"I knew that you were popular, but I didn't think those guys would be that crazy about you to this extent," I admitted while driving my Toyota. In the passenger seat, Lily Ling shrugged nonchalantly.
"Honestly, I find such affections more annoying than flattering."
"Speaking of which, I find it strange that you're popular, Trevor," Arnold Ang said from the back seat, his arms folded. "I thought there would be more women surrounding you, trying to win your heart or attempting to seduce you."
"Why the fuck would they do that?" I rolled my eyes. "I'm not handsome enough. They probably think I'm too old and plain. Not to mention, they already know I'm engaged to Lily. They aren't that shameless. In a way, they are more realistic than those desperate men back there. Those guys can have any women they want, but why are they so desperate for a married or engaged woman? It makes them look like a bunch of pathetic simps, honestly."
"That usually occurs when the author wants to self-insert herself into her female lead and savor the feeling of being popular and being fought over by many rich men, probably to assuage her own ego," Lily explained. I wondered about that, but I didn't argue. That was such a weird generalization to make.
Arnold didn't seem like he bought it either, but he shrugged. "Maybe."
"But I agree with Arnold. I thought there would be more women around you. You aren't that ugly, and you're only in your early thirties so you're not that old. Many women are shallow creatures. They would want you only for your fortune. They usually don't care about your looks or age or personality."
Lily grimaced. I shook my head.
"I've always been unpopular since I was young."
"You're probably too much of a nice guy," Arnold suggested.
"Yeah. You're not overbearing, toxic or abusive enough. Girls usually like bad boys." Lily sighed and shook her head in disapproval. "They want somebody more assertive, maybe a bit more violent and very arrogant. A man who's not afraid to show off. You're too humble and pacifistic. You also don't show off. I mean, look at your car."
"What's wrong with my Toyota?" I snapped. "I don't get the obsession over cars. Toyota is the number one car company, it produces reliable and economical cars. Why are people looking down on me just because I own a Toyota? They can fuck off and buy whatever cars they want. My car is none of their goddamned business."
"In principle, I don't disagree, but that's exactly why you aren't popular." Arnold snickered. "Women prefer men with branded, expensive luxury cars. That's probably why they don't flock to you after you get down from your car."
"All the better."
"Honestly, though, I thought you would at least have a female secretary who will try to get to close to you…" Lily muttered.
"William Wang is my secretary, and he already has a girlfriend. The both of us are straight, so you don't have to worry about that."
"Or you might have a childhood sweetheart who your parents betrothed you to when you were kids."
"You do realize that I come from a poor family? Middle income at best? We don't have relations to other families, not the kind you are thinking of. Unlike rich families, we middle-class families don't bother with marriage politics. And who would want to marry their daughter off to a son from a relatively poor family anyway? Also, throughout my childhood, most girls don't really like me. I wouldn't go as far as to say they hate me, but I'm just not their type."
"Like I said, you're too much of a nice guy." Arnold nodded sagely, his arms still folded. Lily nodded in agreement.
"If you read all those CEO stories, the female leads tend to prefer the overbearing, arrogant and abusive male leads. The second male lead, the guy who is nice to them and helps the female lead from the back, he's always dumped for the more overbearing and prideful male lead. It doesn't matter that the first male lead abuses the female lead, cheats on her, abandons her in her time of need, and chooses her enemies – basically her stepsister or scheming childhood sweetheart – over her. Her heart only belongs to him."
"Makes me feel sorry for the second lead," I muttered.
"Me too," Lily agreed. "But the reality is most women find abusive male leads more appealing."
That was a scary thought.
"On the other hand, the reality is that most women like rich men, but you seem to be an exception." Lily frowned. "Not that I'm unhappy about it, but there's something not right about this. It feels like the calm before the storm. I'm keeping an eye out for jealous secretaries, envious childhood sweethearts, hidden fiancée and even cousins, but your cousins mostly don't have much contact with you. I was half-expecting your parents not to approve of our engagement, but they have been nothing but polite to me so far."
"Have you already met my parents?" I raised an eyebrow. I didn't remember her ever meeting my parents. That was something I would have to deal with eventually. Speaking of which, my parents were in Country S. that was pretty far away.
"I talked to them over the phone," Lily admitted. "I thought it would only be courteous to at least reach out to them when getting engaged and all that. They were pretty delighted."
"Right." I remembered that my parents told me during one Skype session to bring her home. But with my work in Shen Industries piling up, particularly because of the whole naval engagement thing, I didn't have the time to visit them. In fact, I offered to pay for them to come visit me in City G. Maybe they would show up eventually.
That gave me an idea for a new chapter…ahem, I mean vacation.
"Even my stepsister hasn't actually tried to seduce you. I don't think she has approached you yet, has she?"
"Linda Ling? No, I don't think I've actually seen her except those few times I was with you."
"Yeah. I thought she would make a move on you because of how shameless she is."
"Maybe Trevor has some virginity force field protecting him from such whores," Arnold suggested with a mean smirk.
"It would be great if that's true," I muttered under my breath. That would make my life a lot simpler and cut out a lot of drama. Then I pulled to a stop next to Arnold's apartment block. "Your place, Arnold."
"Thanks. I'll get off here. Make sure you send Lily back home safely."
"Yeah, I will." I watched Arnold get off and disappear into his block. He stopped before entering the lobby to give us a final wave. Lily returned the gesture while I nodded, then I drove off.
"You know what?" Lily said suddenly while we were back on the road. "Can I stay at your house overnight?"
"Are you sure about that?" I asked. She nodded.
"Yeah. I don't really want to return home…not after what happened tonight." She flinched when she thought of something. "My father and stepmother will be sure to berate me about what happened tonight. Knowing Linda Ling, she will snitch on me and make up some story about me having seduced Zachery Zhao or whoever. I really don't want to deal with all that tonight."
"Okay. Then I'll bring you home."
If I wasn't mistaken, this wasn't the first time Lily stayed at my home overnight. She stayed the night a couple of times before, but I couldn't remember why. There was no reason to question it, though. It was perfectly normal for a girlfriend to stay over at her boyfriend's home for a couple of nights and vice versa. Most people did that until they got married and bought a house to live in together.
So Lily already had a few of her things there, like clothing and the like. It wasn't too much of a problem.
"But are you all right?"
That was the most important question. Lily was undoubtedly traumatized by the incident last night. Zachery Zhao was close to raping her. He failed, thanks to me showing up and blowing his head off before he could do anything. But even so…
"Yeah. It's just that…I was reminded of Lily Bai." Lily Ling shuddered and wrapped her hands around herself. "Her memories…I still share some of them. I saw how she died."
I reached out with one hand and squeezed hers. She smiled gratefully and turned to look at me seriously.
"Thank you. Thanks to you, we were able to take revenge for Lily Bai. I won't lie. I wasn't a big fan of her possessing my body and doing whatever she wanted against my will. But even so, it was satisfying to see him get obliterated…to see him pay for his crimes."
"Yeah, he got away with murdering Lily Bai for too long." I nodded. Whoops, I almost called her Bai Mu Zhi. Never mind.
"I'm sure she's grateful to you too."
Not that I needed her gratitude. I didn't say anything, though. We had reached home and I pulled up to my garage. The door automatically rose to grant my Toyota entry, and then we went straight to the house after that.
I allowed Lily to take a shower first, and then I did so, changing out of the uncomfortable suit and into more comfortable home clothing. When I emerged from the bathroom, I caught sight of Lily on the bed, checking her smartphone. She had an unpleasant expression on her face.
"Just as I expected," she grumbled. "My parents want to see me tomorrow."
"Okay. I'll accompany you." I didn't know what I could do, but at the very least my presence should mitigate whatever nonsense they intended to do to poor Lily.
"Thanks." My fiancée rewarded me with a smile. "I really appreciate it."
Even though I wanted to tell her not to thank me yet, I was at a loss for words at her sad smile. I closed my eyes and vowed to protect her from her family, no matter what.