The Inconceivable Flame: A Fallen Angel's Disguise

’Don’t you dare fall for it! Push him away already!’

Ru was urging herself to push him but her stupid conscience wasn’t listening. As it kept reminding her, ’Let’s stay for a while longer.’

’For what?’ She snapped back at her conscience.

’To steal some body heat for a cold person like you. Duh!’ Ru rolled her eyes inwardly before speaking up, "Can you let go now? Don’t push me over the edge."

Xiao Zhi Ren tut-tutted as he retracted his arms rather reluctantly. "You should change your passcode. I accidentally saw it earlier." Ru raised her single brow at him. "Trust me, it wasn’t intentional." Ru didn’t reply. She kept herself busy with collecting the teapot and boiling some water for herself. Not willing to back out, he added, "So, does 0814 has some kind of special meaning? I mean most people use some important dates as their passcodes. Is it your birthday?"

’Birthday? Do I have a birthday?’ Ru frowned to herself before changing the topic, "What were you doing at the reception and that too with the glass water bottle?"

Xiao Zhi Ren understood that she wasn’t willing to answer him. But why? Was his reminder that bad? He shook his ridiculous thoughts away and said, "It wasn’t mine. Yuan left it at the reception last night. So, the receptionist was passing it to me."

Ru snorted as she said, "Are you sure, she wasn’t just looking for a chance to strike up a conversation with you?"

Xiao Zhi Ren smiled cheekily as he felt her disdain. Was it jealousy? No way! The rational part of his mind reminded him but he chose to ignore it. ’It’s definitely jealousy!’ If Ru could be the proud peacock, there wasn’t anything wrong with him being a bit more imaginative, right? Well, as long as it satisfied him.

"By the way, what’s up with a glass water bottle? Isn’t it inconvenient to carry them?" She asked after a bit of thinking. At first, she did come up with this question just to avoid his question but now, she was indeed curious.

"Go and tell Yuan. He’s one of those environmental protectors. He doesn’t like plastic bottles since they kill fishes and pollute our environment. Glass is more convenient to recycle." Xiao Zhi Ren explained while eating another osmanthus cake.

It made Ru smile brightly which took Xiao Zhi Ren by surprise.

"What’s so funny?"

Ru looked at him and nodded. "Nothing. It’s just that your words reminded me of my brother." Xiao Zhi Ren saw her eyes twinkling brightly as she was reminiscing all by herself. "My little rice-cake is really similar to your brother. Both are trying to protect fishes." She shook her head in amusement.

Xiao Zhi Ren wanted to question her about her brother but seeing how her expression shifted back to impassive in a blink of an eye, he changed his mind. It was like the earlier smile was just a figment of his imagination. He could see that she missed her brother but why did she act like she didn’t?

"I never expected that someone like you could actually eat osmanthus cake in the shape of bunnies." He tried to divert her attention.

"Since I can’t have roasted rabbits, I can only fool myself with these." Ru shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly while Xiao Zhi Ren gaped at her with a horrified look on his face.

"That’s so unfair! Rabbits are so cute and unharmful." Xiao Zhi Ren grumbled.

"We live in the cycle of predators and preys. There is nothing cute and unharmful when your own life is at stakes. We all are the predators for power until that same power devours us like prey." Taking a moment to take a deep breath, she said, "I think you should leave now. You have an office to go to while I have sleep to catch up on. Accompanying Alev Knight is a tiring affair."

She used Alev Knight’s name to piss him off on purpose and it worked. Xiao Zhi Ren who didn’t have any mood to leave finally made his way out of her place while grumbling incoherently. But he didn’t forget to scoop up all her osmanthus cake before leaving.