The next day.
Ning Zhen had to catch a flight, so she got up even earlier than on a workday. She had no appetite. When she picked up Guo Xia's call, she hastily packed some food and was about to rush out the door.
She went to drag her suitcase.
An arm beat her to it. Morning sunlight hit the face of his watch, refracting a beam of light like a mirror, as if trying to expose the panic beneath her calm facade.
"You..." she said, feigning composure as she looked at him. "Aren't you going to the office today?"
"Your friend's here?" He glanced down at his watch and said flatly, "Xiao Ding's here too."
He seemed to be explaining that he wasn't deliberately seeing her off—his driver had also arrived downstairs, so he could simply help carry her luggage down. Just a convenience. Don't read too much into it.
Ning Zhen hummed in response and went to the entryway to change her shoes. It was her own home, yet she felt strangely out of place.
Meng Xianwen, following behind her with her suitcase, wore an unreadable, calm expression.
On mornings that were usually full of noise and bickering, the two of them were unusually silent today. The door slammed shut, and on Saturday morning, the elevator lobby held only the two of them. They weren't standing close, but with just a lift of the head, they could see each other in the mirrored wall.
Dawn had broken, sunlight dispelling the dark.
Last night's intoxication—the intertwining of lips and tongues—was suddenly exposed to the sun, becoming something sticky and chaotic that both desperately wanted to forget.
From the twenty-first floor to the first, neither Ning Zhen nor Meng Xianwen said a word.
The elevator doors opened.
Ning Zhen couldn't wait to escape that vacuum-sealed space. She walked ahead, still feeling his gaze on her like a tangible weight—whether it was a look of attention or scrutiny, she couldn't tell.
Guo Xia and Ye Chuyang had already arrived downstairs five minutes earlier.
From a short distance away, Ye Chuyang saw the man behind Ning Zhen dragging her suitcase and nervously patted his pockets, whispering to his girlfriend, "Damn, I didn't bring any business cards. What if Ning Zhen's boyfriend wants to exchange cards with me?"
Guo Xia was taken aback. "Since when do you have business cards?"
Ye Chuyang froze. "Oh, right, I don't have any at all."
Guo Xia burst out laughing. Watching Ning Zhen jog over, she said casually, "Relax, Zhenzhen won't make things awkward for you."
Ye Chuyang felt complicated hearing how confident his girlfriend sounded.
Though, to be fair, that was true. He was Xiaxia's boyfriend, so in Ning Zhen's eyes, he was practically one of her own—within the category of people she could mock and sneer at freely, but wouldn't allow anyone else to ridicule.
"Yeah, you're right," he said.
"Babe!"
Ning Zhen, as always, ignored Ye Chuyang standing by the front of the car without even a glance, and threw her arms around Guo Xia. "Did you eat breakfast?"
"Yeah, you?" Guo Xia hugged her back and gave the approaching Meng Xianwen a polite smile as a greeting.
Meng Xianwen nodded with a faint smile.
He came over unhurriedly. Ye Chuyang stepped forward to take the suitcase, but Meng Xianwen subtly avoided his reach and said in a mild tone, "If you could open the trunk, I'll handle it."
Ye Chuyang nodded.
The two men walked to the back of the car. After placing Ning Zhen's suitcase inside, they both fell into a brief, wordless pause.
The suitcases placed side by side were identical in style, only different in color.
One silver, one pink.
"Sorry for the trouble." As the trunk closed, Meng Xianwen turned to Ye Chuyang and said courteously, "I have matters to attend to this morning, so thank you for taking Zhenzhen to the airport. Next time, we'd like to treat you both to a meal."
Ye Chuyang smiled and nodded. "It's nothing. Ning Zhen is Xiaxia's best friend, and I've known her for a long time. She's my friend too."
Meng Xianwen paused, then took out his phone with a warm expression. "If you don't mind, let's add each other."
"Sure, sure!" Ye Chuyang agreed, and the two added each other on WeChat before walking side by side to the car.
Summer in the northern city arrived with a vengeance. Ning Zhen clutched her sunglasses in her hand, and just as she was about to open the car door, she gritted her teeth, psyching herself up—why was she the one in a fluster while he remained as calm as a mountain? That wasn't fair.
She turned and took two steps toward Meng Xianwen, looking at him. "I'm leaving, then. Take good care of yourself these few days, and don't stay up too late!"
Beside her, Ye Chuyang's face wore an expression of utter disbelief. He thought to himself, live long enough and you really do see everything.
He'd known Ning Zhen for years—every single meeting had been filled with her sarcasm and barbs. This was the first time he'd ever seen her speak so gently.
Was this even the same Ning Zhen he knew?
Meng Xianwen looked at Ning Zhen, his gaze calm. He gave a slight nod, and just as she was about to turn away, he reached out, drew her in, and ran a hand over her hair, sliding his palm down to the nape of her neck and holding her there.
He paused for a few seconds, as if tracing the marks behind her ear, and murmured in a low voice near her ear, "Have fun."
...
The white car drove along the wide road.
From the driver's seat, Ye Chuyang tapped the center console screen to play some music and glanced back at the two ladies. "Want some tunes?"
Guo Xia was in high spirits, holding up her phone to snap selfies. She nudged Ning Zhen with her elbow upon hearing her name.
Seeing her still silent and staring out the window in a daze, Guo Xia put down her phone and asked curiously, "What's wrong with you? I'm talking to you and you're not answering."
Ning Zhen snapped back to reality, biting her lip nervously. "I didn't sleep well last night. I'm so sleepy."
Guo Xia didn't think much of it. She leaned over from the passenger seat to grab a U-shaped pillow and handed it to her. "Then get some sleep!"
"Oh."
Ning Zhen took it, slipped it around her neck, and tilted her head, resting it securely. She closed her eyes, but her lashes were trembling. The scenes from the early hours of the morning all resurfaced before her.
The scorching breaths that contrasted with his composed face, the branding of his lips on hers, his hand that slipped under her sleepwear and wandered across her back—pressing with a restrained force, yet somehow feeling like he was trying to knead her into his body.
How long the kiss lasted, she didn't know.
All she knew was that by the end, their positions had shifted—she went from falling against his chest to sinking back into the bed with its crisp, clean scent, while he buried his face in the hollow of her neck, breathing heavily, so warm it made her flinch and want to shrink away, but he held her firmly in place.
"Ugh! So annoying!"
Ning Zhen furrowed her brow in frustration, snapped her eyes open, and muttered resentfully.
Guo Xia and Ye Chuyang, who were mid-conversation, both jumped. "What's wrong?!"
"Nothing!" Ning Zhen let out a sulky sigh. "I just feel stuffy, really stuffy. Xiaxia, can we turn on the AC?"
Ye Chuyang: "Ladies, the AC's been on for ages."
On a day this hot, if the AC weren't on, the three of them would have melted right there in the car.
Ning Zhen: "..."
Then why was she still so hot and so suffocated?
"Want some water?" Guo Xia asked.
Ning Zhen's expression flickered slightly, and she silently lifted a hand to cover her face. In the early morning hours, Meng Xianwen had braced his arms on either side of her, pulled back, straightened her rumpled clothes out for her, and hidden the marks he'd left behind.
In the darkness, he'd looked at her and asked the same question—that was his reason calling a halt.
Her mind a jumbled mess, she'd still nodded on instinct, saying she wanted water.
The moment he stepped out of the secondary bedroom, she slipped back into the master bedroom and lay down, pretending to be asleep. She was so flustered that she forgot to close the door behind her.
A few minutes—or maybe ten—passed. Though her eyes were tightly shut, she caught his scent drawing closer. Before long, the dull thud of a glass hitting the nightstand made her heart jolt.
He stood by the bedside for a moment, then left.
Only after the click of the front door had faded into silence for a long, long while did she open her eyes. Sure enough, a glass of warm water sat on the nightstand.
Ning Zhen took the bottle of mineral water Guo Xia handed her but didn't twist off the cap. She held it with both hands, her grip tightening.
-
Around noon.
The flight Ning Zhen and Guo Xia were on touched down right on schedule. The two of them were buzzing with excitement, snapping photos while still on the plane.
They lingered at the airport for about half an hour before boarding the shuttle bus arranged by their hotel.
The air conditioning on the bus was blasting. Ning Zhen felt a weight settle on her shoulder and turned her head to see Guo Xia fast asleep, mouth slightly open, completely dead to the world.
She smiled softly to herself and reached up to close the vent above her head.
Last night she'd barely gotten a few hours of sleep, yet her body didn't feel the slightest bit tired.
Ning Zhen looked down and scrolled through her WeChat messages. As soon as the plane had landed, she'd sent her parents a message to let them know she was safe. Her fingers seemed busy, flitting between apps.
She finally opened the chat with Meng Xianwen.
She hadn't sent him a message saying they'd arrived.
He hadn't asked either.
She figured he was probably busy with work and didn't have time to check his phone.
Just then, a message popped up from Meng Jiaran: [Should I just have the safe delivered to your place, or what?]
Ning Zhen typed quickly: [That fast?]
She thought for a moment and added: [I'm not in Beicheng. Just landed, on vacation 😎]
Meng Jiaran: [Harming the masses of which province this time?]
Ning Zhen sent her location: [Don't worry, I won't be bringing you any gifts]
Meng Jiaran: [PLEASE don't]
Meng Jiaran: [I still have 3 cans of that coffee you brought back last year]
Meng Jiaran: [Idon'tcar.jpg]
Ning Zhen: [Scram!]
After that round of banter, Meng Jiaran stepped out of the elevator and tucked his phone into his pocket. It was Saturday, and the company was eerily quiet—the 23rd floor even more so, so silent you could hear a pin drop.
Last night, when Ning Zhen mentioned the safe, an idea had struck him: didn't his brother have one in his office?
He'd figured if she needed it urgently, he'd just move his brother's over to her place.
But since she wasn't in a hurry after all, the trip had been for nothing.
Still, since he was already here, he might as well drop by and make his presence known in front of his brother—counts as him coming in to work on his day off, something like that.
Meng Jiaran walked up to the office door. Out of habit, he was about to push it open directly when he suddenly remembered the scene he'd stumbled upon yesterday evening. His expression shifted. Even though Ning Zhen wasn't in Beicheng... he straightened himself up properly, knocked politely on the door, and called out, "Bro, it's me!"
A moment later, the door opened from the inside.
Meng Xianwen was on the phone. He glanced at his brother and turned back to his desk.
Meng Jiaran followed him in, casually closing the door behind him.
He waited a while as Meng Xianwen wrapped up the call, then the elder brother looked at the younger with some surprise, asking offhandedly, "What are you doing here?"
"Just handling some stuff."
Meng Jiaran grinned as he walked up to the desk, not at all shy about tooting his own horn. "Bro, I told you I'd come in to work, so I'm really working."
Meng Xianwen gave him a sidelong glance.
He ignored that nonsense. He'd just hung up the phone, but his eyes were back on the screen, brows slightly furrowed, as if waiting for a message or a call.
"Oh, right."
Meng Jiaran spoke up again. "Ning Zhen told me she just landed—she's gone on a trip. So, bro, you're staying at her place all by yourself?"
He was about to add that since she wasn't around, and his brother was stuck all alone, he could come stay at his place for a couple nights.
Meng Xianwen's head snapped up, eyes fixed on him.
-
"What's wrong with you?"
Guo Xia came out of the bathroom after washing off her makeup and saw a sight that made her step back three paces.
Ning Zhen sat quietly on the sofa, her face pale and terrifying, like someone had snatched away a winning lottery ticket right out of her hands. She was clearly furious, yet her tone was featherlight. "I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine."
It was just that she'd been off the plane for nearly six hours, and not a single message from some jerk had come through. That's all.
She didn't care one bit.
"You don't look fine," Guo Xia shrugged. "I can literally hear you grinding your teeth."
Ning Zhen acted as if she hadn't heard. She clenched her phone and stood up, looking at Guo Xia as she took a deep breath. "Want to go shopping? My treat."
Guo Xia: "?"
Okay, she got it now.
Meng Xianwen had done something to upset Ning Zhen.
The two of them rushed downstairs as quickly as they could, grabbed a taxi downtown to the mall, and shopped up a storm—charging it all to Meng Xianwen's supplementary card, naturally.
Ning Zhen felt much better. Retail therapy really did bring peace and serenity. She and Guo Xia then found some trendy little coffee shop said to be great for photos, posed for pictures, and took a break.
The city lights were just beginning to glow.
Soft light fell across Ning Zhen's face as Guo Xia propped her chin on one hand, watching her curiously.
Ning Zhen, being stared at like that, saw they'd both fallen into their old college game: keep staring at each other, and whoever cracked a smile first had to pick up the check.
Suddenly, her phone chimed, the screen lighting up.
Ning Zhen tilted her head and tapped it open with mild interest—a text message:
[ICBC] Your credit card ending in 7685 spent 342.67 yuan at 19:57 on June 12th. Current available balance is 29,657.33 yuan. If this wasn't your transaction, please contact customer service.
Her eyes went wide.
Damn it—which scam ring was stealing her card?!
Just as the thought of calling the police crossed her mind, she remembered—hadn't she given Meng Xianwen a card not too long ago?
Wait. Could this charge be from him?
