Qi Yuze's mind almost stopped working the moment he saw Liu Xinyu. His whole nervous system crashed at the sight of this peculiar person. Why? Why was he running into her everywhere? It did not make any sense!
He could see the look of shock and disbelief in her eyes when she looked at him at that moment. It seemed like she wasn't expecting to see him here either. Qi Yuze noticed how a trace of vigilance and frustration appeared between her brows but it disappeared in a blink too as if it was all an illusion.
Liu Xinyu's lips curved up as she put the empty glass on the railing and walked to his side. She raised her hand and waved at him, "Hi! It seems we have an inevitable fate."
Qi Yuze felt like he would go crazy if he stayed here and allowed her to talk so he turned to walk back inside but stopped when Liu Xinyu called out to him.
"Zeze, are you shy? Or do you not wanna see the truth?"
Qi Yuze turned back to look at her and asked, "What did you just call me?"
"Zeze," she replied.
It sounded so cute when she said it. Qi Yuze felt like he was gonna get cavities or maybe goosebumps! What the hell was wrong with this girl?
"Are we close?" he couldn't help but ask her as he tried to mask his frustration too. Even those close to him had never called him 'Zeze' before. It sounded so weird. He was a man over 180cm tall. Did he need such a cute nickname? Even if he did, who was she to call him that?
"They say, first time's a coincidence. Second time's fate. But the third time is inevitable. Since you are already tied in the cycle of this inevitable fate, why deny it or run from it? Let's leave the formalities behind. We should get to know each other... deeply." The way she emphasized on that last 'deeply', left too much room for suggestive imagination and Qi Yuze did not wish to imagine anything involving this brazen woman in front of him!
"There are not so many coincidences in life," was Qi Yuze's response. "There is something shady about our encounters. Are you following me?"
Liu Xinyu chuckled at his question. "Do I look like I have that much free time?"
"You do."
Liu Xinyu rubbed her nose and could only accept, "Yeah. I do seem to have way too much time on my hands these days. Oddly enough, it's my first time so even I don't know what to do with this time. But just because I don't know what to do with my time does not mean I have any interest in stalking you." 'If I really want to stalk someone that someone definitely won't be you.' She did not say her real thoughts out loud. There was no need to act out of character. She had already built an image of someone who was interested in him, now if she said that she wasn't, she'd be slapping her own face.
It was better to just go along with it.
Sigh! This is my Ma and Pa told me not to lie. Lies just pile up like dominos and with one strike they come crashing down too. One lie needs a hundred lies to cover it and she was in that situation right now. Since she decided to put on an act around him from the first time, she had to keep up the act now.
Why was she even doing it? He wasn't exactly her type too!
Yes, he was handsome and sauve. Looked gentlemanly when he wore those gold-rimmed glasses and appeared to be mild-tempered too. But right now, without those glasses, all his sharp features were accentuated and his deep eyes looked dangerous. It was like you were being stared at by a wolf. It was scary but Liu Xinyu wasn't one to back down too.
It's not like she thought he was harmless from the first time they met. She wasn't naive anymore to believe everything.
But even if she could perceive the danger around him, it won't stop her. You see, the thing about danger had always been that it seemed too alluring and enticing to daredevils like Liu Xinyu who weren't scared of heaven and earth!
"By the way, Zeze, do you live here?" asked Liu Xinyu as she leaned on the railing. There was a considerable distance between the two balconies. Liu Xinyu's body was almost hanging over the railing and it looked kind of dangerous too for her to act like a careless kid full of mischief.
But that's what she was, no? A mischief master!
Yes, that's the conclusion Qi Yuze came up with.
"Why should I tell you that?" asked Qi Yuze clearly not feeling like sharing his personal details with her.
"But I saw another Jiejie here yesterday," she informed him. "Was it the same Jiejie from the hospital last time? Now, I am even more curious about who she is to you. Why was she here? Does she live here or do you live here? Or both?"
There was a strong sense of probing in her tone which she was actually trying to suppress. Inwardly, Liu Xinyu was staring at him and was on the verge of using violence to get answers out of him. Why was Nan Xing there at his place yesterday? She thought she was neighbors with her mother but now, it seems like she was wrong. Or maybe she wasn't wrong. Did her mother share the house with this man too?
Why were there so many questions in her life as soon as she entered 1998?
Liu Xinyu had never had so many questions that puzzled her in her life ever before! Now, she was like a question machine!
"Why do you care?"
Liu Xinyu had already imagined the scene of punching this difficult man who couldn't answer her properly. Did she ask for much? Did she ask for his money? She merely asked a couple of questions but he was so stingy!
"Why?!" she used her ultimate skill of acting cringy and cute as she leaned over even more. "Why can't you tell me who is she to you?"
"Be careful! Don't fall!" said Qi Yuze when he saw her playing this dangerous game.
Liu Xinyu gave him a bright smile that made her eyes twinkle, it stunned Qi Yuze for a moment as she said, "But I have already fallen... for you!"
Qi Yuze's lips twitched when he heard her talking nonsense with such skills. It was remarkable. Yes, it was! He really wanted to tell her to try acting, she might become the biggest star of the era with her skills. It was a shame to waste her talent here trying to fool him.