Xu Ai's mind wandered in hatred as consciousness slowly slipped away from her body.
"Oh dear, Sis Ai-Ai!" The waiter came back and saw Xu Ai lying on the ground like a sack of potatoes. He panicked and carried her up immediately.
This time, Xu Ai couldn't move at all.
The waiter kept on calling her name, but she didn't answer.
"She's totally wasted!" He grunted as he struggled to carry her to her room.
The waiter helped Xu Ai settle down before leaving the room. He saw another waiter with a set of clean clothes in his hands and asked, "He asked for these?"
The other waiter nodded.
He approached him and murmured, "He came back to China two months ago and didn't show his face until now. Why did he come here today? I thought I was hallucinating when I saw him just now."
"Who knows. Perhaps he was busy the whole time until today, so that's why he came here." The other waiter shook his head and pursed his lips in Xu Ai's direction. "Those two heavy drinkers hadn't visited here in a while, but weren't they here today as well?" The other waiter then carried the set of clothes in his hands and left.
The waiter sighed and hurried down the staircase.
Xu Ai had a deep sleep. She was extremely exhausted, and the sleep made her feel completely detached from the physical world. She rubbed her eyes and got up. The dark room was only dimly lit by light scattered from the outside. She jumped off the bed, opened the curtains, and looked outside the window. An ominous feeling hit her all of a sudden. She turned around and searched for her cellphone. She looked at the time and howled. Then, she threw her phone away and fell to the bed.
She must have fallen into an eternal slumber, or else how could she possibly have missed over 20 phone calls?
She stared at the ceiling for a brief moment before retrieving her phone again. Out of the twenty-something missed calls, one was from Lin Shen at two in the afternoon. All other missed calls were from her mother, who was on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.
Lin Shen…
Her eyes fixated on his caller ID. She drew a deep breath and returned his call.
The call was picked up almost right away.
"Hello?" His voice came to her ear as if coming from a time and place far, far away.
Xu Ai opened her mouth but couldn't make a sound.
"Xu Ai?" Lin Shen waited for a moment and asked when he didn't hear her speak.
Xu Ai tightened her grip around her phone and coughed. She deliberately made her voice sound weak and frail. "I caught a cold and overslept. Well, um… about the bidding project this afternoon…"
"We got it," Lin Shen answered.
Xu Ai let out a long sigh of relief. Her heart was ecstatic. "Did you go by yourself?"
"Mhm," Lin Shen replied.
"I'm so sorry. Next time I'll…" Xu Ai felt a little guilty. She had never abandoned a project like this before.
"We're not taking any new projects as of yet. You need to rest more if you're sick. I gotta go; I've got a lot on my plate. Talk to you later." He hung up after he finished talking.
The absent-minded Xu Ai held her phone in her hand. Not taking any new projects? Is it because he is beginning to prepare for his graduation thesis?
She ran her fingers through her messy, tousled hair and threw away her phone before heading to the bathroom.
She felt much better after taking a shower, but her head still ached. Looking into the mirror, she pummeled her head and remembered she had set a limit on how much she should drink last night, which meant she shouldn't have gotten hungover and overslept. She was drunk because someone forced her to drink a glass of hard liquor, and that was why she was completely out!
Her memories of this man were lost amid her headache. She vaguely remembered an extremely handsome face.
She didn't push herself to think any further. She went back to the room and got dressed. When she picked up her phone again, she noticed a gilded button with intricate markings. She picked it up and studied it carefully. She had very little memory of this button. She wanted to throw it away in rage but stopped before doing so. Instead, she took the button and stepped outside her room.
She paused when she reached the stairs. Seeing that the floor was very clean with no traces of anything, she headed downstairs.
It wasn't night time yet. There were no guests at the bar except the waiters.
Xu Ai walked to the bar counter and sat down. A guy immediately came up to her and chatted, "Sis Ting-Ting is still sleeping. We are betting on which one of you would wake up first. After you went back last night, Sis Ting-Ting had a few more drinks after dancing."
Xu Ai laughed and asked for a cup of hot water. She took a sip and asked nonchalantly, "Who else stayed behind there beside us yesterday?"
The guy blinked. "You mean Young Master Su? He also stayed there yesterday."
"Young Master Su?" Xu Ai frowned, "Which Young Master Su?"
"Young Master Su of Empyrean!" The guy stared at her. "Sis Ai-Ai, how could you not know that he came back to China to take over Empyrean?"
"Oh," Xu Ai uttered, then her eyes opened wide in surprise. "You mean Su Xuan?"
"That's him!"
Xu Ai swirled the cup of water in her hand. "Does he have something against me?" She was puzzled.
The guy gave her a strange look. "What's wrong, Sis Ai-Ai? Did you piss him off? He left this morning."
Xu Ai gulped her water and then smashed her cup against the countertop. "He pissed me off!" Then, she grabbed her handbag and left the bar.
Even when she finally got to campus, Xu Ai still had no clue how she had pissed Su Xuan off.
Su Xuan. His name was a legend even to well-endowed, spoiled little princesses like her and Sun Pinting.
The word on the street was he received a Ph.D. at Cambridge University in finance and a dual master's degree in law and psychology. He founded his own Mergers and Acquisitions company while still in school and assisted many international companies with M&A. He made a name for himself overseas without any help from the Su Corporation, and he had managed and led his company to fruitful prosperity. There were rumors that he would stay overseas and not come back, and there would be another heir to Empyrean. To everyone's surprise, he came back to the country two months ago and took over Empyrean.
During the past two months, reports of him were catching everyone's attention, blast after blast.
Xu Ai knew he came back to China regardless of how busy she had been.
However, she never would've imagined that the incredibly youthful-looking man was him! Too bad she was hammered, if only…
"Miss, we're here!" The taxi driver stopped the car and knocked on the partition glass.
Xu Ai looked outside and stopped her racing thoughts. She paid the driver and stepped out of the car.
It was such a miserable hungover. She pressed her temples and headed to her dorm.
After a few steps, she heard someone shouting from behind. "Xu Ai!"
Xu Ai turned around but didn't see any familiar faces. She kept on walking.
"Xu Ai!" She heard the voice again.
Xu Ai stopped, and a guy ran towards her from afar at this moment. She finally recognized him when he got closer; he was the guy talking to Lin Shen last night at her dormitory building.
That particular scene from yesterday flashed in front of her eyes. She'd rather bury that memory and never think of it again.
The guy looked like he just returned from somewhere outside, and he was carrying a huge backpack on his shoulder. He panted a little from running so fast, then he looked at her apologetically and said, "I wanted to tell you I am sorry for yesterday; it was so…"
"Yesterday? What happened yesterday?" Xu Ai played dumb.
The guy felt awkward all of a sudden. "Yesterday… um… you and Lin Shen…"
Xu Ai chortled. "Buddy, are you close with Lin Shen?"
The guy scratched his head. "Our dorm rooms are right next to each other, so we joke around quite often. Lin Shen isn't much of a joker, and we…"
Xu Ai proceeded to leave before he finished his sentence.
The guy was dumbfounded for a second and then followed her immediately. "You probably don't know my name yet, right? I'm Zhao Yang."
Xu Ai kept on walking and didn't speak a word to him.
"Well, Xu Ai, you… you still don't have a boyfriend, right?" Zhao Yang rubbed his hands together nervously as he walked beside her. She still wasn't talking to him, so he braced himself. "I… I want to be your boyfriend."
Xu Ai came to an abrupt stop.
Zhao Yang also stopped. He looked at her and blushed, then he asked tentatively, "Is… is that alright with you?"
Xu Ai narrowed her eyes and looked at Zhao Yang up and down. He was kind of cute. "Don't you have a girlfriend?"
"You mean the girl from yesterday?" Zhao Yang shook his head. "No, she's not. She's from my hometown, so we're from the same place. We just look after each other occasionally. It was late last night, so I escorted her back."
"Oh," Xu Ai replied.
I seemed to have run into him a couple of times in front of my dormitory? Look after each other occasionally?
She shrugged and added, "I'm sorry, but I have a boyfriend."
Zhao Yang widened his eyes. "Didn't Lin Shen say…"
"Ha." Xu Ai looked at Zhao Yang like he was an imbecile. "Lin Shen said I'm not his girlfriend, but he didn't say I don't have a boyfriend!"
Zhao Yang's expression changed. The more he thought about it, the less he believed it. "You really have a boyfriend? Is he from our school?"
"Why do I have to tell you that!" Xu Ai turned around and headed straight.
"If you don't want to tell me, I'll take that as a lousy excuse you're using because you don't want me to pursue you." Zhao Yang blocked Xu Ai and looked into her eyes earnestly. "I've always liked…"
"Zhao Yang!" A sweet, feminine voice came up behind him.
Zhao Yang turned around and was shocked by what met his eyes. "Lin Shen?"
Xu Ai stopped walking at the mention of that name. She turned her head slowly and saw a taxi parked at the same place where she got off. A male and a female stepped out of the taxi. The male was indeed Lin Shen, and she also happened to know the female: Cheng Yanyan, beauty queen of the foreign language school.
Obviously, Cheng Yanyan was the one who called Zhao Yang's name.
Lin Shen was the top student of the business school, and Chen Yanyan was the most delicate flower of the foreign language school.
Why are they in the same taxi?
He said he had something to take care of when I called him earlier, and that thing is Cheng Yanyan?
Xu Ai shifted her gaze and lowered her lashes to look at the bricks on the paved road. She wondered, Would it be okay for me to storm back to my dorm and ignore them?
It wasn't her style to just leave like that… But if she were to wait here, it made her feel like she wasn't stepping on bricks but needles.
Lin Shen paused when he got out of the car, then he paced towards them.
Dressed in a pink dress and high heels, Cheng Yanyan walked alongside Lin Shen. They looked like a beautiful scene to those who looked at them from afar.
It didn't take long for these two to catch up with them.
"Ooh-la-la, isn't this Xu Ai?" Cheng Yanyan laughed and gave Zhao Yang a dubious look. "I wondered which beauty did the handsome Zhao Yang get involved with? It's Xu Ai! So many ladies at the foreign language school are having trouble finding boyfriends; why is a goody like you flowing out of the family?"
Zhao Yang felt a little helpless and glanced at Xu Ai. She didn't do or say anything either. He laughed and countered, "You're one to talk, Beauty Queen Cheng. You're the flower of our foreign language school, yet you've had your heart set on somewhere else. Can't a fella do the same thing?"
Cheng Yanyan glowered at him and said, "How did I set my heart elsewhere? I've never had a boyfriend before!"
"Oh," Zhao Yang replied, "Beauty queen Cheng has super high standards!" He glanced at Lin Shen and probed her by saying, "You say you don't have your heart set elsewhere, and Lin Shen is not a student at our foreign language school. So you guys aren't…"
Cheng Yanyan instantly blushed.
Xu Ai tilted her head up and saw the light flickering in Cheng Yanyan's eyes, then she looked away immediately.
Lin Shen walked in front of Xu Ai and asked, "Why aren't you resting in your dorm if you have a cold?"
Xu Ai thought that she indeed shouldn't have lied; now she's in trouble. She coughed and scratched her head before saying, "I'm all better now."
"You have a cold?" Zhao Yang turned around and looked at Xu Ai carefully. Her voice was hoarse from the hangover, and her complexion was sallow, which gave the false impression of having a cold. He smacked his head and said, "I'm so sorry, I didn't know you are sick. I just kept on rambling to you. Well, um, let me take you back to your dorm!"
Xu Ai shook her head.
Rejection after rejection made Zhao Yang feel a little embarrassed. He turned around and asked Lin Shen, "Lin Shen, yesterday you said Xu Ai is not your girlfriend. Is that true?"
Lin Shen looked at Zhao Yang but didn't speak a word.
"Is that true? Or did I misinterpret yesterday?" Zhao Yang inquired further.
Cheng Yanyan opened her mouth all of a sudden, "I was curious about that, too. The gossips I've heard all said Xu Ai is Lin Shen's girlfriend…"
"No!" Lin Shen shook his head.
Xu Ai's heart sank to a new low.
Lin Shen kept his mouth shut when Zhao Yang inquired about his relationship twice, but when Cheng Yanyan asked, he denied it right away.
Does he have a thing for Cheng Yanyan? Is that why he doesn't want her to misunderstand him?
Maybe the first denial had prepared her for the fall. This time, it didn't hurt as much.
Maybe Lin Shen never liked her. Maybe Sun Pinting was right; he kept her around because she was helpful towards him.
"I knew my hearing is still fine, and I didn't hear anything wrong," Zhao Yang sighed in relief, "I've always liked Xu Ai, but I thought you two were… So yeah, I never chased after her. Now that we ran into each other today, I decided to pursue her. But Xu Ai told me that she has a boyfriend. If it's not you, then do you know who her boyfriend is?"
"You have a boyfriend?" Lin Shen glanced at Xu Ai.
Hearing this, Xu Ai wanted to send Zhao Yang to an early grave.
"Not even Lin Shen meets your standards, Xu Ai? What kind of boyfriend is he? Is he from our school?" Cheng Yanyan's face turned even livelier when she heard Lin Shen's denial. There was a lit-from-within glow on her face that sparked from her heart.
Xu Ai's hand clenched around her handbag and felt the button that she found earlier at her fingertip. She straightened her torso and faced Cheng Yanyan's smile. She took a deep breath and shook her head. "He's not from our university."
"So he's not from our university. No wonder I've never heard of him." Cheng Yanyan's smile became cordial. "How come he never visited our campus?"
"Who is he?" Zhao Yang kept on asking.
Xu Ai looked at Lin Shen. His expression was blank as usual with no telltale signs of emotion.
Maybe he really doesn't give a damn if I have a boyfriend or not! There was a hole in her heart.
"His name is Su Xuan!" she answered calmly.
"Su Xuan?" Zhao Yang's voice was one octave higher.
"Su Xuan… why does that name sound so familiar?" Cheng Yanyan asked Lin Shen.
Lin Shen stepped forward and cast his shadow over Xu Ai.
"You said Su Xuan? Su Xuan of Empyrean?" His voice was low and somber.
"Yeah!" Xu Ai stepped back. She tried her best to keep her tone cheerful and her eyes radiant. "That's him!"
"Your blind date yesterday…" Lin Shen stared at her face.
"Yeah, it was with him." Xu Ai nodded.
"Su Xuan of Empyrean? How is that even possible?" Cheng Yanyan opened her mouth and almost screeched. She looked at Xu Ai in total disbelief.
Xu Ai clenched her teeth, then she took out the button from her bag and held it in her hand. "This is the second button on his shirt. Um… it was a gift from him."
Lin Shen's face no longer kept its cool.
Xu Ai placed the button back to her bag gently. Then, she looked up at Zhao Yang and said, "Now you know I have a boyfriend?" She smiled at Lin Shen and Cheng Yanyan. "If you could excuse me, I feel a little under the weather from the cold. I'll go back to my dorm now; you guys can keep chatting."
Then, she turned on her heel and headed to her dormitory. She didn't wait for their replies.
How she wished the dormitory building was right in front of her right now. How she wished she could climb upstairs right now.
Su Xuan force-fed her a glass of liquor, and she used him as a shield behind his back. Now they should be even!
Besides, who had the guts to go to Empyrean and interrogate Su Xuan if he was her boyfriend and see if it was a lie or not?
Now that Lin Shen stated she wasn't his girlfriend, did it matter if her boyfriend was Su Xuan?