CH 5

As soon as the words left my mouth, he cupped my face and slowly leaned in.

My brain was a total wreck at that point so I could no longer think straight. Subconsciously, I tried to reach out and cover my lips, yet in the next second, I felt a warm feeling land on my face.

To be more exact, it was on the left side of my face, near the corner of my mouth.

In a trance, I felt his eyelashes sweep against my eyelids. That slight tickling sensation reminded me of the scenes in my dreams the past few nights.

They seemed to overlap with the current situation. When he finished kissing my face and slowly raising his head to stare at me, he licked his lips and whispered:

“How sweet.”

His fingers were still slowly rubbing circles around my face. I widened my eyes and stared ahead, but my mind was slowly shutting down again.

I know where he was kissing.

Where my dimple is at.

What kind of weird fucking fetish is that? But what’s even more strange, was why my legs went limp from just a kiss on the face?

The other day when I was forcefully kissed in the car, I was able to push past him and flee at light speed. But now, as I stand in this small cubicle and being watched closely like this, I feel a sense of panic and dread that I couldn’t escape.

While I was still blanking out, I vaguely felt that something was gradually coming loose from my hand that was hanging at my side.

Ah…is that my purity…

I lowered my gaze and looked at it.

Fuck! My bills!

Seeing a whole stack of red bills about to fly straight into the toilet bowl, a hand flew out from the corner of my widened eyes and narrowly caught them along with my hand, holding them both together in his own.

He clutched my hand, pulled open my jacket and stuffed those bills back into my pocket.

“Keep them well, don’t lose them again.”

These are your fucking money though? Must you put them back here? Do you see me as a bank that can generate interest?

He wanted to continue saying something else, but the phone suddenly rang.

While he answered the phone, he reached out to adjust his tie but kept his eyes on me the entire time. He frowned at one point, with a hint of regret flashing across his eyes.

The door opened with a click as he stepped outside.

I was still immersed in the happiness of this narrow escape, so grateful that I was close to tears. Yet I saw him turn around suddenly, narrowing his eyes and staring at the name tag on my chest, repeating my student ID in a low voice.

“W-W-What are you doing?”

He shook his head, “I memorized it.”

What did you memorize? What do you mean? Does this mean you’re still going to harass me from now on?!

Angry yet anxious, I ran out in a few steps and shouted at his back, “Guy with the Shen surname, you fucking…”

“Xiao Xia?”

The flames within me instantly distinguished. I turned around and looked at the female senior that came out of the women’s bathroom across the corridor with an extremely guilty expression.

She curiously looked at the silhouette of that guy at the end of the corridor and asked, “You knew that guy?”

“No…I…”

“Seems like you two are pretty close.”

“No…actually…”

“Since when did you know such an amazingly handsome man? Why didn’t you introduce him to me.”

“I-I-I don’t know him!”

“You’re fooling around again,” She smiled at me, “In that case, it happens that the logistics team is short of people. You’ll be responsible for sending their team back to the hotel at night. How about that?”

“……”

“Sorry for the trouble! I’ll treat you to dinner next time!”

As I watched her stomp away on her small heels, I reached out to touch my own chest to see if my weak heart was still beating.

Instead, I touched that thick stack of bills that let out a silent mocking laugh.

“Senior, you’re forcing this cute junior of yours…to walk on a path of being bent…”

I stayed behind at the venue after lunch to help move a few boxes of mineral water around. Then, I went back to take a shower and rested at the corner of the conference hall in the remaining time to enjoy the free air conditioning while watching some big shot seniors talking eloquently on the stage, uttering terms that I couldn’t understand at all.

As I was about to drift off to sleep, the girl sleeping next to me who was responsible for registration suddenly let out a cry, “Damn, what kind of godly visuals are those?”

I glanced at the stage and the person standing in front of the big screen was none other than Shen Die.

That guy’s height was not inferior to any foreigners in the venue. His looks and figure are even more needless to say. In the words of a girl, it would be the ascetic pretty boy.

What ascetic bullshit. Tsk. He’s clearly so freaking horny.

The second I thought of that, I felt the left side of my face heat up immediately. No matter how I fanned it, still it wouldn’t cool down.

I had this dimple on my face since I was really young. Strangely, it only grew on one side of my face. Even when I don’t show any expressions, there will still be a shallow indentation. But it’d be more obvious when I smile. The elders in my family always said that dimples attract romance, but because of this trait, I’ve only ever been complimented by girls as ‘cute’. What other purpose does it have? I was even depressed about it for a period of time, but it seems like the romance-attraction part was categorized into male and female.

While sighing inwardly, the girl next to me picked up her phone and clicked a series of photos while nudging me with her elbow: “Xiao Xia, I heard…”

I perked up immediately, “I don’t know him!”

“What?” She gave me a strange look, “I heard that you’re responsible for that handsome guy though?”

Responsible? What responsible? Choose your words more carefully.

“Hm? Do you want to switch with me?”

“I do want to, but unfortunately I don’t have the time.” She said regrettably, “So I can only ask you for a favour. Help me get his Weibo contact.”

“What?”

“Please, Xiao Xia. I have a group of sisters waiting for it. I’ll treat you to a big meal afterwards. It would be nice if you could take some close up photos of him too.”

“Do you know that he’s actually…”

“Ah…the type of girls he like?”

He likes men.

Of course I didn’t dare to say that out loud. It was just a silent sigh in my heart.

A straight girl encountering a gay guy, she’s destined to be heartbroken. What a sinful fate.

After 8pm, I finished my dinner in the cafeteria and received a call from my female sister rushing me. So I had no choice but to speed up my dilly-dallying and run to the venue entrance for my volunteer duties.

By this time, most participants have already arrived and scattered all over the venue. I saw Shen Die from afar. He was standing alone away from the crowd, with one hand in the pocket of his suit. Even his standing pose was much more flirtatious than others.

I walked over in cautious steps, looking left and right but couldn’t spot any foreigners who are in the same team as him so I asked, “How come you’re the only one here?”

He said: “They went to the bar.”

When I heard that word being said, I subconsciously thought of the gay bar. Looking up at him, I asked, “Why didn’t you go then?”

He didn’t answer me, only raising an eyebrow with an expression clearing saying, “Why do you think so?”

I intended to mock him for pretending to be all innocent at first, but I grew uncomfortable under that gaze of his so I turned around and started walking away in large strides to hide my embarrassment. “Let’s hurry and go then!”

I stopped a cab at the entrance of the university. In order not to sit with him, I quickly leaped into the passenger seat and closed the door with a bang.

He went to the back seat naturally then. I couldn’t tell if it was because the driver was in the car too, so he had to show some restraints, but he didn’t speak much throughout the entire ride, maintaining his cold and unapproachable persona.

As the car got near the hotel, I was preparing to get off already but suddenly thought of something. I turned towards the driver and smiled, “Sir, please give me the receipt later.”

I looked up at him when I accepted the receipt, meeting his eyes in the rear view mirror. He kinda looked like he was smiling.

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What is he smiling at? Am I not allowed to reimburse this taxi ride? If you’re so smug, pay it yourself then!

After we got off the car, I folded the receipt carefully and tucked it safely away in my pocket. Suddenly, I heard someone beside me ask, “Are you that short of money?”

“I am, so what?” I may be poor but I have my pride and dignity still.

“Then why don’t you want my money?”

“How is that the same thing?” I said, “That’s not something I deserve.”

“You can make it into something you do deserve.”

I was stunned by those words, “What?”

Taking a turn into a secluded alley, he suddenly stopped and whispered to me, “Do you want to make a business deal with me?”

I immediately took two guarded steps back, “What for? I’m a straight guy, I don’t sell my body!”

“No need to sell your body. You can sell something else.”

“What do you mean?”

The kiss during the day, I’ll count it as 50 yuan. It’ll be deducted from here.” He reached out and tapped his finger on my chest twice, “And after everything is deducted, you won’t owe me anything anymore.”

My mouth was wide open, thoroughly shocked by such a display of wisdom from him.

I was wrong. He wasn’t treating me like a bank at all.

He was fucking treating me like a membership card.

He must be fucking dreaming! How about I give you a few hundred bucks too, and you give me a premium discount then!!

I revealed his hidden motive right away and said, “You’re obviously trying to bend me! I won’t fall for it!”

He didn’t deny it but said, “Didn’t you say you’re straight? What are you so afraid of, if you can’t possibly be bent?”

…That sounded quite logical too.

He continued in an unhurried pace, “Didn’t you want to get rid of me badly? I will leave once that debt is cleared. You won’t lose anything, even earning an extra amount of money. Doesn’t that sound great?”

This guy used a deep, low voice to negotiate his terms, somehow excluding a tempting aura. I swallowed nervously, refusing to admit that I actually had the momentary impulse to agree to him.