Chapter 59 Have You Ever Considered Me for a Second?

Chapter 59: Have You Ever Considered Me for Even a Second?

Jiang Tianyi injured her foot while playing tennis and flew back to Hong Kong early to recover. A big crowd of people crowded around the boarding gate to see her off.

Most of them were Guan Junshan’s people—besides his assistant, a doctor and a nurse had also come, along with a nutritionist who would accompany her to Hong Kong.

Jiang Tianyi’s ankle was in a cast, so she could only sit meekly in a wheelchair. Her assistant pushed her from behind, occasionally bending down to adjust the blanket covering her legs.

Guan Junshan still needed some time to finish up his business in the capital. Jiang Tianyi casually invited him to go pick out wedding bands together early next month. Standing there with one hand in his pocket, Guan Junshan’s face was unreadable. After a long silence, he nodded and said, “Okay.”

Jiang Tianyi let out a sigh of relief at his response. This was probably the only private conversation the two of them would ever have. Just as she finished speaking, a phone rang—it was Guan Junshan’s. Lin Haoda stood beside him, noticed his brow furrow as he glanced at the screen. After hesitating briefly, he answered the call.

After a few words on the phone, Guan Junshan lowered his voice and said, “We’re about to board the plane.”

Whatever was said on the other end made him lift his eyes to glance over at Jiang Tianyi in the wheelchair. Looking displeased, he asked, “Is there something that absolutely has to be said right now?”

Jiang Tianyi noticed his glance and caught on, lifting her head to ask, “Is it Uncle Guan? Is he looking for me?”

She raised her hand, palm facing up, gesturing toward Guan Junshan. “Let me talk to him.”

Guan Junshan handed her his phone, which was still on the call.

While Jiang Tianyi was on the phone with Guan Yongyue, a boarding announcement rang out through the airport. Lin Haoda turned his head to look at the electronic screen above, zoning out for a second. When he shifted his gaze back, Jiang Tianyi had already returned the phone to Guan Junshan.

But the call still wasn’t over. Guan Junshan walked away with the phone, standing alone by the floor-to-ceiling windows in the distance. His expression finally darkened.

No one else present spoke. They all stood waiting in place, even though passengers on the same flight had already started heading toward the boarding gate.

When the second announcement rang out, Lin Haoda’s gaze accidentally met Jiang Tianyi’s. Startled at first, he felt a twinge of guilt and tried to look away, trying to act natural.

Jiang Tianyi didn’t say anything but smiled at him, then took the initiative and called him: “Hao Da.”

Lin Haoda walked over, bending slightly, and said, “Miss Jiang, what is it?”

“Since I won’t be here, I’m counting on you and Assistant Yang to look after Jun Shan,” she said casually, as if just making small talk. “After all, you’ve known each other for a long time and understand each other well.”

Lin Haoda stood beside her, eyes lowered, and replied softly, “I will.”

Jiang Tianyi said “Thank you” and then reached out her hand to give him a hug.

Her assistant let go of the wheelchair and stepped to a slightly farther spot.

Jiang Tianyi gently pressed her hand on Lin Haoda’s shoulder and held him for a bit. Then she suddenly whispered, “Guan Junshan and I are very alike.”

“Lonely, isolated, pretending we don’t care about anything,” she said. “And we thought we’d never fall in love with anyone either.”

Lin Haoda was about to move when she held him still again. “But you’re different from both of us.”

A few seconds later, she released Lin Haoda on her own. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Guan Junshan, who had ended his call, and her own assistant both walking toward them at the same time.

Jiang Tianyi tilted her head and gave him a slight smile. “Do you understand?”

Lin Haoda blinked slowly, paused, and then shook his head slightly.

Jiang Tianyi laughed even more brightly and said, “Alright, that’s fine too.”

Guan Junshan walked over and reached out and touched Lin Haoda’s shoulder, his tone gentle: “What were you talking about?”

Lin Haoda turned his head to look at him. His lips moved as if to say something, but just then Jiang Tianyi’s assistant returned. She said, “President Guan,” but her eyes were fixed on Guan Junshan’s hand gripping Lin Haoda’s shoulder.

Lin Haoda quickly closed his mouth and stood up, inconspicuously moving a little farther from Guan Junshan.

After seeing Jiang Tianyi and her group off, on the way back from the airport, Lin Haoda couldn’t help saying, “I think Miss Jiang already knows.”

As soon as he said it, the car fell silent. Yang Yue, who was driving up front, broke into a cold sweat and nearly let go of the steering wheel.

Guan Junshan took off his glasses, pressed the bridge of his nose, and looked up at him without changing his expression. “What do you mean?”

Lin Haoda then recounted what Jiang Tianyi had said at the airport that morning—so out of character for her. After finishing, he raised his eyes again to study Guan Junshan’s expression.

Guan Junshan listened, was quiet for a long while, and looked none too pleased—probably because of Jiang Tianyi’s comment about him “pretending he doesn’t care about anything.”

Lin Haoda stared at his face and couldn’t help laughing. “President Guan, your face is so long it’s almost hitting your collarbone.”

Yang Yue laughed too, sneaking frequent glances at Guan Junshan in the rearview mirror.

“At least she got one thing right,” Guan Junshan said without flinching, telling Lin Haoda. “In some ways, we’re the same.”

Lin Haoda blinked, continuing to stare at him, looking completely unable to grasp what he meant.

“Marriage is marriage, feelings are feelings,” Guan Junshan said, squeezing the tips of Lin Haoda’s fingers that were resting on the seat. “It’s best if they can be kept separate.”

“If neither you nor Miss Jiang has any feelings for each other,” Lin Haoda tried to understand, but the most important question still loomed before him, unsolvable, “then why do you have to get married at all?”

“Lin Haoda.” Guan Junshan paused for a moment, then called his name, his voice dropping a little. “Don’t start.”

Lin Haoda sat in his seat, looking down at his own interlaced fingers. His lips parted for a moment, then he said calmly, “I’m not.”

Arguing about the same issue once brought guilt, twice brought pity, but by the third time, it turned into impatience.

Lin Haoda had never imagined that the patience Guan Junshan invested in him would be used up so quickly. His heart felt like it was filled with boiling water, sloshing around in his chest, scorching every inch of flesh and blood.

“President Guan,” he called out, his voice a little hoarse. He cleared his throat before continuing, “Then I won’t ask anymore.”

His voice was very low and light, like a reluctant, grudging compromise.

The car sped along the ring road, scenery outside blurred into a smudge, rapidly receding. The car fell silent again, the atmosphere was suffocating.

No one knew how long passed before Guan Junshan reached out and took hold of Lin Haoda’s fingers again, then hummed in acknowledgment.

Compared to Lin Haoda’s, Guan Junshan’s hands were always warm and very nimble, able to easily envelop Lin Haoda’s entire palm.

Lin Haoda wanted to break free, but the hand Guan Junshan held had no strength at all. Guan Junshan liked to gently rub each one of Lin Haoda’s fingertips, with just the right amount of pressure, easily making Lin Haoda’s whole body go limp, draining all the strength from his body, turning him into a breached dam that kept seeping.

He didn’t want to talk, didn’t want to make a sound, so he remained silent, turning his head to look at the scenery outside the window, even though all that could be seen on both sides were large stretches of undeveloped wasteland—nothing worth seeing.

They drove into the city, and Yang Yue parked the car in the underground garage of the complex. Lin Haoda said goodbye to him, turned around, and took the elevator up, all the way to the top floor of the apartment building.

Guan Junshan came in twenty minutes later, his coat carrying a faint smell of cigarette smoke. The home fragrance had run out, and the housekeeper hadn’t brought a replacement yet. As he stood in the living room, the smell of burnt tobacco drifted all the way into the guest room.

Lin Haoda had gotten up too early that morning to see them off at the airport and had just changed into his pajamas, planning to take a nap. He smelled the smoke but didn’t say anything—just frowned in displeasure and gently closed the door.

He tried to lock it, and only relaxed after he heard the click, then lay back down on the big bed. Just as he was about to pull down his sleep mask, “Bang!” The door burst open and Guan Junshan stormed in, the key sliding off and clattering onto the carpet.

Lin Haoda sat up in bed, looking at him calmly. “You smell like cigarette smoke.”

He added, “And I’m going to sleep now, President Guan.”

Guan Junshan’s handsome face was dark as a storm cloud. He stood by the bed and looked at him for a moment, then suddenly took off his coat. With one hand, he ripped off his vest and shirt, baring his chest, and in two steps, pressed himself toward Lin Haoda on the bed.

Lin Haoda startled, sprang up from the bed, but as he tried to move, Guan Junshan grabbed both his wrists and pinned them above his head in the next second.

Guan Junshan's chest heaved slightly, he tilted his head and kissed the side of his neck, breathing in the warmth seeping through his skin.

"Stop... stop, Guan Junshan!" Lin Haoda couldn't take it anymore, struggling desperately to put some distance between them, "What... what the hell is wrong with you?!"

Guan Junshan straightened up, stared him straight in the eye, his expression unchanged, "Lin Haoda," his pupils were jet-black, fathomless, with a storm churning inside, "Have you ever considered me, even for a second?"

Then he lowered his head and bit down hard on his lips.