The Mafia's Rose Married The CEO

"Poor Wuming," commented Qing Lok while they were on the way to their floor. "He was really looking forward to it."

"Master was only concerned it would destroy his students' confidence when they see him fight. He would royally destroy all of them," answered Qing Chen.

They were allowed thirty minutes before the lights would go off in the entirety of the property. Wuming was walking ahead of them with his shoulders hunched and his head lowered. Qing Chen caught up with him and patted him on the back. "Do your best tomorrow, Wuming. You're going to kick Master's ass."

Wuming looked like a four-year-old whose candy got snatched away. "I just really thought I would be able to fight someone who's actually worth my time. I'm just disappointed yet again."

"The right opponent will come."

Wuming only pouted and disappeared in his room. Qing Lok also said his good night and closed his door. There was nothing else to do in this place other than train, eat, sleep, and clean.

Qing Chen was about to get inside his room when he heard the footsteps on the wooden staircase. Feng Xuan appeared. "You want to walk around?"

**

They were not allowed outside of the building so the two of them walked around the floor before going down to the library. It was about the size of Qing Chen's office. The walls were lined with shelves and bookcases stood in the middle of the floor. There were a few table sets around. It smelt of old paper and dust.

There was no one inside.

"I'm sorry about dinner," she said, nervously trailing her finger on the leather spines of the book.

Qing Chen examined one bookshelf and found that he did not recognize a single title in it. He moved to the next one. "What about it?"

"S-Shao Fang. I should've told you about him."

Qing Chen took one book from the shelf because it looked like the same as his journal he flipped it open and found that it was named. Right, this was a trainee's journal dated around fifty years ago. He took it with him and the other one beside it. "You have made no mention, I just assumed he wasn't worth talking about."

Feng Xuan shut her eyes. She felt deeply embarrassed about it. "It's nothing, Chen."

"I'm not even that bothered by it," he said and moved to another shelf. There were no novels in this place, he concluded. Everything was about war and assassinations. He wouldn't be even surprised if he'd find a book that would say "how to kill a man with uncooked pasta".

"No, I just felt…" Feng Xuan began but she could not continue the sentence. "Shao Fang is just really friendly. I don't think he meant anything else by being nice to me."

Qing Chen nodded his head. "If you say so," he answered with a smile. "Hasn't he made any advances to you?"

Feng Xuan recalled the last few days. "We had gotten close because we're both on kitchen duty."

Qing Chen emerged from the shelves and walked to where she was. "Why are we even talking about this? It's not an issue. But clearly, you're affected by it." 

Feng Xuan sucked on her cheek. "I just want to make sure we're good."

"We are good," Qing Chen said. "Unless you want to be with Shao Fan—"

"No!" she exclaimed with a loud beat of her heart. In a more quiet voice, "No." She breathed out. "It's not like that. I don't see him that way. I only think of him as a friend."

"Well, I hope he knows that."

Feng Xuan never really felt that she had to talk about Shao Fang about it. She thought she had done enough to draw a line between the two of them. "Do you think he likes me?"

Qing Chen gave it a thought. "Wuming and Qing Lok had some words about it." He put the pile he got on the table and leaned against it. "I told them I'd talk to you first about it."

Her mouth gaped open. "Had I been oblivious all this time?!"

Qing Chen let out a short laugh. "You tell me."

She thought really hard. Shao Fang was just a gentleman. He opened doors, he offered to wash the bigger pots, he always waited for her to finish in the kitchen so he could be the one to close it, he walked her to her room at nights—but that was only because they were talking about their training… right?

They were basically strangers. They were not even allowed to talk about their lives outside these walls. 

Finally, she had an answer. "I think…" she scrunched her nose. "I don't know, Chen."

"You haven't dated anyone before we got married, right?"

"Yes."

"Why is that?"

She shrugged. "I just… it never interested me. If there were guys, I knew that I wasn't going to end up with them because of the arranged marriage and all that." 

"Had no one ever asked you out? Asked you to have coffee? Or a meal? Or to the movies?"

"A lot asked," she mumbled. "But they were my friends."

"I'm guessing that the majority of those guys had not wanted to stay just friends." He reached for Feng Xuan and she walked until he had her in front of him. He held her wrists together. "You're a beautiful person. Of course they tried to date you."

"Do you think Shao Fang likes me more than a friend?"

"I guess. But we cannot just assume that kind of stuff. It is better if you would just ask him. Save us from all the trouble of second guessing."

"But I'm shy an—"

The door of the library suddenly opened and they both sprang apart. Shao Fang stood at the doorway. "Five minutes till lights off," said his smiling lips.

"We were just leaving," Qing Chen said. He looked at Feng Xuan. Ask him.