Club Apex Tête-à-tête

Feng Xi had gone pale. She stared at the remaining glass on the table like it was a viper about to strike. Su Qiao didn't comment, just twirled the shot of transparent whatever like it was a glass of wine she was holding and waited to see what Feng Xi's reaction would be.

Wu Qian, who was used to this sort of environment, had picked up on Feng Xi's unusual behaviour too.

"What's wrong?" she drawled. "Only you're allowed to be cautious in the club? We should all be commending Young Mistress Su on being so careful." She didn't seem to care that her words were hypocritical, since if anyone were the pinnacle of risky nightlife behaviour, it was her.

"I-I—" Feng Xi stammered. It was hot in Club Apex because of the sheer number of people but the amount Feng Xi was sweating was unnatural. Her eyes flickered to the glass and then away like they'd been burned.

"Xixi, what's wrong?" Young Master Guo said with a furrow on his brow. He didn't sound like he was asking her out of concern though, his tone irritable. "Hurry up and sit down, you're wasting everyone's time." He picked the glass up for her and shoved it unceremoniously into her hands. But perhaps he let go a bit too early because Feng Xi fumbled with it and it slipped out of her hands and tumbled to the ground.

Alcohol sloshed all over her dress and his leather shoes. Young Master Guo swore.

"What the fuck—you clumsy bitch, these are bespoke—"

"Ridiculous," Su Qiao heard Wu Qian mutter. She couldn't agree more. This was why she hadn't considered joining the clubbing parties before. There were always clowns to be made fun of but Su Qiao had a posher sense of humour than that, she didn't enjoy watching these arrogant brats make a fool out of themselves.

But it wasn't like the so-called 'well-behaved' young ladies that she used to hang out with were so much better.

Su Qiao had long since learnt that as long as there were people around, there was going to be drama.

"I'm bored," she announced, standing up. "I'm going home."

She politely waved off the dismayed chorus of protests that ensued and promised that she would dance next time. But today had truly been a long day and the small taster that she had now was enough for a start.

"I'll walk you out?" Wu Qian asked. There was mild concern in her voice. "Or ask Yao Xun—"

But Su Qiao shook her head. "It's fine," she said. DFE had assigned her a personal driver. He would be here in a jiffy if she sent if him a message.

"Okay, but send me a text to let me know that you're home safely?"

Su Qiao was touched. Even in the past, her female friends had never asked her to do this before, even if they'd been out for supper together. Granted, they had always had drivers to ferry them from place to place but it felt nice to have some genuine concern.

"Sure," she agreed, pulling out her phone to scan the QR code Wu Qian held out. They added each other on WeChat.

Ignoring the quietly sobbing Feng Xi, Su Qiao walked off. She knew that Feng Xi would be blamed for her abrupt departure because everyone, especially Young Master Guo, would think that Su Qiao's mood was ruined by her unsightly behaviour.

But why should Su Qiao care? If Feng Xi wanted to play with the big boys, she had to get used to their unique brand of cruelty.

Her driver was going to take ten minutes to come. She texted Yao Xun to let him know that she was leaving, although he didn't reply, which meant he was either still busy picking up someone or already making his way inside someone. He tended to move fast.

Figuring that she still had a little time left, she decided to head to the washroom, only to pause in her tracks when she heard her name drawled out in a velvety, amused baritone.

"Miss Su truly is a skilled individual."

She raised an eyebrow and turned around to regard the tall, handsome man leaning against the wall behind her.

So she'd been right after all. There was a Lin in this club, albeit a very unexpected one.

"It takes one to know one," she replied with false modesty.

Lin Zixun chuckled. It was a pleasant sound and the teasing, careless quirk to his lips was so attractive that Su Qiao noticed a couple of girls checking him out repeatedly.

Pity her engagement had been to the other brother. At least this one smiled at her, even if she wasn't sure whether there was a motive behind it.

"You've gotten that poor girl into trouble, you know," he said conversationally. "By tomorrow, Young Master Guo will have tossed her aside and she'll be struggling to look for a new backer once word gets out that she offended the most illustrious Young Mistress Su."

Su Qiao's smile was as sweet as antifreeze. She didn't believe that he was stopping her to tell her this just because she was an artist signed under one of the Lin Family's subsidiary companies. "Is this what Mr Lin moonlights as? CEO by day and stalker by night? You're not worried about your reputation if word gets out that you're preying on innocent girls outside the club toilet?"

Her words would have offended his younger brother but Lin Zixun just laughed again. "Are you innocent, Ms Su?"

An alarm bell went off in Su Qiao's head but her expression didn't change. "Are you a stalker, Mr Lin?" she retorted smoothly.

He stepped closer to her and Su Qiao felt the fine hairs on the back of her neck rise. His eyes crinkled as he leaned in. "I beg your pardon if I've made you uncomfortable," he said but the fact that he was coming closer to her instead of backing away made this apology a lot less sincere. "I'm just looking out for my future little sister-in-law."

Su Qiao tossed her curls over her shoulders before holding her bare left hand up. She meant it as a symbolic gesture more than anything, since she never wore her engagement ring out in public anyway. Only a select few knew about her relationship with Lin Zizhou. This had been a condition that Lin Zizhou had come up with. Desperately in love, Su Qiao had been more than willing to sacrifice her career to announce that they were dating. But Lin Zizhou had made the executive decision as her employer not to make their engagement public 'for her sake'.

What bullshit. She'd been so touched by his reasoning back then, believing that he was protecting her and not realising that it was because he'd been in two minds about their marriage this whole while.

"Not your future little sister-in-law anymore," she said, pleased to see a flash of genuine shock across his face before that same annoying devil-may-care attitude returned.

"You broke up with Lin Zizhou? Congratulations on your newfound freedom then."

It was Su Qiao's turn to be surprised.

…Lin Zixun was taking this news too well. Had he known about his brother's second thoughts all this while? Or was he just this unflappable?

"Yes, Mr Lin," she said, reaching out to push him away with a firm hand on his chest. He didn't resist, his smile growing into a grin as he stepped backwards obligingly. "So please conduct yourself properly. Now that the alliance between our families has fallen through, our relationship should regress from future siblings-in-law to polite strangers, yes?"

Satisfied with his seeming obeisance, Su Qiao was about to retract her hand when a large one covered it suddenly, pressing it firmly down against Lin Zixun's heart.

Her own skipped a beat. What the hell was he doing?

She was so stunned that she didn't even react when he bent closer to whisper in her ear.

"On the contrary, Ms Su," he said, in a tone so predatory that it made her shiver. "I no longer have any reason to 'conduct myself properly'."

He pulled back before she could do anything or guess what he'd meant by that, stepping right out of her personal space before flashing her a dashing lighthearted smile, as though the dangerous vibe he had exuded just a second ago had been her imagination.

"I'm sorry to hear about the cancelled engagement," he said, suddenly so polite it felt like they were networking at a business function rather than exchanging barbed words in a dark corridor in a nightclub. "But I trust that I'll still be seeing Ms Su around? After all, our world is a small one."

"Hmph." Her phone buzzed and she used it as an excuse to stalk off in her stilettos, not wanting to speak to him anymore. It was probably the driver calling anyway, frantically trying to find her in the mass of people that were probably outside the club entrance.

…she was going to make him pay for stalling her outside the washroom though. Her skin wasn't thick enough for her to tell the driver that she needed to pee and the drive back to Yao Xun's wasn't a short one.

Lin Zixun was as infuriating as she remembered, his personality impossible to pin down. She'd thought that having a couple more year's of life experience would make him easier to handle but it was evident that she had underestimated him.

She still couldn't keep up.

But it was no matter. Now that she wasn't engaged to Lin Zizhou anymore, she shouldn't have to deal with either Lin brother.

Let the White Lotus handle them on her own. Su Qiao had better things to do with her time.