I Accidentally Sent My Boss a Message Meant for My Best Friend - Chapter 5
Chapter 5
“Not tall enough. Next batch.”
“Not sexy enough. Next batch.”
“Not big enough. Next batch.”
Row after row of male escorts entered the private room, only to be sent straight back out.
Red wine rippled in my glass. My cheeks had already begun to burn.
My best friend, Shen Xin, heaved a long sigh.
“Are none of them good enough, or is the man you really want simply not here?”
Smack.
I slammed my wineglass onto the coffee table.
“Don’t be ridiculous! I am not thinking about that bastard.”
“I didn’t say who.”
…
“That one.”
I pointed at the escort standing in front of me.
Neon lights shimmered across the room. The heavy smell of alcohol blurred my thoughts, and I never noticed my phone vibrating.
“Miss, your phone is ringing.”
The sweet-faced young man beside me had to point it out.
I answered. It was a video call.
I thought I saw Qin Lie’s face. His mouth was moving, but I couldn’t hear him over the music.
What could he possibly want from me?
Apart from work, he never contacted me first.
I pressed my lips close to the microphone. To hell with all of it.
“Fuck you, Qin Lie. Today is Saturday, okay?”
“Hello? Do you understand? Sat-ur-day. It’s my day off, okay?”
“Every damn day, even when I’m off, you call me in to work! Do you have any humanity?”
“You don’t even pay me overtime. Could you try acting like a person for once?”
“I’ve put up with you for long enough!”
Beep—I hung up.
To hell with Qin Lie.
To hell with love.
To hell with my job.
I didn’t want any of it!
Scumbag!
I was finished.
I had dreamed that I cursed out my boss.
I shot upright in bed and looked around.
I was still at home.
Thank God. For a moment, I thought my livelihood was doomed.
Then I checked my phone.
More than a dozen messages.
Qin Lie: “Where are you?”
Qin Lie: “Are you alone?”
Qin Lie: “Did you hire the guy beside you?”
Qin Lie: “He’s a little subpar. I don’t think he’s as handsome as I am.”
Qin Lie: “Have you been drinking?”
Qin Lie: “How much?”
Qin Lie: “When will you be finished?”
Qin Lie: “Call me when it’s over.”
Qin Lie: “Li Yue. Answer me.”
Qin Lie: “Are you home yet?”
Qin Lie: “You’re a woman out alone. Could you show a little caution?”
Qin Lie: “Are you drunk?”
Qin Lie: “If you don’t answer, I’m docking your pay.”
Docking my pay?
What gave him the right?
Then memories of the previous night came rushing back, and I gasped.
It hadn’t been a dream. That call was real.
I really had cursed out my boss.
I was dead.
How was I supposed to face him?
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang.
Who could it be at this hour?
Irritated, I opened the door—and a fierce kiss stole my breath.
I couldn’t breathe. I shoved desperately until I forced him back.
“Boss!… Aren’t you away on business?”
His suitcase sat abandoned outside. His clothes and hair were disheveled. He looked as though he had traveled through the night to get here.
His broad shoulders closed around me. He pushed me into the apartment, his nose brushing my forehead, his breathing heavy.
“Who were you with last night?”
“I went drinking with a friend.”
Wait. Why was I answering him?
“You went drinking with a friend and hired an escort. Is that right?”
His burning fingertips brushed me, making my heart shudder.
This Qin Lie was nothing like the man I knew at work.
“Did you spend the night with him?”
What?
My face flushed as I stared at him, confused. Why would he ask that?
Did it matter to him?
“Did he sleep with you?”
My own temper flared. How could he ask something so… blunt?
A large hand suddenly closed around my throat and pinned me to the wall.
“Answer me.”
“No, no, no! Let go of me!”
His hand released me, only for an even more suffocating kiss to descend.
Urgent. Fierce.
Bastard, bastard, bastard!
He was biting me. It hurt!
Then came the metallic click of a buckle opening at my waist.
The lights swayed.
…
When desire finally receded, he regained his senses.
This time, though, he wasn’t cold. He held me against him and soothed me.
We lay on the sofa while he kissed my fingers.
“Have you ever dated anyone?” he asked suddenly.
It was embarrassing to admit. I called myself a shameless pervert, but before him, I had never so much as touched a man’s fingers.
It wasn’t that no one had pursued me. They had. Yet every time, something felt wrong.
After I met Qin Lie, everyone else faded into the background.
Years later, I heard he had returned from abroad to help his parents manage the family company.
Our reunion had not been an accident. I had worked for ages to earn an offer from the Qin Group precisely so I could see him again.
I shook my head. “No.”
“I have.”
“In college, I met a girl I liked very much.”
“Back then, I hadn’t yet realized that someone from a family like mine…”
“Doesn’t get to choose whom he marries.”
He had told his family he wanted to marry that girl, and his parents had flown into a rage.
At first, he fought them. Then, as if they were living inside a television drama, his parents froze all his assets.
There was nothing he could do. In the end, he left the girl. His parents transferred him to a university overseas.
I listened quietly.
I had watched him date that girl for two years in college. They really had loved each other.
When I first learned he had a girlfriend, I fell apart. I had secretly loved him for all three years of high school.
His grades were excellent. I wanted to attend the same university as him, so I had studied with everything I had until I was admitted.
By then, he was already with someone else.
From beginning to end, I probably had never existed in his memory at all.
“I’ve spent all these years fighting and building my own power because I want the right to choose my life.”
“I don’t want to surrender everything to my family.”
“My freedom. My love.”
So that was why he had said he was under tremendous pressure.
So that was why he was so unlike the bright, unrestrained boy I remembered.
I still loved him.
He pressed a kiss to my palm.
“Will you be with me?”
“I can’t promise you a future.”
“I don’t know whether I’ll ever truly escape the fate my family has chosen.”
“But while we’re together, I’ll take good care of you.”
Tears of joy stung my eyes.
Of course I would.
I had loved him for so many years. How could I ever refuse?
I kissed his brows and traced his face with my gaze, determined to see clearly every detail I had missed in all the years apart.
The first time Qin Lie and I went shopping together, we both became oddly shy the moment we stepped outside.
We walked with a conspicuous gap between us.
I wanted to hold his hand.
Forget it. I was done hesitating.
I threaded my fingers through his. He glanced at me, his eyes curving with a smile.
“Choose whatever you like.”
He led me into a luxury boutique and gestured toward the racks.
I took one look at the prices.
Any single piece cost two years of my salary.
I felt awkward. It was too expensive.
No. I was dating a tycoon now. I couldn’t behave like a timid little miser. What was wrong with spending my boyfriend’s money?
“This one, this one, and that one…”
I tried on several outfits and told the sales associate to wrap them all.
The total came to twenty-eight million yuan.
Holy shit. I might have gone too far.
I had never seen such a huge number in my life. I couldn’t bring myself to look Qin Lie in the eye.
“Did I… buy too much?”
He gave a soft, amused scoff and shook his head.
“If this is how you spend money, people will think I’ve gone bankrupt.”
“Isn’t that a little dramatic?”
A black platinum card appeared between his long index and middle fingers. He offered it to me with a smile playing at his lips.
“If you can max it out, I’ll admit defeat.”
At that moment, stars seemed to burst from every inch of him.
He was the most handsome man in the entire world!
That night, he stayed at my apartment. We got up early the next morning to prepare for work.
Then one million yuan suddenly appeared in my bank account.
“Aaaaaaaaaah! So much money! I’m rich! I’m rich!”
I hopped in place in a frenzy.
“Hahaha.”
He laughed and ruffled my hair.
“Do you like it?”
“Didn’t you say I was exploiting you by refusing to raise your salary?”
“Is that enough?”
I threw myself into his arms and planted kiss after kiss on him.
“You doubled my annual salary in one go! Hahahahahaha!”
“I love it!”
He flicked my forehead.
“You underestimate me.”
“Who said that was your annual salary?”
“It’s your daily allowance.”
I nearly fainted on the spot.
“Are you sure this won’t bankrupt you?”
“I may be richer than you imagine.”
Oh my God.
I must have saved the galaxy in my last life.
