Lily bit her bottom lip as she mulled over Zhuo Jingren's words. As her head was resting close to his chest, she could clearly hear his heartbeat, the steady rhythm was calming her down. She was surprised at her outburst just minutes ago. Why was she so emotional?
He was clearly just worried about her. He had been searching for her for years, it was only natural that he feared losing her again. Lily closed her eyes to calm her nerves. Lashing out on Zhuo Jingren was wrong – so wrong.
The sound of sniffles could be heard and she didn't know if the man was crying or he had caught a cold. Lily let out a sigh while shaking her head inwardly. "Let's not fight," she said, the gentleness in her voice immediately surprised her. "I'm sorry."
Zhuo Jingren just tightened his hug on her. "Hmmm…" Then Lily felt a kiss on her head.
"Are you… Ehem…" Lily uttered after a few seconds of silence. "Are you crying?"
"Of course not," he answered, his voice a little hoarse. "Let's sleep. We have an early day tomorrow." Immediately after he said that, he scooped her up, earning a surprised gasp from Lily. He hugged Lily close to his body as he strode inside the bedroom. When he reached the king size bed, he put her down gently on her back and turned around quickly. Then he walked away, heading in the direction of the bathroom.
As Lily watched Zhuo Jingren's back disappear into the bathroom, there was an unfathomable look on her face. She turned her head to look straight at the ceiling above her and spread out her arms on her sides.
A small smile escaped Lily's lips as she thought about what happened earlier. Though, she was sincerely apologetic about it, she couldn't help but be amused by Zhuo Jingren's reaction. Maybe she was becoming a little sadistic, she thought, before she giggled.
Then her expression turned serious. Her eyes, never leaving the white ceiling. To be honest, it had been a long time since she felt so many emotions and all in a day.
After what happened to Lily years ago, she decided that the best way to protect herself was to build a thick wall around her heart, and close its doors and not to let anyone in so easily.
So she conditioned herself to be detached from everything and not to get emotional about anything. She was almost never got angry and she always had a little smile plastered on her face. She became cold and indifferent.
The myriad of feelings that she felt earlier was such an alien experience for the current Lily. She was not used to feeling a surge of emotions. But she was not confused about how or why this was happening. Her EQ wasn't low. She knew her this was all because of her husband.
Before meeting Zhuo Jingren, Lily was not even aware that she could feel irritation and then guilt all within a span of five minutes. Then Lily turned to lie on her side, with her back facing the bathroom, smiling about these realizations.
Everything was really simple. Why was she trying to make things complicated and cause misunderstanding in the process?
…
Wednesday.
Lily woke up with a smile. She felt light, as if a heavy burden was lifted from her heart overnight. She then turned her head towards Zhuo Jingren who was still sleeping. Surprisingly, the man did not initiate intimacy last night. It must be because he was exhausted from the flight, Lily concluded as she stared at Zhuo Jingren's sleeping profile.
Zhuo Jingren was gifted with a perfectly sculpted face that would stop anyone in their tracks. As Lily had the privilege to look at Zhuo Jingren's face up close, she thought that his most attractive feature was his eyes. Zhuo Jingren's eyes were a little darker than brown, that it looked almost black. However, the brown specks in his irises made it look alluring and enchanting. This, coupled with his perfectly curled eyelashes that framed his eyes, was the first thing that Lily noticed about him.
In fact, she felt that his eyes were so memorable that it had haunted her dreams since she slept with him seven years ago.
Lily remembered how she first thought that Zhuo Jingren was someone that Tang Lingyun sent to seduce her. So she asked George to find him. And when George failed to find the man, Lily immediately concluded that Tang Lingyun must have paid the man off to go away or maybe even killed him.
Lily's hand reached out, wanting to touch Zhuo Jingren's tousled black hair but she stopped midway and withdraw her hand. She then bit her lower lip as she contemplated about the result of George's investigation.
He told her that someone else was trying to dig up her past. Lily felt that only Zhuo Jingren had the means and the motive to do it. However, she found it weird that he was not low key about it. Why? Was he trying to attract attention? Whose attention?
Lily was so immersed in her thoughts that she failed to notice that Zhuo Jingren had opened his eyes and was staring straight back at her. She continued to stare blankly at him, until he smoothly leaned in to steal a quick kiss from her.
"Hey…" Lily said in a surprised gasp.
"I know I am handsome, but I never thought it could put you in a daze," he noted, while smiling at her.
"Shut up." She rolled her eyes before she leaned to kiss him. "Good morning," she uttered.
"It is a very good morning indeed," he responded before pulling her towards him. "You smell so good. Too bad, I like SpongeBob too."
"Huh?"
"I mean… I didn't dare to rip your clothes. It would be disrespectful to SpongeBob," he whispered before chuckling.
"What a crude man!" Lily responded with a chuckle. "Why are you always thinking about ripping my clothes when you can always ask me to take it off for you?"
"Aw!" Lily let out a surprised scream when Zhuo Jingren suddenly shifted his body and hers. His body was now on top of hers and he was staring at her with a toothy grin on his face.
"What can I say? I am an impatient man," he said.
"An impatient man wouldn't be able to wait for seven years," she noted.
"That is an anomaly." He smiled as he used his hand to remove a strain of hair on Lily's cheek. "And I am in love so...."
…
Editor: Swaning
Comments