Pretending To Have Amnesia - Chapter 16

He Mu did not want to be so useless as to have her mind easily disturbed. She struggled, trying to get up.

But Mu Qingran’s arms were locked tightly around her waist. With a turn of her body, she pressed He Mu down onto the sofa.

The pure white leather sofa bore the weight of both of them, sinking slightly.

He Mu’s two hands were trapped above her head, leaving her unable to move.

Before her, Mu Qingran’s eyes were hazy and unfocused, without the slightest trace of sobriety. She licked her lips, her breathing heavy, like someone who had been thirsty for a very long time and wanted to immediately scoop up a handful of clear spring water and drink it down.

“Rest early.” He Mu said this flatly, then pushed upward with her shoulders, but failed to get up.

She could not tell whether Mu Qingran was too strong, or whether she herself had not used all her strength.

Mu Qingran held He Mu’s wrist, and the pad of her index finger slowly slid into He Mu’s delicate palm, lightly circling and rubbing.

He Mu tightened her jaw. Her eyelashes trembled faintly, and her pupils shifted toward the corners of her eyes, avoiding Mu Qingran’s flushed face.

“You’re drunk,” she said.

If she were not drunk, why would she do something so incomprehensible?

Mu Qingran directly covered the corner of He Mu’s lips. Her thin lips parted slightly, lightly catching half of those equally soft lips between them.

Their noses touched, turned, brushed past each other, then met again, pressing together.

“Are you… are you… crazy?!” He Mu’s lips were blocked, and she forced the words out in broken fragments, furious beyond measure.

During those few fleeting nights between them, Mu Qingran had never kissed her. The only time their lips and tongues had touched had been in the office, when they had bitten each other’s tongues in anger.

To He Mu, the grinding of lips and the mingling of tongues were intimate acts reserved for lovers who mutually adored one another, almost sacred in nature.

She had thought Mu Qingran was the same.

So it turned out she was not.

She was furious that Mu Qingran could so easily profane what He Mu regarded as sacred while drunk. Even more than that, she was furious that she could not push away such a terrible person.

Mu Qingran did not want her. Clearly, He Mu should be tormenting Mu Qingran and taking revenge on her.

What did this count as now?

A scorching tear slid from the corner of He Mu’s eye, blurring her upturned eyeliner.

He Mu wanted to bite Mu Qingran’s tongue the way she had last time, but when her teeth touched that softness, she still withdrew her strength. Instead, she clamped down on Mu Qingran’s wrists and turned over.

The two of them fell off the sofa together. The back of Mu Qingran’s head and her back hit the floor.

Fortunately, there was a soft carpet underneath, so the fall was not serious.

Mu Qingran’s brows knitted together, rising like a small hill.

What had flashed through Mu Qingran’s eyes just now—was that grievance?

He Mu had long since grown tired of her own wishful thinking. Under the influence of alcohol, people did all kinds of strange things, didn’t they?

Perhaps Mu Qingran was simply too drunk and could not restrain the physical needs of someone her age.

He Mu’s ten fingers sank into the gaps between Mu Qingran’s, squeezing her hands until they lost shape.

Mu Qingran seemed not to know pain. She lifted her head and pecked He Mu’s lips again.

He Mu lowered her voice and asked hoarsely, “What exactly do you want to do?”

But in the end, her question still received no answer.

Mu Qingran’s head fell back onto the carpet. She closed her eyes, and faint, even breaths sounded from her nose.

The smell of alcohol lingering at the tip of He Mu’s nose made her irritable and distracted. Or perhaps, from the moment she tasted the remnants of fine wine inside Mu Qingran’s mouth, she had become drunk along with her.

Even more disturbing was the faint fragrance at Mu Qingran’s neck, something even the strongest alcohol could not cover. No matter how much time had passed, it still left He Mu unable to resist.

Rosemary.

How could a plaything have the right to do whatever it wanted according to its own heart?

He Mu dragged Mu Qingran into the bathroom and turned on the faucet. Water splashed everywhere.

In just a few seconds, Mu Qingran was drenched. Her slightly curled long hair, with just the right curve, clung entirely to her face and neck.

Water flowed down along her neck, soaking the black structured-shoulder suit jacket and the white silk blouse inside.

Beneath the shower, the cool-faced woman was washed by the stream of water until her graceful outline emerged.

A thorned red rose approached the holy white rose, its sharp stem piercing through the white rose’s bud.

The white petals trembled, then bloomed.

The leaves and petals sliced open by sharp thorns scattered and fell, stained with the powder of the red rose.

…

He Mu carried a quilt and pillow to the living room sofa, wrapped herself into a caterpillar, and closed her eyes.

She absolutely had not run out to sleep on the sofa because she pitied Mu Qingran for being drunk. It was because Mu Qingran was sprawled across the bed like a lump of mud, and He Mu could not move her.

However, this time, Mu Qingran had truly reached the peak, hadn’t she?

That kind of allure that came from the inside out could not be faked.

It seemed that wine was sometimes a good thing after all.

But what if she had not appeared today?

During those five years when He Mu had not existed in her life, had Mu Qingran ever had moments like this too? On some drunken night, had she kissed, entangled, and touched someone unknown without the slightest barrier between them?

The person on the sofa lost the rhythm of her breathing. She curled her knees up and hugged them in her arms, like a tiny baby inside its mother’s womb.

It had not even reached December yet, but the temperature had already begun to plummet rapidly. The damp cold of the south could always find every gap and burrow into your bones.

He Mu had grown up in the heated north since childhood. Whenever she occasionally went south for vacations, it was always during warm spring days when flowers were blooming. It was truly difficult for her to get used to an icy bed that could never be warmed.

Early in the morning, when He Mu had only just gained a little awareness, she felt as though she had slept on the ice bed of the Ancient Tomb Sect. Even the quilt covering her was like an ice blanket.

Her ten toes curled from the cold.

Her neck was stiff and painful, and the arm pressed against her side was a little numb. Her right hand was especially sore and aching in an indescribable way.

She really did not know whether she had slept last night or endured torture.

She slowly sat up, moved her shoulders around, then coughed lightly a few times to clear her throat. Lifting her eyes, she saw that the bedroom door was open.

It seemed to have been closed last night.

He Mu got up and walked into the bedroom.

The bedsheets and duvet cover had both been changed, laid out meticulously, flat and smooth. There was not the slightest trace of how intense a battlefield it had been last night.

The small room was empty.

Only she remained.

The person standing by the bed felt even colder from head to toe, as though even her blood were chilled.

In truth, before she came in, hadn’t she already guessed this?

A bitter smile rose at the corners of He Mu’s lips. She walked to the clean, bright floor-to-ceiling window.

After so many gloomy days, the sun had finally come out.

It was the sunny day she liked.

He Mu narrowed her eyes and reached a hand toward the sunlight. Her long fingers bent slightly, as though she wanted to catch that precious sunlight, yet was afraid that if she grabbed it, it would scatter.

In the end, she still withdrew her hand. Her bare face tilted up slightly, and her nostrils trembled as she greedily inhaled a breath of oxygen warmed by the sunlight.

Fish needed water.

She needed the sun.

“Good morning, President He.” The receptionist stood up and welcomed her with a smile.

“Morning.” He Mu smiled at the receptionist. “Xiao Fa, right?”

The receptionist’s surname was Hua, but one coworker often slipped and pronounced it as Fa, so she simply gave herself the workplace nickname Xiao Fa. This way, when colleagues called her that, it would not feel too distant.

She had not expected President He to call her that.

The receptionist surnamed Hua froze for half a minute before nodding in surprise and delight. “That’s right. That’s me.”

He Mu’s attitude was friendly. “If calling me President He feels too formal in ordinary situations, you can call me President Mu too.” After saying that, she laughed despite herself. “I forgot. There’s already a President Mu in the company.”

“Then… I’ll call you President Mumu. The other colleagues should be willing to call you that too.” Receptionist Xiao Fa was very talented when it came to handling interpersonal relationships. She knew this newly arrived young leader wanted to enter the company with an approachable image, so she very naturally helped He Mu build that step.

He Mu raised her brows slightly, appreciation hidden in her eyes.

“Could I trouble Xiao Fa to make me a cup of coffee? Hot Americano. Thank you.” After saying that, she walked toward her office.

Two female colleagues had stood at the entrance for quite a while. Only when He Mu had walked far away did they dare enter.

“That young lady’s speaking voice is so nice! My ears are going to get pregnant!”

“Right, right? I feel the same way. She especially sounds like the yandere younger woman in the audio drama I’ve been listening to lately. Especially that faint graininess in her voice. It’s so magnetic!”

Hearing their conversation, Xiao Fa smiled and teased, “You two, wipe your drool! I thought you were only interested in handsome guys. Why do you become creeps the moment you see a beautiful woman?”

“Who wouldn’t like a beautiful woman?” The female colleague obsessed with audio dramas clasped both hands together, the corners of her mouth rising until they could stand shoulder to shoulder with the sun. “I’ve already imagined an entire captivity lesbian novel about a yandere president and a frail Cinderella.”

The colleague beside her looked horrified. “Something is wrong with you!” In the next second, she said, “Start writing. Show it to me when you’re done.”

Xiao Fa covered her mouth, holding back laughter. “If President Mumu knew you two had thoughts like this, she’d definitely…” She raised a hand and made a throat-slitting gesture.

“Such dangerous thoughts of offending a superior can only be hidden inside our own heads, obviously. How could we—”

The voice stopped abruptly. The person speaking petrified, even forgetting to close her half-open mouth.

A few steps away, the big boss, Mu Qingran, was standing at the door of the small conference room, holding a tablet computer in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. She looked exactly like the statue of Themis in front of a courthouse, with a sword in one hand and scales in the other.

So… what they had just said…

Mu Qingran had no intention of embarrassing her employees. She walked straight back to her office as though she had heard nothing.

“Ahhhhh! I’m dead!” The female employee whose dangerous thoughts had been heard by the boss now only wanted to disappear on the spot. Although she had not been talking about the boss, having the boss hear her imagining that kind of thing about the deputy president sent by their investor daddy—who knew what the boss would think!

Xiao Fa did not know how to comfort her colleague, so she could only awkwardly make a “hang in there” gesture at her before turning into the pantry to prepare President Mumu’s coffee.

Knock, knock, knock.

Xiao Fa knocked on the office door.

“Come in,” the person inside responded.

“President Mumu, the coffee you wanted.” Xiao Fa placed the white ceramic cup by He Mu’s hand and bloomed into a sunny smile that made anyone who saw it feel happy.

“Thank you.” He Mu leaned back against her chair, raised her head to look at the young woman, and smiled. “Your dimples are very cute.”

Xiao Fa had entered society early and had worked for two years. She was only twenty-two now, a little younger than He Mu. On top of that, she was petite, so people in the company often praised her as cute.

But this was the first time she had been praised like this by a senior leader.

“Thank you, President Mumu.” She scratched her ear, very embarrassed.

During the past five years, He Mu had gone through a great deal of tempering. She had long since deeply understood that interactions between people could not rely on likes and dislikes alone. Skills had to be added as well in order to make others serve one’s purposes. Sincere praise was far more effective than fault-finding criticism in making others work wholeheartedly.

Prioritizing the discovery of other people’s shining points and affirming them had long since become her habit.

The premise was that the person in question was not Mu Qingran.

Just then, Mu Qingran appeared at the doorway at some unknown point.

“President He, I remember you said you wanted to attend the conference call with Yangde Advertising.” Mu Qingran said, “Everyone is waiting for you alone.”

He Mu remembered that there had indeed been such a thing. She picked up her phone, and the group meeting request was flashing on the screen. Yesterday, she had set it to silent and forgotten to turn it back.

He Mu put on her earphones, tapped the screen with her finger, and joined the meeting.

She did not respond to Mu Qingran’s words, nor did she look at her again.

Mu Qingran walked over, drew the phone out of He Mu’s hand, confirmed that the microphone was off, and said, “Go to the large conference room.”

Her tone was even colder than before, completely different from the version of her last night who had taken the initiative to stir up fire.

He Mu stood, took back her phone, and as she passed by Mu Qingran, whether intentionally or unintentionally, she heavily knocked into her shoulder.

Xiao Fa, who one second ago had still been immersed in the joy of being praised by a leader, immediately stood upright and did not dare breathe loudly.

She did not seem to have made any mistake just now, but why had President Mu’s gaze just now felt a little frightening?