Chapter 101: A Date

The music kept playing, and the games went on.

Having lost the tissue-tearing challenge, the two of them were punished by the others with a drinking game, and Marlon announced the rules: “The lady has to sit on the man’s lap, hold the cup in her mouth, and pour the drink into his mouth. Not a drop is allowed to spill, or there will be a second penalty!”

“Woo!”

Everyone cheered. Kendall covered her mouth and laughed, while LeKang Li clapped from his seat and threatened Marlon, “Just wait until it’s my turn. You’re dead!”

“Hahaha—say that when your turn comes!”

This game only pushed the flirtation between the two of them even higher. Kendall was not the least bit coy; she swung herself onto his lap, tilted her head back, a small shot glass clenched between her teeth, and then slowly brought her face upright again.

LeKang Li wrapped his arms around her waist and reminded her, “A little more to the left, just a little more. Yes, that’s it, baby!”

He opened his mouth and caught every drop of the liquor as it poured down!

Amid everyone’s cheers, LeKang Li took the glass from her mouth and kissed her on the lips before laughing, “Beautifully done, baby!”

Kendall was laughing hard as well. She didn’t bother getting down to sit properly anymore and simply leaned into his arms, letting him hold her. After that kiss, her threshold for intimacy had broken through; she had crossed the line of acceptability and no longer minded his embrace.

And that made it all the more convenient for LeKang Li, who held his great treasure in his arms, breathing in the intoxicating scent of her body, his hands less than obedient as they drifted softly over her waist.

Kendall did not resist that level of affection. Slightly tipsy, she played games with her friends, guessing fists and betting on wins and losses, teasing one another and laughing without end.

LeKang Li would occasionally throw in a line or two, drawing laughter or agreement from the table, and then he would return to being sweet with her. The good time at the nightclub went on until two or three in the morning, and only then did the heavily drunk crowd finally disperse.

When it came time to leave, Kendall’s girlfriends whisked her away. One of them stressed, “We know exactly what you men are thinking, but you only get to take her away after at least one proper date, all right!”

LeKang Li smiled and nodded. “Understood. Thanks for the reminder!”

“Bye!”

Kendall’s girlfriends waved at him with smiles and left under the escort of the bodyguards who had rushed over.

LeKang Li’s own bodyguards arrived as well. He propped up Marlon, who could no longer walk in a straight line, and was preparing to head back too. But when they reached the door, he still had enough conscience left to say to the manager, or perhaps he simply didn’t want Kendall, who had organized the party, to take the blame: “Could you please look after the big guy on the sofa outside the restroom? Here’s a little money. Thank you.”

“Of course, sir. We’ll take good care of him,” the manager said, taking the tip with a bright smile.

“All right, what a wonderful night. I love New York!”

LeKang Li rode back to the hotel with Marlon, booked a room for his good brother, and had bodyguards Doug and John take him off to bed, while he himself naturally had the saintly sisters to attend him.

He collapsed into sleep and didn’t wake until dawn. Then he cast a spell to remove negative conditions, and the aftereffects of alcohol vanished without a trace.

After that came his usual routine: getting up on time, heading to Central Park for a run and some exercise, with the nun sisters joining him for some healthy cardio. They came back to shower and eat, and before long, it was noon.

Thinking of what had happened the night before, LeKang Li sent Kendall a message on his phone.

Not long after, she replied, “I’m fine, I just don’t remember some things very clearly.”

Seeing that, LeKang Li typed back, “Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that you promised me a date this afternoon.”

“No, I clearly never said that!” she replied.

“Well, you have now!” LeKang Li sent back. “Come out for afternoon tea, then we’ll watch a movie, just like so many people do.”

“I have a flight back to Los Angeles tonight.”

She sent that over.

LeKang Li thought to himself that even if he couldn’t get her out, at the very least she had to give him something. She couldn’t just refuse him outright like that. Women have a refusal ladder; if you let them refuse you too many times, it becomes a habit. At first they still need to come up with excuses, but later, if they want to refuse, they just do.

But then Kendall texted again: “Still, afternoon tea should be fine.”

LeKang Li looked at the message and smiled. So that was how it was: blond girls were adorably foolish, weren’t they?

In the afternoon, LeKang Li dressed up and went to meet her.

A polo shirt, jeans, and a pair of white sneakers. These were still clothes provided by his generous patron, but once he added a Vacheron Constantin watch, he looked much more mature.

Finally, with a baseball cap and oversized sunglasses, he slipped into the restaurant in a suspiciously furtive manner. Only after confirming that he was indoors and had escaped the paparazzi did he remove his sunglasses and send Kendall a message with his location.

About ten minutes later, Kendall arrived.

She was also dressed like a celebrity trying not to be noticed, but that figure betrayed her in an instant. Those long legs and that tall frame, wearing a tiny strapless top that showed off her shoulders and waist.

The lively sway of those legs made them seem especially long, and her figure was not the flat, wafer-thin shape of a Paris supermodel either. She still had some Kardashian family curves to her, and plenty of them too.

“Hey, beautiful!”

LeKang Li rose from his seat and gave her a light hug.

Then he pulled out her chair for her, and they sat down.

The waiter brought over the prepared afternoon tea: a three-tier pastry stand, black tea, and a variety of delicate porcelain service.

They could enjoy a quiet tea time in a corner without interruption, with a view of Central Park and the sun shining in, all while they talked about feelings, romance, and the finer things in life.

Kendall asked him specially, “Is this a date?”

“Yes, of course it is!”

LeKang Li said this with complete certainty.

In America, after all, as long as you’re not proposing, you can say whatever a woman wants to hear, and you don’t have to bear any real responsibility for it.

And even if you end up married and with children, don’t Black men still make extraordinary use of a certain kind of skill?

Compared with the rot at the core of LeKang Li’s character, Kendall was far more serious. She looked at him with a smile, and LeKang Li looked back into her eyes just as earnestly, without the slightest hint of evasion.

In the end, she could not withstand the heat he sent her way. Still smiling, she looked away and stirred her black tea with a spoon as she said, “I never imagined that one day I’d go on a date with a magician.”

“Clearly, I’m not a team captain, and I’m not a scoring king,” LeKang Li said without dodging his weaknesses. “But a magician’s charm goes far beyond that.”

“Such as?” she asked with obvious expectation.

“He can make sure that at any moment, you might receive a mysterious surprise.” LeKang Li took a macaron from the pastry stand and placed it on the plate in front of her.

“Watch it.”

Kendall cooperated and did as he said.

“Do you feel like something is missing from this date?” he asked.

“Hm?”

“Cliché as it is, and trite as it sounds, every woman is willing to accept flowers.”

“Oh! Wow!”

As LeKang Li said that, Kendall saw the macaron in front of her suddenly split open, revealing a bright red rose inside!

“How did you do that?”

Almost no woman can refuse that kind of surprise and romance.

She even lowered her head to smell it and caught a faint floral fragrance.

“You can eat it. It’s very sweet!” LeKang Li said.

“No, I’m going to keep looking at it!” After all, women are visual creatures, and she couldn’t bear to take a bite. “Besides, it looks like a flower and feels like a flower. I’m not stupid!”

“You’re not stupid. You’re just a little adorably silly!” LeKang Li teased.

She gave a soft huff, then could not help but purse her lips and smile again. In LeKang Li’s eyes, that expression was clearly the classic look of a little woman fallen into love.