The Overnight Chosen Wife: Darling, Kiss Me Deeper

"Thank you." Lanni took the gift and tried not to show reluctance. Luckily, Ji Meiling didn't seek trouble with her afterwards. She left the mall after saying goodbye to the women but they couldn't help exchanging glances once she was gone.

"Is there something wrong with her?" Asked Luna, finding her odd.

"No idea. Let's go somewhere for a snack." Lanni suggested. Her mood had been ruined but she didn't want to ruin the whole day because of it.

The other two agreed, so they went to a nearby café. They ordered decaffeinated coffee and cake pieces, which they dug in hungrily.

Xiaomu looked at her mother's, and aunts' coffee, then at her own milk bottle and frowned sadly.

"Mumu, do you want to have a taste?" Lanni chuckled as she offered her niece a sip. When the latter nodded, Lanni leaned over to her and let her have some. The girl's eyes brightened as she resumed drinking her milk and eating her cake. It was just a sip of coffee but Xiaomu was so much happier after having it.

"You are going to spoil her to the end of the world." Luna smiled at their heartwarming interaction.

"She's just so cute." Lanni tapped the girl's head and when the latter looked up innocently to ask what was wrong, she kissed her cheek which made her even happier.

When the girl finished her milk, she stretched her arms out to Lanni. "Aunty," She cooed.

"Come here." Lanni put her purse on the table to make space for her niece and picked the little girl up. Xiamu tugged at her little dress, prompting Lanni to stand.

"We'll be back shortly." She explained and dashed towards the restrooms.

"Lanni, it's really you." She heard someone call her name as she left the bathroom with Xiaomu in her arms.

She turned to see a man waving at her, and squinted her eyes while trying to figure out who he was. He seemed familiar but she just couldn't recall where they met.

"Do we know each other?" She asked.

"How could you forget me? My heart is broken." The young man sniffled dramatically, and Lanni finally remembered who he was. "Yu Guang?" She had not expected that they would ever meet again. He had been in B City University at the same time as she was and they had not seen each other since she left.

"I knew you wouldn't completely forget me." He rejoiced, his eyes falling on the toddler in her arms.

The girl defensively grabbed onto Lanni's clothes when she thought that the stranger was going to pick her up.

"Is this your daughter?" Asked Yu Guang, feeling a sting of disappointment. The more he looked at the girl, the more he found that she took after Lanni and the more it dampened his hope.

"Aunty," Xiaomu tugged at Lanni's clothes to remind her that they should get going.

Lanni patted her back as she answered to Yu Guang who was secretly relieved, "She's my niece. We should get going."

"Wait. Let's contact each other later, shall we?" He dug into his pocket for a name card and gave it to her."

"Okay." She took the card and as she withdrew her hand, he caught sight of a glitter at the back of it. He looked closer and his newly found hope drowned yet again. It was a ring. She was either engaged or married.

"Well, I guess we could be friends then." He muttered to himself as he watched her leave, wondering if she had gotten married to Ah Chen. Remembering that she had repeatedly rejected Ah Chen, he speculated the possibility of her marrying the silver-haired man who kept trying to pick her up.

…

When the ladies finished their snacks and were on their way out, he walked towards them.

"Lanni," He called, closing in when the latter stopped and turned to look in his direction.

"I'll start the car." Luna pulled Xiaoshi away.

"Is there anything wrong?" She questioned.

"Actually, I think it's a good thing that I bumped into you. I just looked you up and found out that you are now working for a media conglomerate."

"That's right." Lanni wondered what he was up to.

"It's a pleasant coincidence. I need help from the media and I wasn't certain that I could trust reporters I don't know." He stated.

"What happened? Wait. Could you give me a minute to grab my notepad?" She guessed that it was probably something she would need to note down.

"Actually, it's a long story. Do you mind having dinner with me later? I'll tell you all about it." He requested. "If you are not comfortable, I could come to your office too."

"It's okay. We can meet at a restaurant." She offered a smile, much to his relief.

"Choose a venue and give me a call." He walked away when it was settled.

She went back to the car and sat in the passenger seat, fiddling with the name card she had been given by Yu Guang earlier.

"Are you okay?" Asked Luna, who quickly realized that her sister was deep in thought.

Lanni explained the situation, making Luna skeptical.

"Do you really believe that he needs help from the media?"

A frown settled on Lanni's face. "I thought I was reading too much into the situation. I'm relieved you think the same way." Her frown deepened. "Actually, I don't think we met coincidentally and I'm starting to think that he didn't find out that I work in a media agency by looking me up out of curiosity."

Luna shot a look at her. "Yet, you are considering meeting him?"

"Only to find out what he is up to. I'm not meeting him on my own." She revealed, knowing that Luna would definitely chew her out.

As expected, soon came the reminder. "Lanni, you cannot forget that you are pregnant. You need to be more careful and not put yourself in situations that might require you to fight."

"I'm taking bodyguards with me. He must have let me choose the restaurant I want so I wouldn't suspect him."

Xiaomu reached her tiny hand out to take the colorful card in her aunt's hand out of curiosity, and Luna frowned when Lanni let her take it.

"Did you give him your number?"

"No."

"You do realize that Mumu is going to lose or destroy the name card, right?" She reminded. As if it was the prompt that the toddler needed, she opened her mouth to take a bite of the card.

Lanni chuckled as she took it away gently. "Mumu, this is not meant to be eaten." She then turned to her worried sister with a meaningful smile. "Don't worry. He will give me a call."

It took a few hours for Luna to know what her sister meant, and the latter had been right. Yu Guang somehow found Lanni's number and called while the latter painted.

She had called Luna over to help her brainstorm and the latter was busy finding all the information she could about Yu Guang.

"This is crazy. The man erased everything about him in the last five years. It's as if he blinked away five years in a second." She glanced at Lanni's ringing phone. "I bet that's him."

"It is." Lanni answered the call feigning surprise. "Yu Guang?"

"Hi Lanni. I'm sorry I sought your friend to ask for your contact number." He explained before he could be asked, as if that would prove his innocence.

"That's okay." Lanni exchanged glances with Luna. She had put the call on speaker which enabled the other to hear what Yu Guang had just said, and she scoffed. It was obvious that Yu Guang had Lanni's number all along. Was he a stalker?

"I forgot to ask what time you would like to meet up." He said, and the two women concluded that it was a lie to cover up for the fact that he wanted to make sure Lanni didn't forget or ignore the meeting.

"We can meet up at a half past six." She gave the response that Luna mouthed to her.

The latter quickly wrote down the name of a suitable restaurant, which Lanni said out to Yu Guang.

When the call ended, she raised an eyebrow at her sister. "Why Onyx?"

"Because I know enough about their surveillance system." Luna responded. "Do you want to have Xiao Yu accompany you?"

Understanding that her sister hoped it wouldn't come off as a date and cause a misunderstanding with Xiehan, she shook her head. "I don't know. It would be better if I took Xiehan along. No one would bring their husband to a date, but I'm not certain of how busy he will be in the evening."

She knew he would certainly make time to go with her but she didn't want to impose on him.

Luna had an idea. "Didn't he say he wanted help from the media? Bring Lin Jian along. You can let Yu Guang know that Lin Jian is your boss and you cannot hide work-related matters from him."

"You're a genius." Lanni patted her shoulder.

Luckily, Lin Jian didn't have plans for the evening so he made his way to Onyx, arriving a few minutes before Lanni. Yu Guang had already arrived and he didn't look pleased to see Lin Jian.

"I didn't know you were bringing someone else." He wondered whether this was Lanni's husband. He frowned at the thought. Wasn't this B City's infamous playboy?

"This is my boss." Lanni explained, wondering how Yu Guang could have missed this when he looked her up.

"I see. Well, I'm not talking in his presence.." He stated resolutely.