"And here I thought that lying was too much work. In my case, telling the truth has become the most arduous thing to do. All because of a certain someone who just would not let me speak!" ~ Dr. Sang Tian
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"What are you doing here?" snapped Sang Tian as she stepped forward and closer to the table where her grandfather was seated along with Fang Haoran.
The man seemed to be enjoying her discomfort at his presence, the gleam in his shining brighter on seeing just how annoyed she was. "I told you that I would be visiting, didn't I?" he asked feigning confusion.
Sang Tian fought the urge to roll her eyes at his dramatics and settled on clenching her fists tight. She instead focused her attention on her grandfather who still had this impassive look on his face that made it difficult for her to decipher his mood.
While she was distracted, Fang Haoran stood up from his seat and stepped closer. Leaning down he placed a kiss on her cheek taking her by surprise, "I must have forgotten." he whispered in her ear before taking a step back.
Sang Tian flinched slightly at the feel of his lips on her skin. 'Shameless!', she remarked in her mind and slowly inched away from him and closer to her grandfather.
"Don't be mad, hhmm. I have already talked to Grandfather about it, I am sure that he understands." this time he tried to hold her hand but Sang Tian was quick to pull her hand away. She fixed him with a glare but it only made him smile finding her hostility towards him pleasing for some reason.
Sang Tian turned her attention towards her grandfather and kneeled down in front of him. Even though Fang Haoran was the first one to reveal the truth to her grandfather, Sang Tian needed to tell him her side of the story, the complete story so as to make him understand why she lied.
"I wanted to be the first one to tell you about this." she began and then paused for a few seconds to glare at Fang Haoran, "But someone else was simply too eager to have waited."
She could see a smug smile curving upon his lips that was masked stealthily by the use of his hand to cover his mouth.
Moving her gaze away from Fang Haoran, Sang Tian took a deep breath before continuing to explain to her grandfather, "I am really sorry, Grandpa. This is not how I wanted you to find out about us. This Fang Haoran -"
Grandfather Sang shook his head and waved his hand gesturing for Sang Tian to stop mid-explanation as he asked, "What do you mean by that?" his tone also did not give away his mood.
"I wanted to tell you about it by myself so that you would be able to better understand what I did and why I did that. I know that I should have talked to you about it first, talk to Mom and Dad before all this but in that moment, I just -" Sang Tian's explanation was cut short by a sudden burst of laughter.
The sound of her grandfather's booming laughter envelopment her leaving Sang Tian as perplexed as ever. She raised her head to look up at him and noticed the absolute happiness on her grandfather's face.
She blinked once, then twice, and pinched herself to be sure that this was not a dream but her grandfather continued laughing while pointing his index finger at her, "This silly child!" he patted her lightly on the head and Sang Tian wondered just what exactly did Fang Haoran say to her grandfather.
"You were right, Haoran." Grandfather Sang said, his laughter dying down.
"He was?" asked Sang Tian, frowning as she looked at both the men in front of her who seemed to have been in on a joke that she did not know about.
"He was." confirmed her grandfather while gesturing for Fang Haoran to sit.
Sang Tian stood up from her kneeling position and pulled a chair for herself while she continued to stare at Fang Haoran with suspicious eyes, "About what?" she asked as she took a seat.
"About the fact that you will be worried that I would mind that you accepted his proposal without talking to us, your family first." smiled her grandfather as he held her hand and patted it gently.
"I did WHAT?" Sang Tian snapped her hostile glare towards Fang Haoran turning murderous.
Seemingly unaffected by her intents, Fang Haoran's lips turned upwards in a smug smile that caused Sang Tian's hand to itch, urging her to slam her handprint on the bastard's face.
"But Grandpa that is not -" Fang Haoran did not let her complete the sentence and grabbed her other hand with his and squeezed in tightly.
"Darling, you don't have to worry! Grandfather isn't upset with you at all. He knows how much we love each other and how serious we are in this relationship." it was déjà vu.
"That's why he has already given us his blessings for our marriage." informed Fang Haoran.
"What the -" Sang Tian tried to speak once again but was silenced by a sudden peck on her lips. Eyes wide like saucers, Sang Tian gaped at Fang Haoran, at his audacity for kissing her in front of her grandfather.
She turned her head to look at her grandfather hoping to hear some kind of objection from him but instead, he simply waived off her concerns with a wave of his hand.
"How da -" and he pecked her lips once again while Grandfather Sang turned on his chair to give the young "couple" some privacy.
Unaware of his granddaughter's predicament, Grandfather Sang was ecstatic that his precious granddaughter had finally found a man who treated her with just as much love as them. He had already seen and heard the love that Fang Haoran felt for Sang Tian the last time they talked.
Fang Haoran had already taken his permission to propose to Sang Tian for marriage during their first meeting itself. But because the young man had asked him to keep quiet about the proposal for the time being, Grandfather Sang had kept the details of their meeting from Sang Tian.
It did surprise him but Grandfather Sang could clearly see how much Fang Haoran adored Sang Tian. His experienced self could see the love that Fang Haoran has for Sang Tian; could see it in his eyes and could hear it in the young man's tone when he spoke of and about Sang Tian.
Grandfather Sang knew from the depths of his heart that this was the perfect alliance for his precious granddaughter. He chuckled and covered his ears jokingly to avoid listening to the hushed whispers being exchanged between the couple.
"When did I -" Fang Haoran pinched Sang Tian's cheeks and pulled them which muffled the words coming out from Sang Tian's mouth.
In return, she pulled back her foot and slammed it hard over Fang Haoran's eliciting a yelp of pain. But instead of letting go of her cheeks, Fang Haoran pinched them harder inviting his doom.
Sang Tian slammed her foot on his again and additionally grabbed onto his cheeks as well. Her short, blunt nails digging into his lightly stubbled cheeks made his eyes water. "I wiff khif ju!" she meant 'I will kill you!'.
Sang Tian was distracted from her murderous plans by the sound of giggles and laughter. Still holding onto each other, Fang Haoran and Sang Tian turned their heads and noticed Aunt Shu and Uncle Wang walking inside carrying trays of food.
"Look at them! They are of marriageable age and are behaving like kids!" commented Aunt Shu as she tapped lightly at Sang Tian's arm in a gesture of asking her to let go of Fang Haoran.
Her grandfather too turned around and in an instant, Sang Tian let go and so did Fang Haoran. Both of them rubbed their cheeks to help with the pain, "Just because I told Grandfather the truth first doesn't mean that you have to fight with me like that!" exclaimed Fang Haoran swiftly not letting Sang Tian speak first.
"Grandpa, do not listen to this fraud! He is lying! I did not -" before Sang Tian could confess that she did not agree to Fang Haoran's proposal, the jerk stood up tugging at her left hand hard.
"Why are you not wearing your engagement ring?" questioned Fang Haoran with mock horror on his face.
"Eh?" Sang Tian made a face and pulled her hand back from his grasp but she lacked in strength against the giant man who pulled her up and close and wrapped his arm around her waist.
The proximity was bad for Sang Tian's gentle and soft heart which started beating hard at an exceptionally fast rate, "I know that you are upset with me, honey. I should have let you tell your family about our engagement first but as you said, I was simply too eager to have waited."
"But -"
"No buts! I am really, really sorry, okay?! Just don't be mad at me!" Sang Tian was horrified at how genuine the man sounded.
"What -"
"Grandpa, please tell her to not be upset with me. See, she even took off the ring I made her wear!" complained Fang Haoran.
"Sang Tian." Grandpa Sang looked at Sang Tian with an admonishing look in his eyes as if she was a moody and petulant child who was mad at something entirely unnecessary.
"But Grandpa -"
"Okay fine! Let me take you to your favorite restaurant for dinner. I will even get for you your favorite chocolate ice cream fudge with almond drizzle on top, waffle crackers on side, and an extra serving of diced and not sliced strawberries." ad without waiting for a response, Fang Haoran began pulling Sang Tian out of her grandfather's chambers.
"Apologies, Grandpa, Aunt Shu, Uncle Wang." he bowed in front of them before adding, "We will have dinner together some other time. Right now I have a fiancée to pacify!"
The elders in the room laughed at the young couple while Fang Haoran dragged an unwilling Sang Tian out of the mansion and to his car not paying heed to her cries of protest.
"Leave me!" Sang Tian yelled trying to pull her hand from Fang Haoran's grasp.
"What the fuck are you doing? I said leave me! Arrggh!" she kicked Fang Haoran on the back of his knee causing him to fall down and then she bit on his hand to free herself, "Are you out of your goddamn mind?!" she screamed and created some distance between them.