My CEO Keeps Wanting to Eat Me - Chapter 7

Touched as I was, the prospect of “traveling with a cannibal” still inspired a certain reverence—and fear.

The night before we left, my best friend sent congratulations.

*Holy crap. That she-devil boss of yours is taking you home? That’s intense.*

*Did you save her life or something? Holiday traffic turns the highway into a parking lot. Taking a passenger is the worst. Unless you can drive and trade shifts, who wants to haul along deadweight that eats whenever her eyes are open, sleeps whenever they’re shut, and can’t help with anything?*

*You couldn’t pay me to do it!*

Thanks. I felt thoroughly insulted.

Guiltily, I typed, *I really can’t drive, but am I honestly that useless…?*

My best friend pierced straight to the heart of the matter: *What does she get out of it? Your ability to breathe? Or are you her lucky mascot?*

I fell silent.

Right. What did she get?

Perhaps I was emergency rations that breathed.

The moment that thought appeared, every trace of gratitude evaporated.

Early the next morning, Shen Qinglan’s car pulled up outside my building right on time.

It was a black Land Rover, enormous and imposing.

Shen Qinglan wore an ivory coat. Without her workplace severity, she looked almost like a gentle big sister from next door.

When she saw me laboring toward her with my gigantic suitcase, she actually got out.

She strode over, lifted the absurdly heavy case one-handed, and placed it in the trunk with virtually no effort.

I stared.

That arm strength brought the rumor about tearing raw meat apart rushing back.

If she was that strong, tearing me apart would take seconds, wouldn’t it?

“Get in.”

She opened the passenger door for me and even adjusted the seat back with care.

“I lowered it so you can sleep more comfortably.”

Watching her bend down to adjust my seat filled me with warmth.

My boss looked cold, but she truly was a good person.

Even if she was a cannibal…

As long as she didn’t eat me immediately, I would accept my fate!

The holiday highway was every bit as dreadful as promised.

A sea of red taillights stretched into the distance, the road clogged like a parking lot.

Shen Qinglan was an exceptionally considerate host.

She had put on soothing instrumental music and turned on my heated seat.

Wrapped in warmth, my grand ambition to keep the boss company with conversation collapsed. Not long after getting in, I slept like the dead.

I had no idea how much time passed before I jolted awake and wiped drool from the corner of my mouth.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Shen! I fell asleep!”

Shen Qinglan turned to me, her gaze gentle. “It’s fine. Sleep if you’re tired. Are you hungry?”

She pointed to the back. “There are snacks and water behind you. Help yourself.”

I looked around and discovered the rear seat lined with food, as if she’d cleared out an imported-goods supermarket.

There were expensive-looking chocolates, nuts, and even a sealed container of cut fruit.

I felt too embarrassed to eat, but Shen Qinglan insisted.

While traffic stood still, she even unwrapped a cocoa-dusted truffle and held it directly to my lips.

“Try this. It isn’t too sweet.”

Overwhelmed by the honor, my brain short-circuited. I opened my mouth to take it.

I was so nervous that I accidentally closed my lips around her fingertip.

The cool tip of her finger was enveloped by the wet heat of my mouth. My tongue brushed the pad by accident.

We both froze.

The air inside the car seemed to heat in an instant.

As if burned, I jerked backward, my face exploding tomato-red. “I-I’m sorry, Ms. Shen! I didn’t mean to bite you!”

Shen Qinglan did not withdraw immediately.

Her finger pressed lightly against my lips in a gesture of mysterious intimacy before she slowly pulled it away.

There was even a trace of a smile on her lips. “It’s all right.”

Her thoughts exploded the next second.

*Her lips are so soft…*

*…So is her tongue.*

Me: ???

She really did prefer tender meat!

I chewed the chocolate mechanically. It might as well have been wax.

Shen Qinglan watched my puffed cheeks as I ate. The corners of her mouth rose unconsciously, and she looked at me with the tenderness one might reserve for a piglet awaiting slaughter.

Her thoughts came again.

*She’s like a hamster. So cute.*

*She’s too thin… I need to fatten her up.*

I nearly choked on my own saliva.

Cough, cough, cough!

Fatten me up for what?!

In fairy tales, witches always fed captured children sweets before eating them once they were plump!

And everything she’d given me—nuts, chocolate—was loaded with sugar and calories!

This wasn’t feeding an employee. She was raising livestock!

Were they skipping the New Year pig slaughter this year?

Were they slaughtering me instead?!

I huddled in my seat, trembling, and didn’t dare open my mouth again.