Badump! Badump!
My heart hammered as I stared at him, my universe narrowing to the man standing in my living room, wearing a suit, tailored dark trousers and a crisp white shirt, the sleeves rolled up to reveal muscled forearm.
His suit jacket sat draped over his right arm, and his hair was slightly ruffled. His piercing dark eyes, frozen, and glacial, settled on me.
His presence was a dense, and suffocating force.
My heart raced. The last time I saw him, was my past life when he left for his trip and only returned to hand me the divorce papers at the hospital. Now he was here again, staring at me with an unfathomable debt.
He was glaring at me right?
He is definitely here to finalize the divorce after finding out about the cheating accident. I was rooted to the spot, my entire body trembling next to the untouched dinner buffet.
My stomach churned and the dumplings I had just ate, threatened to come out.
Nanny Chen's chuckle was the only thing that broke the silence. "Little Chen! You're early! I was just leaving!"
Mo Yichen pulled his dark gaze from me as if wrenching himself away and settled on Nanny Chen, I staggered, leaning against the chair beside me. My heart slowly calming, and the breath slowly leaving my lungs.
"You are leaving," he repeated, his voice the same deep, masculine rumble that had startled me, yet somehow richer now, focused.
His dark eyes flicked from Nanny Chen to my form that froze again, lingering on the apron tied around my red dress.
He didn't move neither did he smile. But the amount of pressure in the room was so high I thought the windows would shatter from his scrutiny.
"Yes, there's an emergency at home," Nanny Chen explained softly, gathering her bag.
I found my voice, desperate to keep her here. "Nanny Chen, please, wait—"
Mo Yichen took one deliberate step close to us, and the air around me shifted from cold anxiety to suffocating heat.
This man cannot stay with me alone!
"Nanny Chen," he said, his tone utterly devoid of warmth, yet laced with authority. "You shift has already ended. Go and handle your emergency."
What?! But Nanny Chen's shift ends at 9:00 pm, what's this tyrant saying now? I bit my inner lip, my fit tapping anxiously on the floor, while I squeezed my hand around the hem of my apron.
Nanny Chen looked between us, her face etched with worry. She hesitated, but one look at Mo Yichen's sharp, dominating gaze was enough to sprang her into action.
She sighed, gave me an apologetic pat on the shoulder, and walked past him.
My hand was suspended in the air, trying to stop her. Should I run after her and stay at her house for the night.
I clenched my fist, feeling helpless and cornered.
How do I even respond to this situation, I and Yichen didn't even converse a lot in our past life. After we met at a dinner, I was the one that confronted him and asked for his help.
I offered the marriage and he was the one that did me the favor, to make up for my family scandal then.
After the marriage, we never really conversed alone like this.
We were alone.
It was like an alarm going off in my head. I watched the door close behind Nanny Chen, my throat tight. The moment the click of the lock sounded, I braced myself for impact.
For the accusations, the threats and the icy contempt.
But Mo Yichen didn't move toward me. He didn't even yell. He didn't mention the night where I cheated on him.
Instead, he slowly surveyed the kitchen, the full table, the prepared buffet, the perfectly arranged plates of dumplings and steak.
His dark gaze finally landed on me, scrutinizing the apron I wore and the flush on my cheeks.
"You cooked," he stated, as if he knew that I could never do such a thing before. The realization making his voice drop to a low, rough timbre.
I found my voice, sharp with defiance, my chin raised. "It's my house. I can cook if I want to."
A faint, chilling smile, the first I had ever seen on his face, pulled at the corner of his lips. I was stunned, speechless. It was the look of a predator who had just cornered it's prey.
A shiver ran down my spine.
He walked past the buffet, and stopped directly in front of me, just as the same time I took a step back to avoid the close gap between us. His height casting me in his shadow.
His scent was a heady mixture of flowers on a rainy day and whiskey, strong and inviting. He reached out, not to touch my face, but to gently unhook the strap of the apron from my neck.
While I stood there rooted to the spot, his actions spiraling in my head.
"I appreciate you cooking, little Yi," he said, and I corked an eyebrow. His voice was heavy. "But I didn't come home for a meal."
Little Yi? What is that?
He let the apron drop to the floor, just like my heart dropped.
"What are you doing, Yichen?!" I panicked, my heart hanging in my throat. What was happening right now?
Was this the same man I knew?!
Without answering me, he simply bent down, scooped me up into his arm, leaving me gasping. He walked toward the stairs only for me to hold onto the railings.
"Mo Yichen! We must finish that food before going upstairs!" I yelled, my heart beating wildly as I held onto the railing with every strength I have left in my body.
I flashed him a nervous weak smile, while he narrowed his eyes at me, his lips pressed into a thin line.
What was that look for?!
He glanced at the table full of food, then sighed, that sounded like impatience. He turned, settled into the nearest dining chair, and without asking, balanced my entire weight on his right thigh.
What is this? What the hell is this?!
My back ramrod stiff and I don't even know what kind of expression I had on the face, all I know was Mo Yichen had drastically changed.
And it was messing with my mind.
Until, he suddenly asked the next question. "Are you still feeling pains from that night?"