Xia Qianqian’s pretty, delicate face went completely pale.
Oh no—the man was awake!
She looked up and saw that the handsome man’s eyes were already open. His dark gaze was unfathomable, making her heart flutter with fear.
“I, I…”
Xia Qianqian’s heart trembled. Her beautiful eyes were full of panic and helplessness, like a startled little deer.
Fu Beichen looked down at her. The frightened, helpless way she looked now made her seem like a pitiful little thing.
His long, pale fingers pinched her chin. His low, magnetic voice was dangerous to the extreme.
“Trying to run?”
With the man holding her chin, Xia Qianqian had no choice but to face him.
His gaze was deep, like a beast’s—bewitching and dangerous.
Her lips trembled slightly. “I’m sorry. Last night was an accident…”
“I was drugged and not in my right mind, so I agreed to something I shouldn’t have…”
“You saved me, and I’m grateful, but I can’t have a child with you.”
“Let’s just pretend nothing happened last night. You can pretend you never met me, okay?”
The thought that she had lost her virginity to the man in front of her—and still had to thank him for saving her—made Xia Qianqian want to cry.
She was the one who’d come off worse!
The man had been so rough with her that now she hurt all over.
Fu Beichen frowned slightly.
After spending the whole night in such intimate contact with him, she wanted to draw a clear line between them the very next morning?
A phrase suddenly came to mind: taking what he wanted and then walking away without a care—
Were women these days really so open that they could sleep with a man without expecting him to take responsibility?
He’d been thinking that since he’d taken the young woman’s virginity, he ought to give her an explanation the next day, no matter what.
“What do you want?”
If she wanted to cut ties with him, she must be hoping to get something out of him.
Xia Qianqian bit her lip and said softly, “I don’t want anything. I just want to leave…”
Fu Beichen: “…”
This was the first time a woman had wanted nothing from him.
Besides, when something like this happened, it was the woman who came off worse. The man was the one who got to enjoy himself.
Last night, he really had enjoyed it. The pleasure had been unlike anything he’d ever experienced.
The woman in his arms was still soft and warm, giving off an enticing, sweet scent.
Fu Beichen wanted to take a bite and ravage her all over again.
But in the end, he let her go. “You can leave.”
Since she wanted to treat last night as an accident, he wasn’t the sort to keep pestering her.
Xia Qianqian immediately slipped out of his arms, picked up her clothes scattered across the floor, and hurriedly pulled them on.
All the while, the man’s gaze followed her like a shadow, burning hot.
Xia Qianqian’s cheeks flushed and her heart raced, but she didn’t dare look back.
As soon as she was dressed, she rushed out of the room.
She had barely stepped outside when she bumped into someone.
“I’m sorry!”
Xia Qianqian lowered her head to apologize and ran even faster.
Song Tao glanced in the direction the woman had gone, then at the room number. A huge question mark flashed through his mind.
Was he seeing things?
Otherwise, why had he just seen a woman run out of his CEO’s room?
Curious, he walked in.
A scent that set the imagination running filled his nostrils.
A tall, slender man stood by the foot of the bed, wearing a black shirt as he calmly fastened his buttons.
Every movement radiated an aloof, aristocratic air.
Song Tao also noticed the rumpled bedding, balls of used tissues, and a vivid red mark on the white sheets that stood out unmistakably.
His eyelid twitched.
Had the CEO… finally broken his vows?
With the woman who’d just left?!
Fu Beichen’s icy, utterly indifferent gaze swept over him. “What is it?”
Song Tao came back to himself and gave a quiet cough. “Ahem, CEO, Old Madam has arranged another blind date for you.”
“Ten this morning, at XX Café. The Cheng family’s daughter.”
Fu Beichen pressed his thin lips together, irritation flashing across his stern features.
Another blind date.
He’d already been on more than twenty this month.
If he’d known he’d be hounded with blind dates as soon as he returned to the country, he should have put down roots abroad and never come back.
“Tell her I’m not going!”
Song Tao dutifully replied, “Old Madam said if you don’t go, you can come back and collect her body.”
Fu Beichen: “…”
Song Tao hesitated, but couldn’t resist asking, “CEO, about that woman just now…”
Fu Beichen: “Don’t ask questions you shouldn’t.”
Song Tao: “Ahem, I just think Old Madam keeps arranging these blind dates because she has no other choice. Maybe you could find a woman to put on an act with…”
Fu Beichen’s gaze passed over the striking red mark on the bed, and his eyes darkened.
“Find out who that woman is.”
What had happened last night was an accident to him, but not to her…
…………
As soon as Xia Qianqian left the hotel, she got a call from her father, Xia Ming.
Thinking of how Xia Ming had ignored her wishes the previous night and tried to marry her off to an old, ugly man, she felt a mix of hurt and anger she couldn’t put into words.
She was his own daughter, after all. How could he do something so cruel?
If not for him, she wouldn’t have lost the most precious thing she had—her virginity!
Xia Qianqian answered the call. She was about to speak when Xia Ming spoke first.
“Xia Qianqian, where the hell have you been?”
“Boss Wang thinks very highly of you. He offered five hundred thousand in bride price to marry you. You should’ve been taking good care of him, but instead you beat him badly enough to land him in the hospital. Who gave you the nerve?”
“Get over here right now. You’re coming with me to the hospital to see him and apologize properly!”
Xia Qianqian clenched her fists. Her beautiful eyes gradually filled with tears. “I told you, I’m not marrying him!”
“And I won’t apologize to him! He drugged me last night and tried to assault me. I hurt him to defend my innocence. He deserved it!”
Xia Ming frowned. “Xia Qianqian, stop making a fuss. If you don’t marry him, who’s going to give you the five hundred thousand you need to save your grandmother?”
Xia Qianqian gritted her teeth. “Dad, are you really that short of five hundred thousand? Why can’t you lend it to me?”
“Am I even your biological daughter?”
Her mother had died when she was young. Not long afterward, Xia Ming married another woman.
That woman couldn’t stand having Xia Qianqian around and wanted to send her to an orphanage.
Grandma had taken pity on her and brought her to the countryside to raise her.
Even after she’d grown up, her father had never once come to see her.
And yet, back in the countryside, she had still hoped that one day her father would come and take her home.
Grandma often told her, too:
“Qianqian, don’t worry. When you’re grown up, your father will come and take you home.”
So she’d always looked forward to growing up.
She’d already lost her mother; she didn’t want to lose her father, too.
After all, when her mother was alive, her father had loved her very much.
But even when Grandma became gravely ill, she still waited in vain for her father to come and take her home.
She’d gone to Xia Ming only because Grandma needed five hundred thousand for surgery, and she couldn’t raise that much money in time. She’d had nowhere else to turn.
But she’d never imagined that the moment she went to him, he’d hit her with such a blow!
Being deceived by her own father and losing her virginity—what a devastating shock that was for a woman barely in her twenties!
Now her heart was broken, and she was utterly despairing.
Xia Ming said earnestly, “It’s not that I don’t want to lend you the money.”
“My company’s short on funds lately, and I can’t free up the cash. That’s why I can’t lend it to you.”
“Don’t let his age and looks fool you. Boss Wang’s assets are worth over a hundred million. If you’re willing to marry him, he’d give you not just five hundred thousand, but tens of millions!”
“If you marry him, your grandmother’s medical bills will be taken care of, and my company will be saved, too. It’s a win-win. Why wouldn’t you do it?”