22_"You really made me worried."

Li Yao ended up getting absorbed in her work that day and she totally forgot to pay attention to her phone. She only got to receive a quick phone call from Mu Lihai during lunch break asking about her day. He asked to fetch her and send her home after work to which she declined. She didn't want to trouble him. They just met yesterday and he told her he had just finished his meeting. It was better to let him take a breather rather than going around to come and get her.

As they called off their phone call, Li Yao finally noticed that something seemed off with him while they were on the phone just now. He was even out of it last night when they were talking in her apartment.

She decided to just brush it off. Maybe she was just being sensitive. Or if something did happen, she would wait for him to share with her about anything.

As she took a public transport to go back home at six in the evening, Li Yao was suddenly reminded of the text email she got after midnight.

She got down from the bus and walked a distance to a nearby convenience store for some necessities. Li Yao continued to walk home but her luck was bad when she bumped into someone and she quickly apologized.

"What? Just a sorry isn't enough." the man she bumped to was taller than her and he had a tattoo of some sort around his arms. He was smitten by her pretty look and wanted her to accompany him.

"I already apologized, please let me through." she told the man off as she attempted to get past him.

"Hey, a sorry is still not enough. How about you accompany me somewhere and we can call it even?" he told Li Yao to which she snorted.

"I don't think that's necessary. Please let me through." she wanted to badly sue the man for harassment but decided against it.

"Hey, I asked you nicely. Why don't you give me some face, huh." the man became irritated as he took a step forward.

Li Yao took a step back but her conviction was still apparent. It irked the man even more and he spat out profanities towards her. Threatening her to listen to him. He felt his ego big, such a small defenseless woman and she wasn't even afraid of him? Nonsense!

"Hey! What do you-" Li Yao's hand was grabbed by the man and she hissed in pain. His grip was strong.

Li Yao tried resisting but he soon became fed up and he pulled her harshly. She let out a wince from his grip.

At that time, she really regretted turning down her boyfriend's offer to fetch her from work. As she fought hard to break free from the hard grip, a shadow came from behind her and it went straight towards the tattooed man, where a punch was perfectly landed on his face. It caused him to stagger a few steps back, his lips broke with a taint of blood.

"Dare to touch my woman, huh?! You got a death wish?" his familiar sweet voice made Li Yao turn her head immediately to the source that she could have get a whiplash for it.

"Mu Lihai..?" she was surprised to see him near her neighborhood. Why was he here?

"Are you injured?" he asked her with worry plastered on his face. When his eyes trailed over her bruised hand, he got that menacing look that Li Yao was sure that he would just murder someone right away at that time.

"This bastard-" as he was about to beat the man into a pulp, she hugged him from behind.

"It's fine! That's enough! I'm okay now." she tried to calm him down.

"Let's go home.. okay?" Li Yao tried to coax Mu Lihai as she saw him still adamant on inflicting pain onto the poor man. He was nothing like the dignified president of a huge enterprise. More like a street youth who was angry at his favorite person being bullied.

*

Mu Lihai was quiet the whole journey to her home and Li Yao didn't know what she did wrong. When they arrived at her door, she told him to get inside but he just stood there not taking a step inside the apartment.

Her heart stung at his action and she felt sad. As she was about to say something to appease him, she found herself being carried like a princess to the sofa. He asked her where the first aid box was located and she instinctively told him to look under the cabinet.

Mu Lihai found it almost immediately and he crouched down in front of her to tend to her injury. Li Yao planned to refuse his gesture but soon got nothing to say as his adamant gaze told her to stay put.

She looked down on her wrist where the red mark was as he carefully wrapped an elastic bandage over it after applying some ointment gel for swelling.

"You.." he sighed after being silent for a long while.

"You really made me worried." he said as he clenched the remaining gauze.

"What do I do with you, huh?" Mu Lihai finally looked up to see Li Yao's face reddening. She was holding back tears.

He was feeling very restless last night that he couldn't sleep well. His head kept repeating Li Yao's words over and over. He was afraid that the woman involved in the accident six years ago turned out to be Li Yao's mother. He couldn't accept that.

But he didn't want to let go.

Li Yao was very precious to him. It might be just a misunderstanding on his part. The report from Zhu Kang wasn't in his hands yet. So nothing was confirmed. So he felt like seeing her again today. If he didn't see Li Yao, he would forever be restless.

Then a pearl of tears fell down Li Yao's cheek suddenly, Mu Lihai could feel his heart tightening. It was painful to see her like this. He didn't like to see her cry.

"Come here." he beckoned her as she laid her head down on him. They embraced each other and felt the warmth of the other slowly.