To Rise Again In The Apocalypse

They drove in silence throughout majority of the trip. Mostly because Xue Rui was focused on how he can continue pursuing Li XinWen. He was an expert driver, which afforded him the ability to multitask. His mind focused on the road and at the same time was thinking of ways on how to make Li XinWen fall in love with him.

'I think the kiss earlier was a good start,'" he smiled at this thought.

Li XinWen sat staring at all the buildings that they passed. This was the second time Li XinWen saw this kind of scenery, and it still filled him with awe. He thought back to Long Xing and the Soaring Heaven Sect. He couldn't help but compare the buildings that exists within the two worlds.

Though the Soaring Heaven Sect was only a mid-ranked sect, it was still one of the top ten sects outside of the four highly ranked sects. However, in spite being ranked considerably, they were actually quite poor. The outer sect disciples were barely taken care of, and even the inner sect disciples fought for resources. Remembering his bitter life as a disciple made Li XinWen sigh heavily.

"What's with the heavy sigh? Is there something bothering you?" Xue Rui asked in a worried tone.

'Yes! You!' Li XinWen answered in his mind. Then he remembered that kiss from before and he could feel his ears turning red at the thought.

"I just suddenly thought of mom's cooking and felt that I wanted to eat lunch with her after all…" he answered without looking towards Xue Rui so as not to give away his real emotions, which was a mix of annoyance, impatience and confusion.

Xue Rui fell silent and was a little hurt, and after a while, he finally spoke. "Alright, I'll cancel our dinner reservation later so we can have dinner at your home. Okay? Will that make you feel better?" Xue Rui said this softly and with as much affection as he could express to appease Li XinWen.

But, instead of pacifying Li XinWen, the revelation that dinner reservations were also made was met with a temper tantrum.

"You even made dinner reservation? Rui-ge, aren't we just going to purchase a jian for me? It won't take long now would it? Why did you have to make dinner reservations too?" Li XinWen asked like a spoiled child then looked out the passenger window once again.

"Well, I did say that today was going to be a date. So of course, I made a lot of plans for us," Xue Rui answered in his defense trying hard not to lose his cool. "Ah'Wen look at me, please," Xue Rui pleaded as he reached for Li XinWen's hand. He squeezed Li XinWen's hand, raised it to his lips, and kissed it.

At that same moment, Li XinWen abruptly turned to Xue Rui to express his annoyance but stopped short when he saw a gentle expression on Xue Rui's face. Xue Rui let go of Li XinWen's hand and made an apologetic face as if to say sorry for doing something that Li XinWen did not like. He ran his left hand through his hair and rested them on his lap. Xue Rui held the steering wheel and drove with just his right hand as if to prevent himself from doing anything that would displease Li XinWen any further.

Li XinWen caught himself and reflected. 'Why am I not entirely annoyed at what happened? Did I actually like that he held my hand and kissed it? Ugh... what is this?! This never happened before even though I lived for over three centuries...'

It seemed like as if his annoyance was more toward himself and not towards Xue Rui. 'Don't tell me, because I've never experienced my spring moments, this is the result? Show a little affection and I liked it?' Li XinWen inwardly groaned and prayed that it was not like that. He sighed, as if exhausted because of this internal debate.

"If I had known that you had planned to take me out for the rest of the day, I would have told mom! I told her we won't be long and that I'd be back in time for dinner," he said pouting. "She's old and currently all by herself. What if something happens to her?" this was all true. Li XinWen truly did not expect Xue Rui to keep him away from home until late.

Hearing Li XinWen's protest to dinner, Xue Rui decided to withhold the fact that he also booked a hotel room for them to stay for the night. After all, he pictured that dinner would involve wine and that would mean that he wouldn't be able to drive Li XinWen back home. Although he had a pretty high tolerance to any form of alcohol, he didn't want to take any risks.

"Don't worry too much Ah'Wen, I'm quite certain that xiao Xiao would be back from school by this time. Even while you were in a coma, your mom stayed strong and did not allow herself to collapse because she had xiao Xiao to think about. Xiao Xiao is still young and needs your mom's support and guidance. Trust your mother, will you?" Xue Rui said and one could hear that he had high respects for madam Li.

Although Li XinWen realized that Xue Rui was right, his pride got the better of him. He frowned at Xue Rui and huffed, crossing his arms. "If anything happens to her, I'll hold you responsible," Li XinWen said.

"Right. I promise to take full responsibility," Xue Rui responded as he unconsciously reached for Li XinWen but caught himself and instead rested his hand on the passenger seat's headrest. "If it makes you feel better, I actually left one of my men in the premises to keep an eye on her and to make sure nothing happens," Xue Rui informed Li XinWen in a reassuring manner.

After a while, Xue Rui removed his hand from the passenger seat headrest and focused on driving. Li XinWen continued to pretend that he was still upset. But the truth was he no longer felt angry. Feeling a little guilty because of his outburst, he started sneaking glances at Xue Rui in secret by looking at Xue Rui's reflection on the passenger window.

'Ugh… I think Xue Rui's foolishness is contagious and I might be catching the bug…' he thought to himself. 'Li XinWen, how did you deal with this fool in the past?' he addressed the original despite knowing there won't be any reply.

Xue Rui continued driving oblivious to Li XinWen's sneaky glances. Occasionally he'd glance towards Li XinWen's direction and would smile. He looked at Li XinWen's back lovingly and he thought to himself 'This is the person that occupies my every thought; this person is my treasure…'

* * *

Mini Theatre 2:

Xue Rui: Ah'Wen, please look at me…

Xue Rui takes Li XinWen's hand and gazes at Li XinWen while driving.

Li XinWen turned to Xue Rui before his eyes goes wide.

Li XinWen: Bastard! The road!! Eyes on the road!

Xue Rui: It's alright, I am confident with my driving. Plus,, both of us have the ever so powerful plot armor, and you have the unrivalled protagonist halo.

Li XinWen: Your Sister, ah! Hurry and focus back on the road or else I'll haunt you forever!!

Xue Rui: En. Having you haunt me forever sounds good.

Li XinWen: [email protected]$^#[email protected]&

Mini Theatre 3:

Li XinWen: If anything happens, I'll hold you responsible!

Xue Rui: En. Your husband will take responsibility for everything.

Li XinWen: Who's my husband?! When did we get married?!

Xue Rui: Then shall we go get married?

Li XinWen: This again!? Scram!!

Xue Rui: Wife's heart is still cold... It's okay. I have a lifetime to melt that heart of yours.

Li XinWen: My heart is not cold! Your heart is the one that's cold! Your sister's heart is cold! Your family's heart is cold!!

Xue Rui: Yes, yes... Wife's heart is not cold. Wife's heart the warmest. Or else, how can he make me burn with desire?

Li XinWen: !#@&!##[email protected]!!