"Mr. Wong, we will take our leave. Please, excuse us," said Yanfeng, already holding onto Yanyue's hand like a gentleman escorting his girl. Yanyue was relieved to escape the stuffy atmosphere, so she didn't reject his gesture.
The mayor bade them farewell. Beichen didn't bother to bat an eye. And Wanyue welcomed their absence because her lover's attention had been on the woman opposite her ever since they arrived.
Once they got further away, Yanyue thanked Yanfeng. The man apologized again for requesting her to accompany him to the function. If she didn't promise, then she wouldn't have to meet Beichen and Wanyue.
After walking and greeting so many people, Yanyue felt a little tired, so she told Yanfeng that she would go to rest in the room.
But as she was locating the room, she accidentally collided with a little boy running down the hall.
"I'm sorry, are you alright?" she inquired with anxiety while helping the little boy up from the burgundy carpeted floor.
When she made eye contact with the boy, she felt a sense of loss.
The kid also took a long glance at Yanyue. Then, he ran away without saying anything back.
"Hey!" Yanyue called after the kid, but his tiny body disappeared around the corner.
She spotted a shiny object on the floor. It was a beautiful yellow, golden ring. On the inside were the initial J and L with a heart between the letters.
The ring seemed important. She didn't know if this was something dropped by the boy or someone else.
Perhaps she could find the boy and ask him.
Instead of finding her room, she put the ring in her wallet and walked in the direction where the little boy had disappeared.
She came upon a deck. There was no sight of the boy or any other person. But, the scenery was beautiful, so she leaned on the rail to enjoy the fresh ocean air before heading back.
She closed her eyes and took in the cool breeze, letting her tense shoulders relax.
Maybe she felt too relaxed, so she did not sense the danger that was lurking behind her.
Her arm was snatched and she was forced to face him.
"Your highness..."
"How dare you embarrass me by coming with another man?" Beichen asked menacingly.
"I'm sorry, I didn't know that you would also be here," said Yanyue, wincing from the pain of his tight hold of her arm.
Beichen sneered.
"If I'm not here, would you brazenly announce your affair with him?"
"It's not like that," Yanyue defended.
Beichen looked at her big stomach and smirked.
"A woman like you who sticks to one man after another can give birth to my child? I would be a fool to believe that this child is mine."
Yanyue met his eyes with her wide ones.
"But this is your child. I would never betray you like Wan-" The words stuck in her throat. She couldn't say it for fear of hurting the Shen family.
The man smiled wickedly.
"My child?"
He stepped in closer, and as if to remind her, he said, "Have you already forgotten your sin? My child died by your hands."
Yanyue froze. The scene of Wanyue falling down the stairs played in the back of her mind. Even though she did not push the woman, she felt remorse for letting things get to this step. It was just too late to reverse everything back to the way they were, back to when she was a nameless girl looking at him from afar while he hugged his favorite woman.
Her eyes were gleaming as she looked at him. "You can accuse me of a dozen things, but you cannot denounce this child in my stomach."
Beichen ignored her eyes that always seemed to strike him speechless. "Only time can tell whether that's true or not. Of course, I have many ways to punish you if you're lying."
"I'm not scared because this is really your child," Yanyue said firmly.
As they deadlocked their eyes at each other, Yanyue felt a tug on her dress. She looked down and saw the little boy from earlier.
"Oh, it's you," she said with a smile to the boy.
Beichen looked at Yanyue smiling down at the little boy and felt a little irritated.
The little boy got in front of Yanyue. His hands opened protectively in front of Yanyue against Beichen.
"You bad boy!" the child raised his cutesy voice towards Beichen. "Uncle said that boy cannot bully girl!"
Yanyue and Beichen were both speechless and surprised.
Beichen looked at the little boy and was annoyed by his words.
"Little guy, sometimes your uncle can be wrong. I'm not bullying a woman," Beichen walked over to Yanyue and wrapped his hand around her waist as he hooked his lips wickedly, "I'm bullying my wife."
Yanyue looked at Beichen in disbelief. Just now, he was threatening her and discrediting her, but now he said that she was his wife?
She thought that this man was a master of disguise.
The little guy, who was slightly shoved to the side when Beichen strode over, frowned.
"Your wife?" the boy asked.
Beichen looked at the boy. "Yes, my wife. It means I can bully her however I want."
The boy was silent as if defeated. But, after contemplating for a few seconds, he raised his voice again, "But uncle said bully is wrong, so you cannot bully your wife!"
Beichen smirked. He didn't really like kids, but this little boy was somewhat tolerable. But seeing how protective this boy was towards Yanyue, he felt a little annoyed as if the little boy would steal her away. And he didn't take too lightly of that idea because this woman was his property, so only he had the right to play with her however he liked. Not even a little kid can monopolize her.
"Little boy, I'm not bullying her. Look."
Then, Beichen gripped on Yanyue's chin and forced her lips up to meet his.
The kiss was so sudden that Yanyue had no time to prepare herself mentally. The little boy was still there, so she pushed Beichen away with a short struggle.
Beichen only gave her a deceiving stare when they parted, while Yanyue's face was red from shame. If she could, then she would hide in a hole.
"You see, I'm not bullying my wife, but I'm just giving her a little love lesson. You will know when you grow up," said Beichen cunningly.
Yanyue was a little flustered when he said that.
The three-year-old boy had always seen his uncle kiss his aunt, so he knew what the two adults in front of him were doing.
His uncle told him that whenever he saw this, then this meant that he must be a good little boy and go away to watch the television or go to play in his toy room. The reason was that that was how he could get a little cousin to play with him.
Then, his uncle would take his aunt to the room, and they would remain there for a long time before they came out. Usually, his aunt would be so tired that she would sleep for the whole evening or day.
"Uncle, do you want to make a little cousin with this pretty sister?" the little boy said unabashedly.
Yanyue was embarrassed and wanted to stop the topic from continuing. Remembering that she had wanted to ask the little boy about the ring, she took it out and crouched down to show it to him.
"I found this ring when I bumped into you earlier. Does this belong to you, little one?"
"Mommy's ring!"
The boy felt his pocket for the item that was in it before. It was empty.
He took the ring and held it tightly in his hand like it was a treasure.
The little boy continued, "Uncle said this ring is mommy's ring. Thank you, pretty sister!"
Wanting to show his appreciation, the little boy tiptoed and gave a cute little smooch to Yanyue on her cheeks.
Yanyue felt something tugging at her heart when the little boy kissed her. Before this, she had always felt like something was missing. She could never pinpoint what that was. But the boy gave her that warm feeling of completeness. It was as if meeting this boy was fate.
She wondered if it was because the little bean sprout in her stomach was a boy too, so she just pictured her son in this little boy's image? She was about to be a mother, so perhaps it was the nature of mothers to be motherly to other children as well.
"Xiaobao!"
The little boy looked over to where the voice was coming.
"Why did you run away from the guards?" asked the man as he walked over to them.
The boy lowered his head down apologetically. "I'm sorry uncle..."
"Don't ever do that again, okay?"
The little boy nodded his head. Then, just like that, a cheerful grin appeared on his lips again.
"Uncle, this pretty sister found my ring!"
The man looked at Yanyue, and then he smiled warmly at her.
"Thank you, miss..."
"You can call me Yanyue," said Yanyue with a friendly smile.
"Alright, thank you again Miss Yanyue. This ring is the only keepsake that his late mother saved for him, so it's important to him."
Yanyue felt sad hearing what the man said.
Such a young child had already lost his mother?
She couldn't imagine leaving her baby alone in this world.
After thanking her, the man picked up the little boy. Yanyue looked at the two figures walking away. A weird feeling overcame her as the little boy finally disappeared around the corner.
"You've just met, but can't bear to part?" Beichen mocked.
Yanyue replied, "That's not it. I just think that the little boy was cute is all."
"Is it the boy, or his uncle?"
As always, Beichen would always make or find a way to think the worst of her.
Beichen continued, "Your seduction skills are indeed top-notch." He was referring to when Yanyue smiled at the man. "That man couldn't keep his eyes away from you the moment he came over until when he left."
Yanyue did not notice, but she was sure that the interaction between that man and her were purely that of normal people who just meeting each other. But this man was headstrong and thought however he wanted, so she wasn't even allowed the chance to refute anything.
After assuming everything wrongly, Beichen also left the deck.
Yanyue emptied her chest with a sigh. She didn't know whether she was relieved that he left or sad that he always assumed the worst of her.
As she remained in her head, she saw a shadow from the corner of her eyes.
Before she knew it, she felt her body weight lighten as she fell into the ocean. She was too taken aback to even find her voice.
The last thing she saw was Wanyue standing on the deck, donning a wicked smile.
Yanyue knew how to swim, but as she tried to swim back to the cruise ship, her leg suddenly cramped. Since pregnancy, she frequently experienced leg cramps. She just cursed that it had to happen now during this life and death situation.
"Help!"
The leg cramps were so painful that she couldn't keep herself afloat anymore. She screamed as loud as she could, but it seemed like there was no one nearby to hear her at all.
"Someone fell," a person yelled from the ship, getting the attention of everyone else. They gathered on the rails to look at what happened.
Would someone come to save her?
She chanted help inside her head as her body finally gave up.
When she thought that her life was ending, she suddenly felt a warmth covering her mouth.
She wanted to open her eyes to look at who it was, but she couldn't at all.
However, the arms that circled her felt so familiar.
Is it you?
She thought so, but it was impossible. He would never jump into the ocean to save her. After all, he hated her so much. If he could, then he would rather let her die instead.
After thinking this, she completely lost consciousness.
Back on the ship in the crowd, Wanyue clenched her hands in anger as she looked at the man carrying Yanyue out of the water.
She muttered under her breath, "Why are you so lucky, you bitch!"