The Overnight Chosen Wife: darling, kiss me deeper

"Lin Jian told me what happened at your workplace." He started as he walked to the kitchen with her tailing after him.

"It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it." She assured him.

He flicked her forehead at her words. "Are you implying that your reputation is not a big deal? It’s a huge deal, okay?"

She chuckled. "It is alright. But how can I stop people from creating these rumors about me? Even if I shut Aunt Meiling up, there will always be an enemy or two waiting for an opportunity to strike me down. It can’t be helped."

He patted her head. "Even if there will be others in future, I can still handle the current ones. You don’t need to worry about this. Just do as you like, okay?"

"Okay." She rose on her tiptoes to kiss him. As though she had asked for it, he grabbed her by the waist and placed her on the kitchen counter.

"Xiehan, we came here to cook." She subtly reminded him.

"And I’m yet to teach you a lesson for the dangerous move you pulled off." He looked at her teasingly.

"Wait. Don’t touch there..."

He let go of her boob that he was groping and let his hand slide down. "Mmh. Then I’ll touch you here instead."

Her words were swallowed into his mouth as he kissed her. He wasn’t any less shameless than he was in the past, not that she was complaining.

That night, Lanni couldn’t get any sleep. She rolled in bed for the umpteenth time and made to slide off, only for her waist to be grabbed from behind.

"Did I wake you up? I’m sorry." She turned to tousle his hair. He had been busy lately and needed enough rest, so she kissed him and let him go back to sleep. Alas, the man pinned her down and she was under him before she could process it.

"Can’t sleep?" He teased her.

"I’m not sleepy." She looked up at him like he was a predator.

His response was to slide his hand under her nightdress. "I can make you more tired if you want. If not, how about we talk for a while?"

He got off her and lay on his side, waiting for her to make up her mind.

She blinked a few times trying not to let her eyes close. She was sleepy but just couldn’t bring herself to sleep, and it was torturing her. "I just feel uneasy. I’m scared even though I don’t know what I’m scared of. If that makes sense."

He pulled her into his arms. "It makes sense. You are probably tired and worried. Just forget about it and sleep, okay?"

She didn’t react, and he thought she had fallen asleep until he peeked down and met her drowsy eyes.

"I’ll read you a book."

She burst out laughing. "I’m not a little girl who listens to bedtime stories."

"I don’t remember ever seeing an age limit to bedtime stories." He slid off the bed and ransacked the small bookshelf in the bedroom, looking for a book she would find boring. Most of the books here were the ones they had moved from the library for ease of access so it was only after checking all the books that he found one about aviation. They must have brought it accidentally because neither of them was interested in aviation but it worked like a charm. She was fast asleep before he could finish reading the foreword. He watched her sleeping face and leaned over to kiss her, before gently nudging her off his arm.

He got off the bed to return the book to its original spot. Her phone rang on the bedside table, prompting him to look at it. He frowned. Who was calling her so late at night? It was already past midnight and definitely not a suitable time to give anyone a call.

"Hello, who is this?" He answered the call nervously.

"Hello, this is HM Hospital. Are you related to Xia Luna?"

His nervousness intensified. "She is my sister-in-law. Is everything alright?"

"She was brought to hospital after a fatal accident. We need a family member to sign a form of consent before we can go through with the operation. Do you have a way to contact her immediate family members?"

"Luna?" Lanni was startled out of her sleep.

"We will be right there." Xiehan hung up the call and cupped her face. She was trembling and had beads of sweat on her forehead. "Did I startle you?"

"Who just called?" Her mind was disoriented. "I just had a nightmare. I dreamt that I had lost Luna." The mere mention of it was enough to make her eyes water.

"Nothing will happen to Luna. She will be okay. Come here." He placed her head on his chest and suddenly didn’t know how to tell her what happened. If she had not woken up, he would have told the Jiangs first and let them hurry to the hospital as he slowly explained the situation to her, but he couldn’t waste any time now.

"Let’s go to the hospital, okay? The doctor just confirmed that Luna will be alright after the surgery."

She had no idea what he was talking about but she nodded and grabbed a jacket which she threw on. They were in the car within five minutes and he floored the accelerator. Luckily, the hospital was not too far away so they arrived in ten minutes.

The first thing Lanni did was rush to her sister once she knew where her ward was. Alas, she was not allowed to go in.

"Are you Miss Xia’s sister? Please sign this." A nurse handed over a sheet of paper and a pen, and she glanced at Xiehan in confusion. What was happening?

"Miss, can you please hurry up? The patient’s life will be in danger if the operation is delayed any longer." Urged the nurse.

She messily scribbled her signature and if Xiehan didn’t hold her, she might have fallen from how dizzy she suddenly was.

"What happened to Luna?" She asked croakily.

"She was attacked by someone." He held her shoulders soothingly. "She will be fine. You have to trust her to get out of this, okay?"

She blinked, letting down the stinging tears from her eyes. "I don’t understand. How could anyone attack her so late at night? What was she doing out in the open at this time of the night? Where the hell was Jiang Xingyu when this happened?"

As if on cue, Jiang Xingyu came rushing over with his parents in tow.

"Xiehan! How is my wife? Where is she?" Xingyu asked anxiously, earning a slap from Lanni.

"Sister-in-law?"

"You had one role!" Lanni kicked and punched him aggressively, hurling curses. "You only had one role, to protect my sister. Is this how you protect her? By letting her get attacked?"

"Lanni!" Xiehan pulled her away from Jiang Xingyu, who had been beaten and scratched by her.

"Sister-in-law, you don’t understand. Luna has been missing for hours. I’ve been looking for her and trying to track her location to no avail."

He broke down. This evening, Luna had told him that she wanted to spend the night at Li Yuming’s. She had insisted on going on her own because apparently, she had private matters to discuss with her mother. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

So he let her go. Half an hour later, the chauffeur had reported that he had dropped her off at her mother’s house. He didn’t think much of it until it started getting late and he was yet to receive a call from Luna. He tried calling her to no avail, and decided to go over and check on her. There was no such thing as too much caution. He was just going over because he missed her at first. However, an ominous premonition filled his gut. He set the car on autopilot mode and called incessantly until her phone went off. He didn’t need any more proof. Luna did not go to Li Yuming’s house.

A phone call to Li Yuming confirmed his fear. He knew that she would not lie to him so there was only one possibility: that she was in danger.

...

Lanni yelled at him for his carelessness at any chance he got and he couldn’t blame her. He blamed himself too. If only he had been more careful.

He should have insisted on sending her to Li Yuming’s and dropped her off on his own. This was happening just because he had trusted his bodyguards and chauffeur more than he should.

Hours passed before Luna was finally wheeled out of the operation room and everyone rushed over to check on her.

"Doctor, how is she?"

The doctor pulled down his surgical mask. "She is out of danger."

Jiang Xingyu heaved a sigh of relief. As long as she was out of danger.

"And the baby? What about the baby?" Asked Xingyu, anxiety bubbling in him yet again. If anything were to happen to the baby, Luna would not want to live anymore.

"The baby is fine. We managed to save both mother and child."

Everyone heaved a collective sigh of relief and let the doctors wheel Luna into the recovery ward.

Lanni crept up beside her and held her hand. "Sis, do you know how scared I was? You can’t do that to me again!" She complained.

During all those hours that the operation lasted, all she could think about was her dream, where she had lost Luna forever and was watching her being wheeled into the morgue. Her mind was finally at ease now that she was steady.

She turned and glanced at Xingyu who was behind her. "How did this even happen?"