Born to Pair - Decoding the Irrational Behavior of Lovers

Author: Lin Cuifen / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: Jessica felt like she was about to lose her mind. Her boyfriend, Xu Cheng, always made things mysterious and then intentionally or unintentionally dropped a few suspicious clues, luring her to uncover the truth. A common scene of mystery often played out was that Xu Cheng would often sit staring blankly, lost in thought. When Jessica, concerned, asked, "What are you thinking? Did something happen?" Xu Cheng would evade with vague answers, "Nothing, I'm not thinking about anything." Seeing Xu Cheng's hesitant demeanor, Jessica wanted to dig deeper: "You're lying, I feel like you've been acting strange lately." But no matter how much Jessica pressed, Xu Cheng had only one standard answer: "You're overthinking." Every time she heard this, it felt like someone spat in her face, making Jessica sick with anger: "I'm not overthinking, it's you who's acting weird." Sometimes, when pushed to the brink, Xu Cheng would with sarcasm: "You're so smart, how could I possibly fool you?" To prove she wasn't overthinking, Jessica began collecting various suspicious pieces of evidence to confront Xu Cheng directly, leaving him with no room to evade.
"Why didn't you send your letters directly home? Why go to the post office to open a mailbox?" Jessica hated being treated like an idiot. If there were no secrets to hide, why go to all this trouble? "It's not what you think." Xu Cheng's tone softened slightly when faced with undeniable evidence. "Then you should make it clear to me." Jessica never missed an opportunity to uncover the truth. "Stop pressuring me," Xu Cheng raised his last defense, trying to resist Jessica's relentless questioning. Jessica's feelings were like those of a mother facing a lying child—she knew something was hidden but felt helpless to confront it.
However, evasive answers weren't the most infuriating thing for Jessica; what she couldn't stand was that every time she entered the study, Xu Cheng would immediately stop what he was doing and hurriedly cover the desk with something. Wasn't this "there's no silver in this bowl" (a clear sign of hiding something)? It was obvious he was hiding a secret, which naturally made Jessica upset: "What are you hiding from me?" Even then, Xu Cheng could defend himself without a trace of guilt: "It's nothing, don't make wild guesses." "Making wild guesses? You're clearly trying to act dumb on purpose." Jessica was so angry she didn't know what to say. "Pressuring me like this every day, I'll get depression spots someday." P20-21