On Saturday evening, the publishing company's team outing brought the entire staff to an upscale restaurant for dinner.
Shen Miaomiao wore a pale blue dress, her hair loose over her shoulders, with a little light makeup. At work she usually wore a T-shirt and jeans. Today, having made a small effort, she left several male colleagues staring when she entered the private dining room.
“Wow! Miaomiao, you look gorgeous today!” Lin Xiaotong exclaimed, taking her hand and spinning her around. “I never realized what a great figure you have!”
“Stop it. I just threw something on.” Blushing, Shen Miaomiao quickly waved her off.
Her gaze drifted involuntarily toward the corner of the room. Lu Chen had already arrived and was seated farthest inside, wearing a dark blue shirt with the sleeves slightly rolled up to reveal his beautifully shaped forearms. He wasn't joining in the commotion. He sat quietly with a glass of plain water, occasionally acknowledging a subordinate who came over to toast him.
Perhaps she imagined it, but Shen Miaomiao felt his gaze linger on her for a second when she came in.
Only a second.
Yet her heart inexplicably beat a little faster.
“Miaomiao, come sit here!” Lin Xiaotong pulled her into the seat beside her, which happened to face Lu Chen.
After sitting down, Shen Miaomiao unconsciously straightened her back. Even the way she ate became much more ladylike.
After several rounds of drinks, the atmosphere grew livelier. Everyone started an enthusiastic game of truth or dare.
The rules were simple: spin a bottle, and whoever it pointed to chose truth or dare.
In the first round, the bottle pointed at a marketing intern. He chose dare and was told to tell a stranger at the next table, “I like you,” sending everyone into fits of laughter.
In the second round, it pointed at Lin Xiaotong. She chose truth and was asked, “Who in the office have you had a crush on?” Blushing, she said, “No one,” but everyone could see she was lying.
The third round...
The bottle spun fast, every pair of eyes fixed on it. At last it slowed to a stop, pointing precisely at—Shen Miaomiao.
“Ooooh!” Teasing cheers filled the room.
Her heart jolted. She hastily waved her hands. “Dare! I choose dare!”
“No, no!” one colleague said with a mischievous grin. “Miaomiao, you have to choose truth! We all want an answer!”
“Yes! Truth!”
Everyone joined in. Helpless, Shen Miaomiao could only nod. “All right, all right. Truth it is. Ask away.”
The colleague cleared their throat and asked the question everyone wanted answered.
“Miaomiao! Everyone says your contemporary romance is incredibly realistic and nuanced. You've never dated, so where exactly does your inspiration come from?”
At that question, the room instantly fell silent. Everyone pricked up their ears. Even in the corner, Lu Chen's fingers paused slightly around his glass.
Shen Miaomiao had had a little fruit wine and was already feeling floaty. Without thinking, she blurted out:
“I get material by pretending to date someone! Does that count as dating on the company dime? Hahaha!”
The whole room erupted in laughter.
“Hahahaha! What even is dating on the company dime?!”
“Miaomiao, you're so dedicated! Pretending to date just to write your book!”
“Who's your pretend partner? Introduce us!”
Only Lu Chen, sitting in the corner, paused slightly with his fingers around his wineglass, his grip whitening against the rim. He raised his eyes to Shen Miaomiao, his gaze behind his gold-rimmed glasses unreadable.
Pretending to date?
This girl really dared to say it.
Another colleague pressed, “Is your experimental partner a guy or a girl? Is he handsome?”
Shen Miaomiao waved breezily. “A guy! His voice is amazing! But his tongue is vicious. He could give Mr. Lu a run for his money!”
“Pfft!” A colleague beside her nearly spat out their drink, laughing as they piled on. “As sharp-tongued as Mr. Lu? You poor thing! Hahahaha!”
“Exactly! One Mr. Lu is more than enough, and you've got another!”
Everyone dissolved into laughter. Nobody noticed Lu Chen's gaze in the corner, so dark it looked ready to devour someone.
Oblivious, Shen Miaomiao nodded earnestly. “Right! And their manner of speaking is so similar! Sometimes I wonder whether they're the same person!”
After saying it, she looked involuntarily toward Lu Chen.
Their eyes met.
Lu Chen silently set down his glass and gave her an unfathomable look. The corners of his mouth seemed to lift the tiniest fraction.
Shen Miaomiao's heart leaped. She hurriedly looked away, her cheeks instantly burning.
Had... had she just said something she shouldn't?
When dinner ended, a torrential downpour suddenly began outside.
Huge raindrops battered the windows with a furious patter. There were no taxis to be found by the roadside. The ride-hailing app showed fifty-seven people ahead in the queue.
“This rain is ridiculous!”
“What do we do? We can't get a car!”
Their colleagues gathered in small groups, some waiting for the rain to stop, others arranging to share rides.
Shen Miaomiao stood at the restaurant entrance, frowning at the downpour. She had no umbrella, and her phone was nearly dead. For the moment, she had no idea what to do.
Then a black sedan rolled slowly up to the entrance. The window lowered, revealing Lu Chen's handsome face.
“Get in,” he said succinctly.
She paused. “Mr. Lu? You haven't left yet?”
“I'll take you home. It's on the way.” His tone was cool and matter-of-fact, as if it were an utterly trivial thing.
Shen Miaomiao hesitated. “But Mr. Lu... isn't your home in the opposite direction?”
She remembered hearing from administration that Lu Chen lived on the east side of the city. Her home was on the west. Completely different directions.
Looking at her, Lu Chen curved his lips into an exceptionally attractive smile and softly delivered a line she would never forget.
“The earth is round. Go around it and it's still on the way. Get in.”
Shen Miaomiao stood rooted to the spot as if struck by lightning!
That line! “The earth is round. Go around it and it's still on the way.” It was the dialogue Lu Chen had revised in red for Chapter Four!
When she'd first seen it, she'd spent ages telling L how smooth it was. She'd even made a special note of it in her material bank!
And now it was coming from Lu Chen's own mouth...
Something seemed to explode inside her brain.
“Still not getting in? Want to get soaked?” His voice interrupted her thoughts.
“Oh! Y-yes!” She hastily opened the door and climbed into the front passenger seat.
The car moved slowly through the rainy night, its wipers sweeping rhythmically. A faint woody fragrance filled the cabin. Lu Chen casually switched on the stereo, and soft, soothing jazz began to flow.
Shen Miaomiao exclaimed again. “Mr. Lu... you listen to this song too?”
It was an extremely obscure track, her favorite background music when writing! She'd once mentioned it to L, saying its rhythm was perfect for scenes of romantic tension.
Hands on the wheel, Lu Chen kept his eyes ahead and said calmly, “It's on shuffle.”
(In fact, he'd specially created this playlist for the car.)
Looking at his profile, Shen Miaomiao's heart beat faster and faster.
Shuffle? What were the odds of such an obscure song coming up randomly?
She opened her mouth to ask something, then swallowed the words.
They drove through the quiet rainy night without speaking. Only the music and the rain mingled, the air thick with unspoken attraction.
At the entrance to Shen Miaomiao's residential complex, Lu Chen took a long-handled black umbrella from the back seat and handed it to her. “Take it. Don't get wet. Tomorrow's the weekend. Get some proper rest.”
Standing in the rain beneath the umbrella, Shen Miaomiao watched the black sedan vanish behind the curtain of water. Her heart was pounding as if it would jump out of her chest.
At home, she changed her clothes and sat on the sofa, staring into space for a long time.
Her phone chimed.
[L]: Home yet? Have fun at the team outing today?
Shen Miaomiao stared at the white L on its black background. Her fingers hovered over the keyboard for a full minute.
Everything that had happened that evening replayed in her mind.
Lu Chen saying, “The earth is round. Go around it and it's still on the way.”
Her favorite obscure jazz playing in the car.
His fingertips accidentally brushing her hand as he passed her the umbrella, warm and real.
And that avatar... that white L against black...
Shen Miaomiao took a deep breath and slowly typed the question that had been circling her heart for so long.
“Are you... Lu Chen?”
She stared at those words, her finger hovering over Send for a full three minutes.
What if he wasn't? What if she asked and he thought she was flattering herself? What if... what if he really was? How would she face him?
In the end, she gritted her teeth and deleted the line, one word at a time.
When she finished, the text box held only an insincere:
[Anonymous User 9527]: The team outing today... was fun. Thank you for taking me home.
As soon as she'd sent it, she threw her phone onto the sofa, as if one more glance might make her regret it.
Before the screen dimmed, however, an indicator appeared at the top of the chat: Typing...
It flickered for a long time. In the end, no message arrived.
That night, neither of them slept.