Meanwhile, Xue Ning had frozen, her face still dangerously red. She did not dare to breathe. Perhaps she had a foolish hope that she would be invisible if she didn't move, the same way prey animals would freeze when they sense a predator around the corner.
Unfortunately, Sun Tianwei caught her eye, and gave her a slow smirk.
'Oh god, please send a lightning bolt to kill me. And Sun Jingwei too.' Now that her wish for invisibility has been foiled, Xue Ning prays desperately to any higher power to wish for a quick death, but she still remains disappointingly alive. It must be because she hadn't offered incense during the New Year!
As she was still alive, Xue Ning had to witness the slow way Sun Tianwei eyed the way his younger brother and her were cuddled together on the floor. His eyes drifted from the top of their red faces all the way to their intertwined legs, and to her toes that were curling from embarrassment in her shoes.
She wasn't even wearing pants!
Xue Ning remembered that she used to have strange nightmares about going to school and realising she didn't put on pants, and this was a similar nightmare - wait, it was actually worse, because she was regrettably already awake.
This easily made Xue Ning's list of Top 10 Most Embarrassing moments. She prided herself on being savvy enough so embarrassing moments didn't happen as often to her as they did to other people, but ever since Sun Jingwei entered her life, she's been racking up these moments like they were discount coupons!
"Sorry to interrupt your love-making session," Tianwei says politely, with a note of smug amusement, as he still continues to stare at them both tangled on the floor, in an extremely compromising position.
He even gives a pointed look at the way their crotches have touched. Xue Ning springs back from Jingwei as though she had been burned - oh wait, she had, and that was what led to this situation in the first place!
"Ge!" Jingwei exclaims, nearly leaping from the floor in surprise too, only to realise that both he and Xue Ning moved at the same time while their legs were still tangled together. They fell back on the floor in an ungainly heap, both of their heads colliding together with a loud crack.
"Ouch," Jingwei groans, rubbing his head, "your head is really hard, Xue Ning."
He still offers a hand to pull her up though. Xue Ning bats it away irritably and stands on her own.
"Your head is just too soft," Xue Ning argues, and she delivers a quick jab to his stomach for revenge. Everything was his fault! She despairs as she tries her best to look as presentable as she could.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Now that I have your attention, I have urgent news that I need the both of you to listen to," Sun Tianwei says, "then the both of you can continue your tryst at a later time, after Miss Li gets her wounds bandaged."
"This isn't what it looks like!" Xue Ning says pleadingly, waving her hands. Beside her, Jingwei looks torn between agreeing with her and upset that Xue Ning had so easily denied what happened between them earlier.
Sun Tianwei holds up his hand and gives her a gentle smile.
"It's alright, Miss Li. I am not here to judge. I'm here to help both of you, your wound still needs looking at," Tianwei says calmly, but his lips are twitching in an effort to stop himself from laughing.
Xue Ning glares at Jingwei in angry embarrassment. Jingwei looks at her shamefacedly, but he still tries to hold her hand, only to give Xue Ning a sad face when she rejects him without a word.
Instead, Xue Ning moves to sit at the side, where the paramedic began to apply burn cream on her reddened skin. Jingwei could only look longingly at her, before turning to look at Tianwei with a pleading look, as though Tianwei could solve this problem for him.
Honestly, couldn't his brother keep it in his pants? They were left alone for less than 20 minutes!
It was getting harder not to laugh at his poor younger brother. Tianwei covered his laugh with a quick cough.
His brother had been blessed with looks that had women throwing themselves at him, and he had never been shy about using all his advantages to woo starry-eyed girls.
It had been a while since he saw his dear younger brother feel embarrassed because of a woman. Usually, he just brushed it off with an easy smile - on one occasion, he had even invited Tianwei to help himself to his girls, as though Tianwei was desperate for his leftovers.
His younger brother could really be obliviously offensive at times. Thankfully, Jingwei remained harmless when it came to fighting for the family fortune, if not Tianwei would have more problems on his hands. He was fine with being a good older brother to a good-natured wastrel, but he's not sure he could be as friendly to a highly prodigal sibling.
As a sympathising brother, Jingwei's multiple fuck-ups gave him a headache. However, when it came to his career, Jingwei's multiple fuck-ups were a blessing! Jingwei's many personal disasters have ensured Tianwei continued to remain the favoured son, his father's trusted right hand, the one most likely to inherit the lion's share of his estate.
And now, this mess with Miss Li is going to make him look even better. Out of all the girls Jingwei could have fallen heads-over-heels with, he went for a girl with no powerful family, no money, and not even an extraordinary beauty!
Sun Tianwei vows that he would do his best to get them together. As his older brother, he wants his younger brother to be happy.
As an ambitious businessman out for the family fortune, his younger brother's romance would make his father so angry that Tianwei would look better in comparison.
Tianwei just needs to support Jingwei's romance, and be ready to pick up the pieces of family fortune in the eventual argument.
"Don't sulk, Jingwei," Tianwei says, patting his shoulder. "Patience is a virtue. You should wait for Miss Li to make a full recovery before doing anything too strenuous. More importantly, please remember to use protection."
"Ge!"
"We're not doing that! We'll never!"
The two of them yell at the same time.
"Wait, we're never doing it?" Jingwei asks hesitantly, turning to Xue Ning with disappointed eyes. "Like never ever? For the rest of our lives?"
"There is no 'rest of our lives'," Xue Ning says vehemently, choosing to focus on that part of his words instead of the intense disappointment Sun Jingwei projected at the thought of them never ending up in bed together.
Xue Ning then screams silently into her hands, embarrassed beyond belief. She couldn't even look him in the eye now, so she busies herself with her phone. It's only now that she remembers that she told Xiao Hui to send her the contact information of the person that booked the room that madwoman Xiumin stayed in.
If she wasn't so hopelessly tired and distracted by Sun Jingwei's… everything, they wouldn't have wasted precious time that they could have spent investigating it.
Xue Ning vows to not get distracted again. She was here, with a job to do!
From Xiao Hui:
Hi Miss Li, this is the name of the man that booked the room!
'Dimitri Von Holson'
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmOnce again, I'm very sorry for all the trouble I caused you!
Ah, a foreign name. She frowns, trying to pronounce it, but failing. Her English had always been abysmal at best. There's nothing for it; she turns to Jingwei for help.
Jingwei, delighted that Xue Ning was no longer ignoring him, practically bounded over to her. Tianwei could almost visualise the wagging tail behind him. It was adorably pathetic, and their father may have disowned him for that.
"Xue Ning! You've stopped ignoring me!" He says delightedly. The paramedic discreetly rolled his eyes as he bandaged up Xue Ning's thigh.
"I can still ignore you, don't try me," Xue Ning threatens. Jingwei immediately wipes the smile off his face to paste a more contrite expression.
"Please don't," he begs, only half-joking. "I would be devastated."
"And this is my business how?" Xue Ning asked testily.
Jingwei splutters. Xue Ning decides to stop bitching at him for now and shows him her phone. There were more important things to focus on.
"Anyway, I just called you so you can help me pronounce this name. According to Xiao Hui, this was the name of the person that booked the room. But it's in English."
"Glad to help; let me see," Jingwei had gone abroad to study after all, and he was fluent in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. (Some also said he was fluent in asshole-speak, but he ignored those comments. They clearly stemmed from jealousy.)
Xue Ning easily hands her phone to Jingwei, who takes one look at the name and pales immediately.
"I'm telling you - I think the name is fake," Xue Ning says, pointing to the name. Next to her, Jingwei is frozen in shock. "Hey, are you alright?"
"Ahahaha…" Jingwei awkwardly laughs. "Xue Ning, you have no idea how smart you are."
His beloved Xue Ning truly hit the nail on the head. Dimitri Von Holson was a fake name.
He should know, because he created it when he was 16.