Chapter 35: Another Kind Of Date
Hanchuan and Zhiyi left the house at 7:51 a.m.
The passenger seat in Hanchuan’s car had been moved forward since the previous day. A charging cable compatible with her phone rested inside the center console. The cup holder contained tea prepared with the correct amount of milk and sugar made perfectly according to her taste.
Zhiyi fastened her seat belt and examined the cup.
"You had this made before I came downstairs," she murmured, cocking her head to the side.
"I did," he replied as he put the car into drive.
"How did you know I would want tea?"
"You always want tea in the morning."
"I didn’t drink tea for six years," she pointed out. They had only been together for a year before they ran out of tea in their last life.
"That’s because we didn’t have any," smiled Hanchuan, thinking exactly what Zhiyi was thinking.
The drive to the Pei Strategic Holding headquarters took thirty-seven minutes.
Hanchuan accepted two calls through the vehicle’s audio system, both concerning the hotel. Shichen’s structural scans had begun before dawn. Jingwei had divided the underground levels into controlled work zones. The first concrete and steel deliveries would arrive before noon.
Zhiyi listened without interrupting.
When the second call ended, she opened the ventilation calculations on her tablet.
Hanchuan reached across the console and turned off the screen.
"I wasn’t finished," she protested, looking over at him.
"You’re not starting until we reach the office," he replied.
"The drive is thirty-seven minutes."
"Thirty-four now."
"That is enough time to review the pressure requirements for three ventilation zones."
"You’ll review them at the office."
Zhiyi looked at his hand where it remained over the tablet. "You’re restricting my work," she grumbled.
"Absolutely," he agreed.
"Why?"
"Because you’ll continue until something forces you to stop."
"You turned off the screen."
"Yes."
"That forced me to stop."
"Yes."
The sequence contained no error.
Letting out a long sigh, Zhiyi placed the tablet on her lap and looked out the window.
Hanchuan returned his hand to the steering wheel. His thumb brushed once over her knee on the way.
At the office, all four men were already waiting.
Zeyu occupied one end of the sofa, wearing a dark suit and the expression of someone personally offended by morning. Jingwei stood near the windows with a tablet in his hand. Shichen had spread preliminary scans across Hanchuan’s desk. Qinghe looked at Zhiyi, then at Hanchuan, and finally at the distance between them.
But there wasn’t enough of it to satisfy him.
"The eastern reservoir wall contains two additional voids," Shichen said as soon as they entered. "Neither appears on the approved plans."
Zhiyi moved toward the scans.
Hanchuan caught the back of her chair and pulled it away from the desk before she could remain standing over the documents. She sat without objecting as he moved the scans within her reach.
Qinghe’s mouth tightened but at this point in time, he had learned to keep his mouth shut. Once this blew over and the world didn’t end in 24 days, he would recommend both of them to a good psychiatrist friend of his and get them the help that they need.
Not knowing what was going on in Qinghe’s head, Zhiyi began comparing the images.
For the next forty-three minutes, the hotel consumed the room.
Shichen identified structural inconsistencies. Zhiyi calculated how changes in wall density would affect heat transfer. Jingwei reported three workers attempting to enter restricted areas and confirmed that none had been permitted past the first checkpoint. Zeyu provided updated specifications for the transport vehicles and complained about weight limits until Zhiyi removed two unnecessary interior partitions from his design.
At 9:47, Hanchuan ended the meeting. "Zeyu, you’re taking Zhiyi out," he announced.
Zeyu looked from him to Zhiyi. "Where?"
"She needs a dress for tonight," he replied. Out of all of them, Zeyu was the only man he could trust to help find a good dress for her and keep her safe at the same time.
A slow smile spread across Zeyu’s face. "And you chose me," he purred. "I’m honored."
"You understand formalwear," countered Hanchuan.
"You mean, I understand women."
Hanchuan’s expression didn’t change. "That wasn’t why." While he might have said the words, it didn’t mean that they were true.
Qinghe closed the medical inventory on his tablet. "Does Zhiyi want to go shopping with Zeyu?"
Four people looked at her and Hanchuan could see Zhiyi turning pale under their look.
Not to mention, the question sent her down the rabbit hole of more and more options before Zhiyi or Hanchuan could prevent it.
Did she want to shop? Wanting required preferences she hadn’t established. She needed clothing for the dinner. Zeyu had been assigned to obtain it. Whether she wanted the process was unrelated to whether it was necessary. But Qinghe had asked—
"She’s going with Zeyu," Hanchuan said.
Qinghe’s attention snapped toward him. "I asked her."
"You asked the wrong question."
"It was a simple question."
"No," Zhiyi replied softly, shaking her head. "It wasn’t."
Qinghe looked back at her.
Zhiyi searched for a way to explain the number of decisions contained inside the word want, but Hanchuan’s hand settled against the back of her neck.
"You need a dress," he said. "Zeyu knows where to purchase one. You’ll return by noon."
One purpose.
One person.
One deadline.
"All right," she agreed quickly.
Qinghe stared at Hanchuan as though the exchange had proved something terrible, but Hanchuan ignored him.
Instead, he drew Zeyu away from the others before giving him the rest of the instructions.
"Don’t ask broad questions," Hanchuan said quietly. "Give her no more than three choices at once, and limit them to one decision."
Zeyu glanced toward Zhiyi. "For example?"
"Ask whether she wants dark blue, black or green. Once she chooses a colour, ask about length. Then fabric."
"And if she doesn’t want any of the three colours?"
"Give her three different ones."
"One decision at a time," Zeyu repeated slowly.
"Yes. Don’t hand her an entire store and ask what she likes," replied Hanchuan, briefly glancing over to Zhiyi.
"This sounds less like shopping and more like operating dangerous equipment," joked Zeyu, but it fell a bit flat with Hanchuan.
"Don’t make her responsible for guessing what you mean. If you joke, make certain she knows it’s a joke."
Zeyu’s amusement faded even more. "I’m not going to hurt her."
"I know that," sighed Hanchuan, pinching the bridge of his nose. He hated the fact that he couldn’t go with her, that she would be out of his eyesight. But he knew that Zeyu wouldn’t knowingly hurt her, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be hurt.
He wasn’t warning Zeyu away from Zhiyi.
He was trusting him with something that mattered.
Zeyu looked at her again. This time, his expression was more thoughtful. "I’ll have her back to you by noon."
"Make sure you do," Hanchuan agreed.
He then returned to Zhiyi and handed her the bag she had left beside the conference table. He checked that her phone and charger were inside before closing it.
"If you need me, call."
"I know how phones work."
"I know."
"If something changes at the hotel, send me the scans."
"I will."
"And don’t approve Shichen’s secondary ventilation route until I calculate the pressure loss."
"I won’t."
Zhiyi took the bag and Hanchuan’s fingers closed briefly around hers before releasing it. He leaned forward, kissed her forehead, and then let out a long sigh before releasing her into Zeyu’s care.
The other man held the office door open for her and waited for her to pass him before closing it again.
The elevator had nearly reached the ground floor before he spoke. "This isn’t how I pictured our first date."
Zhiyi looked at the illuminated numbers above the door.
"Today isn’t the first," she replied, looking at him confused. "Today is Thursday, September eighteenth."
Zeyu turned his head slowly. "Do you take everything so literally?"
"Is there another kind of date that I’m not aware of?" she asked, her mind starting to spin about where and how she was wrong.
Before he could answer, the elevator doors opened.
He stared at her for one second, then followed her into the lobby with a smile she couldn’t interpret.