Destined

Liu Zijian sat slowly and comfortably almost across Han Meixiu and took the rope with series of knots to examine them.

"You're not going to put on clothes?" Han Meixiu asked when Liu Zijian just casually took his seat.

Without looking at her, he simply answered,"En."

Before she could say something again, he moved his line of sight from the rope to his wife.

"Does it bother you?" His lips was slightly curled up giving off an aura of a free-spirited ruler of wilderness.

How should she answer it?

Should she say yes? Or no?

Han Meixiu felt that whatever her answer would be might incur the same result. Still she tried choosing.

"Yes,." She simply answered. Her word could be barely heard.

"Why?" He teasingly asked.

She couldn't voice out the reason of course. Thus instead of answering the latest question, she decided to change her previous answer.

"No, it doesn't bother me.I mean.. yeah."

"Really?"

She nodded her head while secretly stealing glances to Liu Zijian to check his reaction.

He actually wasn't looking at her when he utter some words.

"Let's start evaluating your work."

As he touched the knots one by one as if checking their authenticity, Han Meixiu started to explain her works.

She was like an A straight student having a practical examination, showing off her excellent works and Liu Zijian was her professor.

When she was still a student, she had few professor who were really good looking but she never tried to aim for a full mark to impress them even though she had the capability. If she would get a slightly favorable impression from them, she would definitely become the target of bullying from the 'fans' of those professors. In most cases she would always settle for an average performance. Besides nobody was pressuring her to excel in her studies.

She wondered if Liu Zijian was really her professor would she also try to excel like this? Probably.

She started explaining from the process up until to the possible uses of each knot. No one could actually tell that she's nervous except from the fact that she wasn't looking directly at Liu Zijian's face.

Her line of sight was either on the ceiling or the table and only from time to time she would steal glances on the rope knot he was holding to check if he proceeded to the next one before she would continue.

For Han Meixiu this male goddess in front of her was extremely alluring and dangerous. The refreshing scent was attacking her in all direction and the way his fingers gently traced those knots were actually not helping her at all. Her mind would actually run wild imagining what if it's her body he's caressing? She knew the feeling and of course, she actually liked it.

She also paused several times to clear her throat as well as her wandering mind.

But she's also fully aware that if she made a move now, there would be consequences. Thus she was really trying her best to control herself.

She has been pinching her palm secretly to induce pain to probably divert her attention every time she finished explaining.

She didn't really dare look at his face. Fortunately, aside from nodding that she could see in her peripheral vision, Liu Zijian didn't say nor do anything out of ordinary.

After she finished explaining all the knots she did, she lowered her gaze and like an obedient student, waited patiently for the final verdict of the teacher.

Liu Zijian observed carefully the young woman in front of him. There was a sly smile playing on his face. If other people would see this side of him, they would probably thought that both Liu Zilong and Liu Zijian were definitely siblings. They both possessed this kind of demeanor that nobody could ever imitate. But then again, Liu Zijian never showed this side of him in public.

His little wife wasn't looking at him. Or to put more precisely, she never looked at his face.

He was thinking if he would let her off tonight or not, seeing her struggling to compose herself.

While Han Meixiu already covered mostly the basic survival rope knots techniques, it's time for the other purpose.

"You've done well." He started and placed the rope on the table. He then adjusted his sitting position and moved closer to Han Meixiu who was starting to bit her lower lips.

"Now, we're gonna practice tying up a person."

"Huh?" Han Meixiu suddenly lifted up her face painted fully with a sense of surprise and confusion. "Why do I need to learn and practice it? Zijian, I'll be probably assigned gathering data in the digital world. I'll be always inside a room,..."

"If someone will harm you, you can't just shoot that person. You need to interrogate him and you can't interrogate unless he's securely tied up, correct?"

"If you're not careful enough, then he might attack you again. Then it would be dangerous." He explained calmly. Although the probability of this scenario might be less than 1%, it's still better to be familiarized with it. Besides, this excuse was fitting for the 'training'.

Han Meixiu nodded. She eventually understood his point. So it was like that. Then it's really necessary.

Actually his argument could be considered nonsensical. It was important to first outsmart the enemy before she could tie him or her up. Thus, she should train her physical strength first prior to whatever rope knot he was trying to teach her.

But since Han Meixiu was already having a chaotic mind and heart as of the moment, she couldn't think properly how weak his 'reason' for teaching her this 'technique'.

To put it simply, this pre-training was simply unnecessary.

"Good. Get the cotton rope, the white and thin one, and tie my hands first. I'll instruct you how to do it." Liu Zijian simply said.

Han Meixiu rummaged the bag and picked the cotton rope. But before she could even start, she clearly saw Liu Zijian's not so proper position.

He was leaning forward and he slightly stretched both of his arms so his wrists would be easier to bound.

The originally lousy worn robe almost fully exposed his upper body. His little beans were actually playing hide and seek every time he moved a little.

Han Meixiu inhaled and exhaled deeply before she placed the rope back where she took it and walked towards the closet.

She looked for a set of clothes and went back to where Liu Zijian was seated.

"Put on some clothes. You'll catch a cold." She seriously said while her eyes were looking somewhere else.

Liu Zijian shook his head slightly. It seemed that he wasn't fully successful. Maybe he should do change his strategy? Or his wife could really managed well her desires? Whichever was the reason, he would concede for now.

He accepted the clothes and was surprised after seeing them. He thought she just randomly took something to wear but didn't think it's actually something that would cover him up - fully.

"It's summer now." He said as if reminding Han Meixiu that these clothes were not appropriate.

"We can make the room's temperature lower." She really wanted to cover him up. It would be better for her to not see too much of his skin as she's on the verge of giving in. But she didn't want to provoke him again, especially if he's fully sober. She simply didn't have the guts.

Liu Zijian let out a soft chuckle.

'She's destined to escape tonight. Alright.'