Chapter 13: Did I Steal Your Man?

I held the phone tightly, not daring to make a sound.

On Xie Yan's end of the phone, there was only the howling of the wind. Just thinking that he was on his way back gave me a bit more of a sense of security. At some point, it had become completely quiet outside the door.

I hid under the covers, observing the movements outside. Suddenly, the door was pushed open with a bang.

I quickly wrapped myself tightly in the quilt and hid in the corner. Through the soft velvet, I heard a faint sound of footsteps. They were slow but approaching in a straight line. It seemed as if the person had already seen me.

The footsteps stopped almost right in front of me. I didn't dare to move.

"Is it you?" A woman's voice rang out, filled with intense anger. I had never heard this voice before, and for a moment, I couldn't figure out who it could be.

Why was this woman in Xie Yan's house?

How did she have the key?

These questions swirled in my mind one after another. I remained quiet, but the woman outside lost her patience first. The quilt over my head was suddenly yanked off.

The dazzling light suddenly appeared. My eyes couldn't adapt for a moment, and all I could see was a blinding red.

"It's you who stole him!" the woman said with certainty.

I squinted and gradually got used to the light. Only then did I clearly see the woman in front of me. She was around seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a bright red dress with big wavy curls. Her delicate features were made up with a glamorous and heavy makeup.

I was quite certain that I didn't know this woman.

"Who are you?" I asked warily.

The woman suddenly laughed when she heard my question. Her bright red lips were glistening as if she had just drunk blood, which made me feel terrified.

After she finished laughing, she sized me up and down, gave me a disdainful look, and then said to me, "I'm Xie Yan's girlfriend. My dad said that as soon as I turn eighteen, he'll go talk to Xie Yan about our

marriage. You just barged in and ruined my love. Have you no shame?"

These words left me stunned. I was completely confused.

Xie Yan had a girlfriend?

I clearly remembered Xu Xin saying that Xie Yan didn't have a girlfriend and that his personal life was clean.

When did a girlfriend come out of nowhere?

While I was in a daze, the woman grew impatient. She rushed in front of me, grabbed my shoulders with both hands, and shook me violently. "Go tell Xie Yan that you want to break up and give Xie Yan back to me, you bad woman."

Give Xie Yan back to her?

If she was really Xie Yan's legitimate girlfriend, shouldn't she be kicking me out?

Thinking of this, I simply followed the woman's words and asked, "Did Xie Yan ask you to come to me? Does he know you're here?"

"What are you asking that for?"

The woman suddenly became irritable. Her heavily - made - up face now turned ferocious. Her eyes widened as she stared at me fiercely and roared, "Xie Yan and I have been together for several years. It was because of you that he suddenly rejected me. It's all because of you, you!"

"Several years?" Looking at the woman's young face and remembering that she said she wasn't even an adult just now, I suddenly felt nauseous. Xie Yan shouldn't be that kind of person.

I reached out and slapped away the woman's hands on my shoulders, saying coldly, "Xie Yan and I are legally married. I don't know about your situation. If you really need an explanation, I can help you find Xie Yan. But for now, please leave. Otherwise, I'll call the police and report you for illegally entering a private residence."

The words "illegally entering" seemed to have irritated the woman. She suddenly turned around and ran out. Just as I was about to take the opportunity to escape, she blocked me at the door. She waved a bunch of keys in front of me.

"These are the keys to Xie Yan's house. See? I've had the keys to his house for years. You just moved in the day before yesterday. So who's the one who's illegally entering?"

The clear clashing sound of the metal keys rang in my ears. I looked

at the silver halo.

My mind was hazy, and the words "moved in the day before yesterday" echoed in my head.

This woman must have been following me and Xie Yan. Xie Yan said on the phone that he seemed to be followed too. It must be this woman. She must have come to me after making sure Xie Yan wasn't at home.

Thinking of Xie Yan, I remembered that our call was still connected. But it didn't matter.

This was originally Xie Yan's matter. It was okay if he heard it. After confirming that she wasn't the serial killer mentioned in the news, I wasn't as scared anymore.

"This is Xie Yan's phone. If you have anything to say, talk to him."

The woman looked down at the phone in my hand. As soon as she saw that the call time was still running, her face immediately turned ugly, and her eyes became evasive. Just as I was about to tell Xie Yan to come back and deal with it, the call was suddenly hung up.

It was Xie Yan who hung up.

I was stunned. A sudden sour feeling welled up in my heart. Even if it was a flash marriage without much affection, as a man, he shouldn't be so irresponsible.

However, Xie Yan hanging up the phone gave the woman a great deal of courage. Her eyes, which had been evasive, now turned into a look of showing off. Her pointed chin was facing me, and her tone was unfriendly.

"See?"

She laughed and gave me a disdainful look. "I met Xie Yan when I was fourteen. My dad knows him too and promised to marry me to Xie Yan. Xie Yan gives me a birthday present every year. Do you have that? You have nothing, yet you still want to be Mrs. Xie?"

"But I have a marriage certificate issued by the state," I retorted without showing weakness.

"Nonsense. I'm Xie Yan's fiancée. I'm the one. What are you? You're just a toy for Xie Yan to pass the time. You really think you're Mrs. Xie? I'll teach you a lesson today for stealing someone else's man."

As the woman roared angrily, she raised her hand to slap me in the face.

We were standing too close. I wanted to dodge, but there was a

closed door behind me. I had nowhere to hide. Just then, a figure flashed by, and the woman's raised palm stopped in mid - air.

"Who gave you permission to come in?"

Xie Yan's angry voice sounded behind the woman. Then he suddenly shook off the woman's hand with such great force that half of the woman's body hit the wall, and she gasped in pain.

Before I could figure out what was going on, I was hugged by Xie Yan.

"I'm sorry," Xie Yan said, pressing his chin against the top of my head, gently rubbing it, and softly comforting me. "I'm late. I didn't protect you well."

His deep and magnetic voice sounded above my head. My sluggish mind gradually regained clarity. After realizing that Xie Yan was comforting me and apologizing, I remembered the woman who was causing trouble.

I looked at the woman, and before I could say anything, Xie Yan had already started to explain. "She's the sister of the boss next door to the tattoo shop. She's still in high school. We occasionally run into each other when she gets out of school, but we've never really talked."

"Yes, we have. Who said we haven't?"

The woman, who was in pain, stood up, waved her hands, and messed up her hair, trying to make Xie Yan see her face clearly. "Once you took the initiative to talk to me. It was just after I came back from school. I hadn't even had time to go home yet."

Was she in such a hurry?

I looked up at Xie Yan curiously. His originally gentle expression had turned impatient. He turned his head and looked at the woman coldly. "It was your brother who asked me to tell you that he had something to do and went out, and asked you to go straight home."

"No, it's not." The woman started screaming like she was crazy, shaking her head and desperately denying Xie Yan's words.

I was being held by Xie Yan, and his hands were gently soothing me. At this moment, I understood what was going on, but I still asked Xie Yan reluctantly, "Then why did you hang up the phone just now?"

Just as I was asking Xie Yan to explain clearly, he hung up on me.

As soon as I said this, the crazy woman suddenly stopped. Her eyes sparkled with anticipation as she stared intently at Xie Yan's handsome face, hoping to find some sign of her importance.

We just looked at Xie Yan like this. Xie Yan didn't say anything. Then the door rang again, and a person rushed in, walked straight up to the woman, and without looking, slapped her.

The clear sound of a slap echoed in the room. The woman was stunned. When she looked up and saw the person, she said grievously, "Brother."

Brother?

I looked at the person's face and suddenly remembered that it was the person I saw in the shop next to Xie Yan's when I delivered the cake to Xie Yan and he locked the door.