After Setting Me Up With My Ex, The Aloof Alpha Regrets It - Chapter 12

Chapter 12: They Had An Indirect Kiss.

Shi Li left in a hurry, and the pantry door was not closed tightly, leaving a small gap.

Neither of them had expected Wen Yue to show up. After Shi Li received the message from Zhu Yunqi about coming to sign the contract, she first confirmed Wen Yue’s schedule before setting the time with Zhu Yunqi. Moreover, Shi Li and Wen Yue had been together for seven years, and Wen Yue had never given her this kind of “surprise.” Both of them liked to plan and stick to their schedules, never acting out a “drop-in” drama.

Just after Shi Li had hidden Zhu Yunqi, the elevator doors opened. Wen Yue appeared in the design department, holding a thermos cup.

“Baby! Are you surprised?”

Shi Li let out a dry laugh. “Surprised.”

Actually, it was a shock. She couldn’t imagine what would have happened if she hadn’t received Lin Xiaonan’s message and she and Zhu Yunqi had walked to the elevator as usual, only to run into Wen Yue when the doors opened. At least one of the three would have died.

Why did the three of them always appear at the same place at the same time due to various accidents? The love triangle wouldn’t disappear; it would just move. Last time, it was Wen Yue who was scared near the public restroom; this time, it was her turn.

“Ah Yue, didn’t you say your combat department was working overtime tonight?”

“Yes, but I swapped with a colleague. I missed you and wanted to see you, so I came.”

As she spoke, Wen Yue leaned in and wrapped her arms around Shi Li’s waist. She buried her head in the crook of Shi Li’s neck and mumbled, “Did you miss me? Baby, your heart is beating so fast.”

The online advice was indeed right: doing something out of the ordinary gives a relationship a fresh feel. This was the first time she had dropped in unannounced, and Shi Li’s heart was beating so excitedly for her.

Wen Yue felt extremely satisfied.

Shi Li’s heart was about to jump out of her throat. Of course her heart was beating fast. In a situation where everything would be ruined if a third person appeared, it would be abnormal for her heart not to race.

Looking toward the pantry where Zhu Yunqi was hiding, Shi Li patted Wen Yue’s back and steadied her voice. “I missed you. Can you let go for a moment, Ah Yue? I still have work to do.” She couldn’t bring herself to be intimate with Wen Yue while a third person was present.

Wen Yue reluctantly let go. She had rushed over and was still wearing her combat department uniform, with her work-issued holographic monocle hanging on her collar. She found an empty seat next to Shi Li’s workstation and sat down.

The two glasses of unfinished lemonade on the table caught her attention. The lemonade had clearly been made not long ago, as the ice cubes hadn’t completely melted. One cup was half-empty, while the other was almost full. Someone had been there.

Wen Yue didn’t think much of it and asked casually, “Did your colleague just leave? I thought you were working overtime alone. But I didn’t see your colleague downstairs.”

Shi Li: “What?”

Wen Yue gestured to the lemonade with her eyes. “Didn’t you drink this with a colleague? I’m thirsty too. Which one is yours?”

A layer of cold sweat seeped into Shi Li’s palms. There was no colleague. There was only Zhu Yunqi. She had forgotten that Wen Yue’s major in college was investigation.

“There’s no colleague. Both cups are mine. I was a little tired, so I made two to stay awake.”

As she spoke, Shi Li picked up Zhu Yunqi’s cup. “You can drink this one. It has more left.” At the same time, she pressed her fingertips on the contract she hadn’t had time to put away, used her body to block Wen Yue’s view, and with a slight swipe from behind, the contract fell into the gap in the desk.

But Wen Yue suddenly had a strange idea and insisted on drinking “couples’ lemonade” with Shi Li. Shi Li couldn’t bring herself to drink from the cup that Zhu Yunqi had used. Drinking from the same cup is something only very close people do, and an Omega drinking from an Alpha’s used cup is usually understood to mean they are lovers. To make matters worse, she had forgotten which side of the cup Zhu Yunqi had put her mouth on.

“This cup has too much sugar. I’ll pour a new one.”

Wen Yue stopped her. “I’ll do it. Don’t you still have to work?”

Shi Li’s vision went black. Zhu Yunqi was in the pantry right now. If Wen Yue went in, would the two fiancées have to greet each other in the pantry? She pretended to casually tuck her hair behind her ear, hiding her nervousness, and blocked Wen Yue. “The sugar isn’t that much, actually. Let’s clink glasses.”

She gently tapped the cup of lemonade that Zhu Yunqi had drunk from against the cup in Wen Yue’s hand, closed her eyes, and drank the remaining half of the cup as if facing death. All for one billion.

Perhaps it was just her imagination, but Shi Li felt that where she drank, the rim of the cup seemed to have the lingering warmth of an Alpha’s lips…

In the pantry.

Zhu Yunqi bit her lip. Shi Li’s lips were on the exact spot where she had just drunk. They had an indirect kiss. In front of Wen Yue.

Hiding in the dark, unlit pantry, she couldn’t make a sound. The only thing she could do was try her best to lower her presence and make sure Wen Yue didn’t discover her.

Zhu Yunqi suddenly had the illusion of having an affair. The wife returning home late, the mistress with no time to escape, and the frantic wife. The mistress peeking from under the bed, spying on the sweet intimacy between the couple. She pressed her head against the cold wall, trying to freeze away that absurd thought. She and Shi Li had a simple client-contractor relationship.

Zhu Yunqi secretly peered through the ajar door again. Under the lights, the two hands wearing couple bracelets were intertwined. They could have a relationship openly under the lights, while she, the nominal fiancée and the client on the contract, was hiding in a quiet, cramped space, like a damp rat in a ditch in the Black Star Belt. The only thing she could do was not let anyone discover her existence.

For a moment, Zhu Yunqi felt that everything was so twisted. Whether it was her engagement with Wen Yue, the contract with Shi Li, or the 23rd floor at this moment, everything gave off a twisted vibe. Nothing was normal.

Then she thought again, maybe she should have stood up from the pantry with a camera on her head, representing justice, and angrily denounced Wen Yue: “You are engaged to me, and you have repeatedly stressed that you are single. Who is this woman, and what are you two doing?”

“Wen Yue, you are a liar. You must break off the engagement with me immediately, or I will reveal your actions to the Federation.”

The next second, she erased that thought. In fact, it was a viable option. But Shi Li would probably not be able to find her footing in the Federation again. Wen Lirong might put all the blame for the failed engagement on Shi Li and retaliate against her.

Zhu Yunqi could only continue waiting in the pantry.

…

After an unknown amount of time, Shi Li finally finished her work, and the production line resumed normal operation. She drank the pear and loquat stew that Wen Yue had brought in the thermos, turned off the lights at her workstation, and prepared to leave.

But Wen Yue suddenly walked toward the pantry. In an instant, Shi Li and Zhu Yunqi clenched their fists in unison. Did Wen Yue discover the presence of a third person in the pantry?

At the pantry door, Wen Yue raised her hand, grabbed the doorknob, and pulled the door shut. After closing the door, she turned and smiled at Shi Li. “I closed it for you. Didn’t you say that whoever leaves last is responsible for turning off all the lights and doors?”

It was a false alarm.

Shi Li secretly breathed a sigh of relief. She had mentioned it in a casual chat with Wen Yue before, but she didn’t expect Wen Yue to remember. These days, she could feel that Wen Yue was trying hard to please her. Wen Yue, who was always so confident in their relationship, had become a little insecure. Just as Wen Yue had never taken time off or swapped shifts to be with her before, this time she had uncharacteristically changed her shift just to see her.

If it had been before Zhu Yunqi’s return to Z3291, Shi Li would have been happy for a long time if Wen Yue had treated her like this. But with Zhu Yunqi’s arrival, everything had changed. Wen Yue’s cautiousness and attempts to please were no longer out of pure love. They were more out of fear of losing her.

And Shi Li was also gradually realizing that she could no longer easily feel Wen Yue’s affection for her like before. Wen Yue’s actions always looked like, “She’s just not used to losing me.” And she herself had become a bad woman who took money to deceive someone’s feelings.

Shi Li didn’t like this new Wen Yue, nor did she like herself. But it seemed there was no other better way out at the moment.

…

All the lights were turned off, and the 23rd floor was plunged into complete darkness, with only the green light of the emergency exit signs shining. Zhu Yunqi finally came out of the pantry.

On the drive home, she had intended to enjoy the night in Z3291, but she found the countless lights to be exceptionally harsh. So she switched to flight mode, sped up, and went home. When she parked in the garage, she found she didn’t want to go home either. For a moment, Zhu Yunqi couldn’t find a place she wanted to go in Z3291, as if there was no place for her on this planet.

After she got home, Zhu Shengxi told her that she had already scheduled appointments with several century-old family tailors for the weekend, and that Zhu Yunqi and Wen Yue would go together to pick out some dresses for the engagement ceremony. Usually, a custom-made dress takes more than half a year to make, but they were in a hurry and couldn’t wait that long, so they would choose from off-the-rack clothes and modify them.

Zhu Yunqi said, “I’m not going.”

Zhu Shengxi had expected her to be moody. In any case, she had ways to make Zhu Yunqi go, even if she had to be dragged. Her daughter’s tantrum at the moment didn’t make her angry.

Zhu Yunqi didn’t go back to her room directly but went to the rooftop to look at the stars. Her optical computer received a message from Shi Li.

Shi Li: I’m sorry. I didn’t expect Wen Yue to show up suddenly.

Zhu Yunqi’s eyes flashed with the image of those two intertwined hands. The couple’s bracelets on their wrists were as dazzling as the streetlights.

Zhu Yunqi: No need to apologize. It’s not your fault.

She paused and sent another message.

Zhu Yunqi: Do you still love Wen Yue?

As a scout, she was good at reading people’s expressions and actions. In the office tonight, Shi Li’s micro-movements toward Wen Yue seemed to show a slight resistance. Of course, this couldn’t rule out the reason that a third person was present.

Shi Li: Actually, I do. But not as much as before. It feels like the feelings have soured.

Shi Li: But don’t worry, I will seriously complete the contract and try my best not to bring my personal emotions into my work.

Zhu Yunqi stared at those two lines of text for a long time. She thought that if she, as a bystander, could tell, Wen Yue, as a person directly involved, could definitely feel it too. Over time, this would definitely not be conducive to the development of their relationship.

She wanted to help Shi Li and Wen Yue get together, not just have Shi Li show affection for Wen Yue. Conversely, she also needed to make Shi Li feel Wen Yue’s love at the same time. Mutual effort would make the progress faster.

She had to be a good wingman.

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