Bab 20: Chapter 8.3 - Date (Part 3)
They drove in silence throughout majority of the trip. Mostly because Xue Rui was focused on how he can continue pursuing Li XinWen. He was an expert driver, which afforded him the ability to multitask. His mind focused on the road and at the same time was thinking of ways on how to make Li XinWen fall in love with him.
'I think the kiss earlier was a good start,' he smiled at this thought.
Li XinWen sat staring at all the buildings that they passed. This was the second time Li XinWen saw this kind of scenery, and it still filled him with awe. He thought back to Long Xing and the Soaring Heaven Sect. He couldn't help but compare the buildings that exists within the two worlds.
Though the Soaring Heaven Sect was only a mid-ranked sect, it was still one of the top ten sects outside of the four highly ranked sects. However, in spite being ranked considerably, they were actually quite poor. The outer sect disciples were barely taken care of, and even the inner sect disciples fought for resources. Remembering his bitter life as a disciple made Li XinWen sigh heavily.
"What's with the heavy sigh? Is there something bothering you?" Xue Rui asked in a worried tone.
'Yes! You!' Li XinWen answered in his mind. Then he remembered that kiss from before and he could feel his ears turning red at the thought.
"I just suddenly thought of mom's cooking and felt that I wanted to eat lunch with her after all…" he answered without looking towards Xue Rui so as not to give away his real emotions, which was a mix of annoyance, impatience and confusion.
Xue Rui fell silent and was a little hurt, and after a while, he finally spoke. "Alright, I'll cancel our dinner reservation later so we can have dinner at your home. Okay? Will that make you feel better?" Xue Rui said this softly and with as much affection as he could express to appease Li XinWen.
But, instead of pacifying Li XinWen, the revelation that dinner reservations were also made was met with a temper tantrum.
"You even made dinner reservation? Rui-ge, aren't we just going to purchase a jian for me? It won't take long now would it? Why did you have to make dinner reservations too?" Li XinWen asked like a spoiled child then looked out the passenger window once again.
"Well, I did say that today was going to be a date. So of course, I made a lot of plans for us," Xue Rui answered in his defense trying hard not to lose his cool. "Ah'Wen look at me, please," Xue Rui pleaded as he reached for Li XinWen's hand. He squeezed Li XinWen's hand, raised it to his lips, and kissed it.
At that same moment, Li XinWen abruptly turned to Xue Rui to express his annoyance but stopped short when he saw a gentle expression on Xue Rui's face. Xue Rui let go of Li XinWen's hand and made an apologetic face as if to say sorry for doing something that Li XinWen did not like. He ran his left hand through his hair and rested them on his lap. Xue Rui held the steering wheel and drove with just his right hand as if to prevent himself from doing anything that would displease Li XinWen any further.
Li XinWen caught himself and reflected. 'Why am I not entirely annoyed at what happened? Did I actually like that he held my hand and kissed it? Ugh... what is this?! This never happened before even though I lived for over three centuries...'
It seemed like as if his annoyance was more toward himself and not towards Xue Rui. 'Don't tell me, because I've never experienced my spring moments, this is the result? Show a little affection and I liked it?' Li XinWen inwardly groaned and prayed that it was not like that. He sighed, as if exhausted because of this internal debate.
"If I had known that you had planned to take me out for the rest of the day, I would have told mom! I told her we won't be long and that I'd be back in time for dinner," he said pouting. "She's old and currently all by herself. What if something happens to her?" this was all true. Li XinWen truly did not expect Xue Rui to keep him away from home until late.
Hearing Li XinWen's protest to dinner, Xue Rui decided to withhold the fact that he also booked a hotel room for them to stay for the night. After all, he pictured that dinner would involve wine and that would mean that he wouldn't be able to drive Li XinWen back home. Although he had a pretty high tolerance to any form of alcohol, he didn't want to take any risks.
"Don't worry too much Ah'Wen, I'm quite certain that xiao Xiao would be back from school by this time. Even while you were in a coma, your mom stayed strong and did not allow herself to collapse because she had xiao Xiao to think about. Xiao Xiao is still young and needs your mom's support and guidance. Trust your mother, will you?" Xue Rui said and one could hear that he had high respects for madam Li.
Although Li XinWen realized that Xue Rui was right, his pride got the better of him. He frowned at Xue Rui and huffed, crossing his arms. "If anything happens to her, I'll hold you responsible," Li XinWen said.
"Right. I promise to take full responsibility," Xue Rui responded as he unconsciously reached for Li XinWen but caught himself and instead rested his hand on the passenger seat's headrest. "If it makes you feel better, I actually left one of my men in the premises to keep an eye on her and to make sure nothing happens," Xue Rui informed Li XinWen in a reassuring manner.
After a while, Xue Rui removed his hand from the passenger seat headrest and focused on driving. Li XinWen continued to pretend that he was still upset. But the truth was he no longer felt angry. Feeling a little guilty because of his outburst, he started sneaking glances at Xue Rui in secret by looking at Xue Rui's reflection on the passenger window.
'Ugh… I think Xue Rui's foolishness is contagious and I might be catching the bug…' he thought to himself. 'Li XinWen, how did you deal with this fool in the past?' he addressed the original despite knowing there won't be any reply.
Xue Rui continued driving oblivious to Li XinWen's sneaky glances. Occasionally he'd glance towards Li XinWen's direction and would smile. He looked at Li XinWen's back lovingly and he thought to himself 'This is the person that occupies my every thought; this person is my treasure…'
* * *
Mini Theatre 2:
Xue Rui: Ah'Wen, please look at me…
Xue Rui takes Li XinWen's hand and gazes at Li XinWen while driving.
Li XinWen turned to Xue Rui before his eyes goes wide.
Li XinWen: Bastard! The road!! Eyes on the road!
Xue Rui: It's alright, I am confident with my driving. Plus, both of us have the ever so powerful plot armor, and you have the unrivalled protagonist halo.
Li XinWen: Your Sister, ah! Hurry and focus back on the road or else I'll haunt you forever!!
Xue Rui: En. Having you haunt me forever sounds good.
Li XinWen: !@$^#5!@&
Mini Theatre 3:
Li XinWen: If anything happens, I'll hold you responsible!
Xue Rui: En. Your husband will take responsibility for everything.
Li XinWen: Who's my husband?! When did we get married?!
Xue Rui: Then shall we go get married?
Li XinWen: This again!? Scram!!
Xue Rui: Wife's heart is still cold... It's okay. I have a lifetime to melt that heart of yours.
Li XinWen: My heart is not cold! Your heart is the one that's cold! Your sister's heart is cold! Your family's heart is cold!!
Xue Rui: Yes, yes... Wife's heart is not cold. Wife's heart the warmest. Or else, how can he make me burn with desire?
Li XinWen: !#@&!##$$@!!
Bab 21: Chapter 9.1 - What kind of dog-blood drama were you watching?
After what felt like a rather long drive, Xue Rui finally stopped the car in front of an expensive looking establishment located along Baifu Street or what was known as the financial trading row in ZaoXiang City. Xue Rui killed the engine and faced Li XinWen, "We're here XinWen," he said smiling while unbuckling his seatbelt.
Li XinWen was still in the process of unbuckling his when Xue Rui unlocked the driver's door and rushed to the passenger side. He opened the passenger door and peeked in at Li XinWen smiling as he reached out his hand.
"Shall we?"
Li XinWen who had never been treated this way before was not weirded out in the slightest and gladly took Xue Rui's hand. He got off the car and thanked Xue Rui. Both men looked dapper in their suits and radiated sexiness as they stood side by side. Even the most indifferent socialite passing by turned their heads to take a second look at the two gorgeous men.
Li XinWen who was straightening out his suit could not have predicted what Xue Rui did in the next instance. Xue Rui's arm snaked around his waist and pulled him close, catching him by surprise. He wanted to pull away from Xue Rui's grasp but Xue Rui's strong arm kept him in place. He realized that using more strength to pull himself away would only rouse suspicion as he was supposedly, still injured. Much to his dislike, Li XinWen resigned himself and just decided to let this one slide. Xue Rui casually threw his car keys to the valet waiting to the side of his Maserati as he walked Li XinWen over to the entrance.
Upon entering the establishment, a restaurant employee immediately greeted them. "Good afternoon. May I know whose name the reservation for our esteemed guests is under?" he asked.
"It's under Xue Rui." Xue Rui answered as he let go of Li XinWen and straightened his tie.
"Ah, yes. Young Master Xue, we've been expecting you. Please follow me. Your private room is ready," the employee said as he welcomed the two. The restaurant employee ushered the two towards the stairs leading to the second floor of the establishment, which was reserved for VIP guests. Li XinWen looked around while walking and noticed how lavish the establishment was. This reminded him of the establishments owned by high-ranking sects in Long Xing.
'I guess this is where people of high class gather in this world?' Li XinWen thought. The people he saw there were all well dressed and mostly talked about business. Several socialites were talking about the latest fashion and the latest entertainment gossip, but what caught Li XinWen's attention was the conversation of one particular table in the corner, which made him stop in in his tracks.
A young couple occupied the table, or maybe, Li XinWen should say former couple. It seemed that they were breaking up, and the reason for Li XinWen's interest was the drama he watched while he stayed at the hospital. Their conversation was so similar that Li XinWen thought they might be filming a movie.
"XinWen, what's wrong?" Xue Rui asked after noticing that Li XinWen had stopped walking and was distracted. He followed Li XinWen's gaze and asked, "Do you see someone you know?"
"No. I just find those two funny," gesturing towards the couple seated at the far corner. "The woman wants to leave but that man wouldn't let her, and their conversation reminds me of that drama movie I used to watch at the hospital to pass the time," Li XinWen said with a small laugh.
"Conversation?" Xue Rui asked, confused. He couldn't even hear the conversation from a nearby table because they were talking in a low voice let alone the couple in the far corner.
Li XinWen realized what he had just said so he quickly looked back at Xue Rui. "I mean... I was just thinking how similar the scene is with the drama movie I saw before, so I can't help but imagine the same conversation!" he said, trying not to sound suspicious. He had forgotten that mortals couldn't hear as far as he could. He gave Xue Rui a nervous smile as he silently wished that Xue Rui would let this go.
Xue Rui eyed Li XinWen for a while but decided not to pursue the matter.
"Well since they can afford to have lunch in an establishment such as this, surely, their social status is not that low and their conversation would not be as ridiculous as that. What kind of dog-blood drama were you watching in the hospital anyway?" Xue Rui chuckled as he wrapped his arms around Li XinWen's waist and pulled him in again, amused at the simplicity of Li XinWen's statement. He smiled as he gazed into Li XinWen's eyes warmly. "No matter. We should head into the room and have lunch since we still need to get you your gift."
This caught Li XinWen by surprise once again and he felt extremely uncomfortable in front of everyone in the restaurant. He could feel his cheeks blushing and his ears getting warm. He pushed Xue Rui away as he covered his mouth and looked down because of his discomfort and embarrassment.
'Thank goodness the lights are dim. Oh god, just you wait Xue Rui… a few more months and you won't be able to even lay a finger on me, let alone eat my tofu…' Li XinWen thought to himself.
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