BFILWY CH 42

Chapter 42: A Counterattack

“Shut up!” An Yue exploded the moment he heard Ye Qinghe call him “An Baby.”

“My bad, my bad! Hahaha…” Ye Qinghe burst into laughter at An Yue’s gritted-teeth outburst, showing no sign of remorse. “That guy, Andy, just wouldn’t take a hint, so I had to spell it out for him.”

“Oh? So you even remembered his name? Impressive. The moment I left, you two hit it off right away. Had a nice chat, did you?” The heat was making An Yue dizzy, and he momentarily lost control of himself. Sarcastic words spilled out before he could stop them, catching Ye Qinghe off guard. His eyes widened slightly.

Ye Qinghe had spent years in the dating field—how could he not recognize An Yue’s emotions right now?

He was jealous.

“I wasn’t entertaining him. He was the one who kept clinging to me,” Ye Qinghe said with a bright grin. “An Baby, don’t be mad, okay?”

An Yue frowned. He didn’t understand what Ye Qinghe meant by “don’t be mad.”

“I’m not mad!” An Yue was so irritated that he forgot to object to the disgusting new nickname.

“Alright, alright, you’re not mad,” Ye Qinghe soothed him with a gentle tone.

That strange, placating smile on Ye Qinghe’s face made An Yue slowly regain his composure. His mind finally started working again.

Am I mad? Seeing Chairman Ye being flirted with, getting all touchy-feely with someone else, laughing and chatting—am I actually mad about that?

Why would I be mad?

The more An Yue thought about it, the heavier his heart felt.

I’m not even his anything. What right do I have to be mad?

He let out a cold chuckle and shook his head. “I’m not mad. I was just worried you’d run into a bad guy and get deceived.” His voice was now completely calm.

Hearing that indifferent chuckle, Ye Qinghe immediately sensed the shift in An Yue’s attitude. He had returned to his usual distant, impenetrable self.

“What’s there to deceive me out of?” Ye Qinghe’s smile faded into a helpless one as he lowered his head and sat in silence.

“It smells nice in here.”

An Yue had already regained his composure. To cover up his earlier slip, he searched for something—anything—to talk about.

“It’s the scent of cypress wood^[1],” Ye Qinghe responded. “I remember when we first came to check out this place, the agent mentioned that the sauna was built with cypress. They said its natural fragrance makes people feel like they’re in a forest, almost like experiencing forest therapy.”

“Hmm, it does feel nice,” An Yue commented before glancing at his watch. “It’s been twenty minutes. We should step out for some air.”

Ye Qinghe nodded and raised his hand. An Yue approached and let him grab hold, leading him out.

Afterward, Ye Qinghe suggested they try the steam room. Seeing the thick mist swirling inside, An Yue found it intriguing and led him in—only to realize that someone was already there.

“Oh, you guys came too?” Andy’s voice rang out. “I even gave up the sauna for you, but I didn’t expect you to finish so soon. Who couldn’t keep up?”

“Annoying,” An Yue muttered under his breath.

Ye Qinghe didn’t respond at all.

The three of them sat in silence inside the steam room. Andy tried several times to start a conversation, but neither of them entertained him. Eventually, losing interest, he left.

After a short while, Ye Qinghe and An Yue also found the steam room stuffy and stepped out. Since it was their first time here, they wanted to try everything, so they moved on to the hot and cold pools. The icy water left An Yue’s lips purple and his limbs numb, while Ye Qinghe also started feeling unwell. The lack of airflow made his head throb, but he didn’t mention it to An Yue. He was afraid that if he complained, An Yue wouldn’t bring him here again.

Finally, they returned to the hot pool to warm up before getting out, drying themselves off, and changing into loungewear. While the leisure center had simple showers, they planned to take the elevator back home to shower.

Just as An Yue realized they had left their swimming goggles in the storage cubby outside the sauna and turned back to retrieve them, he was unexpectedly blocked by Andy.

“Hey.” Andy stopped him in his tracks. “Are you two actually a couple or not?”

“None of your business,” An Yue snapped impatiently.

Andy had been stewing over it for a while. He had seen plenty of people in their circle, and no one was ever serious about relationships. He refused to believe that someone as ordinary as that pale-skinned little thing couldn’t be swayed.

Seeing that An Yue wasn’t giving him a straight answer, Andy decided to cut to the chase.

“If you two aren’t together, then I can pursue him, right?”

Andy thought he was being quite the gentleman—at the very least, he had checked to make sure he wouldn’t be stepping in as a third party.

An Yue frowned, feeling annoyed. How was this guy just as irritating as Ye Qinghe? Frustrated, he snapped, “Go ahead and chase him if you want. Why are you talking so much?”

Without bothering to engage further, he sidestepped Andy and deliberately slowed his pace toward the sauna, giving Andy plenty of time to go after Ye Qinghe if he wanted.

Meanwhile, Ye Qinghe stood by the leisure center’s entrance, waiting for An Yue to return. But instead of An Yue, he was greeted by the unwelcome sight of Andy.

Andy handed him a business card, flashing a confident smile. “I checked with your companion—he said you two aren’t together, which means I can pursue you. Make sure to contact me, okay? I’m really quite good. You’ll know once you try.”

As if that wasn’t enough, he even grabbed Ye Qinghe’s hand and placed it on his abs.

By the time An Yue returned with the swimming goggles, he was met with the sight of Ye Qinghe standing there, looking bewildered, a business card in hand.

Peering over, An Yue instantly understood—Andy had already made his move.

“He left?” An Yue asked, his tone laced with sourness. “And he even gave you his card?”

He scoffed, unable to suppress his jealousy. “That guy’s actually not bad. Handsome, great body—you could consider him.” He thought he was speaking with calm indifference, but the unmistakable acidity in his voice betrayed him. “Need me to call him for you?”

Ye Qinghe didn’t answer. Instead, he frowned in displeasure. “I heard you told him he could pursue me? How generous of you.” His tone carried a rare seriousness. “Who gave you the right to agree on my behalf?”

“Uh… That’s not what I meant.”

An Yue had just been sarcastic a moment ago, but seeing Ye Qinghe’s rare stern expression, he knew the man was genuinely upset. Panicked, he quickly explained, “He asked if he could chase after you, and I just told him to do whatever he wanted instead of wasting time talking so much…”

The more he spoke, the more he realized something was off.

Wait.

Didn’t this explanation make things sound even worse? Not only did it seem like he had given Andy the green light, but he had practically encouraged him to hurry up!

He should have asked Ye Qinghe first whether he was even interested in Andy. Instead, he had recklessly opened the door for someone else, no wonder Ye Qinghe was mad.

“I just… found him annoying and blurted it out without thinking…”

An Yue felt guilty under Ye Qinghe’s gaze. But then, to his surprise, the stern expression on Ye Qinghe’s face suddenly melted into a knowing smile.

“Oh? So that’s how it is?”

“Yes, yes, exactly!” Seeing Ye Qinghe smile, An Yue quickly nodded, eager to smooth things over.

But then, Ye Qinghe’s next words caught him completely off guard.

“So what you’re saying is, when I asked if I could pursue you before, I was talking too much? Instead of asking, I should have just gone ahead and done it? Got it.”

Huh?!

That’s not what I meant, Chairman Ye!

An Yue stood there, dumbfounded, realizing he had just been completely outmaneuvered.

Meanwhile, Ye Qinghe, who had faced numerous setbacks in his pursuit of An Yue, finally discovered the secret to success. His mood brightened considerably.

He casually tore Andy’s business card in half—then in half again, and once more—until it was reduced to tiny pieces. Cheerfully, he said, “Baby, do me a favor and throw this away.”

He held out the shredded card, waiting for An Yue to take it.

“…”

An Yue, utterly played by his own words, snatched the scraps and angrily tossed them into the trash bin by the door.

“Let’s go! We’re heading back.”

His voice was sharp and impatient, as if still irritated, but when he stepped into the elevator and saw their reflections in the mirror—the two of them alone in the enclosed space—he realized that Ye Qinghe wasn’t the only one smiling.

An Yue’s face burned.

Embarrassed and annoyed, he quickly lowered his head, covering his face with his hands.

He didn’t want to see himself like this—defenseless, completely disarmed, turned into a soft, mushy mess for no reason at all.

(To be continued…)