"Don't be silly, they're not lucky enough to be with beauties like that," I sighed.
"What do you mean?" A-Ce asked.
"It's nothing." After a night of self-reflection, I was much calmer. Seeing A-Ce's suspicious expression, I really didn't know how to explain, so I just said, "How about this, let's get everyone together sometime when we're free, but you'll have to pay." Only then did A-Ce let me start my workday. Sigh, I don't know if I've stepped in dog poop these past few days, everyone I've encountered, men and women alike, has been so difficult to deal with.
Before Willson returned, I rushed into his office to help him organize the documents from the past two days, while also racking my brains about how to complete the tasks Yirou had assigned. In a moment of absentmindedness, I knocked a large stack of documents to the floor. I figured Willson would be back soon, and I didn't want him to see me mess up again. I hurriedly squatted down and frantically picked up the documents, but before I was even halfway done, I noticed a pair of gleaming leather shoes standing in front of me. Looking up, I saw Willson standing directly in front of me.
"Sorry, almost done, almost done." I only wish I were a centipede, otherwise I could have finished packing up a document in one hand long ago.
"Having you in the office makes it a bit more lively," he said casually. I didn't know if he was praising me or insulting me, but I could tell he was in a good mood, so I decided to take this opportunity to tell him about Yi Rou to avoid affecting my workday.
"By the way, General Manager, do you still remember Lin Yirou?"
Seeing his confused expression, I couldn't help but worry about Yi Rou. "What about the girl I brought to dance with you on your last night in Shanghai? What about the nurse at the hotel?" I asked, trying to provoke him further.
"Oh, that girl." Seeing that he finally remembered, I breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, that's her. She started working at our company. Do you want to meet her?"
“The company doesn’t have a rule that every new employee has to meet me,” he replied, leaving no room for negotiation. I couldn’t help but get anxious: “But she’s not just any new employee; you two knew each other before.”
“That reason is not sufficient.” He remained unmoved.
"Can I beg you?" I blurted out. Seeing him narrow his eyes and look at me, I realized that I had no right to ask him for anything, so I added what I thought was a convincing explanation: "Consider that I haven't asked you for overtime pay yet."
He asked, amused, "Why do you insist that I see her?"
"Because, because... because she's my friend, and I want you to meet my friend." This excuse is so lame I want to slap myself.
He suddenly smiled slightly: "How about this, since I still owe you an abalone, why don't you ask her to have dinner with us tonight? Wait for me at the parking lot exit after get off work."
"Really?" I didn't expect him to actually agree. I was happy, but also a little disappointed. I started to wonder if I had done something stupid again.
When I told Yirou the news, she was overjoyed, but she became a little unhappy when she heard that I had to come along. She grabbed my hand and said, "Dear sister, this is my first time with him, can you please not go? I'm begging you, otherwise it will be so awkward. I will remember your great kindness for the rest of my life, okay? Dear sister---"
I really felt very awkward being caught in the middle, and I wished I could just not see her anymore, so I agreed to tell her that I would make an excuse about feeling unwell and disappear.
I glanced at my watch; it was five minutes to six, the end of the workday. I quickly tidied my desk, pretending to have already left, and then slipped into the archives to look up information, staying until 6:30 before emerging. Reaching Willson's office, I saw the door was locked, knowing he was gone. He must have already driven Yirou to some brightly lit restaurant in the hazy night. A pang of sadness hit me, and I thought of the Korean girl named May again, and couldn't help but worry about Yirou. Yirou was beautiful, but compared to May, she clearly lacked a certain air of refinement. May possessed the air of someone from a prestigious family, an impeccably clean and pure aura. Most importantly, Willson's attitude towards May was enough to deter any woman who harbored fantasies about him. Thinking of this, I couldn't help but blame myself, or perhaps I should have told Yirou the worst, to discourage her from having such high hopes, so that she wouldn't be too hurt if things didn't go well. Then he wondered if everyone has their own destiny. The two of them danced so well together last time, so maybe the right person for him is this little girl who came from thousands of miles away.
I didn't want to confront my feelings anymore, but I also didn't want to go home and imagine what their dinner menu would be like tonight, surrounded by loneliness. So, I picked up my backpack and wandered aimlessly down the street. The mannequins in the shop windows were already wearing various cool summer clothes, some long and some short, reminding me that the gloomy spring was almost over. The Bauhinia trees on Baiyun Road had replaced their brief but extremely beautiful purple petals with lush leaves, the passion returning to calm. Only a few kapok trees were still stubbornly adorning their bare branches with crimson spots.
People were walking in groups or pairs on the street, and even the occasional lone traveler seemed to be in a hurry, with a clear destination in mind. This made me feel ashamed, and I felt that my boredom was shameful. I couldn't stay on the street any longer, so I had to take the bus home.
After getting out of the car and turning the corner, I was stunned to see Willson's Hyundai, which I knew so well, parked in front of my house. I checked my watch; it was only 8:30. Had they finished dinner and gone home so quickly? But it seemed Willson had taken Yirou home; they must have had a good talk. But strangely, the Jeep was parked there, and the interior was dark, just like our rented apartment—it didn't look like anyone was home. What were those two up to? I walked to my front door, my heart pounding. I wondered if I would see something I shouldn't if I suddenly opened the door, but wasn't this all too soon? As I hesitated, I suddenly heard the car door open. I turned and saw Willson step out of the car. Involuntarily, I craned my neck to see if Yirou would follow.
"What are you looking at?" Willson's voice was cold.
"Is Yirou here?" I continued looking around, completely ignoring the ominous tone in his voice. By the time I realized something was wrong, he had already grabbed me, pulled open the car door, and thrown me inside. He then got in from the other side, slammed the door shut, started the car without a word, and drove off. I had never seen him so furious. I was too scared to utter a sound, just sitting there, knowing the chances were slim, but I couldn't help but glance back at the back seat. I still couldn't see Yirou. I didn't know what had happened, and I started to worry about Yirou. I wondered where she was, what had happened between her and Willson…
"Squeak—" Willson finally stopped the car. It was pitch black outside the car window, without a single streetlight. I didn't know where I was, but I wasn't worried. I was just very anxious because I couldn't guess what Yi Rou's situation was like.
"President Lin, weren't you having dinner with Lin Yirou? Where is she?" I asked cautiously.
"Who do you think you are? Idiot! Can't I find a woman myself? Do you need to arrange it for me? You self-righteous, stupid woman! Are you an idiot?!" He suddenly exploded, cursing me without my knowledge. I've never been insulted like this before. I couldn't stand it: "Who the hell would I arrange a woman for you! I don't even want to know how many women you have. It's just a meal, why are you being so fierce? Is it really necessary? I just wanted to help my friend fulfill a wish."
"What wish?!"
"She likes you. She traveled all the way to Guangzhou for you. She just wants to see you alone; it's that simple!"
“That’s her business, it has nothing to do with me. And,” his voice turned cold again, “that doesn’t mean you have the right to make any arrangements or decisions for me. I already have my own plan for the kind of woman I need in my life.”
"That was my fault, I'm sorry, Mr. Lin." May's image flashed before my eyes, and I suddenly felt incredibly sad, a wave of emotion rising in my head: "If you're reprimanding me for this, I understand perfectly well. I can only say sorry again, and there won't be a next time. I'm leaving." With that, I opened the car door and got out. Although I had no idea where I was, I knew I couldn't sit with Willson in the car anymore, because the moment I opened the door, tears streamed down my face.
I closed the car door and tried to leave, but someone grabbed me. Before I could even see who it was—WILLSON, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere—he pulled me close and, before I could react, lowered his head and kissed me on the lips. Instinctively, I tried to struggle, but he held me tightly in his arms with one hand and pressed my head down with the other, making it impossible for me to move. My heart felt like a branch in a storm—fragilely swaying with his frantic breathing. His eyes were wild, so unfamiliar, that I didn't want to look anymore. So I resigned myself to my fate, closed my eyes, and gave up struggling. He sensed my reaction, loosening his grip slightly, but his lips wouldn't let go, gently but resolutely invading me. I felt my body slowly becoming light, so light, with his lips and tongue, as if I could fly to the clouds. With my eyes closed, I saw only dazzling spots of light. I didn't know when or where I was; I only knew that God was guiding me towards heaven, and the road to heaven was so long, so very long…
I don't know how much time passed before he finally released my lips, and I felt like I had been reborn. But I didn't know what people usually do after a kiss, and I hadn't thought about how to face him after he kissed me, so I simply kept my eyes tightly closed and refused to open them.
His voice, tinged with laughter, reached my ears: "So this was your first kiss."
All my happiness vanished instantly at his mocking remark. My one-sided love had betrayed me, turning me into a joke. I couldn't bear this rollercoaster of emotions, going from heaven to hell in an instant; my heart felt like it had been torn in two. I shoved him away and turned to run, but he grabbed me from behind before I could take two steps. I struggled frantically, biting and tearing at him, but he just held me tightly, refusing to let go. I quickly exhausted myself, only managing to speak with the strength in my mouth: "Why are you doing this to me? What did I do wrong? I just went crazy and fell for you. I didn't do anything, I didn't say anything, and I didn't ask anything of you. I'm already happy just seeing you at work every day, so why torture me like this? Did I owe you something in my past life?"
He pressed me tightly against his chest and said, "You idiot, I've never seen such an idiot. Of course I know you like me, so even if Tianyu said he wanted to compete with me for you, I wasn't worried, because I knew you liked me. But if you like me, why introduce other girls to me?"
"I'm helping a friend."
"Does helping a friend mean giving up the person you like?"
"I like you, but you don't like me. So for me, it doesn't matter which girl you're with, it's all the same. Besides, it's always better for good things to go into our own hands than to go into someone else's." I naturally had my own little scheme, which I quite understood.
"Slap!" He lightly but firmly slapped me on the head. "Your little scheme has ruined all my plans."
"What plan?" I asked, while secretly wiping away my tears and snot from his face when he wasn't looking.
"I was planning to arrange some things before formally asking you to be my girlfriend. But now I'm terrified by your incredibly dense brain, and I'm afraid that if I don't explain things to you quickly, you won't know what other scary things might happen."
"You want me to be your girlfriend?" I don't care about his plans or arrangements. For me, there's only one point: "Why do you want me to be your girlfriend?"
“Because,” he gently lifted my head so my eyes could meet his, “the first time I held you in my arms, I felt my heart skip a beat, and my hands trembled uncontrollably, something I had never experienced before. Then I spent a whole month trying to understand how my life had changed beyond my control because of you. I had never experienced such a loss of control since I was old enough to understand, but this feeling had captivated me so much that I couldn’t extricate myself. So I told myself, I can’t let this woman out of my sight again, because I have fallen hopelessly in love with you, silly woman.”
This was the most wonderful sound I had ever heard in my life. It made me want to strain my throat like Joey Wong in "The Legend of the Green Snake," belting out a string of "this, this, this, that, that, that..." in a Beijing accent. But was it all real? I was genuinely afraid this was just a beautiful dream I was having on some cool, long night because I'd propped up my pillow too high. I reached out and twisted hard, but felt absolutely nothing. Despairingly, I said, "Oh no, it doesn't hurt at all. I must be dreaming."
"Of course you won't feel pain, you idiot, you're pinching me!" Willson cursed at me angrily. I was startled and realized that I was still pinching his waist hard with two fingers. I quickly let go, my heart aching terribly. He grabbed my hand again, "You're not dreaming, what I just said and did was real."
"This feeling is so wonderful," I said, completely absorbed.
"How does it feel?"
"The person you like happens to like you too, think about it." I couldn't help but close my eyes again, but the corners of my mouth and the tip of my nose were filled with an undisguised smile. He took the opportunity to quickly peck me lightly on the eyelid. I was still not used to this new kind of closeness between us, and I couldn't help but shrink back.
That night, by some unlit riverbank somewhere, I kept rambling on and on about all sorts of silly, nonsensical things. I can't remember what I said at all anymore, but it felt like I'd die if I didn't just say everything I had in my life at once. And it was the first time I'd ever realized I could talk to him so naturally, saying so many cheesy things, without feeling awkward at all, as if it were perfectly natural. He, too, listened to my rambling, silly spiel with a silly grin, seemingly enjoying it. It wasn't until the dark sky began to lighten that we realized we'd been sitting there talking all night. Strangely, neither of us was sleepy. I think we were both probably crazy.