Such a baby

"So tell me, what's going on," Ivan asked, they were now sitting face to face on the wide balcony.

"So much has happened, my company is on the brink of collapsing, and now my only option is to collaborate with the president of Qin Empires through marriage, and he also needs my help. I never wanted this, I always wanted a peaceful, single life with no man in my life apart from you. But..." she ran her fingers through her hair. " I'm so confused, looks like I have a lot of sacrifices to make."

"Is that why you tried to kill yourself?" his face suddenly turned serious and intimidating from the sweet, understanding, and doting brother. How did she and her brother switch places suddenly?

"I-I... how did you know a..."

"I have my ways, Xiao Lan"

(Author: The queen stuttering?! This is new)

"Don't call me that, my name is Ivy or if you must, Xiao Ivy. Don't call me that please," she said with her eyes were filled with fleeting emotions.

"You can't change the fact that it's your name"

"But you changed yours"

"That's because I'm known worldwide so I had to change it!" he retorted.

The tears that she was holding in for a while now started falling like a waterfall. He hated to see his priceless jewel in this condition, so he quickly buried her in his embrace and patted her back.

"Shh, stop crying now. I'm sorry I shouldn't have spoken to you in that manner, but the truth is... the truth is bitter and no matter how hard you try, you can't change that fact," he said and she sniffed.

"But what he did to us isn't fair. It's just... unforgivable".

" Life's unfair, Xiao Lan and we just have to deal with it and defend ourselves when it tries to attack us, my dear," he said, he was now playing with strands of her hair as she had stopped crying now.

"Remember what mom used to tell us when we were little. 'Never f..."

"'...fight back, always defend, when life gets tough, you also have to get tough, but never forget who you are and where you came from '" she cut in and finished the sentence.

"I'm glad you still remember this my little one. But you still haven't answered my question," he paused for a while before he continued. "Why did you try to kill yourself?" he frowned when he didn't get any reply. "An..."

Before he could continue, he heard soft, muffled breaths coming from her.

His face softened and his voice fell to a whisper. "You must be really tired," he then frowned, "how many times do I have to tell you to stop exerting yourself when you work... and now you have a fever from crying," he said, placing the back of his palm on her forehead.

He carried her and went inside her bedroom and placed her on the large king-sized bed and placed a kiss on her forehead.

It was already getting dark, he suddenly went downstairs to the kitchen and started preparing a snack for him to eat. He was also very tired from his long trip. He went upstairs to his room and fell heavily on his bed.

His eyes were already closed, and just as he was about to fall into a deep slumber, his phone rang. He turned sideways and held a pillow over his ear, the caller kept calling. He tried disconnecting the call a few times, but the persistent caller kept calling over and over again. He looked at the caller's ID and rolled his eyes before answering.

"What is it?" he asked and he used his index finger and thumb to massage his eyelids down to the bridge of his nose.

"I can't I'm tired right now... yes I'll come right away in the morning... yeah bye," he hung up and he muttered under his breath, "what a rascal".

He switched off his phone to avoid any calls again and fell back on his bed and closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep.

★★★

Qin Villa...

" Ah mommy," a feminine voice sounded from the hallway and the person ran towards the lady and hugged her.

"Oh my little princess, how are you? how come I haven't seen you since I came back," the woman said, hugging her daughter back.

"Ma, the modeling agency needed me for some important work, so I'm just coming now. By the way, how was your trip to Paris?"

"It was amazing," she said as her eyes widened with her hands by her side. "I even took a pic with the Eiffel Tower. It's glam..."

"And fab," the young lady who was in her early twenties completed her mom's sentence like it was some kind of motto as she gave her a high five and they both giggled.

"Ma, do I have to ask before you show me the pic?" she asked placing her hand on her slim waist with her head tilted to the side.

"Oh, my darling. You don't have to," she said and she brought out her phone from her pocket. "Here," she gave it to her and the young lady gawked in awe.

"I've been to Paris so many times but it doesn't look as pretty as this."

"Maybe it's because your pretty mom is in it," the woman said as fiddled with her hair while her cheeks turned red from blushing.

"Oh no ma, yes you're pretty but that's not the case," she said with her gaze still locked on the photo. "Maybe it's the angle, the weather or it was really good timing when you took it."

The once proud and happy woman's face suddenly changed. "But to be honest, your beauty contributed a lot to the beautiful pic. You're so pretty, ma," she said, zooming in on the pic to admire her mom's beauty.

"Oh stop it," she said and she took her phone and her cheeks were red as she blushed.

"Ah little sis, you're finally home," Xander voiced out when he came downstairs and approached the dining room.

"Yes, brother, home at last. I just came back as you can see. What about brother Muchen?" she asked, looking behind Xander in hopes to find her other brother.

"Looks like no one cares about me," he said and dramatically rolled his eyes.

"Oh, you're such a baby," his mother whose name's Lin Baozhai approached the whining Xander and pinched his cheeks hard.

"Ouch, mom I would like to keep my cheeks intact, not red and swollen," he said, rubbing the part of his cheeks where he was pinched.

"But seriously, he's not back till now? it's almost 8 o'clock," she said and she finally let go of his cheeks and looked at her watch.They were already seated in the dining room, the food was served.

"Ugh I'm starving," Xander said, reaching out to the bowl of fried rice when Lin Baozhai slapped his hand.

"Patience! We have to wait for your brother to come.

Out of frustration, Xander placed his right hand under his chin to support it, while his elbow was resting on the marble dining table.