A Single Father’s Troubles - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Peeking

9:30 AM. Entrance of Zhongbai Group.

High-level executives in suits and leather shoes waited at the company entrance to welcome the partners from Fuchuan Group.

Lin Tingwan was also dressed in a suit, trousers, and black leather shoes today. While others wore this to look like high-spirited elites, he looked like a college student wearing his parents’ clothes. That exceptionally youthful face made him exude a sense of greenness everywhere, like an unripe peach, causing several leaders to turn their heads for a second look.

Lin Tingwan had no choice but to shrink a little behind Pei Shaoyu.

After waiting for about ten minutes, a black business van slowly drove up. After it stopped steadily, a shrewd and capable woman stepped out of the car, accompanied by an exceptionally handsome young man. The man wore a well-tailored black suit and white shirt, looking as handsome as a model walking the runway at Fashion Week.

The moment Lin Tingwan saw the newcomer’s face clearly, his brain went completely blank.

The low-voiced discussions of the colleagues beside him called back his sanity. He quietly pinched his own thigh, and a jolt of pain shot straight to the top of his head.

Not a dream? Why was Kuang Ye here?!

Before Lin Tingwan could process his shock, he noticed from the corner of his eye that Kuang Ye was about to turn his head. Lin Tingwan’s body tensed; he turned sideways to hide behind Pei Shaoyu, letting Pei Shaoyu block him, and quickly said to him, “President Pei, I’ll go check the meeting room one more time?”

Pei Shaoyu made a gesture signaling him to go.

Lin Tingwan slipped away light-footedly against the wall.

At the entrance, Sun Qing, the Vice President of Fuchuan Group, was exchanging polite greetings with Bai Wenjin, the person in charge of Zhongbai Group.

“This is Mr. Kuang Ye, the eldest son of our Chairman’s family.”

“Xiao Kuang, this is the Executive Vice President of Zhongbai, Mr. Bai Wenjin.” Sun Qing turned her head toward Kuang Ye, but Kuang Ye seemed not to have heard her words, narrowing his eyes as he stared in the direction of the side door.

“Xiao Kuang?”

Everyone instinctively followed Sun Qing’s gaze to look back, only to see a row of camphor trees swaying in the wind.

Kuang Ye withdrew his gaze with a natural expression and calmly extended his hand toward Bai Wenjin: “Mr. Bai, long time no see.”

Meeting Room.

The air-conditioning wind blew on his body at a comfortable temperature, yet Lin Tingwan felt his hands and feet were ice-cold. He raised his hand and pressed it against his thumping heart, wanting to calm it down, but it was to no avail. Lin Tingwan forced himself to focus on checking the materials on the table.

Initially, he could control his thoughts, but gradually, his thoughts instinctively drifted back to Kuang Ye.

Why was there such a coincidence in the world that their partner would actually be Kuang Ye! Was it because he had done something bad, and this was God giving him a punishment?

But, but… he liked Kuang Ye’s genes, and Kuang Ye liked his body. They were originally a fair trade. Moreover, when he left, he returned all the things and money Kuang Ye had given him. The only thing he took away was the child Kuang Ye didn’t want…

Lin Tingwan palely searched for excuses for himself. But he also knew that no matter how he looked for reasons, he was still that deceiver. Indeed, one cannot do bad things; even if one has only done one or two, their conscience will find no peace.

The taste of being in debt was truly unpleasant. A wave of bitterness rose in Lin Tingwan’s heart.

He stood by the elevator entrance, face pale, waiting for the judgment of fate.

The numbers on the elevator panel jumped one by one. Lin Tingwan gripped his trousers tightly, desperately suppressing the urge to flee, the sweat seeping from his palms wetting that small patch of fabric.

The elevator has arrived.

Hearing the mechanical female voice’s reminder, Lin Tingwan held his breath, lowering his head and shrinking into the shadows.

Soon, surrounded by a crowd, Kuang Ye strode out from inside, eyes fixed forward, seemingly not noticing the person huddled into a ball by the door.

Lin Tingwan buried himself deeply in the corner, staring at his toes, listening to the footsteps approaching from afar.

Pei Shaoyu came out following the crowd. Seeing Lin Tingwan’s body rustling with tremors, he stopped his pace and asked with concern: “Xiao Lin, what’s wrong with you?”

Lin Tingwan snapped back to reality as if waking from a dream and quickly said, “I’m fine.”

“Good that you’re fine, follow along.”

Lin Tingwan withdrew his gaze from Kuang Ye, took a deep breath, and stepped forward to follow Pei Shaoyu into the meeting room.

There were many people attending the meeting today. Lin Tingwan’s seat was behind Pei Shaoyu, directly facing Kuang Ye, who sat to Sun Qing’s left.

This position cut off the possibility of meeting Kuang Ye’s eyes directly; Lin Tingwan felt much more at ease.

Perhaps the content of the speaker’s speech was truly too boring; Lin Tingwan’s gaze involuntarily landed on Kuang Ye.

If Kuang Ye was pretending not to know him, did that mean the matter had passed?

Mhm… so handsome.

The man before him had deep eye sockets and a stiff bridge of the nose. There was a scar at his left brow bone; the broken eyebrow didn’t affect his looks but rather added a hint of charming wildness.

Four years had passed, and Kuang Ye looked even more handsome, able to firmly capture others’ attention at first glance.

By the time Lin Tingwan snapped back to reality and realized he was actually thinking about Kuang Ye, he knocked his head in annoyance.

Lust is a knife over the head! Not allowed to look anymore! He already has a partner!

Lin Tingwan moved his gaze away and forced himself to take notes seriously, but when he came back to his senses, Lin Tingwan dejectedly discovered that he was actually peeking at Kuang Ye again.

Beauty truly harms people…

Having lived this long, Lin Tingwan only now discovered that he was a superficial person who liked looking at handsome guys.

He felt miserable in his heart, yet he had to admit that Kuang Ye was indeed too handsome—so handsome that he had little self-control left.

Kuang Ye was definitely in the top three… no, practically the number one among the people he had seen. Otherwise, back then, he wouldn’t have locked onto Kuang Ye, who had just come off the racetrack, at a single glance in the crowd.

Moreover, the man before him was the only person he had ever been intimate with.

Lin Tingwan looked at Kuang Ye with a complex gaze. Perhaps like a chick hatching from an egg taking the first creature it sees as its mother, Lin Tingwan felt he still had a bit of an “unlike others” feeling for Kuang Ye.

So, his peeking at Kuang Ye was also justifiable, right?

Lin Tingwan comforted himself in a very ostrich-like manner and felt much better. However, he was much more restrained after that, not constantly unable to help looking at him like before.

He thought his movements were seamless. But he ignored that Kuang Ye was 185cm; this height made his line of sight naturally higher than others. All the movements on the opposite side were fully visible.

Kuang Ye imperceptibly felt those moist eyes frequently landing on him, sizing him up without restraint, and a surge of nameless fire rose in his heart.

This damn little liar after having a wife and child, where did he get the nerve to still dare look at him with such eyes?!

Wait,

Kuang Ye looked at the “two different people” version of Lin Tingwan, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat, a certain thought surfacing in his mind.

Lin Tingwan was shy and introverted. When they were alone, he would blush at the slightest thing, let alone meeting friends openly, or holding hands and showing intimacy.

Yet this timid and cowardly Lin Tingwan actually dared to peek at him in a meeting room, in front of so many people, as if no one else were there.

Was he showing favor? Or hinting at something?

Kuang Ye sat up straight and straightened his wrinkle-free shirt.

This angle should look quite handsome, right?

Kuang Ye adjusted his sitting posture, sitting more upright and making it easier for the person opposite to see him.

He couldn’t help but calculate the probability of that possibility. The more he thought, the more Kuang Ye felt it made sense.

He sneered in his heart; Lin Tingwan should truly be glad this was a meeting room, which prevented him from making an unseemly move. However, the belly full of anger he was forced to suppress had nowhere to be vented and would only pile up more as it was pent up.

He had intended to let it go, but things were so coincidental; he didn’t expect to run into Lin Tingwan again.

Lin Tingwan wasn’t without feelings for him; it was clearly a case of being unable to forget old flames. A man should be generous. Forgiving once was nothing.

Kuang Ye secretly convinced himself in his heart, while simultaneously making up his mind: as long as Lin Tingwan raised his eyes to look at him one more time, he would forgive him, accept the fact that he had a child, and start over with him.

However, after Lin Tingwan looked down at his phone, he never raised his head again. He sat motionless on the chair, unconsciously biting his lower lip.

Kuang Ye was very familiar with Lin Tingwan’s little habits; when encountering something anxious, Lin Tingwan would be so nervous his whole body went stiff, and his snow-white teeth would constantly torture his poor lower lip, biting until it bled without him noticing.

The tender lips were soon bitten red and swollen by the owner. The anxiety in Lin Tingwan’s eyes was almost about to overflow.

So uneasy, did he encounter something?

Kuang Ye had developed a problem with staring at people; he was used to controlling everything about Lin Tingwan, and after all these years, he still hadn’t quit the habit.

He realized he was actually worrying about Lin Tingwan, and felt a bit of fire in his heart, straightening his collar expressionlessly.

Lin Tingwan seemed to have made a decision. He reached out, tugged at the clothes of the man sitting in front of him, and then very intimately leaned close to the other’s ear and whispered something.

During a meeting, while the leader was speaking above, the employees below shouldn’t whisper to each other so openly. Kuang Ye watched this clearly normal scene, yet the hand resting on his leg unconsciously clenched into a fist.

After receiving the man’s permission, Lin Tingwan gave a grateful smile, hunched his body, and left light-footedly.

Kuang Ye’s face pulled even longer.

He glanced impatiently at the person talking eloquently in front of the projector, his fingers tapping on the table somewhat irritably.

Five minutes passed.

Ten minutes passed.

Kuang Ye’s patience ran out bit by bit.

Where exactly did Lin Tingwan go?

Kuang Ye rose quietly, took his phone, and walked out of the meeting room.

He walked into the hallway, just about to find someone to check Lin Tingwan’s phone number, but ran into Lin Tingwan’s boss standing by the window with his back to the door, making a phone call.

Kuang Ye slowed his pace.

“…Mhm, it’s fine. You look after the child first; I’ll send you a copy of the meeting minutes when the time comes.”

Hearing “child,” Kuang Ye lowered his head expressionlessly, his canine teeth biting the cigarette filter, taking a fierce, deep drag.

Bai Wenjin came out to find someone. Seeing Kuang Ye standing by the window, a layer of dark fire pressing on his brow, looking as if he were about to start a fight, he was quite puzzled in his heart.

Although he had heard that Kuang Ye had a bad temper and personality, he truly couldn’t imagine how just having a meeting would provoke him.

Bai Wenjin asked out of caution: “Something the matter?”

Kuang Ye and Bai Wenjin weren’t actually very familiar, but he was cousins with Bai Wenjin’s partner, Huo Rongchuan, and their relationship was decent. Seeing it was him, he casually stubbed the cigarette into the ashtray. In a short while, three finished cigarette butts had been added inside.

“Nothing.”

Other people had their wives and children and a warm bed; what could possibly be the matter with him?

Support A Single Father’s Troubles