"Ruby?"

The soft whisper made them stop their next action as it drew their attention to the figure standing by the door.

Reuben's eyes opened wide when he saw who it was.

'Kitten?' He called out inwardly as he gazed at the woman for whom he had appeared here in the first place.

However, the smile which was on the verge of being formed on his lips, froze when he saw the look of confusion and hurt on her face.

Lina's widened eyes danced between the two people laying on the couch.

Reuben noticed the movement of her eyes and he glanced down to see what exactly she was looking at.

Following her actions down to a Tee, he came face to face with the man who was still pinned underneath his body and hurriedly jumped away as though he had been burned.

'Shit, she must have misunderstood what was going on right now!' He concluded as he stood up and adjusted the shirt that had come untucked.

His hurried actions made Lina's eyeballs almost pop out of their sockets and she glanced at the two figures whom she had caught red-handed.

One was her brother, Wade who had now sat up straight but was still on the couch with his head lowered and the other was her 'friend', Reuben who was now walking in her direction.

"I can explain, Kitten! It's not what it looks like!" He frantically defended himself with all his might to avoid any misunderstandings between them.

Lina was swift in her movements and dodged the hand that was about to touch her shoulder as she took a step to the side.

Reuben's outstretched arm and open palm froze in the same place before he slowly withdrew them.

Lina silently looked at his wounded face and then turned away as she walked towards the couch where Wade sat with a pout on his face.

"Nana!" He whined when she sat next to him but she did not bother with him and shot him a glare which instantly shut him up.

She looked up at the man who was now standing before her and raised her brows at him.

"You were gonna explain what it looks like, right? Go on then." She nodded at him in mocking encouragement.

Her sarcastic tone made Reuben frown and his eyes glared daggers at Wade, the main culprit in what had happened.

____

Half an hour before Lina had caught them in that compromising position,

Reuben had come over to Obsidia after he was done with his weekly meeting about the progress of the various projects that Ming Enterprises had taken up.

He had to face the annoying woman, Priscilla Lin who was also his younger brother, Mason Ming's long-time girlfriend.

The very same woman who kept stealing the bids and plans of different projects from his planning department.

However, he could never fire her due to one reason.

That sole reason being his brother who had made the first move to contact him just to ask him for a favor which was to hire her.

Thinking of his little brother who despite being so distant and aloof did not shy away from requesting a job for his girlfriend, Reuben could only curb his frustrations and let her continue working at Ming Enterprises.

'I need to find a way to speak to Mason about that horrendous woman!' He grimaced as he entered Wade's office.

Wade was not surprised in the least bit when he saw this brooding young master entering his office as though he owned the place.

"How may I help you today?" He sarcastically questioned to which he was answered with a scoff.

"Should I tell your sister about how his dear older brother secured the two lovely spots in my mall?" Reuben quipped with a playful smirk.

The gloating look on Wade's face faded when he heard Reuben mention about the bet that he had won in order to secure those two spots in Phoenix Mall.

"You wouldn't!" He cried out in surprise and fear at the same time.

That was a dark moment for him and he would never want his little sister to get traumatized after hearing the sacrifice he made for her company.

However, Reuben was not yet aware that Lina was the mysterious CEO of Obsidia, he just assumed that Wade did not want his sister to learn about his shameful past.

"Just tell me what you came here for, my young Lord!?" Wade begged in defeat in order to keep his mouth shut.

'I'll make sure that Nana plays hard to get because of what he did today! How dare he threaten me in this manner!?' He growled like an angry lion on the inside yet smiled like a mild cat on the outside.

Reuben saw the tamed expression on his best friend's face and was pleased with it.

He sat on the couch and crossed one leg over the other and glanced at Wade who rose from his seat and made his way to sit opposite the other man.

"Tell me everything about your sister's likes and dislikes." He demanded in his usual indifferent tone.

However, his rapidly beating heart could vouch for the excitement he felt at that moment.

Wade observed him suspiciously for a few seconds and trembled when he felt Reuben glaring at him.

Reuben raised his brows and threw a questioning glance at the man who was silent even after being asked a question.

Wade nodded his head before speaking about the one thing that Lina loved the most in life.

A good few minutes of explaining about her hobby, Wade took a moment to catch his breath.

"Really? She likes them that much?" Reuben asked with an amused smile as he rubbed his chin.

'Novels, huh? She's surprisingly cute!' He chuckled in a low voice which sent shivers down Wade's spine.

'Why do I have a bad premonition after hearing that laugh?' Wade looked away in hopes of minimizing his presence.

In the meanwhile, Reuben fished out his phone and downloaded an app that was famous for its romance novels.

'If Kitten likes it then I will gather information about it so that we have more things in common to talk about.' He nodded while signing up for the fully paid top-tier membership.

Why did he do that? Well… it was because he could.

He had all that extra money laying around that he could probably buy a membership for everyone in the city and still have enough money left to squander.

Wade sat in absolute silence and watched the man's brows furrow with each passing second.

'Wait… What is this?' Reuben wondered after he finished the first chapter of the top-rated novel on the app.

He looked up at Wade in bewilderment who returned the gaze with an equally confused expression on his face.

"The woman is taken against her will in the very first chapter and the story skips to 5 years in the future where she already has a child because of that incident?" He pointed at his phone and made an indignant face.

Wade chuckled when he saw Reuben's face and nodded his head.

"Kitten likes such stuff?" He wondered out loud and then moved to the next chapter.

A few minutes later, he was done with 10 chapters and his face was darker than before.

"What is with this book!? Why are CEOs shown as some possessive control freaks and sleazebags who just want to sleep around?" He frowned deeply when the thought of the male lead in the story who wanted to sleep with his new secretary but was slapped.

'That woman is actually the female lead and he 'vows to avenge the slap' he received?' He scoffed while recalling that line.

"Well, Nana grew up on those and she loves them. So much so that she wants those flaming hot romances where the man Kabedon's the woman and kisses her until she is breathless." Wade shrugged as he divulged one of Lina's biggest fantasies.

Reuben tilted his head to the side and looked at Wade as though he had not understood a word he had said.

"What the hell is a 'Kaden-don' now?" He inquired and got an eye-roll in response.

"It's KABEDON, not Kaben-don. Tsk tsk…!" Wade corrected him after he imitated Reuben's words in a mocking fashion.

"If this is how you react then Nana is better off without you." His off-handed remark pissed Reuben off and he glared at the man who was shaking his head with a look of disappointment on his face.

"Shut up and tell me what a Kabedon is!" He commanded in a low voice.

This time he had used the right pronunciation and waited for Wade to explain what it meant.

Wade sighed in exasperation and rose from his seat and after moving to sit beside Reuben, he faced him and answered his query.

"A Kabedon is when you fiercely pin someone to the wall and block all their chances of escape." He answered truthfully but smirked after a wicked idea popped up in his mind.

Reuben made a disgusted face when he saw the mischievous look on Wade's face but before he could say anything, his entire body fell forward.

"Just like this!" Wade chuckled after yanking Reuben's tie causing him to fall on top of him.

This was how Wade's body was pinned to the couch underneath Reuben's body.

Luckily, Reuben had enough reflexes to use his hands to support his body weight, or else their bodies could have been in contact with each other.

'Just the thought of touching his body gives me the creeps!' Reuben shuddered in disgust and glared at the man positioned below him.

"Was the punishment you received at Blue Heaven not enough that you are trying to pull such stunts with me?" He scowled and smirked when he saw the color vanish from Wade's face.

"Forgive me, My Lord!" Wade's earlier playfulness disappeared and it looked as though he would cry at any moment.

He tried to move away in his panic but that just made things worse.

"Will you fucking let go of my tie so that I can get up!?" Reuben yelled at the other man who immediately released his grasp on the tie.

He rolled his eyes and just as he was about to get up, they heard the door opening and looked up to see who had the audacity to enter this office without knocking.