Chapter 59 – Akin to a Cat (2)

This little cunning of his wife was not immediately seen by Karenin, or because of trust, people would involuntarily care about and guess the same thing when facing strangers. And if one person had great trust in another person, then they would just skip the guessing step immediately and give the answer to the other person.

For Karenin, giving answers is not a painful thing. After all, in his position, this is what he does almost every day. Review the work that you ask him for instructions, and handle the problems that his boss entrusted to him. It was just like instinct. How difficult the problem was, how to solve it in one, two or three steps, this only involved interest and reason, and had nothing to do with sensibility and his personal emotions.

But Anna’s problem was more complicated. In other words, Karenin imagined it to be more complicated. In Karenin’s thinking, Anna was his wife, whether intentionally or not, this label had been affixed-Karenin’s wife. They had been bound in it since the moment of their marriage. Thinking logically and by law, they would both be protected. But people’s inner world was always more tolerant. Therefore, Karenin, being the male would inevitably have some machismo in this matter and after that incident.

If he considered the usual self-interest, it would be the best to dismiss his wife. If that was the case, Karenin could figure out at least five reasons to convince Anna without thinking about it, and it would not be difficult at all. However, considering his wife’s wishes and inclinations, the previous approach seemed too cunning and hateful.

It took Karenin a minute to work through all this. His wife did not urge him to answer quickly. When he raised his eyes to look at her, there was only peace in his blue eyes. No one would know the thousands of possible scenarios he had just thought about in his mind.

“If it is possible, I must persuade you to dispel this idea, Anna. Given our status and position, your idea would be extremely inappropriate.”

He paused and saw his wife’s big eyes completely focused. Looking at him, she didn’t show any depression because of the negation in his first sentence. He saw the complete trust she was putting in him and he could almost hear her voice telling him that she believed in him to guide her.

This kind of blind trust almost made him want to scold her. He wondered how she could trust others like this? But precisely because he was trusted, Karenin swallowed the emotion that surged in his throat. The tentacle called reason was firmly pressed down by his hand.

“But I understand that this is what you want to do, so if you insist, I don’t mind if you do it.” Karenin finished calmly.

After a moment of silence, Karenin grew nervous for some reason. Had he said the wrong thing? Was she not happy?

“Can I hug you?” Anna said abruptly.

A faint blush made its way on Karenin’s face, but he nodded reservedly. Anna rose from her seat and sat on Karenin’s lap, hugging him tightly.

“To be accurate, this is beyond the scope of hugs.” Karenin whispered, his left hand firmly supporting her small waist.

“Do you mind?”

“No, I don’t mind.” Karenin said, and stroked his wife’s long black hair with his right hand.

Anna bent her back slightly, leaning even closer to him, her breath brushing the skin of his neck. Like a cat, in short, she looked very small and soft nestled in his arms. She sincerely expressed her emotions with a pair of her big eyes. She sighed contently when he kissed her on the cheek.

He was surprised when after a moment she snorted.

“I knew you would not stop me.”

“Then I don’t understand why you were asking for my opinion.” Karenin’s tone was calm, and the movement of his hands never stopped.

Some people say that men who like cats always have magic on their fingers. But Karenin didn’t like cats. The reason for not liking cats was so simple; hair loss, difficult to tame. Most people have an evasive emotion towards cats, and Karenin did too.

If someone who loved cats recommended the advantages of cats to Karenin, he would probably refuse him with a faint but unacceptable remark. His time was arranged down to every minute, and there had never been time for a cat in his thirty-two years of life. Therefore, Karenin had never had a cat, nor any pets. The question of preference had hardly stayed on pets, but those lanky fingers seem to have a kind of natural magic, knowing how to soothe their pets.

His wife was not a pet, Karenin fully understood this. But sometimes, when his thinking was idle, he also thought that there seemed to be something in common between the two. Just as Karenin would continue to find more wonderful associations to his wife, naturally, so would Anna.

Compared to Karenin who liked to imagine Anna as something else, like a different animal, and then carefully analyze and deliberate over the similarities, and constantly overthrow his breeding rules, Anna was more intuitive.

She used her tolerant and kind heart to accept some of her husband’s shortcomings and beautify them. Give each other time and space, like a mother to forgive each other’s clumsiness, love him like a wife, and care about him like a friend. Just like this sentence he pretended to be puzzled. She knew that he didn’t really understand, but Anna also understood that he wanted her to say it herself.

She giggled, treating him as a child who had grown up on the outside and could cope with the dangers in the world, but still slender as a child on the inside. For this, she was not at all shy, but whispered in his ear.

“Because I know you love me.”