Yan Xiaoran rubbed her forearms with her hands as felt like the air was getting colder as the time passed by. But before she could turn around so she could go back inside, she felt a warm feeling embracing her from behind, giving her comfort through the cold night.

Startled at the sudden foreign warmth, Yan Xiaoran abruptly turned around with a puzzled expression on her face as she saw Alexander standing in front of her.

"Mr. Qu," she softly said.

When her voice landed on his ear, Alexander felt as if a feather was tickling his ear. It made him purse his lips, trying to stop the feverish feeling rising from the bottom of his stomach.

"Why are you outside?", he cajolingly said.

"I was trying to get some fresh air." Yan Xiaoran replied, unconsciously gripping the cloth that was wrapped around her shoulder to let it embrace her tighter.

The thing that was on her shoulder was the same suit jacket that Alexander was wearing earlier. It was very warm, and she could still smell his perfume on it, giving her a soothing feeling.

Raising her head, Yan Xiaoran looked at him and asked, "What are you doing here anyway?"

Slightly taken aback at her question, Alexander lightly laughed and said, "This is my house. Why shouldn't I be here?"

Yan Xiaoran bit her lips, wanting to smack her head for asking such a stupid question. However, her small actions ignited an incandescent hunger inside Alexander's heart. He tried to fight it, but it was hard battling against himself.

The longing that he was feeling from the moment his eyes laid on her was passionate. He had to look away from her to stop himself from pulling her into his arms.

As he diverted his burning gaze, Yan Xiaoran took a moment to admire his figure. Dressed in a tucked-in white shirt with rolled sleeves and two upper buttons unbuttoned, the man before her was indeed a masterpiece among men.

Without even trying hard, Alexander could pass up as the top male model. Just from his deadly looks, Yan Xiaoran wouldn't even doubt that every woman would willingly kneel in front of him. Not only that, the innate regal first impression he exudes was impossible to imitate.

As she continued to stare at him, she didn't realize that Alexander was now staring back at her.

In a very low voice, Alexander said with a frown, "Why aren't you wearing a pair of slippers?"

Yan Xiaoran snapped out of her musings upon hearing him speak. She didn't have the time to get embarrassed for checking him out as she raised her head to meet his eyes, "Huh?"

She could see his fine and thick eyebrows scrunched up together, like he wasn't pleased with what he was looking at.

She tried to follow his gaze and found that he was glaring at her bare feet on the wet grassy ground.

"Oh!" Yan Xiaoran responded in a flustered manner, "I didn't see any when I came down."

"Shouldn't you be at the airport right now?" She asked after a few seconds.

Alexander looked at her and said, "You want me to leave?"

"Ah?" Yan Xiaoran stared at him wide-eyed and waved her hands, "Oh no, I didn't mean it that way. Weren't you planning to go to the airport earlier?"

Yan Xiaoran remembered that his driver was asking him whether he would go to the airport, but maybe because Yan Xiaoran was present at that time, he decided to make a detour.

That's why Yan Xiaoran was so surprised that he was standing in front of her now.

Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he said, "I was, but an important matter came up and stopped me from going."

"Oh, I... see." Yan Xiaoran awkwardly nodded her head while looking down at her bare feet.

All of a sudden, a big warm hand took hold of her wrist. Before she knew it, she was being pulled inside the house.

She panicked and said, "W-what are you doing?"

Without turning to look at her nor letting go of her hand, Alexander strode towards the living room and uttered, "It's too cold outside."

"I know." She replied, "You can let go of me. I'll walk by myself."

However, the grip of the warm hand holding her wrist became even tighter as she heard him say, "I'm holding you, so you won't trip."

Yan Xiaoran's ears perked upon hearing his statement.

Even though she has a fever, she wasn't that weak to actually need someone's help to walk.

She tried to struggle and break her hands free from his grasp, but his grip was too powerful that he didn't even budge.

Sighing, Yan Xiaoran stopped with her pointless struggle and said, "I'll be careful not to trip. Please let go of me now."

She expected him to listen to her when she aaid that, but who would have known that Alexander suddenly said, "Then, you should hold me so I won't trip."

Yan Xiaoran blinked, speechless at the man's shamelessness.

Behind the human-sized topiary, Xiao Gui had a bitter expression on his face as he watched the two people, who were standing in the garden just a moment ago, disappear from his sight. Still, he didn't miss hearing what his close friend said just now and almost throwing up the contents of his stomach.

As someone who had been with Alexander for so many years, Xiao Gui had never heard his close buddy articulate such pick-up lines with those arrogant lips.

Usually, it was the females who would try to say a few words to flirt with Alexander. Unfortunately, the person they were attempting to flirt with was perpetually uninterested. He had no time to play around with anyone since he was always busy with his business.

Xiao Gui even suspected that Alexander didn't know how to deal with girls, but his thoughts were wrong. He had never thought that the friend who appeared to have no interest in other people was actually a smooth-talker!