An Xunuo was taken aback and looked at him quizzically. “What are you talking about?”
“I was asking you, with regards to what happened the other time, does what you said still stand?” Ye Ningyuan asked again as he looked at her solemnly as though he was awaiting an answer and seemingly probing something.
An Xunuo, for a moment, did not respond to what Ye Ningyuan said. Ye Ningyuan decided to simply put down his wine glass and reach out to hug her waist and kiss her on the lips. The intoxicating fragrance of wine between his lips and teeth was enthralling.
He sucked at the tip of her tongue gently and lovingly as though he were savoring something and lovingly made out the shape of her lips. An Xunuo’s body froze and did not respond as she allowed him to kiss her. When she regained her senses, he had let go of her and looked into her eyes. “You get it?”
“I do not!” An Xunuo honestly replied.
Ye Ningyuan shook his head. “You really don’t? I’m saying that we should date.”
“You…” An Xunuo looked at him as though she had heard something wrong. “You turned me down the other time.”
“No, I did not reject you. I just needed time to think it through.” Being shameless was a way out, and Ye Ningyuan had no qualms being shameless from time to time.
An Xunuo squinted. His deep eyes gave her the wrong impression that she was his most precious, and it left her feeling weird. What exactly did he mean?
He had clearly rejected An Xunuo’s extremely bold overtures back then, but he regretted it now. Who did he think he was? Didn’t he say that Xu Xing was the person he loved the most?
An Xunuo felt a slight sadness, and she tucked her lips and smiled coldly. What was he up to?
“I need time to consider too,” An Xunuo said and suddenly turned around. She would never let Ye Ningyuan know that she actually felt a shameless elation in her heart at that very moment. She must have been nuts.
Was he serious? Given his character, he ought to be serious. While he was scheming, devious, cunning, and always seemed to portray an alternate persona, he was very serious when it came to matters of the heart.
When she saw how he could not forget Xu Nuo for over ten years, she knew that he was a love-struck person. She did not seem to particularly care about Ye Ningyuan liking Xu Nuo but instead really appreciated him for it. That quality about him was what changed her view of him. However people described Black J’s character, he was, after all, a righteous and responsible person despite the fact that she was not the girl he remembered.
If he took a liking to any person, said person would be extremely fortunate as such a deeply sentimental person was a person worth loving.
“Very well, then. Let me know once you’ve made up your mind.” Ye Ningyuan gently smiled without forcing her.
“You utterly rejected me the previous time. I want to know why you’ve changed your mind.” An Xunuo suddenly wanted to ask.
Ye Ningyuan did not look at her and merely swigged the red wine in his hands as he plainly said, “I dreamed of Nuo Nuo, and she told me to take pity on the people I see.”
That was a blatant lie!
He rarely dreamed of Xu Nuo all these years.
“Then, I ought to thank her?”
“Xunuo, do you mind if I have somebody else in my heart for the rest of my life?”
“I don’t!” Since that girl was dead, what was there to mind? If the guy she liked died for her, she would remember him for the rest of her life. It was humane to remember a dead person, rather than her being magnanimous. “Do you like me?”
Ye Ningyuan stroked his chin and murmured, “A little bit…”
An Xunuo coldly harrumphed, and Ye Ningyuan jokingly said, “I believe that for a guy who has only liked one girl since young, to like you that bit is already very good?”
“It’s my honor.”
“Yes!”
An Xunuo stared at him. He sure was shameless. Couldn’t he be that bit less narcissistic? Ye Ningyuan coughed twice and said, “It’s my honor too.”
Her face turned red, and she looked away to smile…
Did he really like her?
She frowned and closed her eyes with a pain he could not see. ‘Ye Ningyuan, what if I approached you with another purpose? Would you still like me? Or would you hate me to the core?’
Morales pestered K until the later part of the night, and Ye Ningyuan smiled as he left. He had had a good night, and he was expecting An Xunuo to…
When he recalled Azure Dragon’s intelligence over the phone, Ye Ningyuan’s gaze became a tad emotional before he smiled. Did that matter? Life, after all, was a gamble, and he would wager and take his chances.
While the stakes were higher, he would have a lifetime of happiness awaiting him if he won. If he lost, he lost.
‘An Xunuo, could you bear to?’
‘I look forward to your response.’
Over the next few days, Ye Ningyuan and An Xunuo lived like a couple as they went out and watched movies together. This was, in White Tiger’s words, ‘an interesting way of interacting’. He gossiped with Azure Dragon and the others.
Their boss courted in a very interesting manner.
The three of them were eager to see how ‘interesting’ it was.
“Have you clearly considered it?” Ye Ningyuan asked over mealtime that day.
“I’ll tell you tomorrow.” An Xunuo did not directly reply to him.
“How petty.” Ye Ningyuan shook his head.
“Likewise.”
After they bickered for a moment, Ye Ningyuan held her hand out of habit. Since An Xunuo wanted to avoid that, he instead went for her waist and pecked her cheeks. An Xunuo, in frustration, stared at him and did not avoid it.
She realized that Ye Ningyuan was getting better at going overboard. When she gave him that slightest sunshine, he blossomed. When she smiled, he was utterly pleased. Hugging her became common fare.
When he was happy, cupping her face and kissing her hard had become common fare. An Xunuo was stifled. She had not agreed to date him, had she? How did things turn out this way?
“You look better when you’re angry than when you’re cold,” Ye Ningyuan said. He held An Xunuo’s hands, which were not the most gentle and had slight callouses, and was pleased. It felt comfortable holding her hands.
He liked holding her hands as they felt comfortable and warm.
“You have a problem with your judgment.”
“That is for sure. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have taken a liking to you.”
An Xunuo stared at Ye Ningyuan once again, but Ye Ningyuan smiled kindly and innocently asked in return, “I’m not wrong, I believe?”
She turned her head away in frustration. If it weren’t for him holding her so tightly, she would have broken free of his hold.