Chapter Twenty-Four: This Is a Misunderstanding

Chen Hao truly lived up to his background in traditional martial arts; his reflexes and speed were far above the average. So, the instant Gu Mengyan began to fall backward, Chen Hao lunged toward her without hesitation. He had intended to catch her hand at once, but the girl, flustered and panicked, wasn’t holding her hands up obediently—instead, she waved them wildly in the air. Just as he was about to grab hold, somehow she slipped away on her own accord.

That slip was only the beginning. She managed to clutch the sleeve of Chen Hao’s jacket instead, and, propelled by her backward momentum, she ended up dragging Chen Hao with her toward the outside of the car. Chen Hao, half-standing as he reached for her, had his center of gravity pitched forward, and now, with Gu Mengyan’s pull, he too lost balance and tumbled out with her.

In that split second of crisis, Chen Hao’s only instinct was to thrust his hand behind Gu Mengyan’s head, protecting her from a severe blow against the ground.

But that was not the most terrifying part. The real danger lay in the fact that Chen Hao had parked his car right at the edge of the parking lot’s driving lane. Cars could pass by at any moment. Even though vehicles in a parking lot don’t move very fast, who could guarantee that a careless driver wouldn’t fail to react to such an unexpected situation and crash straight into them?

As fate would have it, at that very moment, a car did in fact approach, and from the look of it, the driver wasn’t even slowing down.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chen Hao saw the car barreling straight toward them. His first reaction was to wrap Gu Mengyan tightly in his arms, pressing her head to his chest, then twisting his own body with force so that his back faced the oncoming car.

One thought flashed through Chen Hao’s mind: Even if I don’t die this time, I’ll probably end up paralyzed, spending the rest of my life bedridden. Damn it, Gu Mengyan, you troublesome girl—you’ll have to take care of me for the rest of your life! Poor me, I haven’t even gotten married yet! Not only that, I don’t even have a girlfriend!

Chen Hao squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the inevitable collision. But to his surprise, the expected crash never came. The car screeched to a halt just in time, right in front of them. When Chen Hao realized this, he exhaled in relief. He’d been expecting the driver to fling open the door or roll down the window and unleash a torrent of curses at them, but nothing of the sort happened.

This struck Chen Hao as very odd. Ordinarily, in such a dangerous situation, the driver would either be cursing them out or rushing over to check if they were all right. What was going on? Perplexed, Chen Hao released Gu Mengyan from his embrace, but the girl still kept her eyes tightly shut, clutching his clothes with all her might.

“It’s fine now! Let go, you silly girl!” Chen Hao patted Gu Mengyan’s head, then turned to the car and couldn’t help but exclaim, “What the—why is it you?!”

The driver was none other than Chen Hao’s good friend, Bill Andre. That morning, Bill had left Chen Hao’s house, taken a nap at his own place, and come to this area for dinner in the evening. Young people these days, like Chen Hao and his crowd, almost never cooked at home. Whenever hunger struck or it was time to eat, they either ordered takeout or dined out at restaurants.

Because Chen Hao was in the tech department at Illusion Corporation, he often ended up treating his colleagues to meals outside, though these “treats” were usually at Gu Mengyan’s insistence, not his own. Over time, everyone got used to eating out, and the place they’d chosen tonight was their usual haunt on the commercial street, which offered a wide variety of eateries.

Naturally, with Bill Andre’s financial means, he wouldn’t be dining at the upscale restaurant Chen Hao and Gu Mengyan preferred, so their paths hadn’t crossed earlier in the evening. But after dinner, as Bill headed to the parking lot to retrieve his car, he happened to see Gu Mengyan and Chen Hao.

He had intended to go over and say hello, but the two of them hurried into their car. Bill found this a bit odd, but didn’t dwell on it—he’d just greet them when he drove past.

But as he started his engine and pulled his car in their direction, he noticed something unusual. He couldn’t see exactly what they were doing from a distance, but he could plainly make out Chen Hao’s much-envied luxury SUV rocking violently and erratically.

“Holy crap!” Bill had just taken a sip of water, which he promptly sprayed all over his windshield. Were they…? Could it be that these two were really a couple after all?

No wonder, from the first day he’d known Chen Hao, he’d never seen him accept any girl’s advances. So, Chen Hao’s heart had already been won—by none other than Gu Mengyan, whom they all knew so well. In fact, everyone had once suspected that Chen Hao’s indifference to other girls was because of Gu Mengyan.

After all, Gu Mengyan was an orphan, taken in by Chen Hao’s father when she was a child, and she’d grown up living with Chen Hao as his childhood companion. If something developed between them, it would only be natural—and such a romance, blossoming from their shared upbringing, would be the envy of all.

Though Gu Mengyan had moved out when she went to university, putting some distance between them for a few years, this might have only deepened their affections.

Yet, after a while, everyone concluded there was nothing more to their relationship. Their closeness had long surpassed the ambiguous phase between friends and lovers; they were so familiar it was almost embarrassing to make a move on each other. In all the time they’d known them, neither had ever acted out of the ordinary in public. They didn’t live together, nor did they wait for each other after work. Some busybodies had even tried to create opportunities for them to be alone, then secretly watched—but never witnessed any overtly intimate gestures. Eventually, everyone had simply accepted that they were just very close friends.

And yet, tonight, Bill Andre had witnessed this bizarre scene with his own eyes. Damn! These two had hidden their relationship well! After all these years, no one had suspected a thing—not even him, Chen Hao’s close friend. And now, by pure chance, he’d stumbled upon the truth.

No wonder Gu Mengyan had been so nonchalant and skilled at undressing Chen Hao while taking care of him the past couple of days—they were already used to it! Finally, he’d caught them in the act, and now he had something to hold over them!

Wait—why hadn’t they closed the car door? Could it be these two were so impatient they couldn’t even bother to shut the door? Oh my God, Chen Hao’s on top of her! What a beast! A monster! A pervert! I—envy him! Wait, no, this is indecent!

Bill couldn’t take it anymore—he felt compelled to put a stop to Chen Hao’s immoral behavior at once. So, he quickly started his car and pulled up beside them.

Seeing Chen Hao spot him, Bill rolled down the window and stuck his head out, clicking his tongue. “Well, well, well! Who would’ve thought—the two of you, not especially talented or beautiful, but a pair of wolves and leopards, already in cahoots! Ha! Busted by me! I just don’t get it—after I left this morning, you had all the time in the world, why waste it and sneak off to the parking lot for… whatever this is?”

“Oh! I get it now. The thrill, right? The excitement of possibly being caught at any moment? Who would have guessed that beneath your glamorous exteriors lurked such restless, lascivious hearts!”

Without bothering to ask what had really happened, Bill Andre unleashed a torrent of mockery.

“What the hell are you babbling about?!” Chen Hao retorted, fuming.

“Hmm?” Bill paused, suddenly unsure. He knew Chen Hao well enough to realize that if things were really as he imagined, Chen Hao wouldn’t be reacting like this. Instead, he’d be scrambling off Gu Mengyan, sidling up to Bill with a sycophantic grin, and offering hush money.

But then, why was Chen Hao still holding Gu Mengyan? Wait! He understood now—was Chen Hao forcing himself on Gu Mengyan? Maybe they weren’t a couple after all, and it was just a one-sided infatuation on Chen Hao’s part.

No wonder Chen Hao had always ignored other girls—his heart had already belonged to someone else. But because they were so close, he was afraid that confessing might make things awkward, or even drive them apart. So he’d kept his feelings bottled up until, after Gu Mengyan had taken care of him so devotedly these past few days, his emotions finally burst forth tonight.

Perhaps Gu Mengyan felt the same but was too afraid to express it, so when Chen Hao made his move, she’d half-heartedly gone along with it. How did Bill Andre figure this out? Simple—despite her eyes being shut, Gu Mengyan’s head was buried deep in Chen Hao’s chest, her expression unmistakably filled with intoxication and longing.

Watching Bill’s ever-changing expression, Chen Hao realized this guy had probably gotten the wrong idea. “I think… this is all just a misunderstanding…”