Chapter 100: Sitting in the Lap

An Tong did her best to ignore the vibration of her phone, and she did not want to look at it in front of Rong Shen.

The main reason was that the two of them had not met before, and Su Ji had always held a distinct prejudice against men. If handled poorly, it could easily make both sides unhappy.

At that moment, the perceptive Rong Shen did not miss the screen lighting up all of a sudden, nor the vibration that had not once stopped.

He pressed his thin lips together, and the line of his jaw tightened slightly. "What did you do at home today?"

"Ah?" An Tong looked up at the handsome face so close to hers. "Nothing much. After I came back from the pottery studio at noon, I just kept reading."

Rong Shen lowered his eyes. Deep in the blackness of them, there seemed to gather a fathomless weight that was hard to read. "How did the pottery class feel?"

An Tong thought for a few seconds and gave a fair assessment. "Pretty good. The throwing went better than last time."

"Still want to keep learning?"

"Mm. Yes. I shouldn't quit halfway through."

The man looked at her deeply, but he did not see the slightest trace of anything unusual in her clear gaze or expression.

The harsh light spilling down from the ceiling lamp made An Tong close her eyes briefly. She tilted her head against Rong Shen's shoulder and idly toyed with his fingers. "It's already past eight. Aren't you hungry if you don't eat?"

Rong Shen still gave the same answer: later.

Then he lifted his arm, stood up, and lightly stroked the top of An Tong's head with his palm. "Play by yourself for a while."

An Tong: "?"

Play what?

An Tong frowned as she watched the man's figure head toward the stairs, completely baffled.

What was wrong with him?

Rong Shen was not usually one to show much emotional fluctuation. It was almost rare to see.

Especially after the two of them had begun dating; the patience and indulgence he showed were even greater than before.

A cold and subdued state like tonight's was something An Tong had seen for the first time.

Could it be... work was bothering him?

An Tong was not as sharp as the man, but her emotions were sensitive.

She straightened slightly and listened. Before long, the sound of a door closing drifted down from upstairs.

An Tong pressed her lips together and sat alone in the living room, at a loss.

The phone was still vibrating, but she suddenly no longer had the mood to explain.

Yet Su Ji, far away in Hong Kong, was not about to let it go so easily.

Especially after learning that her dear sister had actually started dating her therapist, she became even more convinced that this man was unforgivable.

An Tong, listless, went around the coffee table and picked up her phone.

When she opened WeChat, she saw more than twenty voice messages, each averaging over forty seconds.

An Tong did not listen to them. Instead, she sent her a single reply, and only then did she manage to soothe the furious Su Ji, who was on the verge of exploding.

AN: When you're not busy, I'll come back and tell you in person.

Su Ji replied instantly: I'm free tomorrow.

AN: Is the weekend okay?

Su Ji sent over a knife emoji and said with an exclamation point after every word: If you don't come on the weekend, we're not done!

An Tong's mood was affected. She threw down her phone and sat in the living room picking at her fingers.

Unable to figure out the reason, she decided to go upstairs and have a look.

If he was troubled by work, perhaps she could help him sort it out.

An Tong was the type to act on impulse. As soon as she thought of it, she was already standing in front of the bedroom door.

Knock, knock, knock.

She rapped on the door and waited for a response.

But several seconds passed, and there was still no sound from inside.

An Tong knocked twice more, this time much harder. "Ninth Brother?"

Still no answer.

An Tong's mood sank at once. She lowered her head without a word, and it felt as if something had lodged in her chest, making it hard to breathe properly.

The emotional turbulence brought on by romance was different from the negative effects of mental illness.

It was mostly a psychological reaction brought on by feelings tangled together, the kind that left one as anxious and uneasy as if countless claws were scratching at the heart.

An Tong could not have said exactly what it felt like, but it was definitely unpleasant.

If he was in a bad mood, why not say so directly? What was the point of hiding away like this?

The more An Tong thought about it, the more stifled she felt, and a little wronged too. She could not help giving the door a light kick.

Then...

The door to the study next door opened at just the right moment, and the man's tall figure appeared in the doorway, coincidentally catching her in the act of kicking the door.

An Tong: "..."

"What are you kicking the door for? Hmm?"

Rong Shen looked at her with great interest, and the slight upward curve of his thin lips no longer seemed as cold as before.

An Tong swallowed, clasping her hands behind her back as she faced him. Before she could speak, a voice suddenly came from the study. "President Rong, President Rong, are you listening?"

It sounded like a voice call.

An Tong rubbed the tip of her nose in embarrassment and hastily said, "You're busy," before preparing to flee.

But as soon as she moved, Rong Shen caught her wrist and, with a light pull, drew her into the study with him.

An Tong's face burned red, both from the wild thoughts she had just had and from the childish little act of kicking the door.

The more one wanted to present the best possible self before the one one loved, the more often things went against one's wishes.

An Tong followed behind the man like a little quail, silent.

The computer in the study was on. On the screen, split into six sections, it was clear they were in a video conference.

An Tong did not dare make a sound. She had originally meant to stand quietly at one side and keep him company, but Rong Shen's next move was entirely unexpected.

"I'm listening. Go on."

The man walked over to the computer, turned off the video image from his side, put on his Bluetooth earpiece, and sat down composedly in the executive chair.

Throughout all this, his hand never let go of An Tong's.

After confirming that the video feed had been closed, the man's arm circled around her lower back, and with a slight lift, he seated her directly on his lap, turned sideways.

An Tong went rigid in Rong Shen's embrace.

This unprecedented closeness made her afraid to move. She sat stiffly on his lap, unconsciously softening even her breathing.

Compared with her tension and fluster, the man was far more at ease.

He not only held her in his arms, he also spoke with complete composure to the people on the video call.

Most of the time, though, he was listening.

A moment later, Rong Shen temporarily muted the video microphone, lowered his head, and looked at the little wooden statue stiffening in his lap. Amusement filled his dark eyes. "Did you come up here looking for me for something?"

An Tong took a breath and shook her head. "No. Or... if you're busy, I'll wait for you downstairs."

"Something later?" The man's hand patted lightly at her back, as if soothing her nerves.

An Tong shook her head. "No, but will I distract you if I stay here?"

Rong Shen rubbed the back of her head. "No. If there's nothing else, keep me company until the meeting's over, then we'll go downstairs together."

At that, An Tong could not find any words to refuse.

It was not that she resisted physical closeness with him. It was simply that this sudden intimacy had come without warning, leaving her no time to prepare herself mentally, so she could not help feeling unaccustomed to it.

But time was a fine thing. The meeting went on and on, and as time slowly passed, An Tong's stiff posture finally began to fail her.