Mistaken ‘O’ is a Crazy Gorgeous Boss - Chapter 21

The warm indoor light grew hazy in that instant, casting a mist-like halo along the edge of the table.

Shen Zhikou’s wish caused Qu Zhen’s operating system to malfunction abruptly, taking a long while to recover and restart. When Qu Zhen rebooted, the exposed skin on her body was no different from the pink cherry blossoms outside the window, even her fingertips were tinged with pink.

Fragments of last night’s intimate memories slowly resurfaced.

Qu Zhen instinctively swallowed, her fingers gradually tightening. Despite being unbearably shy, she still nodded in agreement to the injured Omega’s request.

“O-okay,” she stammered. “Sister, how… how can I help you?”

Shen Zhikou answered irrelevantly, “Zhenzhen.”

“Hmm?”

“Your face is very red,” she remarked, feigning confusion. “Is the room temperature too high?”

The cherry blossom pink deepened into camellia red as Qu Zhen fibbed in a muffled voice, “A little.”

Obliging, Shen Zhikou walked over to the temperature control system and lowered the indoor temperature. Her hands were capable of handling such tasks independently, she just couldn’t get them wet or make large movements.

“Done.”

Qu Zhen added softly, “Mm, it won’t be red soon.”

“I need to get my pajamas. Could you please clean the bathtub for me first?”

“I’ll go right away.”

With that, Qu Zhen turned around and walked stiffly toward the bathroom. She was so flustered that her steps became clumsy and uncoordinated, like a malfunctioning robot on the verge of breaking down.

The suite’s bathroom was designed with a dry-wet separation, clean and spacious. Qu Zhen meticulously cleaned the bathtub and checked again for any hidden cameras.

In the white bathtub, which could only accommodate one person, warm water floated with rose petals. Qu Zhen had sprinkled so many that they nearly covered the entire surface.

Fortunately, there were such things in the bathroom, she thought.

Standing up and stepping to the side, Qu Zhen glanced at her reflection in the mirror. The color on both cheeks had faded considerably, at least no longer resembling two drifting red clouds.

Just as she was about to scoop water to wash her face and cool down further, the bathroom’s glass door opened, and Shen Zhikou entered, her long hair cascading loosely.

“Sister, I’ve finished everything.”

“Mm.” Shen Zhikou placed the pajamas she had brought into the storage basket, her gaze sweeping over the alpha’s face. “Zhenzhen, could you help me wash my hair later?”

Qu Zhen couldn’t possibly refuse Shen Zhikou nor had she ever considered doing so. This was, after all, her duty and obligation.

She nodded mechanically. “Okay.”

“Then I’ll go in first. I’ll call you in a moment.”

“Sister, be careful of the slippery floor.” Qu Zhen was almost more concerned about the injury than Shen Zhikou herself, strictly adhering to the doctor’s orders. “Make sure not to get any water on it.”

“I’ll be careful. Don’t worry.”

Qu Zhen stood outside the sliding glass door like a knight guarding a castle princess. The room was quiet, and Qu Zhen could clearly hear every sound from behind the door. Even though the person inside moved lightly, she could still discern every action of the Omega.

“Zhenzhen.”

“I’m here.”

“You can come in now.”

The alpha, called by name, took a deep breath, pushed the door open, and walked over to the Omega in the bathtub.

The water surface was mostly covered with pink roses, followed by red roses and a few white ones. The petals concealed the view beneath the water perfectly, making the figure in the bath resemble an ethereal fairy among blossoms.

To avoid getting the gauze wet, Shen Zhikou rested her arms on the edges of the bathtub, two pink rose petals clinging just to her slender neck and collarbone. Her stunning beauty was so captivating that Qu Zhen instinctively held her breath.

Her dark hair cascaded to the bottom, and the fair-skinned, flower-like Omega said politely, “Thank you for your trouble.”

The alpha, who stumbled over her words as soon as she opened her mouth, replied, “N-No need to thank me. Sister, it’s what I should do.”

“I brought the travel-sized shampoo and skincare set I usually use when I’m on business trips. It’s over there,” Shen Zhikou indicated. “The orange bottle is the shampoo.”

“O-Okay.”

Qu Zhen washed her hands, opened the orange bottle, and stood behind Shen Zhikou’s head, meticulously washing her long hair without letting her eyes wander. Her movements were stiff, like a marionette afraid to make any extra motions, her gaze firmly fixed on the dark, silky hair, never straying elsewhere.

“Where would you like to go tomorrow?”

The attractions on Star Island were scattered and relatively far apart, so planning ahead would make the trip more convenient.

Qu Zhen asked softly, “What about you, sister?”

“I’ve been here once before and visited all the attractions, so the choice is yours this time. Wherever you want to go, we’ll go.”

As warm water rinsed the ends of her hair, Qu Zhen thought for a moment. “Then, shall we go see the Sacred Tree?”

The Sacred Tree was the most popular spot on Star Island, located in the center of a natural giant crater in the northwest. It was said to be over 350 years old. Qu Zhen really wanted to see it and tie a wish ribbon there.

“Okay.”

Qu Zhen smiled and had Shen Zhikou tilt her head back to rinse off the foam. Finally, she used a hair towel to dry and wrap up her wet hair to prevent the gauze from getting damp.

“Sister, shall we wash your face now?”

Shen Zhikou responded, “Okay, it’s the light blue bottle. Turn around first.”

The obedient “big dog” immediately turned around without hesitation. Only when the Omega in the bathtub spoke again did she turn back, as if granted a reprieve.

While washing her hair, she could stand there expressionless because, as long as she controlled her gaze, she could avoid catching a glimpse of unintended sights. But now, with Shen Zhikou leaning close and facing her, there was no way to avoid or ignore it.

In fact, she could see even more clearly.

The jade-boned, ice-skinned beauty made even peaches and apricots blush with shame and swallows and orioles green with envy. Qu Zhen pursed her lips, quickly averted her eyes, and reached for the blue bottle, her movements as flustered as if she had encountered a wild beast.

Shen Zhikou asked, “Do you need me to close my eyes?”

“Mm.” Qu Zhen leaned closer, her voice low. “Sister, could you lift your head a little higher?”

Shen Zhikou shifted, revealing more of her snow-white skin above the water. She raised her head to meet Qu Zhen’s gaze and asked, “Is this okay?”

Qu Zhen, with no way to avoid it, blushed deeply. “Y-Yes, that’s fine.”

Shen Zhikou closed her eyes.

Every second that followed felt like an “agony” to Qu Zhen. She wanted this time to pass quickly, yet she was also worried about hurting Shen Zhikou, so she kept her movements as gentle as possible.

The texture under her fingertips was incredibly soft, like touching a cake that would burst with cream when cut. Qu Zhen gently massaged, and clear water trickled over the lotus-like, jade-like face.

“Sister, it’s done.”

The long, thick lashes were damp. Shen Zhikou opened her eyes, her gaze seeming to shimmer with moisture, as picturesque as a mermaid stranded on the shore in a fairy tale.

Suddenly faced with such breathtaking beauty,

Qu Zhen felt as if she had taken ten thousand points of critical hit damage.

Mmm. Sister is really so beautiful!!! she thought.

“Thank you for your trouble tonight.”

Qu Zhen blushed and shook her head. “No need to thank me. Sister, is there anything else? If not, I’ll head out now.”

“Nothing else.”

Qu Zhen hummed in acknowledgment, then fled the room at top speed, nearly knocking over the shelf outside. Only after reaching the living room and opening a window to let in the cool breeze did she manage to completely dispel those lingering, intimate images and calm down fully.

But when she saw the Omega emerge in her pajamas, it dawned on her belatedly that she had overlooked another extremely important matter.

Outerwear could be washed in the suite’s washing machine, but what about Shen Zhikou’s intimate undergarments?

Qu Zhen’s face flushed crimson.

“In the room…”

Her mind adrift in distant thoughts, Qu Zhen didn’t catch what the person in front of her was saying. She stared blankly at those soft, warm lips parting and closing, then suddenly snapped back to reality.

“Sister, I’ll go do the laundry.”

“What?”

Qu Zhen spoke with such seriousness, as if she were about to carry out a crucial mission. After listening, Shen Zhikou pressed her lips together and coughed lightly, her jade-like earlobes tinged with a delicate shade of pink.

She didn’t say yes or no, only murmured, “Thank you for your hard work,” before stepping away into the room, letting the hum of the hairdryer drown out the sound of their racing heartbeats.

…

By the time she emerged from the bathroom again, it was already 9:30.

After finishing all her tasks, Qu Zhen sat on the sofa for a while, using the time to cram the first half of The Laws of Love and the Treasures of Marriage.

Even a bestseller couldn’t solve every problem, so Qu Zhen opened her chat window with Z again.

Z had changed their profile picture, switching from the original oil painting to a scenic image, just a bright, solitary moon, with nothing particularly distinctive about it.

Qu Zhen thought for a moment, then began typing.

[Qiye Zhenzhen: Good evening.]

Z replied almost instantly.

[Z: Good evening [moon.jpg]]

[Qiye Zhenzhen: I have a question I’d like to ask you. Do you have time now?]

[Z: I’m all ears.]

Qu Zhen edited her message, obscuring some key details, and sent it right away.

[Qiye Zhenzhen: I’ve mentioned to you that I recently got married, but my wife and I ended up together because of an unexpected situation. Today, she asked me if I’d be willing to try opening up and falling in love, and I agreed. But the book I bought has almost no content about falling in love after marriage, so I wanted to ask you: at this stage, should I pursue her passionately, or just let the relationship develop naturally?]

[Z: Did you agree because you like her?]

Qu Zhen felt that, at this stage, excluding the influence of the temporary mark’s pheromones, responsibility played a very large role in their relationship. However, since their situation was quite complicated and unique, and she wasn’t entirely sure herself, she didn’t reveal to Z the faint, ambiguous feelings she had.

[Qiye Zhenzhen: No.]

This time, their chat window fell silent like an old radio that had been paused. It took a long while before Z replied.

[Z: Do both.]

Qu Zhen replied with two emojis: one nodding in agreement, the other a text-style “good night.”

The bedroom was quiet. Qu Zhen poured a glass of warm water for Shen Zhikou and placed it on the nightstand on her side. Shen Zhikou looked up from her phone, meeting Qu Zhen’s gaze calmly.

“Sis, I’ll leave the night light on over here tonight.”

“Mm.”

The two-meter-long, one-point-eight-meter-wide bed was spacious. Qu Zhen closed the bedroom door and sat on the left edge of the bed, ready to rest.

However, this was the first time they were sharing a bed while fully awake, and her heart was far from as calm as she appeared on the surface. Even the act of lifting the corner of the blanket was done with great care.

In contrast, Shen Zhikou was much more composed. She set her phone aside, pulled the blanket over to Qu Zhen, leaving a clear boundary between them. Qu Zhen lay down accordingly, her eyelashes fluttering incessantly, like a captured butterfly struggling to flap its wings.

“Sis, good night.”

“Good night.”

Both lay flat on their backs, neither crossing the invisible line. Though they shared the same blanket, there was no physical contact beneath it.

Qu Zhen found it hard to fall asleep. She closed her eyes and counted sheep in her mind, but the more she counted, the more awake she felt. So, she switched to counting dumplings. By the time she reached fifty, she realized it was just as ineffective.

In the depths of the night, the mind tends to wander.

Perhaps it was the hazy glow of the night light, reminiscent of a streetlamp in the rain, that suddenly reminded Qu Zhen of her freshman year.

Back then, her family had just begun to recover from a series of setbacks. To ease the burden at home, she spent most of her free time on various part-time jobs.

Many part-time jobs offered triple pay during holidays. Once, during a holiday, she and Zhou Yun took on a job dressing up in mascot costumes to sell helium balloons. If they sold out within eight hours, they would earn 600 yuan; otherwise, their pay would be halved.

But her luck wasn’t great. The area she was assigned to had few people, and there were many competitors from other companies.

Stuck in the mascot suit all day, she was drenched in sweat. By 10 p.m., she still had thirty balloons left unsold.

With only twenty-five minutes left before the eight-hour deadline, she stood by the bridge in her bulky mascot suit, thinking it was hopeless to complete the task. She was about to take off the headpiece to buy some water.

But perhaps the wishing stone she wore had heard her wish.

Not long after, people began crossing the bridge toward her.

Some old, some young; some alone, some in groups.

Most of them bought her helium balloons. The little girl who bought the last pale blue balloon even gave her an umbrella printed with a cartoon puppy and cheerfully reminded her that it was raining.

Standing under the streetlamp, she looked up and realized that the summer rain in Haicheng had arrived so silently, so gently.