"What if I say it's too risky?" she asked. "Then I will respond with—you are worth every risk," he smiled. ... With a troubled past and financial issues, Maxim Warner never had it easy. Coming a long way from a small town, he never stopped despite the hurdles thrown his way. Charming and aloof, now the hotshot neurosurgeon has no use for emotions and even less use for love. However, things get twisted when he takes a familiar blonde as his tenant despite the jarring red flags in his mind. She is the same woman who once held his heart within her grasp. But she crushed it back then and he would be damned if he let her do it again. He would be a good friend to her. Nothing more. End of the story. Diana Chen, an American-Chinese heiress finds her life flipping upside down when she holds an infant in her arms. A tiny life that she is supposed to protect now but it comes at the expense of everything she has. Nevertheless, on the worst day of her life, she moves to another country and decides to start a new life. And probably it is a good sign that her new house owner is a familiar face. "Oh my god, Warner, I almost didn't recognize you!" She ruffled his hair but unlike how he used to laugh or blush in the past, he did not react and the atmosphere suddenly felt strained. Let her take it back. The new house owner being a familiar face is making things awkward because the broody neurosurgeon might not be the beautiful boy with haunted dark eyes she used to know once. He is a man now... mysterious and stunning with eyes that strangely smolder her. And she is beginning to feel things that she should not feel for him. God, is it too late to find rent somewhere else? Maxim has yet to get over what the young Diana did to him while Diana has a baby to raise in her penniless state. Amidst this, the last thing they want is to look at each other across the dining table like the world lacks oxygen and their mouths are the only strategy for survival. When the thin string of patience snapped, she made a proposal, "Take all my firsts," As he looked at her in stunned silence, she continued, "I want you to take all my firsts. If you can't, then I can go find someone who will—" her words were lodged back in her throat by his consequent actions. _ When the mysteries from the past unveil themselves gradually, will the two be able to get over their differences and own up to their feelings? Or will it be the final 'The End' for them this time?
In a luxurious mansion, Beijing
"Waaah Waaah!"
Diana was jolted up by the sound. She sat up on the floor, looking in the direction of the round bed.
She rubbed her eyes which were red and puffy from all the crying she did before the tears lulled her to sleep... Pushing herself to her feet, she glanced at the baby, crying on the bed.
After giving it another thought, she cradled the baby in her arms.
The action felt foreign to her and she was holding the little thing in an awkward position but eventually, she adjusted.
She looked around her room and picked up the water bottle, "Are you hungry?"
Of course, who was she asking? A six-months-old?
The baby kept crying and she panicked, settling onto the bed. She poured just about a spoonful of water into the bottle cap before placing it near the baby's mouth.
Violent knocks resounded on the door and her hand shook.
The bottle landed on the floor and the cap slipped off, the baby still had her tongue darted out to lick the water.
"Young Miss, open the door!"
The knocks on the door started getting urgent.
Diana hugged the baby tightly in her arms and grabbed her phone in her other hand then her gaze roamed around the huge room only to stop at the sheets and blanket.
She yanked the blankets off the bed and positioned them on the floor before placing the baby on them.
Then her gaze landed on the sheets.
Probably the baby wanted to coordinate with her so she suddenly stopped crying.
Diana sighed in relief.
Outside the room.
"Master Chen, Madam Chen, Young Miss is not responding to our calls," the bodyguards glanced at the couple who had dark expressions on their faces.
"Break the door," Master Chen ordered.
Madam Chen nodded.
One of the bodyguards aimed his gun at the lock of the wooden door before shooting it. The door opened like an old door in spooky houses, swinging back and forth.
The bodyguards grabbed the door and the couple stepped inside.
Master Chen's jaws clenched when he noticed the room was empty.
Madam Chen glanced at the bare bed. Her gaze flashed and she walked towards the window without another thought, "Diana," There was a huge rope made of sheets and blankets, "Come back right this instant."
Diana, who was climbing down by holding the organic rope, shivered when she heard her mother's voice. Her father tended to be the scary one but her mother always unnerved her the most, "No, Mom," her voice was determined and so was her grip on the Little Angel in her arms, "I won't."
"Diana!"
"Stop it, Mom. You could have scared me with that tone, with that look on your face but not now... I have a responsibility, Mom. I will protect this little thing from all of you no matter what it takes," Diana winced as her knees grazed on the rough wall.
Even through the tight jeans she was wearing, she could feel the burn but her left hand was paralyzed in that position. The baby would not budge or be harmed in this crazy process. She was not the one at fault.
"Diana, she must go to the orphanage! You girls don't know how grave your mistakes are. How dare you breed a wild spawn and keep it hidden from us? Did you think..."
"Oh, please shut up, Mom," there was some distance before she reached the ground, "The one who needs to go to an orphanage is you. Maybe growing up once again will help you reorganize those wrecked morals of yours!" With that said, she jumped down without looking back.
Her head hit the marshy ground. Luckily, their gardens did not have a pavement system or she might have gone on a heaven tour by now.
"Ah..."
As she sat up, her right hand grazed by the rose plant, her wrist scratched by the thorns.
She ignored the pain and rushed to the left, her body sticking to the wall to stay out of her mother's sight.
Soon, rushed footsteps resounded nearby and countless black cars drove past the mansion gates.
Diana, who was hiding behind the huge oak tree in the garden smiled. Oh, these fools. They did not know who they were after.
She knew her mother well enough to know that the woman must have dispatched the bodyguards by now to catch her in action while she dilly-dallied by talking to her but the woman did not know that she was her daughter.
At times, she could be shrewder than her. Of course, her high IQ was just a bonus.
Instead of heading out, she stayed hidden inside the gardens. The way she ran from the other side, they must have assumed that she ran out of the gates.
Diana glanced at the sleeping baby in her arms before she placed a soft kiss on her forehead, "Of course, I need to thank you the most, Princess. Without your cooperation, our Escapade Mission would be nothing more than a failure," the baby coordinated by falling asleep just at the right time.
As soon as calm returned to the mansion, Diana climbed the oak tree before using the boundary as her ladder.
She tucked the baby in her leather jacket, hugging her tightly before jumping off the high boundary.
She protected her head, keeping it raised from the concrete road but her back was still hurt by the impact of the fall. Despite that, the baby was safe and that relieved her.
Walking all the way to the highway, she booked a taxi.
By the time she reached the airport, the baby was awake, crying loudly.
At a little distance from the airport compounds, Diana spotted a home shop.
She bought a bottle of milk and fed the kiddo while her gaze roamed around the place.
Everyone in the vicinity was looking weirdly at her and she understood where they came from. Dressed in a black biker's outfit with a black bag slung over her shoulders, looking all bruised and damaged, and then holding an adorable baby...the image somehow did not fit with each other.
She walked back to the airport, "Get me a ticket to Shanghai..." she paused.
"Sure, Ma'am."
"No, wait..." Diana shook her head. There was someone in Shanghai who could help her but her parents would know that she went there, "Scratch that. Los Angeles, it is."
Despite every weird thing about her, the receptionist maintained a calm face and polite smile and Diana clapped for her mentally. That was a tough job.
Even she had the urge to roll her eyes at herself for the moment.
~~~
A/N: This is a demo chapter only. Maybe this book will be moved into a new one or maybe I will keep writing it here. I am mostly writing this as a form of therapy for myself. Writing fantasy has wrecked my mind a bit so I wanted to go back to my initial style and write a doki-doki simple romance so I started this on an impulse despite having a tight schedule. Updates will be irregular because you know writing is not my main profession. I will always appreciate your understanding and support<3