"Is everything all right in your suite, Young Master?" A man with short-cropped hair exposing his wrinkled forehead as he frowned abruptly walked inside the kitchen with two black-uniformed security guards.
Next came a lady with a small round face and her mouse-brown hair cut into choppy layers behind her nape.
The lady halted in her tracks and watched Chao Xiang and the escort with wide eyes, shifting her gaze at the back and forth for a few seconds.
He was glad that the staff came when the fire alarm for his penthouse suite probably went off, alerting them of the trouble in the form of a pretty escort who had a 'Hanfu' kink.
"It's obvious that it's not." Chao Xiang flashed them a sardonic grin.
If the hotel manager stared at him for a minute longer while the sprinkler continued to drench his dress shirt as if he was in a public shower while the intruders watch, he would have to tell his personal assistant to fire her.
"Young Master Li." The man with the cropped hair was Mr Chen, the head of security and his personal assistant who managed his day-to-day affairs and schedule as the CFO of Li Hotels and Resort International Group, lowered his head to greet him.
The people behind him followed suit.
He bit his lower lip and exhaled a harsh breath. Mr Chen, the hotel manager and the security guards never dared raise their heads from the wet tiles until he said so.
But what were the consequences for them waiting on him to order them around as their Young Master?
Should they wait until his entire penthouse was flooded with water before they do something about the sprinkler that kept on raining on them?
He was tempted to slap his forehead at this misfortune.
He shook his head.
Nobody in this room had enough common sense, which made the head throb that he needed to massage them.
The escort wasn't helping, either.
Her long dark hair was covered with the white stuff from the fire extinguisher.
Chao Xiang hoped those white stuff on her skin and clothes were from him after endless rounds of lovemaking, but that was wishful thinking on his part.
The Hanfu-wearing escort didn't move an inch, frozen in place with her shoulders hunched over as she stared at him with wider eyes than the female hotel manager.
Honestly, his country-bumpkin escort must have lived in a mountainous province where the next neighbour was half a mile away.
It was either that or this girl was an alien from the planet Mars!
It was as if she had lost her ability to scream—no, speak, after his staff entered his home from out -of the blue.
He snickered at sight.
The wet look she was sporting was even better.
They were both wet.
And when all these people were gone, Chao Xiang will have a damn good excuse to take off her Hanfu cosplay and move the rest of the exciting activity to bed.
He almost assumed that the extinguisher was too cold.
It had turned the poor, reckless girl into a statue.
See?
This situation right now was the literal example of 'If you can't stand the heat, you should get out of the kitchen.'
Now, he had to fix this problem immediately to eat her after he fed her growling stomach with food.
Clearing his throat, he said sharply, "Raise your head, Mr. Chen."
Chao Xiang didn't send for Mr Chen in his penthouse because he was determined to prove his independence by not needing his personal assistant when he was at home.
It turned out he needed him.
Badly.
"Can you assist me how to turn off this fire sprinkler? It's annoying the f*ck out of me." He needed Mr Chen's help to check the gas leak and the sprinkler so that he can finally deal with the escort. Alone.
Preferably with food that she wanted.
"This was the first time I have experienced this so I don't know--" Chao Xiang trailed off as he tightened his hold of the fire extinguisher.
His ego hated asking for help and admitting that he didn't know some practical stuff. "Can someone turn it off for me?"
"And Mr. Chen, make sure that this incident wouldn't leak to the public. I don't want to see any articles, tabloids or pictures of amateur paparazzi coming after me and this lady." He added for good measure.
"Yes, Young Master." Mr Chen replied. "We will keep our mouths shut and pretend we didn't see a thing."
The security guards quickly located the individual sprinkler head and turned it off instead of messing with the water supply for the whole suite and prevent possible damage.
The escort and the gas stove already created problems for him, and he didn't want to add anything to his plate.
The escort was more than enough to handle.
"You, babe? Are you alright?" Chao Xiang called as he beckoned a finger at her.
He almost broke character and smirked when she flinched and strolled towards him like an adorable puppy in a trance. "You aren't hurt are you?"
"I have minor burns, Master."
When he recalled the reason why this all happened, his smirk was replaced by a scowl. "I told you not to touch anything, didn't I? How stubborn can you be?" He demanded as his hand curled unto her arm. "Did you inhale the contents of the fire extinguisher?"
"No." She replied. "You told me to close my eyes and mouth and some white stuff were coming out of that thing."
Her wide caramel eyes were on him, and he loved it. "I have common sense."
"Really?" She had common sense. It surprised him that she didn't use it the first time. "Good girl." He praised thoughtfully as he patted her head.
He didn't have to send her to the doctor to ensure that she hadn't inhaled chemicals.
Chao Xiang can give her money to have a health check-up at the hospital to make sure her lungs were safe.
"Do I need to protect you from these trespassers, Master?" Suspicious, the escort asked as she narrowed her eyes towards the staff who came in to fix everything for him without lifting a finger. "It seemed like you knew them though."
"Oh." He raised an eyebrow. "You are protecting me with what?"
"My skills."
"I wish you would say how talented you are in be—"
"Cursing?" Her eyes lit up as if the act of cursing people excited her. "I am ready to curse the thieves running around your house, Master."
"Nothing is wrong." Then, holding his breath, Chao Xiang realized how her lashes were so long from up close.
Her beauty was an enchantment that called on his deepest desires. "They are just here to fix the sprinkler."
"What is a sprinkler?"
He stood still.
She always found a way to shatter a romantic atmosphere between them.
"Stop asking me questions." He murmured as he pulled her even closer. "How about you shower with me first and then we will eat food from a restaurant?"