I don't know why, but I couldn't stop staring at the way he drank his drink. Every movement was so calculated, so deliberate—like he was savoring each drop. The way he held the glass, the slight tilt of his head, the way his lips parted just enough to let the drink slip past them... I couldn't help but notice how effortless it all seemed. There was something captivating about the simplicity of it, and it made me oddly self-conscious about how I was drinking mine.
"Hey, beauty... fallen in love with this man already?" His voice pulled me out of my trance, his playful tone making me feel exposed.
I nearly choked on my drink. 'What? Seriously? Is he really saying that? Does he have no shame?' I thought, almost wishing the floor would swallow me whole. I glanced at him, catching the glint of amusement in his eyes. 'Fallen in love with him? As if,' I thought, feeling the heat rise to my face. I quickly turned my attention back to my drink, trying to recover my composure.
But the way he looked at me, with that confident smirk, made me feel like I was the one who was being scrutinized. Was I imagining things, or was there something a little too… intense about the way he was looking at me?
"Hey, if you're done with your drink, I can walk you to catch a cab. I'm getting sleepy, and I have to get up early for a journey home. Or, if you still want to stay…" He offered, but before he could finish, I cut him off.
"Yeah, I would go. Why not? I also have to get up early tomorrow," I replied, trying to sound casual. It wasn't that I didn't enjoy the conversation, but something about the way he was acting made me feel like I needed to get out of there before I made a bigger fool of myself.
We walked outside together, the cool night air hitting my face as we made our way to the street. He turned to me, and we exchanged numbers, and just as I was about to step into the cab, he stopped me with one last comment.
"Oh, and by the way, you look way more beautiful without your glasses on," he said, almost too casually, as if he didn't realize how much it would affect me.
Before I could even formulate a response, he had already crossed to the other side of the street, and the cab's engine roared to life. 'Wait, what? How does he know I wear glasses? Have we met before?' A thousand questions rushed into my mind, but before I could even process them, the cab door shut, and I was left alone with my thoughts.
The ride back to the hostel was a blur. My mind kept replaying every interaction with Wen Lin, every smile, every word. But I couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. How could he know so much about me, yet I had no recollection of meeting him before? Why was I so drawn to him, even when I didn't want to be?
I arrived at my room around one in the morning, feeling exhausted but still wide awake. I quickly took a shower, hoping the warm water would help clear my mind, then jumped into bed. Luckily, I had packed earlier, or I would have ended up staying up even later. But even as I lay there, staring at the ceiling, I couldn't stop thinking about Wen Lin. The way he talked, the way he moved, the way his presence seemed to fill the room—it all made him seem like he was from another world, a world I could never be part of.
His actions, the way he carried himself so effortlessly, screamed of wealth and status. His quiet confidence was like a magnet, pulling me in even when I didn't want to be. And every time I thought of him, my heart skipped a beat, a flutter I couldn't explain.
'Hey, Yang Jiang, snap out of it,' I scolded myself, shaking my head. 'It was just a one-time meeting. Nothing more, okay? Just that… nothing more.'
But even as I said it, I couldn't convince myself. The thoughts of Wen Lin kept creeping back, and I couldn't help but wonder: What was it about him that made me feel this way?