Her tear-filled and broken expression caused a weight ton to form on Qian’s chest, and the urge to hug her consumed him.
“Why did you tell me your name was Dee?” Suying tugged her arm and shook it violently to dislodge him, but Qian only released her to adjust his hold and gripped back on again to make it clear he wasn’t going until they talked. He could be stubborn when it mattered to him, and he had cleared his schedule today to ensure he could see her without interruption. He wasn’t playing. Suying mattered to him.
“Why should I believe you? You had a chance to say something, anything, in the hospital that day, and you chose not to. Why are you doing this now?” A tear rolled down her cheek even though she was trying her hardest to fight them, and Qian frowned, releasing her wrist to gently lift his hand to trace it away from her skin with his thumb. Feeling like the biggest asshole alive for causing this little face pain. He traced its path, drying her cheek with the softest touch, gazing at her with genuine longing and regret.
Suying trembled under his touch, inhaled sharply at its electrifying contact, and stepped away, batting his hand off. Burned by such an act of care and affection. Confusion and conflicted feelings dissolving her resolve. Qian frowned at her large, wounded expression and trembling bottom lip. His heart aching to see how she was looking at him.
“And now Kai believes Meilei, you think it’s all okay? You can come show up at my work with flowers, and what?…. I’ll fall into your lap like some pathetic puppy?” Suying was wavering, her heart and head in a tug of war given how much she liked this idiot, but she knew she shouldn’t just believe anything he said. He was a Xuchen, after all. Although he hadn’t done much to screw things up, her pride and heart had been bruised. She didn’t know if she should believe him even if her soft heart was aching to.
If he had only said something at the hospital then maybe it wouldn’t have hurt as much as it did. It was his silence and letting her believe he used her that had been keeping her crying at night when she was alone.
Qian could be so sexy and serious one minute, and the next, he was like a small, cute boy with an adoring puppy dog expression you wanted to hug. He was worming her around his finger, and she wasn’t sure she disliked it. He had a way of making her forgive him and believe him without having to try too hard.
“Why should I believe you?” She sniffed, pouting like a child, and ground her foot on the sidewalk to focus on that instead of him.
“You know that Meilei is my family, right? If Kai does anything to hurt her or Yuelin, I won’t hesitate to back her. I pick them over us. I don’t trust him or like him. I would drop you like a hot potato.” Suying wanted to clarify that his cousin was still someone she wouldn’t warm to, and if it posed a problem for him, he should walk away now. Stop wasting his time if he would pick Team Kai even after everything.
Her own words hit her in the brain and stomach simultaneously, and she guessed Qian had done exactly that. Finding out who she was and seeing her as someone siding with the woman who crushed his cousin’s heart. She was the hot potato in his mind. Now she let that thought settle in she couldn’t exactly stay mad. Suying valued loyalty, but she didn’t like how he let it end. That was unnecessary cruelty.
Qian lifted the bunch of flowers he had been holding at hip height and offered them to her, but Suying turned her face away in a knee-jerk snap. She pushed the bouquet back harshly, using his wrist as a lever, and stepped further away to put extreme distance between them. Crushing Qian’s hope dead with such an instant and hostile rejection. His expression fell, and his heart throbbed that she didn’t want to give him another shot at this.
All his hope crashed in on him, and he experienced a major pang of ‘fuck’ and devastation. His mind scrambled to think of how else to convince her that he was genuine and their interactions had been honest.
Suying caught the wounded expression, felt immediate remorse for rejecting them so aggressively, and tried to soften her features to look less angry. Tears had stopped rolling, but she felt messy and torn about what to do. She still had the same feelings for him and liked him as much even if her gut and internal Ling voice were telling her to walk away. Watching him now like a sad little pup, frowning like a child who had been scolded, she totally melted. Suying had always been a soft touch and a sucker for a sad face.
Suying blinked at his words, staring at his side profile as the smiling woman accepted the expensive bouquet and wandered off happily. Glancing back their way with a bright grin and leaving them to it. Qian shifted onto his other foot somewhat awkwardly as he slid his gaze back to meet Suying’s. Apprehensive and unsure how to play this.
“Your what?” She asked softly, chewing on her lip to curb any real facial reaction. Her heart flip-flopped as her guts churned with nervous energy. Breaking down piece by piece, given how adorable he could be. She was done for with that single word.
Why was he so cute and damn irresistible? Suying was stronger than this; no guy had ever swayed her stubborn nature.
“I’m not that much of a pushover where you can say stuff like that, and I’ll give in.” She lifted her chin in childish defiance and turned her head away, trying to regain her indifference. Even though her tone was still moody, she was fighting the ghost of a smile trying to cross her lips and had to turn her face away from him fully to shield her rapidly brightening smile and rosy cheeks. “I don’t forgive you.” She pouted, her face flaming with heat as Qian stepped in to close the gap between them. So close there was barely space or air between them, and a static crackle ignited the atmosphere.
All those senses of extreme chemistry between them intensified the sensation. Making the air heavy, she became uber-aware of his body heat and scent. Sensing him almost like a warm cloak of air had enveloped her.
She was trying to rationalize what he had really done wrong, seeing as she didn’t think he was lying. He had reacted in a dumb way at the hospital and let her believe the worst, but other than that, really, he had committed no crimes. Her pain and sadness had stemmed from believing he used her and it was all a ploy, but his appearance now after Kai’s change of heart told her otherwise. If he didn’t like her, he would have no need to seek her out and apologize.
Qian finally broke into a natural full smile, dimples on show, and all his boyish charm swept away her last traces of heartbreak. Suying couldn’t deny that Qian was annoyingly hard to resist, even if she was trying to maintain her hurt demeanor. He had a way about him that lowered her guard, made her feel safe with him, and that he wasn’t lying. She wanted to believe in him because she had liked him so much from the first meeting, even if that made her na? ve and weak.
“Hmmmm.” She replied in a non-committal manner. Knowing she couldn’t keep pretending. She so wanted to make up and start again. This idiot had gotten to her so badly and was the first kiss of her life. He knew how to maneuver her, even if that made her dumb. She was always a soft touch under her sometimes thick wall. It didn’t take much for people she genuinely cared for to break down a mood when she was unhappy.
“So yeah, then? I can take you to lunch?… I’ll be on my best behavior.” Qian leaned in and slid his hand into hers, confident he was winning and wearing her down. Reading her signs and sensing the lowering of her guard and the relaxing of her mood. Making her flinch with the forward motion, yet Suying didn’t pull away as he interlaced their fingers. Her hand in his was snug and soft, and he clenched it tightly. She had liked his bold pushiness since the first moment; it was his winning formula. Knowing exactly where you stood and what he wanted from you. Suying had never liked games or guessing.
She was his.
Qian just had to make sure of it.
Qian grinned harder and moved closer to follow her. Shadowing her face with his, leaning around her so she couldn’t escape him, he stayed eye-to-eye even though he had to stretch around her. He was on the full seductive, knowing he had sensed her surrender and wasn’t about wasting time. He was like a child who had no shame.