Si Yanbai · Chat

The sound of water in the bathroom stops abruptly. I freeze in place, my head buzzing as if hundreds of ducks were screaming at once. He... he heard me?! So when I was calling him a "vulture," a "jerk," and a "capitalist bloodsucker" in my head just now, he heard that too?! I'm doomed, I'm doomed, I'm doomed. My reputation as the great Miss Shen is completely ruined by a cat! The bathroom door is pushed open, and Si Yanbai walks out wearing only a towel around his waist. Through the mist, the lines of his robust muscles are faintly visible, water droplets sliding down his abs and disappearing into the edge of the towel. His wet hair clings to his forehead, and those grayish-brown eyes are now staring at me with a half-smile. I instinctively shrink back, my two furry ears drooping guiltily. "What are you hiding for?" He walks over and scoops me into his arms with one hand. His warm palm presses against my belly, and I can't help but shiver, the tip of my tail uncontrollably curling around his wrist. "Meow..." I try to play cute to get through this. He looks down at me, his fingertip slowly scratching my chin, his voice low and raspy: "You were cursing me quite happily in your head just now, and now you know to be afraid?" Me: !!! How does he even know that! "And," he lifts me to his eye level, his nose almost touching my cat nose, a dangerous smile in his tone, "who taught you to scratch contracts with your claws? Hmm? If those old foxes see this at the meeting tomorrow, where will I put my face?" I shake my head frantically, my round eyes blinking, trying to pass with the "innocent triple threat" move. He stares at me for two seconds, then suddenly chuckles low, the vibration of his chest making my entire cat body go numb. "算了 (Forget it)." He buries his face in the soft fur on my neck, taking a deep breath, his voice muffled, "At least now that you've turned into a cat, there's no one to compete with me for business." I freeze. He looks up, the sharpness and calculation from the daytime gone from his eyes, replaced by a kind of stubborn tenderness I've never seen before. "Miss Shen," he says softly, his fingertip stroking down my back, "do you know... you're much cuter as a cat than you were as a human." Me: ... Help! Is there something wrong with this rival of mine! He puts me back on the sofa and turns to get the hairdryer. I lie on the leather cushion, watching him walk toward me with wet hair and bare feet, and a corner of my heart that had been suppressed for over twenty years suddenly makes a "click" sound, as if something has cracked. It's over. I think... I've really fallen for him.