Chapter 1167: Their First Collaboration (3)
Qiao Lian sat down in a corner and hugged her knees. She looked outside and said to Lu Nanze, “Why didn’t you leave?”
Lu Nanze narrowed his eyes and said after a pause, “How can I leave when you’re here?”
He had said that like a matter of course. Qiao Lian was taken aback.
She had always thought that Lu Nanze treated her like a thing that he didn’t own yet, something he desired to possess, just a toy. But now…
She stared straight ahead and bit her lip. After a silent pause she said again, “You are aware that by not leaving then, it’s possible that the both of us will end up not being able to leave.”
“If it comes to the worst we die here.”
Qiao Lian fell silent at once.
He had said it with such ease, as though he wasn’t even thinking about what he was saying.
She pursed her lips.
At once, the room fell silent.
Qiao Lian could hear Lu Nanze’s breathing, which sounded labored. It must be painful. But he wasn’t showing it at all.
She turned to look at him. His eyes were lit up even in the dark. He suddenly laughed and said, “Qiao Lian, this must be the first time we’re spending the night together?”
Qiao Lian chided him, “Can you be more decent?”
“Fine, I’ll be decent.”
He continued, “Don’t be scared. If I don’t go home, they’ll send people to look for me. Besides, your man will look for you too. There are surveillance cameras in the underground parking lot, they’ll find out soon enough what happened.”
Qiao Lian nodded and then suddenly asked, “Are you scared?”
“You?”
She thought for a moment and then nodded.
Lu Nanze contemplated this in silence for a moment as he looked at her. Then he asked, “You didn’t used to be scared, why are you scared now?”
Qiao Lian lowered her head and looked at her stomach. “Because I’m no longer alone. Do you know? I love this child, I hope to deliver it safely, and hope that it will grow up happily and live happily.”
When she said this, there was a tenderness in her expression and a sense of peace around her.
As he looked at her, the light from outside framing her silhouette, he suddenly felt tranquility was.h.i.+ng over the pa.s.sage of time.
He narrowed his eyes as his gaze fell on her abdomen.
After a pause, he said, “Do you remember when we were fifteen?”
Qiao Lian froze at those words. She turned towards him with a blank stare.
He lowered his head and said, “That year, I had a fight with Dad and wanted to run away from home. I was determined. But I came to bid farewell to you.”
As he spoke, scenes of that past flashed through her mind.
At the time, no matter what she said, he wouldn’t listen.
He had made up his mind to run away.
In the end, she also packed her belongings. Strapping her bag on her back, she was ready to go with him.
He had asked her then, “What do you think you’re doing?”
Qiao Lian had rolled her eyes and looked at him like he was a fool. “Of course, I’m running away with you. If you ran away alone, what would you do if you ran into trouble?”
After she said this, she had straightened herself up and walked in front of him.
That picture of an arrogant Qiao Lian had never left his memory.
Of course, in the end, their attempt to run away failed.
They both went home.