2 I am Dong Xu

His words radiated in her ears again and again.

He moved on fast. The next thing was, he was receiving two sets of a meal from the service attendant on the other side of the door. Yiren just rubbed her temples, forgetting about the splitting headache she had about fifteen minutes ago.

It appeared she had woken up with a bigger headache. One that she might probably never resolve with the strongest painkillers.

"Mister, I don't understand. Who are you and what happened last night?"

She peered down at her clothes. It relieved her that she was fully dressed and there were no signs that her clothes had been tampered with. She touched her hair, to find it was still in her tight ponytail.

"Don't worry. Nothing happened between us last night," the man smirked.

"Then why-"

She stopped herself from uttering the rest of her sentence. Why had he asked her to take responsibility? And why had he kissed her? The memory of Mr Icy's cold lips on her distracted her, and she hurriedly placed her hands on her cheeks before she blushed.

As if he could read her mind, Mr Icy answered coolly, "Because you entered my world and messed with my serenity. Want to know how many of the paparazzi are out there?"

Mr Icy's words took Yiren's attention away from remembering his kiss. She gulped. "Do you mean? Just who are you?"

His smirk changed to an unbelievable expression written over his face. "You mean, you don't know me?"

She brushed aside the deja-vu feeling she had for him earlier and answered, "Definitely not. If I did, why would I ask?"

"It seems someone is trying to be too smart here. Are you sure that you don't know me, Miss Feng?"

She shuddered. How could this man know her surname, when she didn't even recognise him? Was he her stalker?

"How do you know my name?"

"Answer me first. Don't answer me with a question," he said coldly.

"I am positive I don't know you, Mister," Yiren folded her arms across her chest and maintained an adamant expression.

He smiled. "I… am Dong Xu."

Dong Xu?

Though she had never seen Dong Xu's face aside from the zoomed-in, blurred and pixelated images from the press, most of which he was wearing sunglasses, Yiren had read many articles about the twenty-nine-year-old single CEO who achieved his first business at sixteen years old. Not only was he a weirdo according to the articles, but he also was never seen with a woman. He had a right-hand man by the name of Guan Ziming who accompanied him at events and he was said to be closely acquainted with another CEO, Lin Xiao.

Yiren could never imagine that she was now looking eye-to-eye with Dong Xu, of all people. And obviously, Dong Xu could read all the emotions on her face because he appeared pleased as punch.

"You are Dong Xu?" she gasped, unable to contain herself that her shock was written all over her innocent visage.

"Do I need to prove myself?" He stood up again and paraded across the room. Such narcissism, Yiren thought. But being the worshipped idol Dong Xu, being in his shoes she would probably react the same, she thought. And to be honest, she did miss those days when she was doted on and treated like a princess. She had adapted to her current life fast enough, but that didn't mean she liked her current status. These hard days had to come to an end.

She shrugged. "So, what do you want? And how did I end up in your room?"

"You barged in. Said something about a million men chasing after you and you had to hide. Plus, you were heavily drunk."

And he let her? This didn't sound right for a hot shot like him. A CEO shouldn't be allowing any unknown women in his room, shouldn't he?

"Then why did you let me in?" she asked curiously.

Dong Xu smiled and coolly replied, "To trap you."

................

Hours passed. Yiren watched Dong Xu work on his laptop in utter silence. She didn't know what to ask or what to say. Meals came for them which she had no say. He never bothered to ask what she liked to eat or drink but made all those decisions on his own. Luckily, the meals from the hotel were savoury enough for her to even complain.

Perhaps she should enjoy every moment as they existed, she thought. Otherwise, she wouldn't know when she would wake up from her fairytale dream or when her carriage would turn back into a pumpkin. Dong Xu, on the other hand, didn't seem bothered by her presence. Not a word left his mouth as he typed furiously on the hard keyboard of his luxurious notebook computer. Eventually, he flipped shut the lid of his laptop and leaned back on the couch of the hotel room.

All this while, Yiren was sitting opposite him on another couch, still dressed in the clothes she was wearing yesterday. She had less than ten outfits in her wardrobe.

Seeing that he was available, Yiren questioned herself. Should she try to initiate a simple conversation with him, considering that she was going to be stuck with him this entire weekend? Hours earlier, he had mentioned that they would be going to be in this hotel room for some time until the paparazzi had left. Plus, it was Saturday now. He would probably retain her for 48 hours until the weekend was over.

Fine. She didn't have any plans anyway and neither did she have friends in City N where pursued her bachelor's degree. Her best friend, Cheng Xiaoyu was miles away in another city pursuing a fashion degree. Whether she escaped this hotel room or not, she was screwed anyway. Dong Xu believed the media had captured photographs or even videos of them together, and her life would soon become a living hell if she left now.

"The words from an entertainment news reporter are sharp like a knife and have no sympathy for its enemies. If you at least stay hidden here, you will have some peace," Dong Xu had stated blatantly.

"And after that?"

"If you cooperate with me, Miss Feng, I'll try to help you as much as I can. But you know what I want."

Responsibility. He wanted her to take responsibility. But what should she do?

"Mr Dong." She suddenly called out, arousing his attention.

"What is it?"

"How do you want me to take responsibility?"

"You'll know soon," he smiled, standing up from the couch and heading to the pantry of the hotel room. It was a majestic room, which she couldn't even afford even if she saved up for ten years. From the looks of it, he must be living at the hotel for some time.

Dong Xu extracted a bottle of expensive-looking red wine from a shelf and returned to the couch with the bottle and two empty glasses.

"Care to drink with me?"

It must be a trap, she thought. But she had a high alcohol tolerance after all and her attraction to the man made her feel that she couldn't deny him. She ended up agreeing.

In the darkness of the night, a few bottles of wine lay empty on the floor of the hotel room while two pairs of eyes lost themselves with each other. As expected, Dong Xu's warm lips found their way to Feng Yiren's once again.

"Mmm", that was all she could mutter before she slumped down on the floor intoxicated.