Chapter 18 – Dinner for Two
The atmosphere inside Xiao Xi's tiny apartment was thick with unspoken tension, yet underscored by the bizarre normalcy of sharing a cheap takeout meal.
They sat opposite each other at her small, rickety kitchen table, the powerful CEO and the comeback actress, navigating noodles and broth.
"You're really bad at this," Xiao Xi teased, genuinely amused, as Gu Yanzhou struggled to lift a slippery strand of ramen with his expensive chopsticks.
He handled multi-million-dollar mergers with ease, but chopsticks were apparently his nemesis.
He abandoned the effort, picking up the fork she offered him instead, and managed a rare, dry smile.
"I'm usually presiding over business dinners that require minimal utensil work.
Not cheap noodles in paper bowls, Xiao Xi."
She laughed, the sound light, natural, and warm—a sound she hadn't realized she was capable of making in this stressful new life. "Guess you'll have to adapt, Mr. Gu.
I may be a brand asset now, but I'm still not a five-star type of girl."
He looked at her then—really looked.
Her face was completely bare of the heavy broadcast makeup, her hair tied messily with a rubber band, and she was wearing an oversized, threadbare hoodie that belonged to the original Xiao Xi.
She was radiant in her own unpolished, exhausted way, the mask of the strategic CEO finally allowed to drop.
For a moment, he forgot the corporate battles, the threat of his past enemies, and the volatile nature of the woman sitting across from him.
He saw only the sharp intelligence in her eyes and the surprising vulnerability around her mouth.
The System, tracking the physical and emotional cues, made a silent note:
[System Note: Emotional resonance detected. Heart rate increase 8% (Host). Subtle galvanic response detected (Prime Variable).]
"Stop analyzing, you judgmental piece of code," she muttered under her breath to the invisible interface.
She quickly adjusted her expression. "He's just being nice because I saved his life, not because he actually cares about my nutritional intake."
Gu Yanzhou frowned instantly, putting his fork down.
The casual, comfortable atmosphere vanished.
"Who are you talking to, Xiao Xi? Is the reality crew micromanaging your diet now?"
She blinked, scrambling for a cover story. The System's intermittent failure made her sloppy.
"Uh… rehearsal lines! I was running rehearsal lines for a scene where I argue with my inner monologue.
You know, for complexity.
It's a very intense script."
He raised a skeptical eyebrow, his gaze piercing her weak defense.
"Right. Of course.
An intense script involving cheap noodles and passive-aggressive complaints about emotional analysis.
" He didn't believe her for a second, but he also didn't press the matter.
There were mysteries about this woman he was not yet ready to unravel, and her bizarre, muttered conversations were definitely top of the list.
The dinner ended quickly after that, the easy camaraderie replaced by a layer of careful distance.
But the damage had been done.
They had shared something human, something outside the lines of the Devil's Contract.
And the protection directive still pulsed faintly in her mind.