The Overnight Chosen Wife: darling, kiss me deeper

Xiehan was silent for a whole minute, processing what she had just said before carefully asking, "What happened to your father?"

"He..." Lanni tried to steady her breathing as Xiehan held her. "He woke up!"

Xiehan frowned and looked at her. "You don’t look anything like someone whose father has woken up after being in a coma for a whole year."

Lanni bit her lip. "I know. It’s just that, " she lowered her voice, as though guilty about what she was going to say. "What wrong timing."

Xiehan understood her instantly. He couldn’t say that he thought the same way, but he understood why she would think that way.

Lanni had hoped to get Luna freed before her father woke up. Now that he was awake, she might have to explain to him where her sister was.

Lanni picked up her phone and checked it. Seeing that it was broken, she kept it in her purse. She would buy another one later. "I’ll go to the hospital to see him."

"Right now? You should go in the morning." Xiehan suggested, knowing that she must be too emotional at the moment. It would be best to digest the news first.

"No. I should go now. Though I don’t know how to face him. Do you know, before this, I have never gone to see him even though he was just in a hospital nearby." Lanni held her forehead. How could she be such an uncaring daughter?

"It’s understandable. There was so much going on." He consoled.

Lanni thought of something and spoke. "Wait. What if I double cross him for a while? I can go once as myself and another time as my sister. He would never know since we are identical anyway."

"That’s a bad idea." Xiehan said as soon as her words were out. "He would be hurt when he realizes that he has been fooled all this while."

"That is if he ever finds out. However, I will make sure he doesn’t and I will also make sure Luna is freed soon." She insisted.

Since she said it that way, Xiehan couldn’t say anything else. He could only dismiss, "I’m not saying that it’s okay to decieve him but I don’t have a better idea so... why don’t you think about it first? If you really decide to do it, then I will not have anything else to say about it."

Lanni nodded. Hence, she stayed over for the night.

_

The next morning.

Lanni freshened up then changed into a different style of clothes. Once she had light breakfast, she hurried to the hospital. Xiehan accompanied her, but Lanni wanted him to wait for her outside as she went in on her own.

Seeing that she was dressed up in the same style as Xia Luna and was probably going to impersonate her sister, Xiehan could only hope she changed her mind on her own. After all, he couldn’t force her to do what he wanted.

The attending doctor was already waiting for her.

"Doctor, how is my dad? Can I go to see him?" She asked anxiously.

"You may." The doctor replied, leading her towards Xia Hanchen’s ward. "However, do not take too long and you must make sure not to agitate his emotions as his condition is still delicate."

"I’ll take note of that." Lanni smiled and went into the ward.

Xia Hanchen lay calmly on the bed, fast asleep. Lanni stood at the door for a while. That was indeed her father. Now that she saw him again after so long that she couldn’t remember, her heart filled with a mixture of joy and love.

She was overwhelmed as she walked over to his side and softly called, "dad."

The man’s eyelids fluttered a bit, then he woke up.

"Dad, you’re really awake." Lanni was excited and the word ’dad’ left her lips too easily. Perhaps it was because she was impersonating Luna, who was close to their father.

Xia Hanchen smiled and Lanni expected him to call her "Luna" but the word that left his lips was, "Lanni?"

Lanni was taken aback. He had seen through her so easily. She smiled in self-mock. Although she and Luna were twins, what made her think she could fool their father? She could only slowly nod. "Dad, I..."

She was yet to say a word more when Xia Hanchen sprung almost to a sitting position and Lanni had to rush over to stop him. "Dad! You have to calm down."

"Lanni! It’s really my Lanni." Xia Hanchen was so excited that his eyes watered as he stretched his arms like a child asking for a hug. Lanni’s eyes teared slightly as she hugged him.

He patted her back. "You are better now."

Lanni knew he was talking about her waking up from coma, so she nodded as she broke the hug. "Dad, I missed you."

Although her pretense of being ’Luna’ had been shed off, she still freely addressed him as her dad.

"I missed you too, cupcake."

Lanni laughed at the nickname but now that he said it, it felt so sweetky familiar.

Xia Hanchen took her hand and looked her all over before gushing, "You have changed so much. In just a year, my cupcake is now A grown up woman, so strong and beautiful."

"Thanks dad." Lanni was happy with the compliment and for a moment, she almost forgot all about Luna. That was until he asked. 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

"I’m so happy that you are here. Where is your sister? You girls are my happiness."

Lanni’s expression changed slightly amd she suddenly didn’t know what to say.

"What’s wrong? Is something the matter?" Xia Hanchen was fast to notice her change in expression.

"Luna, she..." thinking of Xiehan’s advice, Lanni was about to tell him the truth. But thinking of how the doctor said that she should not agitate his emotions, she couldn’t bear to tell him the ruthless truth. "Luna has been quite busy these past days. She couldn’t come to see you."

"No problem. As long as she is fine." Xia Hanchen did not feel anything was off.

Lanni secretly heaved a sigh of relief. She wanted to stay more and chat all day. However, she was scared that he would start asking her questions about Luna, so she coughed up an excuse. "Dad, I have to go to school later. How about I come back this evening, then we can chat all night."

"Of course, cupcake. Even though I want you to stay all day because I missed you too much, your studies are more important." Xia Hanchen let her go as she pleased, and Lanni was glad that he did not cling to her.

’I’m sorry dad. I will tell you the truth when you get better. You can’t take it now.’ She thought guiltily.

When she left the hospital, Xiehan was still waiting for her outside. He was leaning against his car and when he saw her leaving the building, he went over to her.

"He’s really awake. I know I was confused earlier but I’m so happy now." She said as soon as she saw him.

Xiehan smiled too, relieved after the fright he had recieved the night before when he saw her drop her phone out of shock. "How is he?"

"He is doing fine. For someone who has been in coma for a whole year, his condition is so much better than I expected. We talked a little." She rambled on. Suddenly remembering Luna, she sighed sadly. "I couldn’t bring myself to tell him about Luna yet. I can only bring that up to him when he is stable enough."

"That’s still better than you pretending to be your sister. It’s already hurtful that his daughter is in prison, it would be much worse if he later learnt that his other daughter lied to him." Xiehan responded, and Lanni nodded in agreement.

"So what do you plan to do now?" He probed.

Lanni thought about it for a while. "I should try to learn Li Xiyan’s weakness. I don’t know if it will really work but at this point, I can only try."

Xiehan nodded slowly and led her to the car. Fastening his seatbelt, he looked back at her. "I thought you would want to do that, that is why I thought of a plan that might be if help."

"Thank you love." Lanni leaned towards him and pressed a kiss on his cheek.

"But you haven’t heard the plan yet." Xiehan smiled, giddy from the kiss.

"So what? I know that my boyfriend is smart. Whatever you think of will definitely be helpful." She held a hand over her chest cheerfully. "Right. The next time I visit my dad, we should go together."

"You want to introduce me to him already? I thought you would think it is too soon because you haven’t caught up yet." He laughed, obviously amazed that she had thought of letting him meet her father.

"My dad needs more reasons to make him happy now. Sorry Xiehan, that’s just me being selfish.