Lina felt guilty when she saw the sad smile appearing on his face.

'I did deny him and my feelings for him on multiple occasions.' She readily agreed that she had done just that.

Whenever he took a step forward, Lina would promptly take a step backward.

'I keep saying that I want a flaming hot romance but I keep running away when one is standing right before my eyes!' She exclaimed and facepalmed herself inwardly.

Coming to a conclusion on how she wished to deal with her current predicament, Lina looked into his eyes and held his cheeks with both her palms resting on them.

Reuben leaned into her palm and closed his eyes to feel the softness pressing onto his cheeks.

Lina smiled as she looked at his cute actions and the smile on her face grew bigger.

'He keeps calling me 'kitten' but look at him now!' She giggled after comparing The Devil Emperor Reuben Ming to a tamed house cat.

However, pushing that thought away, she focused on the decision she had wished to reveal to him.

"Ruby, I like you and you like me. You are right to say that I shouldn't treat whatever it may be between us as though it was nothing." She quoted his earlier words as she glanced at herself and then at him.

Reuben nodded fervently with her palms still resting on his cheeks.

Lina leaned forward and gave him a quick peck on the lips before she continued with what she desired to convey to him.

"No relationship starts with Love right from the very beginning. So I think that we should go according to the steps and move towards the final goal." She smiled as she continued her words.

With each sentence she spoke, Reuben's smile grew wider until he felt his cheeks hurt but that did not stop him from smiling.

'I like where this is going! Is Grandpa's plan working out so soon!' He completely misunderstood why this was happening to him today.

Lina's confrontation of her feelings in her office coupled with the trauma of seeing Reuben with Wade and her confession to him later on, all led to this moment that Reuben wished to see.

"So I am sorry if I ever made you feel that your feelings don't matter to me." She bowed her head and earnestly apologized for her mistake.

Though she was treated like a princess in every right, her family never taught her to be arrogant and stuck up.

Reuben shook his head when he heard her diligent and sincere words.

"I'm not blaming you for anything, Kitten. I understand that you may still have some fears or misgivings about what might happen." He stated exactly what she was worried about.

He held his hands over her palms and brought them to his lips, kissing each of her palms.

This simple action of his gave rise to tingly sensations that went running from her palm straight to her heart.

Lina nodded after hearing what he had to say and added on to it what she felt about their situation.

"Ruby, I've read things… seen things…" She eerily whispered as she looked him dead in the eyes.

Reuben shivered a little when he heard the spooky tone in which she had just spoken.

Gulping his saliva to keep his fear at bay, he waited for her to finish in silence.

Oblivious to the scaredy-cat who sat in front of her, Lina continued speaking in a soft yet ominous voice which caused goosebumps to rise on his arms.

"Things that will make you…." She paused and closed her eyes for a second.

Reuben had already gotten scared by looking at her somber expressions and now he was on the verge of trembling.

"M-make you what, Kitten?" He muttered in a shaky voice.

Lina's eyelids opened and then shook her head before chuckling awkwardly.

"Oh, nothing much… I've seen a lot of heartbreaking romance movies and I'm scared that it would happen to me." She grinned like a fool after she revealed what her real thoughts were.

'Here I was, thinking that she read or saw something about ghosts and she's talking about movies!' He facepalmed in his mind but at the same time, he was glad that it wasn't anything related to supernatural beings.

'I bet that those were novels and not movies!' He smirked when he recalled how Wade described her obsession with romance fiction.

But he did not want to expose her, at least not right now.

"I understand your worries, Kitten and that is why I plan on showing you with my actions how such a thing would never happen to you… To us!" Reuben, the suave guy, reassured her with a gentle smile.

If the twins were to ever witness this side of him then they would surely puke blood.

Lina's smile never left her face because the sugary sweet words he was blurting out were just like something she would read in her novels.

'Am I going to have my very own real-life version of a romance novel with Ruby as my Male Lead?' She giggled like a schoolgirl after imagining this scenario.

However, soon her smile faded when she thought of another crucial matter.

'We've confessed our feelings already and will start dating now… Will this mean that Ruby will not court me any longer!?' She pouted when she realized that a large number of her fantasies would go down the drain.

Her hopes of going on cute dates to the amusement park, aquarium, simple cafes and expensive restaurants.

They would all vanish now that he did not have to court her.

Reuben seemed to understand exactly what was going on in her mind and squeezed the palms that were in his grasp to get her attention.

'I like that she is getting easier to read. Are we getting in sync with each other's emotions because we are getting closer as individuals?' He wondered and felt a surge of happiness rushing through his heart.

"Hmm?" Lina looked at him with her head tilted to the side.

"I know exactly what you are thinking about, Kitten." He chuckled and leaned forward to peck her nose.

'He's getting too comfy with me now.' Lina shook her head after noticing his actions but she was not displeased with them.

"You don't have to worry about the 'courting' that I had mentioned." He uttered and then smirked when he saw the flushed look on her face.

'How did he know that I was thinking about that!?' Lina narrowed her eyes when her secret thoughts were exposed.

Reuben burst into laughter when he saw the cute kitten baring her fangs at him.

"Because I promise to court you with all my might and continue even when we fall in love with each other. I plan to never stop courting you. EVER!" He declared with a firm voice which made Lina's eyes open wide.

Lina blushed to no end and nodded, pleased and satisfied with what he had just said.

"Then I'll take you up on that offer." She giggled and was about to lean in for a kiss when he moved away.

Not meeting the lips that she had been aiming for but kissing thin air in its place made Lina raise her brows.

"Before we move any further, I want to know something else…" Reuben mentioned with his eyes sparkling in excitement and mischief.

The expression on his face made Lina think twice before she suspiciously observed his face.

"Know what?" She questioned right back which made Reuben's smirk deepen as he inched closer to her ear.

"Is it true and you are a romance novel fanatic?" He whispered and playfully blew air into her ear.

Lina's ears burned red not only due to the heat but also due to the embarrassment of having another one of her secrets being exposed before this guy.

"W-what are you talking about? I don't know what you mean by those words!?" She stammered in denial of the accusations thrown on her head.

Reuben was amused when he saw the hasty words of denial that spilled out of her mouth.

Moving away, he sat up straight and nodded his head in all seriousness.

"Maybe my sources were wrong about this information." He rubbed his chin as he uttered those words of defeat.

However, his thoughts were a total 180 of what his words meant.

'I know just how to make you own up to what you truly feel inside.' He smirked when a wicked idea popped up in his mind.

SWOOSH

The very next second, he put his plan to action and was pleased with what he had thought of at such short notice.

Lina yelped when his body was suddenly thrown backward and gasped in surprise when she realized what he had just done.

Pinned to the couch, Lina stared upwards at the man whose body was looming over hers.

His eyes roamed across her slender body, pausing for a split second at her heaving chest before focusing on those soft lips which were slightly parted.

"So Miss Yang, I heard that you wished to be kissed fiercely until you are left breathless and dazed." He smirked as he drew closer to her deeply reddening face.

'Who the hell snitched about my fantasy!?' Lina widened her eyes and screamed in her mind.

However, as she watched the nearing face of the man who seemed to be on a mission to fulfill her fantasy, Lina could not help but blush further.

"Just say the word and I can turn your fantasy into reality~" He muttered teasingly and moved closer until their lips were just a hair's breadth away from each other.

Lina gazed into his dark, enchanting eyes and there was only one thought in her mind.

Angling her head upward, she put her thought into action and successfully captured his lips causing him to freeze in the process.

'Well, aren't you a bold one!' He smirked against her lips after receiving her answer and quickly got to work.