My Boyfriend Watches Me Like I'm a Thief - Chapter 3

Lu Shang said he was going on a business trip.

But I sat staring at the video Fu Ming had sent me.

In it, Lu Shang had a woman on either side, and a beauty in his arms was feeding him drinks. There was nobody beside Fu Ming.

No one dared sit next to him.

In the middle of that noisy private room, he sat alone, quietly sending messages.

Fu Ming: “Sorry. My finger slipped. Sent that to the wrong person.”

Fu Ming: “It’s been more than two minutes. I can’t unsend it anymore.”

Fu Ming: “Oh? Looks like Mr. Lu and that beauty are kissing.”

Fu Ming: “Ah, I must have seen it wrong. Don’t worry about it.”

I had once assured Fu Ming that Lu Shang could never betray me.

Now I wasn’t so sure.

Without saying anything, I moved out of Lu Shang’s home and into the research institute’s dormitory.

One day, on my way into the institute, I ran into an unexpected visitor.

Fu Ming.

There was a smile in his eyes. He looked thoroughly pleased with himself.

The professor called to me. “What are you standing there for? Mr. Fu’s here for an inspection. Show him around.”

I had no idea why Fu Ming would be interested in such a dull place.

I deliberately threw in technical terms an outsider wouldn’t understand, but he listened with obvious enjoyment.

When we grew tired of walking, I bought him a bottle of water.

He fumbled with the cap, pressing his large hand against the bottle. Water gushed out and soaked a large patch of his trousers.

No amount of wiping would dry them.

He frowned. “I don’t have a change of clothes in the car. Have you got anything I could wear for now?”

I had no choice but to take him to my dorm room and find him the largest pair of trousers I owned.

They were tight on him, but he seemed very satisfied.

“Very thoughtful of you, Teacher Qi. But this project is already a done deal. You don’t have to keep bending over backward for me.”

I hadn’t expected him to notice my discomfort so clearly.

I was about to say something when Lu Shang’s voice came from outside.

“Qi Wen, are you in your room? I’m coming in.”

Before I could think, I pulled open the wardrobe and shoved Fu Ming inside. Only after shutting the doors tightly did I turn around.

Lu Shang had barged in.

“What do you mean, you’re breaking up with me?” he demanded. “You even moved out of my house without a word! Qi Wen, after living under my roof and eating my food all this time, this is how you repay me?”

I looked at him calmly.

“Finished? If you’re finished, you can leave.”

“Qi Wen, you—”

“Mr. Lu, if you want to stay on your current project, don’t provoke me.

“Don’t forget that you’re only one of our dozens of partners. If you don’t meet the requirements, I can replace you at any time.”

His face darkened.

“You think I’m afraid of you?

“A mere researcher dares to threaten me? The Lu family isn’t one you can push around.”

Lu Shang had always said his family was wealthy and distinguished, with a legacy stretching back a thousand years.

Apparently, he’d refused to make our relationship public because he had a throne to inherit.

He was powerful, certainly. But if he really pushed me too far, I wouldn’t mind taking him down with me.

I met his eyes without flinching. “Goodbye, Mr. Lu. I won’t see you out.”

He looked at me, then at the researchers outside the door.

“I’m not afraid of you. I’m just sparing you the embarrassment.”

He stormed off.

Only once I’d shut the door firmly did I open the wardrobe.

Fu Ming was waiting obediently inside, smiling brightly.

“Teacher Qi, may I come out now?”

“Yes.”

He made himself at home on my bed. “Don’t get angry over someone who isn’t worth it, Teacher Qi. I’ve booked a restaurant. When you finish work, let me take you to dinner.”

He was still waiting when I got off work.

Somehow, I found myself getting into his car.

His phone rang during dinner. He glanced at it and ignored it.

We had a little wine.

I couldn’t hold my liquor. A few glasses were enough to leave my head spinning.

I don’t know how we ended up kissing.

Our lips seemed to be magnets, impossible to pull apart.

But I still had a shred of reason left. I pushed at him.

“We can’t.”

“Why not?” he asked. “Haven’t you two broken up? And just now… you liked kissing me, didn’t you?”

He rested his forehead against mine, leaving me nowhere to retreat. I could only face him.

The truth was, Lu Shang and I had only ever exchanged fleeting kisses, our lips touching and immediately parting. No one had ever kissed or held me this fiercely.

It was as if he truly felt a desire for me that he couldn’t contain.

And just now, I’d lost my head too. I’d actually…

Fu Ming kissed my wrist, then worked his way down to my palm.

“You’re single. I’m single.

“You don’t dislike having me close. You don’t dislike my kisses. Do you really not like me even a little?”

Like him…

Honestly, I’d had a poor impression of him from the very first moment we met.

He was confident and charming, yet cool and self-contained. People came and went around him, his to choose from. He looked as though he wouldn’t so much as blink if the sky fell.

I’d always kept my distance from men like that.

I really hadn’t imagined that he and I could ever end up in this sort of relationship.

I sighed in surrender. “Maybe. Maybe a little.”

Fu Ming abruptly fell silent.

I lifted my head and was met with a storm of kisses.

“Teacher Qi, if you don’t push me away, I’ll take that as you accepting my advances.”

“Mmm… what?”

Who courted someone like this?

Besides, I had pushed him away. He was simply too strong for me to move.

As our kisses grew more abandoned and our clothes fell into disarray, he hooked the trash can over to the bedside with his foot.

Dazed, I asked, “What… what’s that for?”

He kissed my lips, his breath warm. “It’ll be useful.”

…

As it turned out, “useful” meant somewhere to throw away his potential descendants.

Fu Ming lay over me, having kissed almost every inch of my body.

“My wife is so—”

I covered his mouth.

“Just hurry up and… and finish.”

He laughed. “I’m never finishing. I plan to cling to my wife for the rest of my life.”

“Don’t call me your wife,” I corrected him.

He couldn’t seem to stop kissing me.

I was twenty-five. Fu Ming was twenty.

Only five years apart. I hadn’t expected such a difference in energy and stamina.

“If I can’t call you my wife, what should I call you? Teacher Qi?”

Teacher Qi was what everyone at the institute called me. How did it take on this tone coming from Fu Ming’s mouth?

“Ah, Teacher Qi, you’re so—”

I covered his mouth again.

“You can’t call me Teacher either.”

He looked a little troubled. “Then what am I supposed to call you? You’ll have to teach me.

“I’ve been single since the day I was born. You’ve had so many relationships, kissed so many people, slept with so many people, Teacher Qi. I’m nowhere near as experienced as you.”

Why was he slandering me now?

I instinctively explained, “Lu Shang was my first love. We only kissed; we never slept together. The first man I slept with was—”

“Me?” Fu Ming sounded astonished.

So astonished that his whole body seemed to come alive with excitement.

He silenced me with a kiss and corrected me.

“You’ve got it wrong, baby. It’s only a first love if both people mean it. He was using you. I really do like you.

“Which makes me your first love.”

***

My back ached. My whole body felt as though it had come apart.

Fu Ming seemed tired too.

After resting for a while, he came over to massage my lower back.

“Sorry, baby,” he apologized as he rubbed. “We ran out of those. I’ll buy more next time.”

I lay with my back to him and my face buried in a pillow, sinking into damp bedding. Nothing felt comfortable.

“There won’t be a next time,” I snapped.

I’d just consider this time a dog bite.

He wasn’t offended. He smiled and kept massaging me.

After a while, I felt much better. Then he picked me up and carried me into the bathroom.

“Let’s get you washed.”

I had no idea what went on in his head. Why was he carrying a grown man like a princess?

“I can wash myself. Put me down.”

He was already adjusting the water temperature.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Fu Ming clicked his tongue. “What idiot comes looking for me in the middle of the night?”

I took the opportunity to urge him out. “What if it’s urgent? Go and see. I can wash on my own.”

The doorbell grew more insistent.

Reluctantly, he left. “Fine.”

He made a point of kissing me first. “I’ll get rid of them and come right back.”

He went out.

But his words alarmed me. He intended to come back?

I’d never been this intimate with a man before. I hurriedly rinsed myself off.

The only part I hadn’t managed to get clean was…

While I was struggling with that, a shadow suddenly appeared outside the bathroom door.

“Mr. Fu, why are you blocking my way?”

It was Lu Shang’s voice.

My heart tightened.

Fu Ming spoke immediately. “Mr. Lu, I haven’t held it against you that you barged so rudely into my home. But if you keep making a scene and frighten my…

“That wouldn’t be good.”

He changed course midway through the sentence and didn’t reveal that I was there.

I breathed a little easier.

“Your brother here just got dumped,” Lu Shang said. “Can’t you let me go a little crazy? Aren’t you my best brother?”

He began airing his grievances. “That ex-boyfriend of mine really doesn’t know what’s good for him. You have to help me teach him a lesson!”

Fu Ming smiled warmly. “I’ll certainly help you give him a very… thorough… lesson.”

Believing Fu Ming was on his side, Lu Shang pushed his luck.

“Then cancel all his business deals for me too. I want him ruined, crawling back to beg at my feet!

“Fucking faggot. How dare he walk all over me? If I hadn’t been trying to save some money, why would I have gone after someone so disgusting?

“You’ll help me, won’t you, brother?”

Fu Ming gave a cold laugh.

“I only make brothers of people who have something to offer. You’ve got nothing left.”

“What does that mean?” Lu Shang sounded muddled. Then something seemed to occur to him. “Oh, right, Mr. Fu. Why are you blocking the bathroom door? I need to use the toilet.”

He slapped the bathroom door hard.

The large hand pressed against the glass startled me.

But Fu Ming quickly wrenched it away.

Then I heard Lu Shang hit the floor.

“Huh?” he said. “Mr. Fu, why did you kick me?”

Fu Ming scoffed. “As your brother, I’m helping you sober up.”

I heard a succession of yelps and groans as Fu Ming dragged him outside.

Afraid something would happen, I wrapped myself in a bath towel without even drying off and tried to go out.

I’d just reached the door when it swung open.

Fu Ming came in, disinfected his hands, and washed them.

“You didn’t do anything to him, did you?” I asked.

If Fu Ming broke the law because of me…

I really shouldn’t have come here with him, let alone done so much…

Before I could step out of the bathroom, an arm hooked around my waist. He scooped me up and set me on the sink counter.

Looking up at me, his eyes slightly red, he asked, “You still care about him?”

“No, that’s not—mmph…”

His kisses came down hard and fast.

“Baby, I haven’t been trying hard enough. You’ve still got the energy to care about another man.”

…

At times, I thought I could faintly hear Lu Shang pounding on the front door. Whatever Fu Ming did, I didn’t dare make a sound.

But the more I held back, the more Fu Ming…

Eventually, I passed out.

Fu Ming, Lu Shang—neither of them had anything to do with me anymore.