Chapter 04
Ye Jin only caught a casual glimpse, but it was her again.
With that same innocent, sweet smile still plastered on her face, the girl was downing one drink after another. As it turned out, she had quite a high alcohol tolerance. Ye Jin’s pace slowed down. She thought to herself that she had clearly underestimated this girl’s capabilities based purely on her appearance…
Nightclubs were inevitably a mixed bag where fish and dragons mixed.
The moment Xia An got up from the table to fetch more alcohol, a man at the same table surreptitiously dropped a white pill into her wine glass. In a mere second, it dissolved completely into the liquid, vanishing without a trace…
Authorâs Note: This is already the second installment of the Cinderella x Queen love story, right? The style this time will lean a bit more toward warm and slice-of-lifeâa sweet, mutually-healing story. I hope my little angels will like it. A friendly reminder: please check the guidelines in the synopsis before diving into the story! Also, my upcoming GL novel Warm as You is now open for pre-saves. Itâs the story of Little Director Yu from You Are So Flirty. It features a tsundere, loyal dog underachiever X a repressed, wife-doting straight-A student. Itâs a fresh, sweet story about mutual secret crushes, half-set on campus and half-set in society. Wish everyone a happy reading! Mwah!
Xia An selected the alcohol and returned to the table. “Handsome, I’ve opened this bottle for you.”
“No rush, no rush. Drink this glass with me first, and I’ll open another bottle later. How about it?” The man eagerly shoved the glass into Xia An’s hand, coaxing her to drink.
Xia An looked at the alcohol in the glass with a trace of suspicion, before turning to the man with her signature commercial smile. “Sure, I’ll down this one first to show my respect.”
Girls who haven’t experienced the world are just so easy to get a hold of, the man rejoiced secretly. “I just love how straightforward you are.”
While pretending to bring the glass to her lips, Xia An waved at Ai Mi nearby. “Ai Mi, help open this bottle.”
As long as the bottle was opened, it had to be billed regardless of whether it was drunk or notâthat was the rule.
Xia An was cautious. In a nightclub, forget about a drink that had been left unattended at the table; she wouldn’t even touch a drink that had temporarily left her line of sight. Therefore, she naturally wouldn’t let her guard down and actually drink the glass currently in her hand.
Just as Ai Mi finished opening the bottle and Xia An was about to set her glass down to find a random excuse to decline, her wrist was suddenly caught by a hand…
It was a woman’s hand. The fingers were fair and delicate, and the joints were symmetrical and slenderâhighly pleasing to the eye.
Xia An’s gaze followed the hand upward, her eyes locking onto the person. She was a bit surprised as a cold yet beautiful face broke into her view.
It was actually her…
Xia An’s eyes met Ye Jin’s. Ye Jin was currently looking down at her, not smiling. Whether she smiled or not, she carried an indescribable air of pride.
Damn it! She was almost about to drink it!
The man was losing his mind internally, desperately wanting to slam the table. He was clearly enraged by Ye Jin’s sudden intrusion, mixed with a sense of guilt. What worried him most was that the duck cooked to his mouth was about to fly away.
Without a word, Ye Jin took the drink from Xia An’s hand and placed it back on the table. Her red lips parted slightly as she hinted, “Don’t drink. It’s time to go home.”
She must have seen something and was stepping in to bail her out. Xia An’s reactions were incredibly sharp; she understood the situation the moment Ye Jin grabbed her hand.
Is it an illusion? Xia An felt that when she said this sentence, her voice sounded much softer than before.
At this moment, her hand was still being held by her…
A sudden wave of warmth flooded Xia An’s heart.
Because of Ye Jin’s intervention, the atmosphere shifted.
Seeing his good deed about to be ruined by someone else, the man stammered, “Who… who the hell are you?”
Ye Jin disdained to speak with such a person; it felt like even a passing glance was a waste of time. She didn’t want to linger here for a single second longer.
Xia An stood up instantly. Instead of letting go, she proactively squeezed Ye Jin’s palm tightly, lifting her brows to shout loudly at the man, “She’s my girlfriend.”
Girlfriend? Upon hearing these words, Ye Jin couldn’t help but glance at Xia An beside her…
She certainly is bold.
However, this girl wasn’t entirely stupid.
When Xia An said it, she looked as if she were showing off.
Thinking about it carefully, if she truly had such a girlfriend, wouldn’t it be worth loudly marking her territory? No matter how many times she looked at her, she couldn’t help but marvel internally: she really is beautiful.
Xia An met Ye Jin’s gaze, but she still couldn’t read any emotion on the other woman’s iceberg-like face. Instead of letting go, Xia An put on a thick-skinned smile and gripped Ye Jin’s hand even tighter.
Holding this hand gave her a sense of security.
She simply trusted the woman in front of her for no reason.
Anyone who was even slightly familiar with Ye Jin knew that President Ye disliked being overly intimate with people; it was practically a taboo.
Palm against palmâthis action already fell within the scope of intimacy for Ye Jin, let alone doing it with a stranger.
Their palms intertwined…
Warming up, turning hot.
Ye Jin felt a bit uncomfortable and wanted to break free from Xia An’s grip. But when she felt that hand tightening around hers bit by bit, her fingertips stiffened. She didn’t pull away after all, allowing the other woman to continue holding her.
Thinking that she was scared, Ye Jin gave Xia An’s hand a slight tug, gesturing with her eyes. “Let’s go.”
This was as good as tacitly accepting their “relationship as a couple.”
Xia An hadn’t expected Ye Jin to actually cooperate with her. Before leaving, she didn’t forget to add to the man, “Handsome, the alcohol is opened for you. Don’t forget to pay the bill later.”
Still worrying about money. Ye Jin ignored the remark and took the lead to walk away, while Xia An followed closely behind, her hand firmly in hers.
They squeezed through the bustling crowd, heading toward the exit not far away.
Staring at her back, Xia An thought to herself that she definitely wasn’t as cold and heartless as she appeared on the surface.
At the very least, her palm was very warm and comfortable.
After stepping out of Ye Se, the entire world fell quiet.
Late September was already the tail end of summer, yet it remained sweltering hot. The swirling wind brushed against the skin, feeling almost scalding.
At this hour, there weren’t many cars on the road, much less people. Occasionally, a few drunks could be seen propping themselves against the walls to vomit violently by the roadside, looking thoroughly miserable.
Ye Jin lowered her head to look at their hands, which were still held together. She felt a bit surprised to realize that… she didn’t seem to find this level of intimacy repulsive.
The humid, warm night breeze blew across her cheeks, messing up Xia An’s hair, and she reached up to casually tuck it away.
