My Boss Always Flirts With Me - Chapter 60

Chapter 60: Playing with Fire

In the end, Fang Ci did turn on the video, but he didn’t turn on the lights. The screen’s light was dim, only illuminating a faint, indistinct silhouette.

“Is this okay?” He adjusted the angle, turning his body sideways to the camera.

He Chi’s side was well-lit. Fang Ci saw him frown almost imperceptibly. It was the micro-expression he used to show dissatisfaction, one that Fang Ci was very familiar with, but this time, he chose to ignore it.

He Chi was indeed dissatisfied. To be precise, in their conversation tonight, he felt an unprecedented sense of losing control. Not an emotional one, but a behavioral one. Fang Ci had slipped out of his grasp. He could choose not to turn on the lights, or even not to turn on the video. With a thousand miles of network signal between them, there was nothing He Chi could do.

Even though Fang Ci still behaved very obediently, his soft and sweet tone was a demeanor unique to when he was with He Chi. But He Chi’s heart was still mixed with a vague displeasure, which then transformed into regret and a sense of confusion.

Was the three-week trip to Southeast Asia really necessary?

“What would you like to talk about, Teacher He?” Fang Ci asked him.

The things he wanted to know had already been discussed. He Chi just wanted to look at him. It was over thirty degrees in Southeast Asia. He’d heard that it was so hot that people lose their appetite. Would his ‘little one’ have lost weight again?

“Are you eating properly?” he asked.

Fang Ci replied, “The mango sticky rice here is delicious, and there’s a wide variety of seafood.”

“Have you gotten fatter?”

Fang Ci held back a laugh. “Teacher He, I’ve only been here for two days. Six meals won’t make me gain weight.”

He Chi paused. So it was only the second day.

After speaking, Fang Ci moved a little closer to show him. His face was still small. He Chi held his phone, scrutinizing him, his gaze sweeping over Fang Ci’s eyes, his moist lips, and then landing on a section of his collarbone.

He really wasn’t wearing pajamas.

Fang Ci moved closer for a moment, then pulled back, pulling the blanket up to his shoulder. His porcelain-white collarbone disappeared along with it. The regret in He Chi’s heart was once again drawn out, magnified by a degree.

The heat from Southeast Asia seemed to penetrate the screen, making his phone hotter than usual.

“It’s 11 o’clock,” Fang Ci softly reminded him, seeing that he wasn’t speaking.

With a time difference of over two hours, it was almost 1 AM in China. Normally, He Chi would already be asleep by this time, but he wasn’t tired tonight. Facing Fang Ci’s soft urging, he acknowledged it but showed no intention of hanging up.

He didn’t speak, nor did he turn off the video. He just stared at him. How silly, Teacher He, Fang Ci couldn’t help but laugh inwardly.

In that case, he shouldn’t be blamed for collecting some interest.

“Teacher He, could you tell me a bedtime story?”

He Chi’s Adam’s apple bobbed. “What do you want to hear?”

Fang Ci: “Grimm’s Fairy Tales.”

He Chi raised an eyebrow.

Fang Ci: “The original German version.”

He Chi: “…”

Fang Ci blinked. “Can you? If not, I’ll hang up.”

The ‘little one’ was being so brazen across a continent. He Chi had no way to deal with him, but he was also happy to see him making demands. He actually agreed. “There are 216 stories. Pick one?”

“That many?” Fang Ci was surprised. “Do you have the originals for all of them?”

He Chi said, “I only need the Chinese version.”

I get it. Teacher He has to do real-time translation, on-the-spot interpretation, Fang Ci’s eyes curved in a smile. He thought for a moment and said, “Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella?”

They were very common stories. Perhaps too common. He Chi gave him another option: “The Valiant Little Tailor.”

Fang Ci: “…” This one sounds so unfamiliar. Teacher He didn’t just make it up, did he?

He Chi showed him the search results. It was a real story, no lies.

“Alright then.” Fang Ci propped his phone up on a pillow so he could both listen and watch.

With his audience in place, He Chi began unhurriedly. His voice was low and magnetic, and his German pronunciation was crisp, with elegant trilled Rs. The slight tap of his tongue against his teeth created a clear vibration that left Fang Ci’s eardrums feeling numb, gently softening the entire dark night.

The fairy tale was super short. Fang Ci hadn’t had enough of it, nor did he understand much of it. After He Chi finished, he naturally asked him a few words, including words like “tailor,” “giant,” and “king.” Fang Ci answered. He knew those ones.

“Not bad.”

Fang Ci: “I’ve been reading German books.”

“Mm.”

“There are some I don’t know, too.”

“Which one?”

Fang Ci: “Einhorn. I haven’t seen this word before.”

He Chi: “It means unicorn.”

Fang Ci then asked a few more in a row. Some of his pronunciations were off, but He Chi could still guess them.

“Anything else?”

A faint light flickered in Fang Ci’s eyes. He licked his lips and asked, “Bruder.”

He Chi: “This word means brother. It’s not in the story.”

Fang Ci humbly accepted the lesson. “Then I must have heard it wrong.”

As a good student, he conscientiously repeated his learning for the night. His vocabulary had increased a lot: “Unicorn, knight, castle… brother.”

He Chi stared at his opening and closing lips, listening as he paused and asked, “Bruder. Just like in English, can it also mean ‘older brother’?”

He Chi squinted. In the dim yellow light, he looked like a large, lazy but provoked cat. A certain nerve related to “Fang Ci” was overly sensitive, making him feel a tickle.

“Didn’t hear you clearly,” his Adam’s apple bobbed again. “Ask that again?”

Fang Ci’s palms were sweating. He gently clutched the corner of his blanket, but his eyes didn’t flinch.

“Gege… does that word also mean ‘older brother’?”

A long silence. Even the air felt lighter.

“Yuanyuan, are you doing this on purpose?” It was clearly a question, but by the time it came out, it was a statement.

Fang Ci played dumb. “What?”

He Chi fell silent. His eyes were deep, as if he wanted to seize Fang Ci and hold him in the palm of his hand.

Fang Ci pretended not to see, smiling lightly. “Teacher He, thank you for the story.”

He then spoke softly again, saying, “It’s very late. You have to go to work tomorrow, so let’s chat another day.”

Then, without even leaving him time to react, he hung up after speaking.

He Chi stared at the black screen, his thumb rubbing against it a few times. He didn’t move his gaze for a long time.

Only two days, and who taught my little one to be so bad?

In the night of Southeast Asia, Fang Ci looked at the ceiling, a slight curve on his lips. His parents used to complain that he was smart when it came to serious things but acted stupid in life. He often felt he was so foolishly stubborn that he was easily swayed by He Chi.

He Chi was like a king, with a solid, unbreakable castle and a methodical set of laws. Fang Ci had followed his rules, walking in his footsteps to get closer to him, but followers were often hard to notice.

Grimm’s Fairy Tales were right. He should be the little tailor, taking him by surprise, blowing a hole in his castle and laws, and implanting his own mark.

He not only wanted to nibble on his Adam’s apple, but also to poke his heart, to kiss the softest part, making it so He Chi could neither escape nor forget him.

At the end of the story, the little tailor would become king.

He turned his phone back on. His eyes shone brightly, and the thin blanket slipped from his shoulders as he raised his hand, revealing his beautiful shoulder blades.

“Welcome to my world, Teacher He.”