Xueyue's Mercedes

QIAO WEIQING waited for God to send himself back to the mortal plane.

He was in heaven. He couldn't believe his eyes.

Xueyue sending himself to work — it was something only a miracle could bring. Was this even reality?

Qiao Weiqing slowly recalled the morning. He was fully expecting the worst out of today, but everything seemed to flip on its head. Xueyue acting strangely at the dining table. Xueyue randomly losing her temper. Xueyue tolerating his mere presence, when they had not spoken properly in days.

Did she wake up on the wrong side of the bed and take the wrong medicine?

When they met at the staircase, she seemed to spare a second thought about him, noticing the wet stains on his shirt.

Did she finally care about him?

When she invited him to drive himself work together, he was beyond elated.

He remembered the mess he made in his room as he rushed to find a presentable suit. Thank goodness Xueyue had sent the butler and maids away or he would've been embarrassed.

Now that they were in the same car together, at such a close proximity with one another, his heart was threatening to jump out of his chest. Watching her watch the road was mesmerizing — his body was completely stiff. He couldn't move his eyes away.

Today, they rode in the same car together.

Tomorrow, a walk in a park together, maybe?

Then a nice date at a restaurant?

The next day ... perhaps share the same room ... and bed?

Qiao Weiqing shook his head, trying to let the steam that rose from head dissipate.

A miracle was a miracle because it could only happen once. He could not get his hopes up.

A dangerous, disturbing thought rose into the air. Maybe Xueyue was giving him this taste of sweetness so the divorce would be all that bitter. Just for him, for entering her life like a lunatic homewrecker.

No. He shook his head, gunning the thought down.

Xueyue was cruel, but not that cruel.

She was a stubborn, straightforward woman. Narcissistic at times, sure, but she had every right to be. She was cold as well as distant to strangers, not to mention her struggles with empathy. With her stoic face, her curt actions and comments were that much more rude.

She was a glamorous sports car with no engine. God granted her beauty beyond this world, but forgot to make her gears turn.

Qiao Weiqing could not control his smile, thinking of her like a broken Mercedes, when Xueyue's comment immediately froze his good fun.

"You're smiling?"

Qiao Weiqing immediately jerked in his seat, sitting straighter. He turned away, touching his face, a little embarrassed, a little scared. "Yes," he answered honestly.

The car fell silent.

Qiao Weiqing's heart beat to the clicks of the turn lights. His mind grew foggy with the hum of the engine. He gazed back at his reflection on his window, preparing for the worst.

Xueyue had caught him staring. She was going to flip. She was going to hate him more.

She was driving. She couldn't flip out.

If needed, should he lean over and get control of the wheel? He would touch her then, when she was a clean freak!

There were no good options.

Qiao Weiqing felt his breathing hasten and his vision blur. Why had he been so presumptuous today?

If the situation goes south, he would never forgive himself.

He forced his lips open, preparing to apologize, now begging God and all of dear Heavens she would forgive him.

"I'm sorry—"

"It looks good," Xueyue said at the same time, her crisp but cold voice easily overpowering his own.

Qiao Weiqing froze in microseconds, as if he had been dipped into liquid nitrogen.

"T-thanks," he managed to croak out. It was a rare moment where he wished he was born a frog, able to hop out of this mess.

What the hell did she mean?

The car became frustratingly silent again. Qiao Weiqing felt like vomiting seeing the blurring skyscrapers out the windows, even though he was not one to get car-sick.

Dear Gods, why is the company so far? This trip is going to give me a heart attack, he mumbled in his heart.

Vast stretches of traffic lights still remained in the way so at the red light, Qiao Weiqing inhaled a deep and deeper breath.

"Is there anything wrong at the company?" he asked slowly.

Xueyue answered in her usual distant tone. "There's a mouse problem."

"I see," Qiao Weiqing remarked, as calmly as he could.

Would Xueyue be scared of mice? She wouldn't be, she is like a big cat.

He dug his fingers into the polyester of the seatbelt. There he was again with the intrusive, brazen thoughts. 

Qiao Weiqing made a mental note to find time and call pest control, then tried to clear his mind. He didn't know what he did, but Xueyue seemed to have softened, or rather, changed her opinion of him.

She didn't look as if she wanted him to drop dead at his presence.

His mind couldn't stop working overtime, so much so, he couldn't be elated at the revelation anymore. Was her family pressuring her again to keep their silly marriage afloat?

Qiao Weiqing's hands were quivering, but he dug his nails into his palm and kept them firm there.

No matter what, he would cherish these short-lived moments with her. He would do his best to leave her with the best impression and the least disappointments that he could.

Reverie Entertainment was in the works of filming a TV-show, a collaboration featuring himself to help debut a newly formed girl-group.

Xueyue was keen on their future. He would do her investment justice, give his acting and the crew 110% to let the show air a month early!

The car ride became surprisingly smoother with his resolution made. They made it to the company with no further hiccups.

The business district was full of cars and people in the streets, pooling from building to building.

When the car gently halted to a stop, Qiao Weiqing unbuckled his seat first. As paparazzi were notorious for hounding behind the crowds, artists were vigilant and took measures to avoid any possible scandals.

"You can head inside first," he told Xueyue. "I'll wait in the car."

"No."

Qiao Weiqing blinked. "No?"

He watched Xueyue stare at the direction of her company.

Though her expression was stoic as always, Qiao Weiqing caught the deep furl of a glare around her brows. Her eyes was stormy, a full Category 5. She emitted a cold aura befitting of an fictitious ice queen.

"We'll go together."

Qiao Weiqing shrank tenfold. The sudden change of her tone was a piercing dagger to his heart.

He had never seen her indifference so sharp and cold before. He was now one-hundred-percent certain her family was pressuring her to not divorce him.

For the longest time, Xueyue had always been dissatisfied about how he easily pleased her parents, his in-laws.

Just how much was she tolerating him?