Happy weekends! Hope y’all are enjoying a brief respite from your busy days.
Thank you for all your support, I’ve been reading all of your comments although I still don’t have the time lately to reply yet! I’ll reply to all of them sooon~ It’s a great help and encouragement to us when we are juggling our different commitments and translations too. ❤ I adore all our readers sooo much! Also, the for Perfect Fiancé is still here~
We have an ALL NEW and sparkling special role name for PF fans! So what are you waiting for, come on, join us! We would love to have more sunflower fans here! Alright, no more rambling from me, onward to Chapter 18!
Chapter 18: Shower Safe and sound. Hug…
Initially, Su Jin had already composed herself. Yet when she heard this word, she was startled and suddenly let out a burst of laughter.
With this sort of tone, as if he was coaxing a child, what was he trying to do?
Sitting in the corner all curled up as she hugged her knees, the white chiffon gown that the girl was wearing had been completely covered with dirt. Though with a slightly ashen face and strands of loosened hair that was damp with sweat on her forehead and plastered to her cheeks, her pair of eyes still remained bright. Although those beautiful phoenix eyes were still lucid, teardrops had swelled up in them as if they were going to overflow. Her red lips were a little dry and rough but they curled up and showed a bright smile.
"Come here." Lu Xi looked at her smile but he hid his own smile that had crept to the surface and spoke with a heavy voice.
Seeing the man before her suddenly becoming domineering, Su Jin quelled her smile too and childishly pouted before she brashly threw herself forward.
As the slightly chilly body entered his embrace, Lu Xi composed himself and steadily held onto her as he reached out to circle his arms around her soft and slim waist.
Originally, she had only thought of hugging him for a while before retreating so Su Jin was startled. The man"s arms around her waist hugged her rather tightly and it seemed like they were slightly… trembling.
Gradually with a sigh of relief that brushed past her ears, her neck grew warm and there seemed to be something like a water droplet that had fallen upon it.
"Lu Xi…" She spoke with slight hesitance.
Could it be perspiration or could it be… tears.
"Really want to have you merged into me." He abruptly said with a raspy voice and a tone filled with rage.
Like this, he wouldn"t lose her again.
On his way to find her, he forced himself to calm down as he drove. He could not let anything happen to him before he found her and once he found her, he would make himself smile in fear of scaring her.
However, at present, she was in his embrace.
After all of his suppressed thoughts were released, all of that panic that he had burst forth. How was he supposed to resist?
For so many years, he had those feelings that had been restrained in his heart without having the courage to touch his most important person…
"I"m so glad."
With a slight curl of his lips, his voice had lowered close to a whisper.
I"m so glad that you are safe in my arms.
Due to his childishly domineering tone, Su Jin initially had a slight smile on her face. However, she abruptly froze and the tears that had long been withheld finally fell.
She was so glad.
There was a person who cared about her this much.
As the tears slowly soaked Lu Xi"s shoulders, he raised his head slightly to stroke the tresses of the young girl before him.
After a short while, he lightly commented with irrepressible laughter in his voice. "If you continue to cry, then your eyes will swell."
Su Jin then retreated away from his embrace but stood with his support. Arching an eyebrow slightly with red-rimmed eyes, that pair of eyes were as lucid as the bright and clear sky after a downpour of rain.
Then, with a sudden curl of her lips, she smiled, "so sorry, Mr Lu. I have made your dress shirt wet."
Her tone was extremely playful.
Looking at the dress shirt on him, instantaneously, Lu Xi put upon a face filled with dismay, "Tsk. This dress shirt of mine is very expensive, however…" His intonation changed with an arch of his eyebrow, "I believe that with Jin"er"s principles, you wouldn"t renege on this debt right. Oh, speaking of which, when I heard of your kidnapping, I also broke my notebook. I am sure that Jin"er will make it up to me for that too."
With her jaw dropping, Su Jin blinked. Startled, she stared at this man with a straight face before her. Any feelings of affection and grat.i.tude she had for him was instantly thrown to the sharks. It was fine with the dress shirt, now even his notebook could be considered as part of her debt?
"Yep…" Seeing her flabbergasted expression, Lu Xi pondered for a bit and added, "it seems that the notebook was of my own doing, I dropped it by accident."
Su Jin: I"m glad you know that.
"Alright, this will not be included." Lu Xi nodded and continued, "but you have to compensate me for my dress shirt. In addition to that, firstly, I won"t accept anything bought online and secondly, it has to be of my liking."
At this, Su Jin understood and could not resist a tilted glance at this man who was a head taller than her. He did not want anything bought online and wanted something that he liked, so this man"s motive was actually to just accompany her while she went shopping?
"Alright." Once she understood this, Su Jin accepted candidly with a nod. Since a certain someone wanted to be her purse and gofer this badly, then she would give him a chance to do so.
"How did you know I was kidnapped?" As Su Jin"s mood gradually settled down, a bunch of suspicions burst forth and pressed on, "do Mom and Dad know? What about Gege? Who is the kidnapper? How did you manage to find me…"
"Jin"er." Hearing her mention her father and brother, Lu Xi then thought of his future in-laws who were waiting at their office. He abruptly cut off her series of question and unlocked his phone to pa.s.s it to her. "It was your brother who told me. I am also unsure of the situation with your father and mother, why don"t you give your brother a call to a.s.suage his worries first."
The call was swiftly answered.
Su Yue"s impatient voice could be heard through the phone, "Lu Xi, what"s wrong? Do you have any leads? Or did the kidnapper contact you?"
His usual warm and gentle voice had become rather raspy and his talking pace was hurried.
Su Jin"s heart grew warm and she yelled, "Gege."
There was a silence at the opposite end for a few seconds and then the voice that instantly replied was in a higher octave.
"Xiao Jin!"
"Xiao Jin!"
Two voices?
Su Jin was startled but swiftly recovered and called out, "Dad!"
In the office, the men"s eyes met and they were anxious at the very next moment.
Pressing onto his son"s palm, Su Chenghai took a deep breath before he spoke, "Xiao Jin, this is Dad. Are you alright? Where are you now?"
"Dad, I"m alright, I was only locked in a small house and nothing else happened. As for where I am…" She shook her head, "I"m not so sure either, it was Lu Xi who found me."
"Lu Xi?" Su Chenghai was surprised and then recalled the phone number that was used to dial back. He lightly nodded, "it"s good that you"re alright, pa.s.s the phone to Lu Xi."
Hearing this, Su Jin obediently gave a sound of a.s.sent and pa.s.sed the phone to Lu Xi and spoke with a low voice, "my dad is looking for you."
Lu Xi was surprised, my dad? Oh, father-in-law.
"h.e.l.lo, Uncle Su." Once he received the phone, he greeted his father-in-law.
"Lu Xi, how did you manage to find Xiao Jin? Where are you now?" Su Chenghai frowned and his eyes were cold, "who is the mastermind behind this?"
"Uncle Su, we"ll talk about this when we get back, I"ll let you have a look at the evidence." Lu Xi answered."
"Alright." Su Chenghai nodded and was about to end the call but he had suddenly thought of his wife at home and continued, "that"s right, Lu Xi. We"ll go over to your place. Xiao Jin"s mother is still unaware about this matter and since Xiao Jin is alright, we don"t want to scare her."
"Oh." Lu Xi was bewildered for a bit before he responded, "okay."
"What did my dad speak to you about?" Seeing that Lu Xi was keeping his phone, Su Jin queried.
"Said to go to my home to talk," Lu Xi responded, "Uncle said that your mother still does not know about this."
"Mm," Su Jin nodded.
Mom"s heart condition was weak so it was best to not scare her.
In the chairman office of the Su clan.
Su Chenghai heaved a sigh of relief, stood and stated, "Xiao Yue, let"s go, we"re going to Lu Xi"s home. Let"s see which audacious person would dare to kidnap my, Su Chenghai"s, daughter!"
"Dad…" Su Yue followed and stood up with a slightly suspicious expression on his face.
"What is it?" Noticing the strange expression on his son"s face, Su Chenghai asked in puzzlement.
"I…" Su Yue glanced down at his phone and finally spoke up, "did you see the time?"
"Time?" Su Chenghai was startled and looked at the clock upon the wall.
Half past twelve.
"The first time Lu Xi called," Su Yue frowned, "it was 10.30am."
Two hours…
Su Chenghai was astounded and rapidly comprehended what his son meant.
Ever since Lu Xi knew that Xiao Jin was kidnapped until he made the call, it had only been two hours. If they excluded the time on the road and the time needed to find and comfort Xiao Jin, then how much time had he used to find the place that Xiao Jin was locked up in?
The minutes that pa.s.sed seemed like years and with that waiting time just now, he actually had not paid heed to this.
However…
"It can"t be." Su Chenghai still had some misgivings but shook his head and continued, "Lu Xi has no ill intentions towards Xiao Jin, I can clearly perceive his feelings."
"Who said that he had ill intentions towards Xiao Jin?" Su Yue furrowed his eyebrows, "haven"t you heard of-"
"-saving a damsel in distress?"
He did not blame his son for being suspicious because, in truth, this matter was too strange.
Saving a damsel in distress?
Su Chenghai was flabbergasted.
Meanwhile, Lu Xi was entirely unaware that his strange speed had aroused some suspicions against him, and was currently driving a black Porsche to bring the girl home. On their way home, they pa.s.sed by a clothing brand"s flagship store when he abruptly stopped.
Confused, Su Jin stared at Lu Xi getting out of the car to walk into the shop. After three minutes had pa.s.sed, he walked out with a brown paper bag in his hand.
"What is this?" Holding onto the bag that Lu Xi placed onto her lap, Su Jin asked with a tilted head.
The eyelashes on the young girl were fine and long. With a slant glance at her, that initial bright and vivid beauty had toned down a little. Contrarily, she was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with adorableness.
Urging down the throbbing of his heart, he stated, "for you."
"Me?" Su Jin was surprised.
"So that you can have a shower at my place and a change of clothes. It would avoid you getting found out by your mother." Lu Xi responded.
Listening to this, Su Jin glanced down at her white dress that had been stained with so much dirt, it had become a light grey hue. Naturally, she nodded in acknowledgement.
However… to shower and change her clothes at his place?
Blankly staring at the paper bag in her arms, her cheeks suddenly flushed red.
Entering Lu Xi"s villa, Su Jin took a measure of her surroundings. This villa was the exact copy of how her home"s villa used to look. They were both renovated in perfectly standardised manner. However, once everyone moved in, most people would re-renovate to their own preferences. As for her home, it had a more refined and comforting style.
Thinking of this, she questioned, "you did not renovate your home?"
Lu Xi did not answer her question and simply brought her to the master bedroom upstairs. He gestured for her to have a shower.
Su Jin was startled.
"The master bedroom?" She blinked, "shouldn"t it be the guest bedroom?"
"The guest bedroom?" Lu Xi arched an eyebrow, "this villa only has me staying in it. There are shampoo and shower gel only in the master bedroom." As he said this, a smile curled upon his lips, "don"t worry, I have a shower in here. Go on, I"ll go get you a pair of disposable slippers and a new towel."
A shower? That was a little better. Su Jin was slightly more a.s.sured and received the things that Lu Xi pa.s.sed to her and entered the bathroom.
As for him, he just changed into a new set of clothes, went downstairs to brew a cup of tea and had just placed it on the table when the doorbell rang.
Opening the door, he saw the two men outside and greeted, "Uncle Su, Big Brother Su, please come in."
After they glanced at each other, Su Chenghai and Su Yue entered the living room.
"Where"s Xiao Jin?" Looking around once without seeing his sister, Su Yue asked.
"She"s upstairs showering." Lu Xi replied as he placed his teacup aside.
Shower?
Su Chenghai and Su Yue were both startled and then their expressions darkened.
Translated by irisu-san
Edited by Ely, Th.o.r.n.yan