Chapter 89

When the class returned to the hotel that evening, Elise glanced toward the balcony outside Mu Chuan’s suite. He had asked her to visit him tonight.

As if she would.

She could spend that time working through a few more practice tests.

Back in their room, Nora watched her pull out a packet of questions. “What made you think of studying? I haven’t seen you do that once on this trip.”

Elise bent over the paper, her pen moving briskly. “I need to calm down.”

She really did. All day, the scene from that morning had kept interrupting her thoughts. More than once she’d missed something someone said to her. She didn’t like being so distracted.

After the lights went out, she tossed and turned for a long time.

“Elise?” Nora said softly into the dark. “What’s wrong? Is something bothering you?”

She had noticed her friend drifting off all day. Elise was plainly troubled by something.

Lying on her side, Elise picked at the edge of the blanket. At last she asked, “What does it feel like to like someone?”

Nora sat bolt upright. “Who do you like?”

Elise had only just turned Mu down. Had she fallen for someone else already? Poor Mu.

“No one. I was just curious.” Elise bit her lip. She didn’t understand what was happening to her. She hadn’t had any experience with romance in her previous life either, and she doubted she could puzzle it out on her own.

Nora sounded unconvinced, but she thought about it. “You blush, your heart races, and you’re so happy when you’re with him that the time flies.”

Elise listened with mixed feelings. Some of that sounded familiar.

“I saw a movie once. The man kept pursuing the woman, and after she rejected him, he disappeared. Then she suddenly felt unsettled and couldn’t get used to him being gone. What about that?”

She had felt unsettled when Mu disappeared. What she couldn’t tell was whether she liked him or simply missed having him around.

“That’s definitely not being in love,” Nora said. “It’s natural, though. If someone’s always around you and then suddenly disappears, of course it takes getting used to. You just have to tell the difference.”

“I see,” Elise murmured. “So it isn’t love.”

That had to be it. She simply wasn’t used to Mu’s sudden absence. Even the blushing and racing heart, even bringing him medicine because she was worried about him, came from that adjustment. She settled on the explanation.

Nora rested a hand on her chin and went on, drawing from movies and novels. “That’s when I’d want to yell at the heroine. She shouldn’t give him little bits of encouragement and let him misunderstand. Otherwise she’s giving him false hope, and people will call her a tease.”

Elise went quiet. The kiss came back to her.

Was she a tease?

She buried her face in her pillow. Maybe she shouldn’t have brought Mu the medicine. Even if she had done it anonymously, he might still have found out. She shouldn’t have given in to the receptionist’s pleading and gone to see him, either. And when he kissed her, she should have pushed him away at once.

But her mind had gone blank. At that moment, she hadn’t been able to think at all.

Next time, she couldn’t let herself react that way.

Nora, now in the mood for a late-night discussion, continued, “But there’s another possibility. Maybe the heroine liked him all along and didn’t realize it. When he leaves, she gets upset because someone she likes has suddenly gone away. Who wouldn’t be sad?”

She talked for a while without getting an answer. Listening closely, she heard Elise’s soft breathing.

Nora propped up her chin and looked at her sleeping friend’s back. She took the movie question at face value; it hadn’t occurred to her that Elise might be talking about herself.

Elise didn’t understand things Nora thought were obvious. No wonder Mu had run into a wall. Apparently Nora had a great responsibility ahead of her: giving her friend a crash course in romance.

The next morning, rain poured outside the window.

It was supposed to be the last day of the trip, with the class heading home that afternoon. Ms. Parker sent a message to the class group: because of the weather, their return would be delayed by a day. With no activities planned, the hours ahead were suddenly empty.

Nora went to the room next door to play cards. Elise stayed behind, saying she wanted to study.

She lost her place on the practice paper several times before dropping her pen onto the desk.

She couldn’t go on like this. She needed to deal with the problem before it got any worse. There was still time to put things right, but she had to speak plainly to Mu.

She picked up her phone.

Elise: Are you free? I have something to say to you.

Mu replied almost immediately.

Mu: I waited for you all night.

Elise stared at the screen. He really had waited? She’d told him she wasn’t coming. Besides, his room felt like a trap; if she went in, she might not come out in one piece.

Mu: It’s not too late to come now.

Elise: All right. I’ll be there soon.

She had to face him sooner or later.

She put her papers and pen away and walked to his suite, feeling as if she were marching toward an execution.

Pei Yi opened the door. The moment he saw her, his face lit up. “Mr. Mu is inside.”

He ushered her in with extravagant warmth. “Have you eaten breakfast, Miss Whitmore? I’m about to get something for Mr. Mu. Shall I bring you some too?”

The attention bewildered her. She waved her hands. “No, thank you. Please go ahead with what you were doing.”

Pei’s smile never slipped. He felt as if he’d won the lottery. His boss’s luck had finally turned. How could he not be happy?

Yesterday, after returning to the hotel as Mu had instructed, he had taken one look at Mu’s expression and known things had gone well. In Pei’s mind Elise was practically his future boss’s wife. Of course he had to look after her.

He considerately closed the door on his way out.

Mu sat by the window. His color had improved so much that Elise would never have guessed he’d had a high fever the previous day. He looked up when she entered.

His gaze made her uncomfortable. Her eyes moved to the sofa and the carpet, and yesterday’s scene rose in her mind: the heat of his chest, his eyes closed as he lost himself in the kiss.

She pushed the memory away and gave an awkward laugh. “Has he misunderstood something?”

“No misunderstanding.” Mu’s expression softened. “Come here.”

Elise hesitated, then inched forward until she was about three feet away.

He didn’t seem to notice how stiffly she stood. “You finally came to see me?” he asked, his tone warm.

She avoided his suggestive gaze. “Are you better?”

“Not quite. What am I going to do?”

His cheeks looked healthier than hers. Elise couldn’t see much sign of lingering illness, but she said, “Take your medicine. You’ll get better.”

Mu raised an eyebrow. “Will you give it to me?”

Did he need someone to feed him medicine too? Elise looked up, annoyed. Then she saw the meaning in his eyes and remembered yesterday’s talk of medicine. He had called her his medicine. That was what he meant.

Her face grew hot. He hadn’t used to talk like this. Now he was shameless.

She was too angry to answer for a moment. Then she said, “You made yourself sick on purpose yesterday, didn’t you?”

She’d thought it over afterward. He had known the temperature was dropping and warned her away from the cold wind; how could he not have known to protect himself? And Pei had always been conscientious. As a senior secretary, why would he come all the way to such a remote place without medicine? Why had Elise happened to step out of the elevator just as he was complaining at the front desk?

Mu looked at her affectionately, apparently unconcerned that she had worked it out.

“You saw through me?” His voice was low. “If I hadn’t been sick, would you have come?”

“What if I hadn’t?”

He sighed theatrically. “Then I suppose I’d have died of it. No one would have cared.”

Fine, let him, Elise thought. If she ever brought him medicine again, she was a fool.

Even so, he had given himself such a high fever just to make her come and see him.

“If you give me my medicine every day,” Mu coaxed, “I won’t get sick, and you won’t have to worry. How about that?”

His tone and his words were so intimate that anyone overhearing might have thought they were a couple. But after talking with Nora, Elise knew she might simply be struggling to adjust to his absence. Until she understood whether she really liked him, she couldn’t give him hope.

“I let you misunderstand. I’m sorry.”

His smile faded. “What are you trying to say?”

Elise lowered her eyes, unable to look at him. She gathered her courage and spoke without stopping. “I spoke up for you because I know what kind of person you are. You aren’t the man they said you were. I brought the medicine because we were friends and I happened to have it. I couldn’t leave you sick without helping. I came yesterday because the receptionist begged me and I couldn’t bear to refuse her. It wasn’t because I liked you.”

When she finished, he said nothing for a long time. She gripped her fingers together, growing more nervous. Was he angry?

“What about the kiss yesterday?” Mu stepped closer, watching her. “You didn’t like it?”

He couldn’t believe she hadn’t. He thought that for a moment she had been caught up in it too.

Elise stepped back instinctively. “I don’t know. The only thing I’m sure of is that I might just have been thrown off when you suddenly disappeared. That could explain these strange feelings and things I’ve done that I don’t understand myself. It doesn’t mean I like you. If I got together with you now, I’d be unfair to both of us.”

“I don’t mind.”

She stared at him. “What?”

“I don’t mind if you’re with me without liking me.” His voice was calm, but his gaze held stubborn resolve. “As long as you’re with me.”

He was out of his mind.

He reached up, brushed her cheek, and tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear. “We have plenty of time. Who knows what will happen later?”

The more he cared about her, the guiltier Elise felt. She drew a breath and retreated another step.

“No. Let’s not see each other for now.” Her voice hardened. “I don’t want to become someone I can’t stand.”

Without looking at his face, she hurried out. She needed time to understand her feelings.

Her phone buzzed several times in her pocket, but she ignored it. After a few minutes it went quiet. When she finally looked, there were several missed calls from Mu.

She shut herself in her room and worked on practice questions all afternoon. She didn’t come out until dinner.

Nora was already waiting in the restaurant and pulled her into a seat. “I just saw Pei Yi and Mu Chuan.”

Elise had little appetite. At his name she asked, “Where?”

“At the hotel entrance. They checked out, took their luggage, and left in a car.”

“Oh.” So Mu had gone.

A moment later she told herself it was for the best. If she gave him no hope, he wouldn’t be disappointed.

Nora brightened at the chance to gossip. “I thought he was here because he wouldn’t leave you alone. But Pei said they came for a meeting. If he’d come for you, he couldn’t possibly have left now, especially in this rain. It must have been a coincidence.”

Elise nudged an egg on her plate with her fork. “A coincidence,” she agreed quietly.

Claire glanced at the downpour outside. “I wonder when the school will let us go home. It doesn’t look like the rain’s going to stop today.”

“I wish we could leave early,” Nora said. “There’s nothing left to do here.”

The excitement of arriving had worn off. They had explored the resort, and now people were stuck in their rooms playing cards. Many were restless, but the school was worried the storm would make the trip home unsafe.

Nora suddenly took Elise’s arm. “Ask your brothers to pick you up! Then we could get home early too.”

Elise shook her head. “Julian can’t leave the company. Adrian’s away filming a show, Theo’s busy training, and my other brother is stuck here at the hotel just like us.”

Julian’s meetings were packed near the end of the year. Adrian had already postponed one television appearance and couldn’t keep doing it without breaking his agreement and damaging the reputation he’d built over the years. Theo had missed training recently and was putting in extra hours to make it up.

“They can’t come,” she said. “Don’t count on it.”

She had barely finished when a commotion began at the restaurant entrance and spread toward their table.

Elise looked up. Julian led the way, immaculate in a suit. Ignoring the attention around him, he scanned the room until he found her; his expression softened and he came over. Adrian followed in a cap and sunglasses, though several silver strands escaping from beneath the cap were enough for people to recognize him. Theo strolled behind them in a casual sweatshirt.

Theo glanced at Adrian’s disguise. “Couldn’t you dye your hair? That cap might as well not be there.”

“You’re jealous because I have so much of it? This color is my signature. Only I can pull it off. Without it, what would make me distinctive?”

Between the two of them, Julian looked exceptionally composed.

Elise stared. She had just said they couldn’t come, and there they were.

Julian looked around her and frowned. “Where is he?”

“Who?”

Adrian rolled up his sleeves. “Mu Chuan. I came to deal with him. I can’t lose to that guy every single time.”

Julian had discovered that Mu had arranged the class’s suite upgrade and, more than that, happened to be at the resort himself. The news had set the brothers off. They had thought the fight was over; instead, even after being rejected, Mu was still pursuing their sister.

Julian had rescheduled his meetings. Adrian had postponed another show and spent a long time placating the director. Theo had taken leave again, on condition that he make up the training hours afterward. Apologies and extra work were small things compared with keeping their sister from being bothered, especially when she didn’t even like Mu.

Theo studied Elise’s face. “Where is he?”

“He left. He was only here for a meeting.”

The brothers relaxed. Had Mu really just come for a meeting? Still, with him gone, all their indignation had nowhere to land.

Adrian frowned. “You’ve finished the trip activities. Why haven’t you left?”