He evades my love

Ji Shaoming woke first.

The blackout curtains hadn't even been fully drawn the night before. There had only been a thin layer of white gauze over the window, and that had been enough for Xiang Han to lure him straight back into bed with her. Now the room was bright with morning light. He unlocked his phone and saw it was already seven-thirty.

He let out a long breath.

This was absurd. How had he ended up sleeping with an auditor he'd known for exactly one day?

The hair beside him trembled slightly. The woman lying with her back to him seemed to be waking up. Ji Shaoming shut his eyes at once and pretended to be asleep, unwilling to face the awkwardness of meeting her gaze in broad daylight.

Xiang Han sat up, clutching the blanket to her body. She picked up her bra from the floor and fastened it behind her back. Through narrowed eyes, he stole a glance at her. She was slender, all narrow shoulders and a slim back, but soft where it mattered, full in a way he could still make out even from behind.

His body began to heat all over again.

He couldn't help remembering how he'd handled her in the middle of the night, how ruthless he'd been once he lost control.

Only when he heard the door click shut did he finally get out of bed. He stared at the crumpled sheets for a moment, rubbed his temples, and headed for the shower.

He'd been in the bathroom the night before, too.

He had just finished washing up when he heard movement outside. Before he could step out and check, Xiang Han had burst in, drunk and indignant, insisting this was her room and telling him to leave. He had pulled on his bathrobe and tried to usher her out so they could sort things out properly. Instead, she'd thrown her arms around his neck and kissed him.

She'd caught him off guard completely.

Her tongue had slipped into his mouth, carrying the taste of alcohol, teasing him shamelessly until even the sound of her swallowing seemed unbearably intimate. He'd shoved her away, only for her to cling to him again.

"I feel terrible," she'd murmured against his waist, sounding almost like a spoiled cat.

Of course he knew what she meant.

He tried to steady himself. He pushed her away. She held on tighter. It happened over and over until, somewhere along the line, even he no longer knew how he'd gone from resisting her to tugging at the hem of her dress.

They hadn't had a condom that night. They'd stopped at the last possible second, but everything else had already happened.

For the next two days, Xiang Han didn't see Ji Shaoming at all.

It didn't affect work. The finance director, Zhu Yao, had already introduced Ji Shaoming at the welcome dinner as a technical employee who had been temporarily assigned to keep an eye on the annual audit. He wasn't actually involved in the audit itself.

At noon, Xiang Han went to the cafeteria with Fang Ziyue. Sister Chen had stayed up too late finishing working papers and was sleeping at her desk instead of eating. Their intern, Gao Zhicheng, had ordered takeout.

The cafeteria at Xing'an CNC was surprisingly decent. It was a state-owned enterprise, after all, and the audit team had even been given meal vouchers. Xiang Han deliberately grabbed extra yogurt and fruit to snack on later in the afternoon.

A WeChat notification flashed across her phone screen.

She set down her chopsticks and tapped it open.

It was a friend request from Qi Xingyu.

Fang Ziyue tapped her tray with her chopsticks. "Hey. We're eating. Don't fall all the way into your phone."

Xiang Han didn't answer.

Her face had already gone pale. Even her thumb trembled over the green button, but in the end she never pressed it. She drew in a deep breath and turned her phone facedown on the table.

"What happened?" Fang Ziyue asked.

"Qi Xingyu," Xiang Han said after a pause. "He's trying to add me."

"Didn't you two stay on each other's contacts list after the breakup?"

"Three days ago he messaged me and said his girlfriend found out we're still connected on WeChat. She got mad, so he deleted me."

Fang Ziyue let out a cold laugh. "How innocent of him. He deletes you, then adds you back? Is he doing this for fun?"

When Xiang Han didn't respond, Fang Ziyue widened her eyes. "Don't tell me you're actually thinking about accepting."

Xiang Han remained silent.

Fang Ziyue took the phone out of her hand. "Just in case, I'm deleting the request for you. An ex like that is nothing but trouble."

Xiang Han couldn't fully explain why the mention of Qi Xingyu still left such a sour ache in her chest.

They'd been broken up for almost two years. It had been a peaceful breakup. No betrayal, no ugly scene. But the entire afternoon after he'd told her he was deleting her, she had felt a pressure in her chest that wouldn't go away. Otherwise she wouldn't have drowned herself in liquor at the welcome dinner, knocking back half a jin of baijiu and never even realizing the front desk had given her the wrong room key.

After lunch, they headed back toward the office building.

Fang Ziyue pressed the elevator button just as the doors were closing. They slid open again.

And there he was.

Ji Shaoming stood inside.

Fang Ziyue had already stepped in. Holding the doors, she turned and said, "Come on."

"You go ahead," Xiang Han blurted out. "I... I want to walk around downstairs a little. Work off lunch."

Before the elevator doors could close again, she turned and practically fled the building.

"Weird," Fang Ziyue muttered.

Then she noticed Ji Shaoming standing behind her and smiled politely. "Engineer Ji, have you had lunch yet?"

Ji Shaoming nodded.

Only then did Fang Ziyue notice how red he was from his neck to his ears. Once everyone else had stepped out of the elevator, she asked, "Are you feeling unwell?"

He looked at her in confusion.

She pointed at the mirrored wall behind him.

Ji Shaoming turned and saw his own reflection, then cleared his throat. "The heat in the factory is too strong. I'm not used to it."

The afternoon passed peacefully enough. Xiang Han assumed he had already gone back to the main factory area. But sometime after four, she ran into him again at the break room while getting water. Neither of them said anything in front of the others.

By the time dinner rolled around, Xiang Han wanted to use the copier to print some attachments. Everyone in the finance department had already left, and she had no idea whom to ask for the copier password.

She noticed that the room next to the finance director's office was still lit. She knocked, opened the door, and found Ji Shaoming inside, bent over a set of technical drawings.

Grinding her teeth, still gripping the doorknob, she forced herself to ask, "Um... what's the copier password?"

He looked up, clearly not expecting her. "Finance department code is 0107. Password is 3456."

Then he dropped his gaze and went right back to his drawing.

She closed the door.

Then opened it again.

Walking straight up to him, Xiang Han asked, "Can I come to your room tonight?"

Ji Shaoming was so startled he nearly dropped the pencil in his hand. It took him several seconds to force out a response.

"Absolutely not."

Xiang Han only shrugged and turned toward the door.

She was almost out when he called after her in a rush. "Wait."

She stopped.

"I'll message you tonight."

She turned her face away so he wouldn't see her smile too clearly, but still reminded him, "Don't forget to buy condoms."

Xiang Han had already done the math in her head.

Tomorrow was Saturday. Even if the audit team still had to work, Sister Chen was the type to let them arrive around noon at the earliest, especially with the holiday schedule around New Year's. If things went well tonight, she'd still have time to sleep in afterward.

It was almost ten by the time Ji Shaoming looked up at the wall clock.

After work, he'd gone to a supermarket near the factory and bought a box of condoms. He'd also bought strawberries, blood oranges, green grapes, yogurt, and nuts. He had noticed that out of everyone in the audit team's conference room, Xiang Han's desk was the one most covered in fruit peels and snack wrappers. He guessed she liked things like that.

He hadn't done much else that evening.

He washed all the fruit and arranged it carefully on the coffee table. Then he sat there peeling hazelnuts with full concentration until he had filled an entire paper cup with kernels. He remembered seeing Xiang Han grab a fistful of hazelnuts in the break room earlier that day, so he had prepared them especially for her.

The thought made him laugh at himself.

He felt like some middle-aged man trying to lure a younger woman in with food.

Still, he left his room door slightly ajar, opened his chat with Xiang Han, and sent her a message telling her to come upstairs.