CH 63

Shan Yi didn’t immediately respond; she took her phone and left her seat, furrowing her brows as she walked out. Just before closing the door, Shen Tiantian seemed to hear her wife’s voice, suppressed and questioning. 

When she looked up, Shan Yi had already closed the door. Shen Tiantian shrugged, instinctively feeling like she had misunderstood something.

Who could it be? Shen Tiantian sensed that Shan Yi didn’t seem to welcome the call, and there was even a hint of agitation in her demeanor. This was the first time she had seen Shan Yi with such an expression. She dared to guess that the call wasn’t from a client, but then who could it be?!

Before she could delve further into her thoughts, the door opened again. Shan Yi had returned.

Shen Tiantian opened her mouth slightly, “So fast?”

Shan Yi gave a noncommittal response. This time, she placed her phone in her bag. Suddenly, she reached out and took Shen Tiantian’s hand, gently massaging the back of it.

Although it felt quite odd, Shen Tiantian didn’t press for further questions. Just then, the food was served, and she refrained from speaking, keeping a mental note of the situation.

After finishing their meal and returning to the company, Shan Yi headed straight to her office. Shen Tiantian watched her tall figure walking away and once again felt puzzled. She had a lingering feeling that after the phone call, Shan Yi seemed distracted. 

Sitting at her own desk, Shen Tiantian pondered for a while but couldn’t make sense of it. She decided to stop overthinking it.

As the day’s work came to an end and the office emptied out, even Assistant Yang was packing up. After exchanging habitual farewells with her, Shen Tiantian knocked on the door of the CEO’s office with her bag in hand. “CEO, are you okay?”

Her voice gradually faded as the door closed. Yang Li, tilting her head, gazed at the serene office. A trace of desolation flashed in her eyes, imperceptible yet present. She shook her head, hastened her movements to tidy up, and picked up her personal belongings. Before leaving, she cast one more glance at the tightly shut door, then turned and walked away.

The summer night arrived gradually. Chatting casually on the way, when they returned to the Shan’s residence, the evening had already darkened. Looking up, they could vaguely see a few stars hanging in the sky.

Without Father Shan at home, today seemed a bit livelier than usual. Shen Tiantian was pulled by Mother Shan to watch a family drama, but her attention was entirely on Shan Yi, who was playing with her phone beside her.

What was her wife up to? She was quite concerned.

Perhaps it was because she had grown accustomed to Shan Yi’s attentiveness, being suddenly ignored felt uncomfortable, and she didn’t feel good about it.

Despite glancing over in that direction frequently, Shan Yi seemed not to have noticed. Her fingertips danced on the screen, occasionally seeming to contemplate something before continuing.

“These people are really outrageous,” Mother Shan’s indignant voice echoed in the living room.

Mother Shan set aside a cushion and instead held onto Shen Tiantian’s hand: “Don’t you think so? Why should the money you’ve earned through your own hard work be divided among bloodsucking siblings? And they have the audacity to blame their heartlessness on their diligent sibling. Seriously, is that old man crazy?”

“Ah? Oh yes, that’s right…” Shen Tiantian chuckled awkwardly, not daring to say much, as she hadn’t actually heard what Mother Shan was saying.

Mother Shan, who had originally wanted to say something, smiled as she looked at Shen Tiantian, who seemed absent-minded. “You’re right, young people like you don’t enjoy watching this kind of drama, do you?”

“It’s not that, I didn’t watch the beginning, so I don’t really understand it now,” Shen Tiantian quickly explained.

After half a month of getting to know each other, Mother Shan had already figured out that Shen Tiantian’s apparent stuttering was due to nervousness. Upon hearing her words, during the commercial break, she began explaining the characters on the TV with a smile. 

Listening to Mother Shan’s explanations, Shen Tiantian nodded in agreement. The plot was indeed touching, and outdated family values had likely harmed many people.

Nevertheless, Mother Shan didn’t change the channel.

The TV show ended promptly at nine, and Mother Shan had also covered most of the plot. She let out a yawn, “I’ll go heat up some milk for you.”

“No need, Mom. I can do it myself,” Shen Tiantian hurriedly stopped Mother Shan.

“It’s okay, you can chat with Xiao Yi,” Mother Shan said gently. Her daughter hadn’t talked to her wife all evening, and she thought they might be having a disagreement, so she tried to push them together.

Shen Tiantian had initially planned to stay composed, but she was too curious about what her dear wife was up to. So, she seized the opportunity and pounced on her.

Shan Yi embraced Shen Tiantian and finally put down her phone, kissing her face and expressing remorse: “I’m sorry, I ignored you.”

However, this action appeared as avoidance in Shen Tiantian’s eyes. Her expression stiffened, and she had an intuition that her partner was hiding something from her. She discreetly set aside her confusion and asked in a hushed voice: “Are you still busy?”

“No, it was an old friend.”

An old friend? She wanted to ask what kind of old friend could make her partner ignore her for so long and seem so preoccupied. However, if Shan Yi didn’t want to share, she wouldn’t press further.

Sitting atop Shan Yi, Shen Tiantian’s position made her slightly taller, giving her a sense of being in control. The kisses that normally required her to tilt her head up were now within reach with just a slight tilt downwards. 

From this angle, Shan Yi’s face appeared smaller, featuring the prominent nose inherited from her father, and smooth skin.

Shan Yi gently tugged at the nape of her neck and placed a soft kiss on her lips, attempting to divert her attention.

Shen Tiantian couldn’t help but blush, though she didn’t feel happy at all.

Mother Shan emerged from the kitchen, seeing the affectionate scene between the two of them, she smiled contentedly, and gently placed the milk on the coffee table. Before retreating to her room, she reminded them, “Take your time, your dad and Shan Xu will be back soon.”

Startled, Shen Tiantian quickly straightened her posture, her thighs still close to Shan Yi’s, her face growing even redder. She shyly cast a glance at Mother Shan.

Covering her mouth, Mother Shan chuckled, returning to her room to apply a face mask and get her beauty sleep. As if finding her wife not embarrassed enough, Shan Yi leaned in and playfully bit her earlobe. “We’ll kiss more in our room later.”

Shen Tiantian rolled her eyes at her, shifted her buttocks to create some distance, and picked up the milk to drink it all in one go. She then headed to the kitchen to wash the cup and returned it to its place before going upstairs.

Feeling remorseful for having ignored her wife earlier, Shan Yi rubbed her nose guiltily, put on her shoes, and followed her upstairs.

After closing the bedroom door, Shan Yi embraced her tightly, guiding her back to the bed. She kissed the back of Shen Tiantian’s neck and suggested, “How about we take a day off tomorrow and go have some fun?”

“I don’t want to.” With the consecutive holidays, she felt like she hadn’t worked for a few days. Next week, she would have to take a week off for the wedding photoshoot. She could already anticipate the comments from her colleagues at the office.

Seemingly aware of her concerns, Shan Yi adopted a tone of unjustified grievance and whispered: “When do you plan to make our relationship public?”

Every day she yearned to kiss her wife, yet she had to avoid colleagues. She truly felt aggrieved.

Shen Tiantian pondered for a moment. “Maybe after the baby is born?”

However, after the relationship became public, she probably wouldn’t continue working at Yue Feng. The atmosphere would undoubtedly change. But she didn’t voice this thought. As for what she would do in the future, she hadn’t thought about it yet.

Unaware of her wife’s emotions, Shan Yi’s expression turned a little sour. There were still a few months to go.

“How long are you going to hold me like this?” Shen Tiantian reminded her with a hint of exasperation. “My back is starting to ache.”

Shan Yi pressed her onto the bed, her hand moving downward. “Shall I give you a massage?”

Sensitively, Shen Tiantian arched her back a bit. Before she could speak, Shan Yi had already started massaging her belly gently.

“No,” Shen Tiantian wiggled her waist, struggling to evade her hand, “I’m going to take a shower.”

As her words trailed off, Shan Yi halted her actions, looking playfully: “Alright, let’s shower together.”

Shen Tiantian immediately interrupted her thoughts, “I don’t plan to shower with you. Either you go first, or I go first.”

Her smile stiffened, and Shan Yi once again restrained her. “No!”

“It has to be this way, whether you like it or not. Move over.”

“In that case, give me a kiss,” Shan Yi leaned in.

Shen Tiantian felt somewhat helpless, but she still gave her a peck on the cheek. “Is that enough?”

“How can that be enough?” Shan Yi raised an eyebrow, turning her face and firmly kissing her, forcefully parting her lips and playfully tangling their tongues, engaging in a mischievous dance.

After a deep kiss, Shan Yi finally released her, rolling over to lie next to her. “That’s more like it. Now you can go take your shower.”

Shen Tiantian:…

She felt momentarily speechless, staring at the ceiling to slowly calm her breath before sitting up, retrieving her pajamas from the wardrobe and heading to the bathroom.

The gentle sound of flowing water reached Shan Yi’s ears as she sat up in bed, turned on her phone, and saw three messages from an unmarked number. Her brows furrowed as she read them, and without replying, she deleted them expressionlessly.

Adele was the name she used during her studies in France, and Celia was a classmate she met there. They were classmates for two years and the only person she couldn’t handle. She was eventually forced to transfer schools because of her. 

She thought that by escaping, the other party would give up, but unexpectedly, Celia received messages from unknown sources and even transferred to her new school, ending up in the same class once again and even tracing her location, which annoyed her greatly. 

After transferring schools again, she finally settled down and didn’t encounter Celia until graduation. During her further studies, she met Celia again after a long time, and the other party seemed even more enthusiastic than before…

It could be said that she returned home in a rather sorry state, feeling quite embarrassed. The last time she saw Celia was probably early last year, and she hadn’t expected her to follow her to China.

Celia was British, and just like her, she had studied in France. Due to her petite size and outstanding appearance, she attracted the attention of many students in the school, both male and female. She couldn’t figure out why Celia was interested in her.

To be honest, if she hadn’t met Shen Tiantian first, she might have ended up with Celia. Initially, she didn’t dislike Celia, but she was just too enthusiastic. She knew she couldn’t reciprocate, so she chose to escape. What made her feel annoyed was later when Celia followed her by transferring schools and the events that followed.

She was a businesswoman, and Celia had always been formidable. Obtaining her phone number wasn’t difficult, but receiving her call was still surprising. 

Shen Tiantian already had insecurities, and if she found out about Celia, there might be some misunderstandings. 

She wasn’t afraid, but she didn’t want her wife to know about all this. 

She hadn’t blocked Celia’s number, intending to persuade her to return to her own country. Otherwise, with Celia’s capabilities, she would eventually find her company, and then it would be impossible to keep Shen Tiantian from knowing.

However, Celia mentioned that she wouldn’t go back because she had things to do here. As long as she didn’t cling to her like before, Shen Tiantian might still be friends with her. After all, she had her own family now, and she wouldn’t allow anyone to disturb that.

Shen Tiantian emerged from the bathroom, a lingering dampness still on her body. Shan Yi regained her focus and temporarily set aside the matter of Celia.