Liar

"Wh-what am I feeling?" Pei Yang's face fell at once. Never in his life had he imagined the word "jealous" could apply to him.

How could he possibly be jealous?

Feng Wanting fired off three questions in a row. "Why were you angry when I asked whether he had a boyfriend? Why were you angry when I wanted to add him on WeChat? And why were you angry when you saw me surrounded by male escorts at the club?"

"I wasn't angry!" Pei Yang's lips trembled. "I was pissed off."

"Why were you pissed off?" Feng Wanting asked again.

"Because I think you're a hypocrite." Pei Yang narrowed his eyes slightly at Feng Wanting, every word he spoke edged with ice. "You act aloof and refined, but behind closed doors, you find substitutes, hire escorts to drink with you, and ask for people's WeChat because you like their looks. Of course, you're free to do all of that. There's nothing wrong with it. But-"

"I hate it, I despise it, it disgusts me when someone has sexually or emotionally ambiguous relationships with more than two people. That's why I want to stay away from you and draw a clear line between us. That's how any normal person would think. Is there a problem with that? There isn't, is there, Director Feng?"

"Of course there isn't." Feng Wanting faltered, heat coursing wildly through his body. He let out a soft, breathless exhale. "I'm a hypocrite? Aren't you stringing me along while still entangled with your Ex-Boyfriends?"

...What?

Pei Yang's long lashes trembled violently. He was utterly incredulous, unable to understand what he had done to make Feng Wanting think of him that way, to misunderstand him so badly.

"First," Pei Yang finally murmured after they had stared at each other for a long time, "I'm not stringing you along. Second, I'm certainly not still entangled with my Ex-Boyfriends."

Feng Wanting's heart gradually began beating again, his mind going blank for a moment.

Pei Yang continued, "Song Yixiao and I have reached the point where we'll never have anything to do with each other again. We will never get back together in this lifetime."

With that, he rose briskly from the sofa and dragged his numb legs out of the Chairman’s Office without a backward glance.

Once the heavy doors closed, Pei Yang sagged against the wall, drained. He spent a while steadying his breathing before moving his feet and going to find the Employee Elevator on the 46th Floor.

Pei Yang circled the high-tech floor twice before finding the regular Employee Elevator. Naturally, it wasn't as advanced as the chairman's Executive Elevator, with its facial recognition and iris-scanning systems. All it took was a swipe of an employee card. But the moment he stepped inside, he remembered that his work ID only gave him access to the first ten floors.

Could he really be this unlucky? He'd made such a grand exit from Feng Wanting's office, only to find he couldn't get downstairs! Was he supposed to spend the whole night on the 46th Floor? Or... take the stairs?

46th Floor. His legs would give out before he reached the bottom.

Clinging to a 0.01 percent chance, Pei Yang held his work ID against the sensor. The elevator beeped, almost like an alarm. "Access denied."

Pei Yang: "..."

Was Feng Wanting really not sent by heaven to torment him?!

Pei Yang slunk out of the elevator and hovered there, wavering briefly between "go back to Feng Wanting" and "take the stairs" before decisively choosing the stairs.

He could sacrifice his legs, but he had to save his dignity.

Pei Yang turned and had taken only two steps toward the emergency exit when someone called to him from behind. "Mr. Pei Yang?"

He looked back. A refined-looking man in black-rimmed glasses was watching him with a perfectly professional smile.

"You are?"

"Wu Rui." Wu Rui's smile widened a fraction. "I'm Director Feng's secretary. Director Feng asked me to take you downstairs."

"Oh, then... sorry for the trouble."

Feng Wanting had some conscience after all. It looked like his legs were saved.

Wu Rui was just about to press the elevator's door-open button when the doors opposite them suddenly opened. A woman stepped out and blurted upon seeing him, "Secretary Wu?"

Pei Yang and Wu Rui both looked over. The woman wore enormous sunglasses, her hair styled in fashionable waves, and a fitted red dress that hugged her hips. She carried herself with striking elegance. Stepping out of the elevator in her heels, she removed her sunglasses with slender fingers and greeted Wu Rui. "What are you doing here? Someone with facial-recognition access to the Executive Elevator has to cram into the Employee Elevator with commoners like me?"

"Miss Lu." Wu Rui's expression remained unchanged, his tone neither warm nor cold. "You're here again."

Again? Pei Yang stood off to the side, barely registering in their presence. He stole a look at this "Miss Lu," unable to shake the feeling that she looked like a celebrity.

"Oh, I'm here to 'attend to' Director Feng." Miss Lu's lovely brows drew down as she sighed. "He's harder to please than an ancestor. He's in his office, right? I've already missed him twice this week."

"He is, but..." Wu Rui glanced at Pei Yang. "Director Feng isn't in a very good mood today. Remember to be 'gentle.'"

"When is he ever in a good mood?" Miss Lu's meaning was unclear. "Shouldn't he be the one being 'gentle' with me?"

Pei Yang: "?"

He didn't know whether he was overthinking it, but he couldn't help feeling there was another layer to their conversation.

Miss Lu walked away in her towering red heels. Pei Yang was still standing there in a daze when Wu Rui called to him. "Mr. Pei Yang?"

"Huh?"

Wu Rui extended a hand. "Please step into the elevator."

"Oh, okay." Pei Yang went inside and watched Wu Rui swipe his work ID. This time, the elevator didn't issue another cold "Access denied." The button for the first floor lit up.

As the elevator descended rapidly, Wu Rui suddenly said, "Mr. Pei Yang, if you need it, I can upgrade your employee badge to the highest access level."

"No need," Pei Yang said. "I'm just an ordinary employee. If you upgrade my access, aren't you afraid I'll steal the company's confidential information?"

"You really do have a sense of humor," Wu Rui said awkwardly.

On the drive home, Pei Yang's expression was dark, his mind consumed by the shapely woman in the red dress. He didn't know why, but a sudden hunch made him feel that Feng Wanting might be far more adventurous than he had imagined. After all, Feng Chuxun had been born while Feng Wanting was unmarried.

If that was the case, it would make it much easier to explain why Feng Wanting was still unmarried at thirty-two.

With a family like his, he would naturally have to marry someone of equal standing. And a woman of equal standing certainly wouldn't, and couldn't, tolerate her husband sleeping around during their marriage. Marriage would restrict Feng Wanting to some degree.

So Feng Wanting was actually just like Song Yixiao: he went for both men and women.

Pei Yang's chest twisted with pain. He really didn't want to believe he had seen two scumbags for what they were in just a few short months.

The light turned red, and Pei Yang braked. Memories of his time with Feng Wanting began flashing before his eyes, while the things Feng Wanting had said echoed in his ears, layer upon layer, like a surround-sound speaker.

"Looks like you don't intend to take responsibility."

"That night was my first time."

"After all, you're my son's mother."

Taking responsibility, his first time, his son's mother-all those suggestive words sounded like utter nonsense to Pei Yang now.

Pei Yang felt painfully suffocated, blue-purple veins rising beneath his skin. The instant the light turned green, before the car ahead had even started moving, he irritably slammed the horn. At the blare, the car in front immediately pulled away.

Pei Yang pressed the accelerator, scattering the voices in his ears until only one word remained in his mind:

Liar, liar, liar.