Chapter 323: The Jokes on Me

She felt herself blush as she looked at him. The effect his body had on her only seemed to grow more intense as her feelings grew for him. 

"Is that bikini new?" he asked as his eyes moved over her body. 

"I bought it a long time ago. Never had the opportunity to wear it," she said quickly. 

"Its looks…" he trailed off. 

"It looks what?" She smiled as she walked over to him, swaying her hops as she moved. 

"I was saying that it looks good on you. But I think it's you that makes it look good." He shook his head in disbelief. "How do you manage to pull off the most hideous looking things?"

She laughed hard as she took his hand. 

"Come on." 

She led him outside and down the short stairs and into the water. I was dark out and if she were alone, she would be a little scared to go into the water. She had a fear of pools in the dead of the night, but she often ventured into them with Mo Qingchen. She felt like she couldn't see what was in the water unless the sun was up. 

But the moon was big and bright and she could see Mo Qingchen perfectly even without the lights in the room. 

She let go of his hand and waded out. The water was the perfect temperature, warm but still refreshing. 

"The view from here is so beautiful. Isn't it the best view ever?" she asked. Their pool was heated and looked over the building. The infinity pool was sought after and rather famous. She would have to thank Li Min for booking this room later on.

"It's up there," he said with a nod. 

"Up there?"

He nodded. "It is beautiful."

She was clearly more impressed than he was, and she was beginning to wonder about all the other places he had been and the beautiful things he had seen. Where had he gone? Did he have someone with him? 

She decided to be honest. "Have you ever taken other women to beautiful places?" she asked.

"No," he answered immediately. "I had no reason to."

"You always travelled alone? Did you enjoy it?"

He hesitated before answering her. "I have never had a relationship with a woman before. Why would I bring them somewhere with me?"

"Good question." Now she felt a little stupid for asking. 

"I did enjoy going places and eating good food alone. But now that I think about it, I might have enjoyed it more if I had gone with you." Actually, he looked forward to it now.

"I want to go too." She sighed. "I think I will have to rethink my work hours very seriously," she contemplated.

They were silent for a moment. "I have always been curious about one thing. Can I ask?"

He nodded. 

"I remembered because I brought up other women… We never really had really personal sex, did we? In the beginning, we were always facing away from each other."

"And?" Mo Qingchen prompted. 

"Was it the same between you and the other women? I always wondered why… What was it like with other women?"

Mo Qingchen blinked. "Do you really want to know about the way I had sex with other women?"

"I'm just curious. I won't be jealous," she shrugged. 

"No. I didn't only have sex with them from behind."

She felt a lump in her throat. Her mind began racing with insecurities. Was she not as attractive as those other women?

"Oh."

"But it was because of that… that I tried to keep it from you."

She scrunched her brow in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"You know what my intentions were when I proposed to you. I didn't think either of us needed romantic feelings for me to keep you out of harm's way. Actually, there haven't been that many women, and even though all of them knew that I was emotional unavailable, some of them did expect more from me later on." He stopped to look at her.

"You didn't want me to develop feelings for you," she stated. 

"No. I didn't. I was trying to take measures to prevent it from happening," he explained. 

"I see. Well, you think awfully highly of yourself!" she joked, even thought her voice was a little strained. 

"The joke is on me, though. I am the one who developed feelings, regardless of all the measures I took myself." His lips twitched upwards. 

The words softened her a little. He may have acted a certain way because of his intentions in the beginning but it wasn't that way any longer.

Mo Qingchen stepped closer to her and Qian Meng went to him. 

"You're not alone in that," she told him, placing her hands on his sides.

"I am thankful for that. I have a closer look at what those women might have felt. If I had developed feelings for you and you didn't reciprocate…" he paused thoughtfully. "It would have been difficult."

She agreed. "I am glad it didn't happen to me alone, too. I would have been hurt. But I kind of feel sorry for those women, too. They didn't get to see you like this." She pinched his cheek. 

"Okay. We need to stop talking about other women. I don't want to spend any more of my time with you talking about inconsequential people." He looked very serious. 

"We won't talk about them, then," she agreed. 

Qian Meng floated on the water for a while before her thoughts caught up to her. "I can't believe I told you about that dreaded dream that felt too real. Apparently, all of it happened in real."

Actually, the concept fascinated her from time to time.

Mo Qingchen rested on the side, watching her. "How does it feel to finally tell someone? After keeping it to yourself for all this time?"

She pondered on the question as she turned and stood up. It felt good that they both knew the story.