The address changed from "Brother Chen" to "Mr. Chen," and Chen Dongyang wasn't foolish.
He glanced at her and asked with an unreadable expression, "Are you angry?"
"..."
Tian Tian feigned ignorance, "Angry about what?"
He saw through her. "There's no need. That's just how she is, all talk and no heart. You'll find out if you interact with her more."
*Hmph, you seem to interact with her quite a bit, know her quite well.*
Tian Tian, annoyed, turned her head towards the window. "That's not true. Wu Shuang and I already discussed it last night. We were planning to tell you today anyway."
"You're so busy, it's not practical for you to be running around like this all the time."
Chen Dongyang couldn't help but glance at her profile again.
However, her lustrous black hair was half-covering her chest, obscuring her view, and he could only see her slightly curled eyelashes.
Since she wanted to live with her best friend, he didn't say anything more and nodded, saying "Mm."
As the car entered the residential complex, Chen Dongyang was about to get the wheelchair from the back when Hui Hui called.
Frowning slightly, Chen Dongyang answered while opening the passenger door.
Hui Hui's gentle voice came through, "Dongyang, did you drop Miss Jiang off?"
Chen Dongyang's hand rested on the car door, and he asked calmly.
"Is something wrong?"
"It's nothing major, I just wanted to ask if you dropped her off, and if you're still going to her place for lunch. If not, could you spare some time to come over? My electric scooter's battery seems to have a problem; it loses power while I'm riding it, and I have to kick it to get it going again. This morning, it took me over an hour to go buy groceries and come back."
Tian Tian turned her face towards the driver's side.
Chen Dongyang's gaze swept across her face, then he turned to look outside.
"Got it, I'll come over during lunch."
"Okay, then I'll make lunch and wait for you. Don't eat out. Dou Bao hasn't seen you in days either, he misses you."
After hanging up, Chen Dongyang reached out to hug Tian Tian, but she felt a strange aversion. She moved her right leg forward, which was fine, and propped her hands on the car door.
"I can do it myself. You can help me push the wheelchair over."
Chen Dongyang silently pushed the wheelchair over, and Tian Tian carefully sat in it.
As Chen Dongyang was about to push her into the lobby, Tian Tian applied the brakes.
"No need. The road ahead is flat, and I can slide directly into the elevator. Don't make another trip. You've been working really hard lately, thank you."
With that, without waiting for Chen Dongyang's reply, she entered the lobby without looking back.
Watching the two tall, bright glass doors slowly close in front of him, Chen Dongyang felt a dull ache in his chest.
But he also knew. He couldn't chase after her to explain anything.
He didn't have the standing. He never would.
At half-past eleven in the morning, Chen Dongyang would usually be back to make her lunch, but he wouldn't be coming today.
Tian Tian hadn't eaten breakfast and planned to order takeout and pick it up herself at the community entrance.
As she was browsing on her phone, Chen Dongyang sent her a WeChat message.
"Have you eaten?"
A bittersweet feeling welled up in her heart. She wanted to pretend she hadn't seen the message, but after resisting, she couldn't help but reply.
"I have."
"What did you eat? Takeout?"
"Is there something you need, Mr. Chen?"
There was a pause on his end. "I'm downstairs. If you don't want me to come up, please come down."
He was downstairs?
Annoyingly, she couldn't stand up at the moment, otherwise, Tian Tian really wanted to rush to the window and look down.
Her heart pounded, and an unspeakable excitement surged to her head.
But Tian Tian knew this was wrong and had to suppress it.
Her hands were shaking as she typed, "Didn't you have something to do at noon? Why are you here again?"
"Miss Zhu hasn't moved in yet, and I was worried it would be inconvenient for you to eat alone, so I brought you lunch. Please come down."
She really wanted to go down and see him, but, but...
"I already told you I've eaten."
Chen Dongyang paused for a moment, placed the food packaging box on the edge of the flower bed, and sent a photo.
"I'm leaving. If you want to eat it, come down and get it. If not, just throw it away."
The entire afternoon, Tian Tian was enveloped in a strange sense of restlessness, making her uncomfortable whether lying down or sitting.
She stared at the empty takeout box, looking at it again and again, and couldn't help but send a message to Wu Shuang.
"What are you doing? Keep me company."
Wu Shuang was writing a proposal and had just had it rejected by her superior. She was so anxious she was pulling at her hair.
"I have no ideas, I can't write anything. All these years of studying feel wasted, I'm so useless."
Tian Tian said, "Creativity naturally runs dry. I understand how you feel. Take your time; if you don't have inspiration, you don't have inspiration. Rushing won't help."
Wu Shuang sent a crying emoji. "I wish you were my boss."
Tian Tian: "I wish I could be your boss, but you have to give me the chance. Why don't you jump ship?"
Wu Shuang became shy again. "Come on, others rely on their parents, boyfriends, or husbands. I rely on my best friend. We're the same age, same education level, I can't afford to lose face like that."
"Alright, alright, your face is valuable. Then you can continue to suffer. By the way, how are things between you and your boss?"
"Us..."
As she was speaking, Wu Shuang went silent.
Tian Tian stared at the phone screen for several minutes before finally seeing the words "typing..." again.
"Ah! Speaking of my boss, he just called me over. Gosh, ever since that business trip, I feel so guilty every time I see him. When I went to his office just now, my heart was pounding!"
Tian Tian's attention was finally diverted, and she felt a little better.
"What happened? What did he call you for?"
"Nothing much, he just gave me a box. I haven't opened it yet."
"Quick, quick, quick, open it and see."
Wu Shuang sneakily placed the box under her desk and opened it. Her cheeks instantly turned as red as apples.
"Help me, what does he mean? He actually sent me a phone!"
"What phone?"
Wu Shuang sent her a picture of the latest model from a certain fruit company, priced at over ten thousand yuan, which was equivalent to her salary for a month and a half.
Tian Tian asked her, "What did he say when you went to his office just now? Is he trying to woo you?"
Wu Shuang said, "He didn't say anything, just pushed a box towards me and said you left something at his place during the last business trip. I was curious, I didn't lose anything, how could something be left behind?"
"Oh, I remember now. That night after the client dinner, when I was helping him, my phone accidentally fell and the screen cracked. But it was just a matter of replacing the tempered glass. I thought he didn't know."
"It's definitely not him trying to woo you; he's compensating me. I can't accept it, I can't accept it."
Tian Tian also said she couldn't accept it.
Let alone if it wasn't broken, even if it was truly broken, their relationship wasn't clear yet. Asking the boss to apologize and send gifts was too lacking in emotional intelligence.
"Then when should I return it to him?"
Tian Tian said, "After work. When there's no one around, otherwise, if you carry a box around, it will definitely attract attention."