The Overnight Chosen Wife: Darling, Kiss Me Deeper

After reading the forums against Lanni which kept popping up despite being suppressed, Cheng Yu was in a bad mood when she went back to her apartment.

It must be difficult for Lanni to deal with Ji Meiling since she was her husband's aunt and for Luna, because she needed to take care of herself and not get involved in unnecessary trouble. On the other hand, she was an outsider and didn't have to care about anything. Teaching the woman a lesson should be a piece of cake.

She was still in deep thought when she opened the door to her apartment so she jumped when she saw a man on the living room couch.

"Cedric, you scared the crap out of me!" She glared at him. He had not answered her calls all day and had suddenly appeared here to give her a fright.

"I'm sorry. Are you okay?" He stood to check on her. "I sent you a text message to let you know that I would be busy all day but will wait for you here in the evening."

"I must have missed it." She patted her chest. Her stomach growled in hunger.

"Uh.. Have you had dinner?" She asked him.

"I was waiting for you to cook together." He tailed her as she went to the kitchen. She grabbed the ingredients furiously, and he couldn't help but notice that she was in a bad mood.

He grabbed the knife out of her hand lest she cut herself while in a bad mood. "Did something happen?"

"A heartless woman who just won't leave Lanni alone!" She raged. "I don't care what I have to do to make it possible but I want her to leave the country and go as far as she can. Lanni was much happier before she and her husband appeared and started making trouble for her."

"I can help with that." He offered.

"Thank you but no thanks. I will do it myself."

He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her from behind. "You are still so stubborn. Your matter is my matter as well."

She was quick to blush from his movements. "I know. I just don't want to bother you unless it's really necessary."

"Nothing is a trivial matter if it bothers you." He nibbled her ear. His phone rang and interrupted the moment, bumming him.

"Who has such horrible timing?" He complained as he dug for his phone in his pocket. It turned out to be his mother.

"Hello mother?" He frowned, wondering why she was calling out of the blue.

"How have you been? It's been long…" She asked gently.

"Get straight to the point, mother." He demanded, knowing that with their tense relationship in recent months, she wouldn't call him just to catch up.

"Fine. Here's the thing. My friend invited me to have tea with her. I thought it would be great if you came along so I would introduce you to her." She explained eagerly.

Cedric ran a hand down his face in frustration. "How old is this friend?"

"Why are you asking this?" The woman was puzzled but answered him nonetheless. "She is in her late forties."

"So she is not a young woman who you call your friend just to lure me to a meeting. Let me guess. Then this friend is going to bring her daughter or niece along, who is about my age so the two of us can get to know each other?"

"How…" His mother was flustered after being called out.

"What's wrong with getting to know young women your age?"

"I have a girlfriend. In case you didn't get that all the times I told you." He hung up in anger. Cheng Yu was chopping vegetables with newly found frustration, and he held both of her hands after taking the knife from her.

"Hey, I will not go to the blind date. Don't be so angry, okay? It's not good for your health." He coaxed.

"Of course you won't go. But I would prefer it if you did." She blinked.

"Yu, are you so eager to give me away to other women?" He couldn't believe her.

"Of course not. I just…" She sighed. "I don't want you to have a bad relationship with your family because of me. It's already horrible as it is."

He swiped some stray strands of hair away from her forehead, then cupped her face lovingly. "If I go to that blind date, mother will definitely want me to go out with the woman. Then what? Will I have to go on dates with her just to make sure we don't have a stiff relationship? And after several dates, will I also have to kiss her for this? It grosses me out just thinking about it."

She looked down to hide her expression but he knew how she felt without having to see it on her face.

He went on. "Then, with her instructions, I will have to propose to this girl and marry her. After that happens, what about you and me?"

She looked up at him helplessly. "But if they disown you…"

"I will be the happiest man on earth." He pecked her lips. "Forgive me for being a selfish man but if I have to choose between their happiness and mine, I will choose mine. And my happiness is you."

"Cedric," Her heart melted.

"Are you still willing to give me away?"

She threw herself into his arms. "I was never willing. I just wanted to solve a problem. But if caring for one's happiness is a sign of selfishness, then I'm selfish too."

He hugged her tightly, hoping that he would never see her sad again. It would probably happen once in a while but it broke his heart. "Where were we? We were thinking of ways to make the woman who framed Lanni disappear."

"Not literally disappear." She corrected him, horrified that he would murder Ji Meiling.

"Of course, not literally. Let's pay her a visit tomorrow."

___

The following day, Lanni slapped her forehead when she heard the rumors in the company. An important proposal had gone missing a few days ago, and this morning, it had been discovered that the proposal had been sold to a competitor. Of course, the matter had been blamed on Lanni.

"Ji Meiling, what did I ever do to you?" Lanni muttered under her breath and replayed all her interactions with Ji Meiling in her mind. There didn't seem to be anything she did to piss the woman off, but she probably didn't remember all their interactions.

The board of directors called for an emergency meeting with Lin Jian, and summoned her to the conference room. This was it. They were probably going to try and force her to resign. She clenched her fists at the thought of it. She had worked hard for this and she was not going to let anyone take it away from her.

When she arrived at the conference room, all eyes were on her and they were not happy expressions. They all glared at her as though she had committed murder. She took the empty seat and greeted all of them before placing her elbows on the table.

"You must have guessed why we called you here, Mrs. Ji." A middle-aged woman started.

"Yes. I heard about the stolen proposal."

"Good. Then I guess we don't have to explain much. Submit your resignation in peace and this matter will be forgotten." She ordered.

Lanni shook her head. She had seen this coming but it was still unbelievable. "May I know why I should do that?"

"Because if you don't, you will be fired." Responded an elderly man as if she was wasting their time by pretending to be dumb.

"I did nothing wrong. I don't understand why I have to get fired." She insisted stubbornly, unwilling to cave.

"There is already sufficient evidence. Are you still going to feign innocence?" A middle-aged man surnamed Lu threw a bunch of photographs on the table.

Lanni picked them up and inspected them, laughing out loud when she saw the content. They were all pictures of her handing over a file and then receiving money, but they were photoshopped.

"This is unbelievable. You are going to fire me for this?" She slapped the pictures on the table amid their shocked expressions. "Let's put aside the fact that they are photoshopped. How can you be certain that the file being handed over contains the proposal?"

"Don't try to talk your way out of this!" Roared Mr. Lu, but she didn't shut her mouth.

"It has not been labelled. It could be a private exchange for all I care. Of course it wasn't because this is a photoshopped picture. You can prove this if you have it checked."

That did not convince many of them so she added, "I am not in need of money."

"That doesn't mean you can't do it for greed." Retorted another, and the others nodded.

Lanni glanced at Lin Jian who couldn't say a word because it would only make matters worse. She smiled at him reassuringly and swept her eyes across the marble conference table and asked.. "Let's assume I am greedy or vengeful, or have some other motive. If I were to do such a thing as steal from the company and sell the documents to someone else, do you think I would do it in secret and erase traces of myself, or do the exchange in broad daylight, in public, and wait to be captured on camera?"