Ling tossed her hair over her shoulder, adjusted her cleavage, and reached for the handle when a thought crossed her irritated mind that made her stop in her tracks.
The reason she had thrown herself at him in the bar as it came fading back. A sobering second as his words swiped through her brain.
He had managed to get copies of Meilei’s police statements, both of them. She remembered it clearly. Qian had moved mountains to track them down on Tian’s order and used his family connection to get what he was never supposed to see. Meilei didn’t even know they had made copies before they threw her original back at her.
Tian had told her he was digging and intended to help prove Meilei’s innocence, and Ling, in her drunken stupor, was moved by a man who followed through and did what he said. A moment of stupid weakness exaggerated by her drunkenness.
A man who listened to her. Who acted on what she said and was doing something she would never have been able to do even though it went against his best friend’s version of events.
She had stupidly kissed him.
She had dragged him there, encouraged the drinking, gotten that blind drunk, and then pounced on him when he showed hints of the kind of guy she always hoped to find one day. One she never imagined would ever exist.
She was so stupid.
Kai hugged Yuelin, admiring how pretty she looked in her dungarees and pigtails and smiled when she snuggled into him with a genuine hug. Tiny arms were choking him with her attempt to get them around his neck. Despite their brief encounters, his bond with her was growing fast, and Yuelin was becoming comfy with him so much sooner than he expected.
“What picnic? When?” He had no idea what she was talking about, and Meilei sank at Yuelin’s invitation. She hadn’t wanted to ask him because she was scared he might actually show up. Initially, his eagerness to genuinely want to bond with her surprised Meilei, and now it terrified her. She felt like her baby was being slowly pulled out of her grasp even though she wasn’t.
“Her school this Wednesday. I have asked for leave to go, so you don’t need to worry about it.” She dismissed him. Not wanting him there and seeing all the other parents and teachers who had known for a long time, Meilei was alone. She didn’t want to explain the sudden appearance of a father. Especially one who looked at her like he loathed her most of the time.
Turning to lead the way to the ticket desk and ignoring that today there wouldn’t be anyone else around to mediate for them. Meilei tried to find the courage Ling kept telling her she needed, but she didn’t like this when she still felt so nervous around him. It was easier to stand up to him for Yue’s sake, but it still took everything she had to stay strong when faced with him.
“A school thing, huh? Is it for parents?” Kai blanked Meilei and instead walked after her with Yue hooked in his arm, focused on her instead. He was trying not to look at Meilei, not interact unless necessary, and not let Yue sense his hostility towards her. He was trying to follow Chang and Tian’s advice and hold in the utter hatred that woman stirred up in him by just being near.
Meilei ignored it, knowing there was no way she would allow it and would make that clear when Yue was not within earshot. Instead, Meilei stopped at the desk to pay for tickets.
Walking into the park together after they were done, Kai held Yue’s hand on one side while she hooked her other to her mom’s. They swung their arms, yet neither adult looked at the other, choosing instead to focus only on their child. There was an obvious atmosphere between them, and Meilei wouldn’t say she was happy to be there.
“Can I have one?” Yuelin turned with a wide, serious expression that made Meilei smile. She was always a child that said the first thing that came to her mind.
“Why not?” Yuelin had often asked for a kitten in the last two years and still didn’t understand why.
Kai tugged Meilei’s jacket and motioned her to come back, making it clear he had something to say, and Meilei hesitantly moved. Dreading that he would say something to put her on edge or rile her temper, yet she rose anyway. He had been listening in, and she knew this would be some criticism of her mothering skills.
Leaving Yuelin at the barrier, they walked around five feet away before Kai pulled something out of his leather jacket pocket and held it out to her.
“What?” It was something that had not been brought up regarding Yue yet and something she never intended to bring up. She was shocked to see it so freely offered, and it did weird things to her insides. Most men fought in custody cases to avoid handing money to their exes, yet Kai took the initiative. So like him of the past that it wedged another shard in her wounded heart.
If he had just taken her side back then, maybe now they would have been living together and married. A home that he would approve of. Maybe Yuelin would have had her kitten already. It choked her up and made her more defensive.
Turning, she tried to walk away, but Kai caught her wrist and hauled her back with slight aggression.