It was late at night when Xiang Ti was about to go to bed when she suddenly received a phone call from Zheng Leng.
“Do you want to come up?”
His voice was a mix of s.e.xy and tired all at once.
Hearing his tired voice, she felt a little pity and immediately wanted to run upstairs. However, sanity prevailed and she pulled back.
“No! I don’t want to go up, and you don’t have to call me again.” She suppressed the rising pain.
She had made up her mind to not let him confuse her anymore so she wouldn’t suffer more damages in the future.
She didn’t want men to interfere in her quiet life, no thanks!
“Oh?” His response was quiet and he hung up the phone without saying anything else.
Putting out the light Xiang Ti went to bed, but could not sleep.
He didn’t even try to persuade her, and that made her unhappy. Isn’t this what she wanted?
She forgot she told him not to bother her anymore, but she still sulked under the covers until she heard the doorbell ring.
“Who? It’s so late.” Could it be the management here to collect the rent? “Can’t they wait till morning?”
She was not pleased to get out of bed at this hour. Putting on a robe and walking into the living room, she looked through the small peep hole to get a good look at the insensitive jerk who rang the bell.
The result, that person was actually – Zheng Leng?!
“What are you doing here?” She opened the door in surprise.
Finished! Her original determination, crumbled when she saw him.
“You didn’t want to come up, so I came down.” He sounded wronged, like an abandoned child.
“You…You hurry back up!” She was afraid the neighbors had seen him.
“Let me in, okay?”
Ah, he was looking at her with those poor puppy dog eyes!
There should be plenty of women willing to accompany him! Why always pester her?
“Tonight, please don’t push me away!”
Hearing his soft voice asking, she silently looked at his pleading eyes. Her resolve melting bit by bit. Before she could stop herself, she had involuntarily moved back, allowing him into the apartment.
He came right in, and embraced her immediately.
Feeling his lips so close to her, but she was unable to push him away.
This is the last time! Her guilty conscience tried to convince her.
This is the last time she would indulge herself in his arms. Truly!
In the middle of the night, Xiang Ti suddenly woke up from a dream, sensing a strange sense of emptiness.
She intuitively looked to her side and found it empty. The bedding was blown to the side, Zheng Leng gone.
She thought he had gone, and went to investigate.
He was sitting at her window, looking into the night sky, and didn’t hear her approach.
His face held a hint of sadness, and the dim light shining through the curtains reflected a sense of desolation.
She has never seen this side of him before. In front of her, he is always lively and in high spirits, and even crafty, but she has never seen him this sad, with a touch of loneliness.
Was he worried about something? What was bothering him? But she only watched him silently.
Not long after, Zheng Leng came out of his trance and made his way toward the bedroom. As he turned, he came into direct eye contact with her.
“You are awake?” He was slightly stunned, but immediately smiled.
“Hmm.” Xiang Ti nodded slightly.
“I must go, otherwise if people see, I’m afraid the rumors will not be pleasant. I’ll get going, you go back to sleep!”
He got up and walked to her, covering her with a quilt. He kissed her blushed cheeks and said goodnight, turning towards the door.
Xiang Ti suddenly exclaimed, “You –”
“Huh?”
Seeing him go, Xiang Ti suddenly stops him.
“Do you want to talk about it?” She looked slightly embarra.s.sed. “If you have something on your mind, you can speak out, I want to hear it.”
Zheng Leng’s eyes gradually moved from the light.
This is the first time she’s asked him, expressing any interest.
“Nothing that really matters.” He walked back, sitting beside her.
“About my mother…”
He told her all about Lin Sheng Nan and their conversation, as well as his feelings.
“…Why does she not acknowledge me, I can’t understand!”
“Perhaps she is not willing to acknowledge you for fear of public criticism.” She tried to a.n.a.lyze.
“I know, but I just want to be able to call her mom. I don’t need public acknowledgement. Is this wish too difficult to achieve?”
“This…” Xiang Ti couldn’t answer, because she is not Lin Sheng Nan.
Seeing her worried, Zheng Leng smiles warmly.
“Don’t think about it too much, I don’t really care. Go to bed early, I also have to work tomorrow. Hmm?”
“Okay.” Xiang Ti nods.
“Good night.” He leaned over and kissed her lips, and then left her house.
After he left, Xiang Ti looked around the room empty, but could not sleep.
Feeling cold, she pulled the quilt tighter to cover her thin body.
Without his warm presence, it’s suddenly so cold!
Even with little sleep last night, Xiang Ti arrives early to the office, ready for work.
But today she is horribly inefficient. She only managed to accomplish a few tasks, and finished half of the others.
Her thoughts only on Zheng Leng and his lonely expression in the dark. Her heart was in pain.
She patted her chest, feeling her heart. With her eyes closed, and thinking of him, her cold heart became soft.
She finally came to understand that this is the taste of love.
She’s fallen in love with him!
She feels some helplessness, but is not surprised. When he suddenly came into her life, she was really resistant, but she knew that it was inevitable for her to fall for him.
Imagine if he knew she fell in love with him, he would be really proud, right? Thinking about his expression made her feel funny and she wanted to laugh.
But he can’t be happy right now, can he? Because his mother refuses to acknowledge him!
She doesn’t know for what reasons Lin Sheng Nan is unable to acknowledge her son. She only knows that Zheng Leng is hurt, and she doesn’t want to see him sad.
With pursed lips, she picked up the receiver and began to dial.
She thought, she should go to see the legendary Chairman personally.
“Miss Liu?”
Lin Sheng Nan walked into the Coffee house, glanced around and soon found Xiang Ti already waiting for her inside.
“Chairman Lin, h.e.l.lo.” Xiang Ti immediately stands up to greet.
To Xiang Ti, she was more than just a regular customer, so should be treated with more respect.
“Don’t mention it, not at all!” Lin Sheng Nan is also very easy with her, and did not put on airs.
“Thank you, Chairman Lin for taking the time to come and meet me. I thought you might refuse me because it was so short notice.” She smiled wryly.
But she was surprised to receive a phone call from Chairman Lin actually agreeing to meet her.
“You’re welcome! You have a good reputation, and your performance at the party was professional, I respect that.”
Because she is the woman her son likes, so that night she watched as her son chased her around the room, while others chased him.
She thought it very interesting that her cold son would chase after a girl with such determination. It was even more unbelievable that she was not reciprocating his actions.
She’s definitely unique, Lin Sheng Nan was particularly impressed.
When bringing up the party, Xiang Ti was embarra.s.sed. “The incident that night, we were negligible, causing you shame. We sincerely apologize.”
“Don’t blame yourself, you are also a victim.”
If it was someone else who caused this negligence, Lin Sheng Nan would’ve definitely branded them incompetent, but she is a special tolerance.
Since Chairman Lin initiated talk about that night, Xiang Ti felt comfortable continuing about the subject.
“Chairman Lin, I venture to say what was broadcasted that night in fact was not slander, but ‘the truth’? Zheng Leng is really your son, isn’t that right?”
Xiang Ti only stated the facts. But of course she knew that this would open old wounds and must be uncomfortable for Chairman Lin. She was prepared for that.
Bu she was surprised when Chairman Lin only asked, “How do you know?”
“Zheng Leng told me.”
“Zheng Leng? Impossible!” Lin Sheng Nan shook her head wryly. “He is not aware of this matter, and only thinks someone is targeting him.”
“No, he knows. Long before the party that night, he has already known.”
Lin Sheng Nan’s expression suddenly changes, and Xiang Ti saw her expression of fear.
“Zheng Leng knows? How?!” There is nothing but shock and fear from Lin Sheng Nan. “How can he know?”
“According to him, there was a year-end party dinner when you got drunk. When he took you home, you confessed everything to him.”
“That one time…” Lin Sheng Nan remembered that incident, but didn’t know she had told him everything.
“If he knew, why hasn’t he mentioned anything, and pretends not to know? Is it because…he hates me?” She does not understand.
“No, he doesn’t hate you. In fact, he wants you to acknowledge him, but you always choose to hide the fact. So he can only pretend not to know, afraid that you’ll be embarra.s.sed.”
“Zheng Leng, he…” Lin Sheng Nan never thought it was because he didn’t want it to embarra.s.s her, so he kept silent. He would rather pretend not to know. How can the child be so sensitive?
She was so touched, it moved her to tears.
“So, what do you intend to do?” Since the floodgates have already opened, she was determined to see this through to the end. “Are you really going to continue denying yours and Zheng Leng’s relationship for the rest of your life?”
“No! I never thought –” Lin Sheng Nan denied. “I have always wanted to acknowledge him. You don’t know how much I want to hug my son!”
“Since it is so, why don’t you?”
“I’m afraid…I’m afraid he hates me!”
Not until Xiang Ti raised the question did she choke, “In the past, I was a third party, having an affair with a married boss. He was much older, but I respected him and loved him, and followed him around. I got to learn a lot of valuable experience in the market, but…… After he learned I was pregnant, he forced me to get an abortion, but I refused. He got annoyed and began to freeze me out, and even avoided each other.”
“What a jerk! How can there be such an irresponsible man?” Have the guts to steal to eat, but have no courage to be responsible? Xiang Ti was so angry.
“I hated him, right up until the moment of birth, my heart was filled with hatred for the man. After giving birth to Zheng Leng, I loved the child, but because of my resentment for his father……” Lin Sheng Nan’s voice trembled and couldn’t go on.
“You…”
“After the birth, his father found out and sent for him, but I didn’t want to give him to his father. I knew he wanted a boy, but in order to retaliate I sent Zheng Leng to a remote orphanage, so that his father would never be able to find him……”
“My G.o.d!” Xiang Ti’s whole body shook from chills.
Hatred, it really blinded a person’s conscience.
“I’m sorry! I know I’m a wicked woman. I’m a terrible mother!” Lin Sheng Nan confessed.
“In fact, I soon regretted it. But when I went to the orphanage, he had already been transferred to another orphanage. I constantly searched for him, and finally found him…… Just, at that time he was no longer a baby, but a teenager. I didn’t dare to acknowledge him then –”
“Instead, you provided for him from afar, and encouraged him to study?” These were all from what Zheng Leng has told her.
“It was the least I could do for him.” Lin Sheng Nan hung her head. “By that time, he had already understood that he was abandoned by his parents. I didn’t know how to tell him the reason why I abandoned him. I really have no face to show him!”
“So you silently supported him until he finished school, and arranged for him to join your company?”
“I wanted him to stay by my side so that I could take care of him.”
“No wonder you are so good to Zheng Leng. So good in fact, he has become the target of everyone’s jealousy.” Because it’s her son, of course she would feel favoritism towards him.
“I know these things, but I just want to help him.”
“If that’s the case, then have courage and tell him!” What is there to hesitate about? “You know, the more you delay, the more you are hurting him?”
“I’m sorry! Before, I was worried he couldn’t forgive me, so I didn’t have the courage to tell him. But since he already knows, then I will arrange a press conference as soon as possible, and acknowledge him formally.” After Lin Sheng Nan made the decision, she felt very relieved.
The only reason she’s put up with other people’s criticism so far is because she is looking forward to this day.
“You don’t fear the public scrutiny?” This will set off a storm, and the bloodthirsty media will dig up everything about her past.
“I’ve lived this long, what do I care? I only want Zheng Leng to come back to me.”
“Well, please handle it as soon as possible. Zheng Leng is also waiting to call you mother!”
“Yes.” Lin Sheng Nan cannot help but be moved to tears.
Her son is going to really come back to her!
“Hey! Why are you here again?”
Xiang Ti stared at her clean kitchen and the man in it.
Last month, he and Lin Sheng Nan held a press conference acknowledging their relationship as mother and son.
Without prior knowledge, Zheng Leng was moved to tears and Lin Sheng Nan was also crying. There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience. It was a hot topic for a long time.
Now things have receded, he and Lin Sheng Nan returned to the calm of the past.
On the surface, he is her a.s.sistant — he still insists it’s not a good time for a promotion, and Lin Sheng Nan does not force him.
In private, they often meet, have dinner, and sometimes drag her along.
“I’m cooking food for you as a thank you for our mother-son reunion.”
The meal looked appetizing. Xiang Ti couldn’t help her stomach from rumbling, secretly swallowing her saliva.
She pursed her lips to complain. “You always give the lobster, abalone, and steak to me. Isn’t that enough?” Looking at her round belly, she’s afraid she won’t be able to keep her figure at this rate.
“Enough, I want to thank you for a lifetime. Come, come and eat!”
Xiang Ti muttered to herself but immediately sat down, picked up the spoon and began to enjoy.
“Now that you’ve reunited, why don’t you move to live with your mom?”
It is said that Lin Sheng Nan’s house has up to three floors. She can occupy one floor and let her son occupy another, but he is not willing to move.
“Are you kidding?” Zheng Leng has now officially changed his name to Lin Zheng Leng – was looking at her with a ‘your brain is not right’ look. “If I move in with her, how will I sneak here in the middle of the night?”
Xiang Ti was foaming at the mouth. This guy is actually refusing to move in with his mother so he can stay here and sneak into her place at night.
However, the meals he made were delicious!
Good in the kitchen, good in the bedroom, the advantages of this man. You can say, she wants to possess him forever and would rather die than give him up to another woman.
“Delicious?” Zheng Leng enjoyed watching her carefree appearance, wearing a smile, “Then I will cook for you every day.”
“I don’t need it every day!” Hateful! His words are so sweet, she can’t stand it!
Zheng Leng gazed at her warmly, but said nothing. She also looked at Zheng Leng, feeling her cheeks blush.
Every time he gave her that look, her heart would quicken.
Although she’s always trying to put up a brave front, but she knew her heart has fallen for the enemy. Every time he comes close, she means to resist but ends up accepting in the end. Even his stays overnight, she reluctantly agreed.
Later that night, in the bedroom as usual, their voiced blended, and occasionally someone would whisper several provocative words.
“You, stop touching me there. I must be getting fat.”
It’s all his fault! Who told him to cook delicious food, causing her to eat more, her b.r.e.a.s.t.s to get bigger, and her lower abdomen to protrude? She swore, she was going to start a diet tomorrow!
However, the next morning —