When Gu Qiman received the message, she was just entering the hotel lobby.
The message was from her best friend, Xu Qiao. It was a series of pictures.
The protagonists in the pictures were a man and a woman. The man stood tall and upright, his features handsome and refined, his eyes sharpened, he was composed and cool. Beside him, the woman was demure and otherworldly in an understated yet elegant cotton and linen dress, her hair tied up. While her features weren't stunning, her eyes were as captivating as shimmering dew in autumn, intriguing and alluring.
One was talking with his head tilted back, and the other was smiling. They were a perfect match in terms of talent and beauty, creating a harmonious and warm feeling.
The backdrop was an airport. The two of them were pushing a suitcase each, walking out from the airport exit.
Gu Qiman's steps suddenly froze.
The man was the husband she secretly married three months ago. As for the woman, she was his childhood sweetheart, the first love who failed to marry into the Fu family.
Her phone vibrated, and Xu Qiao had sent another voice message. Gu Qiman hesitated for a moment before putting the phone to her ear to listen.
"A friend at the airport took the photos this morning. Manman, I'm afraid your husband might be cheating," the message said.
It was now noon.
A month ago, Fu Xiusi left the country for work. Now, a month later, he was returning home with his first love.
She didn't know what happened between them during that month, but she could imagine.
Gu Qiman put away her phone, lowered her head, and continued walking towards the elevator.
Knowing the truth didn't matter. After all, she was just a contractual wife, marrying to appease his family. Their relationship was merely transactional – one party giving money, the other receiving it. Even if he had affairs left and right, she had no rights to interfere.
Once in the elevator, Gu Qiman lowered her gaze, somewhat dazed and lost in thought.
She didn’t know how much time had passed when the elevator doors suddenly opened again. Gu Qiman snapped out of her daze, about to step out when she suddenly froze.
In front of her stood a young man and woman—the two people she had just seen in the photo.
Fu Xiusi and Cheng Jinya.
Gu Qiman stunned for a second, quickly averted her eyes, and nervously left the elevator. In her hurried departure, she missed the man's gloomy gaze landing on her, and his brows that instantly furrowed.
As she passed by the tall and strong man, a faint whiff of his cold scent hit her nose, causing an unexplained tugging sensation at her heart.
As she stepped past the man, she paused once more, her fingers, hanging by her side, clenched.
"Xiusi, I want to sleep for a while, I didn’t sleep well since I was too restless last night..." Cheng Jinya's voice was soft. Her natural-born voice carried an enchanting allure despite not intentionally acting coquettishly.
Unlike her, ordinary in looks, temperament, and voice.
"Alright." The man’s voice was low, husky yet gentle.
Gu Qiman slowly lowered her eyelashes. So, he could speak so gently.
Behind her, the elevator doors slowly closed. Gu Qiman stood for a bit, then continued on in a daze.
After a few steps, she looked around at the people coming and going, and then it hit her.
She had entered the elevator but forgot to press the floor number. She was still in the lobby.
Turning around, she re-entered the elevator and pressed for the top floor.
She stepped out of the elevator, found her room, and knocked on the door.
The door was quickly pulled open, and a handsome young man in a bathrobe appeared next to it. He was probably just out of the shower, his hair damp and dripping.
"Manman, you're here!" The man unveiled a gentle and radiant smile.
"Mmm." Gu Qimian couldn't help but show a hint of smile at her lips, but her tone was a bit blaming, "Why didn't you dry your hair? What if you catch a cold..."
With that, she walked inside.
The hotel room door slowly closed, and a faint voice drifted out of the door crack, "I was just about to dry it, but you knocked on the door. How could I let you wait outside..."
At the corner of the corridor, a tall man had already stopped his steps for a while, staring at the suite that had just closed the door with a sharp and obscure gaze.
"Xiust, what's wrong?" Cheng Jinya was puzzled.
Fu Xiust’s thin lips tightened, hinting at a trace of a sharp anger and murderousness.
She dared to blatantly book a room with another man when he only left the country for a month?
Great, Gu Qimian.
“I have something to do, you rest first.” He casually dropped this sentence, immediately shutting the door to Cheng Jinya's room.
Turning around, with a long stride, Fu Xiust strode towards the suite with an intimidating momentum.
Cheng Jinya in the room stared at the abruptly closed door; a sinister chill flashed across her autumn-like eyes.
In another suite, Gu Qimian took a towel from the bathroom and threw it on Gu Yun's head.
"You're already 24, can't you properly take care of yourself?" She nagged as if she was acting like an old mother, "Looking like this, how can I rest assured after you go abroad?"
Gu Yun smiled, wiping her hair with one hand while reaching over to ruffle Gu Qiman's head with the other.
"You can relax, after all, I'm your brother who's lived two more years than you!"
Gu Qiman rolled her eyes at him.
Gu Yun, her biological brother from the same parents, was going abroad today to pursue his Ph.D., and she was here to see him off.
They had only spoken for a few minutes when the door of the suite was suddenly banged loudly.
"Who could it be..." Gu Yun murmured, about to open the door.
"I'll get it." Gu Qiman said, "You hurry up and go change your clothes..."
As she said this, she walked over and pulled the door open.
Her eyes met a familiar face, handsome yet as cold as thousand years of frost.
Gu Qiman was stunned for half a second before she reacted and instinctively slammed the door shut.
Why did Fu Xiusi come here?
Wasn't he supposed to be in a hotel room with his first love?
Her mind was in chaos, but the door was knocked on again, accompanied by Fu Xiusi's voice, as frosty as if it were laced with ice shards.
"Gu Qiman, open the door!" The chilling anger in his tone clearly indicated he was here to settle scores with her.
But what score? She hasn't even confronted him about his infidelity yet!
"Manman, what's wrong?" Gu Yun emerges from the bathroom wearing only trousers, his muscular upper body bare.
Suddenly, Gu Qimang realizes why. Fu Xiusi, he must have thought she was cheating!
"Who's that person outside..."
"It's my boss!" Gu Qimang doesn't want her brother to know that she's married by contract to someone for money. "Brother, my boss asked me to work overtime. I can't drive you to the airport. Take good care of yourself."
After uttering these words, Gu Qimang takes a deep breath, throws the door open, and dashes out, then with a bang, tightly shuts the door behind her.
She raises her head, meeting Fu Xiusi's eyes that hold a storm within. A wave of coldness envelops Gu Qimang. Then, corners of her lip tremble slightly, as she awkwardly speaks, "What... what a coincidence, you're here too..."
"Coincidence?" Fu Xiusi slowly lowers himself, looking at Gu Qimang with an intensely sharp gaze akin to a dagger, "Indeed, such a coincidence."
Gu Qimang chances upon a loss of words.
"Manman?" Gu Yun's voice comes through the door once more.
Fu Xiusi's expression grows colder and colder.
Jolted back to reality, Gu Qimang grabs his wrist: "Fu Xiusi, can we talk about this at home? Let's not deal with this here!"
Fu Xiusi lowers his gaze, seeing the concern and panic in her eyes for the other man in that room. Suddenly, a smirk stretches across his face. Without uttering a word, he abruptly scoops Gu Qimang up and carries her away.
