Becoming the Runaway Little Wife of the Domineering CEO - Chapter 25

It wasn’t that Fu Mang had forgotten everything; she was simply caught in a post-slumber haze when she first woke up, and the fragments of the night before hadn’t quite slotted into place yet.

Safe in her own room, she had collapsed onto the bed and slept like the dead until her internal clock nudged her awake at dawn. Sitting up, Fu Mang raked a hand through her messy hair and let out a long yawn. But just as her mind was about to fully sharpen, the memories hit her like a physical blow: the drinking, the things she’d said, and that painfully transparent confession.

Fu Mang froze. She stayed in that exact position for a full five minutes, a human statue of pure regret.

…

Finally, she moved. She buried her face in her hands, a sound of muffled, desperate agony escaping her throat.

No! That wasn’t me! she screamed internally. I must have been possessed by an alien last night!

Fu Mang frantically ruffled her hair until it looked like a literal bird’s nest. She spent several minutes on the verge of a total meltdown until a new, even more terrifying realization dawned on her—one that eclipsed the embarrassment of being out-drunk and tricked into speaking the truth.

Am I… actually gay?

…

Fu Mang had never once considered herself a person who could fall for a woman. But the words she’d spoken last night were ironclad evidence. The alcohol hadn’t just loosened her tongue; it had stripped away her denial. She was different when it came to Jin Xiaoyu.

Her eyes were constantly scouting for Xiaoyu’s silhouette. Her ears were tuned to pick out Xiaoyu’s voice from the loudest room. The moment Xiaoyu appeared, Fu Mang’s focus would drift away from whatever she was doing to follow the girl like a compass. She’d even started doing ridiculous, childish things—like going to amusement parks or agreeing to blind dates—just to get a rise out of her.

So this was love.

She actually liked Jin Xiaoyu.

The sheer shock, the novelty, and a sudden, fluttery sweetness swirled together in her chest, creating a sensation she had never experienced before. It was a turbulent, heart-pounding rush. The feeling of a first love.

Despite being alone in the room, Fu Mang ducked her head in embarrassment, a shy smile tugging at her lips. Once she’d finally giggled her fill and managed to pull herself back from the edge of romantic delirium, she remembered Jin Xiaoyu’s reaction.

Wait… she didn’t understand a single word, did she?

Drunk Fu Mang was unreasonable; Sober Fu Mang was a bit more forgiving. Jin Xiaoyu was just like her namesake—she probably had the attention span and intellectual depth of a goldfish. The hints Fu Mang had dropped were layered in metaphor; it was perfectly normal for a simple-minded girl like Xiaoyu to miss the subtext.

Having rationalized Xiaoyu’s ignorance, Fu Mang was stumped on the “next step.” Should she find Xiaoyu and repeat herself? Or take a different approach?

She narrowed her eyes. They say the first person to confess loses. Since Jin Xiaoyu had clearly liked her first, why should she be the one to speak up? It should be Xiaoyu’s turn to step up to the plate.

Fu Mang nodded solemnly to herself, satisfied with this logic.

But a second later, a counter-thought struck her. Jin Xiaoyu was a master of the “poker face.” She hadn’t reacted to the blind date, and she hadn’t touched that e-book in days. What if she’d given up on the pursuit? What if she’d decided to join the ranks of “tragic second leads” and settle for being a silent, platonic protector?

No. That won’t do at all!

Fu Mang scrambled out of bed. She hadn’t even changed into pajamas the night before, having passed out in yesterday’s clothes. The once-smooth fabric was now a roadmap of wrinkles, but she didn’t notice. She sprinted to the connecting door and threw it open.

Yin Shuang was mid-change. She had just pulled off her pajama top and was wearing only a cream-colored camisole. She whipped her head around in shock, still clutching the day’s outfit in her hands.

“What’s wrong?! Is there an intruder?!”

Yin Shuang’s voice was laced with panic, but Fu Mang had gone mute. She stood there, frozen, the words she’d prepared evaporating instantly.

The weather was turning cold. Though Fu Mang kept the house at a steady twenty-six degrees, the sudden exposure to the air sent a chill across Yin Shuang’s skin. Goosebumps prickled along her shoulders, and her body reacted instinctively to the cold, making her silhouette beneath the thin camisole quite prominent.

Fu Mang’s gaze locked onto her. Yin Shuang, noticing her boss’s silence and the strange look on her face, looked down at herself. Then, with zero sense of shame, she looked back up.

They were both women. To Yin Shuang, Fu Mang was practically a child compared to her actual age. Even if she were standing there completely naked, she wouldn’t have felt particularly bothered. In her mind, the concept of “inappropriate physical boundaries” with someone like Fu Mang didn’t even exist.

“Why are you staring at my chest?” Yin Shuang asked, genuinely puzzled.

Fu Mang’s face exploded into a bright crimson. “I wasn’t staring at your chest!”

Yin Shuang blinked innocently. “Yes, you were.”

Fu Mang: “…”

The evidence was undeniable. Every attempt at an argument with Jin Xiaoyu was a losing battle that only left Fu Mang more humiliated. She shut her mouth and gave up the struggle.

She looked away, her ears burning. “I just… I came to see if you were awake. There’s a very important meeting at the office today. We can’t be late. Now that I see you’re up, I’m going back.”

With that, Fu Mang fled back to her room. Yin Shuang tilted her head, more convinced than ever that Fu Mang was acting like a total weirdo.

The two were quiet through breakfast. Once they were in the car, Fu Mang’s eyes darted between the road and Yin Shuang.

Xiaoyu was dressed in her usual pink and white, looking like a literal marshmallow. Normally, Fu Mang found this style irritating and wouldn’t miss a chance to critique it. But today, for the first time, she offered a compliment.

“You look… very cute today.”

Compliments were not Fu Mang’s forte; she was much better at biting remarks. They were currently stopped at a red light. Yin Shuang, who had been looking at her phone, snapped her head up and stared at Fu Mang with deep suspicion.

“Are you still drunk?”

Fu Mang: “…”

Unbelievable. Did she really think the only time Fu Mang could say something nice was when she was intoxicated?

The familiar feeling of frustration returned. Fu Mang stared at her for two seconds. The light turned green, and she slammed her foot on the accelerator. They sped through one intersection, then another.

Yin Shuang watched the turns pass by and realized they were off-course. “President Fu, you missed the turn. We were supposed to go right at that last block.”

Fu Mang glanced at her, her face expressionless as she kept her eyes on the road. “I know.”

“We aren’t going to the office yet. We need to find somewhere quiet. We need to talk.”

Yin Shuang blinked. “Talk?”

Fu Mang gave a calm “Mhm.” They had to talk. If they went to the office now, she’d be so distracted by this that she wouldn’t get a single thing done.

Yin Shuang’s expression turned even more perplexed. “But you said this morning that there was a ‘very important meeting’ and we absolutely couldn’t be late.”

Fu Mang: “…” She had forgotten about her own lie.

Taking a deep breath, she whipped her head around and gave Yin Shuang a smile that was so obviously fake it was painful. “I just realized that there is something far more important than that meeting. So, I’m going to handle the more important thing first. Which is: we need to talk. Clear?”

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