Unable to resist Ice Cream's cute, pitiful eyes, Iris sighed and carried the fat grey cat.
"Meow~" Ice Cream rubbed her head against her mommy's bosom. There was a smug smirk on her big face when her mommy wasn't looking.
"Meow! Meow!" Popcorn called impatiently, as he waited on the edge the stairs.
Iris and her two cats finally headed down the stairs from her mezzanine office to Jin Liwei's. He kept the original set-up of his home office downstairs.
Jin Liwei was also working late like her. He was in a video call conference with foreign investors for one of Jin Corporation's upcoming projects.
Not wanting to disturb him, Iris didn't go to him. She only caught his eyes and gave him a flying kiss.
How could Jin Liwei ignore his baby girl?
"Excuse me, ladies and gentlemen," he said, immediately muting the microphone. He didn't even wait for the response of the other participants of the conference call before standing up and heading to his baby girl.
He gathered her in his arms, embracing her tightly, and then kissing her on the mouth.
A soft feline sigh sounded between them. The fat grey cat endured being squished between her mommy and daddy. Ice Cream was already used to it. Who told her to always ask her mommy to carry her? If she complained, Mommy would just put her down. Ice Cream was too lazy to ask her mommy to pick her up again after the parents were done kissing.
When the kiss ended, Jin Liwei felt reluctant to let her go. However, he still had a video conference to finish.
"You go ahead to our room, love. My meeting will take a while," he told her, giving a quick peck on her lips.
"Okay. Don't stay out too late," she replied.
"En."
Iris left after another round of kissing. If she didn't leave, he wouldn't be able to stop kissing her. Jin Liwei quickly petted the cats before watching them leave. It was only after they were gone that he returned to the video conference.
The hyper-active Popcorn ran around the hallways chasing shadows and whatever caught his attention. Iris dropped the cats off in their room before heading to her bedroom suite.
She passed by a dark area along the hallway. It was only here that the lights were turned off. She wondered why. Maybe the lights were faulty? She was about to report it to the household staff when she realized that there was another person hiding in the shadows.
No, not hiding but subconsciously blending in.
"Big Brother," she whispered, walking to his direction.
He must have been the one who turned off the lights in this area. The stormy sky outside was completely dark. It was only Iris' senses that allowed her to feel his presence. He seemed to be alone. She was relieved that his annoying subordinates who always followed him around weren't present right now.
Iris' eyes began to adjust in the darkness. As she walked towards her brother, she observed him. For a moment, she was taken aback because the image of Nikolai Vetrov from their past life seemed to superimpose on Lu Zihao's profile—a chilling, formidable yet lonely Dark Emperor.
It startled her so much that her steps faltered, but she quickly recovered and resumed walking towards him. Then she sat on the armchair beside him.
The siblings didn't talk, just sat together in the darkness, feeling comfortable in each other's presence.
A maid happened to walk by.
"Huh? Why is it so dark in here? Are the lights faulty? Tsk tsk…"
The maid was about to press on the light switch when…
"Stop," a low male voice growled from the darkness.
The maid screamed in fright.
"Oh! Mistress! P-please pardon me for disturbing you!"
"That's alright. Leave the lights off and return to your room."
"Y-yes, Mistress."
The maid immediately obeyed. She couldn't see anything at all in the darkness. Now that she had calmed down, she realized that the low growl from earlier didn't sound like the master. It should be Mister Lu Zihao. The maid blushed upon realizing this. There were many like her from the household staff who had a crush on him.
When the maid left, the siblings continued to relax in the darkness. After a few minutes, Lu Zihao was the first one to disturb the comfortable silence.
"Guess what happened today," he said.
"What is it?"
"Your youngest has been naughty again."
"Youngest?" She tilted her head to the side before realizing what he meant. "Oh, you mean Ketchup?"
With her great hearing, Iris heard a soft yet sharp mewl in the background which sounded like a yelp. She frowned, already imagining a white cat shaking in her fluffy paws while hiding from her.
"What did she do this time?" she asked.
Lu Zihao then told her how Ketchup "dropped by" his hacker team at the Shadow Winds headquarters. Apparently, she helped them on some tasks. Neither Lu Zihao nor anyone from his hacker team asked Ketchup for assistance. She just did it on her own volition.
"Ketchup!" Iris was dismayed. Ketchup's two-week grounding period just ended and here she was being naughty again.
"Wuwuwuwu!!! Mommy, don't be angry! Ketchup was just curious about Uncle Haohao's matters! Meow…"
Iris closed her eyes, feeling a slight headache throbbing in her temples. Then she opened her eyes and looked at her brother, a little hesitant to ask something.
"Did…did you let her do something…dangerous?"
Lu Zihao raised an eyebrow, a faint devilish smile lifting the corners of his lips.
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