Chapter 100 Awkward Aftermath
"Aren't I better than all those other men you mentioned?" Jingwei asked, his hands still wrapped around her waist, fingers idly stroking her back to help her calm down. If he put his hand on her chest, he was sure he would be able to feel the rapid beating of her heart.
Xue Ning did look a bit overwhelmed by his kiss, and it was a huge boost to his ego.
"It was… fine," Xue Ning said, trying to sound calm and unaffected, but she was more breathless than expected, as though she did something more intense than just mere kissing.
Her mind was still whirling at the kiss.
She could only meet Jingwei's eyes for a split second before looking away, feeling too embarrassed over what had occurred earlier, and her own reactions to him.
What was wrong with her? It was just a kiss! Why was her heart still beating so quickly?
Maybe this time, she was the one undergoing an allergic reaction. That seemed like a more likely explanation compared to the one where she was so weak to Sun Jingwei's kisses she caved like one of the multiple notches on his bedpost.
She refused to be lumped in with the many other women he kissed! Best to pretend to be (mostly) unaffected, so that Jingwei wouldn't get a big head and believe he was truly God's gift to women.
"Just fine?" Jingwei asked, smiling down at her indulgently. This was a golden opportunity for him to tease her - he couldn't waste it! He wanted to see her face flush in embarrassment and possibly her lips curled into a subconscious pout.
Her eyes had darted away from his own, but they unknowingly focused on his lips. Jingwei purposely swiped his own lips with his tongue, just to see her reaction.
Xue Ning's cheek's bloomed red as she spotted his tongue. The tongue that was just in her mouth less than a minute ago!
Bingo. Jingwei smirked to himself; Xue Ning definitely thought the kiss was better than a mere 'just fine.' Now, he just had to make her admit it.
"My darling wife, it's not good to lie," he chided mischievously.
"Who said I was lying?" Xue Ning retorted instinctively, accidentally meeting his eyes again. "I guess you were alright. I mean. I've had better."
"Oh?" Jingwei asked warningly, but his eyes glinted with amusement. He squared his shoulders and stepped forward, staring down at her with his full height. "Is that so?"
"Of course!" Xue Ning insisted, and she took a step back.
"Uh huh, then tell me more," Jingwei said, taking another step forward. Suddenly, he seemed less like the puppy-ish man Xue Ning thought she knew, and more like a hungry lion toying with his meal.
"Tell you what." She muttered, taking another step back.
"Let me know how I can improve, yes? Constructive feedback is always good to have," Jingwei said, his tone cheerful as he stepped towards her. Xue Ning choked as she registered his words.
"Do you want a report card or something?" Xue Ning complained, stepping back. She needed to buy enough time to think of a way to resolve this situation without revealing her lie or making Sun Jingwei's head grow any bigger.
(His real head anyway, the one below his waist was a lost cause. She refused to look at it, but her eyes drifted and it was certainly… eye-catching.)
She was now living with him, and he would be insufferable if he found out he could kiss his way out of any problems. Unfortunately, having him so close to her was wreaking havoc on her higher faculties. Most of her brain could only focus on wanting to pull him down for a second kiss, and that wasn't going to solve problems.
"If you're going to give me one, I'll welcome it." He drawled out, once again stepping closer. "After all, I want to make my wife happy."
Xue Ning took a step back, only for her back to hit the wall. Jingwei's hand shot out immediately, she blinked as her head touched his warm palm instead of the wall.
Oh. He had held out his hand behind her head to cushion it from bumping against the wall.
Even when he was teasing her, he never stopped looking out for her.
Now he sent butterflies fluttering through her stomach for an entirely different reason.
"Careful Xue Ning," he murmured, "don't want you to hit your head." He said as he stroked her hair adoringly.
He was still looking at her with amusement. He hadn't stopped staring at her since they kissed - every time Xue Ning took a quick glance at his face, she found his eyes already on her.
Was she really that interesting to look at? It cannot be that she was such a spectacular kisser that Sun Jingwei wanted to commit her to memory. She had kissed one other person - and that kiss, as well as the aftermath, was such a horrible experience that she wanted to scrub it from her memory!
As such, she had no actual kissing experience. When she recalled the kiss, she realised that it was mostly Jingwei taking the lead and doing most of the work. She was so inexperienced and he must have been able to tell, that's why he's teasing her now, asking about report cards and how to improve.
God. That was embarrassing. She hid her face in her hands and tried not to scream too obviously.
"Xue Ning? Are you feeling alright?" Jingwei asked, less teasing and now with more concern.
"I'm fine," Xue Ning muttered into her hands. "Stop making fun of me, you insufferable man!"
"How am I making fun of you?" Jingwei asked in confusion.
"I know I'm bad at it! You don't have to rub it in!" She exclaimed, shoving him aside to curl up on the sofa. If only she could sink into the soft cushions and never emerge. That would be great.
"When did I say you were bad at it?" Jingwei protested, following her to the sofa so he could curl up with her. His boner was still at attention, which made walking a bit awkward, but Xue Ning seemed to be panicking for some reason.
What kind of husband would he be if he left her worried or anxious? He had never seen her like this - so far she was always calm and self-assured, confident in her own abilities. How could a kiss do this?
"I don't have any constructive feedback for you! I'm not making report cards for your fucking kisses!" Xue Ning blurted out, her face red with embarrassment.
"That's alright, I already knew from your body's reactions that you loved having my lips on yours," Jingwei pointed out. "I've already gotten all the feedback I need."
Xue Ning let out a dismayed whine.
"Sure! Your kissing is great! Which makes it worse that I was so bad at it!"
She then screamed into one of the cushions, wondering if it were possible for one to suffocate themselves with them. This was why she never bothered with acts of intimacy! The secondhand embarrassment she felt for herself after it was over was going to kill her.
She should have just stuck to punching people. That was something she could do in her sleep.
"Huh? Are you joking?" Now Jingwei was staring at her as though she was speaking Greek. "But you're not bad at it. At all. Besides, didn't you say you had lots of experience? Kissing lots of men?"
His tone coloured with jealousy when he thought about it, then he felt upset on her behalf. Did all those men tell Xue Ning she was a bad kisser? Was that why she was so unconfident? When he finds out who they were, he's going to have them run over by a car!
There was a mumble behind the cushion.
"Eh? Xue Ning, I can't hear you from behind it." Jingwei said, easily snatching it away to reveal her red face.
It was adorable and he wanted to kiss her again.
"I said: I lied. There was no 'lots of experience' with 'lots of men'," she muttered bitterly, her head hanging low. "There was only one man, and…it was not good."
"Oh," was Jingwei's highly intelligent response. "So I only need to run over one man?" Good. Then he only needed to use one car.
"What?" Xue Ning looked up. "No? There's no need to run him over. Stop being possessive over my first kisses, idiot. You didn't even know me then."
"I beg to differ, my darling wife," Jingwei said, "and I wasn't being possessive over your first kisses."
Xue Ning gave him a disbelieving look.
"Well, not exactly," he corrected hastily. He still wanted to wipe the floor with the mystery guy, but he had more reasons.
"I was more upset over the fact someone got to kiss you and did such a bad job at it, that you thought that it was your fault!"