Chapter 13: Seeing him again

Janny had selected, for Xin Ran, a black strapless evening dress that revealed her bare shoulders and back. Janny asserted that given her tempting figure, Xin Ran would be able to carry the dress to its maximum effect. She turned out needing help in putting on the low-cut dress, that special undergarments were required.

Besides, her cleavage was exposed, making her feel a degree of discomfort that she would continually shield her neckline with her hand. She was already feeling naked from the lack of cloth covering her shoulders and back.

But what if Jing Yue was present? Xin Ran giggled at the thought. The inconvenience she was in would prove worth it if Jing Yue liked what he saw. Though she didn’t know much about these events, she understood that it was a chance for her to socialise and be a step closer to Jing Yue. Who knows, she might even change his sexual orientation!

Forget sexual orientation, she said to herself. She would make him go crazy about Chu Xin Ran!

Her heels clicked across the floor as she entered the hall confidently with her head held high. At Janny’s advice, she allowed her long locks to flow loosely down her back, the ends of her hair enhanced slightly with Janny’s curling tongs. Her lips were a bright red, her cheeks pink from the blusher she had applied meticulously. Men would often complain about how long women took to doll up, but few knew of the trouble they had gone through.

Xin Ran scanned the crowd, ignoring the looks from some eager men. She brushed them off like flies, walking towards the end of the hall and grabbing the nearest drink from a table. Many others were busily drinking and chatting with respective partners. Now, where was hers?

She finished the third glass and still found herself sober. Good, her alcohol tolerance had paid off! As she reached for the fourth, she felt a hand grab hers firmly in a bid to inhibit her from drinking further.

“A beautiful woman like you shouldn’t need to drink alone,” a familiar voice greeted her, and she instantaneously recognised the seduction in the voice to be that of the cold and mysterious Jing Yue.

“You look marvellous tonight,” he said, smiling broadly with a Cheshire-cat grin. How different he was tonight, compared to how cold and stoic he was normally, she thought.

“As do you,” she smiled back bashfully. He took her hand in his and surprised her with a gentlemanly kiss on her hand. Her mind churned with perturbation for this eccentric man. She greatly missed his lips on hers, especially after how she had been thinking about their kiss for days now.

“Come with me,” he told her in an all-confident, charismatic attitude, and she obliged. As calmly as he could, Jing Yue led Xin Ran to a corner of the hall where they found an occupied sofa for them to indulge in their drinking session. He inspected her meticulously up and down, not leaving any part of her untouched by his eagle eyes. Piqued by every curve of her enticing figure, a smug look formed across his face. Even though she fascinated him every time they were together, something told him she was even more captivating tonight then she was before.

The beast in him egged him to engage her further, to which he took a few short breaths to constrain himself from having more improper thoughts of her.

Just before he could say his piece, a waiter with a cropped haircut and in a sparkling uniform approached them with a tray of glasses.

“Margarita, Sir?”

Jing Yue furrowed his thick brows disapprovingly and glanced towards her for a few seconds, before accepting the glasses. He shooed the man away instantaneously with a gesture from his smooth hands. She observed that he had hands that looked like they never sustained a day of hard work. Ah, everything about him was so seductive.

She mouthed her thanks and downed the contents of the glass like an expert. To say she did not remember who she was would be a false statement. Perhaps she did not remember who she was as Tang Ying Xue, but even with her amnesia, she could not possibly ‘forget’ what Ying Xue was capable of doing. It was something recorded in the hippocampus of her brain. Ying Xue must have been a super drinker.

“How much do you normally drink, Miss Tang?” he teased her, stroking her chin.

“I do not remember, still,” she stated to him flatly. “Are you going to help me remember more?”

Jing Yue’s eyes glimmered under the dim light. “That depends on what you will give me in return.”

Xin Ran blushed and responded to him coquettishly. “Jing Yue, you’re so straightforward. But I’ll try my best to do what I can if you need help.” She stood up to get another glass, but Jing Yue stopped her by holding both her hands. She felt warm and comfortable in his grasp and wished time could pause at that instant.

His lips grazed her earlobe gently as she heard him whisper into her ear, making her heart race.

“There’s a button mounted on the table. You can get the waiter to bring more drinks if you wish. But my alcohol tolerance might not be as good as you. Do you know what happens to a lonely man and woman when they get drunk?”

On top of that query made to tease, he sat her down and gave her a few amorous winks. His eyes never left her, to which she returned his gaze on her with an innocent look, expressing her scepticism. Fortunately, Jing Yue decided to drop the question and admired instead how her long and straight locks pooled behind her back. He didn’t need to tell her how he was drawn to her voluminous hair by how his eyes affixed themselves to her hair.

What if today was the day for her to achieve what she wanted with him on her bucket list? She smiled to herself. There was more than one way to catch Jing Yue’s attention, and to pursue him. But where should she start? Or easy, one could simply blame it on the alcohol.

The drinks came, and this time, she opted for a vodka on the rocks, understanding it was way more potent than the margarita earlier. Jing Yue complimented her taste in alcoholic drinks, and she shrugged. The heat was beginning to spread through her abdomen, and she welcomed her surge in need. This was something she was not sure about when it came to her feelings, although she had seen it on television a lot. What happened under the blankets, she didn’t want to know.

Did Jing Yue ever have experience in that department? She wondered curiously. Perhaps, he had a girlfriend before, and it didn’t occur to her that this man who had her heartfelt interest could still be a virgin at this age. Then, there was the question of whether he would be interested in her, particularly given his rumoured interest in the same sex. This was something she found it arduous to believe.

Even if he could be interested in men, there was no lie that they appeared to have an extraordinary relationship in the past. Even by the way he just looked at her, she had the hunch that there was something he had for her. Now it was just up to her on how she could connect the dots.

She thought of a way to end the silence between them. A simple question, when asked at the right time, could have a different effect.

“Jing Yue, do you normally go to such events?” she interrogated him in such a method that he could not avoid her question.

His answer was simple. “I don’t like crowds. I would escape them if I could.”

“Then, escape with me now.”

What? He didn’t know if he was hearing things, but she was now staring at him with her large adorable puppy eyes.

“Jing Yue, take me out of here! I don’t wish to stay in this party for one single moment.”