Chapter 5

Chapter 5

To look or not to look—that was the question.

If I looked, my conscience twinged.

If I didn’t… what a waste.

After all, opportunities like this were rare.

We had lived together for an entire year, and Yu Lize always wrapped himself as neatly as if he might attend a banquet at any moment.

This was my first glimpse of him looking so casual…

Wait. No.

My head snapped up, and I stared at him in disbelief.

Why was his outfit identical to the one I’d recommended to my online client?

I wasn’t stupid.

Once or twice could be coincidence, but by now the evidence was practically slapping me in the face.

The man with zero romantic intelligence, skin thinner than paper, money to burn, and the heart of the world’s most devoted simp…

And the unsmiling, breathtakingly handsome business genius before me, who had run circles around seasoned corporate foxes while still young…

Were indeed the same person.

And I was the cold, heartless wife who loved another man, used him, then threw him away.

I stared at him.

Well, well, well, Yu Lize. So that was how he saw me!

If I didn’t know myself, he might have fooled me.

Had I not tried to close the distance between us? Who ran faster than a rabbit whenever I approached? Who?

And this great love of mine—who was that supposed to be? I didn’t even know I had one. Bring whoever told him that out here and let them confront me!

If the timing hadn’t been wrong, I would have seized his collar and demanded answers to every charge.

Perhaps he sensed my anger, because he paused. “Is that day inconvenient for you?”

I said nothing, merely stared with gritted teeth.

After a dozen seconds, he looked away. “Sorry. Forget it, then.”

He turned hastily to leave.

As he did, I caught sight of the faint redness at the tips of his ears.

Only then did I belatedly remember that, even with this awful image of me, he still didn’t want a divorce.

All those clumsy, passionate words that bordered on confessions rose in my mind as well.

Before he could leave, I instinctively grabbed his wrist.

He glanced at our overlapping hands. His lashes trembled, but his face remained cool.

“What is it?”

I looked from the bright-red tips of his ears to his aloof expression.

For some reason, I suddenly wanted to tease him.

“Nothing. I just think…”

My gaze traveled slowly down his handsome face, long neck, and exposed chest.

Then I stepped closer and whispered, “You seem a little different tonight.”

Yu Lize’s pupils widened. He instinctively tried to retreat, only to discover I still held his wrist.

Unable to escape, he turned his face away and leaned back as far as possible. “Miss He, you’re… too close.”

Warm yellow light filled the second-floor corridor.

It let me see the faint blush spreading from his ears to his cheeks.

He looked surprisingly easy to bully.

My free hand itched.

I wouldn’t do much.

Just a tiny, tiny bit.

I released his wrist and touched the edge of his robe instead.

Yu Lize spun back, eyes wide.

His lips parted twice as though he wanted to speak, but he hesitated.

Seizing the opportunity, I traced the line of his collar from his clavicle downward.

The silk was smooth, the skin beneath it supple and warm. Perhaps the corridor was chilly, because it held a faint coolness, like polished white jade.

My fingertip traveled down his chest. When I brushed some sensitive place, his body stiffened and his breathing grew ragged.

With a hoarse, panicked gasp, he protested, “Wait. Not out here…”

Before he finished, I seized both sides of the robe and yanked them closed, wrapping him securely.

Then I patted his shoulder with impeccable righteousness.

“Autumn is here. You’ll catch cold dressed like that, so I closed it for you.”

Yu Lize fell speechless.

The turn apparently stunned him. He stared at me, rare confusion showing in those silver-gray eyes.

Pretending not to notice, I suppressed my laughter. “By the way, what were you saying about ‘not out here’?”

The instant I asked, his face and neck turned red as a cooked crab.

He stepped back and forced out, “Nothing. You misheard.”

Then he fled.

This time I didn’t stop him. I merely called after him, “Yu Lize, I’ll be at the banquet in two weeks.”