...
A few hours later, back at their apartment,
Lu Ziyan waited outside Tian Le's room with a platter of cut fruits and a cup of milk. After a moment of hesitation, he knocked on the door.
"An Xin, it's me."
"Coming..."
He could hear her light footsteps approaching before she opened the door. Her hair was still damp from her shower earlier and her makeup was off. A small towel was placed around her shoulders.
As she continued to rub her hair with the towel, she asked, "Is there anything wrong?"
Li Ziyan gulped as he looked at her pink silk pajamas. A lot of naughty thoughts ran through his mind. However, the thoughts dispersed when he noticed something.
With a frown, he stared the glaring red line on her cheek and the bruise that looked suspiciously like a palm. "That b*stard..." he cursed as he looked at her face while his eyes flared with anger.
An Xin noticed what he was looking at her bruised cheek and she immediately covered it. "I'm sorry."
"No!" Lu Ziyan snapped, a little too loudly. When An Xin looked at him in surprise, Lu Ziyan tried his best to calm himself down and said, "It's not your fault... Real man doesn't hit a woman."
He wheeled himself into the room and placed the plate of fruits and the glass of milk on Tian Le's study table before he went to the teenager's closet. At the bottom of the closet, there was a first-aid kit.
Lu Ziyan took out an ointment that was good for bruises and asked An Xin to sit on the bed. When she looked at him with a brow raised, Lu Ziyan said, "I'll help you put it on. This is good."
She hesitated for a second before sitting down. "I can do this myself."
"Let me do it..." he said, completely ignoring her attempt to try and take the ointment away. Once she was properly seated down, he hoisted himself up onto the bed and sat next to her. Looking at her widened eyes as if she was surprised that he could do it so easily, he chuckled. "I'm pretty strong, you know..."
An Xin nodded.
Seeing her nod, Lu Ziyan blushed slightly. He was only teasing her earlier. Both of them were a little shy as An Xin sat closer to him. After a bit of hesitation, Lu Ziyan said, "Here..."
He gently applied the ointment on her face, and whenever she flinched, he would nervously apologize before he tried to apply it gentler. Once he was done, he sighed. "I wish I have known you earlier."
"Why?"
"Then you wouldn't be with such an as*hole."
An Xin's heart fluttered when she heard his words. Yet she looked away before she said in a sad, depreciating tone, "If you have met me earlier, you'd have fallen for my... for Kai Xin as well."
Lu Ziyan shook his head. "No, I won't."
When An Xin looked at him, Lu Ziyan said, "I've known your sister longer than I've known you, but I've never loved her, not the way that you think. Kai Xin... She has always been my main regret."
He looked at the ointment in his hand, and after a second of thought, he murmured, "I'm sure you know what I did to her."
An Xin nodded. Everyone in her family knew, and her father was still extremely angry with Lu Ziyan. "I watched the news that day."
The news that Lu Ziyan was the one who led Kai Xin to her rapists that day was well known. Even if it was not what he intended to do, but it was a fact that he did not try to help her. The fact that he kept everything a secret for so long was another reason for most people to condemn him.
He smiled sadly as he continued, "To me, Kai Xin is like a younger sister, and I love her for that. But what I feel for you is different. I've never mentioned it to anyone because you're married. Well. Were married. I thought you were in a happy marriage. If I had known back then..."
With his head still looking down, he shook his head and changed his words. "But now that you're a single woman, even if it has only been 24 hours at best, I don't want to lose this chance again."
An Xin looked at him. She never knew what to think of this man. She thought he was an evil man, and yet, DX and Kai Xin welcomed him at their home with open arms.
"If he were really an evil man, why would Kai Xin forgive him so easily?" An Xin thought. She didn't really know her older half-sister well enough, but one thing she knew was that Kai Xin wasn't the type to forgive those that hurt her easily... unless there was a reason behind it.
An Xin patted Lu Ziyan's shoulder so that he would look up at her, and when he did, she smiled at him.
"Ziyan... I don't really know the whole thing of what happened between you and my sister, or why you did what you did. But putting that aside... I don't think..." She pressed a hand against her chest and said with a small voice, "I don't think I'm ready for another relationship. I don't want to feel that pain again."
"I understand..." Lu Ziyan said. He then smiled and added, "I'm willing to wait."
An Xin widened her eyes when he suddenly leaned forward and kissed her.
"That man did not know what treasure he threw away, but I know..." Lu Ziyan whispered when his face was mere inches away from hers.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Lu Ziyan and An Xin looked toward the door where Han Ye was standing at. There was a smirk on his face as he wriggled his eyebrows at those two.
"Well, well, well... Looks like I can't revenge by making an online dating profile for you now, Ziyan..." Han Ye said with an exaggerated sigh.
An Xin blushed while Lu Ziyan grinned. He pretended to sigh deeply before he said, "Han Ye, she said no."
"No, I didn't!" An Xin quickly added as she touched his hand. "I just... I needed time."
When she saw Han Ye chuckling at her while Lu Ziyan smiled, she immediately released his hand. She then looked at Han Ye and said, "I'm sorry for bothering you, Mr. Han. I'll only be staying for a few days at most."
"Just call me Han Ye outside of work. And you better make sure of that," Han Ye said coldly. When he saw Lu Ziyan frowning at him, Han Ye laughed and added, "You can't stay in Tian Le's bedroom for long, but feel free to move into Ziyan's room as soon as you want."
Realizing that she was the butt of his joke, An Xin's face turned so red that Han Ye thought she looked like a red tomato.
Lu Ziyan laughed softly. "I'll be leaving you alone now, An Xin. Don't forget to eat the fruits. You don't have to finish it. You barely ate earlier, so I thought you might be hungry later. I have got a project to complete, so I might be unable to send you off in the morning."
She nodded and watched as Lu Ziyan was about to heave himself back onto the wheelchair. She wanted to help him, but when she saw Han Ye standing there with no intention to help, she pulled her hands back.
As she thought, just like earlier, Lu Ziyan managed to heave himself back in one swift move without any problem. She noticed that his legs were quite thin underneath the long pants that he was wearing, but those muscles on his arms were well defined. "He workout quite often..." she thought as she looked at his biceps.
Lu Ziyan noticed where her eyes were at, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he merely wheeled himself to the door. Before he closed the door, he said, "Goodnight, An Xin."
"Goodnight, Ziyan, Han Ye."
....
When the door was closed, Han Ye glanced at Lu Ziyan.
"You know. When you texted me to let me know that you're bringing someone home, I didn't expect it to be my boss' sister-in-law," Han Ye said with a smirk as they went to the living room. Sitting down on the couch, he said, "If you hurt her, I can't protect you from her sister. Besides, isn't she married?"
"She signed the divorce paper yesterday," Lu Ziyan replied and proceeded to tell him what had happened.
"Outrageous!" Han Ye snapped. "If Kai Xin finds out, that man is dead meat!"
Both of them knew that even though Kai Xin and An Xin weren't the closest of sisters, Kai Xin did care for this younger sister of hers. To her, An Xin was also a victim of their father's stupidity.
However, Kai Xin also often added that this younger sister of hers was annoying and irritating and loved to compare herself to her too much, which was her biggest flaw.
Even so... If Kai Xin were to find out about what her brother-in-law did to her sister, she would flip.
But... this time, Kai Xin was not needed.
"There is no need for her..." Lu Ziyan said in a cold tone. "I won't be making breakfast tomorrow. Please take An Xin with you to the office tomorrow. Help me get her some breakfast as well."
"She's only been divorced for a day and you're already jumping in. For a guy who can't walk, you sure move fast."
Lu Ziyan shrugged. "Love waits for no one."
Han Ye agreed. He yawned and stood up. As he stretched his body, he asked, "The so-called project that you've got to complete... Are you going to do something to that guy?"
"Nothing much. Just maybe take a little money from him," Lu Ziyan sneered while his eyes glint with evil. "A man like him is bound to have lots of things hidden."
Han Ye smirked. "Fine. Enjoy your game. I'm going to shower and sleep."
....