The Overnight Chosen Wife: darling, kiss me deeper

Xiaoshi nodded immediately, heat creeping up her cheeks from the feeling of her hand in his. His palm was warm and covered hers entirely, with his fingers securing the back of her hand and gently rubbing against it. "Uh, yes."

He peeked at her, intrigued by her response. "Did you hear what I said?"

She thought about his question and tried to remember what he had asked after holding her hand. All she knew was that it was a question, but her heart was beating so fast that she didn’t catch any of the words. She shook her head in embarrassment. "No."

He chuckled softly. From her reaction, he had already guessed that the question had evaporated into thin air.

He repeated the question, but before she could answer, his fingers gently ran up her wrist and made her heart skip a few more beats.

She once again nodded without knowing whether it made sense. When she heard him laugh, her cheeks that had just calmed back to their usual color flushed yet again. "Are you teasing me?"

He didn’t deny the accusation and nodded with a tiny laugh. "You’re so cute. I can’t help it."

She glared at him but her eyes only appeared adorable due to her blush. Luckily, they reached the milkshake shop where they were going so he stopped teasing her. She didn’t tell him anything but he ordered her the vanilla milkshake she preferred. Slotting in a thick straw for her, he put it in her hand and held her free hand.

This was not the first time they were holding hands but her heart still raced as though it was her first time being this close to a man. Well, aside from her cousin and father, she had never been as close to any man as she had been to him, but she didn’t expect that her heart would race faster than it had raced in the past when she heard Xingyu’s voice through Xiehan’s phone.

She stopped her thoughts from running wild but it still baffled her. Why was she spending so much time with Han Xichen? In fact, the closer she was to him, the closer she wanted to get. It felt slightly similar to what she had felt for Xingyu in the past but at the same time, different in a way that gave her the urge to be addicted. Her eyes widened at the thought. Was she starting to like a different man?

Han Xichen didn’t know what the girl beside him was thinking but from how furiously she was chewing on her straw, her train of thoughts must be interesting. "What are you thinking about?"

"Your hand feels nice to hold." She blurted, then wondered what had come over her.

The man grinned at her response. "Is that so? Then you can hold it whenever you want." She wanted to shake their hands apart but he only tightened his hold around her little hand. "Do you think I would trust you to watch where you are going? I don’t want you falling into ditches and bumping your head into trees."

"I didn’t..." She denied his words, but she couldn’t deny that he would have done just that if he did not pull her back the last time.

"Do you want to go back home or continue strolling around?" He asked, and she didn’t think it through before being honest with her answer.

"Can we walk a little more?"

"Of course." Obviously, he was happy to keep walking with a beauty like her. While they walked, he kept buying her a piece of every street food she looked at longingly, and within a few minutes, she was full. When he placed tacos in her right hand, she glanced at the skewers he was holding and shook her head. "Don’t buy me anything else. I’m full."

He nodded and watched her take a bite of the tacos then he took a bite of one of the skewers.

Her eyes subconsciously moved up to his lips. He bit on the meat elegantly and chewed it without much expression but she could tell that he was enjoying it. The tacos suddenly didn’t taste as good as it did a second ago. She felt the urge to switch it with the barbecue between his lips.

Before he could catch her staring at him, she averted her gaze and looked at the beautiful scenery. Night had fallen, and the city was dotted with street lights that made it look more alluring than it did during the day. She subconsciously pulled on his hand and led to him walking faster since she had increased her pace. It was only when they arrived at her residential area that she felt bummed. They were back so soon...

"Would you...would you like to walk with me again when you are free?" She asked nervously.

"Of course. Tell me when you want to." He agreed, much to her relief.

...

The next day at work.

Cheng Yu was so busy that she had barely had a few hours of sleep. If one were to wipe her makeup away, they would be faced with huge dark circles and a pair of dull sleepy eyes.

Xiaoshi made her way to her office early in the morning, to report the progress of her work. When she was done, she realized that Cheng Yu was still staring at her so she asked, "Is there anything else?"

Cheng Yu dragged her chair forward and planted her elbows on her desk. "The matter regarding Luna is quite suspicious. First, she meets a young man who wants to sell her a software and she offers him a job, then the man turns around and accuses her of stealing his software, and even submits the video recordings of their meeting. It’s definitely premeditated..."

"I thought so too." Everyone who believed in Luna thought that this was something that had been planned out, but Xiaoshi didn’t understand why Cheng Yu was explaining it to her anew. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Do you have anything to do with it?" Cheng Yu asked straightforwardly.

Xiaoshi was stumped. So that was it! She bit her lower lips to stop herself from exploding in anger. "No. Why would I? Just because you think there is tension between me and Luna doesn’t prove that I would want to hurt her, okay?"

Cheng Yu smiled. "You don’t need to get riled up. I’m just wondering who would benefit if Luna’s efforts were to go down the ashes. If her reputation were to be damaged beyond repair, who would be happy about it?"

Seeing Xiaoshi’s upset expression, she added, "I’m not pointing you out as a suspect. But you know, anyone can be suspicious. Who knows, the culprit might as well be someone close to Luna, someone she trusts. But whoever has a guilty conscience definitely has something to hide, don’t you think?"

"Well then. I don’t have anything to do with it." Xiaoshi shrugged. She really didn’t. She had also been shocked when she heard the news.

Cheng Yu smiled slightly. "You better not."

Although her tone sounded like he was warning her, it no longer held suspicion.

When Xiaoshi left, she reclined in her seat and sighed. The best way to get everyone to do their best searching for the real culprit was to individually make everyone think that they were the prime suspect. She wondered if it would work as fast as she wanted.

Xiaoshi was on her way back to the common office that programmers usually hung around when she received a call from her mother.

"Mom, is there something wrong? I’m at work." She knew that her parents would never call her while she was at work unless something really huge happened.

"Are you able to take the day off? Come to the Ji Mansion if you can." She did not explain the details on the phone but Xiaoshi could tell that it was a serious matter.

The company was much busier than usual but luckily, Cheng Yu approved of her day off nonetheless.

When she arrived at the Ji family mansion, the solemn mood surprised her. She gave her mother a curious glance across the room. What was happening?

"Come here." Ji Meiling called her over and softly explained the entire matter to her.

___

The Ji family was unable to find out who Ji Feifei’s biological parents were, so they paid their last respects to her—as a former member of their family—before sending her body to the crematorium.

_______ 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Author’s Note.

One of the book’s main villains just left to never return. Are you happy about it? Leave a comment or a review if you are. This note is also to inform you that there will be several things/changes happening in the next few Chapters.

...

On a side note, if you haven’t yet, check out my latest book; The Tyrant’s Wife.

Use my linktr.ee to follow me on Instagram, join my server and support me on Kofi. One link for everything!

Linktr.ee/Avalorian