I'm Rich - 53
Under Guan Yuanbai’s pointed stare, Guan Zhiyi had no choice but to abandon the idea of sneaking him out.
"It’s been so dry lately," Guan Yuanbai said, "Make sure you eat plenty of fruit after meals. Don't starve yourself just because you're afraid of gaining weight."
Guan Zhiyi gave an absentminded hum.
"How’s filming been the last couple of days? Smooth?"
"Yeah, pretty smooth..." Guan Zhiyi hesitated, then added, "So, Ge, when are you heading back?"
"The day after tomorrow. I have an auction to attend with Chengyan then."
"Cough, cough, cough..."
Guan Yuanbai frowned and glanced at her. "Eat slower."
Guan Zhiyi nodded repeatedly, casting her eyes down in guilty conscience.
Earlier, in a panic, her only instinct had been to hide the man. Now that she had calmed down, she realized how foolish that was. If they had simply gone back to the living room to sit before the others came in, Guan Yuanbai wouldn't have thought twice about it. Given how well he knew them both, Qi Chengyan visiting her on set wasn't strange at all!
The trouble was that her guilty conscience had completely taken over, driving her straight into evasion. And now, not only had she hidden him, but she had stuffed him into a wardrobe of all places...
The meal turned utterly tasteless. When Guan Yuanbai finally finished eating, he still showed no sign of leaving.
He sat on the sofa, rambling on in fits and starts. His words were nothing more than the usual refrains..."You can't go on a diet, eat more," "Be careful on set, don't get hurt again," and the like...
Her brother possessed a unique talent for taking a simple instruction and expanding it, extrapolating from it, illustrating it with endless examples, until it blossomed into a full-length dissertation.
Sitting on pins and needles, Guan Zhiyi felt her scalp go numb. "Oh, Ge, I get it, I get it. Could you save a few words?"
"What kind of attitude is that?"
"No, I mean... isn't it exhausting for you to talk so much?"
Guan Yuanbai shot her a sharp look. "Save the smooth talk. By the way, last time I visited Grandpa and Grandma, they were nagging about how you haven't been over in a long time. Figure it out yourself and give them a call."
"I know," Guan Zhiyi said. "Grandpa said he’s throwing a golden anniversary party for him and Grandma next month. I’ll ask for leave to go then."
"Good."
"Um... so, Ge?"
"What?"
"When are you leaving?"
Guan Yuanbai glared at her. "You're that eager to see me go?"
"No, no! I just mean I have to head to the set later, I won't have time to entertain you."
Considering the timing, Guan Yuanbai realized she did need a moment to rest before going back to work.
"Fine, then I'll head out first. Make sure you get some rest."
Guan Zhiyi’s eyes lit up, her head nodding like a wooden puppet. "Okay, okay, okay!"
"..."
"I won't walk you out then. It's not convenient in this outfit."
"Got it."
Guan Zhiyi walked Guan Yuanbai to the door and waved a hand. "Thanks for coming all this way to see me! Love you, love you, hate to see you go!"
Guan Yuanbai: "..."
"Bye-bye!"
With a sharp click, the door shut with lightning speed, leaving not a trace of reluctance in its wake.
Guan Yuanbai: "............"
Mao Mao had gone back to her own room to eat earlier and wouldn't be back anytime soon. Closing the door behind her, Guan Zhiyi dashed back to the bedroom and pulled open the wardrobe.
In the modest wardrobe hung a sparse two or three long dresses, all bundled and shoved to the far right. Seated against the left wall of the wardrobe was a figure, legs slightly bent, half his body swallowed by shadows.
Guan Zhiyi froze, then crouched down to look at him. "Gege, why are you sitting down?"
"Can't stand up straight."
Guan Zhiyi glanced up at the top of the wardrobe, only then realizing that with his height, standing up would indeed require tilting his head... Remembering how long he had been cramped inside this tiny space, a flush of guilt washed over her face. "Um, they're all gone."
Qi Chengyan tilted his head, watching her with a faint smile.
That smile sent a prickly chill straight down her spine. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! My head was a complete mess just now, it was pure instinct... Ah!"
Before she could finish, Qi Chengyan reached out and yanked her forward.
Losing her footing in her crouch, Guan Zhiyi pitched forward from the sudden pull, her knees landing right on the edge of the wardrobe door frame. The hem of her costume spilled across the floor, bringing her face to face with him in an instant.
"Do you have any idea how airtight this wardrobe is?" As Qi Chengyan's smile faded, a strangely dangerous edge surfaced in his eyes.
Guan Zhiyi swallowed hard and whispered, "I didn't know..."
"Oh. So, for stuffing me in a wardrobe like this, how do you plan to compensate me?"
It must have been truly stuffy inside. Up close, his face carried a faint, flushed warmth. That delicate red resting on his skin lent his striking handsome features a hint of intoxicating allure, breathtaking beneath the shadows.
Guan Zhiyi stared, momentarily dazed, and murmured, "I was wrong..."
Qi Chengyan lifted his eyelids. "What good is admitting you're wrong now?"
"...Then what do you want?"
A brief silence fell between them; he said nothing.
Just as Guan Zhiyi assumed there was nothing more to it and prepared to stand up, Qi Chengyan’s hand suddenly reached out to cup the side of her face. Sitting right there in the wardrobe, he leaned forward, capturing her lips before she could even react.
It came out of nowhere, yet felt as though it had been long premeditated.
Her heart thudded violently against her ribs. Guan Zhiyi froze on the spot, gazing at the man mere inches away, feeling his warm breath tangling with her own.
"Admitting you're wrong is useless. Compensate me like this." Qi Chengyan pulled back just a fraction, his eyes dark as night.
Guan Zhiyi's hands, resting on the floor, curled up involuntarily. "So... is that enough?" she asked numbly.
Qi Chengyan stared directly into her eyes. Just as he opened his mouth to say something more, a soft beep echoed from the hallway. Someone had scanned the door lock again.
Bewildered and helpless, Guan Zhiyi glanced toward the entrance, her immediate thought being: I am never giving out spare keycards to anyone ever again!
In the next second, she was pulled directly inside the wardrobe by the man within.
"..."
The wardrobe door clicked shut, plunging everything into darkness.
Guan Zhiyi couldn't see his eyes, only realizing she was now sitting on his lap, wrapped entirely in his embrace.
"If you don't want to be found, don't speak," Qi Chengyan's voice came from right beside her ear, very low, carrying a trace of warm, humid breath that brushed across her earlobe, numbing half her body.
Guan Zhiyi didn't dare utter a sound, wanting only to pull back.
"Don't move around either."
"..."
"Huh, why is no one here?" Mao Mao's voice drifted in faintly from outside.
"Zhiyi probably went to walk President Guan out. Look, her phone is still here." It was another staff member.
"Alright, let's tidy this up before we head back."
"Mm."
The sounds from outside were muffled by the wardrobe, the clatter of cleaning up, the low murmur of conversation, drifting in only as faint whispers.
Leaning against his shoulder, whether from the fear of being caught or something else entirely, Guan Zhiyi couldn't stop a slight, involuntary tremble. It was faint, but unmistakable.
Qi Chengyan was hardly faring any better. A moment ago, he had pulled her in out of pure mischief, but once she was inside, he realized it was a mistake. Especially listening to the suppressed breath of the girl in his arms...
What remained unseen was infinitely more tempting.
A long, silent standoff endured until all sound faded from the room outside.
Guan Zhiyi whispered, "...Did they leave?"
Qi Chengyan gave no reply.
Guan Zhiyi slipped her hand out of his grip, reaching to push open the door, but he immediately pulled her back.
"They haven't," he said.
Guan Zhiyi: "But I think I heard the door close."
"I didn't." Qi Chengyan’s voice was deep, laced with an indefinable, smoldering tone. "Don't go out yet."
"But..."
"Didn't you just ask me if that was enough?"
Guan Zhiyi froze.
Whether it was an illusion brought on by the pitch-black darkness, Qi Chengyan’s voice sounded extraordinarily heavy when he asked that question, tight with a coiled, quiet tension that felt almost intimidating.
Qi Chengyan: "It isn't."
"What..."
"Xiao Wu, I don't think that compensation was nearly enough."
Sometimes, a woman's intuition is terrifyingly accurate.
As his words fell, his face pressed in entirely. A ticklish warmth brushed her cheek, his lips grazing past as he misjudged the distance in the dark.
A fine sheen of cold sweat broke out across Guan Zhiyi’s back. "Th-that... mm!"
In her nervousness, she tried to speak, but he used her voice to pinpoint her lips in an instant.
He kissed her fiercely, as if determined to exact every last drop of that compensation!
Guan Zhiyi had never been kissed so intensely while fully conscious. Though her eyes could see nothing, her senses were filled entirely with his taste. Her breath intertwined with his, and even her ears caught nothing but the soft, lingering sounds of their intimacy echoing within the tight, quiet space.
This wardrobe really was far too airtight...
In just a short moment, she felt lightheaded from lack of air, slumping against him in total exhaustion.
Yet it didn't stop. Cut off from the outside world, time itself seemed to have been abandoned.
He knew no fatigue; she knew no defense, wave after wave. When they parted, she was scorched by his slightly ragged breath; when they pressed together, she was ensnared in a sweet, intoxicating thread of intimacy that neither was willing to break, nor able to stop.
"W-wait..."
"..."
"Mm."
Qi Chengyan: "Don't shrink back."
"I... I can't breathe..."
Qi Chengyan let out a low chuckle. "Isn't there still plenty of air in here?" he murmured softly.
"You didn't say that earlier... Stop kissing me..." Guan Zhiyi tilted her chin up, her bewildered voice carrying a hint of a spoiled pout.
Qi Chengyan finally stopped.
"Trust me, they've really left..."
"Mm, I know."
Qi Chengyan knew he had to draw the line somewhere, so he released her. "Go on, open the door."
Guan Zhiyi reached out and slowly pushed the wardrobe door open.
Light flooded inside. Qi Chengyan squinted, unable to adjust right away. When his eyes finally adapted and he turned to look at the girl before him, his heart skipped a beat.
Her face was flushed deep crimson. As fresh air poured over her, her mouth parted slightly, panting in quick, shallow breaths. Near the corner of her lips lay a glistening trace, a lingering mark of the intense encounter moments before.
Qi Chengyan's eyes darkened as he reached out, intending to wipe it away. But the girl on top of him reacted like a startled bird, flinching back instantly before scrambling and rolling right off him.
"Stop sitting in there, hurry up and get out too!" Without daring to steal another glance at him, she bolted out of the bedroom.
Watching her fleeing back, Qi Chengyan let out a soft, helpless laugh. "Coming."
———
Author's Note:
Guan: We finally came out of the closet!
---
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