As soon as Stephanie Ruan reached home, she dropped her shopping bag and got changed into a slightly more casual outfit – a navy blue satin top with white denim pants and a pair of sneakers.
Still as fashionable as always!!...
"Fifth avenue's street food market, please." She boarded the taxi and quickly conveyed her location to the driver.
It is a short 15 minutes drive down to the most popular street food area in the city!
Filled with all kinds of neon light signages, the hustle and bustle never stop for anyone throughout the night.
Upon alighting, Stephanie Ruan immediately spotted the popular hot pot restaurant that they are about to dine at and hurried towards it.
Back when she was in Country A, she would always crave for her favourite hot pot meal and would often ask Daniel Yan when they could come back to eat it together.
Today, her wish is finally fulfilled and she could not be more than happy about it!
Squeezing t
Throughout the first half of dinner, Daniel Yan and Stephanie Ruan were seen to be happily chatting and enjoying their delicious food."Oooh, this is so nice!!... It has been a long time since I've had this!""Daniel, try some of this meat! It literally melts in your mouth!"Stephanie Ruan was only focused on having a conversation with Daniel Yan that she has completely forgotten about Javier Zhong's existence.On the other hand, Javier Zhong, who is sitting opposite the two of them, is just eating silently with a solemn expression.No one knew what he was thinking about...Daniel Yan is already used to Javier Zhong's aloof character, so he did not think that anything was amiss.In fact, trying to engage him in their conversation would make him feel more uncomfortable and Daniel Yan is very clear about this point.-Cell phone ringing-Seeing his secretary's name on the screen, Daniel Yan quickly excused himself from the
Javier Zhong shook his head lightly, "There was a day when I was going through my mother's things after she had passed on... I noticed a White envelope stuck between the pages of her diary. The letter inside wrote..."[If you are reading this note and I did not come back alive on 21 March, know that I was murdered.]With a heavy pause, he said, "That was the exact day that she had passed on. Though the writings were poorly scribbled, I could still recognise that it was my mother's handwriting.""..."Seeing the hurt written on his face, Stephanie Ruan could imagine the shock that this incident must have brought to him, especially at such a young age.In her past impression of Javier Zhong, she saw him as someone who is very powerful and ruthless, without any emotions of his own at all.And this is the first time that Stephanie Ruan has felt that he is more 'human', as he opens up a more vulnerable side of himself to her.In fact, it i
Stephanie Ruan had originally left the room with the same intention of cooking a simple dish for Javier Zhong as well since she remembered that he did not eat much during dinner.She felt that this is the best way to compensate him for what had happened.And as she followed Mdm Li towards the kitchen, the servants at the back could not help but gasp silently at Stephanie Ruan."Wow, who is she??... Is she young master's girlfriend?""Did you see her face when she smiled at us??... So pretty and elegant!!""No wonder young master will fancy a woman like her!..."Everyone looked at her with great respect. After all, she is the first girl that their young master had brought home. No one dared to treat her poorly!...It is only until now that Stephanie Ruan is in the mood to take a good look at the design of the well-furnished villa.Even though the interior design is modern and luxurious, it is completely not her style at
Stephanie Ruan stepped into the dining hall just in time to see Javier Zhong taking his first sip of the soup.Pulling out the chair that is right next to his, she spoke to him, "I've specially made this soup for you. Tell me, how does it taste?"Looking at her eyes filled with nothing but anticipation, Javier Zhong responded casually while still digging in, "Mmm, it's okay."Hearing his words, she could not help but exclaim, "Okay??!!... Just okay??"Unhappy with his poor feedback, she took away the unfinished bowl from Javier Zhong with both hands."..."He better be joking about this!!It is literally the worst comment that she has ever gotten for her cooking!Everyone who had the privilege of trying her cooking would always sing praises about it. They would even urge her to start a restaurant of her own!But this guy... he is really too much!!To be honest, she might not even be that satisfied with a 'good' fr
Stephanie Ruan immediately searched beneath the documents to check if there are more clues as to why Javier Zhong is interested in her family's case.She then found a close-up photo of a man in his late thirties, together with a grey name card placed next to it.The man had an ordinary look, with a disheveled beard. But he is not someone whom Stephanie Ruan recognises.As for the card, she took a closer look at the name of the company.[Albert Liu, Golden Sun Pawnshop]It's a pawnshop??...After thinking deeply for a few seconds, Stephanie Ruan took out her phone and quickly snapped a few pictures of what she has found....The next morning, Javier Zhong headed towards the dining hall, just right after his usual morning workout session."Is she still upstairs?" Seeing that Stephanie Ruan has yet to come down for breakfast, he asked Mdm Li, who is busy preparing his food."Young Master, Madam has left the hou
It must be true... this photo is personally taken by him and he had only given it to Javier Zhong."...""Two weeks. Give me another two weeks and I will let him know of this man's whereabouts." Albert Liu replied in a confident tone.Hearing his response, Stephanie Ruan felt that this is the most she could get out of him at the moment.If she were to push any further, she would be behaving too suspiciously...With a slight nod, she put on her pair of black sunglasses and proceeded to leave the place.Back in the car, Stephanie Ruan replayed the voice recording of Albert Liu's words and many questions began to flood her mind...Who exactly is this man in the photo? Why is Javier Zhong looking for him so urgently? Does the man have anything to do with the accident?And more importantly, how does this accident concern Javier Zhong??...Though Stephanie Ruan does not know him that well yet, she could tell that he isn't the
He immediately widened his eyes in shock!!Although she had meant to wear this gown to the event in the first place without the blazer, her action is still a little too... suggestive?And it really doesn't help that she is looking so gorgeous in the gown...Javier Zhong did not know why his body is reacting so much to this situation. He swallowed his saliva and forced himself to look away so that his heart rate could return to normal again."A-hem!... hem..."Upon hearing that, Stephanie Ruan looked at him and is surprised to see that he is suddenly drinking so much water at one go!"??...""Are you really that thirsty?" She commented on his strange behaviour while taking her pouch back from him.Before he could even respond to her, Stephanie Ruan had already opened the door and left the car.Seeing that she had left without her jacket, Javier Zhong quickly took it along with him as they walked toward the building.
Excuse me??!!...Since when did she agree to become his wife?!Even though Stephanie Ruan maintained a courteous smile on the outside, she is literally fuming on the inside!This guy is seriously on another level of being delusional, isn't he??In fact, she wishes to reiterate again that Javier Zhong is not her ideal type of man!If not for the fact that she needed to use him to find out the truth behind her family's accident, she would not even want to come close to him.Even if he is the last person standing on this earth, she would rather die alone than marry him!Thinking of this, Stephanie Ruan slots her hand discreetly inside his blazer and gave him a painful pinch on his lower back."Hiss..." Javier Zhong turned to look at her in confusion.What??... Did he say something wrongly??He was just merely declaring his future goal to the group of people in front of him!"..."Oh, and by the way, Jav
Since he has already spoken so straightforwardly, Stephanie Ruan found it difficult to continue denying it.In front of Javier Zhong, she then raised her left hand elegantly and stared at her empty ring finger."At least a 4 carat diamond ring. Nothing less!" She hinted at him without holding back.Knowing his financial capability, a 4-carat ring should be nothing to him. But well, it is not about the price but rather, she wants to see his sincerity in marrying her."!!!..."As soon as Javier Zhong heard her words, he let out the biggest smile ever and he could hardly contain his joy!!Not to mention 4 carats, as long as she is willing to marry him, getting a 20 carats ring is not even an issue to him!Javier Zhong inched himself forward and quickly threw her a big hug without even caring about the fresh stitches on his wounds.It is almost as though he has completely forgotten that he has two gunshot wounds and he obviously could not feel the pain anymore!"Stephanie, will you really
With a light nod, the surgeon spoke to them politely, "The surgery is successful and Chairman Zhong is okay. There are no complications. He should be awake soon."Phew!!...Both Stephanie Ruan and Isaac Wen instantly breathed a huge sigh of relief!"Thank you, doctor!" She bowed slightly and spoke to him with great appreciation.While the three of them are busy exchanging a few more words, they did not realise that a mysterious man has actually been observing them from afar ever since Javier Zhong entered the operation theatre.The man stood there and gave them a final look before moving away into the shadows....In the private hospital suiteStephanie Ruan sat on the bedside of Javier Zhong and looked at him worriedly, wondering when he would be awake.She held on to his hands and waited...And waited...Suddenly, they heard three steady knocks on the door, and then the room was silent again."I will go and get the door." Isaac Wen immediately stood up and did not forget to report t
Perspiration beads are forming on Javier Zhong's face as blood is gushing out uncontrollably from the wounded areas.Shocked by this scene before her eyes, Stephanie Ruan opened her mouth but she could not speak a word!At this point, her hands are shaking non-stop as she struggles to remove her outerwear so that she could use it to tie around his wounded areas to stop the blood from flowing out.Thankfully for him, the two gunshots are very close to each other and one jacket is enough to apply pressure on both wounds."Can you try to get up??" Stephanie Ruan asked worriedly while putting one of his arms over her shoulder as she tries to figure out the best way to help him to a standing position.The two of them struggled for a while before successfully getting up together."Be careful. I'm not sure if he has left this place yet." Stephanie Ruan warned Javier Zhong in a soft voice as they took slow steps toward the door.With his current state, they better not run into 'X' again. Beca
Since everyone is very focused on this operation and their eyes are only locked on 'X's cabin house, no one noticed Stephanie Ruan sliding into the forest to tail Javier Zhong. As the pathway inside the forested area is very narrow and difficult to see - especially more so at the night, Stephanie Ruan is unable to manoeuvre comfortably. Each and every single step that she takes would require her fullest attention. She has to remain very vigilant of her surroundings because if she doesn't... "Hiss..." A tree branch that is protruding out into the pathway has scratched her lower arm. Without hesitating, she moved her phone's torchlight over her arm to check on the wound. "Thankfully it's not a deep cut..." She breathed a sigh of relief and quickly looked ahead again, only to find that Javier Zhong's figure is already out of her sight! "No way...!!!" Stephanie Ruan took a few steps forward and looked around anxiously for him but to no avail. It has already been about ten minutes of
Knowing there is a possibility that 'X' might have sensed that they are coming for him, the situation is now even more uncertain and dangerous than before!Javier Zhong has no choice but to hide from Stephanie Ruan about their updated operation plan.Because if she were to come along and something happened to her, he would never be able to forgive himself!And so, it is a better idea to keep her at the hotel. This would also give him a peace of mind.However, when Stephanie Ruan heard his perfunctory response, she could not pinpoint what was wrong with it...She just has this strange feeling that something is not very right...Though Stephanie Ruan agreed with him on the outside, she still has her own suspicions in her heart which kept coming back to her mind throughout the entire meal....At the Presidential Suite, Stephanie Ruan stepped out of the bathroom in a white robe. With her hair still wet, she took a towel to dry it while returning to her room.Meanwhile, Javier Zhong, who
Upon hearing that, Stephanie Ruan's expression immediately darkened. "Javier, you agreed to give me some time!""I did! Is 10 hours not enough? That is already quite some time..."Stephanie Ruan could not believe her ears and is completely speechless!Wait... what did he just say?!... 10 hours??!!Other people count by the days and weeks, but this man actually dared to count by the hours and act so righteously??..."Forget it... Take this back!" Stephanie Ruan pushed the bouquet back into his arms angrily. She does not want to take anything from him!This action of hers made Javier Zhong enter into panic mode. He forced the flowers back into her arms and anxiously held on to her hands, "Stephanie, don't do this... I'm sorry, I was just joking. I will give you time."Seeing that she has calmed down a little, he slowly added with a pleading look, "But don't make me wait for too long okay? I'm really getting impatient...""..."In the centre of the large bouquet laid an exquisite royal b
"??!!..."Stunned by the sudden turn of events, Javier Zhong's heart started pounding very quickly.You mean... she has agreed to share a room with him??And so... he gets to spend the night with her??Right at this point, it could be said that his mind went completely blank for a few seconds due to the excitement that is overwhelming him.Seeing that Stephanie Ruan had taken their keycard from the receptionist and is already walking toward the lift lobby, Javier Zhong hurriedly picked up his pace and followed after her.Needless to say, his mood has also improved drastically!But just before he could try to grab hold of Stephanie Ruan's hand again, her stern warning entered his ears."Don't you dare try to do anything funny tonight!""??..."What?... Has he even done anything wrong to her before??Not only did he innocently get an earful from her for no particular reason, but the current atmosphere also does not feel right for him to hold her hand as well.What a downer for his self-
Come on... How is she going to face all these people now...Stephanie Ruan is someone who respects other people's time and she definitely does not want to be seen as an entitled person who thinks that the whole world only revolves around her.This is totally not right!!...Absolutely embarrassing for her!!On the other hand, Javier Zhong found her frustration to be very amusing!With a chuckle, he grabbed hold of the small hand that is 'attacking' him and then directly planted a kiss on her forehead.Startled by the unexpected kiss, Stephanie Ruan immediately placed her fingers on the part of her head that his lips had touched."??!..."Seeing that she is still in a daze, Javier Zhong did not want to give her time to process what had just happened.He knew that she would definitely make some 'noise' about it!As such, he reacted quickly by helping Stephanie Ruan carry her handbag in one hand while holding onto her hand with the other."Let's go." Pretending that nothing had happened,
She instantly broke into an embarrassed smile and whispered into the phone, "Mia, I'm just going on a vacation. I'll be back in a few days.""No, Director Ruan! You cannot go with him! What if he takes advantage of you during the trip? And you are in a foreign place, how are you going to call for help?!..."As Mia Xue is still blabbering on and on, Stephanie Ruan hurriedly reached for the button to decrease her phone's volume so that Javier Zhong could no longer eavesdrop on their call.Who knows how terrible his expression is right now!She really does not dare to turn her head to look at him anymore..."It's okay, I'll be fine! Don't worry about me, okay? I'm hanging up now... bye!"With that, Stephanie Ruan quickly ended the call to save herself from this awkward situation."This girl... she tends to over-worry about things sometimes..." After which, Stephanie Ruan gave him a stiff chuckle and then pretended to admire the scenery outside the window.On the other hand, Javier Zhong