Zhuo Jingren was all smiles as he continued to stare at Lily’s sleeping profile. He could not forget her last words before she finally drifted off to sleep. She remembered. Is it safe to say that Lily has finally figured out her feelings for him?
What if he was overthinking? Zhuo Jingren instantly scolded himself and tried to maintain a calm expression. He should just ask her when she wakes up. After all, Lily has always been honest with him. Asking her shouldn’t do any harm, right?
After a few more minutes, Zhuo Jingren also drifted off to sleep.
….
Seconds turned to minutes, and eventually hours passed. Afternoon became evening and everyone in Lily’s office had already called it a day.
“Hey… wake up,” Lily said the moment she realized that she had slept for hours. “Hey…” she patted Zhuo Jingren’s arms.
“Hm?”
“I think we overslept,” Lily said. The obviously dim office was proof that she was right.
“No. We didn’t,” he said before giving her a light kiss on the lips. Lily pursed her lips as she sat on the plush sofa and eyed the lamp that was in the far corner of the room. Its soft glow created a romantic ambiance in the quiet office. Her gaze moved on to the beautiful view beyond the floor to ceiling windows in her office. Perfect. Romantic.
As Lily felt Zhuo Jingren rise from the sofa, her eyes were immediately drawn to his silhouette as he walked towards her conference table. Her eyebrows fluttered up adorably in surprise when she noticed a number of boxes of various sizes strewn across the surface of her table but she chose not to say anything as she watched Zhuo Jingren pour her a glass of wine. He then casually lifted the lid of one of the boxes and carefully removed an elegant circular cake.
It was already dark so Lily could not really make out the type of cake that he was slicing. “Chocolate?” Lily guessed when Zhuo Jingren strolled back to the sofa with a small plate bearing a tempting slice of chocolate cake and a glass of red wine.
“Hmmm… It’s from your favorite shop,” he said as he lifted the fork to sink it into the corner of the sinfully moist cake. Zhuo Jingren indulgently raised the fork and held it poised in front of Lily’s luscious lips, waiting for her to open her mouth. Of course, Lily didn’t hesitate as she parted her lips and let him fill her mouth with the indescribably rich cake as her eyes sparkled and her lips curved up in a very satisfied smile for him.
“Good, as always,” she said before a mischievous gleam flashed in her eyes. “Here, have some as well,” she offered as she used a finger to scoop a decorative swirl of icing before she playfully smeared it on his cheek. Zhuo Jingren’s frozen expression was everything! Lily instantly let out a loud peal of laughter. She clutched her stomach and laughed even harder when she saw Zhuo Jingren narrowing his eyes at her.
Lily suddenly rose from the sofa and tried to run when she saw Zhuo Jingren use two fingers to scoop up an unfairly large dollop of icing. She thought she was quick, but he was quicker. He managed to catch hold of her arm, pulling her towards him and smearing the cake across her cheek and down her elegant neck.
“Hey! That is not fair!” Lily grumbled when she felt the icing on her cheeks and chin. Zhuo Jingren’s fingers were longer, meaning the amount of icing that he scooped up was naturally bigger. Moreover, he’d also used two of his fingers.
“Oh… now you’re complaining?” he asked as his lips curled into a sly smile. “You were the one who started it.”
“Still, this is a lot,” she said as she tried to scoop it off her face, but once again Zhuo Jingren held her hand before leaning over and licking icing fom her neck without saying a word.
“You…” Lily lost the ability to speak when his warm and sweet lips crashed onto hers. Her eyes grew wide with surprise before pleasure made them gentle and dewy. Their kiss was steamy, instantly sending small pulses of pleasure racing down to her stomach. Lost in his kiss, Lily suddenly realised that she wasn’t floating in pleasure but being carried as Zhuo Jingren gently laid her on the sofa, his hand cradling the back of her head.
“You’re beautiful,” Zhuo Jingren said as he stared into her eyes.
“I wonder why you only call me beautiful when it’s dark,” Lily teased. Her eyes hungrily roamed his partially lit face.
Zhuo Jingren did not respond. Instead, he stared at her with a heartfelt intensity, his heart drumming against his chest, threatening to jump out of his body. “Can I ask you something?” he said as he gathered all the courage inside him. He swallowed nervously while waiting for her to answer.
“I can hear your heartbeat,” Lily whispered, her eyes full of gentleness as her blissful gaze met his anxious one. “What do you want to know?” she asked. She allowed herself to study his breathtakingly handsome face, her eyes indulgently taking in the beauty of his firm sculpted jaw and the contrast of his invitingly pink lips. The perfectly curled eyelashes that framed his dark brown eyes fluttered as he hesitated nervously. “Hm?” she tilted her head and smiled at him. “Why are you so nervous?”
“I just want to know if…”
“If I like you?” Lily interrupted him. However, Zhuo Jingren quickly shook his head. Seeing this, Lily grinned at him. “Do you want to know if I am already in love with you?” Being the impulsive and impatient Lily, she did not wait for him to confirm that this is what he needed to know. Before he could speak, Lily slowly nodded. “I am,” she answered her own question. “I think I am in love with you.”
“You think?” he managed to ask as he tried to calm his racing heart.
“I know,” Lily corrected herself and reassured him. Her gaze collided with his as she prayed that Zhuo Jingren would not lose consciousness from the shock or from an overdose of happiness. “I know I love you,” she said definitively, feeling surprised by how she was comfortable she felt with saying those words.
“I know I love you, President Zhuo,” she repeated once again when Zhuo Jingren didn’t move a muscle or utter a single word. Was he going to faint again? Of course, this was the first worry that Lily had. Zhuo Jingren was on top of her. If he fainted, then she would have a hard time wriggling out from under him in order to save him.
Her man was frozen, completely lost in a daze. Lily couldn’t resist pinching his side in an attempt to wake him up from his stupor.
“I said, ‘I love you, President Zhuo’! Why are you still in a daze? Are you going to faint again? Ha! If you are going to faint, then I will use that icing to write my name all over your body because you belong to me. I’m going to lap up the icing like a hungry little kitten and tickle you senseless while you lay there in your…swoon. Can men swoon? Trust me, I will… Hmmm…” Her happy patter and chatter was abruptly cut off by yet another deliciously dreamy kiss from her handsome husband Zhuo Jingren.
“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” he uttered between kisses so soft and so full of promise that they stole her soul. “I love you”, he said as he felt his heart burst with happiness. “You are the best thing that has ever happened to me.” Zhuo Jingren felt the heat of tears behind his eyes as he steadied his jaw against the tremor of tears of gratitude that were moments away because Lily brought him the peace of being loved.
He greedily pulled Lily into a hug, no smooth moves, just an urgent desire to feel her heart against his. No words… there were just no words… No word exists that was comprehensive enough to convey every emotion that he felt right now, in this very moment, with his Lily -who knows that she loves him – in his arms.
He pursed his lips as he felt a tear fall from his lashes and crash against his angular cheek. When Zhuo Jingren felt Lily’s arms snaked around him even tighter, another tear fell from his eyes. He let out a chuckle — a victorious one. He remembered how very much he had adored her when they were still in their youth, and on to that incredible night after they met in the bar…all the way to the not so distant past when Lily arrived in Hong Kong, when she assumed that he was her driver and she ruthlessly made him become a contortionist to fit his glorious height into that tiny Beetle that she insisted on being chauffeured in.
Gratitude, happiness and love… so much love. Those are the three words that came closest to describing the emotions crashing about in his heart right now.
