My Exclusive Dream World Adventures-Chapter 176 - Who is the Captive
Chapter 176: 176 Who is the Captive
Chapter 176: 176 Who is the Captive
Ding-dong, dong…
Chen Xu was about to go upstairs when his phone rang; pulling it out, he saw it was a call from Luo Xiyun. He stopped in his tracks, took a deep breath, and answered, “Hello.”
“What’s wrong with your voice?”
Hearing her concerned tone, Chen Xu’s somewhat apprehensive mood immediately stabilized.
He sniffled, his voice thick with nasal congestion, “It’s probably because I had the air conditioning up too high when I slept at noon, got a bit of a cold.”
“You need to rest well.”
“It’s nothing; I’ll stop by the pharmacy to buy some cold medicine later, drink that, and I’ll quickly feel better.” As Chen Xu spoke, he felt someone behind him, and saw Chen Ziqi at the bottom of the stairs looking at him. When she saw him looking over, she gave him a thumbs up.
“Are you still at the store now?”
“Yes. I’m about to change clothes and then come to pick you up after work. What do you feel like eating tonight?”
“Are you asking me out to dinner?” It was obvious Luo Xiyun was asking knowingly.
By now, Chen Xu had made it upstairs, “I wonder if Director Luo would be so kind as to honor me with her company.”
“That’s not very sincere. If you wanted to invite me to dinner, why didn’t you call me yourself?”
Chen Xu said, “Otherwise, you hang up now, and I’ll call you back right away. I’ll invite you again.”
“No deal; once the opportunity is missed, there won’t be a second chance.”
Chen Xu’s heart sank abruptly when he heard her say that, and he paused, saying nothing.
“Hello?”
“So, about tonight’s dinner?”
“I’ll think about it and decide whether or not to accept your invitation.”
Chen Xu heard a knock on the door from the other end of the phone and said, “Well, see you later.”
After hanging up the phone, he let out a sigh.
He knew that when he decided to lie to Luo Xiyun, he had set down a path of no return.
“Between fish and bear’s paws, one cannot have both,” as the ancients advised. Everyone wants to have it all, but the outcome tends to be the loss of both, because there may be irreconcilable contradictions between the two.
Giving up one would be the wisest course of action.
But whom should he give up?
Bai Jinxuan?
No, he couldn’t do it.
He knew that there would never be another woman in the world willing to give up everything for him. If he gave her up, he’d never be able to forgive himself for the rest of his life.
And Luo Xiyun, he had indeed had those thoughts just now, but when he heard her ask over the phone, “What’s wrong with your voice?” his mental defenses crumbled.
He, like most people in the world, made perhaps the stupidest, yet most normal choice.
I won’t give up either, I want them both.
Standing in front of the mirror, he looked at his reflection, eyes still bloodshot. He changed his clothes and went downstairs to leave.
…
Five fifty-five PM.
Luo Xiyun tidied her desk, picked up a light gray handbag, opened the door, and walked out, saying to Secretary Guo, “I’m leaving now.”
“Okay.” Secretary Guo stood up, her eyes following Luo Xiyun’s departure. She glanced at the time; it wasn’t even six o’clock yet. Strange, Mr. Luo had never left work early before, especially not five minutes before the end of the day.
Immediately, she realized something. If there was something different about Mr. Luo from before, it was that she was in love.
She couldn’t help thinking, it seems that Mr. Luo is no different from the average woman after all. Once in love, even work can be temporarily set aside.
Once Luo Xiyun left, the department immediately started buzzing with speculation; they all guessed she left early for a date.
“What do you think, how did Chen Xu and Mr. Luo hook up? Before, there was really no sign of it.”
“Hook up? Don’t use such ugly words,” said Dai Zixin, who found the word grating and couldn’t help defending Chen Xu, “They’re both single, isn’t it normal they’d date?”
Someone asked her, “Speaking of which, you usually hang out with Chen Xu the most, did you know about it already?”
“I found out just now with the rest of you. Besides, if anyone is familiar with him, it’s Brother Tang,” Dai Zixin quickly shifted the target to Old Tang.
Old Tang shook his head, “He resigned before I got transferred here. He’s never told me anything.”
Someone sighed, “Honestly, Chen Xu doesn’t show off, he’s unassuming. Who would have thought he quietly won over Mr. Luo? Impressive.”
This remark echoed the thoughts of many. Especially the men, who felt that Chen Xu was quite ordinary in every aspect, were shocked that he could win Mr. Luo’s heart, feeling a mix of admiration and envy.
Some even secretly beat their chests in frustration, thinking perhaps Luo Xiyun wasn’t that difficult to pursue and that everyone was just too scared to try, except for Chen Xu. So he succeeded and won the beauty. If only they had been a bit bolder…
Then, a female colleague said, “Don’t even mention it, I actually noticed some clues before. Do you remember the time we went for a hot spring retreat? Mr. Luo’s face changed when he heard that Chen Xu and Zixin were dating, and he warned them both on the spot, forbidding office romances.”
“Yes, yes, I thought it was strange at the time. Now that I think about it, they must have been seeing each other back then.”
“And then, at the annual party, Chen Xu winning the grand prize. Maybe Mr. Luo had a hand in it. Even if our company’s tech department is subpar, a raffle software can’t mess up, right?”
“It’s almost certain. Think about it, what was the grand prize? A luxury trip to Europe for two. It’s very likely Mr. Luo arranged it on purpose.”
“Exactly, to stand up for Chen Xu, Mr. Luo actually went head-to-head with Vice President Wang. Wow, other people would become enraged over their beloved, but with Mr. Luo, it’s completely the opposite.”
The crowd was abuzz, discussing all sorts of signs and gossips about Chen Xu and Luo Xiyun.
Five minutes later, it was time to clock out. Everyone still seemed to be in the mood for more.
Unable to resist, Dai Zixin sent Chen Xu a WeChat message, “Chen Xu, you’ve successfully become the company’s celebrity; everyone’s talking about your gossip.”
……
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Chen Xu had just finished reading Dai Zixin’s message when he saw Luo Xiyun walking out of the office building, still in the clothes she wore in the morning, a red and black striped short-sleeved shirt with black, loose-fitting trousers below.
He glanced at the time, it was just six o’clock sharp, and he walked up to her with a smile, “You’re sneaking out before the end of the workday?”
“That’s because your timing is off,” Luo Xiyun retorted with her hands crossed in front of her, sizing him up. “Not bad, there’s been an improvement in your dress sense.”
“Being with you, of course, I have to pay attention to that.”
Luo Xiyun had an amused look in her eyes as she said, “I haven’t agreed yet. Don’t forget, you haven’t passed my test.”
“Then let me be more precise, as your prospective boyfriend, I naturally have to care a bit about my image.”
“You’re getting smoother with words.”
“If you don’t like it, I can change.”
“How will you change?”
“You tell me how to change, and that’s how I’ll change.”
Luo Xiyun stared at him for a while and then said, “Sometimes, I really wonder whether the you now and the you in my dreams are the same person.”
Chen Xu asked her, “Do you think it was really just a dream? We truly lived out six months together, every day, every hour, every second, all of it was real. Especially the times I spent with you, I remember every single detail distinctly.”
Luo Xiyun looked somewhat bewildered, even after more than half a year had passed, she remembered everything that happened in the dream vividly.
“You’re right, it wasn’t just a dream. It was a miracle.”
Waking up one morning with an extra half year of magical experiences was truly a miracle for anyone.
“Let’s go,” Chen Xu said, taking her hand and moving forward.
“Where are we going?”
“You’ll know when we get there.”
A minute later, Luo Xiyun followed Chen Xu into a restaurant near the company. Her expression softened as they entered, the place and the coffee shop next door held several months’ worth of memories for them.
She remembered how they had initially given each other the cold shoulder for three months, neither willing to speak to the other.
After they were seated in a corner and had ordered their food, Chen Xu said in a low voice, “I lived here for several months, but I never actually ate anything prepared by the chef here.”
Luo Xiyun looked around at the decor and said, “I’ve been here a few times already.”
“Did you come because you missed me?”
“Don’t flatter yourself, who would miss you?” Luo Xiyun rolled her eyes at him. “Every time I came here, I would remember a man with a nasty and stubborn temperament who was so angered by a single sentence I said that he wouldn’t talk to me for months.”
Chen Xu laughed and said, “But you also didn’t talk to me for months, right?”
“It’s your fault for making me so angry,” she countered.
Chen Xu picked up the teapot, poured a glass of water, and said, “Sometimes, I can be quite stubborn. If you continue being with me, you might have to endure that.”
“If you ever treat me like that again, I’ll never speak to you again.”
Chen Xu, holding the cup in his hand, asked, “So here’s the question, do you want the old me with a nasty and stubborn temper, or do you want me after you’ve changed me into the ideal you have in your mind?”
Biting her lower lip, Luo Xiyun responded, “Can’t you make some changes for me?”
Considering they had reached this topic, Chen Xu spoke openly, “If you want me to become the ideal person in your mind, then I’m sorry, I definitely can’t do that. I like you, and I’m willing to make some changes for you. But you have to understand, what makes me who I am is because of some things I hold firm. You want me to change, but I can’t do that.”
“What if I really want you to change?”
“They say love is a battlefield, you either reach a stalemate, where one side eventually takes a dominant position, or one side becomes completely captive to the other, or one side accidentally kills the other, possibly leading to mutual destruction. And that would also mean the death of love.”
“If you want to take me captive, then bring it on.”
At that moment, the waiter brought the dishes, easing the somewhat tense atmosphere between them.
“Let’s eat before it gets cold,” Chen Xu said, serving her some food.
PS: Finally managed to get a chapter out, the next one before twelve o’clock.
