Chapter 74: Shanghai after the Rain (CEO + Luo Ju Di POV)

There was supposed to be rain, but similar to how it came out of nowhere and erupted in a flash—now it almost gone, there were only light drizzles remaining. Regardless of the case, the CEO's suit jacket had been taken off, it now covered the head of the kid in his arms. Li Yang followed after the man running in front of him through the crowd.

Thud.

Thud.

His footsteps pounded through the pavement, the wet puddles splashed across his wool suit and leather shoes. But his eyes were on his brother alone, focused on not losing him through the crowd, until something appeared from the right and barrelled in front of him, "You found the kid."

"Panda!" Chunhua shouted and pointed at the creature floating above them. There was a look of joy that spread across her face.

"Not now," Li Yang watched the timer in front of him and pushed himself forward.

The girl in his arms raised a brow. "Huh?"

"I was talking to the Panda," Li Yang told her. Eyeing the man in the distance and the diminishing crowd as they left the avenue, he noticed that his brother was losing speed and catching his breath. And yet the timer continued to run, regardless of physical states.

[ Time Remaining: 5 minutes and 48 seconds ]

Soon enough, he finally caught on to his brother, who had stopped at a streetlight. The man had temporarily wheezed and clutched his chest, panting slightly…

He was out of exercise.

The CEO paused in front of his brother and sighed, "Liang—just give me the directions, you're too slow." He was the one carrying the girl in his arms, but it was his brother who lost his breath?

"When did you ever become so athletic?" the brother asked. He panted and wiped some sweat from his forehead. The two of them had been running for at least five minutes and without any sort of stop—he deserved to at least catch his breath.

"Liang."

The CEO didn't have any time for these kinds of questions.

The man groaned and held a hand over his knee, "You turn at the next street, and take a left and then you'll pass the street. You'll obviously see the sign—"

The CEO left the man then and there, with only Chunhua glancing back over his shoulder and waving at the man. "Bye bye—"

And then Li Yang was once again back into running, and despite the slippery terrain, he maintained his footing and kept his speed. The instructions given by his sibling kept in his mind, even while the Panda hovered above him and tried to talk to him.

"Oi, how did you—"

Next street.

Thump. Thump. He went left and avoided a dog walker passing through the streets. Some teenagers huddled over together into a group and even moved right past a young woman and a man together. He finally stopped in front of the street and saw the exact building right across from him with the word 'Hirire' as the woman said, even Luo Ju Di with an umbrella over her head as she tried to hail over a taxi. Right before he could take a step forward, the pedestrian lights turned to a stop.

Sixty seconds.

He had to wait that much time?

"Mama!" Chunhua shouted, but amidst the traffic that passed through them—it couldn't be heard. The woman's attention was focused on getting a cab to head back to the cafe, and a car was approaching—it stopped right in front of her. And they began to converse with one another.

"Just ran across the street, idiot!" the Panda waved its paws at him.

He couldn't lose her right now and fail the mission, but the traffic was congested and trying to run into the street now was a cause for accidents. Li Yang knew better than anything to disobey traffic rules... but was it the end?

[ Time Remaining: 2 minutes and 3 seconds ]

He couldn't accept it when he was so close to accomplishing the quest. There was still another way.

.

.

.

Luo Ju Di was about to step into the car. The driver already looked annoyed that she was slow to move, but then her phone rang, and she picked it up again. This time a little annoyed that the CEO, nobody else would have called her at this time, would call again.

Was he that impatient and busy?

"Hello?" she said.

'Look in front of you.' came his voice, low and smooth.

The woman raised her head and her gaze settled on the two people right across the street. It was Chunhua and the CEO. The man was carrying her little girl in his arms and with his suit jacket covering her child. His hair was tousled by the wind and his white shirt was slightly drenched by the rain.

She blinked.

"Are you going to get in or not?" the driver snapped.

Luo Ju Di shook her head and bowed. An apologetic expression crossed her face. "N-no... my daughter and... him, he's right there across the street. They're waiting for me."

She didn't think that she'd see someone like him go out of his way to bring her daughter back to her. Now it didn't even currently matter that he could see the establishment that she used to work in right behind her. Luo Ju Di could only feel relief and something warm in her chest.

It was an inexplicable feeling.

The pedestrian light turned green, and she stepped forward towards them—he met her halfway through. He didn't even wait for her to cross the street.

"Mama!" Chunhua shouted out to her, her arms moving away from the CEO's neck and outstretching to her.

Luo Ju Di accepted her child and held her back into her arms, squeezing her tight. She'd have to reprimand her daughter later, but for now, she was relieved and satisfied. She cleared her throat, "Thank you, Mister Li. You shouldn't have done this."

"I had to," he said.

And he meant every word of it.

—-—-

Author Note: Ah yes, the mother now thinks highly of Li Yang unbeknownst of his actual reasons. *cough* Hope it wasn't too bad to read, but I wanted to show how the women thinks of him or changes their perspective.