On the opposite side of this little street was a shopping centre. Without warning, several digital advertising posters all jumped to a new picture—one of Jian Bianlin… It was a poster for the men’s skin care products that he was the spokesperson for.
This advertisement that had suddenly changed and now lined the entire street caused Chu Jian’s heart to go thump, thump in her chest.
The stark white headlights of a vehicle shone in their direction.
A hotel shuttle bus turned into their street, honking its horn as it zoomed past them. Less than a minute later, the street was packed with tourists who had gotten off the bus and were standing around.
An originally empty and safe street had become a gathering place for the masses.
Worried that someone would recognize him, Jian Bianlin pulled her onto the steps of a tall building and, with his back to the tourists, hid her with his own body. The two of them appeared no different than any other ordinary tourist. In fact, they seemed more like a young couple who were suddenly in the mood to get cozy and had found a little corner to be lovey-dovey in.
Chu Jian’s back was against a metal railing. Completely shielded by his body in that corner, she was unable to see anything aside from his black jacket’s metal zipper, which was so close it was nearly touching the tip of her nose.
Among the clamour of voices, somebody recognized Jian Bianlin’s poster ad and sighed over how he truly was crazily red-hot of late. Someone also commented in passing that all the major marketing IDs on social media platforms had disclosed that his first television drama that was soon to begin filming was…
Wait. Wait!
She could sense that he had lifted his hand.
Hearing that the voices had more or less all left, Chu Jian tilted her head up and was about to say, “Should we go somewhere that’s more secluded? Who would have thought that such a small street would still have those free hotel shuttles stopping on it? So not safe.” When she raised her eyes, though, she saw him soundlessly removing the black mask that had been covering half his face.
This simple action, in this moment, actually evoked an inexplicably suggestive feeling.
“The car… is going to be here soon, right?” she asked.
“Should be soon.” He moved in closer. His lips were right there in front of the bridge of her nose.
His breath was so searing hot it aroused a flustered feeling in her.
“Let’s go down.” She shrank backwards, but the back of her head smacked into the wall of the building, banging into the notice that said, “This glass door is broken. Please go through the main doors of the building”…
In that instant when their lips truly, physically came into contact, she unconsciously grabbed whatever her fingers touched—the zipper of his jacket.
This action completely seemed like she was responding to him.
He took things a step further, pressing his body tightly against hers. Amid their intermingled, ragged breathing, he gently sucked her lower lip, then her upper lip, until finally, his tongue explored past her lips and slipped inside to find … that little canine tooth…
With a clack, the digital boards behind them all simultaneously changed over to a poster for the latest James Bond movie[1] that was playing in theatres.
Chu Jian suddenly pushed him away.
Jian Bianlin allowed himself to follow the momentum of this action and pull away from her. A light breeze blew by. Their lips felt chilly.
Her hand was still clasping his jacket zipper, and her body felt a little weak. She had forgotten even what embarrassment was and merely felt dazed, unable to produce even the slightest sound.
Chu Jian…
Jian Bianlin wanted to say something to make the atmosphere between them even better, but after remaining there frozen for a dozen or so seconds, he still had not come up with a decent thing to say…
Luckily, the mobile phone in Chu Jian’s pocket rang.
Nibbling on her lower lip, Chu Jian lowered her head, dawdlingly pulled the phone out, and set it beside her ear. “Hello?”
“Chu Jian.” It was Uncle Jian’s voice. Her heart rate jumped a few levels before she answered with an “mm-hmm.” On the other end of the line, the voice said with a chuckle, “Uncle is secretly telling you this. I saw Xu Jing today, you know, the person that Jian Bianlin beat up quite severely in high school. Does he like you?”
“Huh?” Chu Jian paused blankly. This… How had the topic managed to come to this?
“He specially came to see me. He also said that he wanted to contact you and got your phone number from me. So, I asked him, ‘What do you need her number for?’ He gave me a vague answer, saying it’s been so many years and you are both adults now so he’s just keeping in contact since you two were high school classmates, after all.” Uncle Jian’s tone was practically like he was marrying off his own daughter. “That lad has such a good temper. So I gave him your phone number. You don’t have a boyfriend anyway, so just talk and socialize with him a bit. Who knows? Maybe you’ll make some relatives by marriage from this.”
“……”
Given that she and Jian Bianlin were standing at such a close distance and Uncle Jian certainly was speaking with more than ample breath support, it was impossible for Jian Bianlin not to hear, unless he was hard of hearing…
Chu Jian truly wished she could help this phone call to “accidentally” drop…
In front of her, the man who was holding her with one arm did not utter a word. Putting his face mask on once more, he pulled the brim of his cap slightly lower, released his arm’s hold on her, and turned, about to walk away. Chu Jian hurriedly stepped forward and grabbed his sleeve while saying into her phone, “Uncle, next time please don’t hand out my phone number so easily to someone. It’s such a hassle. I still have a meeting here that I need to get to, so I’m going to hang up first. Take care of yourself.”
Uncle Jian answered with an “Oh, oh, yes, yes,” and then cheerily ended the call.
“Don’t go,” Chu Jian blurted.
Pausing his steps, Jian Bianlin lowered his head to look at her hand that was grasping his sleeve.
“Jian Ge—” His assistant had actually arrived with the driver for a long time already, and after bearing through the wait for the two to finish with their snuggling, he only now dared to open his mouth and call them into the car. However, when he took another closer look and noticed that there clearly was something not quite right with the atmosphere, he pulled his head back and tried to inconspicuously hide himself away again. “There’s no hurry! Take your time talking!”
“Say something.” Chu Jian kept her voice low.
From this angle, she could see his eyes, but against the lights behind him, she could not tell what feelings were in them.
“You can’t blame me. Your dad is the one who gave my number to him. You heard it yourself,” she explained quietly.
Still, he did not speak, nor did he move.
“Hey, say something…” Chu Jian was starting to feel a little anxious.
The emotions that had been suppressed all these days, from when Uncle Jian was injured to now, all came gushing upwards. He’s being like this again. Again! He just says nothing. Nothing!
Jian Bianlin could sense that she was genuinely angry and brought his gaze back to land on her.
He acknowledged that his emotions had become unsettled the instant he heard that name. That was why his first instinct had been to turn around and go, to let himself calm down. Now…
“Jian Bianlin, do you think that I’m just really easy to bully around and you can just do whatever you feel like?” Chu Jian was finally unable to repress herself anymore, and those words that had been hidden in her heart for so many years now all came spilling out. There was some anxiety, but mainly, it was a sense of feeling wounded and treated unfairly. “It’s not like I’ve done anything to wrong you. Back then, you wanted to beat him up, and you just went ahead and beat him up. I even had to go to the hospital to beg them for you. In the end, everything was fine for you. You were still loved by teachers and chased after by all the girls. But what about me? What did my senior year of high school end up being like? Then afterward, when you went to university, what right did you have to say that I was the one who made you feel all lovelorn? It’s not like I ever agreed to be with you. But there you were, abandoning yourself to wallow in your misery. Who were you trying to show that to? Weren’t you just putting up that good show for your dad and my parents to watch so that I would give? Fine, then. I did promise you that I would give you time to adjust, that I wouldn’t get a boyfriend and allow you to forget your feelings for me first. But you always just trick me. This time was the same… It was because you’re sick, and then you said you wanted us to be together, so we’re together; you just wanted to kiss me and then you kissed me; you wanted to suddenly get mad at me, and now you’re mad at me.”
This was probably the biggest outburst of anger she had ever had in her entire life, but even now, she was still restraining her voice, fearful that any passerby might hear.
She finished firing off all her words in succession but was still fuming. Striding over to a corner of the building, she faced the wall in a huff, her cheeks burning hot.
The anger still had not eased. She gave a kick at the wall.
But that fierce kick ended up landing on his right foot that he unexpectedly extended out. She was wearing sandals, so when her toes suddenly jammed into his white sneakers, her brow immediately crumpled deeply in pain.
Jian Bianlin wordlessly reached out his hand and patted her head of short locks. Through the dark curtain of the night, his voice, a little muffled, could be heard saying, “There are people looking at us.”
She paused in shock for a moment. Completely forgetting about being angry, she glanced at a spot not far away. It did seem that some of the tourists had recognized Jian Bianlin and had now stopped to watch…
“There are people! Why aren’t you getting in the car, then? …”
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