I hate you...

I hate you...

I hate you...

The words Hinari uttered rang like an endless echo inside Zaki’s brain, repeating over and over again. He was already stunned from her sudden outburst and he couldn’t even say a word as he listened to her. He was completely silenced so the moment Zaki heard her say the words ’I hate you’, he felt like his brain just experienced a momentary shut down, something that never happened to him before.

Zaki remained silent for a long while. His eyes turned dark as though he just lost his vision. The unfamiliar feeling in his chest the moment Hinari said she hated him shocked him to the core and he didn’t know how to react. He just felt as though his system experienced a great shock, immobilizing his body and mind.

Hinari, who averted her gaze away from him for a second was starting to somewhat feel a bit nervous. Well, for some reason, the man on top of her seemed to have turned into a lifeless mannequin. He didn’t move at all. It was as if some mischievous goddess just played a prank on him by pointing a magic wand toward him and making him immobile. He used to always retort right away or flick her head whenever Hinari made him speechless so him being silent like this, without moving at all was something really surreal, like the calm before a storm.

Hinari was somehow feeling a bit better since she finally managed to let the words out that she had always wanted to tell him. However, truth be told, she thought this was not the right time for her to say all this. She didn’t mean to say all this in this kind of situation.

She didn’t plan to burst out at this moment, especially when she wasn’t allowed to touch him. Well, because she always expected the worst outcome, she had prepared a plan if in case Zaki still kept being stubborn.

However, because she was bound by their deal, Hinari won’t be able to execute her plan in this state. She didn’t want to break her promise and she hated to be at the losing end so she could only postpone the moment of truth and play it safe.

That was why upon realizing that the timing of her outburst wasn’t right, Hinari ended her statement with those words to distract him from the real issue in the mean time. She didn’t really plan to say she hated him but her mischievous self took over in the last moment and she ended up saying a big fat lie. She was supposed to simply tell him some misdirecting words yet she actually ended up saying she hated him. Oh well, it can’t be helped now...

She badly wanted him to speak, to say something, anything at all, but she knew this Zaki wouldn’t be easily swayed and she wanted him to think about what she said a bit longer. She wanted to bug him and get him to think about her. She wanted him to feel anxious even just for a little bit longer. She wanted to give him trouble. After all, he was the man who withstand all her advances for almost six years.

"Eherm." Hinari purposely cleared her throat a bit louder. She didn’t know why but Zaki in this state looked like his spirit just left him and somehow, she was starting to get a bit curious about what was going on in his head.

When the man still didn’t move, Hinari moved to pinch his cheeks but she stopped midway. Well, she still had to be careful. What if this man was just trying to make her lose control?

Just as Hinari was about to speak, Zaki’s lost spirit seemed to finally return to his body and his eyes went from being lifeless into something totally scary. He moved his face closer to hers and stared at her intently as ever, causing Hinari to be a bit taken aback.

"You... you h-hate me?" he uttered in a chilling voice filled with disbelief. For some reason, his eyes turned seemingly dangerous. E-eh? Why does it feel like he’s angry? Is he angry because he really thinks I hate him?

Despite the coldness emitting from Zaki, Hinari was engrossed with the thoughts in her head. She never expected that Zaki would react like this when she told him she hated him. Thus, instead of feeling fear, Hinari couldn’t help but somehow felt victorious and she can’t suppress herself to let a soft chuckle out. Does this man seriously think I hate him?

Hinari was surprised. She was aware that no matter what happened and even if she wanted to, she knew that it was close to impossible for her to hate this man. There’s no way she could hate a beautiful specie like him.

"Hehe. Do you really believe that I hate you?" She then asked. She couldn’t even suppress her grin even if she wanted to act all serious. Her heart was feeling so pleased that it was distracting her pretty bad. Well, him getting angry obviously means he doesn’t want her to hate him right?

That moment, upon looking at that annoying, mischievous grin and hearing her seemingly taunting words, Zaki’s dangerous aura abruptly stopped filling the air. He looked like there were big invisible dots that appeared above his head, as though he was in a state of great confusion where he didn’t even know what to think of feel now.

Zaki: "..."

He was speechless and Hinari who was watching his every reaction couldn’t help but want to burst with laughter and start teasing him.

However, just as the girl was about to begin her tease, Zaki suddenly spoke.

"No." He said with a serious gaze and Hinari blinked as she uttered an "Huh?"

"I think you don’t really hate me." Zaki replied. Her expression went back to normal but there’s still emotions in his eyes he couldn’t hide. He still looked like he was angry with something.

"... Oh... is that so? How could you say so?"

"Because I think I’m an optimist."

"..."

Hearing Zaki’s unexpected reply combined with his straight face, Hinari blinked three times and fell speechless.

T-this man... what kind of reason is that?

Upon seeing how he replied calmly, Hinari narrowed her eyes. And in the next moment, her expression changed. The grin on her face faded and she looked at him ever so seriously as though she was about to say something that could shake the world.

"What if I tell you, I was serious?" she said and after a moment of deafening silence, Zaki’s cold aura immediately blazed again. Looking at him, Hinari wanted to celebrate.

His mouth opened a little as if he wanted to say something but at that moment, Hinari’s cellphone vibrated.

Hinari immediately answered her phone. She wanted their conversation to stop right here. She wanted to trouble and make him feel anxious for a long while. After all her aim was to make this man open up to her on his own accord not because he was forced to do so.

"Oh, our spy." She then said casually. She immediately switched into her mission mode as she spoke, completely ignoring Zaki who was still on top of her with a sour expression.

"Hello? What is it? We just left . Don’t tell me that that secretary entered the boss’ office again." She said as she raised her brow.

"Miss Hinari, I found out that Miss Lin is always volunteering to be the one to bring documents to the boss. I heard that the other four secretaries give her their reports, so yeah, she just entered the boss’ office again. There are a lot of documents in her hands so I bet she will be spending some time inside."

As soon as Hinari heard those words, her eyes narrowed and she took several deep breaths.

She looked at Zaki and spoke fiercely.

"Mr. Chen, there’s an emergency. I need to talk to Davi right away." She said and as though she didn’t notice the chill in his eyes, Hinari helped herself up and just like that, she slipped away, and she opened the door before she hastily left, leaving the silent man in the car emitting a deadly cold aura, as his fists clenched so tight as though he wanted to go and kill someone.