Chapter 1
I knew I must have made a complete spectacle of myself at Zhou Shu’s wedding yesterday.
Even half asleep, I could smell that sour, rotten stench. I’d have had to down a kilo and a half of booze to ferment into something like that.
A cool, impassive face suddenly drifted into my blurry vision. The man studied me with a frown. Pale eyes, slightly upturned corners—handsome in a very distinctive way. “Awake?”
“You kept me busy all night, you know.”
“Huh?”
Hungover and muddled though I was, that woke me up like a bucket of cold water. I hurriedly lifted the blanket…
Thank goodness. My Shin-chan panties were still on.
Wait. Then who’d taken off my dress, washed it, and hung it up on the wall?
I pointed at it in anguish. “That’s silk! It has to be hand-washed!”
“I washed it by hand.”
“Oh, that’s all right, then…”
No, wait!
I yanked the blanket up to my chin, leaving only a pair of terrified eyes showing. “Why did you wash it? What happened last night?”
He stood in the middle of the room, wrapped as tightly in a bedsheet as I was in my blanket, looking thoroughly displeased. “You should ask yourself.”
“Me? What did I do?”
“Eighty-eight, sixty-four, ninety-two. Those numbers sound familiar?”
“Yes…”
“Your measurements. You made me measure you last night.”
“What?”
“How about 180xxxx0088? Familiar?”
“Yes…”
“Your phone number. You made me memorize that too.”
“…”
Apparently I’d had quite a busy night. Still wrapped in the sheet, he came over, sat down at the foot of the bed, and held up his phone.
“You also made me add you on WeChat. Said we should hook up from now on…”
“I said pair up!” I shouted.
He went quiet for a moment. “I thought you’d forgotten.”
And that gave him the right to make things up?
Watching my expression change, he raised his phone again. “You clung to me and wouldn’t let go. Said you wanted to date me. Does that still stand?”
I was about to give him a flat no when the half-closed door swung open. In walked my best friend and business partner, Qu Ruoqiang.
She carried a plastic bag, unpacking steamed buns and soy milk as she called to me. “You’re up?”
“Honestly, at your age. Throwing up all over yourself wasn’t enough—you had to get Shen Xiao too…”
I had nothing to say.
So his name was Shen Xiao.
Sure enough, a rather nice white shirt hung beside my dress. He walked over and nodded to my chattering best friend.
“Excuse me. Could you give us a moment?”
“Sure thing.”
Ruoqiang promptly headed out, waggling her eyebrows at me before closing the door. I was baffled. “Shouldn’t I leave too?”
Shen Xiao gave me a cool glance. “If you meant what you said, there’s no need.”
He let go, and the silky bedsheet fell to the floor.
His beautifully sculpted upper body was bare in the morning light, every line smooth and clean. Long, pale fingers lifted the silky fabric onto his shoulders. Then, one by one, without the slightest hurry, he fastened the mother-of-pearl buttons all the way to the top…
Somehow, he looked utterly remote and intensely sensual at once.
I’d meant to turn him down. Instead, my mouth betrayed me.
“Of course I meant it.”
His face didn’t change, but satisfaction crept into his voice. “Good.”
Once he was dressed, he took a business card out of his cardholder and handed it to me.
“Starting today, call me at least three times a day. Don’t forget.”
“Call you?”
“Video calls are fine if you don’t like phone calls.”
“…Why?”
“So we can grow closer.”
“…”
After he strode out, I examined the stiff card. It was an ordinary laminated card, but the lettering on the front was gold: simple and luxurious.
Shen Xiao. Senior Partner, SHEN Law Firm.