Chapter 27

Pei Yueran hurried forward with the two cups of ice cream in her hand. The boy talking to her son didn't seem familiar, but Han Yichen wasn't one to talk for long with strangers, so she was mildly curious.

When the boy turned, Pei Yueran's eyes lit up. She was a sucker for cute faces, and this boy was one of the cutest she had ever seen.

How to describe him? The best word was "adorable". The boy too looked shocked to see her at first, and then he beamed brightly at her. Seeing that wide grin, Pei Yueran immediately fell in love.

She looked at Han Yichen, expecting him to introduce them. He did.

Turning to Li Yuchen, he gestured at Pei Yueran and said, "Mom." Then turning to Pei Yueran, he gestured at Li Yuchen and said, "Li Yuchen."

Li Yuchen was seriously beginning to wonder if he was suffering from a kind of speech disorder.

"Li Yuchen? what a beautiful name. Where's your guardian?" she asked, looking around.

"He went to the restroom. Oh, there he is." Wu Taehan was currently jogging towards them.

"You're here Little Master." He greeted Pei Yueran cordially. Although he worked for Li Qianye, he didn't live at the villa like Butler Nan and the servants, so they had never met.

The two boys decided they wanted to go into the haunted house, so their guardians had to follow. More accurately, Li Yuchen was the one who wanted to go so badly.

"Are you sure you won't be scared?"

"I'm such a big boy, how can I be scared of painted people in Halloween costumes?", Li Yuchen said, like a typical braggart. Pei Yueran smiled and then asked Han Yichen with her eyes if he was really okay going in. He nodded.

So in they went. After fifteen minutes, Han Yichen was the first to come out. His face was exactly the way it was when he first went in –expressionless. He was not even breathing fast. It was as if he had just walked through a normal street and not one of the scariest haunted houses in the world.

Almost immediately after him was Wu Taehan. He had gotten separated from Li Yuchen when a particularly grotesque monster appeared and Li Yuchen broke away from his side, screaming.

The haunted house was quite scary, even for him, but he had no choice but to go in again and look for his young charge. He didn't want to leave Han Yichen alone, but Han Yichen convinced him to go.

About five minutes after Wu Taehan went in, Pei Yueran came out, dragging a disheveled boy along. Unsurprisingly it was Li Yuchen, and he looked a sorry sight. He was looking very dirty, gasping for breath and holding unto Pei Yueran for his dear life.

The corner of Han Yichen's mouth twitched. 'I thought you were not going to be afraid?'

Li Yuchen, after catching his breath, puffed up his chest and said, "I wasn't exactly afraid of those things, I only fell down."

"Of course. How could you be afraid of ordinary 'painted people in Halloween costumes', right?" This was Han Yichen's longest sentence since they met, and it was to roast him.

Li Yuchen choked.

Han Yichen's lips curved quickly before returning to normal, but Pei Yueran still noticed it.

It seemed they could get along well with each other.

*****

Li Chuanmo stood on the balcony of his hotel suite in deep thought, nursing a glass of wine. He had come on this business trip for the AI technology he was developing with his friend.

Jiang Philip had caught wind of a rival company trying to hack into their network to copy their codes, and although he was able to block their attack, they decided to strengthen the defense and brainstorm on how to make their project better.

They had had a meeting in his hotel suite and afterwards just sat together, chatting. Jiang Philip was asking him different questions about the company and what living in City M was like, and Li Chuanmo answered, telling him about the press conference, leadership meeting and his first assignment with Pei Yueran.

"You're not telling me everything clearly. Who's this Pei Yueran you've been talking about? Your girlfriend? How come you got a girlfriend and I didn't even know?"

"What are you talking about? Girlfriend? You know I've sworn off women."

"Well, I thought so too, but from what I've heard tonight, I thought you were back in the game."

"What are you even saying?"

"I guess you didn't notice that almost every one of your sentences either began with or had something to do with 'Pei Yueran'. Are you sure nothing is going on?"

"Nothing is going on. She's just my colleague and assistant, helping me with company matters."

"Ah, I thought congratulations were in order. Honestly man, I think you should be more open to these things. If you truly find someone you can like, don't hesitate. The perfect woman for you is still out there. Not everyone is like Xie W...."

"Stop, I get it. Instead of talking about my affairs, why don't you go and rewrite the codes for the section we discussed tonight? If you keep busy, you would not have time to think nonsensical thoughts."

"Whatever, just think about it. Life is too short to deny yourself a second chance." Jiang Philip said as he got up to leave.

"Yeah, get yourself a girlfriend first. At least I have a son. Aunt Kathy sent me a message the other day, asking if I knew any young ladies I could recommend to her. Apparently she's worried about you." Li Chuanmo said, referring to Jiang Philip's mother.

"I hope you didn't reply. No wonder she has been texting me about blind dates recently, ugh. I'm off, think about it."

After his friend left, Li Chuanmo poured himself a glass of wine and went to the balcony, looking out without really seeing anything. He was lost in thought.

What did he really think of Pei Yueran? He only saw her as a kindred soul, a good collegeaue and a decent worker. He definitely didn't see her as a woman, he was sure.

Women, in his mind, were synonymous with lies, betrayal and greed. He was unwilling to get involved with any woman again.

But when he finally drifted off to sleep in the early hours of the morning, his dreams were full of brown eyes that often turned golden due to its owner's fervor.