I had no idea how Anderson described the events of that night to Ke Fei, but on the first workday after the party, I was bombarded with question marks from her.
“Spill it! Who was that guy?!”
“Just a friend. You don’t know him, so what’s the point in finding out?” I ignored her insistent curiosity and turned back to my screen to work on my presentation.
Ke Fei was clearly dying to know what kind of person could so openly take me away from Anderson, but I had already decided to keep Chu Ke Huan’s appearance a secret. For one reason alone: I needed to completely cut him off from my life. I had to remove those three syllables—Chu Ke Huan—from my personal dictionary so that I wouldn’t dwell on any thoughts or feelings related to him. I couldn’t afford to think about how I had stumbled into his solid embrace, felt his elevated body heat, or the intoxicating resonance of his chest as he held me close, forcing me to hear him out. Any sentimental memory of that night would only reignite the emotions I had worked so hard to suppress. And I certainly couldn’t let Ke Fei, the instigator of it all, fan the flames any further.
“I’m just really curious! Ugh, that guy outright claimed you were his woman in front of Anderson. If you two aren’t romantically involved, I’m definitely going after him myself!” Ke Fei’s eyes sparkled with excitement.
I suddenly felt the urgent need for an invisibility cloak. Why had I told Ke Fei my rescuer that night was a “friend”? If I had insisted to Chu Ke Huan that I didn’t want to be friends, why hadn’t I just told Ke Fei he was a “stranger”? Now I was stuck, unable to backtrack or extricate myself.
“Hey! This is a workplace. Could you keep it down?” I lowered my voice, exasperated. “And stop saying you want to ‘go after him.’ Did you ever think about whether he wants to be pursued?”
“Ohhh, so you two already…? Why didn’t you just say so earlier!” Ke Fei teased, winking exaggeratedly.
“What are you even talking about? We’re not like that!” I protested, realizing there was no clearing my name now, no matter what I said.
“Then I don’t get it. Why can’t you introduce him to me? This guy sounds like the kind of heartthrob who could make women ovulate just by existing! Even if he has a partner, you know that’s not an issue for me…” Ke Fei paused for a moment, then gasped. “Wait, don’t tell me he’s your type! Is that why you don’t want to share?”
I inhaled sharply. At this point, it wasn’t about coming up with excuses—it was about figuring out how to prevent Ke Fei from spiraling into more wild ideas. Unfortunately, neither task seemed within my grasp.
Just then, my phone rang. An unknown number. A lifeline! I shot Ke Fei a triumphant look and answered the call, determined to treat it as my savior regardless of whether it was an annoying insurance pitch or a wrong number. “Hello?”
“Wei Wei, it’s Gao Zi Yuan. I bought a lot of cute props for my wedding photos, but now that the shoot is done, I’m looking to clear them out. Do you need anything?”
Damn. My resistance to this phone call was beyond that of a credit card insurance pitch. Worse, I couldn’t just hang up. How many absurdities was today planning to throw at me?
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