Talk first

She could hear nearing footsteps out in the hall. Her hands darted out to take out a random book from the shelf.

With a quick run and a jump, Ying Yue landed on the couch in Fei Huangjin's study, pretending to have fallen asleep in an awkward position after trying to read one of his books on economics. She had one leg over the back of the couch and an arm casually dropping loosely to the floor. The other arm was cradling the book she stole from the shelf.

The door opened silently, and Fei Huangjin's head poked in with a frosty look on his face, which immediately warmed up when he caught sight of Ying Yue on the couch. There was a book on top of her, and it seemed like she had fallen asleep after a sad attempt of studying it.

He chuckled lightly and walked in, stopping before her.

There was a slight wrinkle on her forehead and signs of exhaustion on her face. He wasn't very surprised. After all, she didn't get enough sleep last night. Dirty thoughts filtered in his mind for all the things he could possibly do with her on this couch.

Fei Huangjin bit his lip to stop himself.

"Ying Yue," he called out, bending on one knee and shaking her gently awake. "Mrs. Fei." Her eyes flew open and a tinge of red touched her cheeks almost instantly, making him chuckle. "Lunch is ready," he told her.

She took the hand he held out and followed him to the dining area, being careful with the emotions she was giving off. She wasn't sure she should bring it up yet. A million questions were on her lips, waiting to be spoken. Why did you tell me you left the letter at the headquarters? We just got married, but why did you lie to me? Why was it on your desk? Why didn't you tell me about what it said? Why were the documents missing? Why was Ying Shen a part of Dragon Club?

Why? Why? Why?

Ying Yue pursed her lips as he pulled out a chair of her, and she flashed him a brief dry smile as thanks. She debated on when she was to bring it up.

Fei Huangjin placed sweet and sour pork on her plate, and cut out a piece of the steamed fish, serving a slice to her first before putting anything on his plate. "How's the food?"

The eager look on his face dampened her spirits a bit. Maybe she should bring it up after lunch instead. She started eating, and although the aroma was divine, she could hardly taste the food because of all the thoughts of Ying Shen in her mind. She pretended to be enchanted with the pork she was chewing on. "Oh www, eh gerrd," she said with a full mouth.

He smirked, "Swallow that down before you say anything."

She did as she was told and looked back up at him. "I said 'oh wow, it's good!'"

He just smiled. He could hear the enthusiasm in her voice and could see the bright expressions she was making. But if there's anything he'd learned in the years he'd been handling Fei International, it was that the eyes didn't lie. And right now, her eyes were dull and lackluster, devoid of that spark of joy she had on earlier.

What was wrong?

The conversations over dinner flew endlessly, and she laughed at the right times and teased him as well. However, her eyes still hardly held any shine in them. Was she regretting getting married to him?

A dull ache started to gnaw at his chest.

"Do you want fruit for dessert? I have some pineapples cooled in the fridge." Fei Huangjin began to stand up, but Ying Yue stopped him with a smile and a hand on his wrist.

"Let's have that later. Why don't we talk first?"

He pursed his lips and nodded before sitting back down. "What about?"