Taking Advantage, Then Trying to Run - Chapter 6

I took her to the upscale restaurant where I usually entertained guests.

Simply stepping through the door consumed every ounce of her courage.

“Ma’am, maybe I should go back… I’m dirty from work…”

I linked my arm through hers and, without thinking, squeezed her solid triceps. “You promised to eat with me. You can’t change your mind now.”

A server came to greet us. “The usual table, Ms. Nan?”

He meant the one by the window.

It had the best view and was where I normally sat when entertaining.

This time, however, I changed my mind. “My young friend doesn’t like crowds. Give us a private room—not too large. It’s only the two of us.”

“Certainly, Ms. Nan.”

Hai Yan said nothing throughout and let me make every decision.

The room was decorated in an elegant classical style, with calligraphy and paintings on the walls, begonias in one corner, and a tiny bridge over running water outside the door.

I cared about none of it.

My eyes remained fixed on Hai Yan.

She was lovelier than all the scenery combined.

Even the smallest private room was spacious, and the table was still enormous.

I deliberately sat right beside her.

“Hai Yan, what kind of tea do you like?” I asked with a beaming smile.

The manager eagerly added, “We have Longjing, Maofeng, Biluochun, as well as—”

“A-anything is fine. You choose, ma’am.”

Hai Yan rubbed her hands together beneath the table.

My eyes curved with my smile. “All right, then we’ll order you some juice. It’s normal for a child not to know tea. Do you like mango juice?”

“Anything is fine…”

“Which do you prefer, mango juice or corn juice?”

Hai Yan looked at me.

I read a whole storm of complicated emotions in that look, including: *Should I tell her corn isn’t a fruit?*

I burst out laughing, my shoulders shaking.

This girl was so much fun.

Unable to resist, I pointed to the cheese-baked lobster on the menu. “Do you like lobster?”

Hai Yan turned pale.

The price printed beside it nearly knocked her soul from her body.

“Ma’am, you really don’t need to. I’ll eat anything…”

“I don’t like it when you call me ma’am. It makes me sound old.” I blinked my enormous, long-lashed eyes at her. “Call me Zhiyi, and I won’t order it.”

Hai Yan turned to stone.

“Ma’am—I mean, M-Ms. Nan…”

I snorted with laughter again.

“What a good memory, Hai Yan. You only heard it once, and you already remembered everyone calls me Ms. Nan.”

She couldn’t take any more.

Her head dropped.

I stopped teasing, quickly placed our order, and sent the manager away.

Then I studied her, tracing every feature with my gaze.

Hai Yan was so mortified she wanted to crawl into a crack in the floor.

“Ma’am, i-is there something on my face?”

“You used one word too many.”

“What?”

“Call me Jiejie, all right?”

I smiled radiantly, coaxing her with my voice. “Let me hear you say it.”

Hai Yan didn’t understand why, but obediently murmured, “…Jiejie.”

My smile became impossible to suppress.

“Call me that from now on, all right?”

“…All right.”

So obedient!

She was so sweet I wanted to eat her up.

Hmm? No.

I was straight. I didn’t like women.

I tucked away my smile, cleared my throat, and took a sip of tea to suppress the strange feeling in my chest.

She was simply too adorable—I told myself. People experienced “cute aggression” when they saw adorable animals. They wanted to squeeze or gobble up cute things. It was perfectly understandable.

I had once found Maomao so adorable that I’d wanted to bite off her little kitty head, hadn’t I?

I did not like women.

I merely thought she was cute and wanted to pet her.