Chapter 6
Edward Quan ·
I lowered my eyes to the coffee on the table.
"How is that my problem?" I looked up, my voice calm. "She's gone. I've got my body back. So my memories weren't erased. Fine."
Shen Lu watched me, then said, "Aren't you curious why she failed?"
My fingers went still.
"No."
"She said Qin Wu was impossible to win over. Nothing worked." Shen Lu spoke unhurriedly. "She spent six months in your body, tried everything, and he never once gave her a kind look."
"What's that got to do with me?"
"But on your very first day back, he gave you five hundred thousand."
I looked up at her.
Shen Lu smiled faintly.
"Jiang Si, do you really not know what that means?"
The comments exploded.
【Wake up! You're the one he likes!】
【She knows! She definitely knows! She just won't admit it!】
I stood, expressionless.
"Finished? Then I'm leaving."
Shen Lu didn't stop me. She only spoke as I turned away.
"Jiang Si, the system will send someone to fix this bug soon. When that happens, you may lose your memories of the past six months."
I stopped.
"You may lose something else, too."
She didn't say what.
I pushed open the café door. The wind chime rang behind me.
The sunlight was blinding.
I stood outside and closed my eyes for a moment.
The comments were pouring past, but I couldn't take in a word.
All I could hear was Shen Lu's last sentence.
"You may lose something else, too."
Lose what?
I stood by the road, took out my phone and opened my chat with Qin Wu.
The last message was still his.
Qin Wu: 【Or don't eat. Just don't come to me when your stomach hurts.】
I stared at it for a long time.
Typed a line. Deleted it.
Typed another. Deleted that, too.
In the end, I put my phone away without sending anything.
10
I called a car and gave my home address.
Halfway there, I suddenly said, "Change of destination, please."
"Where to?"
I gave him an address.
The comments went silent for a second, then went wild.
【THAT'S QIN WU'S OFFICE!!!】
【She's going to his office???】
【Has she finally figured it out???】
【No, she just won't say it. Her actions are honest enough.】
It was almost five when the car stopped outside Qin Wu's office building.
The sunset gilded the glass walls.
I stood at the entrance and hesitated for three seconds.
Then turned and left.
【??????】
【WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!!!】
【YOU'RE RIGHT THERE! GO IN!!!】
【Jiang Si, where did all that confidence go? Did a dog run off with it???】
I wasn't scared.
I just didn't see the point.
So what if Qin Wu liked me? I didn't like him.
I was just... a little concerned.
Yes. A little concerned. That was all.
I took a car home and scrolled through my phone the entire way, pretending nothing had happened.
11
It was dark when I got home.
I unlocked the door.
The living-room lights were on.
Qin Wu sat on the sofa with a glass of water, as much at ease as if this were his own home.
He looked up at the sound of the door.
His gaze moved from my hair to my face, from my face to my clothes, then down to my feet.
He frowned.
"Where have you been?"
"Out."
"Dressed like that?"
"I'm not cold."
He set down his glass, stood and came over.
He was so much taller than me that I had to tip my head back to see his face.
"Jiang Si."
"What?"
"Who did you meet today?"
My heart gave a jolt.
How did he know?
"No one." I slipped past him into the living room.
He followed, his voice even.
"You won't look people in the eye when you lie."
I didn't turn.
"I'm not lying."
"Then look at me."
I turned and raised my eyes to his.
There was something churning in their depths.
"Who did you meet?"
"A friend."
"What friend?"
"You don't know them."
He fell silent.
For a long time.
Just as I thought he wasn't going to speak again, he said, "Jiang Si."
"Hm?"
"Since you came back, have you noticed anything different about yourself?"
I froze.
So did the comments.
【Does he know something?】
【He knows about the agent???】
【That's impossible. The system must've affected him when she arrived. He shouldn't have noticed anything wrong.】
【Then why is he asking???】
Looking at him, I suddenly felt my heart beating a little faster.
"Different how?"
His gaze lingered on my hair, then returned to my face.
"You never used to hesitate."
"What?"
"If you wanted something, you did it. Hot pot, dyed hair, money—you just went ahead and asked." He paused. "But today you're hiding something from me."
My fingers tightened unconsciously around my bag strap.
The comments went wild.
【Qin Wu, you're way too perceptive!】
【So he knew about the agent all along and just pretended not to???】
【No, he means he's noticed the original has changed. The old Jiang Si didn't hesitate, didn't hide things, didn't care what he felt. But today's Jiang Si... cares.】
Qin Wu stepped closer.
Very close.
Close enough for me to catch the faint cedar scent on him.
"Jiang Si." His voice was low. "Is there something you haven't told me?"
I looked up at him.
My heart was pounding. Fast and loud.
So fast I wondered if he could hear it.
"No," I said.
Then I put a hand to his chest and pushed lightly.
"Back off."
He didn't move.
"You're in my way."
Still nothing.
I frowned. "Qin Wu, I said—"
He cut me off.
"You went to West Bank Café today."
I went rigid.