Zhou Xue’er waited for a long time, but Lu Wanning never appeared, and she wasn’t answering her messages either.
Worried that something might have happened, Zhou Xue’er decided to find a server for help. Just as she was about to leave, the door to the private room suddenly opened.
“Wanning?” Zhou Xue’er turned and breathed a sigh of relief. “Why weren’t you answering my texts? You scared me to death.”
“The meeting just ended. Didn’t have time to check my phone.”
Lu Wanning wasn’t the kind of person who could lie well. An excuse anyone else could spin off the top of their head, yet she could only say it while avoiding Zhou Xue’er’s gaze.
She even made a show of lifting her laptop, casually complaining, “Such dedication. My boss really ought to give me a raise.”
Fortunately, her roommate didn’t press further. “As long as you’re okay. Come on, let’s get back to eating we promised we’d eat our money’s worth at this buffet.”
Lu Wanning gave a soft “mm,” but quietly turned her head, keeping only her right side toward Zhou Xue’er.
The left side of her neck had just been bitten by Han Yao. Several times.
She hadn’t had a chance to look in a mirror and didn’t know if the marks had faded, but her fingertip could still faintly feel the warm bite marks. Her left hand stayed clamped over them, barely daring to move, lest the evidence be exposed to someone else’s sight.
Felines just love marking their territory.
And her hair had just been trimmed. For a moment, Lu Wanning regretted it if she hadn’t gone to the salon, her hair could have covered it.
But the next instant, she suddenly realized she had, without noticing, fallen into Han Yao’s trap and begun accepting the girl’s unreasonable logic.
Was there any hope for her?
Sitting back down in her seat, Lu Wanning sneakily checked with her phone’s front camera. Fortunately, nothing looked unusual on the surface only a faint trace of the crime remained to the touch.
“Here.” Zhou Xue’er handed her several skewers of fried shrimp tempura. Seeing her absentminded look, she assumed it was just work fatigue. “Stop thinking about it. Eat more.”
Lu Wanning steadied herself and managed a smile. “Mm, thanks.”
She chatted idly with Zhou Xue’er, but her heart just wouldn’t settle.
The bar area was packed with diners eating while watching the chefs cook in the open center a free performance show.
Zhou Xue’er was mesmerized by the chef’s masterful pan-tossing, exclaiming in delight, when something else suddenly caught her eye. She discreetly nudged Lu Wanning with her elbow.
“Hm?”
“That girl across from us is so pretty.”
Lu Wanning was uninterested. “Is she.”
Everyone loves looking at beauty, but Lu Wanning had never developed that habit she could keep her eyes straight ahead even around celebrities. It wasn’t that she didn’t appreciate beauty, but rather… Han Yao had forced it out of her.
Around Miss Han, you weren’t allowed to spare a glance for anyone. Even now, she couldn’t break the habit.
Zhou Xue’er, thrilled in the way people are when they discover something good and must recommend it to everyone, kept persistently urging Lu Wanning: “Just take one look… Everyone’s sneaking glances at her. Is she some big influencer or something?”
She even moved the plate in front of her away. “Look! No food until you look.”
The two of them always bickered and teased each other like this. Lu Wanning snatched the plate back with quick reflexes, and was just about to fire off a retort at Zhou Xue’er when her gaze lifted and her smile froze on her lips in an instant.
Directly across the bar counter.
Even with the chefs standing in between, Lu Wanning could identify that figure with unerring accuracy.
Even on a cramped bar stool, the woman sat perfectly straight and upright.
The people around her either stole glances or stared openly at that face, but the woman seemed entirely indifferent, paying them no mind, holding a porcelain cup in her hand as she lowered her head to drink her tea.
Her black shirt shimmered with a silken luster under the dim yellow lights, tracing the lines of her neck like a black swan, pristine and untouched by dust.
Why hasn’t Han Yao left?
Lu Wanning’s breathing grew rapid again, and she couldn’t help but tense up. Hadn’t she just agreed? What was she still doing here?
…
Outside the private room, Zhou Xue’er’s voice had been mere inches away. Lu Wanning had had no other choice.
Facing the tide-like surge of emotion in Han Yao’s eyes, she had slightly lowered her head.
It was the greatest show of weakness she could offer.
“Three days it is. I agree.” Every word had been squeezed out of Lu Wanning’s throat. “My friend is still waiting for me. Please don’t drag her into this, okay?”
True to her usual nature, Han Yao said neither yes nor no.
…
So why was Han Yao still here now?
What was she trying to do?
Lu Wanning barely dared to breathe, frozen stiff in her seat.
But Zhou Xue’er noticed nothing amiss. Still in her admiring-beauties mode, she boldly looked in Han Yao’s direction, utterly entranced:
“So gorgeous such big features on such a tiny face. How is her face so small and her eyes so big? Nuwa, you really did a terrible job on me. I wouldn’t even dare photoshop myself to look like that.”
She rattled on for a while, and when no one around her reacted, Zhou Xue’er grew displeased and moved to poke Lu Wanning’s arm. “What’s wrong with you? Spacing out again.”
Lu Wanning dodged the touch with lightning speed an almost instinctive reaction. When she realized what she’d done, she could have spat at herself in disgust.
But with that person watching, she simply didn’t dare.
Because Han Yao was capable of anything.
She knew that better than anyone.
“Stop looking. Eat,” Lu Wanning said with a strained smile. “Weren’t you going to eat your money’s worth?”
Fortunately, Zhou Xue’er’s attention came in bursts, and at these words she returned to focusing on her dinner.
Thankfully, nothing unexpected happened before they finished eating and left.
…
It was evening, the busiest hours for the Japanese restaurant, filled with ceaseless, jumbled chatter.
So noisy.
Han Yao stared at the two figures across the bar counter, thinking this to herself.
Would Lu Wanning rather come to a place like this than be with her?
The flower used for plating decoration in the restaurant now lay in Han Yao’s palm. She held it gently, then mercilessly plucked off a petal.
Many people search for answers by counting petals.
One petal, then another.
When only the last petal remained, Han Yao didn’t continue. She simply lowered her eyes, suppressing the waves churning within them, then crumpled all the petals together and crushed them in her palm.
She didn’t like this answer.
She didn’t like what she’d become either reduced to watching Lu Wanning from afar, unable even to touch her, to bite her.
Why not? Wasn’t Lu Wanning hers to begin with?
Her dim gaze was faintly reflected in the tea. When Han Yao met her own reflection’s eyes, she froze for a moment, then blossomed into a gentle smile, as if nothing had happened at all.
Don’t get angry.
She told herself this.
Otherwise, it would frighten Lu Wanning again.
So, Little Lemon, before I completely lose my temper, could you put the collar on yourself and crawl over here?