Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The man I’d been dating online for three years…
Had appeared right in front of me, in the flesh.
The impact was too much.
For a few seconds, my mind went completely blank.
By the time I came back to myself,
I saw his footsteps pause.
Then he abruptly changed direction.
And walked straight toward us.
My heart pounded wildly.
Carefully, I lifted my eyes.
The handsome man had a blank expression, his entire body radiating an icy aura that warned strangers to stay away.
He was wearing a black shirt I had once seen in a photo, the clean lines outlining his broad shoulders and narrow waist.
A section of wrist showed at his cuff, faint blue veins lying beneath his skin, restrained yet powerful.
Qin Song. He was taller than in the photos, more handsome than in the photos, and even harder to look away from.
Our supervisor quietly told us
that President Qin was here to inspect the work.
She told everyone not to be nervous.
He wouldn’t have time to bother with us interns.
The moment she finished speaking,
Qin Song’s steps suddenly slowed by half a beat.
A cufflink slipped from his wrist without warning.
It hit the floor with two crisp bounces,
rolled past my foot,
then stopped with perfect precision at Xia Tao’s feet beside me.
The air seemed to fall silent for an instant.
Qin Song stopped in front of us.
To be precise,
he stopped in front of Xia Tao.
The two of them stood face-to-face, very close together-one cold and aloof, the other bright and beautiful.
They looked remarkably well matched.
I couldn’t help holding my breath.
Four words popped into my mind:
A perfect couple.
Seeing this,
the secretary immediately moved to pick up the cufflink.
But Qin Song suddenly raised a hand
and calmly stopped him.
Xia Tao blinked.
As if she had understood something,
she hurriedly picked it up
and handed it to Qin Song with a blush.
“President Qin, you dropped this…”
Qin Song didn’t take it right away.
Instead, he lowered his eyes
and slowly took two steps closer to Xia Tao.
I was standing closest to Xia Tao.
As Qin Song approached,
a faint, elegant scent of cologne instantly lingered at the tip of my nose.
Fir and citrus intertwined, crisp and cool with a trace of warmth.
I knew that scent all too well.
It was the first-anniversary gift I had personally chosen for him in our online relationship.
I had gone to counter after counter, testing bottle after bottle, before finally settling on this one.
I pressed my lips together.
Without letting anything show, I glanced sideways.
Qin Song was staring at the top of Xia Tao’s head as if no one else existed.
Dark emotions surged in his eyes.
There was the joy of recovering something he’d lost, the excitement of reuniting after a long separation, and even a trace of grievance from having been abandoned.
Xia Tao held up her hand for a long time, but the man in front of her didn’t react. She couldn’t help reminding him softly,
“P-President Qin?”
Qin Song seemed to be pulled back to reality by her voice.
He cleared his throat.
Without changing expression, he raised his hand and took it.
“Thank you.”
After a pause,
his fingertips lightly brushed across Xia Tao’s palm.
Then Qin Song added in a low voice,
“Xia Tao.”
His voice was slightly choked.
Xia Tao’s face went completely red.
“Yes, I’m Xia Tao, President Qin…”
“…”
Qin Song went silent for two seconds.
Then he stared at Xia Tao’s face for a full five minutes.
Finally, reluctant to leave, he turned and walked away.
Only then did I dare to breathe. When I touched my back, it was already soaked with cold sweat.
I collapsed into my workstation chair and sat there in a daze for a long time before taking out my phone and searching Qin Song’s name.
A string of financial news articles bearing his name instantly appeared before my eyes.
I sucked in a sharp breath.