Gan Yuan’s nose tingled, and she sneezed heavily.
Huangfu Jue hadn’t given her a chance to change her clothes. The air conditioning on the terrace was turned on for the ladies attending the banquet to increase the temperature.
The hotel’s interior temperature was only a little over twenty degrees. With just her thin dress on, the breeze from the elevator’s ventilation system made it inevitably chilly.
Raising her hand to rub her nose, she pulled her wrist from Huangfu Jue’s hand, wrapped her arms around herself, and lifted her face to watch the numbers jump on the screen.
Behind her, there was a faint sound, but she paid it no mind. The elevator had 24-hour surveillance; she wasn’t worried that he would do anything improper.
Her shoulder weighed down as his suit jacket, carrying his body warmth, was draped over her. She didn’t thank him but simply lifted her arms into the sleeves of the suit and drew it close around her.
The man asked from behind her.
She responded crankily.
The dress was very long, trailing to the tops of her feet, and with his suit jacket on, she was no longer cold. However, she was just being contrary on purpose.
No sooner had she spoken than her arm was pulled, and she was turned one hundred and eighty degrees, facing him instead of having her back to him.
"What are you doing now..."
She lifted her face, impatiently demanding an answer, but before she finished speaking, she found herself enveloped in his embrace.
She growled, struggling.
The man not only didn’t let go but tightened his arms around her, raising one hand to press her face against his chest.
Aside from the suit jacket, he had only a thin shirt on his body, and having worn it for so long, it had long since absorbed his body heat.
The single layer of fabric was nearly as good as nothing; she could clearly feel the firmness of his pectoral muscles, the rise and fall of his chest with each breath, and the steady, strong beat of his heart.
A faint scent of rosemary enveloped her in an instant.
"This is a bit warmer."
His voice echoed in her ear, made deeper by the resonance from his chest.
In the depths of her heart, an unusual emotion stirred, and she lightly sniffed.
"I’m not cold anymore, let go."
Beneath his neck, her hair was slightly cool, and the strands under his palm felt smooth as silk.
At his chest, his skin was slightly pinched by the brooch on her dress, causing him pain that he liked. The pain was real, affirming that she truly existed and was not merely a figment of his imagination.
There were only two people in the elevator, and the steady descent created a subtle feeling of weightlessness.
In a daze, he had the illusion that they were the only ones left in the world.
Her tense body gradually relaxed, and realizing that some dangerous sensations were stirring in the depths of her heart, Gan Yuan quickly bit her lip to regain her wavering rationality.
Then he tightened his arms around her, his face tilted down, and his nose gently brushed her hair, smelling the faint scent in it.
At this moment, he didn’t want anything else, just to hold her quietly for a while.
She growled, her tone filled with anger, not just at him, but at herself too.
Why did she agree to attend his damn ball? Why did she agree to let Xiaotang help him with the publicity? She should have walked away resolutely, never to appear before him again, shouldn’t she?
Gan Yuan, oh Gan Yuan, even now, can’t you bear to leave him?
Taking a deep breath, Huangfu Jue softly spoke.
"Come back with Xiaotang and me, will you?"