Li Yi fell silent.
Yu Wan almost couldn’t hold back her laughter.
“Come on, first round!” Liang Ming rubbed his hands together excitedly and spun the bottle.
The bottle whirled around several times before finally stopping with its mouth pointing at Li Yi…
Only to end up aimed at Chen Siwei beside him.
“Hahahaha!” Everyone burst into laughter.
Chen Siwei looked utterly speechless. “Why me?”
“Quit talking. Truth or dare?” Liang Ming demanded.
Chen Siwei hesitated for a moment. “Truth.”
“Great!” Liang Ming’s eyes lit up, his grin turning especially mischievous. “So tell us, what’s your actual height without your shoes on?”
Chen Siwei: “…”
His face instantly turned bright red.
“What kind of question is that?!”
Everyone around them was already laughing so hard they were about to fall over.
“It’s true! Hurry up!”
Grinding his teeth, Chen Siwei glared at Liang Ming.
“…One meter seventy nine point two.”
“…”
That was way too precise!
After a brief moment of stunned silence, the entire group erupted into even louder laughter.
Yu Wan laughed along with them.
As she laughed, she turned her head and discovered that Li Yi was smiling with an almost fatherly warmth.
As he looked at everyone on his team, his eyes were filled with tolerance and responsibility, like a father watching over his children.
The game continued.
After several rounds, someone was forced to reveal the name of their crush, someone else had to do thirty pushups, and another person was made to perform a dance on the spot.
The lounge echoed with constant laughter, and the atmosphere grew livelier by the minute.
“Come on, next round!” Liang Ming eagerly spun the bottle again.
The bottle rolled in circles before finally coming to a stop.
This time, the mouth pointed directly at Yu Wan.
“Ooh!”
Everyone’s eyes lit up.
“Sister Yu Wan, truth or dare?” Liang Ming asked with an especially suggestive grin.
Yu Wan hesitated. Li Yi’s heart skipped a beat.
【It’s finally here!】 The System was even more exciting than Li Yi. 【Host, have you decided what you’re going to ask Yu Wan?】
【I have! I’ll ask what kind of man she likes!】
Li Yi’s palms were already sweating from nervousness.
Yu Wan: “…”
She truly had no idea how to answer a question like that.
Ever since realizing she was The Villainous Second Female Lead, the simple word like had become something distant and elusive.
Avoidance might not be honorable, but it worked.
“…I’ll choose dare.”
The anticipation Li Yi had carefully built up instantly collapsed.
“Dare!” Liang Ming’s eyes sparkled as he huddled together with Chen Siwei, whispering for quite a while.
Then he turned back with a brilliant smile.
“Sister Yu Wan, your dare is… say one romantic line to the boss.”
Li Yi: “…!!!”
Yu Wan: “…”
A romantic line?
She looked at Li Yi.
Li Yi was looking back at her.
His thoughts were in complete chaos.
【What do I do now? What expression should I use? Should I smile? Or should I look cool?】
【…Host, just act normally.】
【How am I supposed to be normal? My heart feels like it’s about to explode!】
Oddly enough, listening to Li Yi’s thoughts gradually calmed Yu Wan’s own racing heartbeat.
He was so nervous that he looked like an elementary school student about to take an exam.
More than a dozen pairs of eyes stared at the two of them. The room was so quiet that everyone’s breathing could be heard.
“Li Yi.”
Li Yi’s entire body stiffened.
【She said my name! She said my name! Should I nod? Should I smile?】
【…You don’t have to do anything. Just listen to what she says.】
Yu Wan desperately searched for something that could count as a romantic line.
“You…”
Li Yi held his breath.
Looking at him seriously, Yu Wan said, “You’re the best boss I’ve ever had.”
“…”
Silence! Even quieter than before.
Li Yi’s expression cracked.
Liang Ming and the others blinked, waiting for the rest of the sentence.
After waiting for a long time and realizing there wasn’t any, Liang Ming and Chen Siwei exchanged glances, panic written plainly in their eyes.
How had a romantic confession somehow turned into praising him as a good boss?
Holy crap!
Has the boss just been rejected?! What was Sister Yu Wan trying to say?
Weren’t they only one step away from getting together? Could the boss seriously not pull this off?
The two of them exchanged another despairing look.
We’re doomed. We were trying to help, but we made everything worse.
Meanwhile, Li Yi was quietly falling apart inside.
【System… did I just get rejected?】
Seeing how devastated he looked, Yu Wan froze.
She had genuinely meant what she said.
Li Yi really was a great boss. He paid well and never exploited his employees. Bosses like him were practically impossible to find.
These days, a good boss was far harder to find than a good boyfriend.
At least a job came with an employment contract.
What guarantee did dating have?
But after seeing Li Yi’s expression, she wanted to explain herself. The words reached her lips, yet she had no idea how to say them.
“Um…”
Before she could continue, Li Yi interrupted her.
“Alright, alright. Next round!” He forced a smile and clapped his hands. “Don’t just sit there. Let’s keep playing!”
“Come on, next round!” Liang Ming quickly caught on and cooperated. “You over there, your turn to spin!”
The atmosphere gradually became lively again.
It was as though nothing had happened.
For the rest of the afternoon, everyone from the lab continued playing games.
Li Yi sat there laughing when he was supposed to laugh and talking when he was supposed to talk. On the surface, he looked no different from before.
But Yu Wan could tell he was feeling down.
So down that even his inner thoughts had disappeared.
She wanted to say something, but she didn’t know what.
Forget it.
She would explain once they were alone.
After finishing Truth or Dare, they played several rounds of UNO before renting a private karaoke room and singing for a while.
Everyone was having so much fun that they completely lost track of time.
Only when someone clutched their stomach and complained they were starving, suggesting they all go out for dinner together, did Yu Wan finally get a moment to herself.
She took out her phone to check the time.
Then she froze. There were over a dozen missed calls on the screen.
Every single one was from Gu Chiyuan.
There were also messages on WeChat.
Gu Chiyuan: Where are you?
Gu Chiyuan: It’s Friday. I’m here to take you home.