256 First Hour Of Engagemen

He pulled his one arm around her waist and pulled her toward him so there was hardly any space left between them, "And there is no place you can really hide and about the secrets, sweetheart. You and I both know I can very well find out by myself if I wanted to violate your privacy."

Lei Xinyi scoffed but smiled none the less, It made her feel respected to know he cared enough to not invade her privacy even when curiosity was clawing its way above his throat. She felt more secure than she ever had in her whole excuse of a life.

They both attentively ate in silence with Li Yuan putting things in her plate from time to time and Lei Xinyi returning the favor by telling him to eat more or less of which meal and then sometimes added vegetables in his plate to emphasize her point.

Li Yaun picked up Lei Xinyi's wine glass and took a sip, Lei Xinyi frowned at him and took it from his hand, and she took a sip and kept it away too. They were so functional together like she was a dysfunctional current wire and he was rain water, so compatible that they hardly needed words to communicate.

So it was out of his reach. In her time with him, she had noticed that he drank more than average. It was like he was hydrating on alcohol than water. She would be biased if she said she wasn't like that but a whole year of sobriety made her realize how toxic her habit was.

So no, there was no way she was going back to her alcoholic ways, and if she wasn't drinking, she would make sure he practiced abstinence too. He wanted to be partners and in her definition, this is what being partners entailed. 

Li Yuan smirked at her so natural movements, she was sure handpicked for him, she fitted all his edges and vertices. She did so naturally all the things that of the Mistress of the House that it was like she was custom-made by GOD for him.

"So what I have an understanding of is, that you are using me and thus this much compliance in the discussion earlier."

Lei Xinyi's expressions froze for a while before she shrugged and leaned back, rolling her pretty eyes at him, "I am using you but we all do what we have to do." She added more of the salad in his plate and licked the remains of the sauce from her lower lip, "If it's any consolation you can use me too."

In her mind lying to him was like banging an ax on her own foot, he was bound to know. She couldn't tell him all the truth so refrained from lying a lot.

Li Yuan leaned forward and lifted her chin with two fingers, "I can?"

Lei Xinyi turned a 50-shades-of-red by his lewd flirting before she took hold of her falling heart, "I m…meant if you ever need me." 

Li Yaun smirked, "I need you now, Sweetheart."

Lei Xinyi glared hard at him at his suggestive tone, he pecked her plump lips and cooed, "This salve isn't going to massage itself on me, no? Maybe you can help me with it on our bed…I will return the favor, I am sure your body must be aching after our morning 'activities' too."

Lei Xinyi scoffed at his more than obvious attempt at crude flirting and pushed him off her side, "You don't need me you need a good masseur, who I am not. And no thanks I would very much like it if you keep your hands to yourself on our very first hour of engagement."

It ignited a flicker of nirvana in his heart hearing her acknowledge their relationship. It was surreal that it seemed like a dream where the woman of his dreams was sitting by him sharing a meal with him.

The most icily coated sinister woman, like a snake, was coiled around him. She was deadliest in her own ways but like he held his claws for her she restrained her fangs for him.

He was a King and she was his Queen, just as twisted and darker in complexion to compliment his shades. Pure femininity, seduction to flatter his equally wild feral beast, she was a muse and he was her sculptor.

Li Yuan pulled her back in and chuckled, "It is our first hour of engagement, all the more reason I shouldn't keep my hands to myself."

Lei Xinyi tried to glare at him with a straight face but then burst out laughing, it was just so ironic, the whole situation.

She must be bewitched to agree to something like that but in her heart, she knew she wouldn't regret it even if at the end of it she was handed a broken heart or if she was wailing somewhere in her apartment.

He couldn't help but smile, if he thought there was nothing more endearing than her smile then it was because he hadn't heard her laugh. So full of life and notes. She could bow the jiggles of nature to shame.

His little beautiful Raven. She deserved to be cherished with the essence of the finest. All his wealth was nothing but glitters, she, right here, was all his gold.

They had their dinner and the Housekeeper had the maids clear and clean the table while they both did their night routine in their respective bathrooms.

In between their rooms, Lei Xinyi had seen the wardrobe that they shared which had become the constant bridge Li Yuan crossed to come to and fro from her room.

After she was done she held the counter and gazed at her reflection in the mirror. A beautiful yet hollow woman looked back at her, she gazed at her curves and then her features, she was delectable in her aroma but sour in taste.

She tried to smile. Her smile, she didn't remember the last she faked it and convinced herself. But Li Yuan, he made her laugh, he gave her butterflies.

She was but a woman with a predetermined fate, numbered days, and a malevolence filled heart, and people who knew her knew, that.

She was stray and she was perilous because she had no loyalty neither she barked at any bastard's command and thus she was a loose cannon, a threat.

In the back of her mind, she knew not to trust anyone, her cousins, the Lei's, her adopted family, the Yu's, the underworld, they associated with her because she was useful but in the back of their minds they all wanted her dead.

She was a woman with no reality Hell! Even her real name wasn't registered. She was like a ghost with no relative, no background, no home.

In the black Market, her head was priced in millions, dead and in billions, alive because of the information she had in her hands to destroy all these empires. Indefinitely they all wanted her dead.

Because if she was to choose a side all others were doomed. She held all their deepest, darkest secrets in her fist but she for all her clatter and glint was only a pawn in their sick games. Disposable.

Her treacherous foolish heart wanted to believe Li Yuan was her salvation, the one who will free her from the chains of her past but he was too powerful, too wealthy, and too handsome for it not to be a mirage. A cruel joke of life.

If she was too trust him, she will give him too much power over her. It was like giving the reigns of her life to someone else.

Maybe it was a jolting heartbreak she needed to slap on her face to see the world for real.

She turned the faucet and washed her face, the cold water giving her a sense of reality. A year ago was the last time she self-pitied herself like that and then to run from life, she stole the Yu's heirloom and she risked her death. 

She had always been good with insight than foresight, so it was probably a surprise to no one that she made decisions that landed her in front of the vehicle only to be dumped in a grime-filled sh*tty apartment of her cousin with a vendetta in the long run.

She heaved a sigh and then rolled her eyes at her reflection. There was no benefit mulling over it, the best she could do was see it unfold. Either it would land her on the seventh sky or dump her in God-knows-where.

She went to bed and turned the lights off, but she was restless. Sleep was becoming a privilege these days. When she was in captivity, she avoided sleeping when that secretary was home. Already being a light sleeper, she would stay hyper-aware to not be surprised by a pillow on her face suffocating her to death.

Now it was a habit and it was making it hard for her to sleep, though every bone in her body could testify that it was run by a loaded lorry.

At sometimes in the night warmth engulfed her, draping her in comfort, and as if on queue sleep invaded her senses. She could swear she felt someone's breath on her neck.