Fu Huai'an looked ahead with one hand on the steering wheel, a hint of a smile on his lips and in his eyes.
Lin Nuan wasn't normally one to pit herself against him. Fu Huai'an mulled over it and concluded that Lin Nuan was behaving like this because things hadn't gone smoothly at work, plus she got jealous after seeing Chu Xun together with him in the elevator!
Fu Huai'an's smile broadened. The colorful neon lights shone into the car through the windshield, landing on Fu Huai'an's tough facial features and white shirt, bright one moment and dark the next; even Fu Huai'an's deep eyes now appeared gentle and warm.
After getting spam texted by Song Yao, Lin Nuan replied one line to her, saying that she would head there first and that Fu Huai'an would follow shortly after.
When they arrived at the entrance of the Night Palace, Lin Nuan got out of the front passenger seat. She pulled open the door to the back seats and planted a kiss on Tuan Tuan's little face, then stroked his little head as she said, "Mama won't be able to rush home in time to coax you to sleep tonight. Can Tuan Tuan sleep well by yourself?"
Tuan Tuan's ears had turned very red. The spot on his meaty little face where she had just kissed him felt itchy. He rubbed his little face with his fat hands and nodded. "En!"
"Mama isn't busy with work now, so I'll prepare your breakfast tomorrow, then send you to kindergarten, ok?" Lin Nuan fixed Tuan Tuan's collar for him.
Tuan Tuan nodded happily, cheerfully swinging his stubby little legs.
Fu Huai'an stood by Lin Nuan's side with one hand leaning on the car door, his deep gaze looking at Lin Nuan, who was bending over and talking to little Tuan Tuan who was inside the car.
Before leaving the house that morning, Lin Nuan had put on light makeup. With the light brow powder contouring her nose and a bit of blush, Lin Nuan's facial features, which were pretty to begin with, now looked even more exquisite. Lin Nuan had tied up her long hair into a low ponytail. Under her airy fringe, her nose looked sharp and delicate, and her slim and long eyes carried a smile in them. Under the neon lights, her tranquil demeanor gave people a sense of warmth just by looking at her.
Lin Nuan straightened her body. Fu Huai'an then closed the car door, cutting off Tuan Tuan and Lin Nuan's gazes. "I'll be here shortly…"
Lin Nuan nodded with her head lowered, not looking at Fu Huai'an as she casually adjusted her shoulder bag. "I'll go in first…"
Just as she was about to leave, Lin Nuan's wrist was held back by Fu Huai'an. Fu Huai'an pulled her back.
Their eyes met. The man's fingers were strong; Lin Nuan could feel the calluses in his palms, and she had wanted to retract her own hand, but she realized that she was clearly no match for his strength.
Her gaze lowered to the man's firm wrists. Under the sleeves of his white shirt, the wristwatch she had gifted to him was vaguely visible. Lin Nuan's annoyance diminished by a little.
"Throwing a tantrum?"
Fu Huai'an was the first to speak. His magnetic voice was full of charisma, so low and pleasant sounding it made one's heart throb.
This was a low voice only possessed by mature men. Even if Fu Huai'an didn't say anything, Lin Nuan felt childish acting this way.
Having been exposed, Lin Nuan held back the awkwardness in her heart and faked a calm manner as she gazed at Fu Huai'an without uttering a word…
The light breeze blew at the stray locks of hair by Lin Nuan's sideburns. Fu Huai'an habitually raised a hand to tuck those stray locks behind her ear, and Lin Nuan didn't dodge from it either. She merely raised her own hand to fix her hair herself, to disguise her awkwardness.
"Take Tuan Tuan back first!" Lin Nuan didn't answer Fu Huai'an's question. She turned her head to look at the car window; it almost looked as if she could see Tuan Tuan through the car window.
Reflected in the car window was Lin Nuan's face as she turned her head around, as well as Fu Huai'an's handsome side profile as he gazed at her, smiling. Her facial features were blurrily reflected in the car window under the bright lights from the Night Palace; on the other hand, Fu Huai'an's tough features and facial outline as he gazed at her, smiling… Lin Nuan could see perfectly clearly.
The car window suddenly rolled down. Seeing that Lin Nuan hadn't yet left, Tuan Tuan unbuckled his seat belt and pressed both arms against the car window, revealing his head.
Lin Nuan's wrist was still being held in Fu Huai'an's large hand. Lin Nuan felt embarrassed being seen by Tuan Tuan, so she frantically retracted her wrist.
Fu Huai'an's dark eyes looked at Tuan Tuan before he slipped the hand that was previously holding Lin Nuan's wrist back into his pockets, expressionless.
Lin Nuan bent over and stroked Tuan Tuan's head. "Be good when you get back, ok?"
"En!" Tuan Tuan nodded, raising both hands to grab Lin Nuan's arm, rubbing his meaty little face against Lin Nuan's palm.
The soft and tender feeling almost made Lin Nuan want to pinch Tuan Tuan on his fair and tender little face!
Lin Nuan held her forehead to Tuan Tuan's, and only then did she manage to make herself part from Tuan Tuan and enter the Night Palace.
Fu Huai'an had both hands in his pockets as he looked at the puppy-like Tuan Tuan, who was staring at Lin Nuan's leaving back view. He made a tsk tsk sound, then said, "You're getting better at wheedling!"
Only when Lin Nuan's back view completely disappeared from view did little Tuan Tuan look up at his father, nodding his head in all seriousness. "En!"
Fu Huai'an was rendered speechless.
Tuan Tuan obediently sat back down and buckled his seatbelt, then obediently looked up at Fu Huai'an. "Papa!"
He was prompting Fu Huai'an to leave!
Fu Huai'an looked at Tuan Tuan, not sure what to feel. He kept feeling like this little rascal had taken some of Lin Nuan's attention away from him, but at the same time, he also felt that it was Tuan Tuan's good fortune that Lin Nuan was so fond of him.
"Roll the car window back up!"
Fu Huai'an said this to Tuan Tuan, then went around the front of the car and climbed into the driver's seat.
Tuan Tuan obediently rolled up the car window.
…
Song Yao didn't have many true friends, only Bai Xiaonian and Lin Nuan.
Song Yao did make some friends at work over the years, but she would absolutely not lay her heart bare to them the way she did with Lin Nuan and Bai Xiaonian.
Never mind the entertainment industry, even if it was a normal workplace, one moment you could be laying your heart bare to a person, the next you could be stabbed with a knife in the back. Song Yao had experienced and seen many such cases.
Experience taught Song Yao that everyone could look like chummy best friends in the industry, but it was enough to make it look like that on the surface.
The only ones to whom Song Yao could freely speak her mind about anything were Lin Nuan and Bai Xiaonian, whose backgrounds she knew clearly.
This was the reason Song Yao had appeared with Cen Mo today, and it was also why she asked Lin Nuan and Fu Huai'an along…
Lin Nuan walked to the suite and hadn't yet entered. Through the semi-transparent window, on which curtains weren't fully drawn, she could see Cen Mo with his arm circled around Song Yao's slim waist; he was saying something in her ears, causing Song Yao to blush and twist her head to glare at Cen Mo.
Previously, she had a conflict with Cen Mo at the Lins. Cen Mo's high-and-mighty attitude, as well as his threatening tone of voice, made Lin Nuan dislike him.
It was one thing to dislike him; however, he was Song Yao's other half. Seeing Song Yao's girly mannerisms, she probably really fell hard for him. Lin Nuan didn't want to harp on that past incident; so long as Song Yao could live in bliss, she wouldn't mention what had happened the other time in front of her.