After Breaking Up with the Stoic CEO - Chapter 4

Chapter 4: That Rusty-Tasting Kiss Amidst the Chaos

When the person squatting on the ground turned around expectantly, Li Jin finally recognized the drunkard’s identity through the dim lighting of the parking lot.

It was the author she had seen at the book signing this afternoon, named Lu Wu. Beyond that, she had no further impression.

The group’s daily affairs were numerous and complex; Li Jin was long accustomed to the basic principles of a fast pace and high efficiency. Personally appearing at such a small, cramped venue for a so-called “autograph” was a violation of those principles. She had only made a rare exception to waste some time because Rui Rui liked her and the afternoon itinerary happened to pass by.

But if the subject was a stranger she had met only once, the answer required no deliberation.

Li Jin spoke without hesitation: “No, you cannot.”

Lu Wu barely managed to process the refusal. She lowered her head without a sound.

“Oh.”

Standing tall, Li Jin clearly saw the other woman’s lips press tighter and her brows droop; her disappointment was palpable. The last time she had seen someone express such overt emotion in front of her was the junior high girl back at home.

It was natural for children to be straightforward, but when adults were linked to the word “emotion,” it often came across as affected or manipulative. Yet Lu Wu’s eyes were pure; her joy and sorrow were written right on the surface. Uncharacteristically, this didn’t provoke a sense of revulsion in Li Jin; instead, she felt a sudden impulse to ask more.

She paused and said in a cool voice, “Why were you drinking?”

Lu Wu didn’t seem to grasp the meaning of the words. She thought for a long time before looking up at her blankly. When she spoke, the topic jumped back to the beginning.

“Beautiful.”

A drunk person follows neither common sense nor logic. No matter what is asked, they only repeat the thought lingering in their heart. On that palm-sized face sat a faint crimson flush; those clear, bright eyes were now misty, and her lips glistened with moisture.

Lu Wu was beautiful, so when those two simple words were uttered through a drunken haze, they sounded like a blunt and bold confession of affection.

Li Jin leaned down slightly, looking into the woman’s eyes. Her tone remained calm. “Do you know what it means to tell someone they are beautiful in a setting like this?”

Lu Wu tilted her head, like an old cell phone finally connecting to a network signal. She asked, “What does it mean?”

Li Jin didn’t answer immediately. Her gaze drifted downward, lazily appraising the other woman. Lu Wu was wearing a sexy yet lively camisole today, which accentuated her long neck and perfectly showcased her physical proportions. It was obvious she had a habit of working out; the muscle definition on her waist was clear, and her forearms had exquisite, smooth lines. She was exactly the type that would be very popular in “the circle.”

“It means that you want to invite her to spend the night together.”

A car passed by, its headlights sweeping across them. Shadows and stray light intertwined on Li Jin’s face, making her expression unreadable. A look of daze surfaced on Lu Wu’s face; it took her a long while to register the implication of those words.

The post-dinner entertainment ended there. Li Jin smiled nonchalantly and placed her hand on the door handle. “Please move. You’re blocking me.”

The person blocking the path had no sense of being in the way, still huddled by the car in a daze. Just as Li Jin was about to remind her again, Lu Wu shakily stood up, supporting herself against the car body.

The physical height difference was manually erased, and the physiological distance was pulled into a dangerous, boundary-crossing range without warning. Li Jin suddenly saw the long eyelashes on the younger woman’s eyelids. Immediately after, the other woman’s scent enveloped her.

First came a faint hint of alcohol, followed by a subtle citrus fragrance. It didn’t smell like a luxury brand’s exclusive limited edition, but it was fresh and sweet—enough to be stunning.

Drawn in by the scent of green citrus, Li Jin forgot to pull away at the first moment of Lu Wu’s approach. That single second of hesitation allowed the other woman to embolden herself and seize her wrist. Li Jin disliked physical contact, yet at this moment, as those long fingers left a moist, midsummer heat-brand on her wrist, she found that her heart—contrary to her nature—did not rise in disgust.

She commanded softly: “Let go.”

Lu Wu’s gaze struck Li Jin’s face directly. A breeze blew past, adding a few notes of cold fragrance to her nose. A clean, pure lily scent intertwined with a faint tobacco aroma—a very unique smell.

She unconsciously licked her lips. Instead of obeying, she seemed bewitched by a Siren, asking word by word: “Can I?”

Li Jin froze in place, silent. The air fell into a silence of ambiguous meaning.

The drunk and the sober each harbored their own thoughts. As her gaze drifted, Li Jin noticed the tip of Lu Wu’s ear—it was red, like a fruit on a branch so plump it was about to fall.

Li Jin was the first to regain her composure. She asked nonchalantly, “You like me?”

A slight, tingling touch when eyes meet; a lingering thought during idle hours. Perhaps “fondness” would be more accurate than “love,” but in a state of drunkenness, such boundaries are negligible.

The magic of alcohol is that it amplifies one’s improper desires. It is because of this that unreasonable behavior during intoxication can be traced back to a fleeting thought in the mind. There was a reason for both the unconscious proximity and the repeated allowance of boundary-crossing.

Because Lu Wu had been sufficiently stunned by her very first sight of Li Jin.

The side effects of alcohol intertwined with an uncontrollable inner thirst. Lu Wu’s voice turned husky: “What if I say yes?”

Seeing Lu Wu’s unsteady stance, Li Jin tilted her chin up, her voice carrying a slight touch of mockery: “A drunkard?”

Lu Wu raised the wrist she was holding and placed it squarely in front of Li Jin’s eyes, acting somewhat triumphantly: “Not allowed?”

Li Jin applied force, attempting to free her hand, but the other woman’s strength was greater than expected; the struggle was unsuccessful. She simply ignored it and spoke a reminder: “Miss Lu, I have a daughter.”

Lu Wu countered: “But knowing this is a lesbian bar, you came anyway, didn’t you?”

Li Jin was speechless. It seemed the other woman had misunderstood something, but there was no need to explain the details about Rui Rui to her.

Lu Wu merely assumed Li Jin was afraid to admit her sexual orientation. She released the slender wrist and whispered: “Even widowed or divorced women have the right to seek true love. Don’t worry, Miss Li, I won’t look at you through tinted glasses…”

Shortly after the residual warmth on her hand dissipated, Li Jin’s fingertips curled reflexively. Realizing what she was doing, she pursed her lips and said pointedly: “Lu Wu, are you this presumptuous with everyone?”

Lu Wu belatedly realized she had said something offensive under the influence. “Sorry, I—”

Unexpectedly, Li Jin didn’t seem intent on pursuing it. She only said flatly, “It seems you’ve sobered up. I’m going home now.”

The aftereffects of the alcohol came in waves. The dull throb in her temples and the bodily discomfort occupied her senses like ants gnawing. Lu Wu could no longer tell if her current state was sober or dazed; she only knew she didn’t want the person in front of her to leave. “Wait—”

Li Jin turned back again. “Is there something else?”

Lu Wu pursed her lips, not knowing what to say. After a long while, she asked: “The Jin in Li Jin… which character is it?”

This was the first time she had called out Li Jin’s name, and she hesitated as she spoke.

Li Jin’s eyes showed no ripples. “Why do you ask?”

Lu Wu’s answer was seamless: “Isn’t there a chance to collaborate later? Wouldn’t it be too rude if I didn’t even know the name of the person in charge on the client side?”

Li Jin gave her a fleeting glance.

“The Jin for ‘soak’ or ‘permeate’ (jìn).”

“And stay away from the car.”

Lu Wu didn’t understand the second half of Li Jin’s sentence. She asked in confusion, “Stay away?”

Li Jin explained calmly, “The one behind you. If you lean on it, I can’t start the engine.”

Lu Wu froze and looked back. A similarly sleek body, similarly exquisite and low-profile black, but it wasn’t the classic Porsche logo—it was a Bentley in the same color scheme.

This was—Li Jin’s car.

“I still have some things to handle. Wait for me in the parking lot. If you’re really bored, draw something on the car.”

Those were Qin Xu’s exact words. So, in her boredom, Lu Wu had truly used lipstick to draw a picture on the paint of the car’s side. Qin Xu never cared much for these modes of transport; putting lipstick on a Porsche wasn’t a problem.

But if Lu Wu was currently leaning against Li Jin’s Bentley, that was another story.

Can lipstick on a car body be washed off? How many book signings would she have to do to save enough money for a paint job?

Lu Wu’s head grew dizzier. Before she could think of a solution, she took a step back, trying to use her body to hide the small mess on the car. But this reaction was so strange that it easily caught Li Jin’s attention. The older woman took a step forward in turn: “What’s wrong with you?”

Lu Wu shook her head. “Nothing.”

Li Jin was skeptical. “Really? You look a bit pale.”

Lu Wu insisted, “You’re seeing things.”

One wanted to hide. One wanted to see.

In the back-and-forth, someone tripped, and both of them lost their balance. Li Jin cried out, falling backward without any defense. Lu Wu, ignoring everything else, reached out to wrap her arm around Li Jin’s waist and pull her toward her.

Fortunately, with the car body as support, their downward momentum was quickly halted. Li Jin eventually fell into Lu Wu’s embrace.

When the dust settled, only the sound of hurried breathing remained in the empty parking lot. Everything had ended without further danger, with one exception—that rusty-tasting kiss amidst the chaos.

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