"You were drunk last night," Quan Yu looked at her. In the dim, shifting light, there was a gleam in his eyes.
Such an intense gaze...
"Hmm," Ning Guiwan replied, her throat feeling a bit dry.
"You don’t know how to unfasten a collar pin," Quan Yu said, placing Ning Guiwan’s hand on his collar. He leaned in close, his voice very low. "I’ll teach you."
"It’s simple, a spiral clasp. Just twist it open."
Quan Yu looked serious, as if he were genuinely teaching her.
"You try."
Ning Guiwan’s hand was held by his, a burning warmth spreading where their skin touched.
The movie reached the part where Joe brings the drunken princess ho, and the princess was saying how she’d never been alone in a room with a man before.
Her mind seed clear, yet muddled at the sa ti. She chanically followed Quan Yu’s direction, twisting open the spiral clasp of the collar pin and removing it, revealing the buttonhole on the shirt’s collar.
"Excellent, Wanwan," he said in a tone used to coax a child, very different from his usual authoritative deanor.
Yet, inexplicably, it left her feeling defenseless.
Wanwan...
It was the first ti soone had called her that.
Ning Guiwan stuffed the collar pin back into Quan Yu’s hand, grabbed the popcorn bucket, and shifted to the side, focusing her attention on the movie.
Quan Yu glanced at the collar pin in his palm, then his gaze fell on Ning Guiwan.
In the dim light, the tips of the girl’s ears turned a faint red.
They looked delicate and pink, utterly adorable.
Much more endearing than her usual pretense of indifference and forced smiles.
Quan Yu leaned back against the sofa. With both hands, he put the collar pin back on, his fingers slender and well-proportioned.
A man just past his thirties is at his most charming. He’s successful in his career, and rich experience has washed away youthful impulsiveness, cultivating grace and maturity. Everything he did was thodical; even in matters of love, he was rational and calm.
Yet this very reserve and rationality were what most won found irresistible.
Afterward, Ning Guiwan couldn’t recall anything about the movie; she even forgot the parts she had seen before. The mont the movie ended, she was eager to stand up. "Lai Yang will panic if she doesn’t see when she wakes up. I should get back to her."
With that, she turned to leave.
Her wrist was grasped.
"Don’t rush. If she can’t find you, she’ll naturally assu you’re with ," Quan Yu said, pulling Ning Guiwan back to the sofa. "We haven’t had a chance to really talk."
Quan Yu looked at her with sincere earnestness. "Throughout my life, I’ve never developed serious feelings for any girl—only for you. I’m inexperienced and often get things wrong. Sotis I’m too impulsive, fail to control my emotions, or don’t do enough, which causes your aversion. Please bear with ."
"I’ve been trying to improve these days. Could you just give it a try, please?"
This was the first ti Quan Yu had ever bared his heart to a girl like this, and a wave of tenderness swelled in his chest.
Ning Guiwan t the man’s deep brown eyes, feeling the steady stream of tender affection beneath his usually placid exterior.
A man like Quan Yu, even setting aside his wealth and significant social influence, was intrinsically appealing to won.
Any other woman would have been moved by such a confession.
Ning Guiwan, however, rely smiled and said, "I’m sorry, I have to disappoint you." She added, "What you want, I can’t give."
Her use of the formal "you" was a simple word, yet it instantly stretched the distance between them infinitely.
The ambiguous undercurrents that had existed between them were shattered in that instant.
Ning Guiwan returned to the first-class cabin. Lai Yang was still asleep, the blanket kicked onto the floor. Her pajama pants had ridden up above her knees, leaving her lower legs bare.
Ning Guiwan walked over, adjusted her pajama pants, and covered her with the blanket again.
Then she walked out to the private deck.
Calling it a deck was less fitting than calling it an enclosed balcony. Bright glass panels kept out the bitterly cold sea wind, while sunlight stread inside, reflecting off the floor. The heating was ample, making it a perfect spot for coffee and sunbathing.
Ning Guiwan sat on the sofa, gazing at the endless, shimring sea.
Quan Yu’s words from the private cinema echoed in her ears.
To say she was completely untouched would be impossible.
It was rely a stir of emotion, nothing more.There were so things she didn’t want to possess again because they were too fragile, too easily lost.
Like her mother, like... her forr self.
Upon seeing Quan Yu in the restaurant, Chi Zhengjun’s first words were a playful jab, "Managed to soothe the cat?"
Quan Yu took a sip of his drink, his eyes dark, and ignored the jest.
Seeing his dejected expression, which reeked of romantic failure, Chi Zhengjun’s smile widened. "Looking like that, I have to wonder—did you confess and get rejected?"
Quan Yu gave his friend a glance.
Chi Zhengjun had known him long enough to often discern his thoughts with a single glance. He exclaid in astonishnt, "You actually confessed? That’s hardly your style!"
Quan Yu gave him another cold look, his tone even colder. "Do you want a gaphone?"
"I’m just incredibly surprised!" Chi Zhengjun said, his eyes crinkling with laughter. He was eager to dig for more explosive details, but he knew Quan Yu well; he wouldn’t reveal such personal matters even if the sky were falling.
"You’re just making things hard for yourself."
Chi Zhengjun leisurely took another sip of his drink. He tilted his chin towards the nine o’clock direction, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "See that girl with the brown curly hair? In the less than half an hour you’ve been sitting here, she’s glanced your way more than ten tis. Why not go for soone who’s clearly smitten with you? Why pursue soone so prickly?"
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