Chapter 7
Lin Xiaotang stood there, staring at the figure hidden in the dim light by the door, unsure how to react. The coffee shop was so quiet after closing that she could hear her own heartbeat.
Percy didn't leave, nor did he take another step. He just stood there, as if awaiting judgment.
A faint, but unmistakable, smell of alcohol wafted through the air.
Finally, he moved. He took a slightly unsteady step forward, stepping into the warm yellow light of the shop. His cheeks were flushed an unnatural red, and his eyes, no longer as restrained as usual, were fixed on her with a kind of unfocused concentration, churning with intense pain and struggle that Lin Xiaotang couldn't understand.
"I...I'm sorry..." His voice was terribly hoarse, heavily slurred with alcohol, and his words were fragmented. "That day...I was rude...I...I don't know why I acted that way..."
He staggered two more steps forward, almost reaching her, the smell of alcohol becoming more pronounced. He struggled to find the words, looking at her pleadingly, "I...can I come again? Lin Xiaotang..."
He called her by her full name for the first time, the three words rolling out of his mumbled tongue with a burning, desperate meaning.
"I just... just wanted to come in and sit... just sit... and look around..." he repeated incoherently, like a child afraid of being abandoned, "I promise... I promise I won't bother you anymore... I won't talk to you... and I won't look at you anymore... okay?"
His voice grew softer and softer, thick with nasal tone, almost choked with sobs: "Please...please don't send me away...I'll just sit for a little while...just a little while..."
His current demeanor completely overturned all his previous indifference, restraint, and even that brief sternness. Like a large, homeless dog soaked to the bone, exposing its most vulnerable belly, humbly begging for a foothold.
All the words Lin Xiaotang had prepared, words that carried a sense of distance, stuck in her throat. Faced with a completely broken, drunken Bai Sinian, she found herself utterly unable to harden her heart.
She watched him stagger and almost lose his balance, then sighed silently and stepped aside to let him in: "...Come in."
As if he had received a pardon, a faint light shone in his muddled eyes. He carefully, almost tiptoed, walked in, as if afraid of breaking something. Then he stood somewhat helplessly in the center of the shop, not knowing where to go.
"Let's sit over there," Lin Xiaotang said, pointing to the nearest booth.
He obediently walked over, sat down stiffly, placed his hands properly on his knees, lowered his head, and stopped looking at her, as if strictly adhering to his earlier promise of "not looking and not speaking".
Lin Xiaotang turned around and went to the small kitchen at the back, made a cup of warm honey water, and brought it out, placing it on the table in front of him.
"Drinking some of this will make you feel better."
Persian looked up at the steaming cup of honey water, his eyes momentarily glazed over, as if he saw something else through the steam. He sluggishly reached out to take the cup, but his fingers trembled uncontrollably, almost knocking it over.
Lin Xiaotang instinctively held onto the cup.
The moment I touched his fingers, they were ice-cold.
He seemed burned by the brief touch, jerking his hand back, his breathing becoming rapid, and his eyes visibly reddening. The alcohol seemed to have completely broken down his defenses at that moment.
"I..." He opened his mouth, his voice broken and incoherent, "I shouldn't have come... I shouldn't have... but I couldn't help it... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
He kept repeating "I'm sorry," clearly losing control of his emotions, and his body began to tremble slightly, almost sliding off the chair.
Lin Xiaotang was completely at a loss. Looking at him like this, there was no way she could get his address and take him home. She couldn't bring herself to leave him there alone, or throw him out.
Looking at this man who was completely drunk in the middle of the night, in unbearable pain, and only able to apologize to her repeatedly, she finally made a decision that she herself felt was impulsive.
"Can you stand up?" She tried to keep her voice calm. "You've had too much to drink. Tonight... come to my place and rest for a bit."
Bai Sinian looked up blankly at her, his eyes blurred with tears, seemingly not understanding what she was saying.
Lin Xiaotang said nothing more, reached out and grabbed one of his arms, lifting him up with force. Most of his weight pressed against her, his breath, reeking of alcohol, spraying onto her neck, warm and damp.
She locked the shop door with difficulty, then, half-supporting and half-carrying the dazed man, she walked step by step towards her apartment not far away. The night was deep, and the streetlights cast long shadows of the two of them, intertwined as if entangled in some inexplicable entanglement.
Persian was practically leaning against her, muttering something unconsciously, the broken syllables dissipating in the night wind, indistinct.
Only the recurring "I'm sorry" was exceptionally clear, like a hammer, striking Lin Xiaotang's heart again and again.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
