"Hey!"

"No distractions allowed when having dinner."

Huo Beichen scolded Ning Meng sternly before continuing to eat his dinner again.

"..."

'What distraction? I'm not a kid anymore!'

Nonetheless, she obediently lowered her head to chow down her dinner as a small smile crept upon her face.

In the "real world", she had been an orphan. After leaving the orphanage, no one had been there to discipline her anymore, and so, she could do whatever she wanted.

No matter how late it was, she could draw her comics as much as she liked. No one was there to stop her. No one was there to... care for her.

She had always envied her cla.s.smates in schools back then—they had moms and dads who cared about them. She envied them every single time they complained about their parents not allowing them to play video games.

Thus... it felt nice to have someone to discipline her... to care for her like that too.

***

After having their dinner and paying the bill, Huo Beichen escorted Ning Meng out. 

It was already 8 pm and yet, there were still high school students fooling around, making the alleyway still as crowded as before. As several students ran past them, Ning Meng instinctively wanted to step aside, fearing she might get knocked over by these tall boys. Suddenly, her wrist was forcefully grabbed by the man next to her, and in the next second, her entire body was pulled toward him as he s.h.i.+elded her with his body.

Ning Meng's eyes glittered upon seeing this.

Huo Beichen looked forward nonchalantly as his warm hand slowly let go of her wrist. 

As Ning Meng felt the chilly weather as a whiff of cold air blew by, she recalled the warmth of his hand on her wrist earlier. 

As she was deep in her thoughts, her hand was taken by the man.

"..."

Ning Meng looked at his dry warm hand enveloping her small exquisite hand in confusion.

Boom!

Ning Meng felt as though a stick of dynamite had exploded in her head. Her hand was starting to heat up as sweat began to form on her palm. Her face burned red as she tried to calmly focus on the road.

As she was struggling with her embarra.s.sment, the fingers in her palm held her hand even more firmly than before. In fact, due to her moving her hand anxiously, it felt as though his fingers were tickling her palm from all the struggling, and she could feel her entire body tense up with pleasure and embarra.s.sment.

Yet, the man did not seem to notice her embarra.s.sment at all as he continued to walk onward with her hand held in his.

'This is so unfair.'

Ning Meng puffed up her blushed cheeks and tried to wriggle her hand out of his once again. However, this time, his hand gripped hers even tighter than before, interlocking their fingers.

Ning Meng could not help but blurt out, "Wha... What are you doing?"

Her voice sounded angry but shy, and to Huo Beichen, she looked absolutely adorable right now.

Seeing this, his gloomy heart began to heal from all the hurt as his mouth quirked up to a smile.

"What did I do?"

"..."

What a sly man!

Ning Meng raised her hand which was in his tight grasp.

"What did you do? Can't see you see this? Just what are you doing right now? Have you no shame?"

The man let out a few sn.i.g.g.e.rs before responding, "Nope."

"!?"

In an instant, a wave of anger surged through her mind. "Why, you...!!"

The man tilted his head and looked at her with his obsidian eyes. "Me... what?"

Ning Meng was stunned at his response. A short moment later, she retorted, "You must be blind. You'd better look out or else... or else I'll ram into you, you know?!"

"..."

She was still as cowardly as ever.

Huo Beichen pulled back his gaze and focused on the road, continuing to walk onward.

Ning Meng pouted as she walked with him.

'Just what kind of wooing is this? Does he not know how to flirt with a girl? D*mn, he even tried to take advantage of me like this. No wonder he's never even had a girlfriend even though he's 26 years old and needed to forcefully marry the original Ning Meng back then...'

As she was nagging Huo Beichen in her mind, Ning Meng could hear his voice ringing next to her.

"It's just... I'm afraid that you'll go missing."

Ning Meng stopped in her tracks and raised her head to look at him in confusion.

"Huh?"

The man looked at her longingly. "Please don't go missing again. Alright?"