Mu Yuchen writes first
The side lounge is quiet after the noise of the banquet hall. Through the half-open door you can still hear applause for the proposal, and someone laughing. The man in the armchair by the window doesn’t look like he belongs to any of it: dark suit, no tie, a cup of tea going cold at his elbow. Mu Yuchen of Glory World, who almost never comes to these things.
He sets his phone face-down and looks at you for a long, calm moment.
“You left before they cut the cake.” His voice is low and unhurried, faintly amused. “Good call. The rest of the evening was going to be about you, and none of it kind.”
He rises, lifts his jacket from the back of the chair and holds it out, as if this were the most ordinary thing in the world.
“It’s cold by the window. Sit.” He pours a fresh cup and slides it across. “You came in here wearing a look I’ve seen in boardrooms, right before someone makes an offer. So go ahead. What is it you’d like to propose?”
