Chapter 5

So he wanted to string me along.

But that tactic didn’t work on me.

More importantly, Wang Zhenzhen was a ticking time bomb at the company. Nobody knew when she would go off.

I wasn’t going down with people like that.

When I told Meng Yi that Cheng Ming thought he might be gay, he was genuinely speechless.

“Does he think every man in the world is like him? If he were genuinely devoted to his cousin, I’d at least respect him for standing by it.”

He turned to me.

“You don’t believe him, do you? You don’t think I’m the sort of man who goes after men and women alike?”

There was a dangerous look in his eyes. I hastily waved my hands.

“Of course not. You certainly... put in the effort.”

He immediately sprang up from the foot of the bed and whispered in my ear.

“If you’ve still got the energy to pass on rumors about me, clearly I’m not putting in enough effort. How many times are you planning to call me sweetheart tonight?”

In the small hours of the morning, he stood in the study while I sent an email and said mournfully, “You’re always saying I’m your favorite sweetheart. I don’t think I am.”

I held back a laugh. “Who else have I got?”

“Work’s your real sweetheart,” he said with a show of ferocity. “Why else would you abandon me halfway through to run off with it?”

The resentment was almost tangible.

I had to soothe him.

“Isn’t this so I can finish the handover quickly and cut ties with Cheng Ming? Or would you rather I kept having to see him every day?”

“All right, all right. Get on with your work. I’ll make you some noodles.”

I looked at the clock. Noodles at two in the morning? Wasn’t that practically poisoning myself?

But he was bustling around so earnestly that I couldn’t spoil his fun.

At worst, I could coax him into eating them himself.

He was very easy to coax, after all.

Once I’d settled the price with the other party and arranged to sign the following day, I finally breathed a sigh of relief.

When I left the study, a bowl of noodles sat stone cold on the table. Meng Yi had fallen asleep over it.

He actually looked very sweet. His usual lack of expression just made him seem unapproachable.

I sat beside him and watched for a long time. Finally, I couldn’t resist touching his eyelashes.

He caught my hand at once and tucked it beneath his cheek.

After a while, he asked, “Why so quiet? Mesmerized by me?”

I laughed. “Yes. Congratulations. Your looks have successfully seduced me.”

“If I’d known you liked this sort of thing, I wouldn’t have spent all that time playing the innocent in front of you,” he muttered. “All those days of effort, and you never picked up a single signal.”

“Of course I did. If I hadn’t, why would I have said yes when you confessed?”

He perked up immediately and sat straight.

“Wasn’t that because you wanted a project from me?”

I stared at him.

“Why would I agree to date you for that?

“Have you always seen me as someone who puts profit above everything?

“What exactly have you been thinking all this time?”

He looked a little innocent.

“I just wanted to be someone useful to you. You can love me, or my money, or my face. They’re all part of me.”

His words shook me.

I ought to have been angry. I ought to have felt he didn’t trust me.

But looking at his earnest face, I didn’t feel belittled at all.

“I fell in love with you at first sight. But that was also the most painful time of my life. When I met you, you were already someone else’s wife.

“What hurt more was that he didn’t love you nearly enough. And you seemed so dependent on him.

“I didn’t know what to do. If I told you, I was afraid I’d hurt you. If I didn’t, I was afraid you’d be hurt even worse later. Better, perhaps, to let you stay in that beautiful dream forever.

“But I never expected that once we were together, beyond all that joy, fear would hit me like a tidal wave. I really am frightened. I’m afraid Cheng Ming will suddenly realize how wonderful you are and come after you again. You have a history together. I’m afraid you’ll soften.

“And I’m afraid someone else like me will have designs on you.”

He talked for a long time.

He was always talkative around me, but he had never been this candid.

It was as if he wanted to lay every timid, vulnerable, insecure part of himself before me.

This time, I was the one who felt afraid. Afraid I didn’t have enough passion to give him in return.

I felt lost. I didn’t know what to say.

Meng Yi seemed to see right through me. He wrapped his arms around my waist, rested his head against my stomach, and nuzzled me.

Instinctively, I stroked his hair.

It was very coarse.

The opposite of his soft heart.

The next morning, I hurried out to sign the contract. The buyer had only an hour between connecting flights.

We’d already agreed on every detail, so the signing was quick.

Cheng Ming heard about it almost immediately.

He called in a rage, demanding to know why I hadn’t waited for his offer.

“We were married, for God’s sake. Is this how you treat me? Selling him all your shares is as good as handing over everything we built.

“You know we disagree on how to run the business, but you did it anyway. Are you getting revenge? Has love turned into hate?”

“Stop flattering yourself,” I cut in. “Still talking about love at this point? Doesn’t it make you sick?”

He wouldn’t let it go.

“Then what are you playing at? You never intended to sell to me, did you? You just wanted to find out what I’d pay so you could bargain with someone else?”

Not completely stupid, then.

But I had no time to teach him how to do business.

“And another thing. I forgot to ask. Why has Meng Yi invested so much in your new company? Are you two running some kind of honey trap on me?”

I smiled.

“Probably because I’m pursuing him.”

His voice shot up.

“You’re pursuing him, and he’s pouring money into your business? Do you take me for an idiot?”

“Maybe it’s his way of letting me down gently. If he won’t give me love, he can soothe me with money. Isn’t that a familiar trick with you men?

“But I’m definitely seeing it through. You know me. I don’t give up until I get what I want.”

Meng Yi came home injured that evening, wearing a radiant smile.

He recounted his afternoon with delight.

“I’ve never enjoyed being hit so much in my life. Cheng Ming must be losing his mind.”

“Couldn’t you have pretended a little? Said you weren’t interested in me?”

He burst out laughing.

“How could I fake that? Give me another twenty acting courses and I still couldn’t do it.

“I suppose that was why he saw how smug I was. Made him even angrier.”

There was even more explosive news.

Wang Zhenzhen had ruined several of Cheng Ming’s client dinners.

The partner who bought my shares fell out with him completely.

He told Cheng Ming to take a payout and get out, or take his people and get out.

For about six months after that, I scarcely heard anything about him.

Then one night, my phone woke me. To my surprise, it was Cheng Ming.

He’d harassed me so often that I had blocked him everywhere.

Hearing his voice took me a moment to process.

“Huanhuan, where are you? Can you come and see me?

“I miss you. I really miss you.”

Before I could answer, Meng Yi woke up.

He gave a cold laugh into the phone.

“Had a few drinks and got horny? Huanhuan’s my wife now.”

Cheng Ming was sober enough to recognize his voice immediately.

“Don’t forget she used to be my wife. If you could take that path, someone else can take it too.”

Those words struck like lightning. Meng Yi fell silent.

Before long, he started checking up on me again.

But first, he tried to reassure me.

“Just an old habit acting up. I’ll be fine in a few days.”

“Why didn’t you let it out that night? You might have felt better.”

Suddenly, he became serious.

“How could I put my emotions ahead of your dignity? I can work through this myself. Don’t worry.”

With him, I had always felt secure.

On our first wedding anniversary, I gave him a present.

He went wild when he received it and asked me over and over, “Is this really for me?”

It was a ring that could keep sharing my location with him forever.

“Yes. Go ahead and check. You can check all you like from now on.”

He asked whether it showed the distance between us.

It did.

Right now, for example, we were only five centimeters apart.

Of course, we could get even closer.

THE END