in his family before telling him everything about her family. Xiao Su was bewildered and just let Jiang Xiaobai take control. After they were done, Jiang Xiaobai added, “Oh right, we need to come up with pet names.”
“Pet names?” Xiao Su was startled. This woman and her crazy thoughts… I really shouldn’t have agreed to this.
“Exactly!” Placing her hands under her cheeks, Jiang Xiaobai seemed to be pondering about something. At this point, Xiao Su decided to ignore her and made himself a cup of coffee.
“I got it! What about I call you Susu?”
“Pfft—” Xiao Su immediately spat out the coffee in his mouth before he could swallow it.
Looking disappointed, Jiang Xiaobai avoided the spit and tilted her head. “No? What about… Su Bear?”
“Cough—” Xiao Su began to cough while wiping off the coffee residues on his mouth with his palm. He then looked up at Jiang Xiaobai who had an innocent look on her face. “Not that as well? Perhaps… let’s not have any nicknames. What about just dear? Honey? Sweetheart? Sweetie?”
As she went on and on, Xiao Su began to look annoyed. “Don’t you think that this would only make us look more suspicious than we already are?” Interrupting her, Xiao Su could no longer bring himself to hear another one of those disgusting nicknames.
Eh? What’s wrong with this? Perhaps Jiang Xiaobai had written far too many scripts, so she felt that lovers should have pet names for each other, all the while neglecting what a normal couple should look like. After hearing what Xiao Su said, she began to feel that those nicknames were inappropriate. “What do you suggest then?”
“We’ll just go by our names,” Xiao Su responded blandly.
“Just our names? So… will I call you Xiao Su while you call me Jiang Xiaobai?” Jiang Xiaobai curled her lips with disapproval and mumbled, “Something feels off about this. Perhaps—”
“Let’s just do our names.” Xiao Su firmly interrupted her, after deciding that he could not let her go on like this any longer. He then instantly changed gears. “How long have you been out here? Are we doing this boyfriend thing today?”
As he finished, Jiang Xiaobai’s phone began to ring. She looked at her phone and her mouth twitched. “Well, looky there! My mom’s calling me now.” She then answered the phone. “Yes, mommy dearest?”
Hearing her flattering voice, Mrs. Jiang began to sound serious and stern. “Enough of that. Didn’t you say you were going to bring your boyfriend home? Where are you now? You’ve been out for so long. Did you try to get away with this again?”
“I’m not going anywhere. I’ll be home soon, so don’t worry. I’ve just found him and we’re heading home in just a moment.”
“Found?” Mrs. Jiang’s skeptical voice came from the other end of the phone. “Xiaobai, did you hire a boyfriend? Or did you ask your friend to put on a show for you? You better not do any of those; otherwise… I’ll make sure to expose you.”
Jiang Xiaobai shivered, but insisted on letting out a dry laugh. “Are you kidding me? Why would I ever go and find a fake boyfriend to show you? I might as well go on a blind date.”
“Hmph. Don’t you play any tricks with me, young lady. You’re my daughter, and I know what you’re up to.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll be home soon. I need to go now.” After hanging up the phone, Jiang Xiaobai helplessly exhaled a breath and turned to Xiao Su. “I’ve told you how difficult my mother is, haven’t I? She’s too smart, so we need to stand together.”
Even though Xiao Su was driving, he could not help but overhear the conversation between Jiang Xiaobai and her mother. He followed up, “How do you want to do that?”
“When she’s around, we have to look close and intimate,” Jiang Xiaobai replied.
Xiao Su frowned at her idea. At this moment, they had arrived at a red light. As Xiao Su stopped the car, Jiang Xiaobai saw his frown and whispered, “Come on; no matter how intimate we’ll look, we’re faking it anyway. You’ll feel better if you think that way. Anyway, don’t resist when I hold your hand later. If my mother finds out that we’re a fraud, I don’t know what she would do.” As Jiang Xiaobai finished, she gave him a pitiful look—like a kitten begging for food. “Would you be able to do that, please?”
Xiao Su remained silent and looked at her while pursing his lips. Then, Jiang Xiaobai acted coy with him by pulling his sleeve and gently shaking it. It was hard for Xiao Su to believe what he just saw her do to him, and so he squinted. Jiang Xiaobai was usually in no mood to act coy, but she was perfectly capable of doing it. As a writer who was able to handle all the different characters, it all boiled down to whether or not she put her heart to it. It was just that acting cute was not part of her nature, so she had to put in some effort before she could do it.
“Say something! Do you remember when you were completely wasted at the hotel and the guy at the bar wanted to throw you out, but I was the one who unwaveringly took you home? You held my hand and slept through the night—that was even more intimate than this!”
