C14 Where Did You Go Last Night

They were silent and frozen in place for almost a minute. Then Yanxi took a deep breath and braced herself before turning around to face him.

Unfortunately for her, she hadn’t been able to gauge their distance properly, and she instantly rammed her face into Tang Zhengxun’s hard, sturdy chest.

He was still damp from the bath, and now little beads of water were clinging to her lashes, too. Her heart picked up its speed.

She belatedly realized that she had to step back and maintain some distance between their bodies, but her reaction came too late.

A strong arm had already snaked around her waist, and was pulling her flush against his skin, wetting the front of her shirt.

He looked down at her with a slight frown, his eyes glinting with something she could not name. “Do you need something from me?” he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Yes, but…” she tried to push him away. “I need some space, first of all. This position is a little too uncomfortable for a proper conversation.”

She averted her eyes while she spoke, her face burning. He smirked at her flustered expression and let go as she had asked.

He padded over to a tall coffee table and took out a menthol cigarette, lighting it as he lounged back on a modern reclining chair by the massive bath.

He took a long drag and blew out several layers of smoke. It gave the illusion of light mist hanging around him, granting him an even more mysterious, sultry aura.

“Tell me, then. Why were you looking for me?”

“I want to go home,” Yanxi stated bluntly.

“Go home?” Tang Zhengxun chuckled and shook his head. His tone was full of mockery.

“Where, exactly? Do you mean you want to return to the love nest Bai Tiancheng has built with his woman?”

His words stung, making her hang her head and mutter her response beneath her breath. “What else can I do? I can’t give up my home just like that, that’s the only place I have.”

She had nowhere else to go. The home she had grown up in… Well, now it belonged to her father, his new wife, and Qin Yanfei.

Those three no longer had anything to do with her. They don’t even qualify as family anymore.

All this time, she had thought she could build a new family of her own under the home she made herself, but that dream was obviously out of reach now.

Something about what she had said struck a chord in Tang Zhengxun. His gaze sharpened and he shifted in his seat. Home. What a wretched word.

“If you want to leave so bad, then you’re free to go.” He wasn’t about to hang on to her.

Yanxi looked up at his unexpected answer. Instead of walking out of the room, however, she squatted on the floor, hugging her knees to her chest.

There was an absentminded glaze over her face as she shook her head and thought out loud. “No, you’re right. I can’t go back there. Which means that I don’t have a home anymore.”

Tang Zhengxun only looked at her and listened, a muscle ticking in his jaw.

“He’s even changed the pass code, I’m sure he won’t give it to me again like last time. That place is already his woman’s…”

“Qin Yanxi!”

Her head shot up when he called her name. Tang Zhengxun’s voice wasn’t particularly loud, but it was heavy and strained.

She looked back at him with tears blurring her vision.

“If this is as far as your resolve could go, then you are not even worthy to serve me.” He glared at her, his lips curled in disdain.

“Tang Zhengxun,” she bit out. “Not once have I ever agreed to being your slave, or to serving you in any manner at all!” She was angry now.

“I’ve said this before, but you really are the only woman who would dare yell at me like that.

What’s absurd is that you bare your claws and hiss at me, but you can’t even raise a hand against Bai Tiancheng? Against the man who has wronged you the most?”

She was stunned by the cruel truth he had just slapped her with. He continued, undeterred.

“Well, I suppose it isn’t that you can’t, it’s just that you refuse to stand up for yourself when it comes to him!” He flashed her a cold, ruthless smile.

“For that alone, Qin Yanxi, you deserve to be bullied indeed. You deserve every beating they give you. You deserve to be chased out of your own house!”

“That’s enough, Tang Zhengxun!” she roared, getting up to her feet.

He mimicked her action and looked down at her.

“Qin Yanxi, you’re probably the most pathetic woman I’ve ever seen.

You’re already at rock bottom, yet you seem more willing to invite further defeat instead of pulling yourself out of the situation.

Wake up! Bai Tiancheng doesn’t love you in spite of everything you gave and did for him, and if you keep believing otherwise, then you deserve to suffer every heartbreak you welcomed to yourself!”

With that, he strode past her and got out of the bathroom without a backward glance.

Yanxi was left standing in place, her breaths heavy and laden, her hands curled into fists as she watched him go.

Her vision kept blurring until the dam finally broke and tears flowed freely down her face.

The next day, Yanxi arrived at her agency in Tang Zhengxun’s exclusive business car.

The first thing she saw when she alighted the vehicle was Bai Tiancheng, much to her surprise.

He was leaning against his own car, which was parked further along the driveway of the building.

He sported an ominous expression, his eyes glaring daggers at her as he approached. “Where did you go last night?”