Chapter 11

He had embraced her waist just once, and from that moment, he knew her measurements by heart. That's why all the clothes he picked for her were her size and quite beautiful. But she didn't need them.

She pulled out an oversized white T-shirt from the bottom of the closet, stripped off her shirt and the snug pencil skirt she was wearing, slipped it on, and then loosely tied up her long hair.

This was how she looked at home. Relaxed and unbound.

With a faint smile, she walked into her small study.

It was a small partition in the bedroom, originally intended for fitness activities, but later she turned it into her own little study.

Now that she thought about it, the apartment was quite large, yet only this place belonged to her alone.

It was only because she was afraid of the vast space, afraid of that coldness that came with being by herself.

No one knew that every night she would turn off all the lights in the apartment and then retreat into the bedroom, not coming out again.

It was only on stormy weather with thunder and lightning that she would turn on all the lights in the house for courage.

Pulling an English magazine from the bookshelf, she nestled into a soft chair and began to carefully flip through the pages, occasionally mouthing the words silently and making notes with a pen. Her fair and slender legs, bent at the knees, peeked out invitingly from beneath the hem of the T-shirt, spurring endless daydreams.

In the end, her brows knitted together slightly, her pen resting on a certain part of the magazine as she tried hard to think.

What did this English word mean?

She remembered having seen it somewhere before, but just couldn't recall its meaning in Chinese.

After contemplating it for a long time, she finally swung her legs off the soft chair, stood up.

She really should buy an English-Chinese dictionary for reference; even though her English wasn't bad after four years of university, she still got stuck on some professional business vocabulary.

At this moment, she remembered his study. She recalled that there seemed to be dictionaries on his bookshelf.

So she put down the magazine, stepped out of the bedroom, and headed to the study by the staircase on the second floor.

The sky outside had long since darkened, and the apartment was pitch black, eerily silent.

She turned on the wall lamps in the second-floor corridor. Her feet made no sound as they stepped on the soft carpet.

Twisting open the lock to the study, she hesitated at the door.

Besides the occasional cleaning, she didn't usually enter his study without good reason, as it was his private space after all.

After hesitating for a long while, she looked at the thick dictionary on the shelf and finally walked in.

It was just borrowing a dictionary after all. Once borrowed, she would leave. She told herself this.

The dictionary was placed quite high, and even with her height, she had to stand on tiptoe to reach it.

She braced herself on the bookshelf, stretching her arms upward, slightly suspecting the man might have done it on purpose, placing it so high.

Whew! Finally, her fingertips touched the dictionary, and she pulled it out forcefully...

Just as she was about to rejoice, her body lost balance due to her unsteady center of gravity, toppling toward the ground, and she quickly grabbed something to stabilize herself.

As she came to her senses, she realized she had accidentally pulled open the drawer of the nearby desk, and now her right hand was tightly grasping the drawer's handle, while her left hand held the dictionary, panting.

That was a close call!

She patted her chest, and her gaze inadvertently fell upon a photo frame in the drawer.

She had seen him place that photo frame into the drawer before, with a mysterious demeanor, so she couldn't help but feel curious.

She carefully retrieved it, turned it over, and there, a short-haired woman with a broad smile appeared before her.

The woman sported a fashionable haircut, a heart-shaped face with arching, confident eyebrows, almond-shaped eyes curved into crescents, and distinctly outlined lips that curved upward deeply, looking extremely happy.

She wore a black, fitted cocktail dress, her skin smooth and fair, finely proportioned within her approximate height of 1.6 meters, exuding both competence and a sultry sexiness.

The photo was taken in front of a fountain at the entrance of a high-end hotel, with the woman standing atop the fountain pool, barefoot. Her high heels dangled from her hand as she playfully splashed the clear pool water with her feet.

Qianxue gazed at the woman in the photo and for some reason, suddenly felt envious of her.

If she wasn't wrong, this woman must be the one loved by that man. The bliss glowing on the woman's face was unmistakable; it was clear how dearly and lovingly the man treated her.

If only she could have the love of that man...

Snap! She quickly put the photograph back into the drawer and closed it, hiding her own flustered heart.

What was she even thinking just now? How could she entertain such thoughts!

Hugging the dictionary close, she shook off the thoughts from her mind and planned to quickly leave his study.

Just then, the sound of the study door lock being tampered with echoed through the room.

She was shocked and instantly turned to stand still.

Soon after, a tall figure appeared at the study door, his deep-set eyes filled with surprise.

And she, standing beside the desk with a dictionary in her arms, was equally stunned.

Why had he come?

"Why are you here?" she stammered in sign language, realizing only after she asked that she might have been a bit improper.

This was his apartment, he had every right to come as he pleased.

Panic flitted across her pretty face. She held the dictionary up to him and said, "I came to borrow your dictionary."

But still, she was chagrined, feeling like a thief caught red-handed.

Leng Chenxuan coldly regarded the woman wrapped only in an oversized T-shirt, eyeing her soft white shoulders that slipped out of the shirt's neckline, and the long legs revealed beneath the hem, his gaze growing dark.

It was a spur-of-the-moment decision for him to come here, so he hadn't notified her.

Was this her true self right now? She seemed particularly attractive and charming today.

His voice was low, "Just make sure not to mess with my stuff." He didn't seem too displeased.

Upon hearing this, Qianxue smiled faintly, her fair cheeks showcasing two attractive dimples.

She took the work documents from his hands and asked through sign language, "Have you eaten? I'll start preparing now."

"Yeah, keep it simple," Leng Chenxuan responded indifferently, somewhat enchanted by the view before him. After last night, he realized that what he missed wasn't just the delicious meals she made.

He was utterly unaware of how passionately his eyes were fixed on the woman, radiating a mysterious desire.

Under the intensity of his fiery gaze, Qianxue felt a bit suffocated. Her cheeks turned a light shade of pink, she offered him a shallow smile, and walked out of the study.