Jiang Ying Yue’s hits gradually weakened until they stopped. She continued crying, releasing all of her hurt, fury and frustrations. Without noticing her own actions, her arms had wrapped around Lin Yehan’s thin waist and she clung to him.
They remained embracing for how long, they didn’t know. Only when they felt themselves shivering a little did they realize that they had stayed outside the cold night for too long.
She pressed her hands against his chest and pushed him away upon realizing the position they were in. Heat spread over her entire face and neck.
He let her go and stepped back. Then he turned and faced the dark emptiness of the property grounds below them in order to give her ti to get her bearings. He didn’t want her to feel too awkward or uncomfortable around him after their embrace. From the corner of his eyes, he could see that she was wiping her wet face with the sleeve of her shirt.
"It’s getting cold. Should we head back inside?" he suggested after so ti.
"Y-yes! Let’s go!" She walked ahead of him, moving so fast that she was almost running. In her rush to put a distance between the two of them, she ended up stubbing her toe against the tal leg of a chair in the balcony. "Ow!"
"What happened?" Lin Yehan rushed towards her.
Jiang Ying Yue groaned both from the pain and embarrassnt. How could she be so clumsy! She wished a hole could open in the ground and swallow her up.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I...I’m okay," she replied in a weak voice while massaging her hurt toe inside her winter slippers.
"Let see."
"No, it’s alright. Really."
The pain eventually went away after a couple of minutes. However, Lin Yehan still insisted on holding her arm to support her as they returned inside the hallway together. Once they were inside, he suddenly knelt down and reached towards her foot.
"Mr. Lin! There’s no need. It’s okay now. It doesn’t hurt anymore."
"Let see."
"No, I’m really—"
"Let see." His tone was firm, leaving no room for argunts.
Jiang Ying Yue closed her eyes in embarrassnt before finally allowing him to take a look at her toe. He removed her cozy slipper and lifted her foot to get a better look, forcing her to hold on to his shoulder for balance. His touch was light and gentle, yet goosebumps ford on her skin. She held her breath and felt her entire body tensing. Her heart began beating quickly inside her chest. She attributed all of these reactions to mortification.
"Hmm. It’s red and swollen," he said. "We should apply an ointnt or sothing. Wait here. I’ll ask one of the household staff. I know that so are still awake at this ti."
"Mr. Lin, there’s no need to bother anyone. I have an ointnt in my room. I’ll apply it myself."
He looked up at her while still holding her foot. "Are you sure?"
"Yes. I have a lot of dicinal ointnts and creams. Many of them are for pain relief because I train a lot so I frequently suffer from sore muscles, cuts and bruises and—" She shut her mouth upon realizing that she was blabbing. Ah, so embarrassing!
"I see. That’s good." Lin Yehan took her slipper and began putting it back on her foot.
"I’ll do it, Mr. Lin!"
"There, it’s done," he said, placing her slippered foot back down on the floor. Then he rose and stood in front of her, a gentle smile on his face.
Jiang Ying Yue blushed and avoided looking directly in his eyes. She would just feel more embarrassed.
"I-it’s late now, Mr. Lin. We should, uh, go back to sleep," she stamred.
"Yes. Have a good night, Miss Jiang."
"G-good night."
Nobody moved. They remained there standing in front of each other. She looked tense while he looked calm.
"I’ll walk you to your room, Miss Jiang. Please show the way."
"W-what? No need! I...I can find my own way. Yes, I can d-do that."
"Alright." He didn’t push it. "I’ll be going first, then. Please try to rest as much as possible."
She nodded.
After giving her another gentle smile, he turned around and started walking away.
"Wait!"
He stopped and looked back at her.
"I...thank you..."
"What?" He didn’t hear because her voice was too soft and she wasn’t looking at him.
She forced herself to look directly in his eyes and spoke in a louder and sincere voice. "Thank you, Mr. Lin. I...I feel so much better now, so thank you."
His gentle smile deepened. "You’re always welco, Miss Jiang. Glad you feel better. And please, don’t treat like a stranger. We’re friends now...aren’t we?"
She was a little startled at his question and thought about their current relationship. At first, she treated Lin Yehan as her boss’ friend. (Jin Liwei beca her boss when she started to work as a mber of Dragon Palace Ho #10’s security team and also because her relationship with Iris had turned from being employer-employee to being friends.) Then she started seeing Lin Yehan more because Jin Liwei’s sworn brothers often dropped by at the mansion to hang out. She couldn’t say that her connection with Lin Yehan was close, but they certainly weren’t strangers anymore.
So were they friends now?
After thinking about what they had to go through right now in regards with the cheating allegations against the two of them, Jiang Ying Yue felt that it had indeed made them a little bit closer to each other.
"Yes. We’re friends," she replied.
His gentle smile turned into a full-blown grin, looking very pleased by her answer. "Yes, we’re friends. Have a good night."
"Yes, good night."
He left.
Jiang Ying Yue felt confused about her whole interaction with Lin Yehan. There was embarrassnt for losing control of her emotions and her clumsiness and also...happiness. For what?
"I gained a new friend, that’s why I’m happy."
She returned to her bedroom and applied ointnt to her toe before having the best sleep for the first ti in weeks.
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