Lisa naively hoped that his intentions for beckoning her to his side where purely innocent but it was nearly difficult to believe that when Lian Que was looking at her with that strange gleam in his eyes.
If Lisa hadn't known better, she could have thought that he was hungry and he had just spotted something delicious.
She stood a couple of steps away from him and subtly glanced at him through her thick lashes.
He had his arms folded before his chest and he was regarding her with that unfathomable gaze again and it irritated Lisa that she had absolutely no idea on what he was thinking.
"Come closer and get warm by the fire and don't worry, I am not going to touch you..." He assured her and Lisa moved closer to both him and the fire.
"At least not yet." He added as a mischievous twinkle lit up his eyes.
Lisa glared at him.
"You will not touch me." Lisa said with all the courage that she could master even though her poor heart was pounding so hard.
Lian Que had always been so straightforward and adding shameless and seductive to that created someone deadly. Deadly to her resolve.
She watched in disbelief as he shrugged.
"Okay." He replied and it took Lisa a moment to process what he had just said. She really wanted to believe that he meant it because she knew how hard it was to make Lian agree to anything, especially if he was hellbent on doing it.
Lian turned his face away from her and looked ahead into the fire with a subtle smirk, one that she could not see adorning his face.
He was not going to touch her but he was going to make her wish he could!!!
They stood side by side in silence with Lisa occasionally looking at him.
Lian could sense that she wanted to say something but she seemed rather hesitant and so he patiently waited until he heard her soft voice echo within the room.
"Why did you leave me?" Lisa asked the one question that had been on her mind since she saw him and she held her breath when a short silence followed before he turned and faced her again.
She really wanted an explanation because she had thought everything was good between them. Lisa wanted to understand why he had even left her in the first place.
Had she done something wrong?
When she was younger, she had always hoped to find her soulmate and with Lian, she was certain that she had until he had ditched her at senior prom.
He was her first love and Lisa had honestly hoped that they could be together for a lifetime but then again, she was reminded of the bitter reality that nothing lasts forever.
"I didn't leave because I wanted to, Lisa. It's because I had to..." Lian said but the blank look in Lisa's eyes was enough for him to know that she did not believe him and he couldn't actually blame her.
"My father was hospitalized and the company was in a dire situation. I had no choice but to leave and go home." Lian explained and he was surprised by the lone tear that fell from Lisa's left eye.
He knew Lisa never cried, at least not in front of anyone so it came as a surprise.
"At least you could have sent a note before disappearing on me like that." She groaned and Lian attempted to move closer to her but Lisa shot him a hard stare.
"Don't come close to me." She whispered and Lian stopped in his tracks.
"You hurt me so much." She painfully admitted through gnashed teeth as she turned her back at him and clutched her chest to help subdue the pain she felt.
Her heart ached and Lisa just wanted it to stop and one way of doing that was by getting away from Lian Que. As soon as possible.
"I know and I am sorry Lisa, truly." His voice, clouded with a fair dose of emotion rang besides her ear before she felt his warm masculine arms wrapping around her from behind.
"I told you not to touch me." Lisa reminded him as she tried to break free from his embrace.
"I am sorry love but I want nothing more than to hold you right now, please let me." Lian requested and Lisa sighed as she felt her vision blur before her legs lost their balance and she fell back into Lian's embrace.
The last thing she remembered as her eyes closed and she slipped into a world of darkness was Lian Que's voice, reaching her conscious mind in faint receding echoes.
Soft specks of light fell on Lisa's face and she turned uncomfortably but a big palm shielded her face, allowing her to sleep comfortably.
Lian then quickly stood up and securely shut the curtains to prevent the late afternoon sunlight from entering the room.
Lisa had slept for more than eight hours and Lian was worried that she couldn't be waking up anytime soon.
She looked so weak and frail and she had lost a lot of weight.
Her collarbones were sharp and protruding which further indicated her weight loss.
Lian frowned, his fine brows furrowing as he wondered what she had really been through.
She was certainly not well and that greatly unsettled him.
His phone rang and he walked towards the window to answer it once he saw the caller ID.
His assistant had called to remind him that he had a meeting within two hours and Lian had it cancelled because he wanted to be there when Lisa woke up.
A knock at the door shifted his attention from her fine face.
"Come in." He called out and a couple of doctors that were checking on Lisa's condition every two hours entered.
He intently watched them as they examined her.
"How is she?" He asked and the doctors assured him that she was fine but Lian was barely convinced even though he knew that they were the very best in their professional field.
He just wanted her to be fine. He needed her to get well.
"That will be all for now." He told the doctors and once they had left and shut the door behind them, Lian got a chair and sat by her bed side.
His fingers held her small hand in his and shortly afterwards, Lian dozed off.