It was the middle of the night, and Jingwei would have dozed off into dreamland, but his dear wife was too busy tossing and turning around, distracting him from his slumber. He waited for Xue Ning to settle down, but it seemed like just couldn't fall asleep.
No matter how high quality his mattress was, he could still feel her body move!
After he heard her shift for the 15th time in the same hour, he finally decided to speak up.
"Xue Ning, darling, do you want some warm milk?" Jingwei murmured quietly as his eyes fluttered open to stare at her. He could see her wide, shocked eyes with help from the moonlight.
"You've been tossing and turning for a while now. What's wrong?"
Was it because she couldn't adapt to falling asleep beside him? If so, he was prepared to make his couch his new bed.
Xue Ning froze guiltily. Crap, she woke him up!
"It's nothing! I'm fine, go back to sleep." Xue Ning hurriedly replied. "Sorry that I woke you."
"Tell me what's wrong first," Jingwei asked. "Is it because you're still worried? Or is it because you're not used to sleeping beside me? In that case, I can go to sleep in the living room."
"Don't go!" She replied instinctively, grabbing his wrist. Then Xue Ning realised what she did, and let go, her face red with embarrassment. Thankfully the room was dark enough to hide it.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtWhy was she behaving like a schoolgirl?
"I mean! You should stay. I'm the one that should go. I'm disturbing your sleep - I'll sleep on the couch instead." Xue Ning rambled. She then sat up, preparing to go, only for Jingwei to wrap an arm around her waist, pulling her back down.
"Nonsense," Jingwei scolded. "If anyone should be sleeping on the couch it's me."
"This is your room, your house! Why should you be the one on the couch?"
"Because I love you," Jingwei said, in the tone of a man pointing out the obvious. He yawned. "Now, if I'm not the problem, come here and let me cuddle you until you fall asleep. I've been told I'm a great blanket."
"By whom?" Xue Ning asked, narrowing her eyes even as she tucked herself into the warm comforting hold of his arms. "Another ex?"
"Of course not," Jingwei said. "My mom."
"Ah. Sorry for your loss." Xue Ning mumbled as she breathed in his comforting scent. She had said it once, but that was before Jingwei told her everything that happened to him.
"It's alright," Jingwei said, hugging her tightly. "I'm okay now. Now try and fall asleep, or I'll start singing."
"How threatening," Xue Ning said amusedly, but proceeded to close her eyes anyway.
Soon, she drifted off into slumber, but not before she felt a pair of lips kiss her cheek.
=====
The next day, everyone woke up bright and early, in various stages of tiredness, lugging suitcases of various sizes to the airport.
It became very clear, even in the haze of morning sluggishness, that none of Jingwei's fancy sports cars would have enough room to fit all their luggages.
"Why did you pack so much? We're not staying there for long." At least, he definitely wasn't. Xue Ning might stay longer, depending on how her parents were, but even she wasn't planning on living there for longer than a month.
"Really? This isn't a lot." Jingwei said cheerfully. "And besides, I got some gifts for your family too!"
"When would you have time to do so? And more importantly, you do realise we're supposed to be pretending to be friends right? Stop sucking up so blatantly or they'll get suspicious!"
Xue Ning then stared at Jingwei's equally fancy suitcase, her face scrunching in distaste. It was branded, that much she could tell - since there were Louis Vuitton logos plastered all over the suitcase.
To her, it just looked ridiculously tacky.
"If I was a thief, I would definitely steal your suitcase first!" She added. "Just look at how gaudy it looks. It definitely screams 'valuables inside'!"
"I'd love to see you try, if you can even lift it," Jingwei replied cheerily, as he called his family's chauffeur to drive one of the larger cars to bring them to the airport.
Xue Ning, sensing the implied challenge, proceeded to lift it - or in any case, try to. The suitcase was half her height and seemed to be at least 30 kilograms!
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"You really packed your entire house into this suitcase. It's not as though we're going to Europe," Xue Ning grumbled. Luckily, the Sun family chauffeur had enough arm strength to throw his suitcase into the boot, while everyone else had normal, light enough luggage.
On the way there, Sun Jingwei nursed a cup of coffee while Xue Ning yawned repeatedly behind her hand.
If Jingwei was busy the night before making impromptu arrangements, Xue Ning spent the whole night sleeplessly tossing and turning due to worry, and she only managed to fall asleep after Jingwei cuddled her in his arms, flopping over her like a large heated blanket.
But even that little sleep couldn't stop the tiredness, stress and worry from showing on her face.
"It'll be fine!" Jingwei promised, sensing her upset. He squeezed her hand as they arrived at the airport. Luckily, there weren't any paparazzi mobbing them, even as more than a few heads turned at the sight of Sun Jingwei casually strolling through the airport, pushing his own tacky luggage.
However, before they could approach, the security team on standby surrounded the four of them and whisked them away!
It was a new experience for Xue Ning - instead of having to wait in line to get their luggages checked in and collect their boarding passes, they were merely escorted through a VIP entrance with a fleet of security guards surrounding them.
No passport check required! What if she was a terrorist?
"This is insane," Xue Ning muttered to herself as she looked around the private terminal lounge. Other than the airport staff, security team and the four of them, they were left entirely alone. "Is there no one else here but us?"
"Nah, there's bound to be some other important guests in other lounges. Y'know, diplomats and S-class celebrities and what not. But don't worry, we won't see them. They're taking their own private planes." Jingwei replied, reassuring her.
"Mr Sun, you can take a seat first," a woman in a tight-fitting uniform quickly approached them, deliberately flaunting her assets in Jingwei's face by bowing lowly enough for him to see the hint of her cleavage.
Xue Ning snorted. Here comes another gold-digger!