Savage Kiss - Chapter 9

He didn’t move, just looked at her calmly, almost deliberately, with a flicker of something dark in his eyes.

Xu Qingyi didn’t dare move either, sensing his…

Her face flushed red, completely at a loss. If she didn’t move, she couldn’t get down, but staying like this would only make things worse.

Yet if she moved, it would still be disastrous.

Shen Yanzhou let her sit there, lifting his gaze to meet hers before suddenly murmuring, “I really don’t have a girlfriend.”

Xu Qingyi couldn’t think straight this close to him. Blood rushed uncontrollably to her head.

She turned her face slightly away. “Yeah, I believe you.”

After all, that night at the bar, he hadn’t seemed like that kind of person.

There was nothing about her worth scheming over, so he probably wouldn’t insist on being with her if he already had someone.

She wanted to get down, but Shen Yanzhou abruptly tightened his arm around her.

Xu Qingyi nearly gasped, her soul trembling restlessly.

“You!”

Maybe it was because they were in the car again, but the confined space felt like a spark to her.

Then Shen Yanzhou kissed her.

Once, then pulled back, watching her. “You can slap me.”

She swallowed hard against the unbearable sensation.

He kissed her again, this time with a hint of urgency.

She couldn’t take it, afraid things would spiral out of control.

Pressing her hands against his chest, she spoke between breaths, “A transactional relationship.”

“No strings attached afterward. Okay?”

She trusted him, but she absolutely couldn’t entertain anything more. “I don’t do romance. We can sleep together, but no feelings.”

She wasn’t lying. Her scumbag father had warped her views too deeply. She never wanted to fall in love, let alone marry and bring a child into the world who’d suffer more than her and Xu Chen.

She didn’t want love, didn’t deserve it.

The warmth in Shen Yanzhou’s gaze as he looked at her visibly cooled.

“So you’ve been avoiding me these past few days not because you thought I had a girlfriend, but because you just wanted to sleep with me?”

She didn’t deny it.

No girlfriend meant no moral dilemma. Sleeping with him was just a physical need and he inspired her.

Shen Yanzhou might have laughed, his lips curling mockingly. “Scared of exes clinging to you? So you’re into this kind of arrangement.”

Xu Qingyi put some distance between them to keep her head clear.

“I don’t have exes.” That much, at least, wasn’t a secret.

Shen Yanzhou fell silent, just staring at her.

Xu Qingyi had no idea what he was thinking. The tension was unbearable, almost eerie.

Biting her lip, she cut straight to the point. “So… are we continuing?”

Shen Yanzhou had already removed his arm from her waist, resting it on the steering wheel instead.

Leaning back, he looked at her with dimmed eyes. “I overthought it. I thought you liked me.”

For a moment, he’d believed someone in this world finally saw him was willing to give him even a shred of affection.

He’d even thought she was jealous.

Xu Qingyi found his assumption both strange and startling. Calmly, she said, “We’ve only met once properly.”

How could anyone normal call that “liking” someone?

Of course, she admitted she wasn’t normal, she was uncontrollably drawn to his body.

But she couldn’t talk about her medical history or her profession. It would only invite scorn and ridicule.

Xu Qingyi, too, fell silent.

Shen Yanzhou tilted his head slightly. The dim glow of streetlights filtered through the rain, casting shadows over his face as he smiled, this time for real.

She actually thought they’d only met once?

So that night at the bar when she flirted with him, she genuinely didn’t know who he was. If it had been another man, would she have done the same?

It wasn’t because he was someone special.

Shen Yanzhou suppressed the discomfort in his chest and finally gave her a cold reply: “I’m not a player.”

Xu Qingyi understood, if she wanted to play around, she should find someone else. He wasn’t interested.

Of course, she respected that.

“Alright then,” she forced a polite smile, struggling to get off him. “Sorry about tonight…”

“Take your stuff.” Shen Yanzhou handed her the Swiss roll.

He looked incredibly handsome, but the moment his expression turned blank, Xu Qingyi could feel the chill in his bones.

“Consider it thanks for sending me home…”

“Want me to throw it away for you?” he interrupted.

It was clear he absolutely didn’t want it. Xu Qingyi had no choice but to take it and hurry toward the apartment entrance.

Once home, the first thing she did was take a shower.

Shen Yanzhou’s final look had been one of utter disdain, and it lingered in her mind.

He had bought her medicine before and even asked if her cold was better, but in that moment, he must have looked down on her.

He probably thought she was too easy.

Just like her classmates and coworkers back then, who all saw her as improper, whispering behind her back that she was a slut, that any man could have her.

…

After her shower, Xu Qingyi picked up the Swiss roll, walked toward the trash can, then turned back.

The Swiss roll hadn’t done anything wrong, what a waste to throw it away.

Xu Qingyi didn’t like taking advantage of others either. She searched for his number and added him on WeChat, it went through immediately.

Based on online prices, she calculated the cost of all the cold medicine he’d bought her that day and transferred the amount to him.

Shen Yanzhou really didn’t contact her again.

Plus, she was busy with her design work over the next few days and mostly forgot about him.

The minor exception was when she hit a creative block or flipped through her photo album and saw his picture then she’d remember him.

After a week of hard work, the first draft of her design was finally finalized.

That day happened to be the start of the new Honor of Kings season, and the team captain had @‘ed her in the group chat for a team match, but she hadn’t seen it.

The captain was a girl. Xu Qingyi and her were purely online friends, they never pried into each other’s personal lives and had even set up a “sister CP” in the game.

This was the kind of relationship Xu Qingyi liked.

“Mi,” the chatty captain, sent her a private message:

[Seven Treasure, hurry up!]

[There’s a super hot guy in the team, come quick!]

As Xu Qingyi was about to reply, she accidentally tapped into Shen Yanzhou’s chat window instead.

She had casually nicknamed him “Zhou” (porridge), while the captain’s nickname was “Mi” (a homophone for “rice”).

Xu Qingyi typed quickly and sent the message without realizing:

[Coming, baby.]

When did she realize she’d sent it to the wrong person?

It was already past midnight by then.

After the team match ended, she was about to send “Mi” a goodnight message when her eyes suddenly caught the nickname, “Zhou.”

Xu Qingyi’s mind went blank.

She had sent him the money for the medicine but forgotten to delete him? Then, because he hadn’t accepted the transfer, the refund notification had pushed their chat to the top.

The message couldn’t be recalled now. Xu Qingyi had no choice but to accept her fate and exit the chat.

It had been so long, maybe he hadn’t seen it?

Then she changed the captain’s nickname to something clearer: Mi Baby.

After a tiring week and staying up so late, Xu Qingyi washed up and slept like the dead, recharging for the modeling work she’d start the next day.

The following afternoon, around four, her tablet chimed several times in a row.

She thought it was something urgent from CEO Ke, but when she picked it up, she realized someone had responded to her part-time job post from last week.

The profile picture showed a seaside restaurant.

Xu Qingyi hesitated for a moment but still replied that she’d be there in twenty minutes. After all, she owed them for the Swiss roll, and they were paying.

She wore a mask, and the boss didn’t seem to recognize her, simply instructing her to deliver the items to a yacht at the dock.

Xu Qingyi hadn’t expected that the “few snacks” the boss mentioned online would actually fill half a cart.

For the first time, she felt she really should get herself a cheap used car.

In the end, the boss drove over with her to make the delivery.

A large fishing boat was docked at the pier, likely prepped for a small gathering and some deep-sea fishing.

While carrying the items onboard, Xu Qingyi spotted a man in a gray shirt sitting with his back to her at the other end of the boat, talking on the phone.

Her eyesight was sharp, just a glance at the fingers gripping the phone made her feel it was Shen Yanzhou.

Of all the bad luck! After sending him that kind of message yesterday, she just wanted to leave as fast as possible!

But then Ma Xu pointed at the water. “We’ve already left the dock.”

Only then did Xu Qingyi realize, when had the yacht started moving? She hadn’t even gotten off yet!

Panicked, she tugged at the boss’s sleeve. “Quick, tell them I need to get off.”

Ma Xu gave an awkward laugh and pointed toward the cockpit where Shen Yanzhou was. “I don’t dare. The captain’s been in a bad mood lately.”