At some point, Huo Nanting appeared beside her, steadying her slender waist with his hand, his tone laced with concern: “Why did you drink so much?”
The woman’s hand pressed against the man’s chest, her gaze slightly hazy. She truly had drunk too much—she was even calling him by the wrong name.
“Su Su, I think I just saw Huo Nanting.”
Hearing her call his name, the man raised an eyebrow, finding the sound pleasant to his ears. He replied patiently, “You’re not mistaken. It’s me.”
“You’re Huo Nanting?” The woman’s fair, delicate fingers roamed restlessly over the man’s face, as if trying to confirm something.
Huo Nanting simply stood there, letting her do as she pleased.
“You’re not him. He’s better-looking than you. His eyes are prettier than yours, his nose is prettier than yours, his mouth is prettier than yours, and even his voice sounds better than yours. You’re not him…”
The woman waved her hand again, mumbling out this long string of words.
“He’s that good-looking—do you like him?” Huo Nanting continued to guide her, curious to hear what answer she would give.
“I do. Who wouldn’t like someone that handsome?”
It was the first time he had ever heard such a direct compliment about his appearance from a woman’s lips. A strange feeling began to ripple slowly through Huo Nanting’s heart.
Just then, her best friend Su Jiani emerged from the restroom. Seeing the scene before her, she felt her suspicions confirmed even further. Tactfully, she said, “I’ll leave him to you, President Huo. I have something to take care of, so I’ll be off.”
As she left, Su Jiani prayed silently: My dear Chaochao, for the sake of your happiness, don’t blame me for this.
Huo Nanting kept his hand on her waist, breathing in the smell of alcohol on her, lowering his head to look at the woman before him. Her little face was flushed pink, utterly adorable.
At that moment, the woman spoke, half-drunk and half-sober: “But tell me… does he like me?”
When she received no answer for a long while, she seemed a little disappointed. The hand pressed against the man’s chest slid down, like a little balloon that had lost all its air.
Lin Chaochao tried hard to straighten herself up and break free from the man, but she had no strength, and her head was spinning. She had no choice but to lean against him once more.
The two maintained this position for three minutes. Huo Nanting looked at the woman in his arms, drunk and dazed, like a little kitten scratching at his heart.
Suddenly, Lin Chaochao tilted up her fair, slender neck and said, “Su Su, I want to go home.”
Watching her lips part and close, the warm breath spilling all over the man’s neck, disturbing his composure—
At such close distance, Huo Nanting felt an impulse to kiss her.
So he decided to follow his heart, slowly closing in on the woman who drew him in.
He lowered his head gradually, savoring the moment. The tip of his nose brushed against hers. Huo Nanting could see her eyelashes were long, seemingly still fluttering.
The warm breath kept drawing closer, closer still, until finally he tasted that sweetness. Huo Nanting probed slowly at first, until he was kissing her deeply and passionately. The woman made no move at all, just standing there letting the man kiss her.
Just as the man’s tongue was about to venture into her territory, Lin Chaochao snapped back to her senses. Her eyes flew wide open, and the moment she saw the man before her, she shoved him away, her heart pounding wildly in her chest.
The woman steadied herself and pretended to smooth her hair. “I’m sorry, President Huo. I had too much to drink.”
When Huo Nanting was pushed away, it was clear he hadn’t had his fill. Looking at the flustered woman before him—
“Just now it was because Miss Lin complimented me on my looks and said she liked me.”
The man spoke truthfully.
In truth, in that instant when she had first woken up, Lin Chaochao had already realized what she had said. But now that the man had called her out on it, she felt utterly embarrassed and just wanted to play dumb and brush it off.
“Words spoken by a drunkard need not be taken seriously, and besides, this was my first kiss.” Lin Chaochao said with her head lowered.
Huo Nanting hadn’t expected that someone who had lived abroad for years would be so pure, and he felt a surge of delight in his heart.
“Miss Lin, haven’t you heard that drunkards speak the truth? And this was also my first kiss.”
The implication was clear—since it was the first time for both of them, neither was at a loss. But Lin Chaochao hadn’t expected that the esteemed President Huo would be so chaste and self-disciplined.
Forget it, forget it. She’d just pretend it never happened. After all, it was her own fault for drinking too much and spouting nonsense. Anyway, it was a first for both of them.
Lin Chaochao wanted to leave quickly and said to the man, “President Huo, let’s just pretend today never happened, alright? I’ll head home now.”
Countless women would have killed to have any connection with him, yet the woman before him was desperately trying to distance herself from him.
Huo Nanting thought for less than a minute before finally granting her wish.
“Fine. I’ll take you home.” Seeing that the woman hadn’t moved, he continued, “After all, your friend entrusted you to me, so I’m responsible for your safety.” Perhaps fearing she might refuse again, he explained in advance.
Before Lin Chaochao could even agree, she saw Huo Nanting pick up her bag that had fallen on the floor and head out.
Today he was driving a BMW. Since both of them had been drinking, they couldn’t drive, so they had to call a designated driver.
Both of them sat in the back seat. Lin Chaochao tried her best to sit at the very edge, as far away from the man as possible, keeping her eyes fixed only on her feet or out the window. Huo Nanting watched her look of trepidation, finding it somewhat amusing, but he said nothing.
The drive was only half an hour, but Lin Chaochao felt it was truly long, so very long…
Finally, they arrived home. She thanked him and got out of the car without even lifting her face once, then hurriedly ran upstairs.
That night, Lin Chaochao lay in bed unable to sleep, thinking about that kiss, embarrassed beyond belief.
Anyway, she was on the 14th floor and was new here. The man was on the 15th floor, so they probably wouldn’t run into each other. Even if they did meet at a meeting, she could just keep her head down and go about her business.
With that thought, Lin Chaochao felt much more at ease and slept soundly through the night.
The next day at work,
Haili brought her phone in front of Lin Chaochao. On the screen was a photo—a picture of a man and woman kissing. The man’s tall, imposing figure completely enveloped the woman, hiding her face from view.
Then she swiped to the next photo—it was a frontal shot of the man, though somewhat blurry. From the silhouette and body type, it looked like their President Huo.
Haili asked, “Sister Chaochao, look, is this our CEO?”
Lin Chaochao felt extremely guilty at that moment, but thankfully the photo hadn’t captured her face.
She pretended to be nonchalant: “I don’t think so. You can’t even tell who it is—it’s too dark.”
“That’s true. I’ve never heard of President Huo having a girlfriend. But damn, that man’s body is amazing.” Amy, who was sitting nearby, chimed in.
Lin Chaochao thought to herself, whoever took that photo must have had eyes in the right place—how boring of them.
For several days in a row, she didn’t see Huo Nanting at all. He was probably busy beyond belief.
According to what people downstairs said, he was the first to arrive every day and the last to leave—like a man possessed, working himself to the bone.
But today was unlucky—Lin Chaochao had heard that a new coffee shop had opened downstairs, and the coffee there was supposedly excellent, so she decided to go down and give it a try.
Unexpectedly, just as she got her coffee in the shop, she saw Huo Nanting walking in her direction, though the man had his head lowered as if he were on a phone call.
Lin Chaochao thought to herself, Please don’t come in. Please don’t see me.
Seeing that the man was about to walk in, Lin Chaochao quickly turned around and hid in a corner. But in her haste, she accidentally bumped into the edge of a table, the pain making her grimace and suck in a sharp breath of cold air.
Little did she know, this scene was caught by the man’s eyes—he had already recognized her from her silhouette alone.
Huo Nanting ordered a classic flavor, paid, and left directly.
Who knew why this big CEO had come to buy coffee himself.
After watching him walk away, Lin Chaochao endured the sharp pain and returned to the company, secretly congratulating herself all the way that the two of them hadn’t run into each other.