Chapter 5

At noon the next day, Qin Ruanruan did not wait for Zhou Bai to bring her. She arrived first and knocked on my office door with my lunch box in hand.

I let her in and saw that she was dressed in a pale pink tracksuit. She looked as warm and cozy as a little rabbit nesting for the winter.

She smiled sincerely at me. “Mr. Lin, I heated your food ahead of time.”

I gestured for her to set it on the table, then closed my laptop.

I walked over, tired after a morning of work. I loosened my tie and casually tossed it aside, then undid two buttons on my shirt. “Thank you for the trouble.”

Qin Ruanruan avoided my gaze and pressed her lips together nervously.

Only then did I realize that I stood in the lounge doorway while Qin Ruanruan had backed up against the coffee machine. The only way forward was to pass beside me.

But there was too little space between us. To get past me, she would have to move even closer.

My height made me loom over her.

Many men had done this to me before, treating their height as an advantage. Whether I liked them or not, they always interpreted my rejection as encouragement. They crowded closer, trying to make their hormones and imposing presence force me to submit.

Perhaps in their minds, the pressure I felt was actually a kind of flirtation that would leave me dreaming about them.

In reality, all I felt was small and helpless.

I could not reject people I disliked. I could not repel those shameless thugs. I could only beg them to leave me alone, rather than standing tall myself, looking them in the eye, and swinging a fist at them.

I readily took a step back and bent slightly until I was eye level with Qin Ruanruan. “You don’t look well. Would you like a glass of warm water?”

“If I made you nervous, I apologize.” I turned and picked up a cup. “I’m quite good at making coffee too. Would you like to try some?”

Qin Ruanruan stared for a moment, shook her head inarticulately, then hurried through the doorway to the dining table.

She sighed in relief, then turned back to me. “Mr. Lin, you—you must be hungry. Please sit down and eat.”

I rolled up my sleeves and sat down. “I am. I spent the morning in several meetings where no one said anything remotely coherent. I’m starving.”

Qin Ruanruan looked curious. “Do you find going to work painful too?”

I laughed. “More than that. Ordinary employees can relieve their stress with junk food. We domineering CEOs can only chug black coffee and whiskey.”

The woman burst into laughter and covered her mouth. “You’re very funny.”

I went along with it and kept teasing her. “I prefer to call it an honest account of reality.”

Smiling, Qin Ruanruan sat beside me. It was the first time she had ever chosen to come so close.

Like a curious little rabbit, she cocked her head and gazed at me with bright, sparkling eyes. “Then what sort of worries does a domineering CEO usually have?”

I tilted my head to mimic her. “Who knows? Perhaps a domineering CEO gets angry when his coffee order doesn’t qualify for a five-yuan discount.”

When Qin Ruanruan smiled, her eyes curved like crescents. She was beautiful.

I smiled too. “You look lovely when you smile, madam.”

The system began shrieking over and over inside my head. “Aaaah! Is this the invincible king of seduction? You completed the first line without even trying!”

Qin Ruanruan froze, her face gradually flushing.

She lowered her head, her voice growing softer. “Actually, no one has ever complimented me before.”

I frowned in confusion. “How is that possible? You’re a wonderful person.”

Qin Ruanruan lowered her head further. “They all say I like seducing men…”

I crooked one pale, slender finger and gently lifted the woman’s chin.

Qin Ruanruan stared at me blankly. Her eyes were wet, tears streaked her cheeks, and misery filled her expression.

I looked at her earnestly, pulled a tissue from the side, and slowly, gently wiped the tears from her face.

“They say that because they’re afraid you might seduce men.”

“The men spreading those rumors are bitter that you didn’t seduce them. The women see you as a rival—and they know they’ve already lost to you.”

I crumpled the tissue and lightly tossed it into the trash, my voice softening. “Those pieces of garbage who can do nothing but spread rumors will sink deeper and deeper into their own unhappy lives until they’re nothing but mud.”

Qin Ruanruan sobbed. More and more tears spilled over her lashes and dampened her face.

I sighed softly. She reminded me of myself when I had been bullied in high school. My brows drew together in sympathy, and I gently gathered her into my arms.

“Keep crying and you won’t be pretty anymore.”

The woman in my arms sniffled, her fluffy head bobbing against me.

She was so adorable that tenderness seeped into my gaze. I lightly patted her head to comfort her. “Many people will cherish you in the future.”

The system kept screaming so wildly that my brain hurt. “This! Is this how you seduce a woman? Aaaah, I ship you two so much!”

I looked down on it. “I simply don’t like seeing girls upset.”

While the system and I argued inside my head, the lounge door was suddenly pulled open from outside with a faint, peculiar creak.

I turned around. Zhou Bai stood there quietly with two lunch boxes, his expression cold yet touched by an oddly gentle warmth—

“What are you two doing?”