Chapter 369: Distance
Bae Joo-hyun was about to leave when she saw Jiang Shu, who had already departed, return.
"President, did you forget something?"
"How are you getting back?" Jiang Shu didn't answer Bae Joo-hyun's question, but instead asked his own.
"I'll just take a taxi." Bae Joo-hyun vaguely guessed Jiang Shu's intention.
"It's late, I'll give you a ride."
"No need." Bae Joo-hyun quickly waved her hand.
"Let's go." But Jiang Shu didn't give her a chance to refuse. He reached out, took Bae Joo-hyun's slender wrist, and pulled her towards the exit.
Bae Joo-hyun half-heartedly complied with Jiang Shu's "domineering" gesture.
The light in the parking lot outside was dim, and the air was filled with a faint smell of earth and dampness, a sign that it was about to rain.
Bae Joo-hyun fastened her seatbelt in the passenger seat, her movements delicate and light.
"Thank you, President." Bae Joo-hyun's voice was exceptionally clear in the relatively quiet car.
Jiang Shu started the car, the engine emitting a low, smooth hum.
"It's on the way." Jiang Shu turned his head to glance at Bae Joo-hyun, his gaze sweeping over the light blue thermos she had inexplicably taken out again and placed on her lap. "You haven't used the car much today."
He checked the fuel gauge; it hadn't decreased much.
"Mhm." Bae Joo-hyun's fingertips unconsciously rubbed the cup lid. "I just drove my parents to and from the company, just that one round trip."
At this point, Bae Joo-hyun paused, then added, "Actually, President, you don't need to drive me. I can just take a taxi home."
"It's fine." Jiang Shu gently interrupted her. The car smoothly drove out of the DM Entertainment plaza and merged into the vibrant night traffic of the city.
"It's late, and it's not safe for you to go back alone." Jiang Shu's tone was normal, carrying the steady concern of a superior for a subordinate, but the knuckles gripping the steering wheel seemed to tighten slightly.
Soothing music flowed in the car. After the radio host's voice faded, a familiar melody emerged.
Although it was a Chinese song, Bae Joo-hyun immediately recognized it. It was a song by a singer Jiang Shu liked very much, the prelude to "Sweet."
Bae Joo-hyun licked her somewhat dry lips, not speaking, her gaze fixed on the colorful city lights outside the window. Only the slight tilt of her head betrayed her listening.
Jiang Shu's fingers unconsciously tapped a rhythm on the steering wheel.
When it sang, "I gently taste the love you spoke of," the car became strangely quiet, leaving only the sweetness of the song and a hint of awkwardness that had nowhere to settle.
"Have you heard this song?" Jiang Shu suddenly spoke, breaking the brief silence.
Bae Joo-hyun's fingertips stopped on the smooth wall of the thermos. She turned back to look at Jiang Shu, a slight smile curving her lips: "I have. President, you like Jay Chou, so many artists in the company have listened to his songs. I listen to them quite often."
This was true. When a leader liked something, even if the leader didn't specifically arrange anything, subordinates would generally take the initiative to learn about it.
It was no secret that Jiang Shu liked listening to the "Zhou Wang Lin" of the Chinese music scene. Many people knew this, and privately, they would also listen to these songs, especially those who were learning Chinese or had already mastered Chinese, who would specifically go to understand them.
Bae Joo-hyun was naturally among them. She had been to China many times, and although her Chinese was not as fluent as Hitomi Honda's and Sakura's, it was still quite good.
Then Bae Joo-hyun seemed to remember something, and her eyes softened a few shades.
"But listening to it now, it feels... different."
"Hmm?" Jiang Shu's gaze was fixed on the road ahead, his tone carrying a clear hint of curiosity. "How is it different?"
Bae Joo-hyun didn't answer immediately.
She lowered her head, unscrewed the lid, and took a small sip of the honey water inside. The warm sweetness spread on her tongue.
Then, as if making some kind of decision, Bae Joo-hyun gently offered the thermos towards the driver's seat, stopping it above the armrest between the two of them.
"It's still a bit warm. Drinking more is good for your stomach." Bae Joo-hyun's voice was very soft, almost drowned out by the music.
Her fingertips steadily held the cup, maintaining a just-right distance, neither sudden intimacy nor complete unfamiliarity, like a thin veil suspended there, awaiting a response.
The faint glow of the central control screen swept across Bae Joo-hyun's beautiful profile, casting a small, soft shadow beneath her eyelashes.
Jiang Shu's hand gripping the steering wheel paused. His gaze quickly swept over the light blue cup, then landed on Bae Joo-hyun's calm face, which contained a silent invitation.
His Adam's apple unconsciously bobbed, as if that sweetness had already wafted over with Bae Joo-hyun's movement, and something in his chest began to beat uncooperatively faster.
Jiang Shu didn't take the cup. His gaze refocused on the road ahead, but a hint of imperceptible struggle flickered in the depths of his eyes.
"I'm driving." After more than ten seconds, Jiang Shu's voice was steady, betraying no emotion, yet carrying a hint of deliberate avoidance. "You drink it."
In the car's speakers, the lingering echo of "I gently taste the love you spoke of, still savoring the tenderness you gave." remained.
Bae Joo-hyun didn't insist, naturally withdrew her hand, and calmly re-capped the thermos, her movements still composed.
"Yes." She responded, with a hint of vague understanding and a self-understood sense of relief.
The car was once again filled with music, but the melody seemed a little stickier than before. The sweetness seemed to condense in the air, silently spreading.
The car stopped outside Bae Joo-hyun's apartment complex.
Bae Joo-hyun didn't rush to unbuckle her seatbelt. She turned to face Jiang Shu seriously.
"Thank you, President. Please drive safely on your way back."
Then she paused, and softly added another sentence, like an unintentional reminder, and also like a confirmation.
"If your stomach still hurts, eat something when you get back to line it."
"Mhm." Jiang Shu responded, his gaze finally returning to Bae Joo-hyun's face, looking deeply into her clear eyes.
Bae Joo-hyun pushed open the car door, and the evening breeze, carrying the scent of night, blew in.
After getting out of the car, Bae Joo-hyun smiled and waved at Jiang Shu, then turned and walked into the dimly lit entrance of the apartment complex.
Jiang Shu gripped the steering wheel until that slender figure merged into the depths of the darkness and disappeared.
The last lingering notes of the song in the car had long faded, leaving only the abnormally clear sound of his own heartbeat in the silence.
Jiang Shu let out a bitter laugh. How could he not see Bae Joo-hyun's almost obvious intention? But he had just received Liu Zhimin's not-quite-forgiving forgiveness, and then turned around to get intimate with Bae Joo-hyun...
After weighing his options, his feelings for Liu Zhimin ultimately outweighed the temporary surge of impulse.
"Sigh." Jiang Shu couldn't help but sigh, looked up in the direction Bae Joo-hyun had left, and drove away.