”After we marry, let’s take a family picture like this with Little Jun,” Lin Yehan said all of a sudden.
”Y-you….” Jiang Ying Yue turned red.
”Little Jun loves his cat cousins and his new puppy. It’s clear that he adores animals. My farm villa has a lot. There are cute bunnies there that he might like. You and Little Jun should visit my farm villa one of these days. I’ll teach him how to ride a pony. How about you? Do you know how to ride a horse? If not, I can teach you, too.”
”Mr. Yehan!”
Lin Yehan faced her with his ever-present gentle smile. “Yes, Miss Ying Yue?”
”Please don’t do this.”
”Do what?”
”T-this…talking about m-marriage and doing things like a…f-family….”
He walked forward. She stepped back. Then she stumbled and fell on the ottoman bench. Now she was sitting down and had to raise her head to look at him.
Lin Yehan stopped about two feet away from her, giving her a bit of space but not enough to let her escape so easily.
He might not be completely drunk but the alcohol definitely had a hand in making him act so brazen like this in front of the woman he liked.
Then he sat on his haunches in front of her so that she wouldn’t feel intimidated by him too much. This way, they could speak close to eye level.
”Miss Ying Yue, please don’t worry,” he told her. “I won’t touch you without your permission. Rest assured that I do respect you and want you to feel more comfortable with me. I just want to talk to you and hopefully get closer to you.”
She gazed down at her hands on her lap, too shy to look at him straight in the eyes. “Alright.”
”May I take a seat beside you?”
”Y-yes.” She scooted a little to the side and gave some space for him on the bench.
”Thank you.” He sat down and looked at her.
Lin Yehan couldn’t stop looking at her. In his slight drunkenness, Jiang Ying Yue seemed more beautiful than usual in his eyes. The red tint on her cheeks and ears were so adorable that he couldn’t help but grin.
”Miss Ying Yue, I like you.”
She curled her fingers on her lap. Her heartbeat felt like a thousand horses galloping while her breathing felt a little laboured.
”M-mister Yehan…please don’t….”
”Do you like me, too?”
His sudden question startled her, and to be honest, made her panic. “W-what?”
”I want to know if you like me, too,” he said in a patient tone. “Do you? Even just a little?”
”I…”
”I don’t think you hate me.”
”N-no! Of course, I don’t hate you.”
He leaned towards her but still made sure to give her some space so as not to scare her too much. He just wanted to be near hear while also trying to get her used to his presence as much as possible.
”Then do you like me?” he asked again.
”I…yes.”
His eyes lit up. “Yes? You like me?”
She forced herself to look at him even though she wanted to flee from embarrassment. Despite this, she still forced herself to stay put and face the man’s open pursuit. In the first place, she already agreed to let Lin Yehan to court her. There was no use to running away for something that she allowed.
This wasn’t the first time that a man had chased her anyway. Her ex, Long Hui, had also chased her back when she worked as his bodyguard.
She couldn’t help but compare the two men.
Long Hui had been very suave and charismatic back then. Before working for him, most men didn’t look at her as a girlfriend material because they said that her muscled body looked too masculine to be desirable. So when Long Hui said that he loved her body, she couldn’t help but fall hopelessly in love with him despite knowing that their relationship would be met with hostility by the extremely prejudiced members of the Long clan.
And now, there was Lin Yehan. Unlike Long Hui, Lin Yehan never told her that he became attracted to her because of her muscled body. As a matter of fact, he said that he admired her character as a person, especially her strength and resilience as a mother.
Thinking like this, Jiang Ying Yue realized that Long Hui might only have been attracted to her muscled body. If he really respected her as his fiancée and most importantly as the mother of his son, then he wouldn’t have said all those hurtful words and humiliated her in public.
Compared to him, Lin Yehan had always been courteous to her even back when they were merely acquaintances meeting as the friends of Iris and Jin Liwei. Even now, he remained respectful to her. Most importantly, he treated Little Jun well.
Of course, there was a chance that he might just be acting like this now and change in the future. But she doubted that.
Jin Liwei and their other sworn brothers all respected Lin Yehan as their eldest brother. Just based on Jin Liwei’s character alone, she already trusted Lin Yehan and their other brothers.
More often than not, one could discern a person’s character based on his or her close friends.
Back to the present, Jiang Ying Yue gathered all her courage and continued to look at Lin Yehan straight in the eyes.
”Yes, I like you,” she told him.
His smile spread across his face slowly. It was like watching a star become brighter in the night sky.
She became dazed for a few seconds before catching herself.
Lin Yehan wasn’t the most handsome among the five sworn brothers. In fact, even Long Hui was many times more handsome than him. He couldn’t be considered ugly either. His features were arranged in a way that made him look very kind and pleasant rather than handsome.
Even so, he was still quite an attractive man. It was in the way that he carried himself—confident but not arrogant, kind but not weak, and warm but not overly friendly.
Everything about him was just…right.
At least, to her.
”Do you really like me?” she asked him after gathering another round of courage.
”Yes, I really like you,” he replied, the smile on his face was gentle and delighted at the same time.
”Earlier, you mentioned something about…m-marrying me and taking a…f-family picture together with my son. Are you serious about that?”
His smile deepened. “Yes, I’m very serious about that. I do hope to marry you. If you give me a chance, I promise that I’ll respect you as a husband and work together with you in raising your son. I also promise to treat Little Jun like my own child. If someday I’m blessed to have a child with you, I promise that my treatment of Little Jun won’t change. Once we’re married, your son will become my son.”
Her eyes watered. “What about…my ex? What if Long Hui makes trouble again?”
Lin Yehan’s eyes darkened but this only lasted for a couple of seconds before he gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll protect you and Little Jun. I won’t allow anyone to bully my family.”
”F-family….” The redness spread from her cheers and ears all over her face and down her neck. “You really want to become a family with…m-me?”
He nodded. “Yes. Very much so.”
”I have a degree but I only work as a bodyguard. Do you think that it’s a waste of my education?”
His expression turned serious. “Miss Ying Yue, I don’t believe that your education level or your job defines you as a person. I work in the agricultural industry. Many of my manual workers, especially the farmers, have low education. A lot of people in society also look down on them as inferior rural folks. But I know that they are some of the kindest and most compassionate people that I’ve ever met in my life. They are simple folks who won’t bother to say one thing in front of you and then stab you in the back afterwards. If they like you, they will treat you like family. If they dislike you, they won’t bother talking to you.
”That’s why I don’t want you to worry about me disdaining your work as a bodyguard. This is the field that you want to work in and I respect your choice. I have seen the kind of training and work that you do here at Third Brother and Third Sister-in-law’s home. They’re not easy at all. For a woman like you to do all these things that many men like me find difficult and torturous and you even excel at them, I sincerely admire you.”
Jiang Ying Yue found herself smiling. “Thank you. I do love my work.”
”I can tell.” He was glad to see her smile. “Rest assured that I won’t interfere with your work. If you want to continue working here, then that’s fine. If you want to explore other careers in the field of security, I’ll also support you 100%. I also love my work in the agricultural industry so I completely understand when others feel passionate about their work.”
After hearing what he had to say, she made a decision right then and there.
She grabbed his hand.
He looked surprised and then delighted.
Then she said, “Mr. Yehan, let’s become a family.”
