Two weeks. That was long enough to know someone"s true character. Or so Hua Zhendan thought. So, he called Su Yang and asked for a progress report."Here," Su Yang placed a brown envelope on Hua Zhendan"s desk as soon as she stepped into his office.
Hua Zhendan opened the envelope and brought out a stack of photos from inside it. He frowned. A huge percentage of them were of Xuan Tianyi uncomfortably close to another man.
"He doesn"t seem to have a lot of bad habits," Su Yang said. "He doesn"t gamble, he doesn"t drink and he doesn"t smoke. His only problem seems to be—"
"Flirting," Hua Zhendan said.
"Excessive flirting," Su Yang corrected him.
Hua Zhendan nodded in agreement.
"I think it might be out of boredom though."
"Boredom?"
"Yes. Every day, he flirts with at least two people. The thing is... He doesn"t sleep with any of these people."
Hua Zhendan"s heart leaped for joy at that. Joy that only lasted for a moment. "Perhaps, they didn"t like him back?"
"No, that"s not it at all," Su Yang gave a small perspicacious laugh. "As a matter of fact, everyone seems to melt under his gaze."
Hua Zhendan frowned. That was likely.
"I don"t see what the fuss is about."
Hua Zhendan raised a brow and stared at her. "You don"t see what the fuss is about?"
Su Yang plopped herself on the sofa adjacent to Hua Zhendan"s desk and shook her head, "I really don"t."
Hua Zhendan regarded her careless sitting with contempt. Very unladylike. As for the foul thing her mouth dared say, he had to ask, "You don"t think he"s beautiful?"
"Can men be beautiful?"
Hua Zhendan gave her a once-over. "Do you think I"m handsome?"
Su Yang shook her head, "I haven"t thought about it."
Hua Zhendan gaped at her. "You have to think about it? Isn"t it obvious?"
Su Yang shook her head. "It"s nothing personal. But yes, I need time to think about it."
Hua Zhendan stared at her with an open mouth. "Are you gay?"
Su Yang looked at him and shook her head, "I haven"t thought about it."
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Hua Zhendan sighed. "Do you think Xuan Tianmei is beautiful?"
Su Yang shook her head. "I don"t know."
"So you don"t think Xuan Tianyi is pretty? Or at least handsome?"
"I really don"t see what the fuss is about."
Hua Zhendan wasn"t normally a talkative person and his face was usually devoid of emotions as a lot of things didn"t faze him. He just found Su Yang a bit too eccentric. He really couldn"t believe there was somebody that wasn"t charmed by Xuan Tianyi"s beauty.
Admittedly, the first night he had met Xuan Tianyi, he hadn"t noticed his beauty. But that was because his head was occupied with thoughts of Shen Rui. That night, he had been attracted by Xuan Tianyi"s boldness when he tried to hit on him. Then by his embarra.s.sment when he slipped up about his financial situation. He had been captivated by his soft cries and the way his legs had wrapped his waist as he begged him for more. That night, it had really been everything but his beauty.
The next time he"d seen him though, he had noticed just how beautiful he was and he had become entrapped. Like the fools in these pictures who gave the stupid flirt the time of the day.
It may have taken him two looks to realize Xuan Tianyi was beautiful but most people only needed one. Su Yang had followed him everywhere for over two weeks and still hadn"t noticed. If anything, now, he was sure he"d picked the right person for the job.
"You say he didn"t sleep with any of these people?"
"No. He"s like a kid who"s looking through toys at the shop. It"s almost as if he"s looking for the right one. Taking them out of their package but refusing to play with them. He did kiss someone though."
"Who?" Hua Zhendan asked with a frown on his face.
Su Yang who had stood up sifted through the photos until she found the one she was looking for. She placed it in front of Hua Zhendan and said, "Him."
Hua Zhendan"s mood soured.
***
When Xuan Tianyi had gotten up earlier in the morning, he was a.s.saulted by a plethora of feelings. He was happy, and sad, and excited, and confused, all at the same time.
Although he thought it was right to return Hua Zhendan"s credit card as soon as possible, he had wanted to keep it a little longer. So that when he ran a finger along the edges of the card, he could feel Hua Zhendan"s presence.
Realizing he was being stupid, he made a decision. He would return the card, then pour out his heart to Hua Zhendan. It shouldn"t be that difficult to tell someone you liked them and wanted to date them, right?
Then he remembered who this someone was. This someone was his boss. And he had his limits. He definitely wouldn"t date someone richer than he was. Then he remembered the tenderness with which Hua Zhendan had spoken to him the previous day. His limit didn"t matter much anymore.
Then he remembered that his boss was Hua Zhendan. The one who had treated him coldly for two weeks because he had flirted with him the first time they met, and he got confused again.
When he couldn"t take the back and forth anymore, he got into the bathroom and decided to go to work. He would return the card, then see what happens. Maybe the right opportunity would present itself. Anyways, he would see what happens.
What Xuan Tianyi didn"t antic.i.p.ate was the griping he felt when Zhang Lin told him he could go in to see Hua Zhendan. No, he had thought it would be a lot easier. Liking someone was such a ha.s.sle.
Something else Xuan Tianyi didn"t antic.i.p.ate was that when he saw Hua Zhendan leaning on a chair with eyes trained on him, his heart would skip a beat, and he would smile a little too broadly because he"d be happy and everything would feel right with the world.
Dazedly, Xuan Tianyi walked up to Hua Zhendan"s desk and took a seat opposite him. "Good morning," he said.
"Good evening," Hua Zhendan replied with furrowed brows. "Is everything okay with you, or are you still sick?"
"I... I"m fine. Thank... Thank you. Good... Good evening."
"I"ve been meaning to ask," Hua Zhendan sat up and looked straight at Xuan Tianyi. "Are you a stutterer?"
"What?" Xuan Tianyi chuckled. "No... No. I... I"m..." he stopped talking at Hua Zhendan"s puzzled look and cleared his throat. "I just get tongue-tied around you."
Hua Zhendan frowned. Was he imagining things or was Xuan Tianyi flirting with him? He wasn"t sure. Still, he was vexed.
"I... Brought back your card," Xuan Tianyi held out the card. "I"m really grateful for yesterday."
"It"s okay," Hua Zhendan collected the card and threw it on the desk.
"I..." Xuan Tianyi cleared his throat again. "The photoshoot... Date..."
Hua Zhendan looked intensely at Xuan Tianyi. He was a stuttering mess. "About that. You"re no longer doing that. I got you another gig instead."
"Oh? What"s it?"
"You"ll be on the middle page of next month"s The Men Issue."
"I... I thought... Isn"t that... Don"t I have to be in my underwear for that?"
"Yes, you do."
Xuan Tianyi frowned. If he did something like that, then how could he still be worthy enough to ask out Hua Zhendan?
Resolutely, Xuan Tianyi said, "No, I"m not doing it."