Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Okay, okay. Stop spouting nonsense. Just do it your way with your boyfriend. I have another call coming, so I’ll hang up now.”
With that, she hung up on Tang Xiaoyu and took the call from another number.
Pei Ge did not actually want to hang up on her best friend to take a call from someone else, but since this person had rung her so many times, she could only take the call, albeit she did so without checking the caller ID.
Unexpectedly, the number belonged to her very own boyfriend.
“Who were you on the phone with earlier?”
The freshly promoted boyfriend, the great CEO Ji, asked with a hint of jealousy the moment she answered the call.
She paused a little when she heard the cold, deep voice over the phone. When she came to herself, she burst out laughing.
” Pfft ! Ziming, it can’t be that you’re jealous, right?” she teased, instantly feeling better.
“… No.” He scoffed.
“Tsk! If you’re jealous, then say so!” she mumbled. “Ziming, did you call me for something?”
“Who were you on the phone with earlier.”
He did not give her a reply but, instead, repeated his previous question.
Seeing how fixated he was on the topic, she smiled a little hopelessly and answered honestly, “I was on the phone with Xiaoyu. Don’t worry. My boyfriend is so good looking; why would I be tempted by other men and abandon you for them?”
She was unaware that her joking words had caused his ears to turn pink.
“En.”
From the way he acknowledged her statement plainly, she would never suspect that a certain CEO was blushing furiously.
“You didn’t call just to check on me, did you?”
She started teasing him again when he did not say anything to correct her assumption earlier.
Probably due to being oppressed by him before they started dating, but her guts grew after he confessed to her, and she especially liked to tease him.
“Happy New Year’s Eve.” His voice finally came through.
“You, too.” Although it was just a simple greeting, hearing his voice made her feel elated.
“Why is it so quiet on your side? Aren’t you watching the new year countdown with auntie?”
He coughed gently, sounding especially awkward as he tried to make conversation with her.
“No, I came in to talk on the phone.” She failed to catch the awkwardness in his voice and asked smilingly, “What about you? Aren’t you watching the countdown with uncle and auntie?”
“No, I came out after dinner,” he replied plainly.
“Huh? It’s the New Year today, and you’re not with your parents? That’s no good!” She chided him the moment she heard that.
In the middle of chiding him, her mother’s voice sounded from the living room.
“Ge Ge, quickly come out! The countdown is starting! Come and usher in the new year with me!”
She instinctively moved to hang up the phone when she heard her mother call her.
“Ziming, I have to accompany mom, so I’ll hang—”
The man did not let her finish her words.
“Don’t hang up.”
“Huh?” She blinked. “Why not?”
“… Don’t hang up yet; I… want to listen to your voice,” he requested after a pause. Although his voice sounded neutral, she could still feel his emotions from it.
His passionate words put her in a daze.
By the time she returned to her senses, she realized that her face had gone on fire.
“Okay…” This time around, she agreed without asking anything. Her voice was full of shyness.
Therefore, she put on her Bluetooth earphone and kept her phone inside her pocket, and just like this, the two remained on the line, listening to each other’s breathing.
“Ge Ge, I’ve been calling for you. What took you so long?” Her mother demanded the moment she came out of her room.
“I was on the phone with Xiaoyu earlier.”
She subconsciously did not tell her mother about her phone call with the man.
Still, as soon as she gave that answer, she heard a cough through her earphone.
“Quickly sit, then. Only 20 seconds till the new year.”
Her mother watched the different clocks on the TV screen raptly. Even though she would watch the new year countdown annually, she never got sick of it.
Of course, one of her favorite parts was the final countdown.
“Ten!”
“Nine!”
“Eight!”
…
“Five!”
Zhang Manhua counted along.
When only five seconds were left on the clock, his voice suddenly came from her earphone.
“Four… three… two…”
Ehhh?
When she heard his soft countdown over the earphone, she paused in an instant.
Why is this annoying fellow counting along, too?
“One.”
Just after he counted to one…
Bang! Pak!
Fireworks could be heard.
“Hm… The sound doesn’t seem to be coming from the TV.” Her mother said confusedly when at the sound of fireworks.
Bang! Pak!
Only after another round of firework explosion did the two see the bright and eye-catching lights outside their window.
“Pei Ge, look outside.”
His voice sounded in her ear again.
“Huh?!”
It can’t be that… Ji Ziming is responsible for the fireworks, right?
