Tonight, the beauty has an appointment, yet his heart is in turmoil.
After parting with her on less than amicable terms, he arrived at the office scheduled to open in a month, located in a high-rise building in Xinyi District, occupying about a hundred square meters. Workers were busy with renovations.
These miscellaneous matters didn’t actually require his attention. His return to Taiwan was officially sanctioned by the headquarters to supervise the establishment of the branch office. In reality, it was like a flexible vacation for him. Apart from conducting interviews for new employees and occasionally entertaining clients, he could freely manage his time.
He said the board of directors was still considering another candidate, which was also a lie to her. Before departing for Taiwan, he had already received the appointment letter, officially becoming the general manager of the Taiwan branch.
Delaying for a month was just an excuse for him not to agree to divorce easily. A stifling feeling lingered in his chest, unwilling to let her have her way.
Why should he obediently listen when she said she wanted to postpone the divorce, but now that she demanded a divorce, he had to accept it without objection?
That woman—what exactly did she take him for?
“Not giving her a lesson, does she really think I’m a small puppy?” Xin Zhihuan muttered indignantly, his brows furrowed so deeply, like the sky before a storm. “Brother? When did I become her brother?”
The more he thought about it, the angrier he became, unable to help but pace around the empty office. Seeing him wandering back and forth, the workers felt quite annoyed.
“General Xin, we’re working here. There’s nothing for you to do here. Why not go outside, find a café, and relax while reading the newspaper?” The foreman suggested in a booming voice.
“Yeah, you can’t help here, and what if one of us accidentally hits you with something? There’s a movie theater across the street. Why don’t you go watch a movie?”
“That… ‘Transformers’ seems to be playing recently. I heard it’s good.”
“Go on, go on! Go watch a movie.”
Listening to the workers’ urging, Xin Zhihuan couldn’t help but twitch at the corner of his eye. Did they think he was just idling around? Did they know that he worked more than twelve hours a day in the United States? He practically flew on airplanes for business trips almost every week, treating the business class like his second home.
He was helpless. Although he was indeed busy in the United States, he felt at a loss in Taipei now. It was a rare vacation, yet he didn’t know how to spend it.
Just as he was feeling frustrated, his phone rang, saving him from his restlessness.
He joyfully answered the phone. “Hello, this is Sean speaking.”
“Sean!” The other party greeted warmly in English, exchanging pleasantries with him.
It was a client he had served before, the vice president of an oil company. This time, he came to Taiwan on vacation with his wife and remembered that Xin Zhihuan’s family was mostly in Taiwan, so he called to ask if there were any good places to visit. Unexpectedly, he was in Taipei at the moment.
The two chatted amicably on the phone, and Xin Zhihuan volunteered to be their tour guide as a local. After arranging a meeting time and place, he ended the call, and a sudden flash of inspiration struck him, a meaningful smile tugging at his lips.
Opening his phone again, he confidently pressed the speed dial button, and after a few rings, the other party answered.
“It’s me.”
Silence for a moment. “Is it Zhihuan?”
“Don’t tell me you can’t even recognize your husband’s voice?” he teased.
“I have an important client who just arrived in Taiwan, and I want to entertain them as a couple. Come with me.”
“But I have plans with Jiajun tonight—”
“Cancel it!” He ordered without hesitation.
“What did you say?”
“I said, cancel your appointment,” he said cheerfully, his tone as casual as if it were a trivial matter. “Didn’t you promise to help me get the position of general manager? This is the time for you, as a ‘married woman,’ to show your commitment.”
She fell silent again, as if hesitating. “Xin Zhihuan, don’t you think you’re going too far?”
“Am I?” He shrugged it off. “Compared to suddenly having a sister this morning, who’s being more excessive?”
She suddenly took a deep breath. “Got it. Tell me the time and place, I’ll meet you there.”
So obedient! He smiled satisfactorily, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
For the next two weeks, he kidnapped her time with various excuses.
If it wasn’t for client visits, it was entertaining clients, attending industry cocktail parties, or social events. What was even more annoying was that one day he simply asked her to help prepare for interviewing and recruiting staff, treating her like his personal secretary.
She wasn’t stupid. She knew that more than half of these activities didn’t actually require her presence as the perfect housewife. He just used them to boss her around and amuse himself.
Especially when he found out about her confirmed date with Fang Jiajun, he would go to extreme lengths to sabotage it, not letting her have a successful date.
For him, she had stood Fang Jiajun up several times in a row. Every time she called to reject the date, she felt guilty, deeply feeling that she had let his kindness go to waste.
All because of him! Did he not think that his actions were despicable? Could he derive satisfaction from deliberately teasing her like this, just to satisfy his male ego?
This evening, he brought a few college classmates to her restaurant without prior notice, drinking and dining. The group treated her as his wife, calling her sister-in-law incessantly, making her very embarrassed. But she could only put on a bright smile, not daring to be rude in front of his friends.
She tried her best to cooperate with his act, but he seemed to be completely ungrateful. Riding on the occasion, he would frequently lean on her, taking advantage of her.
She was getting annoyed.
And his group of sycophants, after drinking too much, became rowdy, insisting that it was a pity they didn’t get to drink their wedding wine back then, and wanted this handsome couple to perform a cherry kiss on the spot.
Pub patrons often played similar games, taking turns to pick cherries with their mouths, mouth to mouth. The bolder ones not only used their mouths to pick cherries but also teased each other, even passionately kissing.
Did his friends really want them to play such an ambiguous game in public?
Qi Feifei stared at Xin Zhihuan with a questioning gaze. He seemed to have had quite a bit to drink, with a slightly flushed face. When he met her gaze, he smiled back, but it was a strange smile, causing her heart to skip a beat momentarily.
Oops, was he drunk too?
She wondered, but before she could figure it out, he suddenly approached her. Amidst the clamor of others, he picked up a cherry soaked in cocktail and placed it
Do you really want to play?
She widened her eyes, asking with her gaze.
He didn’t reply, just smirked wickedly, lowering his head towards her, inching closer until there was only a breath’s distance between them.
She smelled the strong scent of alcohol on him, along with the dizzying scent of masculinity.
“Don’t mess around, Zhihuan,” she scolded in a low voice, turning her face away to avoid him, but he grabbed half of her face with a large hand, forcing her to face him.
“Be good, don’t run away,” he murmured, his voice husky and sexy.
Her heart raced, her cheeks quickly flushing. Did he know what he was saying and doing?
But before she could ask, he continued to approach her, parted his lips, and bit down on the cherry stem.
“Wow~” Sharp cheers accompanied by whistles.
Her lip trembled. She thought he would smoothly bite the cherry and the performance would end, but after biting off the cherry, he approached her again, offering her the half-bitten cherry back into her mouth.
“Half for you, half for me, our feelings won’t scatter!” Someone laughed and made a bet.
Caught off guard, she ate the cherry, feeling a slight cough as she did so. He heard it and proactively picked up a glass of beer on the table and handed it to her.
“No, no need,” she waved her hand to refuse. She didn’t know who had drunk from that glass; it was unhygienic.
He smiled and raised the glass himself, taking a big sip, then held her face with both hands, brazenly pouring the alcohol into her mouth.
She was shocked, momentarily at a loss, standing still, allowing him to tenderly and wildly kiss her.
After a while, she regained her senses from the daze, pushed him away with embarrassment, and slapped him across the face.
The crisp sound of the slap woke up the bewildered and disoriented crowd, staring blankly at the scene.
Xin Zhihuan touched his hot cheek, his expression stubborn, his eyes flashing with a savage light.
She squinted. “Are you sober now?”
He didn’t respond.
She glared at him fiercely, warning him with strong implications, then proudly turned around, intending to leave the scene. Suddenly, a familiar figure appeared before her eyes, causing her whole body to freeze, her mind going blank in an instant.
For a long time, she barely found her voice to speak—
“Jiajun, why are you here?”