Chapter 17

“Isn’t that a little too fast?”

At that critical moment, a flash of lightning seemed to split through Lin Yuewei’s mind, instantly snapping her reason back into place.

“Too fast?”

After a sudden crackle of static in her ears, the breath that had been so close vanished without a trace. The light overhead seemed to press down on her, leaving her dizzy and lightheaded.

Lin Yuewei let out a slow breath and finally realized where she was. She stepped back, and Gu Yanqiu did not follow. It had all been her imagination. Come to think of it, Gu Yanqiu wouldn’t even bathe without her Buddhist beads; how could she possibly do something like that in front of the Buddha?

“I mean you dried your hair too quickly,” Lin Yuewei said with a smile that sounded complimentary on the surface but carried a hidden barb.

“Pardon me.” Gu Yanqiu held her beads in one hand and lightly pressed the other to her collar. She nodded at her, then went around Lin Yuewei and returned to the bed, sitting in nearly the same spot Lin Yuewei had just occupied to dry her hair.

Lin Yuewei unclenched the fist she had unconsciously tightened at her side, took her phone, and moved to the sofa in the corner almost opposite the bed to fiddle with it. Only she knew how long the screen had been frozen on one page.

It was absurd. It shouldn’t have happened.

That was her assessment of her own momentary fantasy. Her self-control was strong; once she distilled the tangled mess in her mind down to the words shouldn’t have, she could drive all those shouldn’t-haves completely out of her head.

She started scrolling again, then reviewed several specific scenarios from the notes she had practically memorized, testing them in her mind.

Gu Yanqiu wasn’t going to sleep immediately, so she only dried her hair until it was halfway dry. She sat there for a while. Lin Yuewei had claimed the sofa and showed no sign of moving.

There was a faint sound of footsteps beside her; out of the corner of her eye, a swath of black silk brushed past. Lin Yuewei rolled her eyes upward and watched Gu Yanqiu’s feet pass in front of her, then turn toward the desk in the room, where she opened her laptop.

One looked at her phone, the other at her computer; neither spoke.

By eleven o’clock, Lin Yuewei stood, stretched, and slipped into bed. Gu Yanqiu moved too, walking over to the bedside and looking down at her from above.

“Miss Lin.”

Lin Yuewei buried everything below the bridge of her nose under the blanket, her brows lifting. “Mm?”

“What you said you wanted to do just now,” Gu Yanqiu said, faintly embarrassed, without voicing the last part. Her lips pressed together; she removed her slippers and knelt half on the bed, leaning down as she asked, “Do it now?”

If anyone else had said that, with that posture and those movements, most people would probably have understood it in the usual way. But when Gu Yanqiu spoke such suggestive words, her eyes were like a cold pool in the deep mountains, carrying a chill that was not sharp or cruel, only clear and detached.

Her lips were pale and perfectly shaped.

Lin Yuewei wasn’t blinded by lust, nor did she have any masochistic tendencies. She also had no leisure to waste on private matters of the heart.

She looked at Gu Yanqiu for two seconds, then decisively pressed a hand to her shoulder and pulled her down. The faint scent of agarwood came closer than ever before, nearly dizzying. In her mind, blurred patches of light and shadow flashed past.

Gu Yanqiu’s long neck arched back, elegant as a swan’s curved throat. Her hand tightened on the bedsheet, and she drew in a soft breath through her teeth, biting down on her lower lip.

Something in Lin Yuewei’s heart softened and collapsed. An invisible current seemed to spread from where her lips touched the skin of Gu Yanqiu’s neck; a long, lingering emotion began to bloom inside her.

Her fingers clenched tightly around the other woman’s shoulder, then loosened after a moment. She turned her head and coughed lightly.

Gu Yanqiu straightened her collar and, with it, adjusted her hair. Her long black hair hung down in what looked like obedient, tidy strands, though it was actually puffing slightly at the ends. She lowered her eyelids a little uncomfortably; for some reason, a faint flush had burned up at the corner of her eye.

“What’s wrong, Miss Lin?”

“Nothing. My nose just got a little itchy; I might be catching a cold,” Lin Yuewei explained. Meeting Gu Yanqiu’s eyes, she curved the corners of her mouth slightly.

“Then you should rest early.”

The scent withdrew. Gu Yanqiu got off the bed, put on her slippers, and walked toward the lounge chair beside the bed, her figure graceful and swaying.

Before she turned around, Lin Yuewei looked away and lay back down under the blanket.

“Can you turn off the light?”

“Okay.”

“Good night, Miss Lin.”

“Good night.”

The room went dark.

The lounge chair was close to the bed, and half the curtains were open, letting moonlight seep in. Gu Yanqiu was long-limbed; lying there, she inevitably seemed a little cramped. The chair itself was never going to be as soft as a bed. And yet Lin Yuewei stared without blinking for ten full minutes, and Gu Yanqiu did not move once.

Asleep?

Lin Yuewei frowned. She turned over and closed her eyes with her back to the chair.

She worried she might dream. Dreams often foretold something; fortunately, she did not. When Lin Yuewei opened her eyes and realized she had passed the whole night dreamless, she felt delighted. She stared at the ceiling for a while, then spread her arms to stretch; instead, her hand touched something warm.

Lin Yuewei froze and slowly turned her head toward the pillow.

Someone was lying beside her, and the lounge chair in the distance was empty.

Lin Yuewei: “!!!”

What was going on?!

Before she could make sense of it, she suddenly met Gu Yanqiu’s clear, piercing eyes. In that instant, she saw the same shock in Gu Yanqiu’s gaze as her own. It vanished almost immediately, so fast it was nearly impossible to catch. If Lin Yuewei hadn’t been staring at her the whole time, she definitely would have missed it.

“Sorry, Miss Lin. I may have been muddleheaded last night and, out of habit, crawled into my own bed. I’m sorry.”

Gu Yanqiu apologized and got out of bed in one smooth motion, not even leaving Lin Yuewei a chance to touch a corner of her clothes.

Under the blanket, Lin Yuewei checked her pajamas and pajama pants. Nothing seemed amiss. “It’s fine.”

“Then I’ll wash up first.” Gu Yanqiu’s voice was always low and restrained, as clear as spring water; unhurried and steady. “Do you need to change clothes? If you do, I can close the bathroom door.”

“No need. I’ll change later.”

Gu Yanqiu went into the washroom, splashed a handful of cold water on her face, and braced both hands on the edge of the sink. She looked at the face in the mirror, her gaze cold as ice. After a long while, she let out a long breath and brushed her teeth, washed her hands, and washed her face.

After they were both done, they went downstairs together.

Gu Yanqiu was buttoning her collar, and her hand lingered briefly at her neck before she grew slightly uncomfortable. When she looked in the mirror just now, she had found that the hickey was deeper than she had expected; after a night, it had only turned a richer shade of purple-red.

Lin Yuewei kept her face straight and pretended not to see it, secretly regretting her impulsiveness. Her original intention had been to let the Gu family see how deeply in love she and Gu Yanqiu were; at breakfast, she planned to bring up the Lin family as well and put pressure on those who had been taking liberties with Gu Yanqiu, adding a few more chips to Gu Yanqiu’s side. But now, she couldn’t even tell what she was feeling.

Everything felt wrong.

She ate breakfast distractedly, only saying the things she had prepared in advance like following a script. Gu Huai remained his usual unfathomable self, though Lin Yuewei inexplicably felt that he seemed to be in a rather good mood today. He Songjun was smooth and tactful as always, handling everything without a flaw; when she saw Gu Yanqiu’s collar, she laughed softly. Gu Feiquan had faint shadows under his eyes and stayed very quiet the whole morning. He probably had stayed up all night and was too tired to be sarcastic.

“Dad, Auntie, we’re leaving.”

After taking their leave from the Gu family, Gu Yanqiu asked Lin Yuewei where she wanted to go and then drove her back to Jiang Congbi’s place. The young lady of the Jiang family was very decadent; when she had no class, she wouldn’t get up until noon. Lin Yuewei held her phone and said, “Are you up yet? Remember to come out and pick me up in twenty minutes.”

Jiang Congbi was lying on the bed, groaning lazily. “Twenty minutes? Call me again at the three-minute mark.”

Lin Yuewei glanced at Gu Yanqiu, who was driving beside her, and used her trump card. “Miss Gu, how much longer until we get there?”

Jiang Congbi shot upright like a carp. “Who are you talking to?”

“Gu Yanqiu.”

“Wait for me. I’ll wash up right now and come out to welcome you immediately.”

Lin Yuewei cursed inwardly: what a traitor, choosing romance over friendship.

Gu Yanqiu said lightly, “Miss Jiang is coming out to pick us up?”

“Mm.”

With one hand on the steering wheel, Gu Yanqiu silently fastened the last button at her neck, covering the mark completely. Lin Yuewei watched her movements and immediately felt displeased. She had been showing it off at home all morning, so why was she suddenly being so careful once she got to Jiang Congbi’s place? Could it be…

***

“Good morning, Miss Jiang.”

“You too, good morning.”

“You look even better today than you did yesterday.”

“Thank you. So do you.” Gu Yanqiu’s smile was very gentle, completely different from the one she wore when facing Lin Yuewei.

Lin Yuewei watched the two of them exchange line after line, completely ignoring her, and could not help but speak up. “Gu Yanqiu, aren’t you supposed to be going to work?”

It was the first time she had called Gu Yanqiu by her full name, and it made Gu Yanqiu pause. Then Gu Yanqiu obediently said goodbye to the chattering Jiang Congbi. “See you next time, Miss Jiang.”

“See you next time.” Jiang Congbi waved at her reluctantly.

Gu Yanqiu gave Jiang Congbi a faint nod, then looked at Lin Yuewei and smiled. “Goodbye, Miss Lin.”

The completely different attitudes made a subtle sense of delight rise in Lin Yuewei. But she didn’t show it; instead, she deliberately put on a stern face and said, “Hurry up and go to work. Didn’t your dad say he was transferring you to headquarters? Being late on your first day isn’t good.”

Gu Yanqiu’s smile deepened; even the corners of her brows lifted slightly. “All right, I’m going now.”

She did not say she was going to headquarters, because even a temporary transfer meant she first had to go back to her original company to pack up and handle follow-up matters. None of that was necessary to tell Lin Yuewei. Gu Yanqiu only knew that her mood right now was wonderful.

From the car window, Gu Yanqiu gave her one last gentle look. “I’m going to work.”

Lin Yuewei waved at her perfunctorily.

Watching from the side, Jiang Congbi suddenly felt a strong sense of familiarity.

What was this familiarity like? Like when she was little, and every morning her dad had to go out to work, the conversation he had with her mom.

Too bad Lin Yuewei still didn’t realize anything. How was she supposed to make her see the truth sooner?

Jiang Congbi blinked, then looked at Lin Yuewei watching the car drive away, and a meaningful smile curved her lips.

Looks like she’d have to revise her strategy from a different angle.

Author’s note: Ding-dong, your rival has gone offline; your wingwoman is now online ﹁_﹁

Jiang Congbi: I’m really miserable →_→