"you seem to have a habit of mumbling. You mumble a lot" smiled Li Jie who then turned to the other side looking for his laptop.
Huh? Looked up Zhang Xiaoxi. Sensing the way she was laying on the bed, embarrassed she awkwardly got up from the bed. In her hurry to get up she twisted and her ankle and fell forward even before Li Jie could understand what was going on.
As soon as a THUD echoed in the room, Li Jie turned around to look at the bed but found no one, as he took a glance at the floor, he found Zhang Xiaoxi who hit her knees and was rubbing her knees, with tears welled up in her eyes.
Li Jie squatted down" how did you fall down, get up I will help you"
"where are you hurt?" asked who Li Jie who then noticed her rubbing her knee which has now become red due to the fall and her continuous rubbing. Since, Zhang Xiaoxi was wearing a knee length dress, it was easy for him to look .
"stop, don't rub it like that, I will get the ointment" said Li Jie. Then he went around the bed to the bedside table to take out the ointment.
Squatting down, Li Jie took out some ointment and started applying it on her wound who then started blowing on it to cool it down.
Being in pain, Zhang Xiaoxi could only allow him to put the ointment but when Li Jie started blowing on the wound, she could feel goose bumps and the hair on back of her neck stiffened.
Oblivious to the changes in her body, Li Jie kept on taking care of the wound until she cleared her throat to cover her blush.
Looking up he noticed the redness on her cheeks. Not able to understand what happened he got up and asked "are you okay?"
Scratching the back of her neck, Zhang Xiaoxi nodded her head and thanked him.
Looking at her for few seconds, Li Jie said "I will be in the study, you can take some rest. If you need anything just look for me or anyone"
Looking at Li Jie who already turned and started walking towards door "can we talk? "whispered Xiaoxi.
"Did u say something? Or were you mumbling again?" Asked Li Jie who did not quite understand her mumbling
Gathering her courage, Zhang Xiaoxi asked again "Can we talk"?
Coming back and sitting on the bed, Li Jie said " sure".
Looking at Zhang Xiaoxi who was fidgeting her hands, Li Jie chuckled and asked "are you gonna be like this for the rest of your life. Since we agreed to get married, we should also let go of these things like nervousness and awkwardness, I guess."
"you know dad came looking for me and told me that I should give myself and our marriage a chance – I am willing to give it a chance, but I don't want to force you to do the same. It totally is your choice whether you want to give it a chance or no"
" you don't have to be nervous around me, you can talk what you feel like, even I have the same awkwardness as you do because we never knew each other, but I am trying to overcome it and I hope you will try to."- explained LI Jie.
Listening to Li jie's words, Zhang Xiaoxi felt that she was being ignorant, he hated that she was not able to speak. But with his words, her nervousness got less. Looking up to meet his eyes, she said
"I am sorry, I don't know why but I am really nervous, maybe because I read about you being cold and ruthless, I thought you are like that even at home. So…"
"don't worry, I may be cold towards others, but you are my wife now. And I am never cold towards my family. I just talk a little less which I am just habituated to. You can talk to me normally." Explained Li Jie patiently with a hint of smile on his face.
"looking at his faint smile on his handsome face, and listening to the word WIFE from his mouth, Zhang Xiaoxi heart skipped a beat.
"how handsome "thought Zhang Xiaoxi.
Coming out of her thoughts, she smiled and told him "thank you, and I am also willing to give our marriage a chance and the friends thing, can we still do it. Can we get to know each other? "
"sure, we can be friends" extending his hand towards Zhang Xiaoxi Li jie said.
Shaking his hand, Zhang Xiaoxi smiled. " thank you CEO Li"
"can you not call me CEO LI, my mom would kill me if she listens to the way you call me and even I also feel we are still strangers whenever you call me that"
thinking what he said made sense, Zhang Xiaoxi smiled and called him "Li Jie"
"thank you!" said Li Jie
"And you can call me Xiaoxi "– smiled Zhang Xiaoxi
Her smile bought an unknown happiness to his heart without his knowledge of what is happening to him.
"okay, you can take some rest, I have to complete some work." said Li Jie who then got up and left the room.
Looking at the door which Li Jie closed, Zhang Xioaxi sighed,
"maybe things won't be so awkward if we start being friends. Unnecessarily I misunderstood him to be a cold person."
Thinking about their conversation, the exhausted new bride, Zhang Xiaoxi drifted off to sleep.