Chapter 222 - 4.48

Xu Jiaqi sighed, ruffling the man's tidy hair and making it into a mess. 

"I'm just drawing out a theory from my daily, very casual observation after being with you and seeing you stick with me doing nothing all day." Xu Jiaqi pinched his right ear. "You're not even hiding your distaste of going out and doing work now. Just because of me.. Well, I'm not going to lie and say that I don't feel honored, but you shouldn't be doing that. You're the esteemed President Tang, after all."

"Ao.. I can do everything from home, with you by my side. Why would I purposely go out and rot in my office?" Tang Yizhou turned his head away, as if he was a little child who was denied his play time.

In actuality, for Tang Yizhou, he really was reduced to nothing more than a lost child who held onto Xu Jiaqi solely based on the fact that she was his savior, and he also loved her to the point of no return. To the mature, stoic Tang Yizhou, Xu Jiaqi was a presence that could break all the pretenses and defences he put up to shield his heart away.

"What about the interactions in the company? Are you just not going to do meetings anymore? Tang Yizhou, I'm telling you, if you don't get your records straight, I'm not going to agree to spending my whole life with you."

Tang Yizhou's eyes widened, and he immediately switched to being docile, shaking his head from left to right furiously and indicating his extreme refusal to her idea. "I'll do it. I'll go to the company every single day.. Wait, no. I'll.. go there more."

What a silly attitude. He was the owner of a gigantic corporation, but he acted like this with her. It was near comical.

"So?" Xu Jiaqi huffed, smiling as she pulled his hand into hers, fiddling with the ring box. "Are you not going to help me put on the ring?"

Although she asked him all this, she did plan to accept his proposal because it was around the right timing as well. Tang Yizhou had shown himself to be nothing short of exceptional from start to finish, and she couldn't find a single side of him that caused her to be dissatisfied.

He was purely enamored with her everything.

Tang Yizhou's sense returned to his head, as his nervous hands fumbled around with the box, taking the precious jewelry out and looking at it with eyes full of love.

"I directed the production of this ring. Everything was chosen by me.. With the image of you in my head for every single choice. I even participated in some of the crafting, but I didn't want to ruin the intricacy of the piece due to my lack of skills." Tang Yizhou spoke. "Even so, I still had a massive contribution to it.. Do you like it? My present."

"I like it. It's really pretty.. and meaningful, at that. I would love for you to explain every single detail of your thoughts."

It really was cute. She didn't think that he would be capable of doing things to such a romantic degree. But as always, he surpassed her initial thoughts of him and stepped into a whole new level of dedication just for her sake.

"But.. Do you not have a ring for yourself? Or am I supposed to be the one who gets you the other pair?" Xu Jiaqi asked.

"I.. didn't make one for myself because.." Tang Yizhou hesitated. "Well, if you had rejected me, then I would've given you this ring no matter what. It's my feelings compressed into one piece of jewelry, but as for my case.. I planned for us to go on a date and have you create my ring. That's not a bad idea, is it?"

"Of course not. It's a fantastic idea. I love it!" Xu Jiaqi stretched out her hand and let Tang Yizhou gently slide in the ring to the finger.

Inside her mind, she was silently laughing. In a good way, of course. This man was so torn between being confident and completely not confident at the same time. He was prepared for every single scenario of rejection, was scared of it, but still decided to continue and take his chances.

It was adorable.

"Dear.." Tang Yizhou looked straight into Xu Jiaqi's pair of clear eyes, gazing with glee at the ring that was now fitted on Xu Jiaqi's finger. "We're.. what, engaged, now?"

"Yes, silly." Xu Jiaqi poked him on his forehead. "What else could we be? Two roommates who is going to exchange rings for friendship?" She joked.

"..No." Tang Yizhou smiled. "It just feels so unreal. I met you by coincidence thanks to Yixiu, and then everything just spiralled out of control. I don't even know the first thing that caught my eye from your entire persona.. I just knew that you were the one."

"Cheesy as always, President Tang." Xu Jiaqi stole the ring box away, examining the pair of gifts she received with a keen eye. She saw that there was actually a small compartment inside the ring box that could be taken out, and would reveal another object below it.

When she took it out, she saw that there was a key placed snugly on the bottom of the box.

"And just where might this key lead to..?" Xu Jiaqi grabbed the key an turned to look at Tang Yizhou, who just pursed his lips.

"A house. Do you.. still remember back when we first entered this suite? I've been thinking about moving to a new house where we could really settle in for good. I made it exactly in line with your likes, from the information I've collected during the time we've been together. I know that.. you might not feel assured just yet, being engaged to someone like me in less than a year after meeting, but I want you to know that I'm serious. Through and through. About you.. I love you from the deepest parts of my heart." Tang Yizhou confessed.

"I don't know if you feel the same way, if you think that I'm being too hasty or unrealistic.. I know that it must be hard for you to trust me. I know that. But like I've said time and time again in the past, I do think that you are the perfect choice for me. My soulmate. My one and only." Tang Yizhou spouted all of these words without batting a single eye, keeping a serious expression.

Xu Jiaqi, on the other hand, held the key that would lead to their new home as she carefully thought inside her heart.

"Qiqi.. I'm saying all of this, but please remember that I will always respect your choice. I came into this relationship fully knowing that I'm the one needing you, and not the opposite. If I still hadn't managed to change your mind after all this time, then that's on me and not you." Tang Yizhou chuckled. "Don't put up such a heavy face, it hurts me when I think that you might force yourself to do something that you don't like because I'm burdening you."

"..In these times, you're really eloquent." Xu Jiaqi sighed, and took her purse, inserting the key into one of the slits.

Tang Yizhou didn't say anything.

"I'm only not with you in one thing. Do you know what it is, or do I need to spell it out for you?" Xu Jiaqi questioned.

"I.. don't know, to be honest. Care to tell me more, dear?" Tang Yizhou asked, his heart thumping a bit faster with each second, careful as to hear Xu Jiaqi's words with his full attention.

"You're totally ignoring your own likes. Your focused on my preferences, but I'm not the only one in this relationship, am I? Your tastes can't be the exact same as mine.. But you're forcing yourself to live to my tastes just to satisfy me. Tell me, is that not the most pitiful thing ever?"

"No..! I can bear it if it's for you. I can bear anything."

"That's not the point, hm? I'm saying that.. You should incorporate your own wishes more. I don't want you to just go along with everything that I say, follow my preferences blindly, and don't consider your own point at all. I want this relationship to work, and I don't want us to not be equals. I might not love you as much as you do for me, but I'll make sure that you're treated just as good. That, I can promise without fail."

Tang Yizhou was stunned by her words. Turns out, she didn't like this kind of thing out of everything else. "Y..es." He answered out of reflex, but his mind was still trying to process her words. 

"Come. Take me to the new house, I need to see just what you prepared, what you think I like." Xu Jiaqi smiled widely, getting up from her position as she beckoned for him to follow her.

Tang Yizhou was still dumbfounded, but he quickly followed suit and attached himself to her, slithering his arm around Xu Jiaqi's waist and walking with her by his side.

"Yes, love." Tang Yizhou left a small peck on Xu Jiaqi's face as they walked out of their suite and went to drive to their new location, the key hidden inside Xu Jiaqi's bag nicely.

A sign of acceptance that might or might not bloom to a bigger matter in the future.