CHAPTER 2
Xie Shuyu straightened her back slightly, unconsciously, as if to bolster her own presence, refusing to concede. Her tone tightened as she said stiffly, "I didn't ignore you." "Then why didn't you call me back?" Wen Wan was the first to soften, though her tone wasn't exactly coaxing. Xie Shuyu knew that was just how she talked, the same with everyone. Three parts warmth, three parts teasing, four parts insincerity. Xie Shuyu had once believed she was special, exempt from the need for Wen Wan's pretense. But she'd since realized it was all the same. "Why aren't you saying anything?" Wen Wan asked from the other end of the line. Snapping back to the present, Xie Shuyu tapped her fingers lightly on the table, mimicking her approach, offering a sweet word first. "I was thinking I'd call you after dinner." "You're bluffing me. After dinner you'll say you're at work, then after work you'll say you'r...