“I wouldn’t want to hurt you.” She deflected with humor but dying inside that he could make something like that sound like he was insinuating something else. She wasn’t sure if he was or wasn’t. He had a playful way of chatting, and you couldn’t pinpoint if he were joking, serious, or mocking you. It didn’t help that his natural smile was boyish and mischievous.
“Are you asking me to be your gym partner?” Suying’s heart and tone sank at realizing he was not angling for anything flirty but another friendzone who picked up on her skills and would now see a tomboyish buddy. She knew this was too good to be true. Maybe that’s why he hadn’t any issue leaning over a complete stranger to steal her cell.
Dee appraised her crestfallen expression and subtly shook his head.
“I’m asking you on a date, but you are so not getting the vibes.”
Suying almost fell off her seat. Her eyes shot wide in a gawping burst of ‘oh.’ And he chuckled at her reaction, glanced across the counter out of the window, and frowned. Sighing with obvious disappointment, he checked his watch. She glanced out, still reeling from his statement and unable to formulate words but curious about what he saw. A car had pulled up onto the grass edge of the main road, and some man was signaling him wildly while another guy jumped out and headed their way.
Suying automatically looked down, seeing the ID tag on the hoody she borrowed from one of her nurses to come out and hesitated.
“Mhmmmmm.” Ling slid her cell out of her bag and checked her morning schedule rather than engage. Pretending she was oblivious to him, she turned so she was facing away from him.
“Hmmm.” Ling acted disinterested and glanced up at the slowly rising floor number. The downside to working on the top was it took a minute to get there. She tapped her foot and checked her watch before returning to her cell.
“What is your problem with me? You might feel better if you got it off your chest.” Tian was losing his patience with her. Riled every time he crossed paths with her, yet it irritated him this constant haughty, cold act she pulled. She knew how to ruin the calm that he was famed for.
Ling stashed her cell back in her bag, exhaled in obvious annoyance, and then turned in deliberate slowness. Seeing he was on a mission today and not about to leave her in peace. So easily triggered whenever he opened his mouth.
It was rare for a woman to have the protective instincts and fierce hostility of a man yet look like a seductress while doing it. She was the type of woman who would never need a man to hold her corner or stand to shield her, and he liked that. She wasn’t frail or one to become a victim in anything. She wasn’t like Anna, changing her goals and life to shadow Kai endlessly no matter where he went, holding on for years and letting opportunity pass her by.
Miss Huo wasn’t a woman who would cling to a man, dragging him down, changing him to meet her requirements, and then relying on him for everything they needed. That kind of suffocating woman was why he never wanted to date. Miss Huo seemed like a woman who would follow her own goals, and a man would need to fit into her plans to survive.
“Did you not hear me? Your fault was not protecting someone in your own company regardless of the past with your ‘friend,'” She emphasized. “Also, your incredibly awful judgment of a human and failing to ask for any other side of the story. Do you always take what he tells you as gospel?… Don’t you have a mind of your own?” Ling backward glanced at him as the elevator pinged at the floor arrival and didn’t wait for an answer. She had already summarized on day one that Tian was camp Kai for life, and she would never tolerate him.
Men who couldn’t think for themselves or couldn’t see the bigger picture annoyed her. Close-minded, shuttered men who would only see what they thought or heard and not have the intelligence to dig a little. Kai fell into that category.
She hated men who wouldn’t intervene in wrong because of that. Standing back and letting Kai do as he pleased, Tian added another black mark.
She had dated a few men who took any interaction for work as her flirting or cheating. Men who took her long hours as excuses to meet other men. Men who knew she was paid more or had higher positions trying to belittle that and imply she hadn’t reached her level on skill alone. A world of little boys with fragile egos who didn’t have the balls to handle someone like her. Tian was no different. Another man she could never trust or rely on.
They loved you when they wanted something from you or until they had a minor reason to doubt you, and then they fell at every hurdle. Kai, for all his romance and love back then, had done the same to Meilei.
“What are you doing? Let me go, or I will cause you immeasurable pain.” Ling rounded on him, fully intending a knee to his groin as he shoved her ungracefully into the door and closed it behind them. Tian didn’t care if she tried to maul him. She was feisty, but he was twice her build.
He was another disappointment of a man, even if he looked good in a suit.
“No.. he’s not, and that right there is why I think you’re an asshole with a narrow mind and a lack of ability to begin to understand anything.” Ling tried again to shove past him to reach the handle, but he hauled her back by the wrist and deposited her back in front of him. Ling almost screamed at him in frustration with how easily he tugged her around. He had no qualms about laying his hands on her, and she wanted to kick him in the shin.
Hostility was simmering between them, the usual static sizzling and crackling in the air that was ever present when they met. Tian clenched his jaw, trying to stay calm, and Ling thought about taking off her shoe and stabbing him with it.