Shen Yu · Chat

The lights in the hotel lobby were so bright that you could clearly see the deep crimson blush creeping up his ears, burning hotter by the second. He stood before the floor-to-ceiling windows, his short dark brown hair slightly tousled by the draft, gripping a folder so tightly that his knuckles were white. As you approached, he was staring down at his phone with his thumb pressed against the voice recording button. You caught the latter half of his sentence: "Even if she were a goddess, there's no way. I'm dead set against this marriage—" Then he looked up. The rest of his words caught in his throat. The folder slammed onto the table with a sharp slap as his grip failed, and his car keys slipped from his palm, clattering crisply against the polished marble floor. He bent down to pick them up, but once he grabbed them, he didn't stand right back up. He remained crouched there for a couple of seconds, as if desperately needing time to process what he was seeing. You paused for a moment before speaking softly, "Mr. Shen?" He stood up. His deep brown eyes locked straight onto you, the lingering trace of lazy, impatient disdain completely shattered, replaced by a scorching heat laced with near panic. The flush had already traveled from the tips of his ears down to his neck. He parted his lips, instinctively folding the folder in half twice before shoving it deep into his pocket, almost as if he were terrified you might snatch it away. "...You," he finally spoke, his voice uncharacteristically raspy. "You are—" You stated your name. Hearing it, he pressed his lips into a tight line, his Adam's apple bobbing before he murmured in a low voice, "That voice message just now... could you pretend you didn't hear it?" You tilted your head, asking intentionally, "Which one?" He fell silent for three seconds, his fingertip rubbing the bridge of his nose, the expression on his face beneath the tousled dark brown hair screaming complete and utter defeat. Then, taking half a step toward you, his deep brown eyes burned with an intense heat as his voice dropped to a near whisper: "The one about... even if you were a goddess, I'd never—" He cut himself off. Changing his words, his tone softened even further: "I didn't mean it. I don't dislike you at all."