Chapter 176: Everything

"Where are we?" Lyca asked when she saw that they were not on some sort of cliff or beach. They were actually in the middle of two buildings. "I thought we're gonna go see the sunset?" turned towards him. They couldn't even see any sun in the middle of these two abandoned buildings. 

"Hmmm. Come." Shen Qui held her wrist and pulled her towards the red door with a huge EXIT sign on one of the buildings. Without saying anything, she followed him towards the elevator and into the fifteenth floor of the building.

When the elevator door opened, Lyca immediately turned towards Shen Qui. She smiled when she saw the excitement in his eyes and turned towards the rooftop. "Date, huh." She said when she spotted the beige picnic blanket on the concrete floor. "I thought you will be busy?"

"Busy… is nothing but a word that doesn't apply to you."

She didn't miss the amusement in his voice as he led her towards the blanket. Despite wearing a dark leather jacket, Lyca still shivered from the cold breeze. "I'm hungry." The cold November breeze made her frown, but the beauty of the setting sun should be worth all the cold. Plus, she was certain that Shen Qui's body heat was always there for her.

"For me? Or some food?"

She smiled but didn't say anything else. Instead, she opened the picnic basket on top of the blanket and beamed. "Bento… huh."

"I didn't make those. I just bought some from the restaurant."

She nodded at the explanation. "Are we going to eat here?"

"You don't want to?"

"Of course, I do! I just thought it's…" So this is really a date? Like something that lovers do? "New." Lyca had never been to something like this before. 

"You should get used to this."

"That's true." She opened one of the boxes and almost cried happiness with she saw the Salmon and some marinated shrimp. After opening the first box, she started checking the contents of the other boxes and soon realize that everything looked delicious, enticing. Beaming, Lyca grabbed a chopstick and sausages and unceremoniously stuffed it in her mouth.

His chuckle immediately reminded her that she actually had company. 

"Aren't you supposed to act all girly and say that you are on a diet?" He laughed before he started eating the grilled chicken.

Lyca glared at him before she got herself some mushrooms and ate them while looking at him. "I didn't have lunch."

"We had lunch together."

"That was snacks."

"You … ate snacks before lunch?"

"Don't you?" Lyca fired back. Who doesn't eat snacks before having a meal? Ignoring him, Lyca proceeded to start eating the shrimp.

"I have some rice balls if you want to— "

"Hmmm. Please give it to me." Of course, Lyca accepted the food and immediately thank him. In her book saying no to food would bring someone ten years of bad luck. So, if someone would say no to the food three times in one day, it means they would experience bad luck for the next thirty years.

Then Lyca paused, she turned towards him. Shen Qui was sitting next to her, silently staring at her like a creep. "Why aren't you eating?"

"I already ate some of the shrimps. It's still five in the afternoon so, I am not yet hungry."

"Oh." She nodded but held his gaze. "Is there something wrong?"

"I just miss you and this... you eating a lot."

"We haven't seen each other for about four hours." She said.

"And I still miss you." A cheeky grin escaped his lips.

"Why are you being sweet?" Suspicion flashed in her eyes as she leaned back, narrowing her eyes on his face. "Do you want anything?"

He smiled at her cute expression. "No, but I'm sure we will be busy in the coming days. The competition and the business. Those are two different things."

Lyca turned silent before she looked at her food again. That is actually true. In the next few days, she would travel the whole city, scouting people that she was planning to recruit for the competition. "You are really good with business you know. I thought you were just a bloke who liked me for my body. Turns out… you were really good with handling people." She turned her eyes back to him. With their current situation, both of them needed to focus on the things that they were good at if they wanted to go back to Long City.

The smile on his face didn't disappear. "Not sure if that is a compliment or… you were actually saying that I look dumb."

"Only dumb people would agree to marry someone like me, Mr. Shen. Only dumb people would follow me around." She smiled.

"I think that is wrong." 

"Hm?" Lyca lifted an eyebrow before she ate another one of the shrimp. 

"I think only a genius would follow you around."

"So you think you are a genius?" She coughed and immediately took a sip of the chilled Sake that he handed her.

"Don't you see it?" He patted her back, bringing her eyes back to his. "It took all the genius out of me to fall for you." Smiling, Shen Qui gave her a small wink before he held her left hand, bringing it closer to his face and finally kissing the back of her palms. 

"So… you think only geniuses fall for someone like me?"

"You think someone simple would be able to handle you?" He chuckled, even her father, Huang Sheng Hong, was very much aware of this. 

Lyca lifted an eyebrow when she realized that once again, he mentioned the word fall. "Are you saying that you love me?"

He pressed his lips into a tight line. "You once told me that you can't give me anything that I want." He turned his head towards the setting sun. "I think … I started loving you when you said that."

"Excuse me?" Amusement flashed in her eyes. "How could you love someone you just met?" She laughed.

"How did you know you can't love someone you just met? Do you even know what love is?"

The smile on her face disappeared. Does she even know what it was? "Well ... Do you?" she asked.

"I think love is… when you think about what you can give instead of what you can get." He turned his head and stared at her. For a few seconds, both of them turn silent. The sound of the cold November breeze filled the atmosphere as the two stared into each other. "And in this case… I am expecting myself to give everything."