“Hey, stop right there!”
Ignoring her completely.
“I’m still wearing high heels—my legs are going to break—”
The short, chubby figure paused for a moment, then finally stopped, slowly turning around.
Huo Fanjin chased after him, panting heavily, “You… you… are you deliberately trying to exhaust me?”
“No, no, no, that’s not it, I didn’t mean for this.” The chubby guy’s hands swung wildly in front of his chest.
“Pfft—” Huo Fanjin couldn’t help it, “You’re like a fat fish that can’t float! Hahaha…”
Jonas: “…”
“Hey, are you Frank? The one I’ve been emailing with.”
After some time passed, a soft “Mmm” was heard.
Huo Fanjin: “Why are you talking to me with your head buried so low? Is your neck hurting?”
“…I’m sorry. I lied to you.”
“You sure did!” Huo Fanjin huffed angrily, “Friends should be honest with each other, but you never treated me as a friend.”
“No! I genuinely consider you a friend, but…” His voice trailed off, not finishing his sentence.
“But what?” Huo Fanjin noticed he did have an accent, but it wasn’t as severe as she had imagined. It was understandable.
“I’m not good-looking… You mentioned in your first email that you liked tall, sunny, athletic boys.”
Unfortunately, he was the complete opposite—short, not sunny, and hated sports.
Huo Fanjin: “So you used Frank’s photo to deceive me?!”
Jonas: “I’m sorry.”
She took a deep breath. “…What else?”
“What?”
“The photo was fake, what else is fake? You better tell me everything now!”
“Nothing else, everything else is true!”
“So you work at a convenience store? Found a German shepherd? And you don’t like foie gras but love dark chocolate?”
“Yeah, yeah! All of that is true!”
Huo Fanjin’s expression softened slightly. It seemed like she wasn’t as angry anymore. “The first time I asked you out in an email, you did come, didn’t you? Why did you say you were delivering a message for Frank?”
This time, he remained silent for a while.
“….Because I felt you were disappointed when you saw me.”
Huo Fanjin coughed lightly. Okay, she admitted that when she first saw Jonas, she did secretly hope he wasn’t Frank.
But—
“You can’t just stand by and let that scumbag Frank deceive me, right? Did you put him up to it?!”
“No, no!” He quickly shook his head, “I just thought as long as we didn’t meet, when you returned to your country, we could still be pen pals. So I didn’t reply to any of your emails…”
Jonas had simple thoughts—if he could avoid these few days, his relationship with Gretta would remain unchanged, and everything would be as it was.
However, somehow Frank found out about it.
When the theoretical grades came out that day, he snatched his computer and replied to Gretta, agreeing to meet.
The email had been sent out, so there was no way he could break the appointment a second time. With Frank’s threat looming, Jonas had no choice but to reveal some minor details about himself and Gretta.
“I didn’t put him up to it! In fact, I don’t know why he did it.”
“You said he took your computer after the theoretical results came out?” Huo Fanjin caught onto the key point.
“Yeah.” Jonas nodded, “He went out to the corridor to take a call, and when he came back, he went crazy and snatched my computer. There were no signs of this happening before.”
Huo Fanjin wasn’t stupid. Thinking back to the strange behavior Frank exhibited when they met, the truth was about to come out.
“He wanted to disrupt me and make me slow down the entire team, thereby causing a huge loss to China.”
Jonas was shocked, quickly realizing the cause and effect, his face filled with self-blame and shame.
Suddenly, he bowed ninety degrees to Huo Fanjin, saying in a muffled voice, “I’m sorry.”
“If it weren’t for me, none of this would have happened; if I had had the courage to be honest with you from the beginning, Frank wouldn’t have used me.”
Huo Fanjin pursed her lips. “Alright, I don’t blame you. It’s because I judged you by your appearance at first… But using someone else’s photo to deceive me, that’s your fault!”
“Then… can we still be friends?” Jonas raised his head cautiously, asking.
Huo Fanjin saw his eyes were red, his eye sockets wet.
“Hey, were you crying just now?”
“…No.”
“Liar! So you really are a crybaby, huh? You cried when the German Shepherd was hurt, you cried when the café owner scolded you, and now you’re apologizing to me and crying, tsk tsk…”
Jonas’s cheeks flushed red.
His skin was originally fair, making it particularly noticeable. There was no denying it.
“But,” Huo Fanjin changed the subject, “although you used a fake photo and you cry a lot, you’re much better than that scumbag Frank. At least you can admit your mistakes, so I still consider you a friend!”
There was an amazing gleam in Jonas’s eyes.
“Thank you! Thank you, Gretta!”
“From now on, don’t lie to me again, understand?”
“I won’t, I really won’t!”
Huo Fanjin’s eyes rolled. “So, what was your impression of me the first time we met?”
Before that, she had never sent her own photo.
And Frank… Uh… Jonas hadn’t mentioned sending a photo request after the first rejection.
“Just… very good-looking…” he scratched his head.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Jonas would never tell her that the moment he saw her for the first time, his heart raced, and his eyes shone brightly.
He thought, Gretta is so beautiful, just as beautiful as he imagined.
Also… a beauty he couldn’t reach.
The banquet ended at ten o’clock in the evening.
Jiang Fuyue left half an hour early and returned to the hotel, perfectly avoiding the Western media squatting outside waiting to interview her.
The scheduled interviews had already been completed in the morning. Those who came tonight were only interested in gossip and causing trouble—they could be called “wild media.”
She couldn’t be bothered, so she left early.
Zhong Ziang bravely volunteered to escort her back. Just before getting out of the car, he handed her a bouquet of white roses.
“Congratulations on winning.”
Not for receiving an award, but for winning.
There were many recipients of the former, but only one of the latter.
Although Jiang Fuyue had never mentioned it, Zhong Ziang knew she preferred the latter.
“The flowers smell very nice, thank you. But next time, could you change the roses to something else?”
Zhong Ziang was stunned. “Why?”
“Because roses symbolize love and are usually given when courting someone. Are you courting me?”
When Zhong Ziang met the girl’s clear eyes, his cheeks suddenly turned red. Without hesitation, he blurted out, “Of course not!”
Jiang Fuyue wasn’t surprised by this answer. She even nodded in agreement. “That’s why I asked you to change it.”
After saying that, she strode into the revolving door.
After saying “of course not,” Zhong Ziang couldn’t help but want to give himself a big slap in the face!
What’s wrong with him?
Where did the courage go to ask Jiang Fuyue to be his girlfriend?
Why didn’t he just admit it?!
What a good opportunity just now!
Oh my god! What did he do? Why did he give such a crappy answer?
He couldn’t believe those words came out of his mouth.
“D*mn it!”
He was so angry that he punched the steering wheel, regret filling his eyes.
After venting, he couldn’t help but wonder why he subconsciously denied it, clearly he wasn’t like that before…
Before he could come up with a reason, his phone rang.
It was Xie Dingyuan calling to ask where he had taken the car, as he wanted to return to the hotel.
Zhong Ziang had no choice but to turn back to pick him up.
As soon as Xie Dingyuan got into the car, before he could even sit down, his nephew softly spoke—
“Uncle, can I consult with you a question?”
Even using such a civilized word as “consult,” it looked like not a small question.
Xie Dingyuan: “You speak.”
“How can I become as outstanding as Jiang Fuyue? No, even better than her!”
The man’s brow twitched involuntarily at the mention of “Jiang Fuyue.”
“Why are you suddenly asking this?”
Zhong Ziang didn’t answer immediately, a hint of awkwardness flashing across his face.
He’d been thinking about it the entire way and finally figured it out.
In the past, he had no hesitation about directly telling Jiang Fuyue to be his girlfriend because he thought he was charming and held the advantage, so his confidence was unshakable.
After all, back at the capital, he was also the “top guy in school!”
Whether it was his physique or looks, he could proudly say he was a perfect ten.
But these things meant nothing in front of Jiang Fuyue.
His looks, family background, and charm—all the things he was proud of—Ling Xuan, who was always around Jiang Fuyue, also had.
And the more time he spent with her, the clearer it became that these weren’t what Jiang Fuyue valued.
His advantages were gone.
He had become an insecure coward, which was why he couldn’t respond when Jiang Fuyue threw out that question.
Yes, Zhong Ziang had to admit, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to respond—it was that he didn’t dare.
