:: In Her Bed ::

Shengyi

Thursday night (3 days before the events in the previous chapter)

I was very sure those times I had not let my guard down. I walk every step in my life watching carefully, to ensure no mistakes. Because I know that Cullen Fu is awaiting the right moment to strike.

It is harsh, but I need to be patient and be that 'iron lady' of the office. I watch every of my employees' actions, hoping to see through any weaknesses that may give rise to an opportunity for that wily fox to attack. I worked nights in the hopes that I could give the best to Shengyi Corporation.

Fortunately, compared to my old self, I no longer need longer hours of sleep, as long as I have my mind set on accomplishing my goals. At times, like during the weekends, I do like to sleep in but I found that I do not need to sleep much during the weekdays. Again, I do not know if this is another fluke from being reincarnated, but if it lets me get what I need done, who cares about a bit less sleep?

But what happened on Thursday night was completely unexpected. I work from Mondays to Thursdays in the office, Fridays at home and am off for the weekends. Even if I am a reincarnated super-CEO, I have to have my work-life balance, right? I had reached home completely exhausted and needed a source of energy replenishment.

I walked up the stairs to the upper levels, while giving my new housekeeper the signal that I don't intend to have dinner and that she can knock off now that I am home. Uncle Dou also retires to his room in the far east of the mansion, leaving me in privacy in my quarters upstairs. It was a long day at work. I just wanted to put my head down on my comfortable pillow, sink into the depths of my luxurious spring-coil mattress and say hello to the impending weekend.

But then, I didn't expect that someone would be hiding under the covers, saying hello to me.

Of all people, why did it have to be him?

......

The room is enveloped in a shroud of pink mist. I find myself completely immobilised by the seduction of the man who is lying beside me in my bed.

I struggle to get the words out.

"Cullen Fu, what do you think you are doing in my bedroom?"

He smiles devilishly, scrutinising me from head to toe.

I repeat my sentence, to which he just responds with a cool smirk on his face,

"I said, Cullen Fu, what are you doing in my room?"

"What do you think I am doing?" he says sarcastically. "I am just lying down here and taking a rest while waiting for you to return home from work."

His arms are poised relaxedly on his sides, and he had just pronounced the sentence as if he was a dutiful husband waiting for his breadwinner wife to return from home. But this response, coupled with his actions, could not call for more rage from me. Especially when I want absolutely nothing to do with Cullen Fu.

"Cullen Fu, what do you want?" I pull on the fiercest look I can manage. "I don't like repeating myself."

 He is as cool as a cucumber. He inches closer to me so we are less than an inch apart from each other. "I'm in your bed now, Miss Lu Shengyi. What do you think I could want?"

I cross my arms in front of my chest defensively. "Keep your thoughts clean, Mr Fu. I am not that desperate for a man that I would just open my legs for you. I am ..."

I come to a pause as I cannot find the words to describe my honour. In the twentieth-century, it feels embarrassing to admit that I have never come that far with a man. Though Lu Shengyi of the past had a fiance in Shan Hanyu, she was serious and conservative. Even spending the night with the man on one occasion had resulted in waking up from a serious hangover and being unsure if 'that' had happened. 

All I remembered from the encounter was him uttering sweet nothings and we had both fallen in slumber, deeply drunk. It was safe to assume that spending the night did not necessarily mean bed action. I feel nonetheless embarrassed to use my lack of sexual experience as a way to defend my honour.

Cullen Fu seems to have got the idea and he does not press any further on my claim. Then he just says out, almost suddenly, that I am different from the others.

I get annoyed. Is he trying to say he is interested in me because I am so different? Surely I do not have the assets (a voluptuous figure) like Charine, his youngest endeavour who happens to be an actress and model, and neither do I have the capability in handling businesses like his entrepreneur ex. I am just about to hit twenty-two, and the knowledge I possess of the world and the industry is limited.

Wait.. I realise something. Why am I trying to compare myself with these women of his, and why am I so agitated by his words?

Did it mean I have something for him? I barely remember how love tasted like, when I was with Shan Hanyu. The pain he had given me weighed way more than the joyous moments we spent together. A part of me hated him, and another part just wanted to just throw him into the sea and be done with him. But even this amount of hatred was meagre, and not enough for me to wish the worst revenge on Shan Hanyu. This makes me wonder if I was truly in love with him.

But with Cullen Fu, this admiration is on a different level. I realise that given the possibility he did not have many women, maybe I would have jumped at the chance of being with him. I had fantasized being with him on a few occasions, but he confused me so much that I had to resort to having Sergei spy on him. The mission had failed, but I did not give up my chase on him. 

Cullen pulls up the duvet to reveal his bathrobe-clad awesomeness. Ugh, why is he dressed in that way in my room?

A wave of extreme heat washes over me as my eyes wander onto his exposed torso. Such torture is too much for me!

"Cullen…" I murmur. 

I hear a snap of someone's fingers, and all of a sudden, Cullen Fu is gone. He is replaced by the Cullen of my dreams, Devil Cullen. Devil Cullen, who I remind myself, I owe my soul and my love to in our deal. For the same reason, I start wishing that he is not here to claim my life. Devil Cullen, like Cullen Fu, is dressed in the same bathrobe from earlier. 

"Shengyi..." he trails my name on his lips. I find myself attracted to make a step closer to him, allowing him to pull me under the covers next to him. I shudder as I cannot imagine what is about to happen with the devil. Will he kill me first, or suck out what is left of my life force?

On a second thought, where did he make Cullen Fu disappear to? I look about the room, but there is no sign of Cullen Fu. Unless, if both Cullens are the same man, but how can that be possible? 

"Shengyi..." he calls my name again, and this time, the seduction he has on me is more intense. I am like in a trance, submissively dropping on the bed in a moment of weakness.

"It's time for you to fulfil the end of your bargain," he whispers, biting on my earlobe.

I don't want to die, I think to myself in a panic.

He laughs, as if he can read my mind. He then hushes me and calls me silly.

"Silly girl, nobody is going to take your life."

If he is not after my life, what is he after then? But he has a claim on my soul and my love, doesn't he?

Before I know it, I feel his icy lips on mine. He presses down on my body, but in no way does his embrace feel painful. His tongue freely invades my mouth, and I allow it. For reasons unknown to even myself, I am enjoying the coldness of his kiss. 

I feel enthralled to him at this point, succumbing to the desire now jolting through my body. If this is what it is like to be kissed by the devil, then by all means, I embrace it. The devil is better than Shan Hanyu.

"Lu Shengyi, now do you know what it means to give up your love and your soul?" Devil Cullen's voice resounds inside my head. I nod weakly, not daring to think what is about to come next.

"I own you, Shengyi. Don't you even dare to think of being with someone else."

His words were as cold as ice, but they left me yearning for more. But like every dream of the devil, I just wake up in an empty bed the next morning, all alone.