Chapter 49: You’re Beautiful
Hanchuan remained behind his desk, and pretended to read the messages that had accumulated during the afternoon. He had read the same one three times without retaining any of it.
The stylist began with Zhiyi’s hair.
She brushed it back from her face, divided it into sections and gathered it low against the nape of her neck. Her hands moved quickly and without hesitation. She twisted each section inward, building them over one another until the lengths disappeared into a smooth, low chignon.
The style exposed the entire line of Zhiyi’s neck, leaving her flawless skin completely bare.
Two fine strands were left loose at her temples, softening the severity without falling far enough to touch her shoulders. The rest was pinned securely away from her face and bare skin.
It suited her too well.
The stylist caught Zeyu watching in the mirror.
"I have prepared a considerable number of women for you," she said while sliding another pin into place. "But this is the first time you called and asked for me personally, rearranged my evening and given me this many instructions for any of them."
She spoke lightly, but her eyes moved deliberately to Zhiyi’s reflection.
Clearly, she wanted Zhiyi to hear it. Whether to say that Zhiyi was nothing more than one of hundreds of women that followed after Zeyu or to prove that she was special, Zhiyi didn’t know. Nor did she really care.
Whatever conclusion the stylist had drawn from Zeyu’s attention on Zhiyi, she apparently believed Zhiyi needed to know what Zeyu was really like.
Zeyu leaned against the edge of Hanchuan’s desk, perfectly at ease beneath the accusation.
"None of them were Zhiyi," he said. His gaze remained on her as the stylist smoothed one final section of hair into place. "They can’t be compared to her. She’s much more important."
There was no humor in the answer and the stylist’s eyebrows rose slightly.
Zhiyi showed no embarrassment.
She considered the statement for a moment, appeared to find it consistent with the existing evidence and returned her attention to the neat arrangement of brushes on the table.
Hanchuan looked down at his phone.
Zeyu had selected the dress. Zeyu had arranged the stylist. Zeyu had called himself her boyfriend while looking directly at her, and Zhiyi had allowed the claim to pass without objection.
Hanchuan opened a message to his executive assistant.
Contact the jeweler. I need a sapphire-and-diamond necklace suitable for a dark-blue strapless gown. Platinum. Matching diamond studs. Have them brought to my office within half an hour.
He sent it before he could examine precisely why the empty space around Zhiyi’s throat had become intolerable.
The stylist moved on to her makeup.
She applied only enough foundation to even Zhiyi’s complexion, then added a restrained wash of color to her cheeks. Her eyes were defined with charcoal rather than black, the shadow blended softly at the outer corners and the lashes darkened without becoming theatrical. A muted rose color went onto her lips.
Nothing altered the structure of Zhiyi’s face. The makeup only drew attention to what had already been there: the clear shape of her eyes, the fine line of her nose, the mouth Hanchuan had spent seven years watching form practical conclusions and corrections.
The stylist stepped back to study her work.
Zhiyi looked like herself.
And that was the problem.
A knock sounded at the office door just as the protective cloth came away from the dress.
Hanchuan’s assistant entered carrying a narrow black case and a smaller square one. He placed both on the desk without comment and left.
Zeyu’s eyes followed them.
His expression changed when Hanchuan opened the larger case.
The necklace rested against black velvet. Slender loops of platinum crossed and interwove along the collar, each one set closely with diamonds.
Near the center, the pattern opened around a cluster of deep-blue sapphires. Five stones formed the heart of the design, their color nearly matching the dress, while a diamond-framed sapphire drop descended below them.
It was ornate without being delicate.
The smaller case held two round diamond studs.
The stylist glanced from the necklace to Hanchuan, then wisely occupied herself with packing away her brushes.
Zeyu gave a quiet laugh. He understood immediately.
Hanchuan ignored him.
He removed the studs first and crossed the office toward Zhiyi. She watched him approach through the mirror, her expression attentive but unalarmed.
"Hold still," he said.
She did.
Hanchuan fitted the first diamond against her earlobe. His knuckles brushed the side of her neck as he secured the backing, then he moved to the other side. The studs were simple, no larger than necessary, catching the light without competing with the line of the dress or the necklace waiting in his hand.
He lifted the necklace from its case.
Zhiyi’s gaze lowered to it. "That wasn’t here before."
"No," he replied, looking down at her.
"Did you buy it for tonight?"
"Yes."
She looked at the sapphires, then at him in the mirror. "Why?"
"Your neck was bare."
That was not an adequate explanation.
Zhiyi appeared to recognize that, but Hanchuan had already stepped behind her.
He raised the necklace over her shoulders and settled it against her skin. The diamonds followed the base of her throat while the sapphires rested at the centre of her chest, dark blue against bare skin before the final drop reached the upper edge of the dress.
Hanchuan fastened the clasp at the back of her neck.
His fingers remained there for one second longer than the task required.
In the mirror, Zeyu’s gaze met his.
The dress might have been Zeyu’s choice. The stylist might have come because Zeyu called her. Zeyu might have announced his claim.
But it was Hanchuan’s necklace around Zhiyi’s throat.
The satisfaction the sight gave him was immediate and entirely unreasonable, but he accepted it anyway.
Zhiyi touched one fingertip to the central sapphire. "This is expensive."
"Yes."
"Is it borrowed?"
"No."
Her eyes found his in the mirror. "Then who owns it?"
"You do."
The stylist stopped fastening one of her cases.
Zeyu’s smile widened, but he said nothing.
Zhiyi examined the necklace again, assessing the answer with the same seriousness she gave everything else. Then she lowered her hand.
"All right."
She didn’t protest or ask whether she should accept it. She simply incorporated the necklace into the facts of the evening and moved on.
Hanchuan looked at her reflection.
He had seen her every minute of every day for seven years, and apparently that hadn’t prepared him for the sight of Qiao Zhiyi in a dark-blue evening dress, wearing his diamonds around her throat.
"You’re beautiful," he murmured softly.
Color entered her cheeks beneath the makeup, and from behind him, Zeyu sounded personally offended. "She didn’t blush when I told her."
"You didn’t tell me," Zhiyi point out, confused.
Zeyu straightened. "I chose the dress."
"That is not the same action."
Hanchuan watched her reflection as she continued examining the necklace.
She still believed they were taking her to a Liang family dinner.
None of them bothered to correct her.