“You’re crazy cute this way, you know?” He bobbed in, planting a peck of a kiss on her cheek at seeing her attempts to hide her blushing and smiling, and she snapped her face back to him in wide-eyed alarm. Shocked he would be that brazen and go in for the kill like that.
He wasn’t even sure he had another chance with her.
Qian kissed her gently and firmly with a semi-closed set of perfect lips meeting hers and completely silenced her. He had wanted to kiss her again since that day in the car park and hadn’t stopped thinking about what making out with her had felt like. She was made to be kissed by him, especially knowing he had been her one and only. She erased all other girls and kisses from his mind like they had never happened. None compared to this.
Her mind ceased to have any thought, and she responded to him naturally. Her heart almost exploded through her chest, and even though mentally she was cursing herself for being this weak, she got lost in the erotic and overwhelming nature of the intimate touch as her body burst with joyous goosebumps and her insides fluttered. Qian lingered, not pushing the kiss beyond a tender pressing together, savoring the feel and taste of her but knowing he needed to take baby steps with her. He had bruised her heart and wanted to erase the hurt and doubt properly. He leaned back only a half inch and rubbed his nose against hers, keeping her close and savouring the sense of calm and yet adrenalin rush she gave him. Both were breathy even though they hadn’t been passionate about it. It was a tender and romantic moment.
“So lunch?” he smiled softly, his voice husky and sensual given how close they were standing. His eyes locked on hers as the world around them faded away like they were standing in a black nothingness of only existing for one another. Having to keep himself under tight control from moving back and making out with her properly. She had no idea how the briefest contact with her wound him up and made him want to devour her whole. She was his idea of the perfect girl and ticked all his fantasy boxes. He had already gambled with such a bold move, but he wanted her to feel how much he liked her. He didn’t want room for doubts or for her to misunderstand his intentions.
He had already summarised that Suying was a girl who needed a straightforward and confident boyfriend who left her in no doubt and took control. She was shy by nature, lacked self-confidence despite her abilities as a doctor, yet was also reserved and inexperienced. She had a youthful innocence that many probably took advantage of. She needed someone street-smart and protective to lead, be someone to lean on.
He had figured out quickly that Suying was a girl you laid all cards on the table for and made things clear and straightforward. She was a no-mess, no-nonsense girl, and that was exactly what he liked about her. He knew he was exactly what she needed in a guy. No games, no hidden agenda, or lack of communication. He respected her. Admired her intelligence, her job and everything about her.
Suying’s face flushed red, and she glanced away shyly, unable to separate when he had a tight grip on her hand and was practically bodily pressed to her with proximity. She was having trouble behaving normally while hormones and shy nervous energy consumed her. He could make her such a childish mess.
Everything was forgotten. The last days of crying into her pillow and pushing his stupid face out of her mind anytime he popped up. He was her first real brush with romantic heartbreak, and he had so expertly put a band-aid on the wound.
“Mmm.” She gave a non-commital response, biting on her lip to stop the grin she was fighting hard to conceal, and Qian tugged her with him as he turned on his heel. Wasting no more time as he clocked how late it was getting.
She needed to eat and get back on shift, and he would make sure she ate something decent while solidifying their relationship. She was about to get Qian’s full offensive on securing her as his girlfriend.
Pulling her against him and locking his fingers with hers so she had no chance of escape. Bodies pressed side by side and sharing heat. Cosily joined, leaving her no doubt that he wasn’t all talk. She wanted to squeal with happy excitement, yet she was so nervous around him, like a teen girl singled out by the high school hotty. Catching his eye as they side glanced at one another, both simultaneously broke into natural smiles.
“I may appear calm, but I feel sick,” Meilei responded drily and sighed for effect. Hating how quiet the house seemed for a Saturday morning.
“I trust his love for her. A parent’s love is different than romantic love and the instinct to protect Yue is stronger than any love he ever had for me. It’s the kind of love that cannot be easily broken or fade away.” Meilei was somber in her mood and exhaled heavily in both sadness and reflection.
It had only been a week since San had shown up in her life and it already felt like weeks had past. It felt like too much had happened for it to be mere days. Life was moving so slowly that it felt like endless months. She had lost track of real time and the only thing keeping her days in check was the routine of work.
She hadn’t ever mistrusted Kai’s treatment of Yue, she had only mistrusted whether he would bring her back if he got her alone. Now that threat was gone. The papers confirming he had no legal rights to her were in her possession and the threat of Madame Xuchen hanging over her was no longer her problem but Kai’s. He had sworn he would never let his mother affect their daughter again and she believed him. Despite everything, in that she trusted.
“Suying despite being on her first official date is checking in so obsessively I told her I am going to block her number.” Ling nodded at her laptop as yet another message icon popped up in the bottom corner, and Meilei leaned in to see Suying’s name.
She wanted constant updates on Yue and had been neglecting her date for the last thirty minutes.
She had been forced to go by the two women, given today was going to be their first Yue’less day, and it seemed dumb to make her stay and face the quiet with them. Ling and Meilei already felt like two lost souls and did not know how to spend their time. It did not need to be three of them when one had a real chance at a social life.
“Suying likes you; that should explain everything.” Meilei jested and received a throw cushion flicked her way in retaliation.
“He better treat her right, or I will break all his bones,” Ling mumbled and returned to stabbing her laptop in a bid to work. Ignoring Suying.
Personally, Meilei had no dislike for Qian. In the past, he was not someone she knew well, just a young teen who seemed happy and cheeky the one time she thought she met him, and in the present, he had never bothered her at work or shown any nastiness. He had acted neutral in passing. She also knew he was the one who followed San and brought this chapter of revenge from Kai to an end. In some small way, she owed him. Suying was a good judge of character, and she didn’t suffer fools. Meilei didn’t doubt that if Qian weren’t all that great to her, she would cut him loose pronto, but it said a lot about him that he championed Meilei and outed San. As a Xuchen, he could have let it go unnoticed.
“What is with this tangled web of relationships we three have? She is now being romanced by his cousin, and I drunkenly banged his best friend. You need better friends. We suck.” Ling was joking, but she wasn’t. It was not lost on her the irony of this.
“Maybe it’s fate. Maybe something was meant to grow from the ashes of my former love.”
“Please don’t. There is nothing growing over here when it comes to that man except regret and ingrained dislike.” Ling screwed up her face in agitation as Tian swept through her mind’s eye and she physically shook her head to dislodge him. She could not admit to herself that he took up more brain space than she wanted to give him credit for and had even replayed their night of hot sex in her dreams against her own will.
Meilei refrained from commenting, knowing they had both been living under the white flag of truce at work.
Ling was being nicer to Tian and vice versa and she was finding his new lesser asshole demeanour a little annoying. She wouldn’t admit it but she liked bickering with him.
Meilei wondered if they both had an underlying attraction veiled in dislike so they could both deny something deeper. She wasn’t against it as Tian had proven time and again to be a decent man despite all that had happened. Him and Ling were of the same breed and seemed like a good match. Much like Qian, Tian had a role in ending this hatred with Kai so she couldn’t really find fault with him either. She wasn’t a girl who held grudges when people proved themselves to be worthy.
Ling needed someone like him. Someone who could help her heal from the mistrust of their gender and prove to her that not all men were the same. Ling had her own scars that needed tending, and Tian seemed like he might be capable of healing them. Undo the mistrust and fear of abandonment Ling’s youth had given her.
“What are they doing with our princess today, anyway?” Ling asked, knowing Meilei had received a couple of texts from Kai checking in to assure her things were going well. He was being overly accommodating, and Ling guessed he was being cautious and keeping her involved to ensure she would allow this to happen again.
“He and Tian were taking her to the park and then Kai’s apartment for lunch. He said they would see how she was after that and maybe take her to SeaWorld or something if she was not too tired. Failing that, they would watch a movie at home.” Meilei’s tone was lackluster, and she had to repeatedly tell herself that it was okay for Yue to spend time with him and at home. She would be back after dinner. Not that long, really, in the grand scheme of things, even if it felt endless.
“As long as he does not have his girlfriend at home.” Ling shifted her position in agitation, scrolling the worksheet absentmindedly and not concentrating on it.
She put it down again knowing how petty or weird that kind of text would sound. Kai had not mentioned Anna in the plans and she doubted he would lie at this stage of their truce. She had been one topic neither of them had brought up in the last week between texts or their face to face meeting a few days ago. She didn’t want to talk about his love life now or ever.