The phone started ringing…
A pleasant ringtone sounded from the phone.
After a moment, the call was answered, and a sweet, familiar voice came through: "Hello, may I ask who's calling?"
It was Annie, the flight attendant Cai Kun had met on the plane.
"Cai Kun."
Annie was silent for a moment before her tone turned a bit stiff. "Mr. Cai, may I ask what this is about?"
Even though Cai Kun wasn't great at reading girls' minds, he could clearly tell Annie was upset.
He rubbed his nose, feeling a bit guilty.
The sudden arrival of Xiao Huahua had distracted him, and he had completely forgotten about this. He'd stood her up—he was supposed to take her out for dinner, but only called her a whole day later.
"Didn't we agree on the plane? You'd show me around Shanghai, and I'd treat you to dinner."
Cai Kun smiled sincerely.
"I don't think you need a guide anymore, Mr. Cai. You've been in Shanghai a day already, you must be familiar by now. I'm about to fly back to Jiangcheng soon."
Annie's voice carried a strong sense of grievance.
"I really had things to deal with here and only just got free. I was thinking about you and wanted to treat you to dinner. That's why I contacted you as soon as I could. I haven't eaten anything yet."
"Really?" Annie's voice softened a little.
"Of course." Cai Kun smiled gently. "Where are you staying? I'll come pick you up."
"Better not. I'm staying with my colleagues, and we're about to go downstairs to eat."
She felt tempted but conflicted — would agreeing too easily make Cai Kun think she was easy?
"Send me the address. Consider this dinner my apology."
Those words quickly broke down Annie's mental defense.
"Alright, I'll send it."
Cai Kun hung up and soon received the address: All Season Hotel—a four-star hotel.
Not as luxurious as the Ritz-Carlton where Cai Kun stayed, but still pretty good.
Inside the hotel, Annie put down the phone, biting her lip and rubbing her hair in frustration.
She still couldn't hold herself back...
Cai Kun was the first guy to give her his contact after they met on the plane, and she'd been full of anticipation.
When she got to the hotel, she started to wash up and put on makeup, carefully preparing.
But by 10 pm, she still hadn't heard from him.
She was furious, thinking Cai Kun's words on the plane were just empty promises.
It felt like he completely forgot about her after arriving in Shanghai.
When the phone finally rang and she recognized his voice, she felt an unexpected wave of joy.
The anger from being stood up was quickly dissolved by his few words.
She scolded herself for being weak but hurried to touch up her makeup.
"Annie, you're about to go downstairs, why are you still putting on makeup?" one of her roommates, Tingting, asked curiously.
Annie paused with her eyebrow pencil and stammered, her ears flushing red.
"Don't tell me you have a date?"
"No," Annie blushed deeper, shyly answering, "Just... a normal friend."
"Male or female?"
"Male," Annie's voice grew weaker.
"We all agreed to go downstairs together, and now you're betraying us and say he's not your boyfriend?" Her roommate didn't believe her.
"He's really not my boyfriend! Just a normal friend!" Annie stamped her foot.
"How did you meet? Is he handsome? What does his family do? He must be rich, or how else could he win over the prettiest girl in our crew? Introduce him to us, I'm curious."
Ignoring Annie's words, her roommates' gossip spirits ignited.
"Hey, Tingting!" Annie's cheeks flushed bright red. "If you keep this up, I won't talk to you!"
Tingting rolled her eyes but didn't press further.
Instead, she pulled out her phone and sent a message in the group chat:
"Breaking news! Annie is in a relationship! Her boyfriend's coming to pick her up! Should we go downstairs and see what he looks like?"
The message was like a bomb.
The quiet chat group instantly lit up with messages, all saying they wanted to come down and see the guy who managed to win over their prettiest girl.
Annie was oblivious and continued quietly doing her makeup.
Then the phone rang again.
She saw it was Cai Kun's call and quickly answered.
"Hello?"
"I'm downstairs. Just come down."
"Okay, I'm coming now."
After hanging up, Annie noticed Tingting eavesdropping nearby with a cheeky smile.
"That call must be your boyfriend, right?"
"We're just having a simple dinner, and he's not my boyfriend," Annie reiterated.
"Not your boyfriend, but going out for dinner alone?"
Tingting challenged.
Annie was speechless.
There was no way she could tell them what really happened on the plane—that would have been a laughingstock forever.
Her cheeks flushed again.
"Come on, hurry downstairs. Don't keep him waiting."
Tingting pushed Annie out of the room without letting her argue.
"You're coming too?"
Annie was surprised.
"I'm just going to take a look, no big deal. Gotta keep an eye on you!"
Annie was a bit anxious and didn't want to keep Cai Kun waiting, so she reluctantly agreed.
"Okay, but don't say anything weird. We really have nothing going on."
"I got it, got it. Let's go."
Tingting pushed Annie towards the elevator.
Annie noticed several colleagues already standing there, chatting away.
When they saw Annie, their eyes lit up and they rushed over.
Annie knew exactly what was going on and shot Tingting a glare.
Tingting stuck out her tongue, admitting defeat.
Her coworkers chatted excitedly about going downstairs together.
Annie sighed, resigned.
She stood expressionless in the elevator, silently praying they wouldn't say anything embarrassing.
Otherwise, she'd die of shame on the spot.
Ding.
The elevator arrived at the lobby.
Tingting craned her neck, looking around.
"Annie, where is he? I don't see him."
Annie frowned, scanning for Cai Kun.
"Annie, over here!"
Cai Kun's voice called out from the entrance.
Everyone looked up and gasped.
Standing there was a 1.85-meter-tall Cai Kun, wearing a white T-shirt and black sweatpants.
Simple and clean.
Young, handsome, and radiant.
He stood out like a crane among chickens.
Most strikingly, he was standing next to a brand-new Lamborghini Aventador.
The visual impact was stunning.
"Lamborghini! That car must be worth several million yuan!"
"More like six million starting price for an Aventador!"
"He's not just handsome, he's rich too!"
"Annie, where did you find such a good boyfriend? I'm so jealous!"
After a brief silence, the colleagues stared excitedly at Cai Kun and the Lamborghini.
Annie hadn't expected Cai Kun to arrive in such a flashy ride.
She felt a bit embarrassed but also pleased seeing their envious gazes, her vanity satisfied.
She approached Cai Kun shyly.
"These are my colleagues. They insisted on coming down to see you. I couldn't stop them."
"No problem." Cai Kun smiled and greeted them, "Hi, I'm Cai Kun."
"Hey, you're Annie's boyfriend, right?" Tingting came forward, boldly.
"I'm Gu Ting, Annie's colleague and bestie! You're really handsome. No wonder you won her heart!"
"Tingting, shut up!" Annie quickly covered Gu Ting's mouth, face burning red. "She just likes to joke around, don't listen to her!"
"There's no such thing!" Annie snapped at Gu Ting, "We're just friends!"
"Friends?"
Gu Ting smiled at Cai Kun, "Then that means you haven't won her over yet. You gotta try harder!"
"Why not bribe us? Take us out tonight, as her besties we'll put in a good word. Problem solved."
Annie tried to stop Gu Ting from talking, but others joined in.
"Exactly."
"Make us comfortable, and you'll get twice the result with half the effort. Little Annie will be yours in no time!"
"If she disagrees, we'll drag her along!"
Annie was overwhelmed, stomping her feet.
"If you keep going, I'm really gonna be mad!"
"Alright then."
Just as she finished, Cai Kun's voice came through, smiling:
"After dinner with Annie, I'll book a spot at a bar. We'll all go together."
Annie was speechless.
She buried her face, cheeks glowing bright red.
She stole a glance at Cai Kun—was he basically admitting he was chasing her?
"Really?"
Gu Ting and the others' eyes lit up.
All these flight attendants were young and loved to have fun.
"Of course."
Cai Kun said, "I'll have Annie send you the location later."
"Deal!"
Gu Ting pushed shy Annie next to Cai Kun.
"Since you're so generous, I'm entrusting Annie to you. Take good care of her!"
"Tingting!"
Annie panicked, but Gu Ting leaned in and whispered:
"Stinky Annie, I'm helping you here. Look at how handsome and rich Cai Kun is. Didn't you see how many colleagues' eyes were red with envy?"
"If you slack off, someone else might take your place!"
"Cherish this high-quality guy, don't miss out or you'll regret it!"
Annie kept quiet, glancing around.
Sure enough, several colleagues stared at Cai Kun like hungry wolves, wishing they could tear him apart—only restrained because she was there.
Her heart tightened.
She liked Cai Kun too, or she wouldn't have agreed to his request.
But with her personality, being proactive was nearly impossible.
She bit her lip and silently got into the car.
Seeing this, Cai Kun waved to Gu Ting and the others, then started the Lamborghini's engine.
The powerful roar filled the air as the car sped out of sight.