Chapter 4

Chapter 4: The Button Must Be Replaced The bathroom was in complete disarray. The moment Chi Mo closed the door, she caught sight of the new dress she had worn yesterday, along with two crooked, twisted high-end heels. Her bag was wide open, with its contents rolling everywhere, and her phone lay quietly on the floor, its screen protector completely shattered.... There was even a tub full of bathwater left over from last night inside the bathtub. Clutching her chest, Chi Mo stepped back repeatedly, only to step right onto a bath towel that had also been discarded on the floor. She closed her eyes and began taking deep breaths. It's okay, Chi Mo, it's okay. You've already broken up with Guan Yizhou. Yes, you've already broken up. So you slept with a man, and that man just happened to be Song Huaiyu. Right, it's no big deal. Besides, you're leaving Jiangzhou soon anyway; who knows, you might never see them again for the rest of your life. Right! I'll never see them again! After repeatedly giving herself a psychological pep talk, Chi Mo finally decided to open her eyes and pick up the things on the floor first, when the bathroom door suddenly flew open. !? The only thing she was wearing was the shirt she had grabbed from the bedside earlier. Song Huaiyu's shirt. She hadn't even had time to button it up when she dashed into the bathroom, and as a result, when the door opened, she startled so badly that she clenched her collar tight—a button snapped off and hit the floor with a crisp clack. Song Huaiyu crossed his arms, leaned against the doorframe, and delivered two succinct words: "You'll have to pay for that." Chi Mo’s eyebrows furrowed tightly as she couldn't help yelling at him: "I locked the door! Song Huaiyu! How the hell did you get in?!" "This is my home. Don't I have a key?" With that, he cast a breezy glance at Chi Mo, then walked in as if no one else was there. Picking up a toothbrush from the vanity, he added, "The housekeeper is coming over to cook in half an hour. If you want to take a shower... you'd better hurry up." "How am I supposed to shower with you standing right here?!" Chi Mo glared at him fiercely. Song Huaiyu shrugged. "Then go downstairs." This apartment was bought by Song Huaiyu after he returned to China. Chi Mo had only followed Guan Yizhou here once before; let alone knowing how many rooms or bathrooms there were in this place she didn't even know which street or which residential complex the house was in. Right now, Chi Mo's psychological defenses were extremely fragile. She had no way of wandering around this house wearing only Song Huaiyu's shirt, which was basically equivalent to being completely naked. Who knew if he had installed security cameras in his house! "No way! You go downstairs!" Turning a deaf ear, Song Huaiyu leisurely squeezed out some toothpaste, slowly brushed his teeth, slowly washed his face... and then began unbuttoning his trousers. ! "Song Huaiyu!" Chi Mo instantly covered her eyes. "Are you ever going to quit?!" Song Huaiyu raised his eyes to look at her, the corners of his mouth curving up as he stepped forward and placed both hands on the countertop, bracing them on either side of her body. The scent of peppermint permeated the air, and the man's body heat enveloped her first. Chi Mo knew what posture he was in now, but out of caution, she didn't dare lower her hands immediately. She tried to reason with him. Yet she had forgotten that Song Huaiyu was someone who never listened to reason. The biggest difference between him and Guan Yizhou was that no one had ever managed or supervised him since he was a child. She had heard that Song Huaiyu's parents had secretly divorced when he was very young, but due to a family business marriage, it was inconvenient to make it public, so the two of them still attended important occasions together under the guise of being a married couple. Other than that, one of them managed a company in Britain while the other lived year-round in the United States. Chi Mo remembered Guan Yizhou saying that Song Huaiyu had originally planned to stay in the UK and not return. However, two years ago that summer, Yuan Siyu's sister, Yuan Shuyu, got married and called him more than twenty times in a row while holding her post-wedding banquet back in China, refusing to stop until she dragged him back. For reasons unknown, Song Huaiyu suddenly decided not to return to the UK. Chi Mo hadn't attended the banquet. Actually, Yuan Shuyu had called her too, but during that period she and Guan Yizhou had been constantly arguing; going would inevitably mean running into his parents. Given that Chi Mo's relationship with Guan Yizhou's parents had always been maintained at an awkward, superficial level of politeness anyway, she simply chose not to go. Therefore, Chi Mo still didn't know why Song Huaiyu had chosen to stay in the country. At any rate, he lived more freely than anyone else. Whether going to the UK or the US, or staying in China for no particular reason at all, there was no one had ever managed or supervised him. Therefore, the moment Chi Mo spoke up, she immediately regretted it. "Song Huaiyu, what the two of us are doing is wrong. I know, yesterday I drank too much and my head wasn't clear. Whether you kindly brought me back or I shamelessly insisted on following you back... can we just let this whole thing... pass, alright?" She slowly lowered her hand, looking into those eyes as she said this to Song Huaiyu, very earnestly and very seriously... Who would have thought that he wouldn't give Chi Mo any face at all? He retracted one hand and placed it around her waist: "Wrong? Go ahead and tell me, what's wrong about it?" Chi Mo took a deep breath, trying her best to ignore their posture. "Everything is wrong! Song Huaiyu, you're a childhood friend who grew up with him. Even if the two of us aren't considered friends, we've known each other for at least ten years, right? I don't know how much he has told you guys about the two of us, but you, Xu Yichen, and Yuan Siyu—you all watched Guan Yizhou and me walk step-by-step to where we are today. What if what happened last night gets out to them?!" Song Huaiyu curved his mouth in a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes: "So, are you afraid of Xu Yichen and Yuan Siyu finding out, or are you afraid of Guan Yizhou finding out?" "I'm afraid of both, okay?" Song Huaiyu leaned in closer: "Is that so? But that's not what you said last night..." Chi Mo frowned, leaning her upper body back in an attempt to avoid his advance: "...What—what did I say?" Song Huaiyu lowered his gaze and pressed in close. His breath wrapped around her ear, and even his voice turned inexplicably low and hoarse: "You said... it felt good. You said... you liked it like that... Chi Mo... you said you liked me, you know..." Every hair on Chi Mo's body stood on end. She could only put on a facade of composure to deny it: "I was drunk. You wouldn't believe words like that, would you?" "Why wouldn't I believe them?" His voice drew closer and closer: "You sounded so sweet..." "Enough!" Chi Mo couldn't take it anymore and shoved Song Huaiyu away hard: "I'll go downstairs! I'll go downstairs, is that fine?!" With a swish, Chi Mo pulled open the bathroom door and fled without looking back, clutching tightly at the collar of the shirt. Song Huaiyu turned his head, casting his gaze along the lingering, ambiguous atmosphere filling the room. The corners of his lips lifted upward as he bent down and picked up the button lying on the floor.