"Of course not," said Yan Shuyu with a very solemn look. This was the first time she had spoken like a true parent. "No dating when you are still going to school. Maybe... maybe when you go to college."

Zhang Yuanjia nodded in agreement to her statement then switched the subject back. "So Mommy hasn't answered our question yet. Are you and Uncle Zhou dating right now?"

"Um... yes." The little kiddos' sparkling eyes made Yan Shuyu feel a little bit embarrassed.

Yan Shuyu, with all of her attention on the little kiddos, did not notice that Boss Zhou, who was seemingly very focused on his work on his laptop, also looked up and gave her a look of surprise. He didn't think she'd admit to it with such alacrity. After glancing over at her, Boss Zhou looked back down to his emails. It didn't seem like he cared much about it, but the rising of the corners of his mouth had already betrayed his emotions.

Zhang Yuanjia and Zhou Yi were every bit as happy as Zhou Qinhe. They cheered openly and threw themselves into Yan Shuyu's arms.

"Awesome!" The kids were excited and the next thing out of Zhang Yuanjia was shocking. "That means that Uncle Zhou will be my daddy in the future and Mommy will be Xiao Yi's mommy, right?"

Hearing her son's question, Yan Shuyu stiffened up a bit. She almost tossed the kids out. Her face straight, she asked, "Why.. why do you think that?"

Zhang Yuanjia was still immersed in his own fantasy right now. His eyes curved, he said, "Mommy and Uncle Zhou are dating, so you will get married in the future. Then Uncle Zhou will become my daddy and Mommy will become Xiao Yi's mommy. Isn't that how it works?"

Zhou Yi didn't say anything, but he was nodding vigorously to one side and it was obvious that he was equally excited to have Aunty Yan as his mommy.

Yan Shuyu, on the other hand, was about to start crying from the kids' imagination. She would not become the little male lead's stepmother, so she had no choice but to try to reason with them. "Well, dating doesn't necessarily mean we will get married, darlings."

She had barely started talking when she was stopped by her own son. Zhang Yuanbao, distressed, pulled his head out of her arms and asked with his head cocked, "But Wanwan said those who only want to date but not get married are swindlers. Is Mommy swindling Uncle Zhou's emotions?"

Yan Shuyu thought she could puke out blood right about now. What did it mean she was swindling Uncle Zhou's emotions? At most they were swindling each other's emotions. Zhou Qinhe was no innocent little white flower. How could he be swindled?

Yet, her son looked down and the little male lead, leaning on her shoulder, looked listless. Both of them looked like they were crushed by her saying that she would not be marrying Boss Zhou. Feeling somewhat guilty, Yan Shuyu said softly, "Mommy is seriously dating Boss Zhou. It's just that dating and getting married are two different things. You shouldn't have the two confused."

Never mind about Zhang Yuanjia, not even little Zhou Yi fell for that one. The little male lead looked up at Yan Shuyu and asked point blank, "Then will Aunty Yan be marrying Daddy?"

Yan Shuyu, "..

Aunty Yan was very confused right now and needed some time to sort out what was on her mind. How was a child with his golden finger so difficult to fool?

The pair of kiddos were still looking at her with their eyes that were filled with their desires to be educated. Yan Shuyu had no choice but to focus on fielding their questions. "Getting married will be something that's way into the future. We don't really know that right now. Right now we are just dating."

"Why is it that getting married is something in the future?"

"Because once we made the decision to get married, we will all be living together, for the rest of our lives and that could be tens of years. We will never be apart again. So we will need a lot of time to observe before we make that decision.”

"How long will that take?"

"At least three to give years. We must take this seriously." She would be broken up with the boss way before then and the little kiddos wouldn't be obsessed about them getting married. Yan Shuyu was trying her best to muddle it through with the children.

At some point in time, Zhou Qinhe had stopped working and sat on the chair with his arms crossed looking at them. When someone who was always expressionless, whose emotions were always unreadable from his eyes, and always smiling at everyone, he was the scariest when he was not smiling.

Yan Shuyu, finally finished placating the kiddos and before she could even wipe away the cold sweat on her forehead, looked up, and met with the boss's look. She almost burst out in tears. "Bo... Darling, what is the matter now?"

"Nothing." Zhou Qinhe's look was calm and did not betray any sign that he was dazed just a little while ago. He reminded her, "It's already 8:20. Shouldn't... you be getting up? I'll go get some breakfast and wait for you guys in the car. We'll be able to save a few minutes that way."

Xiao Yi and Yuanbao were kids after all. As smart as they were, they weren't as scheming as an adult and finally let Yan Shuyu muddle it through. Zhou Qinhe, on the other hand, could tell that it wasn't that she had never given marrying him a thought, it was that she never wanted to marry him. There was a big difference between the two.

Granted, Zhou Qinhe had never thought that far either. After all, it was better to live in the moment when it came to dating. Yet her not giving the possibility any thought at all still bothered him.

Did she truly feel that he was someone who is not worthy of a long-term commitment?

Yan Shuyu, not getting his displeasure, stood up on her tippy toes after she heard the boss's words, put her arms around his neck, and gave him a big kiss. "None of the breakfast shops around here have opened yet. You can just grab us some milk and bread."

It was like spring had arrived on Zhou Qinhe's face all of a sudden. He didn't let go of Yan Shuyu but wrapped his arm around her waist and gave her a lingering morning kiss.

"Oh mi~~" The little kiddos both covered their eyes with their little paws at the same time.

As the kids were being so cooperative, Zhou Qinhe took the opportunity to kiss her for a full half minute before he let go of Yan Shuyu, whose knees were now weak, and walked out of the apartment with his suitcase.

***

When Yan Shuyu had just closed the passenger side door, Zhou Qinhe had already carried the two kiddos out with one of them in each arm.

Zhang Yuanjia had been carried by many but this was his first time being so intimate with his beloved Uncle Zhou. He was so excited that his little face had turned red. He was all over his Uncle Zhou when he left the car and was reluctant to get go of him. Perhaps affected by Yuanbao, Zhou Yi, too, was stuck onto his father tightly.

Sensing the enthusiasm from the two kiddos, Zhou Qinhe did not let them down. He continued to carry both of them and didn't put them down. The two meaty piles came out to be dozens of pounds together. The weight that was enough to bring Yan Shuyu down to her knees was nothing to Boss Zhou, who worked out periodically. He walked toward the front of the school.

Teacher Xiao Lin did not recognize Boss Zhou but she recognized the little kiddo Zhang Yuanbao that he was carrying.

Could this be the boy's father? She recalled how Yuanbao's mother had two kids with her when she dropped off and picked up Yuanbao lately. She figured that someone normally wouldn't watch over someone else's child for so long, so the two of them must be getting ready to get married.

Teacher Xiao Lin's normally bright smile became even more warm. She greeted them from afar, "Yuanbao, I see that your little buddy is dropping you off school again, huh?"

Zhang Yuanjia was already placed on the floor by now. Holding onto his little buddy's hand, he said docilely, "Good morning, Teacher."

"Good morning," said Teacher Xiao Lin as she stroked Yuanbao on his head. Then, looking up at the two parents, she said, "Hi, Yuanbao's mother, and this one is..."

Boss Zhou introduced himself, "Hi, Teacher Lin, my surname is Zhou. Nice to meet you."

Him being so friendly and even knowing of her last name, Teacher Xiao Lin felt even more certain about her speculation and shook hands with him even more passionately. "Hi, Mr. Zhou."

Mr. Zhou too returned a friendly smile. "Thank you for taking care of Yuanbao."

Now that he had put up the front as a parent, naturally Teacher Xiao Lin also responded expertly, "You are too kind, Mr. Zhou. This is what is expected of me."

Seeing how the two were interacting with each other enthusiastically, Yan Shuyu, as the real parent standing next to the boss, wondered whether she should interrupt them. After all, the bell that signaled that class was starting had already rang.

By now, Teacher Xiao Lin had also heard the bell. She quickly pulled Yuanbao over, nodded at the parents, and said, "Class is about to start. I'll bring Yuanbao inside."

When she looked over at Yan Shuyu, she said randomly, "Congratulations."

"Thank you?"

Teacher Xiao Lin had already walked inside of the school with Yuanbao in tow. Yan Shuyu recollected herself and looked at the boss, dumbfounded, "Why did she say 'congratulations' to me? Is it because we are not single anymore?"

Zhou Qinhe gave her a surprised look. Once he made sure that she was genuinely baffled, he couldn't help but smile and said, "Perhaps."

Yan Shuyu did not notice the boss's look. She was still lamenting, "Well, she's certain an observant one, being able to tell that am no longer a single dawg."

Boss Zhou, "..

He didn't respond to that one but Zhou Yi looked up curiously and asked, "What kind of a dog is a single dawg?"

Yan Shuyu was just about to patiently explain to the little male lead about how he was a single dawg etc., etc. But she was a little too late. The boss had already covered up Zhou Yi's ears and said, "Nothing. Yan Shuyu was just rambling. Don't listen to her."

"Hey!" Yan Shuyu couldn't help but complain. "There was nothing wrong with my word choice, okay?"

Why did he have to make it look like she had used some very inappropriate terms?

***

That afternoon, when Manager Yang arrived at the shop, Yan Shuyu followed him into the office and grumbled the entire way. "How does he have such a severe case of idol syndrome? Is an underground love affair too insulting for his classy status?"

Manager Yang almost slipped and fell on his back when he heard that. He turned around, startled. "Is that truly what you think?"

"What else could it be?" Why else would he purposely make their relationship known to everyone?

She wasn't that much of a Foolish, White, and Sweet that she couldn't tell the boss had expose their relationship purposefully today.

Yang Zifeng stared at her with a very complicated look for a while and thought to himself that Boss Zhou had better things to do than that. As someone who would see ten steps ahead at all times, every move of his had a reason behind it. His little buddy was still too sweet.

Mulling over it for a few seconds, Yang Zifeng finally decided to save himself. He nodded decisively and agreed with her, "You are right. That's so terrible that he'd do such a thing."

***

When the weekend came along, Yan Shuyu needed to go take her examination at the musical institution.

Zhou Qinhe had been extremely productive in the last few days. Not only did he catch up with all the work from when he was on his business trip, but he also completed some of his work in advance so he could free up his weekend. He finally told Yan Shuyu on Friday night that he would be available to go with her to the examination during the next two days.

"Really?" Yan Shuyu was genuinely surprised. "So that's why you worked so much overtime the last few days? Just so you can free up the weekend to come with me?"

Yan Shuyu felt a little bit lack of confidence right now. If she had the boss accompany her everywhere, would that make him feel that she wasn't a very independent person? Or, to take things a step further, would he feel that she was somewhat childish even and that being with her was like playing house?

She felt that mature men would be more into women who were pretty and smart, considerate, and with high emotional quotient. Probably not the childish type who made them feel like they were just playing house. Yan Shuyu hoped that she was that type as well, but seeing how busy the boss had been lately, she suppressed her little ideas and decided to be a little fairy who's good at what she did and not clingy.

Zhou Qinhe did not deny it but chuckled lightly. "I can't keep anything from you, can't I?"