Chapter 25: A Bed Warmer
"Get rid of everyone with any sort of influence here. I don"t want to see any of the conference attendees left alive," Qi Mo ordered. There had been one too many rebellious instances that had occurred since they arrived in the region, so naturally, he intended to repay them in kind.
"Understood," Yellow Falcon said.
If it hadn"t been for Li Xin earlier, they would probably all be dead. Even if the men at the conference weren"t a part of whatever had happened, they still needed to die. It was unacceptable for Southeast Asia"s most powerful crime bosses to allow such an attack to take place; since they had proven themselves useless, there was no need to keep them around.
As the car sped through the streets, the scenery outside changed from a bustling city metropolis to a much more expansive rural setting.
When Li Xin finally woke up again, she cringed as she felt how sore her entire body was. She couldn"t believe she had fallen asleep. She felt her body being held down by a heavy weight and wondered where in the world Qi Mo had put her. The man wouldn"t even let her get some decent shuteye, what an a.s.s.
She was just about to move when someone made a hushing noise. She jumped, startled, before realizing that Yellow Falcon was gesturing towards her from the front seat, indicating that she shouldn"t move. He was looking off to her side with a comically astonished look.
She kept still, turning her head slightly to see what he was staring at, and her eyes widened. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Qi Mo leaning heavily against her shoulder, asleep. Being the head boss must be so nice, Li Xin thought. You could doze off whenever you wanted with no worries.
She realized that he was the heavy weight she had felt when she"d woken up. Somehow, he had ended up using her as a pillow. His head was seriously beyond heavy. She shifted her gaze towards the window next to her when her eyes started tearing from staring too long to the side.
The car had stopped moving sometime while they were both asleep; it was pitch black outside. Through the window, she could see that they were parked outside a house of some sort, surrounded by a circle of bodyguards. Red Falcon and another man she didn"t recognize were each standing guard with their backs to each of the car"s back doors on either side. She couldn"t help scoffing internally at the excessive display. It was laughable that so many people were standing guard for one sleeping person. An overlord had an overlord"s dignity to protect, she presumed.
Li Xin"s entire body was in sore from the day"s events — her shoulders hurt, her back was killing her, and to top it all off, she was starving. She waited impatiently for ten minutes before the grumbling of her stomach broke the silence in the car. She turned back towards Qi Mo, about to wake him up, but just then, the weight on her shoulder disappeared and she found his dark, indigo pupils staring straight back at her. His gaze was bright and clear, with no trace of sleep in his eyes.
"Were you pretending to be asleep?" Right after the words left her mouth, she had to choke back her own laughter. Qi Mo pretending to be asleep, what a joke. It was completely irrational.
"Boss," Yellow Falcon greeted respectfully when he realized the overlord was awake.
Qi Mo watched Li Xin rub her shoulders, her face twisted in a grimace, and then swept a glance towards Red Falcon and the other guards standing outside. "Hungry?" He asked suddenly.
Li Xin looked at him in disbelief. It was extraordinarily strange that he would ask such a question, but in the end, her hunger won over logic. She was starving to death, and no amount of pretending was going to change the fact. She nodded affirmatively and said, "I"m craving cabbage in vinegar, stir-fried foie gras, sweet and sour ribs, braised duck, and fish soup."
She realized, once again, only after she spoke that there was no way Qi Mo would listen to her anyway. Whatever, she thought. She was too hungry to be too picky about what was offered. Not to mention, the overlord hadn"t even said that they were actually going to eat anything.
It was completely unfair. All she"d done was steal a tiny jade… all this suffering was ridiculous.
~~~
Li Xin eyed the grand feast that lay on the table before her. The chef had brought the steaming plates of food one after another like a magician. Everything she had ordered earlier was there; the scents that wafted up her nose told her that the food was truly authentic.
"Your reward for today."
She turned to see Qi Mo with his head lowered, neatly slicing a piece of steak. She had saved his life and all she got was a meal? Li Xin scowled. "Cheap skate," she muttered.
She witnessed a dark cloud pa.s.s over the overlord"s face and immediately shifted her glance away. She grabbed her utensils and started digging in — any reward was better than none, she supposed. It wasn"t as if she could beat him in a fight currently, so she was going to submit for the time being.
The two of them ate in silence. Qi Mo"s stoic presence was like an austere cloud hanging over the scene, leaving no room for anything other than a suffocating stillness. Food, however, had always been a source of joy for Li Xin, so she refused to hold herself back. The overlord could sulk in his gloomy silence if that was what he wanted, but she was going to enjoy her food.
Eventually, the mood at the table split in half, divided by an invisible boundary. On one side there was dark and sullen Qi Mo, the very picture of a cold, stark wintry scene; and on the other side was Li Xin, carefree and warm and beaming like a spring flower. They represented two completely opposite hemispheres of the planet.
~~~
Eating always gave Li Xin a food coma, so after she was finished, and especially after the day they had had, she requested permission from Qi Mo to go to her room to sleep.
At some point, a towel came flying towards her along with a voice: "Clean yourself up." She reached out and caught the towel instinctually, and then saw Qi Mo standing at the entrance of her room. She narrowed her eyes. He had said this was her a.s.signed room, so what in the h.e.l.l was he doing here?
She stared at him for a long moment and realized that he had no intentions of leaving. "Mr. Qi, this is my room," she reiterated.
He stared back at her and said nothing. Then, he suddenly walked to her, grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, and threw her into the shower.
She didn"t regret not fighting back — it was too dangerous as of yet, like walking through a field riddled with land mines, and she wasn"t prepared to deal with the consequences of making a mistake. However, as she showered, her thoughts kept turning to Qi Mo. What was his problem anyway? The man was impossible to understand.
After showering and dressing, she exited the bathroom and was startled to see Qi Mo sitting on the bed, his back leaning against the headboard. "Come here," he ordered.
She froze. "Mr. Qi, I only agreed to be your servant," she said. "Not your bed warmer." Her voice had lost its usual light carefreeness and had taken on a serious, grim tone. It was obvious from the way Qi Mo was laying on the bed what he was implying.
"I never repeat orders twice," he responded.
There was no murderous intent in his eyes, but those dark, blue-black pools were filled with a cold intensity reminiscent of winter, and it made her shudder. At the same time, she felt her instinctual arrogance and iron will rise up within her. A servant, she could do. After all, this was a world where some people had power and others did not. But a bed-warming companion? f.u.c.k that.
"Since it appears as if you"ve decided to sleep here, I"ll go somewhere else," she replied evenly. "If you would like to hire a prost.i.tute, I will let Red Falcon and them know. Please excuse me." She turned to leave.
"How bold of you."
His voice seemed to come from right next to her ear, and before she could react, she felt a sharp pain on her neck as once again, she was shoved backwards — this time sprawling onto the bed.
d.a.m.n this went from like fast & furious to fifty shades of grey in an instant lol. (fyi, I don’t usually read ahead so I never know what’s gonna happen.) but, I did skim the next chapter because I wanted to at least be able to warn people, and myself tbh, if there was gonna be some real messed up f.u.c.kery to come. so here’s my answer: it’s not what you think.
also since it’s not made very clear, I’m pretty sure that Qi Mo is supposed to be a halfie. Not that it really matters, of course, but in case you notice tiny irrelevant details like I do and were wondering why his eyes are blue LOL