Chapter 182 - I Want Us...

Mathew Kim stared at his Emperor who seemed to be in deep thought ever since they had started their 5 minutes journey to Ming Enterprise which was already very close to Obsidia's building.

'Omo…! Is the Emperor missing his future Empress already?' He speculated and bit his lower lip to stop the giggle that was about to erupt from his mouth.

Mathew was still not sure whether he should be happy that his boss finally showed interest in the opposite gender…

Or whether he should be concerned that the woman he has shown interest in was his friend, Lina.

'That smile she directed towards me earlier was so similar to this demon's smile! What if he is already influencing her and she too ends up an indifferent and emotionless woman?' He gasped and widened his eyes in horror.

Hastily shaking his head, he wished that this terrible thought might never turn into reality for this couple who was still in the budding stage of their romance.

Reuben's thoughts were disrupted when he saw his brainless eunuch shaking his head furiously.

"Stop acting like a fool and get me information about that man, Noah Jin." He commanded and then looked out of the window.

They had just reached Ming Enterprises' building and the duo walked to the private elevator that led them straight to the CEO's floor.

Entering his office, Reuben noticed that his assistant had followed him inside and raised his brows, waiting for what he might have to say.

Mathew played with his fingers like a schoolgirl about to confess to her childhood crush for the first time in her life.

"Spill it out, Assistant Kim! I don't have all day to waste on your shenanigans!" Reuben scowled because he had no patience to deal with his dilly-dallying like a shy virgin.

'Heh! The shy virgin is calling someone else that?' He mocked himself but blushed when his mind went to a certain someone who could help him out in this regard in the future.

Mathew flinched after hearing the harsh tone that was aimed at him and nodded his head.

"I already have all the information regarding Noah Jin, Boss." He revealed and averted his eyes when he saw Reuben's suspicious face.

"May I ask why?" The boss questioned and hoped that the answer was not something weird.

Mathew seemed to have realized that he had caused some misunderstandings and so he revealed how he had witnessed Lina and Noah meeting at the cafe.

Reuben rubbed his chin and nodded as he listened to his assistant's narration.

When he heard about the last part where Mathew had sent his men to steal Noah's phone which contained Lina's contact information, he was pleasantly surprised.

"Why did you give out such a mission?" He inquired to which he was answered with a nervous chuckle.

"You had treated Lina differently compared to all the women before so…" Mathew paused and wondered whether he would be alive after completing his sentence.

'My wife is close to her delivery date and I don't want to leave her a widow nor my child an orphan!' He cried bitter tears in his heart for them.

However, Reuben just sneered when he saw Mathew's pitiful face that made him want to puke.

"Will you finish your sentence if you are done with your awful dramatics?" He snarled once again.

"So I thought that you might be interested in her!" Mathew blurted out what his thoughts were at that moment and shut his eyes in fear of what might happen next.

The bellows of fury that he had prepared himself for never arrived, instead, there was complete silence in the room.

'Is this the silence before the storm?' He peeked through one eye and found a calm and composed man blankly gazing at the closed laptop.

'If this was some other woman then he would have sent me to Blue Heaven for a week's punishment!' Mathew shivered when he thought of that business establishment.

Blue Heaven was also used as the place of punishment for anyone who got on Reuben's bad side but that was a story for another day.

'So even this dull assistant was able to make out that I treated Kitten better than the others?' Reuben glanced at the table and tried to sort his thoughts out.

He could not understand why he had even stopped and gazed in her direction when his eyes caught sight of her at the airport.

Was it a connection he felt from their past together or was it just an instant attraction to her aura?

He had not yet figured that out.

However, what he was sure about was the fact that he wanted Lina in his future. 

It wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say that he needed Lina to be a vital part of his present and his future.

'Grandpa asked me to figure out what part I want to have in her life… I think I know the answer to that now.' He raised his head and glanced at the assistant who was still standing there.

'I want to be in her future, OUR future. I want to stay by her side. Supporting her, encouraging her and cheering her on.'

'I want us to be close enough to freely say what our innermost thoughts are without feeling the need to hide anything.'

'I want us to be each other's go-to person whom we can count on no matter what the circumstances!'

'I want us to trust each other and help each other grow to be better persons in life.'

Reuben's eyes sparkled when he realized what he wanted from this relationship.

The relationship that he was still in the process of turning into reality.

Mathew, who had been standing still for the last few minutes was stunned to see the ever frozen lips of Emperor Ming being curled to form a subtle smile.

____

While Reuben had an epiphany about what he wanted with his relationship, Lina was staring at a different type of article which caused her mood to sour.

"So that woman was his first kiss?" She scowled and tossed the phone on the table before burying her face into the pillow.

The events that led to this outcome are as follows,

After reading all about her so-called 'feud' with Mandy which might take place in the future, she decided to refresh her eyes by staring at hot guys in those tabloids.

However, the very first name she read was 'Reuben Ming'.

Her fingers tapped on the article which mentioned both him and Louis being present at the debutante ball.

She rolled her eyes as she read the comments from the netizens who were debating on who was more good looking.

There was even an online poll to see who would get the most amount of votes.

Lina seriously investigated both the pictures that were placed side by side and then came to a conclusion after judging them.

Her slender finger moved to the two icons with each of their names and pushed on one of them.

Looking at the top of the screen, her cheeks reddened when Reuben's name showed a rise in one vote.

'Ruby gets my vote.' She giggled and then decided to stalk his news online.

Which she was now very much regretting!

'Good Lord! The number of gossip about him with different women is staggeringly high!' She sneered as she glanced through all the articles about his love affairs.

She knew that most of them must have been publicity stunts made by those women because the same had happened to one of her best friends.

But there was one post by a netizen that stung her eyes immensely.

This netizen had made an entire forum that kept track of every gossip about Emperor Ming that made the rounds on social media.

Wayne had previously deleted every single media house's published article but this person had saved even those pictures before they were wiped away.

The images of Helen Gu and Reuben Ming in a compromising position in the parking lot of a restaurant famous for dating couples attracted Lina's attention.

She zoomed into the images and her eyes widened when she recognized the woman in the picture.

"She looks like a grown-up version of that girl in Ruby's graduation photo!" She gasped in surprise.

The wall filled with photos that she had seen in his room was vivid in her mind and she was sure that the two women were the same.

"Ruby blushed while revealing about his first kiss…" She recalled his smile that appeared back then.

"This woman is kissing him in this picture…" She glared at the picture and gritted her teeth.

"Ruby knows her from when he was in college. Then that can only mean…" She grimaced when she pieced all those bits of information together.

"So that woman was his first kiss?" 

This thought annoyed her endlessly and tossed the phone aside when all she wanted to do was smash it into pieces.

"Why couldn't I be his first kiss!?" She groaned and kicked her feet up in the air.

Her dream of being each other's first everything was getting further away from her grasp.

If only she knew what the entire truth was… Would that speed up the process of Lina and Reuben getting together?