11 am. Yan Xiaoran sat across Alexander. They were currently inside a fancy hotel restaurant and finished their lunch.

After wiping the sauce from her lips, Yan Xiaoran stared at Alexander who was looking down on his wristwatch every now and then.

Her heart felt heavy. Her hands gripped her skirt before slacking as she prepared herself for what's soon to come.

"You don't have to join me for lunch." She began. She thought that since Alexander came in a hurry, he must have left some matters in his company to come to her.

Alexander raised his head and replied, "I promised to have lunch with you and besides, it's nothing urgent."

"But you don't have to do that if you're busy." She saw him open his mouth but she continued, "I was with Haruka, we can eat out after we shop for our clothes."

A frown was upon Alexander's face, "Haruka left you and made you wait inside the boutique. If she was inside and didn't leave you, you wouldn't have to face that woman alone."

When Alexander saw the video, he was overcome with anger. He was both angry that Zhao Liuyin was there and said some words with Yan Xiaoran and towards Haruka who lied to him and didn't know that something was happening inside the boutique until Alexander came.

Of course, Alexander didn't think that Yan Xiaoran was weak at all. If she was weak, she would've already died when she was with the Zhao family. However, he couldn't help but worry about her as his heart couldn't take the thought of her being hurt again.

Yan Xiaoran let out a light and contained laughter, "You're making it sound that I'm such a weak woman that needs protecting."

"I didn't mean that…" Alexander said. He felt that something was wrong but he didn't know why.

"You came as soon as you heard that something was going on and left your business without a word to look for me." She took a pause to look at his eyes, "You're treating me like a child rather than your woman, Alexander."

Yan Xiaoran felt herself wavering. She also didn't want to say all this but she needed to…

"Am I so weak for you to go all this way?" Her tone was sharp and the gaze she used to look at him was harsh. She could see that Alexander was shocked by her words.

"Xiaoran... What made you think of this? I have never thought that you're weak." He said it so honestly that it pained Yan Xiaoran to continue her act.

Ever since she woke up earlier till the time she met Alina, she's been plagued with her deep thoughts and doubts.

Maybe it was because she was insecure of herself or hurt after the betrayal of her father, she thought that she didn't deserve to be with anyone.

She's been receiving help but time and time again, she couldn't bring herself to stand up and keep on hesitating to act. Like she was in the middle of a maze, she couldn't find the exit where she should be.

She swore to change and find herself anew but when will that happen when she continuously let herself turn into a leech that sucks off people's kindness to her advantage.

What's more. The fact that she let herself be swept by desire and the momentum made her feel horrible. She felt like she was selling her own body to an innocent man just for her to live on.

And what happened to them last night was the hard proof to it.

Noticing the storm that was brewing along with the anxiety inside Alexander's eyes, Yan Xiaoran knew that her words affected him.

"Nothing... I was just not in the mood." She smiled at him. Hoping that he would buy her lies, "I'm probably just hungry and sleepy after last night. Sorry, if I ruined our time together."

She reached her hand to hold his hand that was on the table.

Alexander stared at her for a few seconds. He was searching through her eyes and see if he could see what was wrong but Yan Xiaoran's mask was already worn by her.

Squeezing her hand, Alexander raised her hands to his lips and kissed the back of her hands. He didn't take his eyes off her as Yan Xiaoran bit her lips nervously.

Suddenly, his phone rang.

Alexander looked like he didn't plan to answer it but Yan Xiaoran said, "You should answer it."

"They can wait."

"Of course, they can. But I need to go to the restroom so, I can wash my hands." She made a lame excuse and pulled her hand from his hold.

Alexander wanted to pull her hand to him again but he decided to let her go when his phone continued to ring, "Alright." He grumbled.

Yan Xiaoran lightly laughed before turning to walk toward the opposite direction of the restaurant's restroom and left the restaurant.

The hotel restroom was located in the two corners of each floor and Yan Xiaoran took the one that was nearest to the elevator. Once inside the restroom, she stopped to look at her face in the mirror. She wanted to cry but she didn't want to do it in front of other people.

Beside her, a middle-aged lady was fixing her lipstick. Yan Xiaoran thickened her skin and borrowed that lady's phone and sent a text to Alina before giving it to the lady and went out of the restroom.

She looked around and after seeing that Alexander wasn't waiting for her outside, she let out a sigh. She felt bad for doing this to him but she can't be with him if she continued being tied up with her past. The last thing she wanted to do was to hurt him and pull him down with her.

She turned her head to look at the entrance of the fancy restaurant with longing eyes. Only fate will now know if they were destined to meet again.

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Read the Author's Note.