Bai Tao hadn’t expected Qi Heting to eat directly from her hand.
From her angle, all she could see were Qi Heting’s long lashes fluttering against his eyelids.
“How is it?” Bai Tao asked cautiously.
Qi Heting looked up.
A lock of hair slipped down past his ear, drawing her gaze to his lips.
He still wore that gentle smile.
“Mm, it’s truly delicious.”
For some reason, Bai Tao felt as if everything about Qi Heting had suddenly faded, as if all the color had been drained away.
Even his current smile looked completely fake.
‘He’s lying.’
Bai Tao sat back down with a look of disdain, picked up her teacup, and gently blew on the surface of the tea.
“Senior Qi, you can just say so if it doesn’t taste good.”
Qi Heting toyed with the rim of his teacup.
“How did you know I wasn’t telling the truth?”
“A gut feeling,” Bai Tao said, picking up the milk pitcher and adding a splash to her cup.
“Who smiles in such a textbook-perfect way when they eat something delicious?”
Qi Heting took a sip of tea.
“Perhaps my way of expressing myself is just different from most people.”
“But micro-expressions don’t lie,” Bai Tao said, all business.
“For example, when you get close to someone you dislike, you might be smiling, but your body will still adopt a defensive posture.”
“Like leaning your body slightly away from them, or subconsciously keeping a certain distance during physical contact.”
“So by using those cues, you can…”
Bai Tao snapped her mouth shut, swallowing the rest of her sentence: ‘…exploit their psychological state to complete the mission.’
‘I’m screwed.’
‘My professional habits are kicking in again.’
Qi Heting set down his teacup and propped his head on one hand.
“You can what?”
“Why did you stop, Bai?”
Bai Tao took a deep breath.
“I…
lost my train of thought.”
“Anyway, that’s how it is in TV dramas.
I figure…
reality is probably similar.”
Qi Heting also picked up the milk pitcher, pouring a little into his tea.
“So, Bai, what are your micro-expressions like when you eat something delicious?”
Bai Tao scratched her cheek.
“You can’t fake micro-expressions.”
‘Forget the last cream puff, she’d already squeezed out every last drop of filling.’
‘How was she supposed to put on a performance with no “food”?’
“Then some other time,” he said, looking up again with a soft laugh.
“Next time I make dessert, I’ll have to invite you over again, Bai.”
He passed a napkin across the table to her.
Lifting his gaze, he said, “I’ll be watching closely…
for your micro-expressions, Bai.”
A noisy commotion erupted outside, and Qi Heting stood up.
“It seems Sen and Mu are back from the board meeting.”
Bai Tao was puzzled.
“How did they find us here?”
“Animals are always more sensitive to scents, after all.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Zuo Senye and Zuo Mubai strode into the culinary classroom in unison, grabbing Bai Tao’s hands.
“Little Taotao, have you decided who gets to go first?”
The tension between them was palpable, as if World War III could break out at any second.
Suddenly, two snow-white tails shot out like arrows, wrapping around each of the brothers.
Qi Heting held a saucer in one hand, the other hooking a finger through the handle of his teacup.
Sunlight streamed through the floor-to-ceiling windows, drawing a sharp line between light and shadow on the floor.
He was tall and slender, and standing in the shadows made him look rather frail.
The only things that seemed to glow were his golden eyes.
Qi Heting set down his cup, the porcelain making a soft click.
“Sen.
Mu.
Brothers should get along.”
Zuo Senye and Zuo Mubai snorted, reigning in the hostile aura that was practically spilling out of them.
“We’ll settle this at home.”
Neither brother was willing to back down, and they began to lead Bai Tao away.
She glanced to the side, her gaze following the path of the retracting tails back to Qi Heting.
The moment their eyes met, his thin, pale pink lips moved, silently forming the words:
*See you next time, Bai.*
The three of them disappeared from his sight.
Qi Heting lowered his gaze, staring into the clear, crimson tea.
A few dregs had settled at the bottom of the cup.
For a moment, it was as if he could see it all again: the corners of Bai Tao’s mouth, unable to stay down as she ate the cream puff; her eyes, curved like crescent moons; and—
—the little flecks of pastry that would occasionally appear at the corners of her mouth as she ate.
He took out his phone, tapped on a contact with no saved name, and made a call.
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Look up Bai Tao from Finance, Class 3…
find out which practical studies course she’s taking.”
“And switch me into the same one.”
He hung up and leaned against the wall, the girl’s words replaying in his mind.
‘She was always saying the strangest things.’
Without realizing it, the corners of his lips curved into a faint smile.
Following beside the two brothers from lunch all the way back to the car, Bai Tao felt her head spinning from their bickering.
‘But honestly, she had no idea who to choose first.’
‘Couldn’t the three of them just live together?’
‘Waking up in the morning with a handsome face to her left and another handsome face to her right.’
‘How wonderful would that be?’
The sound of their incessant arguing filled her ears.
It didn’t stop, even when they reached the front door of their house.
Bai Tao always needed a nap after lunch, and at this rate, their bickering would never end.
She couldn’t help but cut in.
“Why don’t you two just play rock-paper-scissors?”
“No way.”
“We can never settle anything with rock-paper-scissors.
We always throw the same thing.”
Zuo Senye suddenly had an idea.
He took Bai Tao’s hand and started leading her toward the back garden.
“Come on, Little Taotao.”
For once, Zuo Mubai didn’t react in sync with his brother.
He immediately grabbed Bai Tao’s other hand.
“What are you doing, Sen?”
Zuo Senye cocked his head to the side.
“She can’t tell us apart anyway, can she?”
“So it doesn’t matter to Little Taotao who goes first, does it?”
“So let’s have her close her eyes.
We’ll swap places, and whoever she picks gets to go first.”
Bai Tao felt the hand Zuo Mubai was holding hers with tighten for a split second.
“That makes sense.” Zuo Mubai let go of Bai Tao.
“We’ll go with that plan.”
“Sen, go ask Housekeeper Jiang to find a blindfold.”
Zuo Senye agreed.
“All right, you two go wait for me in the back garden.”
Zuo Mubai and Bai Tao sat down in the white gazebo in the back garden.
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye.
The girl beside him was getting drowsy.
Her head nodded down from time to time, her dark lashes fluttering.
The gazebo’s roof broke the sunlight into irregular patches of light that dappled her body.
His pale gray eyes slowly drifted downward, tracing over her brows, her eyes, her nose, and her mouth, all dappled in the shifting light.
‘He was reminded of the last time in the car, when she had insisted he wasn’t Sen.’
‘What if it wasn’t a coincidence?’
“Little Taotao.”
“Hmm?” Bai Tao was startled by her name, but she was so sleepy she could only manage a lazy hum in response.
She turned her head toward the sound, only to find her forehead bumping against Zuo Mubai’s.
His handsome, boyish features—the delicate mole under his eye accentuating his soulful, almond-shaped eyes—were suddenly magnified in her vision.
His little finger, from the hand he was using to prop himself up, brushed against hers.
‘Might as well give it a try.
What’s the harm?’
Zuo Mubai’s lips twitched.
“Little Taotao, I like you more than Sen does.”
“So in a little while…”
“Don’t choose Sen.
Choose me.”
The corners of his lips curled up into a sly, wicked grin.
“If you choose correctly, good girls get an extra reward.”