Out of Your Control

Chapter 2.

It took us a little over half an hour to drive back to the estate.

Along the way, my son showered my phone with a barrage of selfies, more than a few featuring Li Huaijing. Looking at those pictures, my heart felt simultaneously tender and suffocated.

Then I remembered he had brought Jiang Nian along to the Moon Bay Villa, and anger surged back up. I genuinely didn’t want to look at either of them for another second.

Jiang Nian was a high school classmate of ours, and the undisputed white moonlight of his heart.

Li Huaijing was usually as cold as ice, yet he was exceptionally gentle with her back then. They showed up together, studied together, left together… he even gave her private tutoring sessions.

Back in the day, I was so driven by jealousy that I dragged Xiaoxiao along under the guise of “cramming after class” just to keep watch. On the outside, I pretended to study diligently, but under my desk, I was ducked down reading trashy romance novels and soaking in the drama.

When study sessions wrapped up and night fell, he was thoughtful enough to call a driver to drop Jiang Nian off right at her doorstep.

Xiaoxiao and I would stand on the sidewalk, floating the same exact question: How is he getting home? Walking?

Out of nowhere, he turned to me and asked, “Su Niannian, can I catch a ride with you guys?”

I immediately nodded like a woodpecker. “Yes! Of course!”

An opportunity this rare only comes once in a blue moon. I’d have to be brain-dead to turn it down.

The three of us piled into the car. Xiaoxiao was smart enough to slide straight into the front passenger seat, leaving the back all to him and me.

The entire ride was dead silent, feeling like an exam room.

He pulled out an economics textbook and started reading. I looked at him reading and decided I needed to read something too, just to look sophisticated.

I opened my bag. Empty.

Desperate, I rummaged through the back pocket of the driver’s seat and pulled out three books:

The Cold-Hearted CEO’s Ardent Passion!
The Dominant CEO Loves Me!
Forced Love by the Overbearing CEO!

…I almost passed out on the spot.

I shoved them back into hiding instantly. If he caught me with those, I wouldn’t be able to show my face ever again.

I stole a side glance at him. Was he… smirking?

Or was I just imagining things?

When the car pulled up to the Li estate, he stepped out and offered a polite, clipped, “Thank you.”

The moment the doors closed, Xiaoxiao turned around and scolded me: “You didn’t utter a single word the entire ride! Totally useless!”

I let out a heavy sigh. “I was terrified that if I came on too strong… I’d scare him off.”

From that day on, likely out of convenience, he regularly caught rides in my car. The only difference was that my driver, Old Zhang, started driving slower and slower.

A twenty-minute trip stretched into a full hour.

Naturally, that was on my secret order.

And Li Huaijing? Completely oblivious. He just kept his head down, buried in his books.

Xiaoxiao complained every single day: “Trapped in a car for an hour after school is driving me insane!”

As for why I was so certain Jiang Nian was the white moonlight in his heart, it all went back to our senior prom.

That night, I turned down countless dance invitations. Not because I was arrogant, but because I was holding out for one specific person: Li Huaijing.

Xiaoxiao was smart, drop-dead gorgeous, and constantly being asked to dance, too. But she rejected everyone across the board.

After waiting forever without a sign of him, I sighed softly. “He’s probably not coming tonight.”

I looked around the ballroom. Everyone was paired up, waltzing smoothly like a scene out of a music video. Meanwhile, Xiaoxiao and I stood there like two wooden posts.

Eventually, to dodge any more dance offers, the two of us decided to grab each other’s hands, share one quick dance, and sneak out.

Our coordination was actually pretty solid.

Halfway through the song…

BOOM!

The crowd suddenly burst into hushed murmurs.

I glanced toward the entrance, and there was Li Huaijing. Standing right beside him was Jiang Nian.

His eyes swept across the room and landed directly on me.

The moment our eyes locked, I immediately looked away. Not out of shyness, but because my gut told me something bad was about to happen.

And my gut was right.

Moments later, the two of them stepped onto the dance floor. Together.

That blow hit me straight in the chest.

Because in our class, there was an unwritten rule: on prom night, you only danced with the person you liked. I couldn’t believe his loudmouth friends had forgotten to mention that little detail to him.

As they danced, Li Huaijing kept his signature cold face, while Jiang Nian blushed, smiling bashfully. Every now and then, she shot me a look.

A look that practically screamed: He’s mine.

She knew I had a thing for Li Huaijing. She’d overheard Xiaoxiao and me talking in the dance studio once.

The moment the song ended, I couldn’t stay a second longer.

Knowing how crushed I was, Xiaoxiao dragged me out to the riverbank to drown my sorrows.

And that was… the very first time I ever drank alcohol.

I stood by the edge of the river, sobbing uncontrollably and screaming at the water: “Li Huaijing! So what if you don’t like me?! You must be damn blind!”

According to Xiaoxiao’s later recap, I looked tragically beautiful while crying my eyes out.

The two of us drank until we couldn’t tell who was who. Our two sober friends had to stand guard, watching us like two ticking time bombs.

And then… fate pulled another hilarious twist.

We ran right into Li Huainian.

He stared at me, plastered and completely stripped of my usual polished image, with a strangely unreadable look in his eyes.

In the end, he was the one who drove us home. Xiaoxiao took the passenger seat, while I was shoved in the back… right next to him.

I was not a quiet drunk. I caused a scene. A magnificent, chaotic scene.

Li Huainian had to hold me down while I stared at his face, which looked so much like Li Huaijing’s, and launched into a full combat combo of hitting, biting, and cursing:

“Li Huaijing! Fine if you don’t like me!”

“You have zero taste!”

“You’re gonna regret this one day!”

“I’m Li Huainian…” he blurted out, his voice laced with… genuine grievance.

I didn’t care. I plowed right ahead: “I’m done liking you from now on!”

“Alright, alright, fine,” he coaxed me like a throw-tantrum toddler. “If you don’t like Li Huaijing anymore… then like Li Huainian instead.”

I think he said something else after that, but my memory was a blur. The only thing I remembered was Xiaoxiao suddenly sobering up in the front seat, whipping her head back for a quick glance, and then immediately ducking back down.

That night, I was dropped off first, and Xiaoxiao was taken home afterward.

harboring a belly full of resentment after that incident, I made up my mind: I was officially done with Li Huaijing.

For the rest of that summer, I didn’t contact him once. Xiaoxiao and I went traveling for two full months, living it up until I completely forgot what heartbreak even felt like.

Midway through the trip, he messaged me a few times.

The texts were painfully romantic: “Did you two leave any belongings at my house? Do you need them back?”

I replied: “No need. Throw them in the trash.”

After that, I left him on read.

Why? Because the outside world was way too much fun!

By the time I returned, a flood of gossip hit me all at once:

Li Huaijing and Jiang Nian didn’t end up together.
Jiang Nian flunked her exams and went abroad to study art.
Li Huaijing and I… ended up at the exact same university.

It was an elite university specifically tailored for wealthy heirs groomed to take over family legacies.

I chose it because:

My parents picked it.
It was close to home.
And… I was playing the high-end version of a good, obedient daughter.

Xiaoxiao enrolled there too. Her reason was much simpler: Li Huainian was studying there.

On campus, I deliberately went out of my way to avoid Li Huaijing.

I stopped visiting his house.

I stopped talking to him.

I didn’t even go near him.

But liking him in secret? That habit died hard. My diaries were still scribbled end-to-end with his name, and I still sketched his face in secret.

When friends asked, “How come two gorgeous girls like you two are single?”

I’d throw my arm around Xiaoxiao and laugh, “Because we’re a couple.”

Xiaoxiao was always quick to play along, leaning in: “I love Niannian the most!”

Right at that second, Li Huaijing walked past us. He shot me a glance, his face darkening instantly before he stormed off without a word.

…For some twisted reason, seeing that actually made me a little happy.

Throughout those four years of college, our paths barely crossed. Yet liking him had become an instinct I couldn’t break.

Because I had way too many pursuers, I eventually made a public announcement: “I don’t like men. I like women.”

It worked like a charm. Nobody confessed to me ever again.

Though… the way people looked at Xiaoxiao and me started getting a bit weird.

Whatever. Peace and quiet was all I cared about.

After graduation, those with genuine talent stepped up to take over the family business. The rest were sent off to arrangement marriages for commercial alliances.

I wasn’t supposed to be on that list. But I knew our family company was treading on thin ice, and my parents were under crushing pressure. I had zero business sense and couldn’t help on the corporate front.

So I thought: Maybe… I should go for a business marriage? At least I could do something for my family.

Out of all the potential matches, I picked someone who wasn’t painfully ugly. Because sorry, I couldn’t bring myself to endure an eyesore for the rest of my life.

On the day of the blind date, I dressed to the nines, a fitted dress and flawless makeup.

I took my seat, and froze dead in my tracks.

Sitting right across from me was Li Huaijing.

He kept his composure and said smoothly, “The original candidate was a friend of mine, but he already has someone he loves. I happen to need a commercial marriage myself.”

Then, he proposed to me right then and there.

He went on to list a whole string of mutual benefits, but I didn’t absorb a single word.

Only one thought was screaming in my head: Is he actually going to be my husband?!

I nodded instantly. No hesitation. No second thoughts.

He looked at me, his voice calm and composed: “I like to work efficiently. Once a decision is made, we execute immediately. Why don’t you head home, grab your documents, and we can register the marriage today?”

Me: …

I nodded like a broken robot.

And just like that, I got hitched.

Well, no.

I walked into it completely willingly.

And Li Huaijing took my hand, dragging me straight back to my family’s house.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

The Villainess Bought the Billionaire

Married to My Father’s Star Pupil

Accidentally Bedding the Boss Villain

Indulge Me, Baby

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