Please Marry Me (GL) - Chapter 9

Xie Fulan lowered her hands and let out an awkward laugh. “What a coincidence.”

Shen Siyun set her glass down without expression. “Still want to talk about your ‘love dying in the cradle’?”

Even she, the patron whose little lover had run off, wasn’t crying about being wronged.

“No, no, I’ll stop talking.” Xie Fulan wished she could find a crack in the floor to crawl into.

Shen Siyun stood up to head out. This gathering had cost her all her dignity today. “I’m going to the restroom.”

Xie Fulan hurriedly moved aside to let her pass.

BEATING HEART was decorated with comfortable elegance. Heavy, antique bookshelves partitioned the space, and clusters of small flowers in white porcelain vases accented the rippling light.

Shen Siyun walked along the long corridor in her high heels, pushed open the restroom door, and stood before a massive mirror, turning on the faucet.

Clear, cool water flowed over her long, jade-like hands. Shen Siyun closed her eyes again. It had been so many days, and while the busyness of work provided a temporary anesthetic, the image of Jiang Yi falling for someone else and getting married flashed before her eyes constantly, preventing her from remaining calm.

Her fingers tightened into a fist. Shen Siyun turned off the tap, took a deep breath, and opened her eyes to look at the woman in the mirror. At twenty-seven, she was still young. Where did she fall short compared to that woman named Song Rao?

She, Shen Siyun, had the looks and the money. Aside from not knowing how to do scientific research, where was she lacking?

From childhood to now, she, Shen Siyun, had never suffered such humiliation!

Suddenly, the door behind her was pushed open, and a familiar figure walked in.

Shen Siyun narrowed her eyes. She set down the hand towel and shifted her gaze from the mirror to the person behind her.

“Jiang Yi.”

Hearing that voice, Jiang Yi immediately became alert. She looked at the woman standing by the vanity. Shen Siyun was tall, wearing a black casual blazer with a waist belt cinching a wide-brimmed matching skirt. The slight V-neckline faintly revealed a full cleavage. With her slim back and straight shoulders, she wore high-end luxury fashion to a new level of sophistication.

The only bright color was the lipstick on her porcelain-white skin—vibrant and commanding.

In the past, when Jiang Yi saw Shen Siyun dressed in such a “mature boss” style, she would have wanted to peel that blazer off her and leave her own marks, much like a child asserting ownership over a toy.

But now, she was a married woman.

“Why are you here?” Jiang Yi hesitated, wondering if she should even use the restroom anymore; she would rather run up another flight of stairs to find a different one.

Today was the weekend. Since she had recently started her job, her colleagues had organized a welcome party for her, and the venue happened to be BEATING HEART.

She never expected to run into Shen Siyun here. Moreover, the woman in front of her looked like she was ready to settle a debt, stepping toward her in those high heels.

Jiang Yi took a small step back, feeling a trace of fear. “Shen Siyun, what are you trying to do?”

“Jiang Yi!”

Shen Siyun strode right up to her, cupped her face, and kissed her.

A soft sensation descended, accompanied by the pleasant, cool fragrance that always clung to Shen Siyun. Jiang Yi was stunned. Memories from the depths of her mind were triggered as she stared blankly into those deep, dark eyes. Her pale hands instinctively gripped the sleeves of the blazer.

Perhaps because it had been too long since she had tasted a woman, an indescribable longing spread to every cell, as if she had returned to the past. Back to the days when her skin was pressed against Shen Siyun’s, when every corner of the apartment held the lingering shadows of their messy, entangled intimacy.

Shen Siyun always felt like a fish in a drying pond or a withered tree in a desert, tirelssly seeking moisture, yet always maintaining a sense of measured control.

Shen Siyun expertly pried open her teeth.

The sensation of the intrusion caused Jiang Yi to startle. She snapped awake and, realizing what was happening, shoved the woman away.

Covering her mouth, she slapped her.

Shen Siyun felt a stinging heat on her cheek. Her gaze was as cold as frost as she stared at Jiang Yi, watching her watery eyes instantly cloud over with a mixture of shame and fury as she glared back.

“Shen Siyun, you’ve gone too far!” The corners of Jiang Yi’s beautiful eyes welled with tears, turning red in an instant.

“Too far?” Shen Siyun countered. “Who exactly is the one who went too far?”

Taking advantage of her business trip to drop a “marriage gift package” on her—Shen Siyun hadn’t even had time to react before she was slapped with a green hat. She hadn’t even said anything yet, but here Jiang Yi was, acting like the aggrieved party.

“I don’t believe I’ve done anything to owe you,” Jiang Yi said, her eyes red with anger. “Even if I married Song Rao, it was after our agreement ended.”

Once the agreement was over, she was a free person. She could marry whoever she wanted; she didn’t owe Shen Siyun anything.

“Did you ever ask for my consent?” Listening to her self-righteous explanation, Shen Siyun’s thin lips curled into a cold sneer. “In business, this behavior is called acting first and reporting later—going directly against the client.”

“You should stop trying to save face for yourself,” Jiang Yi retorted, calming down as she heard the mockery.

“When the agreement was active, you were the client. Now that it’s over, you’re nothing to me. If I don’t want to do business with you anymore, are you going to use force? You’re a woman who reeks of money and only knows how to use it to crush people. Do you even know how to spell the word ‘respect’? Move aside, don’t block my way.”

Jiang Yi pulled out a tissue and wiped her mouth. Her lipstick had mixed with Shen Siyun’s, making it impossible to fix. Frowning, she wiped it all off and stood before the mirror to reapply it.

Shen Siyun’s expression was unreadable as she slowly curled her fingers into a fist. Despite being furious enough to faint, she exerted every effort to suppress it.

A few seconds later, the door opened and closed. Jiang Yi’s hand paused as she applied her lipstick. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught the reflection in the mirror of Shen Siyun’s defeated departure—her figure looking just a little bit lonely and desolate under the white fluorescent lights