The Cool CEO’s Ultra-Sweet Boyfriend - Chapter 5

Chapter 5: I Know It Wasn’t on Purpose

When Ji Li came out of his office and walked past the planning department, the first person he spotted was Xu Nanxin. However, he only gave him a casual glance. At this hour, anyone still working overtime was usually just someone who hadn’t finished their own tasks.

He checked the time and saw it was already nearly eight o’clock, so without delaying any further, he walked briskly out of the company.

The Music Restaurant

When Ji Li entered the music restaurant, a waiter immediately stepped forward to guide him.

Under the soft lighting, accompanied by smooth, gentle music, the restaurant gave off a very serene yet understated, luxurious vibe.

As he walked through, rows of wine racks displayed all kinds of red wine, musical instruments hung on the walls, and green vines decorated the shelves. After 8:30 PM, the number of patrons in the restaurant had clearly thinned out.

Following the waiter, he was led to a quiet booth. Two fresh flowers sat on the table beneath the soft overhead light. After Ji Li sat down, he gently placed the exquisitely wrapped gift box he had prepared onto the table.

The waiter handed him the menu, poured some tea, and asked softly, “Sir, would you like to order now?”

“No need, I’m waiting for someone. Thank you,” Ji Li declined politely.

“Alright. If you need anything, just press the service bell.”

“Okay, thank you,” Ji Li nodded.

After the waiter left, he glanced at his phone; there were still about twenty minutes left. So, he flipped through the menu for a bit and sent a few pictures to Little Rabbit, asking what he liked to eat.

However, the other party was probably busy and didn’t reply.

Ji Li kept an eye on his phone while handling some work matters on the side. Before he knew it, it was past nine o’clock. The patrons in the restaurant were trickling out, leaving fewer and fewer people. He looked at the time, and a frown crept onto his face.

The messages he had sent to Little Rabbit seemed to have sunk like stones into the ocean.

After waiting for another ten minutes or so, the waiter came over to ask if he wanted to order.

Ji Li thought about it and didn’t want to waste the restaurant’s time. So, he ordered a few dishes, handed the menu back, and reminded the waiter, “Bring them out in ten minutes.”

“Understood.” The waiter took the menu and turned to leave.

Ji Li opened his phone and initiated a voice call to the other party. But no one answered. Thus, he typed out another line of text: I didn’t know what you like to eat, so I just ordered a few dishes randomly. We can add more when you get here.

As the dishes he ordered were served one after another, the seat across from him remained empty. Even the waiter couldn’t help but steal a few extra glances at him, a trace of pity in his eyes.

So even handsome guys can get stood up!

Ji Li rarely had this much patience to wait for someone. If it were anyone else—even a close friend—he wouldn’t have continued waiting past ten minutes over the agreed time.

If it were a business partner, they would have been blacklisted the very moment they were late.

He was a man of strict principles, both with others and with himself.

Yet tonight, he had already waited for over half an hour past the agreed time.

The phone on the table began to vibrate. Ji Li looked down and saw it was a call from his friend, He Feng.

He swiped to answer, his phone connected to his Bluetooth earpiece. “Hello.”

“Ji Li, don’t tell me you haven’t left work yet at this hour?” the voice on the other end questioned immediately.

“No, I have personal matters today. I’m out,” Ji Li said, keeping his words brief and concise.

“What personal matters?” He Feng asked subconsciously, then seemed to remember something and let out a chuckle. “Oh, I remember now. Today is the day you’re supposed to meet your mysterious online dating partner in real life, right? How is it? Did you see them?”

Perhaps because his friend’s tone was a bit too annoying, Ji Li frowned slightly before saying flatly, “No.”

“Tsk, I told you a long time ago not to take online dating too seriously. You got stood up, didn’t you?”

Ji Li: “…”

“Look what time it is, they’re definitely not coming.”

Ji Li: “…”

“To volunteer to transfer all the way to Jiangning for an online dating partner whose appearance you don’t even know, only to be played like a fool in the end—should I praise you as a hopeless romantic?” He Feng intentionally emphasized the words “hopeless romantic.”

“He Feng.” Ji Li finally reacted. His voice was somewhat cold, carrying a hint of warning as he said flatly, “He isn’t that kind of person.”

“Ah, right, right, right, he isn’t that kind of person. Then did he show up? Did he give you a reason?” He Feng went along with it perfunctorily on the other end, then continued to ask.

Ji Li: “…”

His silence and lack of words made He Feng even more certain that Ji Li had been played.

“Back then, I helped you download that app because I saw how busy you were with work and wanted you to find someone to relieve your boredom. But look at you, you found a college student thousands of miles away and actually started a whole online relationship. Putting your heart into that kind of app… who knows where he’s laughing at you for being stupid right now!”

“Is there anything else? If not, I’m hanging up.” Ji Li remained completely unmoved, his tone not even registering a single ripple.

He Feng was infuriated by his stubborn attitude.

“Fine, Ji Li, let me just ask you this: What if he really is playing you? Don’t say things like ‘he’s not that kind of person’ or ‘he wouldn’t do that.’ I just want to know the answer to this question.”

This time, Ji Li remained silent for an even longer period. Only after a good while did he say, his tone still steady, “In the information age, it isn’t hard to find someone. It would actually be very easy for me to find him.”

“Fine, with those words from you, I can rest easy. I thought you had really turned into a saint!” He Feng said, tossing out cutting remarks without any mercy.

Ji Li hung up the phone and leaned back slightly, his hands loosely clasped on the table. The food in front of him was almost cold, and the remaining patrons in the restaurant were practically gone.

Seeing that it was almost ten o’clock—and the restaurant closed at ten-thirty—and that Little Rabbit’s voice calls still wouldn’t go through, Ji Li stood up. He picked up the gift on the table and went to the counter to pay the bill.

Back at the Office

By the time Xu Nanxin finished revising the proposal, he was the only one left in the company. Aside from the planning department, the lights in all other areas were turned off, making the interior very dark.

He stretched and leaned back in his office chair, a rare expression of relaxation on his face. However, when his eyes caught the time in the bottom right corner of the computer screen, something suddenly clicked, and both his expression and movements froze instantly.

It was 10:07 PM!

He and Mr. Z had agreed to meet at nine o’clock tonight. It had already been over an hour. But he had clearly set an alarm…

Xu Nanxin quickly sat up, scrambling frantically across the desk to find his phone. Yet when he grabbed it, he discovered it had died and shut off.

He hastily yanked the charger over to plug it in and power it up.

As soon as the phone turned on, Xu Nanxin immediately unlocked it and opened the chat app. Sure enough, Mr. Z had sent over a dozen messages. The most recent one read:

I didn’t manage to catch you, so I’m heading out first. If you’re very busy, we can meet next time. Remember to take good care of yourself and don’t blame yourself. I believe you must have been tied up with something, which is why you couldn’t make it.

Scrolling up, there were three missed voice calls from Ji Li—no, from Mr. Z—along with several text messages.

Xu Nanxin gripped his phone tightly, scrolling through them repeatedly, and then immediately dialed a voice call back to Mr. Z, clearly panicked and flustered.

Not long after the call was placed, it was picked up.

“Hello, Little Rabbit.”

The voice on the other end was very calm, even carrying a bit of warmth. He didn’t sound at all like someone who had just been stood up; he wasn’t even angry.

Xu Nanxin had been in a frantic rush to find Mr. Z, but upon hearing his voice after the call connected, he suddenly didn’t know what to say. He would have actually preferred it if the other party were furious.

“I’m… I’m sorry. I was working overtime. I originally set an alarm, but my phone died. I didn’t mean to break our promise.” Xu Nanxin felt a wave of grievance in his heart. He had clearly been preparing since yesterday just to see Mr. Z, but in the end, it had all been ruined by Ji Li. Everything was messed up.

“It’s fine, I understand. Since we didn’t meet this time, we can just schedule it for next time. Don’t feel guilty.” Mr. Z’s tone was as steady as always. Though his voice leaned toward the colder side, it always carried an undetectable gentleness.

Sometimes Mr. Z was too good—so good that it felt surreal. His emotional state was always highly stable. He didn’t speak much, but he would keep Xu Nanxin company, listen to him share things, and never find him annoying, replying to every single message.

But did people who didn’t get angry after being stood up really exist? Or was it actually because he wasn’t that important in the other person’s heart, so they just didn’t care?

In their relationship, Xu Nanxin had been the proactive one from the start. He could feel that Mr. Z liked him, but perhaps it was merely “liking.”

Of course, he knew they were just in an online relationship and hadn’t even met yet, so he definitely couldn’t expect the other person to have incredibly deep feelings for him. Mr. Z had already done as well as anyone possibly could. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been the one to proactively propose they date in the first place.

But Xu Nanxin really, really liked Mr. Z. His feelings for Mr. Z were different.

When he first realized his sexual orientation, he hadn’t dared to tell anyone. Although he knew the general public’s acceptance was already quite high, he still felt lost and anxious, which was why he had downloaded that app.

Among a sea of explicit profiles and avatars, he had encountered one person who seemed quite normal. They had a good chat, and since they were in the same city, they agreed to meet up. He hadn’t expected the other person to try to take him straight to a hotel room right after meeting.

Terrified, he had hurriedly refused, only for the other guy to flip out on the spot, cursing at him, saying that if he didn’t want to sleep with anyone, he shouldn’t be acting coy online. It was his first time encountering someone like that, and the intensely insulting words had turned his face pale with shock and shame.

After that, he stopped looking for people in the same city, generally preferring the further the distance, the better. Moreover, he didn’t dare disclose any of his real information online anymore. It was around this time that he met Mr. Z.

Mr. Z was different from everyone else. Though he was very cold at first, he would remind Xu Nanxin to be careful of scammers. Even though Xu Nanxin might send a whole barrage of messages and the other party would take half the day to reply, he would answer every single one.

Mr. Z didn’t seem like a particularly patient person initially, yet he never complained that Xu Nanxin was noisy or talked too much. When Xu Nanxin was feeling lost, he would even give him proper guidance.

Slowly, Xu Nanxin began to learn to accept his sexual orientation, no longer feeling hesitant or insecure. One could say that the other person’s existence gave him an immense sense of security.

When he proposed that they date, Mr. Z hadn’t refused either.

Xu Nanxin wasn’t someone who liked to depend on others, but emotionally, he depended heavily on Mr. Z.

He had originally hoped to use this meeting to leave a good impression on Mr. Z and deepen his affection, but now it was all ruined.

“I…” Xu Nanxin still felt miserable. Only after a good while did he say in a low, dejected tone, “I really didn’t do it on purpose.”

“Yeah, I know you didn’t do it on purpose.”

“How about I send you my phone number? Next time we meet, you can just call my phone directly,” Xu Nanxin suggested.

“Okay,” Mr. Z’s deep voice held a hint of indulgence.

Xu Nanxin seemed to feel a bit better. He chatted with Mr. Z for a while longer before sending his phone number over and finally hanging up.

Despite everything, Xu Nanxin still felt incredibly disappointed about missing out on meeting Mr. Z this time. He had clearly prepared everything…

It was all Ji Li’s fault. That bastard, asshole, psycho, making him work overtime, making him work overtime!

The more Xu Nanxin thought about it, the angrier he got, to the point where he wished he could just hurl the proposal directly into Ji Li’s face. He crouched down, calming his current emotions while filled with a deep sense of grievance.

Once his mood had settled a bit, he prepared to stand up, turn off the computer, and leave work. Who would have thought that just as he got up, he would hear the sound of the door opening and footsteps? He looked up, and to his utter surprise, it was Ji Li. What on earth was he doing coming back to the company so late at night at nearly ten-thirty?

Although Xu Nanxin had cursed Ji Li from head to toe in his mind, when actually facing the man, he still knew when to act meek. He forced a smile onto his face to greet him. “Hello, President Ji. Coming back to the company to work overtime so late?”

“Hmm?” Ji Li glanced at Xu Nanxin, seemingly not expecting someone to still be in the company at this hour either. When he first saw the lights on inside, he had assumed someone had just forgotten to turn off their computer and the lights before leaving work.

Xu Nanxin—he had an impression of him. This afternoon, this guy had run into his office to shout at him, but right now… how should he put it? Those eyes were misty, and standing there looking utterly pitiful, he resembled a rabbit.

“Remember to turn off the computer and lights when you leave,” Ji Li reminded him. Without staying any longer, he walked straight into his own office.

Xu Nanxin noticed that Ji Li seemed to be holding a gift box in his hand. Could it be that the guy had just come back from a date? He sure was dedicated to his job!

Thinking about how his own date had been sabotaged by Ji Li, while the man himself got to enjoy a beautiful date and receive a gift, Xu Nanxin grew even angrier.

He just wondered what kind of unlucky soul would actually end up becoming Ji Li’s partner!