“You scared me, failed to keep my gift safe, and now you want me to treat you to donuts? Why don’t you strap on a rocket and soar alongside the fireworks?!” Tang Yang took a deep breath and said, “Hang up within three seconds.”

Before I explode.

Jiang Shiyan instantly dropped his playful act and said softly, “I’m at the entrance of your building.”

Tang Yang retorted, “Our friendship isn’t strong enough to make me come downstairs.”

Jiang Shiyan, appearing amenable, replied, “Then I’ll have to call Auntie Zhou and ask if Tang Yang’s phone isn’t with her, and if she could—”

“You win!” Tang Yang forcefully ended the call.

Passing by her dressing table, she reached for her eyebrow pencil, contemplated for a second, then lazily put it back down, not bothering to remove her makeup.

Five minutes later, at the entrance of Jade Garden.

Tang Yang pushed open the building door and saw the car parked by the roadside.

As Tang Yang walked over, Jiang Shiyan also got out of the car and approached her, holding a transparent food bag.

Jiang Shiyan handed it to her, “Since you won’t treat me, I’ll treat you instead. Here, donuts.”

Tang Yang glanced at it but didn’t take it.

She tightened her arms crossed over her chest, utterly cold, “I’m 28, not 8, thank you. You can choose to be blocked or conjure up a full imperial feast right now.”

“That’s challenging,” Jiang Shiyan was about to say more when his phone vibrated. He answered the call while Tang Yang stamped her foot, waiting impatiently.

After responding with a couple of “okay”s to the caller, Jiang Shiyan poked Tang Yang, “Quick, go to the car and find a document for me, it’s on the back seat.”

Tang Yang, hearing what he said, exploded immediately, “The car is right in front of you, and you’re asking me to get it? Are your hands incapacitated while you’re on the phone, my dear Lord Jiang…”

Jiang Shiyan put his index finger to his lips. Tang Yang glared at him but still went over.

She gripped the handle of the back door, grumbling as she pulled it open. When she saw the scene inside the car, Tang Yang’s pupils contracted slightly, leaving her speechless…

Three full layers of lipstick were spread out, extending from the seat to right under her eyes.

A small light was on in the car ceiling, casting a warm yellow glow. The light flowed along the black casings of the lipsticks, arranged neatly like guards, striking straight to the heart.

Tang Yang looked back in disbelief. Jiang Shiyan was no longer on any phone call.

He walked over with his hands in his pockets, resting a hand on the car door, smiling particularly charmingly.

When she fell silent earlier, Jiang Shiyan understood: Miss Yi’s idea of a surprise was right, but excuse him, he had to use it first.

He lowered his head to meet Tang Yang’s eyes, which held ripples of water and soft light.

Jiang Shiyan’s throat itched, and he cleared it before saying, “If there’s anything that might upset you, it’s that I bought all of these only because I didn’t know which shade you liked best, or which one you threw away that day.”

At this moment, Jiang Shiyan looked pleasing from every angle, even his teasing seemed particularly witty.

Tang Yang said warmly, “It’s okay, all men are like this.”

“If there’s anything that might make you feel better,” Jiang Shiyan said, “I do know which shade you like best and which one you threw away. I bought them all because, during the year-end bonus survey, female employees said receiving this would make them very happy.”

Jiang Shiyan reached past Tang Yang, accurately picking out her favorite shade.

“Dangerous,” he read softly, then turned his head to ask her, “Are you happy?”

Jiang Shiyan’s features were exceptionally fine. With his usual nonchalance gone, a touch of moonlight fell on his brows, inexplicably exuding an alluring charm.

Tang Yang’s heart fluttered, and she softly “mmm” ed, almost snatching the lipstick from his hand as he finished speaking. She applied it using the car door as a mirror while changing the subject, “I think I understand now how you managed to find a girlfriend even when you were so fat before.”

Jiang Shiyan laughed, “Attack deflected.”

“Considering you’re the first man to give me lipstick after the first one who gave me a bag, I won’t hold it against you,” Tang Yang adjusted her lip line with her finger and looked up to ask, “Does it look good?”

Tang Yang was clumsy; the left corner of her lips had a smear of lipstick extending outwards. The bright color against her clear eyes and brows seemed as if she had thousands of troops behind her.

She looked at Jiang Shiyan, and Jiang Shiyan gazed at her.

They were separated by a foot of distance, with the wind blowing. Her breath was wrapped in the wind, carrying a hint of sweet shower gel fragrance, as if the sweetness was between her lips…

As Jiang Shiyan kept looking, he suddenly blurted out as if possessed, “Song Jing never gave you any before?”

With these words, both fell silent.

Jiang Shiyan regretted it.

Tang Yang said, “You know what his personality is like.”

Jiang Shiyan felt apologetic.

Tang Yang said, “But when we were together, he was quite considerate, quite…”

“I’m sorry,” Jiang Shiyan looked at Tang Yang.

“What are you sorry for,” Tang Yang forced a smile, “It’s just wistful now, we used to be so close.” Now she and Song Jing haven’t been in contact for eight years.

Jiang Shiyan: “I…”

Tang Yang lowered her eyes to look at her shoe tips: “If I had another chance, I would push him away. Breaking the friendship hurts both people greatly.”

Jiang Shiyan, at a loss for words: “Yang-ge…”

“No, it’s nothing.” Tang Yang sniffled and glanced inside the car.

Jiang Shiyan, understanding, leaned in to put the box away and handed it to her.

No matter how close the relationship, they were still of the opposite sex. The sudden approach of his body brought the same confusing warmth as before. Tang Yang sensitively backed away a bit, “I’ll head up first then, you should get some sleep soon.”

“You too,” Jiang Shiyan said.

Tang Yang walked a couple of steps, then suddenly turned back.

Jiang Shiyan raised the bag high, exaggeratedly saying, “Wow, you still want your donuts?”

Tang Yang: “Why wouldn’t I take what’s given to me?”

Jiang Shiyan teased her: “Choose one, lipstick or donuts.”

Tang Yang answered without hesitation: “Donuts.”

Jiang Shiyan snorted “How petty” and gave them to her.

Tang Yang shot a glare at Jiang Shiyan, then hugged both items tightly as if afraid he might change his mind and scampered away with quick steps.

Jiang Shiyan wanted to laugh, but his lips felt strained.

He stood there for a good while before sitting in the passenger seat and turning off the light.

In the darkness, Jiang Shiyan fumbled for another donut from the front of the car and bit into it, opening the bag.

Two voices seemed to echo in his ears.

So Song Jing never gave her any?

If I had another chance, I would push him away. Breaking the friendship hurts both people greatly…

So he shouldn’t have mentioned Song Jing?

So why did he mention Song Jing?

So why did he foolishly bring up Song Jing and end up making both of them so uncomfortable and awkward?

The thing in his mouth became increasingly unpalatable as he chewed. Jiang Shiyan couldn’t bear it anymore and dialed the number on the packaging.

“Hello, this is Rujing Garden customer service…”

Jiang Shiyan: “Do you use gentian instead of sugar when making your donuts?”

The operator: “Huh? Sir, each of our donuts goes through strict…”

Jiang Shiyan tossed down his phone and floored the accelerator.

Meanwhile, ten meters away, in the elevator.

Tang Yang kept standing, and standing until someone else entered. She suddenly realized she hadn’t pressed her floor.

“Ding.” The elevator ascended.

Tang Yang loved how the elevator took the same amount of time to climb each floor, a steady state. She thought, the experience of a friend turning into something more—once in a lifetime with Song Jing was enough.

Besides, Jiang Shiyan just had that kind of personality that got things done. What kind of girls he liked, didn’t she know all too well?

In one minute, she figured out what she had been pondering for an hour.

After getting home, Tang Yang casually placed the box of lipstick behind the door, took off her shoes, and fell into bed to sleep.

A night of deep slumber, and when Tang Yang woke up the next day, she felt a heaviness in her head.

She drowsily grabbed her phone to check the time and almost jumped out of bed in shock… It’s, it’s already two in the afternoon?!

Tang Yang had a regular schedule on weekdays but it went haywire on weekends. Sometimes she’d wake up at ten, sometimes at eleven.

But the reason for her shock wasn’t the time, but a dream she had. She dreamed that Jiang Shiyan kissed her, and then she was startled awake.

It only took a second for her to be startled awake, but from eleven last night to two now was a total of fourteen hours.

So in the dream, Jiang Shiyan had kissed her… for a full thirteen hours?!

Deputy Director Tang, who had firmly placed herself in the friend zone, cursed “What the hell,” thinking, does that dog Yan have such great lung capacity?

She didn’t believe it!

When Jiang Shiyan received Tang Yang’s call, he was driving.

He was quite surprised, thinking Tang Yang would avoid him for a while because of a certain name.

“What’s up, little sis Yang?” He turned down the music a bit.

“Little sis your ass,” Tang Yang corrected his form of address, “By the way, when you kissed your ex-girlfriend… ahem, how long did you usually kiss?”

Before Jiang Shiyan could answer, Tang Yang added, “I don’t mean anything by it, just had a messy dream about all sorts of things and happened to dream about this. I saw online that for fortune-telling, you need to ask for details.”

Jiang Shiyan was silent for a moment: “How long do you think is normal?”

Tang Yang made a thoughtful sound, then said, “One or two minutes… ten minutes at most.”

There seemed to be something in her mouth, making her uncomfortable.

“Sometimes one or two minutes, sometimes ten minutes,” Jiang Shiyan answered. Cheng Siran held back his laughter, and Jiang Shiyan glanced at him.

Tang Yang asked again, “You didn’t kiss often?”

“Can’t remember clearly,” Jiang Shiyan said, “Not often, I guess.”

It was as if whatever was stuck in her mouth had been swallowed. Tang Yang’s voice became a bit lighter, and after a couple more exchanges, she said goodbye.

In the car, Cheng Siran held his stomach, laughing uncontrollably: “Who was it that couldn’t kiss because of severe germaphobia? Who was it that only held hands as an adult in a relationship, providing us with a year’s worth of laughs… You even lied to your Yang-ge, has a pig eaten your conscience?”

“Wait, Boss Jiang,” Cheng Siran thought of something, “The other day when I asked if you’d kiss Tang Yang and how, didn’t you say you would, and however she wanted?”

During a red light, Jiang Shiyan rubbed his temple: “Tang Yang is a brother.”

Cheng Siran: “I’m a brother too.”

Jiang Shiyan explained: “Kissing a brother and kissing a woman is different. Kissing a woman is that kind of thing between opposite sexes, right? Between brothers, there aren’t so many reservations. If the relationship is good, a casual peck doesn’t mean anything—”

Before Jiang Shiyan could finish, he saw Cheng Siran’s face, bigger than a washbasin, right in front of him.

Particularly flirtatious and challenging, “Then do you want to kiss me?”