8 Tell Me.

There was something about sunsets that attracted Liu Rushi the most. The sight of the sun setting down for the day to welcome the darkness of night could enchant her. People usually view the sunrise as something romantic, as an epitome of hope for a new beginning.

However, Liu Rushi was different. She always thought that sunrise was kind of overrated. Beginnings are a new slate with everything of the past completely wiped away. Like a blank canvas, they needed colors to fill them up to create a picture and one doesn't know how that painting would turn out to be.

For Liu Rushi, endings mattered more than she led everyone else to believe. To her, the end of any story was the most heartbreaking, yet the most beautiful part. Sunsets were just like that, the ever- consuming end to the brightness.

Maybe it was just the orange- violet hues that painted the sky, in a fashion as unique as a fingerprint, each day that she considered being a painter's masterpiece. People find their solace in the moon and stars, but not her. Her tranquility existed in the sunset. She could stare at the orange-hued scenery for a lifetime without ever getting bored.

The sun had set completely by then and the sky was brightened with moonlight. Comfortable in a short striped T-shirt paired with sweatpants, Liu Rushi was about to walk out of her room to join her family downstairs when her phone chimed notifying an incoming text. It was from Wang Shenzhi.

"Hi, Wang Shenzhi here!" He had texted.

"Hello." She was surprised at first to see her to-be fiance's first message to her, but then simply replied with a short greeting.

"Can I call you?" His next text read.

"Yes." She had no reason to refuse him of that. He must've been waiting on her reply for Liu Rushi saw an incoming call from him being displayed on her mobile phone.

"Hi." She whispered innocently after picking up his call.

"Hey yourself!" Wang Shenzhi chuckled lightly upon hearing her innocent voice through his mobile phone.

"So..." He prompted after a moment of silence.

"So…" She replied, mostly because she didn't know what to say. After all, it was her first time being in such a situation.

"Haha, what are you doing?" Wang Shenzhi didn't dare to admit but that little naive and awkward young woman was growing on him.

She wasn't his type, far from it. He mostly liked tall, bold women who would never shy away from his advances, rather possessed a few moves of their own. He never liked the chase, however, something about how she acted all uncomfortable around him attracted him to move more closer to her.

"Just lounging around. What about you?" She asked.

"Just some paperwork. Nothing interesting. It's hard managing such a big company, you know. With me being the Vice- president of the company and Father being gone abroad for work, I am the one who has to work hardest to not let it fall. Sometimes, I wish..." He sighed on the other side.

"You wish…?" Liu Rushi prompted, curious to know what he was about to say. Though she appeared to be a quiet and introverted person, her love for gossip and information about anything and everything was no little deal. She was never into spreading gossip or creating rumors; she was just a keen lover of knowledge.

"I just wish sometimes that there'd be someone whom I can lean on too. Most people rely on their siblings but me..." Wang shenzhi lamented.

"Anyway, I have you now, don't I?" He perked up.

Liu Rushi was quiet for a moment, silently pondering about his words before replying, "Yes, you have me now. I'll be there with you, always."

"Woah, those are some deep promises, Ms. Liu. You won't go back on your words?" Wang Shenzhi joked as an attempt to tease her.

"No. I won't go back on my words." Liu Rushi promised as her eyes turned dark out of sincerity, though he couldn't see that. She wasn't joking. She intended to keep all her promises she would make to him.

"How about you? Will I always have you?" Liu Rushi didn't want to particularly know the answer. She knew it was way too early for their relationship to make such promises.

"Always, Darling, always!" She listened to his words as she stood in front of the mirror. The moonlight was the only source of light in her room at that moment which softly highlighted her figure in the mirror. The corner of her lip tilted upwards as she smiled at her reflection clutching her phone to her ear.

The Liu family always placed high importance on familial relationships and the presence of 'family time'. That was the reason the Old Madam of the Liu family, Liu Shirong's mother, had established a rule in the household. There must be at least one meal each day where the whole family sat together to enjoy the meal without any work talks.

That day, their 'family time' meal was during dinner. Both Liu Shirong and Liu Weimin had arrived early that day from work. Liu Shirong, immediately after arriving home, had freshened up before going to find his wife in the kitchen, not that it was a rarity.

With Zhou Xiaohui being a Michelin star chef owning a popular restaurant chain around the globe, Bamboo Whispers, she didn't need him around for anything. However, as much as a rookie chef Liu Shirong was, he would never miss out on spending time with his wife if he could. He had honed his skills a little over the years but he still pretended to be inexperienced in his way around the kitchen just so he could make Xiaohui feel that he'd always depend on her.

Liu Weimin, on the other hand, was a nature-loving person like his mother. If not work, anyone could find him tending to plants. That's what he was doing after coming home early from work.

'Rrrr, Grrrr'

Liu Weimin, who had his hands covered in the soil at that moment, hastily wiped them with his apron when he heard his mobile phone vibrating inside his pocket. A flash of light seemed to pass through his eyes as he saw the name of the caller.

"Tell me." He spoke in his cold voice as soon as he picked up the call.