The Overnight Chosen Wife: darling, kiss me deeper-Chapter 609: Jealous

The following day, Linhou left work early and drove to Yue’s campus. He had already sent her a text message but although it had been delivered and read, she had not responded so he assumed she was on her way to the campus parking lot to meet him. He should have known he would only see her walking over half an hour later, taking a tiny step at a time as if she wanted the walk to last forever, hand in hand with a young man. She was even laughing at something he was saying and having a blast.

He nearly foamed at his mouth in fury. He glared at their intertwined hands and stormed over to them, stopping himself just in time before his anger got out of control. Grabbing her and shoving her into his car would only result in a worse fight than the ones he had with his sister on a daily basis.

"Yue? I came to pick you up." He tried to maintain his calm as he watched the young man protectively step before Yue. He wanted to punch his teeth out.

She was just as puzzled as he thought she would be. "Did my father put you in charge of me? How old does he think I am?"

He was puzzled too, but only because Han Xichen would trust him with the safety of his daughter when they were supposed to be enemies. Well, maybe calling them enemies was too harsh, but the man didn’t like him near Yue.

He shrugged. "Your car broke down the other day so maybe he just wanted to make sure don’t have to take a cab home."

"Who the hell is this?" He asked about the bloke getting awfully close to her, who just seemed to realize that he needed to ask about him.

"Baby, who is he?" The man had the audacity to ask.

Baby?

Linhou wanted to fly over and punch his guts out but stopped when he heard her response.

"Don’t worry. He’s my friend."

Friend. His chest tightened.

She stepped forward to hold his arm while smiling at Linhou. "Thanks for the offer, Linhou, but my boyfriend will drop me off."

"Boyfriend?" He spat the word out like it was poisonous.

"I didn’t tell you about it. It’s new."

"Does..." He wanted to ask if Han Xichen knew about them and he approved of their relationship but he stopped himself. Why did it bother him?

"You cannot go anywhere with him." He grabbed Yue’s hand.

She flung his away and gave him a puzzled look. "Are you actually trying to be my dad? What’s wrong with you lately?"

He recoiled like he had been electrocuted. "Never mind. Whatever. You can go."

He turned on his heel and couldn’t get to his car fast enough. He vaguely heard her ask what was wrong with him but he didn’t stop. He drove around aimlessly and before he realized how unsafe it was to drive while that flustered, he was already in the outskirts of the city.

It was still early so he figured he might as well visit his aunt since he wasn’t far from her home. He needed to have a word with Shuihan, after all.

As usual, Lanni was excited to see him. "Hey Linhou." She kissed his left cheek and he chuckled. Even if they kissed both of his cheeks, his mother would always start with the right and his aunt would start with the left. It was almost as though the sisters had discussed which of his cheeks was "theirs".

"Aunt, I’m hungry." He complained, his stomach growling when he felt the aroma of whatever his uncle Xiehan must be cooking.

"Dinner is almost ready. You can eat some cookies first." She rushed to the kitchen and came back with more cookies than he could ever finish. His eyes widened as she brought the tray.

"Here. Shuihan should be home soon. Would you like some tea?" She placed the tray on the console table beside him.

He would be puzzled if he wasn’t used to it. Lanni liked to feed him all sorts of food and snacks. He shook his head.

"Thanks aunt. This is enough." He dug in, and it wasn’t long before Shuihan arrived and grabbed a cookie to much on.

"You look like crap." He remarked as he threw his bag on the couch. When he met Lanni’s glare, he picked it right up to take it to his room.

Linhou laughed at him. "I know. feel the part too."

When Xiehan announced that dinner was ready, they all went to the dining table for the most awkward dinner of Linhou’s life. All he wanted was to fill his stomach and probably go to sleep, but his uncle and aunt were concerned when they saw how frustrated he looked and wanted to know if he was alright. He was grateful that they cared about him but he simply wanted to explode and not deal with any of it.

When they were finally done, Shuihan led him to the terrace to talk about it.

"Beer?" He offered.

He couldn’t reject the offer. "Yes please."

They drank as he vented his frustration.

"Let me guess. This is about Yue." Shuihan reclined in his chair while looking at his cousin, knowing where his bad mood was likely to stem from.

Linhou knitted his brows. "I thought we were friends. Haven’t we loved each other since in our diapers? Yet she would simply throw me aside for a guy she just met. What boyfriend? He isn’t even her type!" He ranted.

Shuihan smiled the more he heard, confirming that his cousin unknowingly had feelings for Yue. He probably didn’t realize it since they had been friends for too long but his jealously made it obvious.

"Women never actually look around them, do they?" He commented, and before Linhou could ask what the hell he was implying, his phone rang.

"I’m at the terrace. Just come over." He spoke as soon as he answered the call and ended it just as fast.

Linhou found it odd. "Who was that?"

Shuihan grinned mischievously. "The female lead of this show."

"What the..." He wanted to take flight but it was too late. He heard Yue greeting Lanni and Xiehan moments before she walked to the terrace.

"Is everything okay..." She stopped in her tracks when she saw Linhou. "Shuihan, you too?"

"Sis Yue, I wasn’t expecting you." Shuihan feigned ignorance although he was the one who had called her.

"You texted me an hour ago and said it was an emergency, dumbass." She mercilessly called out his bluff. "I was on a date and you ruined it! I had to rush here for this?"

Date?

Linhou looked her over. No wonder she looked so beautiful. She was wearing a beige dress that hugged her body like a second skin and was all dolled up. So she really was going out with that guy. He wanted to die at the thought.

"Really? Did I?" Shuihan continued to act oblivious. "I didn’t realize I did it. Maybe I accidentally sent the text to you instead of Mumu. That must be it."

He scratched his head and ignored Yue’s threatening stare.

"Have a seat. We can talk business now that we are all here." He pulled the chair beside Linhou’s, and Yue didn’t hesitate to sit. She and Linhou were friends anyway.

"Hey." He nearly whispered.

She cast him a brief side glance. "Hey."

He swept his eyes down her body briefly. "You look beautiful."

"Are you crazy?"

He laughed. "Can’t I say you look beautiful if I’m not crazy?"

Feeling a show about to begin, Shuihan stood. "I’ll go get some snacks!"

"Come back here!" They both called after him but he was gone. Yue groaned in frustration.

"That bloke who picked you up earlier..." He started, unable to stop himself.

Yue snapped. "He is my boyfriend and he has a name."

"Whatever."

____

Shuihan was on his way to get some popcorn to enjoy the show at the terrace when Lanni grabbed his arm and pulled him to the living room.

"Shuihan, come here." She whispered.

"Mom?"

"Linhou and Yue..." She looked over at the terrace worriedly.

"They look good together, don’t you think?" He grinned, wanting to take a picture of them.

Lanni looked shocked. "They are your cousins!" She whisper-yelled.

Shuihan laughed. "Mother, relax. They are not cousins themselves so it’s alright."

When she thought about it, Linhou and Yue didn’t share any ancestors and couldn’t actually be considered cousins. It probably only felt odd because she loved Yue like a daughter and Linhou like a son.