861 I Like You More

Lu Zihao once again dropped off Long Jinjing at Orchidia Beauty. They were silent for almost the entire ride because both were preoccupied by their own thoughts. When the car stopped in front of the office building, Long Jinjing didn't get off immediately.

"Nikolai," she called in a soft voice.

"Hm?"

"Uhm…" She bit her lip and looked at him warily. "When you were talking to my mom at home earlier, you…uhm, you were acting so w-weird."

He sighed and cursed the remnant, even though he was the one who allowed it to temporarily take over the body in order to deal with Long Jinjing's mother in a mindful way that he couldn't. The only problem was that he didn't expect that the remnant would be so good at it to the point of charming Sun Jingfei into accepting him as her daughter's boyfriend right away. However, it also made his woman uncomfortable. 

The remnant didn't react to his internal cursing. It had become silent since he finished showering at the condo. Perhaps it ran out of energy and had to recharge for now in order to have a conversation with him again later. He wasn't looking forward to being pestered again but he couldn't do anything about it for now. 

"Don't think too much about it anymore," he replied to Long Jinjing. "I was just acting mindful to your mother as per your request."

"I requested you to be mindful, not act like a completely different person! You called me b-babe!" Her face turned red. "It was so…c-creepy!"

"Creepy?" His expression turned black. Once again, he had the urge to beat up the remnant. But then he turned curious. "You don't like it when I call you 'babe'?"

"I…" Her face turned even redder before she looked away to avoid his eyes. "I…don't mind it. I just…uhm, it doesn't sound right coming from you."

"Heh~"

She peeked at him out of the corner of her eye. "And didn't you say that you don't like saying sweet, mushy things?"

He didn't reply but continued to observe her expression. 

Long Jinjing squirmed on her seat as she felt the weight of his gaze.

Finally, he said, "You don't like it when I act sweet to you like that?"

"I like it…but it's too creepy coming from you," she whispered and turned her eyes outside the window, feeling too shy to look at him. She didn't see his expression turning blacker because of what she said. 

"Jinjing, look at me," he said in a commanding voice.

"Who do you like more? Me, Nikolai? Or that rogue who charmed your mother and called you 'babe'?"

The devilish smile he flashed made her IQ plummet to amoeba level as usual. No surprise there. Yet it also comforted her. This was the smile that she knew, not the charming, carefree smile he used in front of her mother earlier that creeped her out. 

"Good," he said. Then his smile was gone and he turned serious. "When I start acting like that again in the future, don't let me kiss you. Do you understand, Jinjing?"

"H-huh?" Her amoeba-level brain hadn't returned to normal yet.

He repeated what he said, causing her to become even more confused but she still agreed because she could sense that this was important to him. She didn't know what was going on with him. Perhaps this was another one of his fetishes—pretending that he had a dual personality or something. What a weird man.

"Now give your boyfriend a kiss before the security guard knocks at our window again," he said.

She felt shy but she still leaned towards him. But before she could kiss him, he grabbed her head and smashed his open mouth against her delicate lips in an almost brutal kiss. A whimper escaped from her throat as her body thrummed with need. When the kiss ended, both of them were panting.

"I'll pick you up later after work," he told her. "Don't forget our dinner with your mother tonight."

She nodded like a stupid idiot before getting off the car like a mindless zombie. The kiss affected her so much that she forgot to check her appearance before climbing off the car. She didn't notice the employees giving her furtive glances. More specifically, they were looking at her once again tomato-red face and swollen lips.

This was the second time that Orchidia Beauty's CFO Long Jinjing arrived at the company looking like she had received some fierce and passionate loving so early in the morning. Now everyone felt curious about the identity of their CFO's man. 

As for Long Jinjing, she snapped out of her daze as soon as she reached her office. Work was hectic. She couldn't afford to be absent-minded and waste time daydreaming about her boyfriend. 

###

Shadow Winds Headquarters.

After an important strategy meeting with his team leaders, Lu Zihao headed to the underground armoury to inspect the new shipment of weapons they received last night. He wasn't pleased by the quality. They were a far cry to the ones he was used to in his past life. 

The Vetrov organization manufactured their own weapons and also sold slightly inferior ones to selected customers all over the world. Although they sold slightly inferior versions of the weapons that they used themselves, Vetrov weapons were still some of the best in the world. In fact, arms sales were among the top three most lucrative businesses that their organization controlled.

"How are they, Boss Hao?" his subordinate asked, interrupting his thoughts. 

"Terrible," Lu Zihao replied.

"These are already the highest quality that we can procure with our current connections and financial capability. We're still a new group and the arms dealers are wary of us. Because they don't know anything about us yet, they're all giving us their highest rates with barely any discounts."

Lu Zihao grunted. He knew the drill because the Vetrovs were also one of the biggest arms dealers in the past.