8. Masked Lover
That day, Qiu Fang came to Beijing and asked Vivian to have dinner with him.
She hadn't seen Qiu Fang since their last brief encounter in Shanghai. He seemed to have regressed to the role of a teacher she barely knew. Therefore, she was particularly nervous before this meeting.
Because the relationship between men and women is difficult to withdraw.
Perhaps you can skip stages – if the timing, location and people are right, you can complete the entire process in a single day, skipping all the intermediate steps. This is not uncommon nowadays.
But there is no way back—once you cross the line, there is no way back to your friend’s position.
When she realized this, Vivian was already waiting in the restaurant's private room, and suddenly she felt awkward.
The waiter ushered Qiu Fang in, and she instinctively stood up to greet him. Qiu Fang approached, patted her shoulder, and gestured for her to sit down. No matter how you looked at him, he acted like a loyal and honest senior.
The dishes arrived quickly, and Qiu Fang beckoned her to sit closer. At that moment, she suddenly felt annoyed, finding his gesture so unpleasant.
A dining table that can accommodate eight people, with two people sitting so close to each other in one corner, looks a bit funny.
Suddenly, Qiu Fang, like this scene, seemed ridiculous to her.
"Have you been waiting long?"
She instinctively lowered her head, her gaze fixed on Qiu Fang's abdomen. For a middle-aged man, Qiu Fang was considered a figure-conscious man, swimming two kilometers every day, no matter how busy he was. Yet, his slightly bulging abdomen still betrayed the helplessness of a man struggling against both genetics and the passage of time.
Qiu Fang admired her helpless look when she lowered her head. But Vivian was thinking about what Eric said, that she always liked to lower her head.
When she lowered her head, she looked different, as if she was deliberately seducing the other person.
At that moment, she suddenly realized that this was the first time she had met Qiu Fang in the daytime. The night they met, it was a dinner party. Under the crystal chandeliers in the banquet hall, everyone's face was as if filtered, radiant. The next few meetings were at night, in upscale restaurants and whiskey bars. The delicate, warm lighting accentuated his features, while the less noticeable parts faded into darkness.
Money can add a glimmer to everything.
But at noon, in broad daylight, even in the restaurant's private room, the lights were on, yet the face and even the pores were visible. Qiu Fang's exceptionally round, lacquered white face, with its features facing each other, was visible.
This direct light, so blunt, so cruel, easily ripped through the filter she had deliberately placed on their relationship. She had originally told herself that this was the sequel to a chance encounter between a middle-aged woman and an industry leader, an unintended romantic encounter.
But this face was so ordinary that it exposed her lies.
This is just a very vulgar story.
*
Her heart was swirling with emotion, yet she couldn't express it fully. She felt lost, her mind wandering. But from Qiu Fang's perspective, the girl seemed a bit coy, lowering her head frequently. Why was she still so shy?
No matter how shy she was, Qiu Fang was always talking freely and effortlessly. She guessed he was so used to speaking so eloquently in front of his subordinates that he never knew what silence and calm were. Because everyone always smiled and nodded in agreement, he really thought every word he said was precious and could not be ignored.
This time, Qiu Fang's gift was something she couldn't show publicly: a La Perla nightgown. It was a small, black silk nightgown with thin straps and an open back, costing a generous 6,000 yuan. For her, it wasn't something she couldn't afford, but it was difficult to buy for no apparent reason.
There's something unavoidably intimate about sending intimate items between men and women. Vivian didn't know how to respond, unable to express her gratitude openly and generously, as she would with flowers or perfume. For example, the bouquet of giant, nearly withered roses remained by her desk.
That was a gift she loved to speak of.
Upstairs, Qiu Fang's room was at the newly opened Bulgari Hotel. But he didn't stay long. At his age, and given to lust, his abilities were only average, so Vivian had to put on some acting chops. Fortunately, he had work to do. He quickly showered, packed his things, and said to Vivian, "No need to rush to check out. I've already paid for the room. Just call room service and sign the bill."
She pretended to be sleepy to avoid the embarrassment of not knowing what to talk about.
As soon as he closed the door, she jumped out of bed. Turning on the TV was boring. Scrolling on her phone was uninteresting. She simply ordered a swimsuit and went downstairs for a swim. She'd seen many influencers check in at the Bulgari pool on social media, but she had never been there herself.
She had barely swum a thousand meters, nearly exhausting herself. Vivian wasn't a great swimmer, just barely able to do it. She'd only learned this technique two years ago, just to free dive.
That year, for some reason, freediving suddenly became popular. On social media, I kept seeing pictures of mermaid-like figures, clearly the work of professional photographers. She jumped on the bandwagon and took a few lessons with a professional instructor, but after taking a few beautiful photos, she abandoned the idea.
Freediving was probably the beginning of the trend of requiring photographers for certain sports, and later, Frisbee and paddleboarding followed suit. Along the Liangma River, people often lurk in the bushes, filming for long periods with SLR cameras. At first, I thought they were creepy men taking candid photos, but when I looked in the direction of the camera, I often saw women in full makeup and bikinis posing on paddleboards, precariously swaying, yet striving for graceful posture, no matter how crooked they were.
*
It was a weekday afternoon, and the pool was deserted. She was tired from swimming. The poolside was divided into small cubicles, separated by white gauze. She lay down in one of the corners, bored and scrolling through her phone. In a cubicle not far away, someone whispered softly.
Vivian's hair suddenly stood on end.
The voice and accent were not familiar to her, but it was hard to forget.
It was Eric's voice.
"Tired already? Want to swim a few more laps?"
"I'm afraid of you. I won't go." The woman's voice was beyond Vivian's expectations. It was low and heavy, with a deliberate sweetness.
Vivian had an unreasonable feeling that she must be very old.
"Then I'll get you something to drink." The voice actually came towards her.
Vivian was very embarrassed and immediately covered her head with a towel and pretended to rest.
But then I immediately felt ridiculous. Why was I hiding?
She walked out with a strange sense of arrogance and slid back into the pool. As she surfaced to take a breath, she saw Eric walking by the pool.
I don't know if he recognized her.
She swam a few laps, reached the pool wall, stopped, shook her head to get rid of the water droplets in her hair, and went ashore again.
Not long after, he came over and stopped in front of her cubicle. On the tray was a can of ice soda, with a dense layer of small water droplets on the can.
Seeing this, Vivian shuddered. She dried her hair with a towel and looked him up and down. She said sarcastically, "Your service is really thoughtful. How come I didn't notice it last time?"
He glanced at the lounge chair in the distance and said softly, "That's no less cool than you. You're still so leisurely on a weekday. It really is true that a person with great skills is bold."
Vivian didn't want to argue, but seemed to care a lot. She reached out and took the soda: "Thank you."
My voice is a bit nasal though. I thought I had excellent acting skills, but I didn't expect acting to be so difficult.
A female voice came from the distance: "Eric, have you seen my bracelet?"
He nodded and turned to leave.
She dove again, the water surging overhead. She relaxed her limbs, and the sounds around her grew distant and slow. She seemed to lie at the bottom of a dark river, watching the current of time rush by overhead. Then, a clone seemed to slowly rise to the ceiling, looking down at her coldly and mocking her.
Suddenly losing her mood, she simply packed up her things and went upstairs.
After exercising for a while, she felt a little hungry. She hadn't eaten much at lunch with Qiu Fang, so she barely ate anything.
So she ordered a full set of afternoon tea and brought it to the room, with a strange feeling of revenge. But to her dismay, this small so-called revenge meant nothing to Qiu Fang.
Even worse, she discovered she had lost one of her earrings and couldn't find it anywhere. Even though it was just a pearl and diamond, it was still a pair of Tasaki, which made her secretly sad.
"What bad luck. It seems some people don't get along with me. Be sure to stay away from them."
But at this moment, his message came:
"What are you doing? Is it free at night?"
///
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