There wasn't much on the table other than plain chicken soup and a few vegetable dishes. Yu Mei who was sitting next to Pei Nan wasn't sure if he would be able to eat it or not. After all, he was of royal descent. Never would the palace serve him such simple dishes. She worried he would have an upset stomach afterwards.
So many people were at the table yet her only focus was on him.
Chu'mei and Feng Ju were also sitting at the table. It took constant nagging from Uncle and Aunt Po before the two agreed to sit at the dinner table.
In which universe was it okay for servants to be dining with their masters? This much, the two knew. But who knew how persistent the elder couple could be; thus there were six people at the table. The elder couple sat at one side while Yu Mei and Pei Nan shared another. Chu'mei and Feng Ju too sat together, leaving one side of the table empty.
Chu'mei had taken a seat first. She assumed Feng Ju would take the empty side of the table. But no, he had to sit right next to her. If she wasn't trying to be respectful in front of the elder couple, she would have scolded him until he moved.
His motive? To drive her mad.
Aunt Po sensing the awkwardness between the four picked some spinach and place it on Yu Mei's dish. "Mei'er, don't be shy. Even though there isn't much, I assure you my cooking is delightful." She then turned to Pei Nan. "Isn't that right Little Nan?"
"Aunt Po is the best cook in the world." He emphasized, sounding even a bit sarcastic.
"You silly child. Why must you always be sarcastic?" Aunt Po scolded him lightly.
"I'll eat well." Yu Mei smiled, picking up her chopstick and eating. Pei Nan wasn't lying, these simple dishes were simply too good.
Only those words were spoken before it became silent again.
It didn't take Uncle Po long to realize that Pei Nan and Yu Mei weren't as close as they should be. As a husband and wife, they didn't even look at each other or converse happily. How was he to help these two?
"Nan, is this really Lady Pan? She's nothing like how you described her." Uncle Po spoke. His words were meant to be a conversation starter but it was quite random and almost awkward instead.
This made everyone turn their heads towards Pei Nan's direction. A flustered expression shown on his face. What in the devil was his uncle trying to do, he thought.
"True. Now that your uncle mentioned it, this lady sure doesn't seem to fit the description you gave. Look at how charming and sweet she is." Aunt Po decided to go along with her husband as she praised Yu Mei.
This only left Pei Nan more flustered and Yu Mei curious. Were they trying to dig his grave for him? Why would they be bringing up past comments?
Yu Mei leaned forward and stared at the elder couple curiously. "Oh? Pei Nan talks about me?"
"I don't. Can we drop the topic now?" Pei Nan sternly spoke, trying to cut all talks. Uncle and Aunt Po wanted to speak praises about Yu Mei but stopped when they heard him. They knew what this voice of his was.
The two got the meaning but Yu Mei didn't. Either she really didn't know he was angered or she pretended not to feel it. Instead she turned her attention to him and smiled. "So you do talk about me?" Her pitch went high as if teasing him.
She was playing with him and he knew it. This woman dares, he thought.
"Fine, I did talk about you. But what's so wrong with me talking about my wife." He looked her in the eyes as if challenging her.
She stared at him. He knew what she wanted to ask but he refused to say. Yu Mei thought he was playing stupid, and indeed she was right. "Well? Aren't you going to tell me?"
"NO! Now eat your dinner." He reached to grab some more greens and placed it into her rice bowl.
Yu Mei had no choice but to back down.
***
The Po couple led Yu Mei and Pei Nan into a spare room. Once the two were alone, Pei Nan sensed something was off. Yu Mei was giving him looks he could only interpret as pissed off.
He tried to ignore her gazes as he walked over to the bed. The moment he sat on the edge of the bed and looked over at Yu Mei, she already had one foot on the window sill. "PAN YU MEI!" he shouted.
She turned her head over to see the stern Pei Nan making his way over to her. She panicked and tried to escape through the window as fast as possible.
Both her feet were on the window sill, all she had left to do was to jump.
One step too slow.
Pei Nan's arm wrapped around her waist right before she could attempt her escape. Yu Mei let out a gasp of disbelief. He was taking advantage of her again. Her head flung to stare at him. "Let go of me." She demanded.
"What are you doing?" He asked, trying to pull her in but she was holding too firmly onto the window.
"What do you think I'm doing? I'm leaving. I'm going to go sleep with Chu'mei." Yu Mei told him honestly.
"Then why are you not going through the front doors?"
"Why else. Aunt Po is probably still there." She once again honestly spoke.
"You're afraid Aunt Po will find out we've never slept together?" He teased. The accusations! His stupid accusation made Yu Mei flustered for a second, thus she lost her grip.
Yu Mei felt her body fall his way. All she remembered was his naughty arm pulling her waist towards him. She didn't know how many times her body had spun before she ran straight into his hard chest.
When she looked up, he had a satisfied expression on his face. "Are you done playing?" He didn't sound mad. To be exact, he quite enjoyed this sudden show of hers.
"Your highness should let go now." She asked nicely. Her face went down to look at the ground. She didn't know why she felt embarrassed to be this close to him. It was a first for her. Could it be because of what Aunt Po told her, she thought. Whatever it was, she couldn't look him in the eyes at the moment.
"If I let you go, you'll run away again." He countered.
"I wasn't running away. I was simply making an escape." She retorted softly, still refusing to look at him.
Pei Nan's brow arched. Was she playing with him? What was the difference between what he said and what she said? To make an escape was simply running away. But he had to admit, she always made him speechless.
With his free hand, he slowly went to pinch her chin between his fingers, raising her face to look at him. His gaze fixed on her as he took time to appreciate the woman in front of him. The more he looked at her, the more charming she became. Lips, lips, lips was all he could think about.
His head slowly moved towards her. He was going in for a kiss. If he didn't kiss her tonight, he felt he would really die from frustration. The closer he came to her, the sweeter the scent of her became. He would never grow tired of her orange jasmine scent. Surely it would only make the kiss sweeter.
His mind was completely filled with taking possession of her lips; to taste and nibble those fiery lips of hers. Those lips that knew no fear.
His want for her broke the moment she turned her head away.
She refused him.
A look of disappointment and hurt took over him. But still, no matter what her reason for rejecting him was, he would not let her go until he got his answer.
"Do you dislike me that much?" his voice filled with rejection and hurt.
"I should be asking you that. Your highness complains and badmouths me behind my back. So why would you want to kiss a woman who irritates and frustrates you to the point where you want to go insane?" She coldly turned to face him.
Pei Nan felt his body loosen. Just now, he thought she moved away because she did not like him. Instead it was because of this. The reason as to why she had been giving him such distasteful looks was because of his aunt. What had his aunt told her, he thought. He knew his aunt was never good with her words. He could only assume that Yu Mei had misunderstood whatever his aunt was trying to convey to her.
Indeed his guess was right.
Yu Mei was really angered when she found out he told his aunt about all those times she had hit and disobeyed him. She remembered Aunt Po's last words to her when the two were alone cleaning. "Little Nan grew up in a strict and harsh environment and has always spoken roughly."
Then the woman went on to explain about the curiosity still stuck in Yu Mei's mind ever since Uncle Po said something about her not being like the lady Pei Nan explained. "You are the first woman he has ever talked about. He complains about you but that only shows that you have slowly crept into his heart. Seeing how you always retort him, I can see why he is quite frustrated with you." Aunt Po chuckled.
Yu Mei then asked why she was telling her all this. Was she trying to create a larger distance between her and his highness. Not that they had much going on anyways.
Her answer was simple. It only made Yu Mei more confused than before. "Little Nan may be filled of complaints but his eyes speak a different story. Even though I only see Little Nan a few times a year, I know what kind of person he is. He has never opened his heart to anyone before. Give him some time, he still doesn't understand that he has already started opening his heart to you."
Now that she was looking at Pei Nan, there was no way it was true. Never opened up to anyone? If he wasn't head over heels for Fei Ning, she might have believed Aunt Po's words.
Pei Nan sighed deeply. Now he had no choice but to explain to her. He tightened his grip around her waist, trying to close as much distance between them as possible. She was adorable, he thought to himself. He always thought she was most adorable when angered.
"Fine! I"ll be honest. I did speak ill of you. But that mouth of yours truly irritates me. Such tender lips yet so ferocious and full of spikes." As he spoke, his eyes went down to her lips. He slowly moved his hand from her chin to her left cheek as he softly stroked her smooth skin. His thumb brushed her lips lightly, gently caressing them.
She felt a tingle run through her entire body.
"Are you mad I said you frustrate me to the point where I'm about to go insane?" Nothing but playful teasing in his voice.
She was speechless.
She was being serious.
He was quite satisfied with her reaction. "Surely you didn't want me to tell her of the sexual frustrations you've caused me, did you?"
"Your highness, mind your words!" Yu Mei gasped in horror. She was not prepared for his bluntness. A sudden rush of warmth flooded her cheeks.
He only responded with a seductive smile. "Do you know how much you've tortured me all these times? When you retort me with that smart mouth of yours, I just can't help but want to devour and make them mine." His fingers went to play with a lock of curls at the side of her face. "Do you know how hard it is to not think about kissing you? It's to the point where I've gone insane."
He leaned next to her ear. "I think about bedding you all the time. You truly frustrate me."
"You...you..." She could not think of one thing to say to him. How shameless!
His finger teasingly followed her cheeks until they met with her lips once more. "I want to kiss you but only if you allow me to. If you don't want me, I won't force you." He leaned forward.
Her heart was racing. What was she to do?