The Overnight Chosen Wife: darling, kiss me deeper

"If you have anything to tell me, go ahead and say it right now. There’s absolutely no need to have dinner together."

Hearing her cold rejection, Jiang Xingyu was disappointed. How could he let go of such an opportunity to see her?

"It’s something that cannot be simply stated on phone. You do know that phones can be hacked, don’t you?" He threw in an excuse.

"No one can hack into my phone." Luna countered without batting an eyelid. She was not tooting her own horn but she was one of the best hackers and programmers. All her accounts were protected. As if anyone would hack into her phone.

When Jiang Xingyu heard her retort, he found an excuse too. "But someone can hack into mine."

"Urgh... fine." Luna gave up debating with him. He would just find a more insane excuse if she argued with him.

Hearing her finally agree, Jiang Xingyu joyously punched the air. "I will pick you up at 6pm."

"No need. Just send me the address."

Jiang Xingyu felt bummed but agreed to send the address. If he insisted on picling her up, she might just refuse to go altogether.

_

That evening.

As soon as he knocked off work, Xiehan picked Lanni up and took her to a popular Italian restaurant. Just when they finished making their orders, Xiehan had a phone call and went out to receive it.

While waiting for him, she took out her phone to play a few games.

"What are you doing here?" a familiar voice startled her and she looked up.

"You? Why are you here?" Lanni was puzzled when she saw Luna. "Don’t tell me that you and Jiang Xingyu are also having dinner here?"

Luna found her sister’s words a little odd. "You are also dining here... with Xiehan?" Lanni nodded, and she found it even more odd. "Then why did they choose the same private room? I’m pretty sure this cannot be a coincidence. They could have simply said it if they wanted to have a joint date."

"Date... you finally agreed to go on a date with him?" Lanni raised her brow teasingly.

"Not now, Lanni. I’m in a bad mood. I have a bad feeling about this."

Lanni had a bad feeling too, but she suppressed it with an obviously forced smile. "What’s there to feel bad about? I’m sure it’s nothing. Worst case scenario, they have to go on a super long business trip."

Luna exhaustedly sat beside her. "We both know you are worried too."

Before Lanni could retort, Xiehan came back and beside him was Jiang Xingyu. Trying their best to keep up their smiles, they slotted themselves opposite Lanni and Luna. They even nudged and made fun of each other in attempt to lighten up the mood, which was instead working the opposite magic.

"You can drop the smiles. We know they are fake." Luna berated them, and they coughed awkwardly.

"Why don’t we have dinner first?" Xiehan suggested.

"It’s bad news, right?" Lanni started. "I will not be able to stomach any food if I’m anxious."

"Well..." Jiang Xingyu was helpless. He looked at Xiehan as though asking for help and when the latter ignored him, he could only rack his brains for the right way to put it. "We do indeed have bad news. Actually, it is two pieces of bad news. Which one should we start with?"

Lanni shot a glare at Jiang Xingyu then shifted her gaze to Xiehan. "Honey, what’s the bad news?"

Xiehan thought for a moment and decided to start with what they found out first. "Your dad is missing. He disappeared from the hospital."

"What did you say?" Lanni was stumped.

"He disappeared this morning." Xiehan added. "We have tried looking for him but we could not find a single trace.

"Is he telling the truth?" Luna asked Jiang Xingyu, as though she believed him more.

Jiang Xingyu nodded solemnly. "That is what I was trying to say."

Luna’s mouth went wide with shock. "But that’s not possible. I went to visit him today at noon. He was there in the hospital."

"Did you see him with your own eyes?" Xiehan inquired.

"Yes!" Luna blurted before she recalled what had really transpired and shook her head. "No. I didn’t—but that’s only because the doctors were conducting several necessary tests on him and it would take at least two hours to complete. I decided to go back home and visit him later." She explained.

Xiehan sighed. "That’s the point. He disappeared early in the morning and the doctors covered it up by telling all sorts of lies."

Jiang Xingyu shifted his gaze between Lanni and Luna and scolded them. "I’ve been meaning to say this. How could the two of you leave your father on his own? Isn’t it your duty as his daughters to take care if him?"

"Shut up." Xiehan glared at him.

Lanni laughed bitterly. "Xingyu is right. It’s our fault. It’s my fault actually. I should have stayed in the hospital to look after him but instead, I hired a caregiver—all because I was afraid that mom would be angrier with me."

Luna placed her hand on her sister’s to comfort her. She was on the wrong too. She was afraid that frequenting Xia Hanchen’s ward would put his life in danger so she had limited herself to two visits per day and she would not spend too much time with him.

She stroked Lanni’s hand as she swallowed a lump. "Blaming ourselves will not help us in any way."

Lanni controlled her emotions. "You’re right. We need to find a solution now. Hold on. There were two pieces of bad news. What’s the second one?"

Luna listened anxiously too, afraid that it would be worse news than the first.

Just when the two of them were on the verge of breaking down from anxiety, Xiehan broke the second piece. "Li Xiyan escaped from prison."

The phone in Lanni’s hand dropped.

Luna punched the wall. "Damn it."