He likes Chu Dai.
Does Lu Tan like me?
I wanted to ask him again, but then I noticed he was trembling slightly.
Looking closer—
The arm covering his eyes… was damp in one spot.
He was crying.
All at once, I couldn't utter a word.
In all the time I'd known Lu Tan, I'd never seen him cry.
After a long while, his voice was hoarse when he finally spoke:
“She had the baby alone overseas, and her husband died… She had to endure every hardship all by herself.”
“If…”
“If only I'd realized sooner back then, so I wouldn't have left her alone… If only I'd been there for her.”
My heart clenched.
His words were heart-wrenching, and they moved me deeply.
But…
As soon as I heard “had a baby, husband died,” I couldn't help bursting out laughing.
It was all Cẩu Tuân's fault and his cursed mouth!
Lu Tan quickly fell asleep.
I tried shaking him awake several times to ask more, but it was no use.
He'd really drunk himself into oblivion.
But there was one thing I could confirm—
When I found out he liked me too, I sat by the bed, watching him sleep…
And couldn't resist sneaking a kiss.
I'd already kissed him…
I even snuck a little feel.
After that…
Nothing happened.
So the rumor was true—
Drunk men really are… no good.
19
When I woke up, Lu Tan was sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at me.
The moment our eyes met, his expression turned terribly complicated.
He rubbed his temples and said in a low, hoarse voice:
“I'm sorry.”
“I had a bit too much to drink last night.”
Then he looked at me and asked slowly:
“Did I… say anything I shouldn't have last night?”
I answered calmly:
“You did.”
I sat up, pretending to be calm as I faced him:
“You said you liked me.”
Lu Tan was silent for two seconds, then gave a faint, self-mocking laugh:
“That's right.”
He looked at me again, his gaze clear, no trace of drunkenness left.
“Chu Dai, I like you.”
In the quiet of the morning, my heart was pounding so hard I couldn't tell whether it was his or mine.
Lu Tan absentmindedly ran his fingers over his Buddhist prayer beads, his voice low:
“I thought that after seeing me wear these Buddhist prayer beads all the time, you'd understand.”
I frowned:
“Understand what? You're wearing something someone else gave you. Why would I read anything into it?”
He paused for a moment:
“Someone else?”
Lu Tan was stunned too, staring at me in disbelief.
“Didn't you give these to me?”
I stared at him blankly.
I stared at the Buddhist prayer beads on his wrist, trying hard to remember, but I couldn't recall a thing.
Only when Lu Tan reminded me when I'd given them to him did I begin to vaguely realize the truth—
Maybe… I really had given them to him.
But I had no idea at all.
Back in high school, Lu Tan and I made a bet—
Whoever lost had to shave their head.
In the end, I beat him by a hair.
Lu Tan shaved his head and looked just like the cartoon character “Tiểu Lừa Trọc.”
As it happened, that day was his birthday, so I asked the housekeeper to buy him a birthday present.
My only requirement was… that the gift clearly reflect his nickname, “Tiểu Lừa Trọc.”
But that day, I was in a hurry to see a performance. The housekeeper helped me choose and wrap the gift, and I handed it straight to him without even opening it to look.
20
We both stared at the Buddhist prayer beads, as if we could find the answer in them.
A long while later, Lu Tan laughed:
“So the thing I've treasured all these years… was actually a gift from your housekeeper.”
My face burned, and I mumbled:
“But she chose them for me, so you can count them as a gift from me.”
Feeling too guilty to meet his eyes, I hurried to change the subject:
“But… you once publicly said that your ideal partner was exactly like Đàm Vi.”
“Everyone thought you liked her.”
Lu Tan lit a cigarette and sighed:
“When I was young, I cared too much about saving face. And since our families fought bitterly every year, I could never admit how I felt.”
“Whenever someone asked, I deliberately described standards completely opposite to yours, afraid they'd see through me.”
Thinking back, he really had…
He'd said he liked white dresses, black hair, and a gentle, quiet personality.
And back in school, I was nothing like that ideal—
I was notorious for causing trouble, constantly changing my style, wearing clothes in every color, and dyeing my hair a new shade every two months.
Then again… the school couldn't control me.
Lu Tan tapped the ash from his cigarette and said evenly:
“Whenever that came up, I was so afraid people would discover how I really felt. How could I possibly pay attention to anyone else?”
The room fell silent again.
It was as if all the misunderstandings we'd carried for years… had finally been cleared up.
Lu Tan suddenly lowered his voice, breaking the silence:
“I didn't… do anything to you last night, did I?”
I shrugged and answered casually:
“No.”
Then I deliberately added:
“You couldn't.”
Lu Tan: “?”
He immediately pretended to pull the covers back:
“Want to try again?”
I clutched the covers tight:
“Get dressed. Let's go home and see Ấm Áp.”
At the mention of his daughter, he obediently got out of bed.
“Ấm Áp has to get vaccinated in two days.”
“Also, I think one of her baby teeth is starting to decay. We need to take her to the dentist today.”
Watching him go on and on whenever he talked about their daughter, I suddenly remembered—
I'd been so busy thinking about Đàm Vi that I still hadn't told him…
Ấm Áp was his biological daughter.
In the car, I deliberately asked him a question to test him:
“She's not your daughter, so why do you care so much?”
They'd stopped at a red light. Lu Tan turned to look at me, his voice firm:
“Who says she isn't?”
21
My house had never been as lively as it was now.
My dad firmly refused to let us take Ấm Áp to the Lục household, but the Lục family wasn't offended. Instead…
They moved right in.
The whole family gathered around Ấm Áp, fussing over her.
There was another new family member in the room, too—the dog from the Lục household that I'd “kidnapped” and taken overseas two years ago. Now I had to give it back.
Aunt Lục held Ấm Áp, growing fonder of her by the minute.
“She really got all the best features from both her parents. Her eyes are just like Big Dai's, and her nose is just like Little Tan's.”
I glanced at Lu Tan standing beside us—
The tenderness in his eyes as he looked at the little girl could melt the whole winter sky.
My heart suddenly melted.
I took his hand and said with a soft smile:
“I think so too. Her nose really does look like yours.”
While everyone was busy playing with Ấm Áp, I pulled Lu Tan upstairs.
The curtains were drawn shut, dimming the room until it was utterly quiet.
Lu Tan swept me up in his arms and pinned me against the door, the corner of his mouth lifting.
“In such a hurry?”
I looped my arms around his neck and murmured,
“Lu Tan, when I had Ấm Áp, she was a month late.”
“When I gave birth… I was in so much pain I thought I was going to die. I was alone in the operating room, terrified.”
“Back then, I kept thinking how wonderful it would’ve been if you were there.”
I buried my face in the hollow of his shoulder. In that instant, I felt his whole body go rigid with shock.
I tightened my arms around him and whispered,
“Lu Tan, Ấm Áp is your daughter.”
“Cẩu Tuân lied to you, and you believed him. I’ve never… been with anyone else.”
Lu Tan was silent for a long time.
Much later…
He suddenly crushed me against his chest, holding me so tightly I could barely breathe.
“I’m sorry.”
“When you needed me most, I wasn’t there for you.”
I was the one who’d run away, yet he was the one apologizing.
But…
He said he was sorry, but his body was anything but apologetic.
I pushed him away and frowned.
“Let go. You’re poking me.”
Ann didn’t let go. Instead, he bent down to kiss me, his voice low.
“No.”
Mimicking the way I’d spoken that morning, he chuckled softly.
“You can’t, can you?”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
I’d known for a while that this man held a grudge. He still remembered exactly what I’d said that morning.
“Ấm Áp is still downstairs.”
“It’s fine.”
He whispered in my ear as his hand lifted the hem of my shirt and slowly slipped beneath it.
“There are three grandparents downstairs, two babysitters, and nine dogs.”
(The End)
It felt familiar, yet strange.
The feeling came so naturally that I sank completely into his arms.
Lu Tan held me tight, gathering me into his arms.
The door creaked softly, a reflection of our passion and abandon.
The room was dim.
We were both drenched in sweat, our ragged breaths mingling in the room.
Lu Tan brushed a damp strand of hair from beside my ear and sighed hoarsely.
“I looked for you countless times over the past few years, but your old man did a great job hiding your whereabouts.”
He gave my waist a light pinch, making me shrink away with a ticklish squirm.
I quickly stopped his wandering hand and asked seriously,
“Then what was that talk about the Lục and Đàm families arranging a marriage? Why does everyone think you and Đàm Vi are together?”
At that, Lu Tan’s mouth twitched.
“It wasn’t a marriage arrangement for me and Đàm Vi.”
He looked at me meaningfully.
“It was for my dog.”
Me: “…???”
“After you kidnapped it…”
I cut him off at once.
“It insisted on coming with me!”
Lu Tan laughed and continued.
“All right. After it followed you overseas, I got another dog.”
“This time, it was a male dog.”
“Then this dog… took a liking to Đàm Vi’s dog.”
“It even ran away on its own, straight to the Đàm household.”
“It refused to come back, no matter what.”
“I had no choice. I had to talk it over with the Đàm family and let him go there as their son-in-law.”
Me: “…”
“That’s all?”
“That’s all.”
Lu Tan rubbed his temples and gave a helpless laugh.
“You know how rumors in our circle are.”
Fair enough.
Back when we were in school, I’d only jogged past his gate a few times, yet people still spread rumors that I’d crawled out from under his covers early one morning.
Completely ridiculous.
Suddenly curious, I asked him,
“So when did you actually fall for me?”
Lu Tan was silent for a few seconds, as if remembering, then chuckled softly.
“Probably back in school.”
He gave my waist a gentle squeeze, his voice low.
“But if you’re asking exactly when I started wanting to ‘mount’ you…”
Ann put special emphasis on the word “mount.”
“…that was two years ago.”
My face immediately turned bright red.
I decided to make a run for it, pretending I wanted to get out of bed and check on my daughter.
But the moment I stepped down, he pulled me right back.
“Be good. It’ll be quick.”
I believed him.
But as it turned out…
I trusted the wrong person.
Two hours later, I stumbled downstairs, trembling as I braced myself with one hand.
You liar!
(The End)