Love Me Harder, Mr. Fu - Chapter 36

After the steamy lunch, Shi Lian thought to walk by the streets for a while before going to the company with her face all flustered. ‘How can I lose it! Shit!’ she scolds her unconscious mind. She can still feel his touch on her face, lips, thighs… ‘Stop!’ her mind is filled with Zichen’s dirty talk which she did like but hate to admit.

The streets of Shanghai are bustling with traffic, people and fashion. Everywhere you look, you can see people wearing different kinds of unique clothes, let it be funk, uptown, classy, emo, etc. You can gain many ideas just roaming around the city. Stopping in front of a café, Shi Lian decides to take a coffee as she hasn’t eaten anything.

“Milk-o-fi” she read out the shop’s name, finding it amusing. Pushing the glass door she enters and a piece of chiming music starts playing as a welcoming sign. The place has a warm atmosphere; brown and white wallpaper with striking art, green plants hanging on the ceiling, and the music played are refreshing, perfectly complimenting the unfold.

“May I take your order please?” a waiter asks her with a warm smile. Shi Lian is surprised as she was examing the place too deeply.

“Oh, Let me see” she smiled, taking the menu placed on her table. “One caramel mocha and a fudge pastry please” she makes her orders and he writes them down on his notepad. “The place is well designed” she blurted out without any second thought because she is impressed by the layout and all.

“Glad to know” he grins.

“Are you the owner here?”

“Smart. Yes I am” says he, “I am Yi Ran.”

“Shi Lian. You decorated the place well.”

“I guess you are an interior designer?” he asks as he observes Shi Lian’s interest in the outlet of his shop.

“No, just curious” she chuckles lightly, making him attracted by her.

He came to take her order even though there are many waiters because he wanted to know more about this beautiful girl. “So what do you do then?”

“Why do you think I would be telling this to a stranger?” she teases him in an act of playfulness. The anger she was feeling a while is leveled lower after talking to this positive man.

“Then let’s know more about each other” he joins, grinning at her. She doesn’t say anything and just smiles, “My coffee?”

“On your way,” he tells her grinning. He disappears in the front board to get the coffee and her fudge pastry.

Shi Lian waits for her order when her phone starts ringing. Her mouth curves into a smile when she sees Evelyn’s name on the phone screen. “Hey, Eve!”

“Hey! Thought you were gonna be super busy and won’t be replying to my calls, but dang lucky me!” Evelyn’s humorous tone makes Shi Lian chuckle.

“Yea, lucky you. What are you doing anyway?”

“Missing you badly!” she replies cutely. She has been bored to death without Shi Lian, the other some of her friends were annoying so she doesn’t hang with them. She misses her best friend with whom she talked all night, the icy cold attitude of hers irritated her mostly it amused her. She loved her for who she was and was glad they met.

“Miss you too. now tell me what are you doing now”

“Che, Was going through my resume…..I am planning to look for a job” she says in not so jovial tone.

“Really? That’s great! Where are you deciding to go?” Shi Lian asks with excitement.

“Was thinking Rovial, GleeArt and OtherLook…I don’t remember the other names, they are complicated to be pronounced”

“They are all high edge studios and companies…..can’t believe Evelyn Leng Hensler is being proactive” she teases.

“If it wasn’t for my Mum cutting my finance route, I won’t even think to do it…but here I am looking for a job and broke,” she says with frustration.

Evelyn’s Mum is Chinese and her Dad American, which makes Evelyn half-Chinese. She rarely visits China to meet her Mum because she doesn’t like the place. Her father is always for business and rarely visits China. Most of the time he has to stay in America, and sometimes in Europe; he meets her daughter frequently when he gets time.

“She wants you to come to China and visit her”

“I know. She told me if I did not come to China then she will freeze my bank accounts and cut all the financial roots. I can’t even ask Dad, as always Mum already ordered him not to….It’s so frustrating!” she groans fretting with irritation. Evelyn’s mother, Leng Xinyi, is the CEO of the Leng group in China. The Leng group specializes in jewelry and antiques. Her mother is a renowned jewelry designer and a strict CEO of this big group.

“She misses you and wants to spend time with you. Just come…and besides, I am in China too so it will be great! We will hang around and get wasted in every club of Shanghai!” “Sounds appealing…but I ‘ll think about it” Evelyn replies nonchalantly.

“Stop being a bitch and come visit her!”

“Fine! Fine!… So what are doing now? It’s daytime there, right?”

“Yeah it’s afternoon here and I am waiting for my coffee to come” Shi Lian articulates looking outside the window while talking to her best friend on the phone.

“Hey, let’s video chat!” Evelyn suggests. She Lian end the call and going to the Video calling app, she dials Evelyn’s number. Within a second, Evelyn’s glowy face lit up on her screen.

“Heyy! O…OMG!” she exclaims when she sees Shi Lian.

“What?” Shi Lian asks in confusion.

“You look hot! Are you the same Shi Lian I know?” she teases playfully.

“Nope. I killed the original one and I am her doppelganger” Shi Lian rolls her eyes.

“Yeah, you are my Shi Lian…still rolling your eyes” she laughs.

“Here’s your order,” the waiter proclaims cheerfully, placing the coffee and pastry she ordered.

“Thank you” she smiles in return, a short polite smile not the flirty kind. Yi Ran walks to other tables to get their orders; even though he is the owner of this shop, he loves helping people and interacting with them. He hired only a few helpers just to give him a hand when needed.

“Hey, show me how he looks,” Evelyn asks in a flirty tone. Shi Lian rolls her eyes again and brings her phone to her right side and changes the front camera to back camera.

“Oooo…he is cute”

Shi Lian changes it back to the front camera, “But you can’t get him” Shi Lian mocks.

Ignoring the mocking of Shi Lian, Evelyn asks her about her training and when she will be the Chairman of the company to which Shi Lian answers with “I don’t know” shooking her head.

“Um…have you met Atian?” Evelyn asks hesitantly.

“Yea, I did” Shi Lian answers her taking a bite of her fudge pastry.

“What happened then? Don’t tell me you got back with him!”

“No, we sought things out and us getting back together is impossible….he requested a demand” She pauses before telling her.

“What demand? Better not something fucked up!” she is already being her bodyguard without knowing any of the things.

“He asked to be friends at least…and I agreed,” She Lian says calmly, sipping her coffee.

“You better be cautious. Who knows his mother is still badmouthing about you behind your back” her best friend getting defensive for her.

“She won’t,” she says assuring her.

Evelyn sighs protesting to not talk about this topic, so she asks her dress but after observing more clearly, she asks in surprise menu, “You already up with some guy?”

“What? No!”

“Well your lips are swollen and your cheeks are a deep shade of red” she points like a detective. She gets all the brains when it is about dating, hooking, and identifying who hooked with whom.

Shi Lian remains quiet without making a protest because she knows she is right but it wasn’t her who kissed..she was forced!

“Guess I am right~” Evelyn smirks when she gets her answer by looking at Shi Lian’s flustered face. “So who is he?”

“I am not telling!” she pouts.

“Oh, c’mon Shi~”

“Nope, and it’s not even imp-”

“We meet again” a voice interrupts her talk with her best friend. She tilts her head and to her surprise, he is standing in front of her with a smirk on his beautiful face.

Shi Lian’s shocked face makes Evelyn worry about her, “Hey Shi, you okay?”

“I’ll call you later,” says Shi Lian and instantly hangs up. “What are you doing here?” she snaps facing Fu Zichen who is still standing in front of her.

“To have coffee,” he says innocently, taking the seat attached to her table, so they are facing face to face, and thank god the table is there in the middle otherwise who knows what steamy stuff might happen?