Chapter 7 — My In-Game Husband is a CEO

Haven't we met already? He looked at me, waiting for me to continue. I choked back my words for a long time, finally blurting out a single sentence:

"Are you very busy with work usually?"

He froze. Then, the corners of his lips curved upward slightly.

"It's all right."

I let out a sigh of relief. Then I immediately felt how foolish I was. Clearly, this was not what I wanted to ask. The dishes were served, and I lowered my head to eat. He, on the other hand, ate very leisurely, occasionally raising his head to glance at me. His gaze made the hair on the back of my neck stand up slightly.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing."

I did not believe him.

"Is there something you want to tell me?"

He was silent for a second. Then he said:

"Yes."

I put down my chopsticks and looked at him. He looked at me. Then he said:

"What I said last time about wanting to meet you, that wasn't quite right."

Not right? What did he mean? He said: "What I actually wanted to say is that I like you."

I froze. My chopsticks nearly slipped from my hand. What did he just say?

"You..."

"Last summer." He interrupted me, his voice still low and steady, like he was narrating a very ordinary matter, "You sat outside the corridor, asking me if I had any chewy candy."

I: "..." Here we go again.

"Your eyes were a bit red."

I looked at him. He looked at me.

"After that, I had people look for you." He said, "But by the time we found her, you had already left."

I opened my mouth, at a loss for words.

"I searched for a long time." He said, "Your name wasn't on the year-end party list, and since your company was an external contractor, we couldn't trace you through the internal database."

"Why were you looking for me?"

He did not answer, just looked at me. The sunlight streaming through the window made his very dark eyes catch a faint gleam of light.

"Later, my younger sister told me she had quit the game and sold all her accounts." He said, "She happened to send me a screenshot of her transaction chat with you. The buyer's profile picture was a girl in a white dress, standing beneath a cherry blossom tree."

I remembered my profile picture. It was a photo taken last spring, and I indeed had been wearing a white dress. I had been very pleased with how it turned out. It looked like a professional model shot, so I used it directly as my profile picture.

"I told her not to sell it." He said, "She told me it was too late, the transaction was already done."

I was stunned.

"So you knew it was me?"

"I wasn't certain." He said, "But I wanted to try."

He paused slightly: "Now, I am certain." I looked into his eyes, and suddenly recalled our very first match. He had played Hou Yi and gone 0-8, claiming he hadn't played in a while and was a bit rusty. Was that actually intentional from the beginning?

"So did you throw that first match?" I asked.

"No, I had just reinstalled the game, my hand-eye coordination was off."

That was even worse than admitting to throwing. He had just reinstalled it, yet by the second match, he was dominating the skies. What kind of freakish talent was that? I took a deep breath: "Then what about the second match? Was going 13-0 also an act?"

"No." He said, "I was afraid you would run away."

I: "..."

"So for the past half month, you have always been..."

"Pursuing you." He said.

Just two words. Low, steady. As if he were simply stating a matter-of-fact truth. I looked at him for three seconds. Then I discovered that the corners of my own mouth had already curled upward.

After dinner, he drove me home. The car stopped downstairs by my apartment building, but I did not rush to get out.

"Chen." I spoke up.

"Hmm?"

"Everything you said just now, was it all true?"

He did not answer. Instead, he reached into his pocket and retrieved something, placing it gently into the palm of my hand. I lowered my head to look. It was a package of chewy fruit candy. Strawberry flavor. I froze.

"When did you buy this?"

"Right after you left that day." He said, "I had someone look for it and kept it ever since."

He added: "It hasn't expired. It's not the exact same package from back then." I looked at the candy, suddenly feeling a strong urge to laugh.

"Are you out of your mind?" I said.

"Yes."

I raised my head to look at him. He was looking back at me. His eyes were very dark, very earnest.

"So," he said, "will you agree?"

I clutched the candy, feeling the warmth radiating in my palm. Outside the window, a car drove past, its headlights sweeping across the interior before fading away. I looked at him.

"Agree to what?"

I looked at him.

"Agree to what?"

He did not speak, just looked at me with those deep, serious eyes. Outside the window, another car passed, the light washing over us and vanishing. Then he suddenly let out a soft laugh. Very low, very brief. It sounded just like his laughter in the game, yet somehow slightly different.

"Never mind." He said, "There's no rush."

I was taken aback.

"What is there no rush for?"

He did not answer, simply raising his hand to check his watch.

"It's ten o'clock." He said, "Don't you have to go to work tomorrow?"

I looked at him. He looked at me.

"Then..." I began.

"Go on upstairs." He said, "I'll watch you go up."

I got out of the car, walked two steps, and then turned back. He was still standing beside the vehicle, the streetlamp casting a long shadow behind him.

"Chen." I called out.

"Hmm?"

"You still haven't answered my question."

He looked at me.

"Agree to what?"

He fell silent for two seconds. Then he said:

"Agree to let me continue pursuing you."

I was stunned.

"For how long?"

"I don't know." He said, "I'll pursue you until you no longer allow it."

I stood in place, looking at him. He looked back at me. Then, I smiled.

"Then keep taking your time." I said, "I'm heading up now."

"All right."

I turned around and walked toward the entrance. After taking a few steps, I looked back once more. He was still standing right there. Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind.