Married to his secret crush

Li Shuang just did not like to break down in front of anyone. Having lost her parents at a young age and growing up with her grandpa, she just created a strong exterior for herself which did not allow her to shed tears in front of anyone. She was the type of person who would thrust her face in the pillow and cry her heart out till she got over the grievances of the whole day.

It was her defense mechanism.

Mu Shen was not sure how he could understand her so well and he did not know why he wanted to know more, why he wanted to know everything about her. But he did not seek for an answer to that. Some things are better when left unknown.

He knew he should have stepped back, putting a proper distance between them. He knew that he should not have raised his hand to cup her cheeks but that's exactly what he did. There was still time to back off. He could have said that there was something on her face but he didn't.

He just glanced at her stunned face, his expressions gradually softening, ''No man in his right mind would love you? Did he say that?" he asked her.

She nodded, still looking into his eyes.

''Don't buy that shit. That's absurd,'' he said in a serious tone. The corner of his lips tugged up, ''You are strong, beautiful... way too magical for some random peasant like him. You are just way out of his league. Got it?"

Before Mu Shen could get an affirmation from her, tears rolled down her eyes.

He wiped them with his thumb, panic apparent on his face, ''Hey, it's just a man. I mean it when I tell you that he is not worthy of you. Stop crying already. You don't need to be heartbroken over someone like him.''

''I'm not heartbroken over him,'' she whispered with tears in her eyes.

''Stop lying, will you?" He wiped her tears. If she was not in this condition, then he would have gone ahead to beat that asshole who made her cry, ''And did you think I'd be fooled by your words? Why would you cry over someone who is not loyal to you?"

''You are unreasonable,'' she pushed him away from her. As he looked at her in dibelief, Li Shuang ended up blurting, ''Edward and I were never in a relartionship. I had no romantic feelings for him. And even if he got together with my secretary, I am no one to point my fingers at him given that my heart has been wavering for another man!"

Mu Shen was stunned, ''You like someone...?" he thrust his palm inside his pockets, his fingers curled up in a fist.

''I guess so...'' Li Shuang lowered her head.

''As long as he is not another jerk...''

''He comes across as one...'' she tilted her head to look at him, ''...But he is not. I find him quite cute. He makes me curious about things.''

''If you are curious about anything, just ask him or google it. Don't ask him out for just that,'' Mu Shen whispered through gritted teeth.

''I don't know. I feel warm with him. I want to know him more,'' she wiped her tears with the back of hand.

Mu Shen glanced at the sea, ''It's nice then. Anyway, I told you that you deserve someone bettter.''

Li Shuang did not say anything and the silence ensued between them.

Mu Shen felt like he wanted to go home and break a few glasses or get a good sleep, or eat till his abs disappeared or beat the shit out of her exes but he instead glanced at the sky as a raindrop fell on his hand, ''It's raining. Let's go,'' he turned around to leave but his footsteps came to a halt when he felt a tight grip on his wrist.

When Li Shuang watched him turning his back on her, her feet moved on their own and before she realized it, she was already holding his hand, ''Mu Shen,'' she whispered his name. She closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath before walking ahead, still holding his hand. She looked into his eyes as she stood in front of him, ''I'm not sure about better. Can I have you instead?"

It was raining heavily at this point but both of them stood rooted their spots, looking at each other.

Li Shuang blinked and glanced at him through her wet lashes. She stood on her tiptoes and gazed at his lips before leaning closer to him.

The moment their lips touched, Mu Shen stepped back from her.

Li Shuang tilted her head, her grip on his hand loosening.

''I don't have any such feelings for you.''

''You are lying,'' Li Shuang dodged feelings because they always made things complicated for her. At times, she was slow at all these things but in the end, she was not that dumb that she won't see it, ''You treat me differently. You've always treated me differently.''

Her words were like a tight slap to him and his lips thinned, ''I didn't,'' he stepped back from her.

''As if,'' Li Shuang chuckled, ''When we were playing truth and dare in Ren Mansion and I got the dare to unbutton your shirt with my teeth...'' she gazed at his lower body before looking back into his eyes, ''...Your body reacted when you did that. You. were. hard,'' she spoke through gritted teeth.

''A normal reaction of a normal man,'' Mu Shen averted his gaze.

''What about casually draping your jacket on me all the time?"

''You fall for a man if he puts his jacket on you? No wonder,'' Mu Shen clicked his tongue, ''I would have done it even if there was someone else in your place.''

She stepped towards him and he took a step back, ''When I broke up with my boyfriend, you didn't need to take me to your place... Let's say you did it out of sympathy for a lonely girl on the streets but you definitely didn't have to stand in front of my door while I could not stop crying...''

Mu Shen did not eat fish today but he definitely felt like something was stuck in his throat.

"The next morning when I acted all arrogant, you didn't have to act like you didn't just see that pitful and pathetic side of me the day before.''

''You are not pathetic,'' he interrupted her, his tone deeper and his gaze solemn.

''See. You care way too much for someone who doesn't have feelings for me,'' Li Shuang shook her head.

''Basic concern for a friend,'' he said with a straight face.

''You get hard for a friend,'' Li Shuang crossed her arms in front of her chest, ''You keep checking me out whenever we are together and then you pretend like you didn't just do me with your eyes.''

Mu Shen literally choked on air or raindrops or he didn't knoe on what. He... did that.....

''You snatched the gift I gave to Zixuan on his birthday.''

''I was just curious about what you gifted him,'' Mu Shen cleared his throat.

''In the countless gifts that he received, you were curious about my gift. Why?"