Chapter 178: When Had She Become So Spineless?
The repercussion of Lu Boyan’s excursion to City Z was the mountainous pile of work that had acc.u.mulated over the few days he had been gone.
Making full use of the time when Su Jianan was in the bath, Lu Boyan booted up his laptop and got to work. His slender and bony fingers flew across the keyboard as he typed and his eyes moved efficiently as he read the complicated graphs and words on the screen.
Such efficiency was by no means innate; it had been trained and acquired through the endless amount of work that he had to deal with over the years.
When Lu Enterprises was first formed, it consisted of only Lu Boyan and Shen Yuechuan, so they had to do everything on their own. Back in those days, he had to run on only five to six hours of sleep every day. Even those five to six hours of shut-eye was squeezed from his daily schedule, which consisted of poring over stacks upon stacks of thick doc.u.ments, various meetings, and business negotiations.
After that, his schedule begun to ease up, though he still retained the same level of efficiency. Nowadays, most of his spare time was spent on Su Jianan, just that she had no idea about it.
Half an hour later.
Having finished her bath, Su Jianan stood up and got out of the tub to get dressed. Her movements were slow due to the injuries on her waist and leg. It took her quite some effort just to get to the garment rack. As she was reaching out to grab her clothes, her foot suddenly slipped.
“Ah!”
She cried out in surprise. Panicking, she reached out and grabbed the bathroom counter for support, thus preventing her from falling. But the bathroom door swung open before she could even recover from her fright. “What’s wrong?” Lu Boyan said, the worry in his voice unmistakable.
The close-call just now had merely been a fright. But this time around… Sh*t. Just Got Real!
Her body was… completely naked!!!
“Ahhhhh!!!”
That scream was far more powerful than the one before. She turned around with her back facing him in an attempt to cover herself. “Get out!” she yelled.
Her instincts told her to squat down to cover herself more effectively, but the plaster on her leg took that option away. Instead, she resigned herself to holding on to the bathroom counter’s edge and pulling her chin close to her chest. She was so mortified that she felt a strong urge to dive back into the tub and curl up inside it like a shrimp.
Lu Boyan thought Su Jianan had fallen down in the bathroom. That was why he had been so anxious. But he never expected to be granted such a tantalizing view the moment he opened the door.
As if having a mind of its own, his Adam’s apple bobbed within the column of his neck. He quickly averted his eyes and forced himself to stay calm.
Two seconds later, he slowly figured out exactly what had happened to Su Jianan just now. He steadied his breath and walked towards Su Jianan.
Su Jianan curled her toes nervously at the sound of approaching footsteps. “Pervert! Why are you still here?! Get out!”
Lu Boyan grabbed a bath towel from the rack and calmly wrapped it around Su Jianan’s body. “Did you hurt your leg?”
Su Jianan was rendered momentarily speechless. There he was, standing right behind her with the heat from his body searing her bare skin through the fabric of his white shirt. With how tall he was, he could almost shield her body entirely.
His hands had inevitably touched her skin when he was wrapping the towel around her, though it seemed accidental and without any ulterior motives. Nonetheless, Su Jianan still felt heat in the few spots on her skin where his hand had touched her. Heat and fire spread over her entire body, causing her body temperature to rise…
She swallowed. “Na-nah. I just slipped a bit,” she stammered.
Lu Boyan took her clothes and picked Su Jianan up from the ground. “Change in the bedroom.”
This was Su Jianan’s first time being in Lu Boyan’s arms while in such an “immodest” state; she had nothing on her body other than a measly bath towel. If Lu Boyan lowered his head, he would be granted full view of Su Jianan’s beautiful clavicle and the elegant column of her long neck.
Su Jianan’s breathing instantly became erratic. She kept shifting herself in Lu Boyan’s arms as if trying to find somewhere on his body where she could hide herself in.
Little did she know that her actions were a test of Lu Boyan’s self-control.
Lu Boyan’s sense of sight had already been stimulated after what he saw moments ago. Now, with her rubbing herself against him, it was so easy to a.s.sume that she willingly throwing herself at him.
The blood in Lu Boyan’s veins started to roil. A certain part of him was ready for action and raring to go.
To avoid losing his self-control, Lu Boyan hastened his steps and carried Su Jianan back to the bedroom. Then, he placed her down on the bed. “I’ll be in the living room. Call me once you’re done.”
Dazed, Su Jianan stared after Lu Boyan’s shadow. Stiffly, she placed her hand on her chest, where she could feel the thumping of her racing heart.
It might all just be inside her imagination, but just now… Lu Boyan’s heart seemed to be beating at an irregular rhythm too. Also… his body temperature was not low either.
Could it be that Lu Boyan had gotten a fever after he had spent so much time in the rain looking for her?
Su Jianan sat up and quickly got dressed. After making sure that there was nothing wrong with her clothes, she shouted at the door, “Lu Boyan! I’m done!”
Meanwhile, Lu Boyan was in the living room, standing in front of the French windows, which were fully open.
It was the beginning of autumn, and the night breeze in City A carried a slight chill. When he had first opened the window, a gust of breeze had rushed in and blown across his body. It had somewhat quelled the surge of desire brewing inside him.
When he heard Su Jianan’s voice calling out to him, his breathing became erratic once again. He schooled his features into a neutral expression and pushed open the bedroom door. Inside, Su Jianan sat numbly on the bed, red-faced, and with nothing but confusion in her eyes.
Su Jianan cleared her throat and averted her gaze slightly. She did not have the courage to look him in the eye just yet. “Do, do you mind coming here for a bit?”
“Interesting,” Lu Boyan thought suddenly. Why was Su Jianan asking him to approach her now of all times? “Shouldn’t she be trying everything in her power to avoid me right now?” he wondered.
He walked over steadily. Then, Su Jianan patted a spot on the edge of the bed. When he hesitated, she patted the bed again and said, “Come on, just do it.”
Do it?
In that split second, Lu Boyan’s eyes began to darken gradually. He stared at Su Jianan deeply as if trying to devour her with his eyes.
Su Jianan had lost her patience at that point. She reached out and pulled Lu Boyan to sit down, though she did not antic.i.p.ate Lu Boyan’s next move, which involved him placing his palms on her two sides as he slowly lowered himself onto her.
He was like a hunter, slowly approaching the prey that he had long since set his eyes on, biding his time to pounce.
“Lu, Lu Boyan…” Su Jianan recoiled in fear. “What are you trying to do?”
“Didn’t you say ‘do it’?”
“I did ask you to do it,” Su Jianan said, almost in tears, “But what are you doing…”
The penny dropped instantly. Lu Boyan had misunderstood her. When she patted the bed and asked him to ‘do it’, what she really meant by ‘do it’ was for him to ‘take a seat’. But his mind had gone straight into the gutter!
Not even bothering with getting mad, she reached out her hand and touched Lu Boyan’s forehead. “How can you misunderstand something that simple? Don’t tell me you really do have a fever?” Then again, his skin did not feel warm beneath her palm at all. She tilted her head to one side. “Hm, no fever.”
She gave Lu Boyan a strange look, like she was an innocent little girl chastising a grown man: How could you be so dirty-minded?
In truth, Lu Boyan had just wanted to tease Su Jianan a little. He knew that she was not the type of woman who was bold and open about these things. Not to mention that her body was currently indisposed.
But now with her making a face like that, he felt a stronger urge to tease her.
Lu Boyan removed Su Jianan’s hand from his forehead. “That’s not the accurate way to take a person’s temperature,” he said.
Su Jianan blinked at him. “Oh, so you know a better way?”
“Of course.”
Still holding on to Su Jianan’s hand, Lu Boyan pulled her into his arms. His other hand went across her waist to wrap around her.
“Mmph!”
Su Jianan was still unaccustomed to Lu Boyan’s sudden a.s.saults despite having experienced it many times before. Startled, she tilted her head upwards and stared at him with wide eyes. Her lips moved slightly, though no sound came out from between them.
Lu Boyan’s eyes really did have some kind of magical property.
Those long and narrow eyes, which held within them both good and evil at the same time, were like the world’s most potent hallucinogen. One glance at them sufficed to make anyone lose themselves and abandon their hold on rationality.
“Jianan, close your eyes.”
With his magnetic baritone, Lu Boyan had utterly bewitched her. His head lowered, drawing closer and closer to her face…
Su Jianan knew in her mind what Lu Boyan was trying to do. She also knew that her rational mind wanted her to push him away. Her actions, however, were completely beyond the reach of her rational mind.
Her long lashes fluttered twice. Then she closed her eyes.
The next second, she felt a warm touch on her lips.
It honestly felt as if Lu Boyan was carefully tasting her lips rather than kissing them.
No matter how gentle Lu Boyan had been during his past kisses, there was always his signature forcefulness and a.s.sertiveness to be found in those kisses. But the way he was kissing her this time felt as if he really cared about her. His arm felt light around her waist, like he was holding back his strength in order to care for the injuries on her body.
When he was forceful, Su Jianan would have to submit to him.
But when he was truly gentle, Su Jianan found him completely irresistible.
Lu Boyan was her Kryptonite; despite the many years and the countless of times that she had tried to relinquish her feelings for him; she was still unable to forget him.
Su Jianan’s two hands moved on their own and interlocked themselves behind Lu Boyan’s neck. Subconsciously, she began kissing him back.
Due to the fact that she had just got out of a bath, her hands were slightly chilly. When her hands settled themselves on the back of Lu Boyan’s neck, the sensation reignited the desire that he had managed to suppress just now.
Lu Boyan was better than Su Jianan when it came to self-control. He soon managed to get his breathing under control. After that, he released Su Jianan.
He doubted he would be able to let her go tonight if he let things go any further than this.
When she finally left Lu Boyan’s embrace, Su Jianan felt as if her body was suspended in a chaotic void. Her bright eyes, which looked more confused than ever, gazed upon Lu Boyan innocently.
A moment later, crimson blossomed on her cheeks. Following that, she lowered her head shyly, as if she had just realized what had happened just now.
Lu Boyan enjoyed looking at this version of her the most: confused and ignorant, just like a lost animal. It made him want to protect and bully her at the same time.
Fearing that he might lose control again, he stood up. “Go ahead and sleep first. I’m going to take a bath.”
When the bathroom door slid close, Su Jianan was. .h.i.t by another thought: Lu Boyan was staying with her at the hospital?
She pressed her lips together as the sweetness in her heart and the temperature of her cheeks swelled and erupted in tandem.
Lu Boyan’s cold shower lasted for a good twenty minutes. When he came out, Su Jianan was still watching a movie on the tablet. She did not even notice his presence.
He walked over and lifted the covers. Su Jianan finally noticed him. “Eh?” she said. Then, her eyes went wide. “What are you doing?”
“Sleeping,” Lu Boyan said calmly.
“Sure, go to sleep if you want. But why are you climbing into my bed?” Su Jianan pointed at the door. “There’s another bedroom outside.” The other room was meant for the use of caregivers, and its decor was no different than that of an ordinary bedroom. Surely, it would be much comfortable to sleep in that room compared to her ward bed.
Lu Boyan did not even spare the other room a glance. He climbed onto the bed without bothering to ask for permission. “It’s too far away. I’m not going there.”
Su Jianan was rendered speechless. It would not take more than a hundred steps for him to walk to the other room, nor would it take him more than a minute to reach there. How was it even far away?
What was it that people always said about Lu Boyan, that he was a person with a high IQ? How could he come up with such a lame excuse?
“… That’s not a valid reason,” Su Jianan said angrily.
Lu Boyan arched his brow. “Fine. I want to sleep with you. Is that good enough reason for you?”
“…”
Thunderstruck, Su Jianan stared stupidly at Lu Boyan, the tablet almost slipping from her hands.
Sometimes, Lu Boyan was indeed rather perverted. But this was the first time he had presented his perverted side so… blatantly. Even weirder was the fact that she now found it impossible to reject him.
Su Jianan swallowed instinctively, after which her face turned beet red. “Per-pervert!” she said, averting her gaze.
She was utterly and completely vanquished. She had no fighting capacity left. She could not even come up with a smooth reprimand.
Meanwhile, a certain pervert was more than happy to see things go his way. He took Su Jianan’s tablet and placed it on the nightstand. Then, he wrapped his arms around her and together, they lay down. He switched off the light next.
Su Jianan kept shifting uncomfortably in his arms. The next second, Lu Boyan held her still. “Are you looking for an even more perverted experience?”
“…”
Su Jianan’s body went still, after which she dared not move a single inch.
When had she become so spineless?
h.e.l.l if she knew.