11. You Saved Him

When she gets up to go to the kitchen for a drink, her phone rings. She checks her phone screen and answers.

"Hey!"

"Hello, Ran. Are you at home? I'm on my way to your place."

"Oh okay. Yah I'm at home." Yan responds.

"Okay, great. I will be there in 15 minutes," Ying Yue says enthusiastically.

"Have you had lunch? I will tell Aunt Fen to include you for lunch."

"Oh yes. I love her cooking. I will be there soon," Ying Yue confirms and ends the call.

Yan Ran makes her way to the kitchen and finds their housekeeper already making lunch.

"Aunt Fen sorry to trouble but can you add one more person for lunch." Yan Ran makes her request politely

Aunt Fen smiles affectionately at Yan Ran. She loves her like her own daughter. She has watched her grow up and knows everything that she has been through. She likes how she is always polite and respectful in spite of the fame and wealth.

"I always make lots of food anyway and you don't even eat a lot. You are always on a diet. You are so skinny already."

"You know I have never had a big appetite and when I was abroad I was constantly busy. I would even forget to eat sometimes," Yan Ran confesses

"That's why I told your aunt that I should have moved with you. You have never been able to take care of yourself since you were young,'' Aunt Fen scowls.

"Aunt Len I also wish you had come with me. I missed you terribly and the food over there is really not to my liking. I missed your home cooking," Yan Ran responds skittishly.

"It's good then that you are back. I will make sure you gain a bit of flesh onto your bones."

"Not too much Aunt Fen, or I will look like a circus pig when I dance. People will laugh at me," Yan Ran says humorously and they both chuckle.

A few minutes later, they are joined by Ying Yue who enters carrying a cake from Tia Tia, one of the most famous bakeries in Country C. She knows how much Yan Ran loves desserts, although she does not eat them as often as she would like to.

Lunch is served and everyone has their meal harmoniously. After lunch, Yan Ran suggests that they swim a few laps in the Olympic size heated pool to work off the dessert they had had too enthusiastically.

After a few laps they laze around the pool chatting.

"Did you get home okay yesterday?" Ying Yue asks her friend.

"Yes I did. I met Liang and he ended up bringing me home," Yan Ran fills Ying Yue in.

"Oh really?'' Ying responds, her eyebrows almost disappearing into her fringe.

"Well, how nice of him! What's the deal with you and him anyway?''

"What on earth are you talking about? We are just friends of course, nothing more."

"Are you sure that's all you are to him? I think he likes you," Ying Yue flashes a cunning smile.

"Yan Ran sniggers, "Don't be ridiculous. He and I haven't even seen each other for a very long time."

"Yeah, but so what? He might have been carrying a torch for you all these years."

"Ying Yue, don't be silly. It's been seven years. He didn't even try to contact me after we graduated.''

"Well, maybe it's because you hooked up with my brother before he had a chance to confess. Were you not friends then?"

"Oh shut up Yue. Not every boy falls for me like they do you."

"Well, seriously though, who could resist this gorgeous body of mine?" Ying Yue says vainly eliciting a soft slap from Yan Ran.

"Honestly what is the Jin water? You guys are so full of yourselves."

"Of course it must be in our genes. Also we grew up being told how gorgeous we are by everyone around us. Do you blame us?"

Yan Ran rolls her eyes in mock disgust.

"There is nothing as bad as a self-aware narcissist. Truly repulsive."

"Hahaha! I would believe you if you never went out with my brother. He could have been in the Guinness World Records for the greatest narcissist that ever lived if you had not rescued him from himself."

Yan Ran giggles, "Well it's just my duty towards humanity. It's nothing that deserves mention."

Ying Yue grimaces saying, "That's because you don't know what my brother was like before he met you. He was so used to being pampered he was on the road to total ruin."

"If your brother knows how much you bad-mouth him, he would kill you for sure."

"He knows and he can't do anything about it," Ying Yue boasts.

"Why do I feel sorry for him all of a sudden?" Yan Ran jokes then continues in a self-depreciating tone, "Even though he hates me?"

"My brother doesn't hate you Ran," Ying Yue says confidently.

"Of course he hates me. Didn't you hear what he said last night? He even said that he regretted ever meeting me."