19 – There is No One Behind Me, How Can I Dare to Like?
“Ning Dai.” Tang Qianluo whispered softly, a barely perceptible tremor in her voice.
His gaze was too cold and sharp, making Tang Qianluo instinctively retreat, wanting to escape this room!
Before she could turn around, Ning Dai grabbed her arm, slammed the door shut with a bang and locked it!
He gripped her slender wrist and threw her roughly onto the bed. Tang Qianluo couldn’t help shrinking backward, like a frightened rabbit.
“Ning Dai, what’s wrong with you?” Her voice carried a hint of tears.
“You’ve been avoiding me because of him, right?” He said, throwing his phone onto the bed.
The phone lit up, showing her chat history with He Luo on the screen.
“Do you like him?” Ning Dai asked expressionlessly, stepping closer step by step. “Say it! Do you like him or not?”
“No, I don’t!” Tang Qianluo answered loudly.
“Why are you avoiding me? Have I treated you poorly? Or do you want to be with him? Tell me! Hmm?”
Ning Dai’s tone rose at the end as he looked down at her.
This was a completely unfamiliar Ning Dai. Tang Qianluo had never seen him like this before – cold, violent, misanthropic!
“Ning Dai, do you like me?” She stopped retreating and lifted her chin to ask.
Ning Dai froze without answering. Like? He didn’t understand this emotion, didn’t know what liking meant. He only knew he wanted to possess Tang Qianluo exclusively. If this person refused to stay by his side, then she might as well go to hell!
“You see, you don’t even know whether you like me or not, yet you ask me why I want to escape. We were both born into Beijing’s upper class. Do I need to tell you whether love exists in this circle?”
Tang Qianluo let out a self-mocking, silent cold laugh. “Tang Chengye once said he loved Wan Qing too, but just because Wan Qing lost her fertility, he discarded her like a pet and even transferred this disgust onto innocent me!”
She covered her face with her hands, not wanting Ning Dai to see her vulnerability, but the tears streaming through her fingers betrayed her.
“Love is too fragile. So fragile that just because Wan Qing couldn’t bear a son for the Tang family, she had to humble herself to the dust to please them. She had the Wan family behind her, but I have no one behind me. I’m scared, Ning Dai. I don’t dare and don’t want to touch something so elusive!”
Tang Qianluo’s sobs brought Ning Dai back to full rationality. He bent down, embracing Tang Qianluo and holding her close, giving her warmth with his chest.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said softly.
Tang Qianluo cried for a long time until she finally cried herself to sleep from exhaustion.
Ning Dai gazed at Tang Qianluo’s sleeping face, took out his phone and dialed Mo Qi’s number.
On the other end, the man’s voice was deep and lazy. Just from his voice, one could guess what kind of passion he had just experienced!
“I’m telling you, boss, you might not have a night life but I do! You’d better have something important, otherwise it won’t make up for my emergency brake!”
“How do you usually make girls feel secure?”
Mo Qi sat up in shock, pushing away the woman hanging on him!
The sky must be raining red! The perennial straight man Ning Dai was actually asking him about women!
Good heavens, even if it were raining knives today, nothing would shock him more than this!
“Who do you want to make feel secure?” Mo Qi felt he had asked a pointless question. Who else could it be but Tang Qianluo!
But he still wanted to ask, wanting to see Ning Dai embarrassed!”If I recall correctly, the Mo family still has three cooperation proposals waiting for my signature.” Ning Dai’s voice was cold and detached.
Even through the phone, Mo Qi couldn’t help making a surrendering gesture. “Alright, alright! I won’t ask anymore!”
One had to bow under someone else’s roof. If these three contracts weren’t signed, wouldn’t the old man kill him?
“Actually, this matter is both difficult and simple. I won’t mention things like giving gifts – the most important thing is you need to give her enough trust. Without trust, how can there be any sense of security?”
Mo Qi chattered endlessly sharing his experience, but after a long while received no response from Ning Dai. Frowning, he checked his phone.
Damn it! Ning Dai had hung up long ago!
Looking at the call duration, he had only just finished talking about trust!
That bastard!
Tang Qianluo slept very soundly, not even knowing when Ning Dai had left for work. When she woke up, there was a dark blue flat gift box placed beside her.
With a confused expression, she opened the gift box. The dazzling diamond necklace inside nearly blinded her!
What the hell? What’s with this huge diamond?
A fifty-eight-facet teardrop diamond lay elegantly and steadily in the center of the gift box, its brilliance magnificent yet still unique.
The solitary diamond was surrounded by scattered smaller diamonds, refracting dazzling light under the sunshine!
Tang Qianluo opened the card beside the diamond, where the man had written in bold, arrogant handwriting – My apology!
Is he insane! Using a diamond to apologize?
Is this how rich people apologize?
Can I refuse this, I ask?
Tang Qianluo packed up the gift box, shouldered her backpack, had the butler prepare a car for her, and set off for Ning Corporation.
Unlike every previous visit to Ning Corporation, this time as soon as Tang Qianluo stepped inside, a group of men in suits hurriedly gathered around her, protecting her as if she were Ning Dai himself.
“Madam, hello! The CEO is currently in a meeting on the 18th floor. You may wait on the 24th floor first. What would you like to drink? I’ll prepare it for you!”
The secretary asked with utmost respect, almost kneeling before Tang Qianluo!
The sudden change was too rapid for Tang Qianluo to adapt to immediately.
“No need, I’m not thirsty.”
Tang Qianluo could clearly sense the employees’ fearful respect keeping them at a distance.
Puzzled, she looked around. Wherever her gaze fell, employees would nervously lower their heads to avoid her. Am I some kind of ghost? Am I that frightening?
In the 18th-floor conference room, the atmosphere had dropped to freezing point. The marketing manager stood with his head lowered as if awaiting final judgment.
Cold sweat covered his forehead, which he occasionally wiped with a handkerchief.
“Is this your report?”
Ning Dai lowered his gaze, fingertips lightly tapping the table. The tapping sound haunted the marketing manager like a death warrant, terrifying him to the extreme!
Suddenly, Ji Xiangyang leaned over and whispered something to Ning Dai. His icy expression finally showed a slight crack.
“Meeting postponed. If you waste my time with such garbage again next time, get out of Ning Corporation!”
With that, Ning Dai stood up and left.
The people in the room breathed sighs of relief as if they had escaped from a tiger’s mouth. The manager who had been presenting directly collapsed onto the floor!
So terrifying! So life-shortening!
In the CEO’s office, Tang Qianluo stood bored by the floor-to-ceiling window watching the traffic below.
Ning Dai’s office had an excellent location – not only offering broad views but also providing a panoramic view of the capital’s canal.
She marveled at the extravagance of capitalism, failing to notice someone approaching from behind.”What are you doing?” Ning Dai’s deep voice sounded beside Tang Qianluo’s ear.
She jumped in surprise and turned around abruptly, falling right into Ning Dai’s trap.
A slight smile curled at the corner of Ning Dai’s lips as he looked at the girl who had thrown herself into his arms, warmth flickering in his eyes.