Chapter 12 Aren’t You Warm?

• This was so embarrassing.
• Xi Qingchuan bent over, picked my bra up and handed it over to me.
• “Yours?”
• What a question. Who else could it belong to? Him?
• I took it from him. I could feel blood rushing to my face, turning it completely red.
• His eyes wandered up and down my body with interest, then lingered on my chest.
• I had thrown on a chiffon top and layered a coat over it today. Now that I had lost my bra, my translucent chiffon top had transformed into a clear plastic bag. Everything was visible in a single glance.
• I hastily wrapped my coat tightly around me, my bra clutched tightly in my hands. I must look so embarrassing right now.
• I had placed myself in a disadvantageous position. From the looks of it, further negotiation about our divorce was impossible now.
• I wanted to extract myself from this situation right this moment. The heated look in his eyes appeared more scorching than it had been earlier.
• I could sense danger in the air. I pulled my coat more tightly around me and inched towards the door.
• He yanked at my coat. I heard the sound of ripping.
• I was on the verge of tears.
• “Excuse me, but this isn’t some branded coat. It’ll tear if you pull at it too roughly.”
• “You’re Mrs. Xi of the Xi family. Why are you dressed so poorly?” His grip did not loosen as he spoke. In fact, he might have tightened his hold on my coat.
• I heard another tear. My poor sleeve was torn right off, revealing my shoulder.
• He grinned happily.
• “Does this count as a cut sleeve?”
• “Don’t be crass. That’s a euphemism for gay men.”
• “You think I’m a sexual deviant anyway.”
• He released me. My sleeve hung uselessly by my side, like a flappy pig’s ear.
• How was I supposed to walk the streets now, looking like that?
• It was then that I heard a knock at the door. His female secretary’s trembling voice rang out.
• “Mr. Xi, Miss Xiao is here.”
• Had she been frightened out of her mind by Xi Qingchuan? Wasn’t I standing right here?
• Xi Qingchuan turned and returned to his seat behind his desk.
• “Right. Let her in.”
• The door was pushed open. I could hear the tapping of heels against the floor. There was no time. I clutched at my coat with one hand and with the other, gripped my bra. My eyes scanned the room before I finally decided to dart into Xi Qingchuan’s huge wardrobe.
• Xi Qingchuan was an extremely vain man. He had a wardrobe in his office as well. It was lined with rows of suits and shirts.
• The doors of the wardrobe were designed in the style of a palisade, with thin vertical panels lining the them. I could peer between the gaps and see what was going on outside.
• I saw the silhouette of a beautiful woman enter the room. She wore a white dress and had a short coat made of white fur around her shoulders. I knew exactly who she was just by looking at her back.
• It was Xiao Shi. I remembered that she had always worn white, and nothing else.
• “What’s the reason for your sudden visit?”
• “Didn’t you want to meet Zitai? He’s free this afternoon. I thought we could have lunch together.”
• Xiao Shi’s voice was pleasing to the ear. But it was difficult to discern any emotion from her voice.
• Who was Zitai? I wondered. Then I heard Xi Qingchuan say.
• “You want me to play gooseberry?”
• “I won’t mind if you bring someone along. Your afternoon schedule is quite packed though, isn’t it?”
• “Wait for me outside. I’ll be out in a minute.”
• They ended their conversation quickly and Xiao Shi left his office.
• I was still curled up inside Xi Qingchuan’s huge wardrobe. Someone suddenly pulled open the doors to the wardrobe. Light spilled onto my face.
• He pulled me out of his wardrobe, then began rummaging through his clothes.
• “I didn’t dirty anything,” I said.
• “We’ll be having lunch together later,” he said without turning his face.
• “No way,” I replied without thought.
• “That was a notification, not a request.”
• He shut the doors to his wardrobe, then turned around and gave me a look.
• I showed him my braless top and my coat’s cut sleeve.
• “How am I supposed to join you for lunch when I look like this?”
• He walked over to his desk and pressed a button that connected him to his secretary.
• “Bring a set of your clothes in. Your underwear, coat, everything.”
• “I’m not wearing your secretary’s clothes. We don’t share the same style.”
• “You have no choice. You can wear what you have on right now, or wear something of hers. Pick one.”
• I had always been great with multiple-choice questions since my schooling days. No matter the number of options given to me, I would always pick the best option.
• It might seem like I have two options before me now, but I knew that I had only one choice.
• His secretary had a predictable sense of fashion. A low-cut sweater, a short skirt, and a fur coat. I put the clothes on and stood in front of the mirror. Xi Qingchuan’s voice drifted over from where he was sitting behind his desk.
• “Remember not to linger around the roadside when you’re wearing that. You might get pestered about how much a night cost.”
• He was implying that I looked like a prostitute. I glared at his reflection in the mirror. He got up, approached me and then pulled my arm.
• “Let’s go.”
• Xi Qingchuan dragged me out of his office. Xiao Shi was waiting right outside on the sofa. She probably didn’t expect to see me walking out with Xi Qingchuan from his office. She got to her feet, her eyes widened in surprise.
• “Xiao Sheng, why are you here?”
• “Ha…” I tugged at the collar to my coat. The secretary and I didn’t share the same size. Her bra didn’t fit me at all. I didn’t wear it in the end.
• Lunch was held at a French restaurant near Xi Qingchuan’s office. I had no love for European restaurants. I found the atmosphere cold and distant.
• I preferred hotpot restaurants or Cantonese teahouses, where people shouted over one another and a middle-aged lady would push a food cart past your table and ask, “Pretty lady, won’t you like a plate of braised chicken feet?”
• This was the first time I was meeting Xiao Shi’s boyfriend. He seemed like a fine enough young man, but only when one wasn’t comparing him to Xi Qingchuan. I couldn’t understand why Xiao Shi had dumped Xi Qingchuan for him.
• His looks, his height, even the aura he was giving off—he was hardly competition for Xi Qingchuan.
• Xiao Shi’s boyfriend was called Kang Zitai. His father was a businessman and his family were quite well-to-do. But they could hardly compare with the Xi family.
• I sat in a corner and pretended I was invisible while they exchanged greetings. Kang Zitai was sweet and thoughtful towards Xiao Shi. He took her coat from her as soon as she had taken it off and handed it to a waiter for safekeeping.
• Maybe Xi Qingchuan had never done something like that for Xiao Shi while they had been dating!
• “Xiao Sheng,” Xiao Shi suddenly turned towards me and said, “there’s heating in the restaurant. Don’t you feel warm?”
• Of course. I had felt the heat since I had stepped inside. But there was no way I could take my coat off. There was nothing underneath my sweater top, which was low-cut and clung tightly to my body. Everyone was going to get a full view of my chest if I bent forward even a little.
• I shook my head frantically.
• “Not at all. I’m feeling quite cold, actually!”
• “Are you unwell?” She said, then turned towards Xi Qingchuan and spoke with doubt in her voice. “Aren’t you concerned about your wife?”
• Xi Qingchuan had a seeming smile on his face.
• “She’s not a child. She knows to put something on when she’s feeling cold and take her coat off when she’s feeling warm. She doesn’t need others to worry about her.”
• I gave Xiao Shi an awkward smile.