รถเมล์เที่ยวสุดท้าย รองประธานนั่งบนตักฉัน — Chapter 6 The Window

Chapter 6 The Window

When it got light the rain had lessened. It had not stopped. The light in the bedroom was gray-white. Zhou Ye woke first. Shen Man had her back to him. A shoulder was out of the quilt. On her back there was a red mark he did not even remember leaving, probably from a kiss that had been too heavy in the night. He looked at the mark and did not touch it. Her alarm had not gone off. The clock by the bed pointed to seven-ten. Monday's operations meeting was at nine-thirty. If they got up now, there was enough time to pretend this was only two people having their separate mornings.

When Shen Man turned over, her eyes were not fully open. She saw him. For one second her face was blank, and then memory came back onto it. In that blank second there was no regret. After the memory returned, there was still none. She reached out and touched his face. Her thumb passed over his lower lip.

"Morning."

"Morning."

"My legs are still here," she said, as if complaining, though the corner of her mouth bent. "You didn't go home."

"You didn't let me."

"That was last night. You can leave now." She looked at him. "Or you can stay another twenty minutes. After twenty minutes you have to go. I don't want to appear in the elevator of this building with you and have the neighbors who go running in the morning make up a story."

Zhou Ye kissed her palm. "Then what are these twenty minutes for?"

Shen Man drew his hand to her chest and had him hold her. Her nipples were already a little hard in the morning cool. Her voice was still hoarse. "For wanting once more. A slow one. Then we each go and be yesterday's two people. If you're so hard you can't stand it, tell me. I'll use my hand. The condom was used last night. There isn't a second one in the house."

His cock was already against her thigh. Shen Man felt it and laughed once, low. The laugh was hoarse and did not belong to a conference room at all. She turned to face him. The quilt slid down. A body in the early morning had none of the night lamp's revision. There was a little softness at her belly. There were sleep marks on her chest. That made Zhou Ye harder. He lowered his head, took her nipple in his mouth, and sucked slowly. Shen Man's fingers went into his hair. Her legs wound with his. Her cunt pressed his thigh and ground slowly. She was wet, a hot line, smearing the wetness onto his skin.

"Hand," she reminded him. Her breathing was already unsteady. "Don't go in. I mean what I say."

Zhou Ye put his fingers between her legs. She was soft and slick there. Two fingers went in easily. He pressed her clit with his thumb and moved the fingers slowly inside. Shen Man closed her eyes, forehead against his shoulder, and rocked in small movements with his hand. Her hand closed around him as well. Palm and fingers stroked him together, at the same slow speed he was giving her. Neither of them hurried the other. The sex of this morning did not drown a person the way the night had. It was more like a confirmation: it was daylight, the wanting was still there, and the rules were still there.

Shen Man came first. She bit his shoulder. Her cunt clenched his fingers. Wetness surged out and wet another small patch of the sheet. After she came she did not stop her hand. She slid down and, under the quilt, took him in her mouth. When the warm mouth suddenly closed around him, Zhou Ye drew a sharp breath and braced a hand on the mattress. Shen Man's tongue circled the head. Her lips tightened. She took him to a depth that felt comfortable to her, drew back, and her hand moved at the base in time with her mouth. She looked up at him. There was a shine of water in her eyes, and a little of mischievous seriousness. Being looked at like that nearly finished Zhou Ye at once. He warned her aloud. Shen Man did not pull away. She kept him in her mouth and let him come there. Her throat moved once. She swallowed, and then she licked him clean. After that she came up and kissed the corner of his mouth, not to make him taste it, only to lean on him for a moment.

"The twenty minutes are almost up," she said.

"You didn't look at the time at all."

"I did. I looked at it in your eyes. You've already started thinking about the elevator and the neighbors."

They laughed once together. When the laugh ended, Shen Man got out of bed and walked naked to the window to draw the curtains. She opened them halfway. The river on a rainy day was bright enough to look white. Her body had a brief outline in front of the window, the line of the shoulders, the waist, the hips, and then she put herself into the black long-sleeved shirt. The length just covered the tops of her thighs. Zhou Ye was still sitting on the bed. Shen Man looked back at him, and then looked out the window.

"Take a picture of me," she said.

Zhou Ye was still for a moment. "Now?"

"Now. Use my phone. I want a picture that belongs only to this morning. It isn't for anyone else to see. It's because I'm afraid that the moment I walk into the company, I'll pretend this didn't happen." She handed him the phone. The screen was still on the camera. "Only me. The window and the river can be in it. My face can be in it. The clothes can stay like this. Don't shoot anything barer than this. What I want is that I remember. I don't want to hand myself into a picture and not be able to get back out."

Zhou Ye took the phone. He did not press at once. Shen Man stood in front of the window. The hem of the long-sleeved shirt rested at the tops of her thighs. Her hair hung loose. She was barefoot, her face turned a little, looking at him. The rain outside made her outline very quiet. In this look there was no vice president, and there was none of the undone quality of a body soaked through with wanting. She was only a woman who had just decided she was going to remember this.

"You're sure," he said.

"I'm sure. Show me after. If I don't like it, delete it. You're not allowed to keep one in secret."

He took one. Then he took another, because in the first her eyes had not fully come around to him. In the second Shen Man looked at the lens. The corner of her mouth was lifted, lightly. One hand rested on the window frame. The river and the rain were both behind her. The neck of the shirt was a little loose. It showed her collarbone and a small patch of red on her chest. The red was his. A stranger would not recognize it as anything at a glance. The two of them would. Zhou Ye handed the phone back to her.

Shen Man looked for a long time. She did not laugh aloud. She only deleted the first and kept the second. Her thumb stayed on the screen.

"I'll send it to you. Keep it properly. Don't set it as any lock screen that will light up for someone else. Don't upload it to a cloud. Don't send it into any work software." She looked up. "This picture is ours. It cannot be used to require me to do anything, and it cannot be used to require you to do anything. Whoever uses it as a condition is destroying last night. That includes you. That includes me. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Zhou Ye said. "I won't use it to coerce you. And you don't have to use it to keep me. If you want me to delete it, I'll delete it now."

"Don't delete it." She sent the picture to him, and put the original into a locked album. "Keep it. It's only a picture. Whether we go on depends on what we say ourselves. It doesn't depend on this."

Zhou Ye's phone buzzed once. He opened it, looked at the picture, immediately turned the chat off in his notifications, and, as she had required, hid the image in an encrypted album. When he had done all that, he put on clothes that still held a little damp. Shen Man was already in the bathroom, pinning her hair up again. The person in the mirror turned, inch by inch, back into Ms. Shen. Her hands were steady. Only a small red patch at the side of her neck was still there. She covered it with concealer, and when she had covered it she looked at him.

"On Monday, don't look at me in the meeting for longer than necessary," she said. "Necessary is while you're presenting your page. When you've finished, look at the document."

"All right."

"If you want to talk at noon, use the number I just added. Don't use the company messages. Write only whether you've eaten, or whether you're there. Leave the other words for a place where no one is."

"Shen Man." He called her that in the entry. After her hair was pinned, the name was still valid. She looked over. Zhou Ye said, "Last night was what I wanted. This morning was too. When I walk into the company I won't pretend it wasn't."

Her eyes softened for a moment, and then quickly returned to calm. She came over and kissed the corner of his mouth, very briefly, like setting a seal only the two of them would recognize.

"When you go down, go first. I'll go down five minutes later. Whether the bridge is open, look at your map yourself. If your clothes are still wet, buy an umbrella at the convenience store. Don't catch a cold."

Zhou Ye went downstairs. The city in the rain had already started its workday. He did not appear in the elevator with her. He passed the convenience store and bought a cheap black umbrella. The bridge was still closed. He went the long way around and, in the restroom at the subway entrance, tucked his shirt back in. The picture in the encrypted album was like a small piece of heat against his pocket. He did not open it again. Knowing it was there was enough.