"Where are you taking me?"
"Did you buy a new car?"
Li Xueman asked LY Yuanjun as he held her hand and walked her to his car that seemed pretty new in the parking lot of her office. This guy had waited for her to leave her office and is now trying to take her somewhere.
"It’s Porche 911. Do you know, this baby has..." he continued his ramble about the specifications of the car, "Do you like it?" he had a wide grin, looking at her complicated expression.
" My dad bought it for me for no reason!", he grinned ear to ear. He looked like a proud little boy who was rewarded.
He told his father the previous day during breakfast that he is going to marry into a girl’s family and his father threw a fit.
"Over my dead body!" he screamed and even his mother was angry at him for angering his father. But when he got home in the night, all his brothers were there... As usual! And his father and mother were all smiles while handing over the keys to this new car. His brothers might have explained to his father about his decisions.
" If I had a daughter, I would have definitely married her into the Li family. Since I don’t, it’s fine my son marries into the Li family. I have enough grandchildren bearing our Lu family name anyway," his father really was elated completely opposite to how he was in the morning.
Yuanjun was slightly pissed that his family was treating him like a girl but... He really didn’t mind. Manman is the last of the Li bloodline and her children will bear the Li name so that her line will continue.
His mother even offered to raise their children, like she is raising the children of her other sons.
’I must be really blessed to have this family!’
That was one of the reasons for his delight as he smiled at the woman looking at him, now.
"Yeah, it’s good... It has amazing design... And it is so... Black" Li Xueman tried to smile but the corner of her lips twitched.
Why does he like black this much? It is not even a colour. And what do I know about cars? It has four wheels a steering wheel and a roof. Must be good, right? Whatever!
And he is bragging his father bought it for him like in the past... Is he an elementary school student?
Li Xueman’s lips curved up as she sat and put on the seatbelt, remembering the past where both of them would see whose father bought them the best gift. Lu Yuanjun closed the door he opened for her and sat by the driver’s seat and drove off the parking lot.
Both of them didn’t see a couple of women, one with a pair of malicious eyes and another with a pair of eyes filled with greed.
"Did your sister really seduced the fourth young master of the Lu Family? Ah! Imagine if she managed to marry him! She’d become a Lu and everything theirs will belong to us too. Who would treat the in-laws of the Lus badly? Also, then we can coerce that idiot to sell her shares of that shitty company she runs and then we can..."
"Shut up! Don’t act stupid! You are already this old and you have no brain, do you? You can’t even make her sell that property by the sea and now you can dream? She, with nothing to her name, already is acting this arrogant, not caring for us. She even reduced the pocket money she gives for me to half this month! If she becomes the daughter-in-law of the Lu family, will she even bother to look at us? And who will respect you, the one who cheated and was responsible for that stupid man’s death? " Gao Weiye gritted her teeth at her stupid mother.
It’s been two weeks since her mother has gone and made a scene in the office to force her to sell the land but that Li Xueman has somehow pacified the employees. And those stupid people believe her just because of her Li name.
’Is the Li name that respectful?’ Gao Weiye’s face contorted evily in that dark underground parking.
"Mummy, we cannot let that Li Xueman get together with Lu Yuanjun if we want to have a good future," she said.
"So what should we do?" her mother asked with a smile. She must have done a lot of good in her past life to have a smart daughter like Weiye this life.
"I know what to do. I’ll see how brother Yuanjun would accept her after she is ruined," Weiye smiled and walked out with her heels clacking and her mother followed her.
’Huang Mingxia! I couldn’t destroy you the previous life. When I drank the soup of Old Meng, all I was thinking was revenge! You separated me from my husband and made me lose my mind! This life, I will not let you have a good life with my husband! I, Weiye will be the Empress this time, not you! I will utterly destroy you!’
Weiye vowed to herself. In her point of view, she was the one who suffered the most in a loveless marriage in her previous life where her husband only cared for this other woman who seduced him and still went with his brother and yet her husband only cared for that woman. She wanted her to be destroyed. She never realised it was her fault her husband never fell for her. It was her greed that pushed him away and also that her husband never loved Mingxia.
Not realising the malicious thoughts of Weiye, Yuanjun speeded through the roads leading to the Tian Feng Estates making Li Xueman a but nervous. She clearly wasn’t dressed to meet his parents now.
She looked at him and he just gave a teasing smile, "It’s a surprise"
She rolled her eyes and slightly touched up her makeup. She really didn’t want to look like a dud in front of her possible - future - in-laws.
But as she saw the car passed the gates of Tian Feng Estates and went further in the road, she was flabbergasted. After the Tian Feng estates is the Li Sheng Estate previously owned by her family.
The car stopped in front of the big gate that reminded her of the times when she grew up here. The best part of her life happened here.
But it no longer belongs to me!
My father is not here... So,
Why did he bring me here?
She looked at him and he, with a smile, passed her a big bunch of keys and pointed at the gate that had a big lock hanging on the outside.
No way! There used to be people living here! How...? He bought it?
She looked back at him with her heart filled with joy.
"Did..."
Her throat closed as she couldn’t say another word and he held her hand and placed it over his heart,
"You are not mad, are you?"
He was worried since he had this thoughts constantly as he arranged to buy this place with the help of his second brother. He paid from his own pockets but he had no experience in purchasing properties and so he asked his brother’s help for that.
She never accepted his family’s help till then and proudly sustained on her own hard work. If he buys her old house back for her, there is every possibility that she thinks he is flaunting his wealth or maybe trying to buy her or want to rule over her just because she confessed to him first.
He has no such intentions. The place she is living now... She is not supposed to live that way. She is to be cherished and protected. Of course she can handle her businesses and she is capable... But still, he wanted her to have a good life as soon as possible since he couldn’t sleep well at night thinking of the way she is living.
"No! Why would I?"
Li Xueman’s light brown eyes glistened as she looked at him and he smiled in relief.
Her thoughts were simple. This is the first time he gives her a gift. How would she refuse him? He is not someone frivolous and if he decided to give her this big a gift, he must have already decided about their relationship too.
Will he accept my confession?
And for her, his act seemed like doting. Who would refuse doting, right?
When was the last time she got doted again? It’s been more than a decade... Yeah, when her father was still well...!
Both of them walked in through the road, holding hands and she could see everything was similar to the way it was while she grew up. She was sure the ones who stayed in this house, changed a lot of things. But everything is back to how it was now.
The familiar place, the warm hand holding her hand, the gentle look he gives her...
She felt like she was safe, in a warm place, filled with love... She felt like she was home after a really long time!
She wiped the tears rolling down her cheeks before he noticed it but was pulled to his embrace.
Sensing his Manman is really happy, he got elated too. He looked at the distant corner where the swimming pool was. There is now a swing set installed and the sapling of the same tree that used to be there is planted nearby. In the future, their daughter can play in the swing by that tree too.
He looked at the woman in his arms and everything else. Everything is right where it should be. He was pleased.
"Come on, let’s go take a look inside," he held her hand and got inside.
Xueman was more surprised to see every detail of her house was how she remembered as when she lived there a decade ago. From the furnitures to the curtains and the paint... Everything.
" What are your plans to bring me here, Yuanjun?" she asked wiping her face. There is no need to cry now. She is so happy.
"Why do you think?" he wrapped his arm around her waist and whispered in her ears making her heart thump wildly with his warm breath falling on her ears.
Holding her closely, his big hand wrapped around her little hand and put it inside his trouser pocket.
’What is he trying to do?’
"You!" she went entirely red and tried to get her hand out of his grip but her hand was pulled much more deeper inside his pocket until he reached that box.
Wait is that a ring box?
She looked at him, her eyes wide. His expression was gentle and calm with a trace of playfulness.
It should be! Yes! Is he going to propose already?
She grabbed the box out of his pocket, put of excitement and was frozen stiff as her eyebrows twitched seeing the box with an erotic picture of a man and woman being intimate on the cover.
" Pfft! Be patient, woman!", his deep and sultry voice made her weak in her knees combined with the sudden fright she had, but he continued as if he didn’t notice her expression
"It is something only I can use. But if you want to put it on me that much, I will... OWW, hurts! "
He caught the box thrown at his face, chuckling as he saw the paled expression she donned as she ran away from him and up the stairs.
She is going upstairs?
’She really doesn’t want to get away. If she didn’t like my thoughts, she’d have ran out of the house, not further in, right..?’
He followed her with a smile in his face.
Li Xueman ran up the stairs and her heart only raced more.
’That nasty guy! He actually made me touch a box of condoms! Ugh!’
She was mad for a second. But then she chided herself.
’Stupid Manman! You are not in middle school to run away from that! You are twenty seven years old! How long are you going to be a girl? Don’t you want to become a woman? Didn’t you know you have to do it one day? Why not today? It is him... Yuanjun!’
Li Xueman could hear him walking behind her in the stairs and she felt an indescribable feeling in her heart.
She wanted to turn and hug him but she felt so shy and she took a couple more steps to the front and that’s when she noticed the pathway of red rose petals on the marble floor. There were candles arranged neatly on both sides of the pathway and she turned back and looked at Yuanjun who has now reached behind her.
He, with the most alluring smile, gestured her to walk through the pathway and she walked through knowing that it is leading to her room.
She walked into the room to see the entire room decorated with balloons and candles and the big canopy bed with soft pink curtains flowing was the exact same bed she used as a child.
How did he get it back?
On the bed, the red rose petals were arranged in the shape of a big heart ♥ and the entire room had a pleasant aroma of the roses and the warm glow of candles making the place entirely romantic.
When Xueman looked closely, she saw there was a red velvet box placed on the heart shaped rose petals and she turned to look at him.
Is this another trap?
Before she could say anything, he walked to the bed, picked the box in his hand and opened it. Inside, there was... A beautiful rose diamond ring, glittering better than the stars in the sky.
"Manman, I’ve known you all my life and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?"
He asked with his eyes gleaming in the candle light and his voice sultry.
Lu Xueman couldn’t even speak as she choked up. She covered her face with her hands and she couldn’t stop the tears from flowing.
He actually is asking me to marry him...
I do... I do want to marry him!
But...
He didn’t tell me what I want to hear yet...
He didn’t tell me my past life and he still haven’t told me this life too...
She wiped her tears and looked at the man who was looking at her for answers. His dark obsidian eyes blinked and got wide as if he was worried about what she might say.
"Why?"
That’s all she could ask. She felt she must be looking ugly now with her crying and yet she wanted to hear him say it.
For the first time...
In her past life and also this life...
Lu Yuanjun was feeling a surge of emotions in his heart. He had prepared everything for this moment and like a student who forgets everything he studied once he sees the question paper, he had forgotten the words he wanted to tell her.
’How ordinary were the words I told her? Will she even agree to marry me?’
He was thinking that when she asked her "Why?"
Why?
Because I want you in my life forever!
Can’t you know that?
Wait... That is not what she is asking, is it?
I never gave her what she really wanted... In the past life and even now!
Right! I didn’t tell her why...
Lu Yuanjun took a step forward while picking the ring in his hand and his slender fingers gently caressed the ring. He got her hand and put the ring in her ring finger and she accepted it with tears in her eyes.
She really was delighted.
"Manman," he placed both of his hands on her cheeks and made her look him. Her nose, cheeks and even ears were red. She was that excited.
"I love you"
He said looking in her eyes and he could feel his lips trembling and she sniffed her nose, closing her eyes as tears as big as pearls rolled down her cheeks. His eyes clouded too. All the pain he felt when she left him, the past life came back and he shook his head not to remember that.
No!
This is our new life! She is alive and well and in front of me and I will treasure her this life.
"I love you, Manman. I’ve always loved you"
He said as a tear rolled down his cheek and she chuckled as tears fell from her eyes,
"I love you too, Yuanjun... Forever!"
She got close to him and he scooped her up by wrapping his hands around her waist and picked her off the ground while kissing her.
"I love you"
He said, her feet dangling in the air as her shoes dropped down.
She wrapped her arms around his neck for support and looked him in the eyes that only had her image in it, "I love you"
She kissed him back. The kiss turned deeper and more passionate as they unleashed the feelings they kept hidden till then.
Their clothes dropped on the floor, the bed creaked, the candles burned out and the rose petals dried up. The two lovers became one in the bed as the wind blew up the curtains of the window bringing in the scent of the rose garden from nearby.
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