I'm Interested In Your Friend - Chapter 49
49
In the silent parking lot.
Darkness always breeds many hidden, unknown emotions.
After Tan Suran asked that question.
Neither of them spoke.
Only their breathing faintly grew heavier.
Something charged was brewing between them.
Their tightly clasped hands pressed and explored.
Sweating in the cold of winter.
“Hah.”
A heavy exhale escaped at a certain second.
Like ocean waves finally crashing onto the shore.
Or like a clarion call.
Yu Lili raised her free hand, trailing it slowly up Tan Suran’s body.
Like a white feather.
Light, yet lingering.
What’s more unbearable than itching is the desire that might break free from its cage at any moment.
When sight and hearing are stripped away, the sense of touch becomes overwhelmingly heightened.
The faintest stirring can trigger a tidal wave.
+
At last, the wandering fingers find their mark.
Young, inexperienced fingers press against Tanzhuran’s soft, pink lips.
Grazing them lightly, teasingly, again and again.
Yulili leans in closer and whispers, “Here?”
Tanzhuran hesitates for a second-or maybe two-before parting her lips slightly and murmuring a soft “Mm.”
Seizing the opening,
dry, slender fingers slip in like nimble little fish, wet with warm, slick moisture.
+
They press against the tender flesh inside,
twisting and turning-
a lewd, suggestive motion.
But only twice.
Then-
suddenly, it stops.
The fingers withdraw without hesitation, leaving Tanzhuran’s lips slightly parted,
her pale neck fragile and translucent,
emptied.
Lost.
As Tanzhuran lowers her head slightly, jaw tensed, fingers clenched tight-
just as she parts her lips, about to chase after them-
Click.
Yulili steps down,
switching on the overhead light.
Bright white light floods down.
Tan Suran was caught off guard and slightly narrowed her eyes.
The ambiguous atmosphere floating in the darkness was dispersed.
Yu Lili’s cunning eyes were also illuminated.
In her watery, gentle gaze danced a reckless and triumphant light.
She couldn’t outplay her.
Tan Suran thought.
She released their entwined hands.
Retrieved the car keys.
Turned to leave.
But Yu Lili suddenly rose onto her tiptoes.
Raised her hand to Tan Suran’s shoulder.
And pushed her back forcefully.
Thud.
Tan Suran’s back hit the white pillar.
Her long, dark lashes fluttered.
She lifted her gaze.
The little girl before her was brazen in her posture.
Unclear what she intended.
But she found out the next second.
A scorching breath clung like a shadow.
Pressed against her flawless neck.
The sound of rapid panting mingled with the jasmine-scented breeze.
“Next time, just kiss me, okay?”
“Sister …”
Tan Suran’s pale, slender throat bobbed, her hand clenched into a fist. Before she could utter a single “okay”—
In the next moment.
A faint breeze swept past.
The warm, damp sensation pressed against her lips seized all her senses.
Breath.
Heartbeat.
Everything skipped a beat.
Lips tightly entwined, kneading, shifting.
Under the alternating light and heavy suction,
her empty heart raced wildly.
She closed her eyes.
The soft, wet sounds of mingling mouths spread through the quiet air.
For the first time, Tan Suran realized—
Yu Lili’s lips
tasted faintly of grapes.
A nimble tongue gently probed twice against tightly closed teeth.
Yu Lili pulled back with a laugh,
panting as she spoke: “Sister , open your mouth—don’t keep it so tight.”
The gates of the imprisoned castle swung open.
A surge of turbulent desire rushed in,
steaming against the glass like a dense fog.
The moon hung half-full.
In the dark blue sky, a bird flew by, so low it almost brushed the ground.
And there, in the deserted parking lot,
they kissed without restraint.
Then suddenly—
Pit-pat, pit-pat—
raindrops began to fall.
One landed on her face.
Scalding hot.
Yu Lili turned her face away,
lifting her gaze.
Tan Suran’s eyelids were shut tight,
lashes trembling.
A flush bloomed across the beauty’s cheeks.
A goddess fallen to earth.
But what was most striking were the two teardrops trembling at the corners of her eyes.
Transparent, like pearls.
Amid such wanton passion.
Tan Suran remained pure to the core.
Yu Lili clearly heard her own heartbeat.
“Why are you crying, baby?”
A change in endearment.
Yu Lili leaned in, using her warm lips to—
one by one, like a chick pecking at grains—
lick away the tears on her face.
“Don’t you like it?”
“Don’t you like it?”
Tan Suran heard Yu Lili’s question.
How should she answer?
Because she did.
Loved it to the point of madness.
So the moment she got it.
She couldn’t hold back her tears.
—
On the bar counter, the red wine in the transparent goblet was still more than half full.
Thinking back to those two sips she’d taken on a whim before heading out for the rendezvous.
Yu Lili smugly licked her lips.
Pleased with her own cleverness.
She took a moment to review the night’s achievements.
How to put it?
In any case, it was like taking one step straight to the moon.
The kiss that followed was interrupted by a sudden phone call.
The moment the phone was picked up.
Tan Suran instantly transformed into a different person, becoming the aloof and lofty CEO Tan.
When discussing the numbers for the collaboration, she was calm, restrained, and methodical.
Yu Lili watched from the side, only growing more infatuated.
After hanging up.
The two got into the car.
Tan Suran didn’t speak, her face devoid of any noticeable expression.
As if the unapproachable CEO Tan was still present.
But Yu Lili stole a glance.
From her reddened ears and lips that were unusually moist and crimson.
And the car key that missed the ignition several times.
Hmm.
The Su Su princess who cries when kissed is still here.
The bad part was.
The next day.
Yu Lili sent several messages.
Tan Suran replied quickly each time.
But the content was—【I’m in a meeting.】
Had Yu Lili not checked the time stamps.
She might have actually believed it.
From 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
To those who know, you’re the CEO of a major corporation.
To those who don’t, they’d think you’re a UN negotiator in another life.
Or the head of a pyramid scheme brainwashing people with nonstop seminars from dawn till dusk.
Afraid that even a second less would snap them out of it.
Really.
@
Kiss and ditch.
Not even showing your face all day.
Tan Suran has a natural talent for being a heartless woman.
Yu Lili lowered her eyelids, grumbling inwardly.
Pulling out her beloved little camera.
Start messing around.
Women will deceive you, friends will betray you.
Only work—if you don’t know it, you just don’t; if you can’t do it, you just can’t.
Yu Lili was watching a brand’s fashion show when it suddenly dawned on her.
Tan Suran…
Was she actually… shy?
She nibbled on the end of her notetaking pen.
The more she thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.
And the more Tan Suran acted like this,
the more Yu Lili wanted to tease her.
Without hesitation, she dialed the number.
Listening to the icy tone on the other end of the line,
along with the overly polite, overly distant: “Hello, who’s speaking?”
Yu Lili tapped her fingers on the desk.
Cleared her throat, and mustered up her most exaggeratedly sweet voice.
“Darling, you’re so mean—after all that, you still call me ‘hello’?”
The voice was so sickeningly sweet that even Yu Lili herself felt the urge to find a trash can.
Sure enough.
Silence on the other end of the line.
Yu Lili curved her lips.
Just as she was about to tease a little more—
Crash.
Whose chair just hit the floor?
Clatter.
Whose water cup fell over?
Clatter clatter clatter.
A series of chairs toppled.
No matter how slow Yu Lili was, she realized that there were many people around Tan Suran.
“Are you really in a meeting?”
“Mhm.” In the conference room, Tan Suran walked out while holding her phone. “I accidentally turned on the speaker earlier.”
…
The next second.
Beep.
A string of busy tones.
Yu Lili had directly hung up the call.
Tan Suran raised an eyebrow and calmly walked back into the conference room.
The documents that had flown everywhere, the overturned chairs, and the flustered expressions had all returned to normal.
Tan Suran glanced at Assistant Lin.
Assistant Lin spoke up, “Manager Sun, continue with your report.”
Manager Sun wiped the sweat from his forehead.
Following the content on the PPT, he introduced,
“Next quarter, we are expected to achieve a 10% growth on top of our current results.”
Meeting the inscrutable, icy gaze of President Tan at the head of the table,
Manager Sun trembled slightly as he said, “Is there any problem… baby?”
As soon as the word “baby” slipped out, Manager Sun realized what he had just called her.
!
SOS.
He was dead.
“Baby-like clients are the goal we strive for, and I am very confident in achieving this target.”
The bitter, battle-ready smile on Manager Sun’s face was his last act of defiance.
…
…
The deathly silent conference room proved one thing:
To survive in the universe,
You’ve got to have a decent poker face.
After the meeting ended,
Manager Sun had to be helped out by someone.
Tan Suran drove to Yu Lili’s apartment and parked downstairs.
She stayed in the car without getting out.
Picked up her phone and scrolled through their messages from today.
She had been in meetings—
But all of them were last-minute additions.
Otherwise, she probably would’ve…
Her slender fingers brushed against her lips.
Kept reliving last night.
No more hesitation. She dialed the number.
“Hello?”
Yu Lili’s voice was soft and quiet—
A far cry from the teasing flirt from last night.
“Not yet,” she lied on purpose.
Yu Lili’s breathing grew even lighter, whispering, “Then call me after your meeting, okay? I’ll hang up first.”
“Don’t hang up. It’s over.”
“Really?”
“Look outside.”
A shuffling sound of slippers against the floor came through the phone, as if she were heading to the balcony.
Then, her excited voice: “I see you!”
Tan Suran stepped out of the car and looked up.
Yu Lili was leaning halfway over the balcony, waving at her.
Phone still pressed to her ear, Tan Suran smiled. “Be careful. Don’t fall.”
“Then, will you catch me?”
“According to gravity analysis, given your current floor height, if I try to catch you, there’s a 99% chance of only one outcome.”
“What?”
“We’d both die…”
“Pfft…” Yuli Li laughed.
“But I’d still choose to catch you,” Tan Suran said matter-of-factly.
Yuli Li covered her mouth, staring down in surprise.
Pale as moonlight, tall and slender.
A black camel-hair coat.
Long, straight legs.
Leaning against the car door, exuding an indescribable coolness.
The faint glow of the streetlight fell on her.
Beside her, the paulownia tree’s sparse branches swayed slightly.
Tan Suran tilted her head slightly, one hand tucked into her coat pocket.
Gazing up at her with quiet intensity.
On the balcony above, Yuli Li shifted her posture.
Propping her chin on her hand, she tilted her head slightly.
Memorizing this version of Tan Suran—and this winter night—just like this.
Both of them had already eaten.
Yuli Li had given up waiting for her, while Tan Suran had hastily grabbed a bite during a company meeting.
“I actually wanted to have dinner with you,” Tan Suran said, sitting on Yuli Li’s sofa.
Yuli Li didn’t respond.
Instead, she picked up her phone from the coffee table.
Pressed the screen.
And shoved it right in Tan Suran’s face.
Showing her the time.
“Next time, ask me two hours earlier. Then I’ll believe you genuinely want to have dinner with me.”
Tan Suran smiled.
The opened bottle of red wine by the liquor cabinet was still there.
Tan Suran glanced over. “Did you drink?”
Yuli Li shook her head.
After a pause.
She also said, “I drank yesterday.”
“No wonder,” Tan Suran murmured.
“No wonder what?” Yu Lili turned her face, her skin plump and fair, her almond-shaped eyes dark, moist, and sparkling.
“Nothing.”
“Then… did you drink yesterday?” Yu Lili asked.
“No,” Tan Suran replied. After a pause, she added, “I was very sober.”
She was very sober.
After these four words were spoken,
both of them began to recall yesterday’s events in their minds.
A sudden wave of intimacy descended.
The quiet room was filled with a rolling heat.
On the TV, the female model was still walking the runway, the sound of high heels tapping the floor echoing.
The sofa seemed to have entered a vacuum zone.
“You were sober, so why did you kiss me?” Yu Lili asked this question cautiously,
as if probing some open secret.
Time flowed slowly.
So the wait for Tan Suran’s response felt equally prolonged.
“I’m quite certain it was you who kissed me first,” she said, her voice tinged with both helplessness and a hint of amusement.
Yu Lili couldn’t sit still anymore.
“Hey, come on, who was it that seductively asked me, ‘Want to kiss?’ and then traced my palm with their pinky?”
She raised her hand, as if traces of yesterday’s touch still lingered there.
In reality, there was no evidence left.
Tan Suran chuckled softly and tucked a loose strand of hair behind Yu Lili’s ear.
As her warm fingertips brushed past Yu Lili’s ear—
It was like being poured a glass of vodka.
“Because you said you liked me.”
Yu Lili felt a little dizzy from the intoxication.
How could someone say something so seductive in such a cool, detached tone?
The distance between the two grew closer and closer.
Gazes scorching.
Flowing recklessly across their faces.
Pulses racing wildly.
The tips of their noses brushed lightly.
Then their lips pressed together.
Compared to yesterday,
Tan Suran’s kissing skills had improved by leaps and bounds.
She cupped the back of her neck,
the skin there tingling,
numb yet electric.
Tan Suran undid the buttons of her shirt with one hand, pressing forward with a hint of wild abandon.
Ten fingers interlaced,
pinned against the back of the sofa.
Because it was the second time doing something like this,
Tan Suran was much more skilled than the first.
……
When they parted,
both were gasping for breath,
eyes flushed red.
Yet they didn’t separate completely.
Yu Lili leaned into the crook of her shoulder,
inhaling softly.
The bitter citrus scent on Tan Suran’s body had, at some point, taken on a hint of floral fragrance.
Yu Lili was still panting, her chest heaving uncontrollably.
She tilted her head up,
reaching out a finger to trace the glistening bead of her lower lip.
Their other hands remained clasped together,
swinging lightly, aimlessly.
Yu Lili remembered what she had said before the kiss.
“If I like you, can I kiss you?”
She blinked slowly as she asked.
“Then what if…”
“I say I love you?”
……
“Can we do something even more reckless?”