Chapter 12

 Absurd—this is just too absurd.

I didn’t believe a word of what Zhou Wan said. No matter how I thought about it, it just seemed impossible.

After rinsing her face in the restroom, Zhou Wan came back with her temples still a little damp. She looked at me with that same expression of distaste and asked what I was thinking now.

I said, “What could I possibly be thinking?”

Zhou Wan nearly jabbed my forehead with her manicured nails—those fancy stick-ons she probably spent over a thousand on. “Xie Lizhi, how can you be so dumb? You think I keep bringing up my brother just to show off?”

I muttered, “Isn’t that exactly what you’re doing?”

This time she really did jab my forehead. “Damn it, Xie Lizhi, use your pig brain for once! You think I’ve got nothing better to do? You think I’ve lost my mind?”

I self-consciously rubbed my forehead and asked, “Did your brother… did he really say he’d only marry me?”

Zhou Wan nodded. “Yep.”

“Then he’s definitely lost his mind.”

“Xie Lizhi! For the sake of you two, I’ve not only sacrificed my dignity, now I’m risking my life telling you this secret. My brother could totally kill me for this. Can you please take it seriously?”

I replied meekly, “Okay.”

Zhou Wan sighed and began her tale: “Actually, I found out my brother liked you by accident three years ago. We were both freshmen in college at the time, and you were being chased by Chen Zhicheng. One time I went to my brother’s place and saw a photo of you in his bedside drawer—that’s when I realized his feelings for you weren’t simple.”

“At first I didn’t think much of it. But the more I thought, the more suspicious I got. So one day, I got him drunk and started prying.”

“I waved your photo in his face and asked if he liked you. And guess what? He actually got shy while holding your picture. He mumbled something about how he made a promise to you when you were kids—that he’d marry you when you grew up. I swear, you should’ve seen him, like a love-struck schoolboy.”

“I kept pressing him, and he said he wanted to wait until you turned eighteen or something like that. I didn’t get all the details, but I think he meant he wouldn’t confess until then.”

“But the next day, after he sobered up, he completely denied everything and warned me not to tell you or I’d be in serious trouble. You know I’m scared of my brother, so I never said anything. I thought he’d eventually tell you himself. Who knew, just a few days later, you got together with Chen Zhicheng.”

I listened to Zhou Wan rambling on, feeling like I was floating in a dream.

Then she added, “I’ve told you before, right? Girls chasing after my brother all these years—there’s been so many. And he’s never given any of them the time of day. Honestly, my mom and I even secretly wondered if he was gay. In all these years, I’ve never seen a woman around him. Then after you got together with Chen Zhicheng, I tried casually asking what he thought about it. He didn’t say anything, but he’d already investigated Chen Zhicheng inside out.”

Hearing all this suddenly made me recall what Zhou Si had said to Chen Zhicheng that night.

Zhou Wan looked at me and asked, “So? I’ve told you all this. What do you think now?”

I didn’t have a real answer. My mind was a blank.

Zhou Wan said, “Alright, I won’t bug you anymore—you’ve got work. Oh, and don’t you dare tell my brother I told you he likes you. If he finds out, I’m done for. Seriously though, I’m not trying to push you two together. My brother’s so arrogant and annoying, it’d probably be better if he stayed single forever.”

I just nodded and didn’t say anything.

After Zhou Wan left, I sat there by myself for a while.

To say I wasn’t shocked would be a lie. My heart was thumping wildly as I thought back to every interaction I’d ever had with Zhou Si. But I still couldn’t believe he had feelings for me. I mean, we hardly talked growing up. We’d barely exchanged more than a few words our whole lives.

How could he possibly like me? It just didn’t make sense.

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I worked overtime for an entire week straight—no time or energy to even think about Zhou Si, let alone guess what he was thinking.

It was ten o’clock on Saturday night, and I was still at the office, staring at my screen trying to finish up a proposal. My head felt like it was going to explode.

By eleven, I was finally ready to head home, only to find it had started raining.

At this hour, public transport was already done for the night. I ordered a car online, but apparently there was a one-hour wait in the area. I nearly lost it.

The rain was picking up.

I stood under an overhang, zoning out and contemplating my life while I waited for the car. Out of nowhere, I started thinking about Zhou Si.

I couldn’t figure out what I felt. I didn’t know how long I stood there like that before my phone rang. I assumed it was the driver, so I quickly picked up.

But it was Zhou Si’s voice: “You’re still at the office?”

Hearing his voice again caught me completely off guard. I mumbled, “Yeah.”

“Stop daydreaming. Look up.”

“Huh?” I blinked and looked up. In the rain, not far off, I saw a man in a suit walking toward me with a black umbrella.

Under the streetlights, his short hair looked freshly trimmed, his shoulders broad, waist slim, tall and straight. I recognized him immediately—it was Zhou Si.

Unlike his usual laid-back look, he now looked every bit the cold, stoic CEO you’d expect to see in a drama. The tailored suit fit him perfectly. He looked… really good. Powerful, even.

Time flies. It had already been a whole week since that wild twenty-four hours. A week where we hadn’t contacted each other, as if nothing had happened. But at night, when everything was quiet, I would sometimes dream of Zhou Si. Not just dream of him, but dream of us—entangled in wild, confusing ways.

Before I could react, Zhou Si was already standing in front of me. The umbrella above him now also shielded me from the rain. His familiar scent hit me, making me a little dizzy.

I asked, “Why are you here?”

He replied, “Waiting for you.”

“Why?”

“Afraid you’d skip out on your debt and run away.”

Yeah right. I didn’t believe that for a second—like he really cared about that kind of money.

Looking at Zhou Si standing there, Zhou Wan’s words echoed in my mind, and I started to panic.

If he really liked me, and had liked me for that long… how was I supposed to respond to that?

I didn’t think I liked Zhou Si. I couldn’t imagine being with him. So we definitely shouldn’t let this whole “money thing” keep dragging us into this weird, ambiguous situation.

So I told him, “Don’t worry. I’ll pay you back tomorrow, even if I have to borrow the money. That way you won’t have to keep being anxious about it.”

Zhou Si, smart as always, didn’t press the topic. Instead, he said, “It’s raining. Let me take you home.”

I shook my head. “No need. I’ve called a car.”

Just as I said that, my phone rang again—this time it really was the driver. I gave him my location, hung up, and turned to Zhou Si.

“I think it’s better if we keep some distance.”

Zhou Si, expressionless, asked, “What kind of distance?”

His serious tone and composed demeanor scared me a little. I couldn’t even look him in the eyes—I just stared at the crisp cuffs of his white dress shirt. I felt like some timid little intern reporting to her intimidating boss, stuttering through her words.

Luckily, the car pulled up right then. Like a turtle retreating into its shell, I yanked open the back door and jumped in.

The driver confirmed the address, then pulled away.

I couldn’t help glancing back. Zhou Si’s figure grew smaller and blurrier through the rain.

Ugh. So annoying.

I really didn’t know how to face Zhou Si anymore.

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