But it wasn’t up to her not to go out. Yue Linze lowered his eyes, his voice turning cold: “It seems I was being overly sentimental. Miss Tao has no intention of being friends with me. Forget it. I’ll have someone take you to the airport tomorrow, and others can handle things here.”
“No, don’t misunderstand, I didn’t mean that,” Tao Yu panicked at the thought of being kicked out, desperately trying to explain her hesitation, “I was just thinking about what to eat!”
“Have you decided?” Yue Linze looked up and asked.
Tao Yu answered without thinking: “Hot pot!”
“Okay,” Yue Linze nodded in agreement.
Tao Ya could see that he was truly unfamiliar, so she didn’t hold back and ordered several dishes she liked, along with some that she remembered Yue Linze enjoyed. Yue Linze listened to her ordering, with a tenderness in his eyes that no one could see.
After ordering, the room fell silent. Tao Ya was thinking about how to start a conversation when Yue Linze spoke first: “You know my preferences quite well.”
His tone was not questioning, clearly confident that his statement was correct. And indeed, it was correct. Tao Ya’s heart skipped a beat, and she laughed: “Your alternate personality is also produced by your brain, so preferences and such are naturally quite similar. I’ve been with them for so long, of course I understand some things.”
This was the explanation she had used to brush things off before, hoping it would work this time as well.
Yue Linze added hot water to both their cups before looking at Tao Ya: “I’ve wanted to ask a question before – while you’ve been with those alternate personalities for so long, have any of them ever developed feelings for you?”
His words were like a thunderbolt, shocking Tao Ya so much that her entire body bristled, her mind racing about why he would ask such a question. She worked hard to calm the roaring pressure inside her, and forced a smile: “Of course not. Why would you ask such a thing?”
