Chapter 491: Defense mechanism
He got inside the driver's seat and his gaze travelled towards her chest.
Her lips parted, ''You...'' she covered her chest with both her arms.
The corner of his lips twitched, ''Dummy,'' he leaned closer to her till there were a few inches gap between them.
Li Shuang closed her eyes instinctively.
'Click'
Her eyes snapped open and she found him back on his seat. She glanced at the seatbelt buckled around her and her racing heartbeats calm down.
'What was I doing...?' she pressed her face on the glass panes and glanced out of the car as they drove past the company.
The adreline rush faded gradually and she was stuck with the thoughts that occupied her mind earlier when she ran into those reporters.
Mu Shen tilted his head to the side, occasionally stealing glances.
She was quite during the whole ride and he could not hold it anymore, ''Is everything alright?"
Li Shuang straightened up on her seat and she turned around to look at him, ''Why were you back?" she asked, instead of answering his question.
''You left your phone in my car,'' he pointed his thumb towards the backseat.
''I don't want to go home,'' Li Shuang said without bothering to look at her phone.
He paused, ''You don't feel like it?"
She shook her head.
''Where do you want to go then?"
''Anywhere,'' she replied and leaned back on the seat before closing her eyes.
The corner of his lips tugged up, ''I know a place like that,'' With that said, he took an U turn.
''Mhm.''
The car drowned in silence once again and Mu Shen was not sure about how to initiate the conversation this time.
''Why did you do that?" Li Shuang asked, her eyes still closed.
''What?" he glanced at her.
''That was risky,'' Li Shuang opened her eyes and glanced at him, ''What if they recognized you at the spot? Or what if you ended up in another scandal? You didn't have to rush in there to save me...'' she glanced at him, looking for something on his face.
Li Shuang was not sure what she wanted to hear from him. What reason did he have for him to protect her in that situation when he detested the reporters and he would do anything to avoid them?
''Would you like to eat something?" Mu Shen asked instead of answering her question.
Li Shuang turned her face to the side, looking out of the glass panes.
The rest of the ride was quiet and this time, both of them did not break the silence.
It was not until they reached the destination that Mu Shen spoke up, ''We are here,'' he said.
Li Shuang was wide awake but for some reason she did not feel like opening her eyes so she pretended to sleep.
'Click'
Mu Shen stepped out of the car before he walked to the other side and opened the door for her, ''Ah Shuang, we are here,'' he lowered his body to her height such that his face was right next to hers.
Li Shuang held her breath but she did not open her eyes.
''I know that you are awake,'' he whispered and when she still did not move, he continued, ''Or do you want me to carry you again? I mean I don't really mind it but you could have just said it instead of pretending to sleep...''
''I don't want you to carry me," Li Shuang opened her eyes all at once. She pressed her palms on his chest and pushed him away from her before alighting the car with an indifferent exprression on her face.
Her lips parted as she looked at the place in front of her. They were standing in front of the sea.
''I didn't know where you'd like to go so I brough you here,'' he said, looking at her back.
''I like it here,'' she said and walked towards the sea shore.
''But we need to go back soon,'' Mu Shen glanced at the grey clouds in the sky, ''I think it will start raining soon.''
Li Shuang did not respond to him and she continued walking forward, feeling the soft breeze caressing her face.
''So what happened today?" Mu Shen asked, unable to hold back on the question anymore, ''You look quite disturbed by it. Is everything fine?"
''Edward is dating my secretary,'' Li Shuang said after a few moments.
Mu Shen's brows tugged together, ''That bastard...'' he spoke through gritted teeth. Why did he have to go all the way to pursue her if he loved another woman?
''And I heard him, I got to know what he really thinks of me,'' she inhaled a deep breath and narrated everything word by word about what she heard.
'The more I stay with her, the more I realize how wrong she is for me. Or for men out there. Who will want to go out with a woman who... who is so career oriented that she won't see the things around her? Her mind is damn robotic. No emotions, no feelings, no hurt, no sadness, no happiness...
you can never spot anything humane on her. She is arrogant because of her position, bossy and cold most of the times. I regret... going after her in the first place.'
'Had she been an ordinary girl, I could have went ahead pretending that it would not work out between us. But she is not ordinary, neither by her position nor by her identity. If I step back now, I'd be sacrificing the position that I worked so hard for in all these years so I can only suck up to it and go ahead with what I started. No man in his right mind would ever love someone like her.'
She narrated everything wprd by word without a shift of her expression and turned around to look at him, ''So that's what he really thought of me.''
Mu Shen glanced at her indifferent face and stepped closer to her, ''You were not the wrong one for him. He just did not deserve you.''
He took another step closer to her and she looked into his eyes, ''You being career oriented and your current position is not something a real man should be worried about.''
She blinked as her hair fell on her face.
He raised his hand and gently tucked her hair behind her ear, ''And when it comes to your emotions...'' he paused when she stepped back from him, ''.. You are nowhere nearby to what he claimed,'' he smiled mysteriously.
She was vulnerable too and he had seen that side of her. The day when she broke up with that jerk of a boyfriend of hers whom she was dating in university, she looked all nonchalant about it but later when he took her to his place, he had heard those sobbing sounds coming from the guest room.
Just because someone did not show it does not mean they are not hurt.
He detested it when his fans, or the media or anyone tried to dig in about his past, his family background. He tried his best to keep all his personal information under wraps. It was his defense mechanism.