“Why is she not waking up!?”

“I do not know. There is nothing wrong with her, but she may be weak due to the long travel time here.”

“How can she think of coming all the way here!?”

“She did it for you! Do you not understand that throughout the time that she was at home, she only thought of your safety!”

Hearing loud voices, Ling Ning grunted to feel her head still aching as she wished that they would stop being so loud. Opening her eyes slightly to see that there were colors of blue and purple mixed in with the feeling of sadness and fear floating in the air. “C-C-Can you all be a little quieter?” She asked, letting out a deep breath soon after closing her eyes to a slight headache.

“Lin Ning!”

“Young miss!”

Hearing all the familiar voices call out to her, she took another deep breath and turned her face towards where the voices came from. “How long have I been sleeping for?” She swallowed her saliva and asked.

“Why are you such an idiot!!!” Hearing Cao Peizhi shout out loudly, she could tell that he was troubled with her.

“…” Lin Ning did not think that he would be that worried about her. ‘Am I wrong to be an idiot?’

(* ￣︿￣)

“The young miss just woke up. Don’t stress her out.” Hun Cuifen looked to Cao Peizhi, hoping that he would not stress Lin Ning when she just woke up.

Cao Peizhi let out a sigh, looking back at Lin Ning, lying on the bed. He went over, sitting down on the edge of the bed as he held one of her hands with his only hand. “Do you know how worried you made me?” He asked in a more calm tone.

“Sorry, I did not think that I would fall over.” Lin Ning felt his cold hand holding hers.

“I’ll have them prepare something simple for the young miss to eat.” Hun Cuifen had left the room, getting the maids to make the food that she would instruct them to make.

“Ning…” Calling just her name, he then brought her hand closer up to his face while he moved his head lower. Rubbing the back of her hand against his cheek, it surprised her.

“Brother Pei…” Lin Ning was speechless, knowing fully well that her hand was right on his cheek.

“I told you to take care of yourself while I was away. How can you just ignore my words and forget?” He then kissed her palm, looking down to Lin Ning, whose mouth was slightly open with shock.

“I-I-I…” Turning her head away, she felt her cheeks grow warm. ‘Why did he…’ She felt lost, with her heart beating tremendously with her mind hopping around.

“Don’t ignore me. I’ve been patient with you. How did you know that I was injured?” He wanted to know how she knew.

Gulping, she pressed her lips together as she tried to keep her face turned away. ‘What do I tell him??? I can’t just tell him that I knew about it from a novel I once read.’

“Ning.” He then let go of her hand, holding her chin to turn her to face him. Facing down, his face was much closer than before, which allowed him to see her rosy red lips and long beautiful eyelashes. Lin Ning could feel his breath against her skin, knowing that he was closer to her. “Please tell me.” He begged her.

Pondering for a bit, she simply nodded her head slightly. Feeling him let go of her chin, letting her face up towards the ceiling. “I… had a dream. It felt like a long dream.” She decided to bring that kind of talk since no one would believe her crazy talk about them in a novel.

“Was I in your dream?” He then asked.

“En, you were hurt. I did not know what to do. I felt afraid. Furthermore, I could not help but get up and try to find you. Not only that, I do not know why, but I wanted to be sure that you were safe. Finding Hun Cuifen was great luck, so I decided to send her to you.” Lin Ning hoped that he would accept this explanation.

“You came along and almost died. Why did you want to endanger yourself? Just for me, you almost…” Stopping himself, he could feel his anger come back, with his tone starting to change at the same time.

“Are you that worried about me?” Lin Ning said soon after the long silence between them. Holding his single hand, she wanted to know about his feelings for her.

“…Yeah… very worried.” He held her hand that held his more tightly. “Always worried.” He said.

Hearing that was enough for her to smile, she got up and hugged him tightly. “Thank you for worrying about me, Brother Pei.” She dug her face into his chest, rubbing her face against his chest. “You always worry about me all the time. You even came all the way to look for me and saved me from those assassins. I can’t be more thankful enough to you. If there is anything that I can do, then I will surely try my best to repay you.”

“Is it possible that we can have more than a friendly or sibling-like relationship?” He questioned, hugging her with his single arm.

Hearing that, she was a bit lost about what he was starting to refer to. “Hm?” Turning to face him, she could not see his face, but she could still feel his heartbeat. Cao Peizhi went forth, sealing his lips with Lin Ning’s lips while keeping his single arm around her. Lin Ning was shocked by the sudden kiss, freezing. She did not know what to do. She could not back away from his soft and warm lips that were against hers. Feeling him continue to kiss her lips, she felt her hands hold tightly onto his clothes. ‘T-These are his lips.’ She thought, feeling his lips that continued to kiss onto hers. Slowly, Cao Peizhi released her lips from his and looked down at her.

“Do you hate that I kissed these lips?” Moving his single hand up, he rubbed his thumb against her lips that he had just tasted.