One Night, One day, One year, One lifetime

Chapter 4

Gao Fei’s lips were soft and sweeter than any desert I had eaten before in the past. With familiarity, I prised open his mouth, biting on his lower lip. I loved to kiss him in this manner, biting him. My hands, which were wound around his body, tightened. At this moment, I wished fervently that Gao Fei and I were the same inseparable entity, never to be torn or cut apart.

Soon, Gao Fei could no longer suppress his desire, his long fingers twining around the back of my head, pushing me back as our bodies arched closer towards the other. His hands, sliding past my clothes, made contact with my body as they wandered across my skin.

Each time we made love, though Gao Fei did not claim me violently, still, he would leave me aching the next day.

As I attended Gao Fei’s company gathering alongside him, I was dressed in ordinary, unassuming clothes. But I was very sorry to realise that this did not prevent Gao Fei’s supervisor from recognising me. I did not know if he was blessed with an all-seeing mind to recognise a jewel amongst stones, or if he possessed a simple mind which could not see past the obvious, but the end result remained unchanged. Even though I only wanted to be Gao Fei’s dutiful wife and not the chairman of some board of directors within this city, all of Gao Fei’s colleague were unable to see this simple wish.

After my father passed away, I succeeded him to become the figurehead director of his enterprise, but I was truly only a figurehead –  a director in name. I did not have the energy required to manage a corporation, nor did I wish to waste any time on anything unrelated to Gao Fei.

But I still underestimated the way people gravitated towards the wealthy and powerful. As I fended off their advances, I felt extremely wronged – I was clearly not the protagonist, but I was surrounded by a sea of people swarming towards me. Helpless, my eyes searched desperately for Gao Fei within the endless people.

Eventually, I found him.

He stood beyond the crowd, a wineglass in his hands. As our eyes met, his lips lifted in a strange smile, the derision within his gaze unmasked.

This was not the Gao Fei I knew.

Abruptly, I felt as though I had committed a heinous crime. Even as I struggled to break free from the crowd, moving past the wall of people gathered around me to search for Gao Fei, his figure had already disappeared from my field of vision.

When we finally returned home, the first words Gao Fei said to me were, ‘Congratulations. Miss He, no, I should say, Chairman He, you’ve succeeded in interfering even with my job.’

I stiffened, the ice in his words curling around my heart. I had not even taken my shoes off. I could not wear high-heels, but for Gao Fei, tonight, I had worn them for five hours straight. The bottom of my heels was muddied with dirt from when I had wade through the flower bed in order to chase him.

I bit on my nails, not knowing what to say in response.

In the end, I lowered my gaze and said, ‘Gao Fei, I love you.’

Whenever I had exhausted my words and was at a loss in explaining myself, I would only say, Gao Fei, I love you. As I repeated this simple sentence over and over again, I hoped that one day, Gao Fei would be able to understand the most sincere feelings within me.

But I had only ever received disappointment. Time and time again, my words had no effect on him.

Gao Fei acted as though he had heard the most amusing joke in the world. As he stood at the topmost level of the stairs, he stared down towards me, his smile becoming all the more enchanting. For a fleeting moment, it seemed as though the faintest breeze of the evening wind would cause Gao Fei to ascend to the Heavens as a celestial.