"En, Mommy believes you!"
Glancing at her watch, she raised her hand to turn on the wireless earpiece, "Jessica... Jessica?"
On the other end, Jessica’s voice did not respond.
Gan Yuan’s heart tightened; could something have happened to that girl?
"Xiaotang, Mommy has to go now, you must remember what I’ve told you."
The little one nodded.
The youngster spoke seriously, "Don’t tell Daddy about today’s events, don’t trust Qian Xueying, don’t accept anything from her, don’t be alone with her... and also, watch Daddy carefully!"
"That’s right!" Gan Yuan embraced him again, "Good boy, trust Mommy, I’ll be back very soon."
The little one clung to her neck, filled with reluctance.
"Mommy, you have to come back quickly."
She nodded gently, her throat already feeling a bit sore.
"Mommy!" the little one spoke again, "Can I... call you?"
"That..." Gan Yuan thought for a moment, "Mommy might not always be available, so how about I call you instead? But you can’t let anyone else find out."
"Then it’s a deal, I’ll wait for your call in the restroom every night at nine o’clock."
"Okay." Gan Yuan smiled in agreement, "If Mommy doesn’t call, it means I might be tied up, but I’ll definitely call the next day. Do you remember?"
The little one nodded.
Outside, footsteps sounded.
Knewing that their secret might have been exposed, Gan Yuan suppressed her reluctance and stood up.
"Then... Mommy is leaving!"
Although the little one was reluctant, he still spoke sensibly.
"Mommy, you have to take good care of yourself."
That one sentence almost brought tears to Gan Yuan’s eyes.
"En!" She bent down again to embrace him, fervently kissing her son’s tender little face, "Mommy promises, I’ll come back soon to see you and Daddy."
Letting go of her son, she gently touched his shoulders.
"Now, go and find Daddy or the Royal Palace’s bodyguards and don’t trust strangers. If Daddy asks, just say you ran off and hid in the storeroom by yourself, don’t mention seeing me."
The little one nodded, and she waved to him.
The little one kissed her face, Gan Yuan opened the door to look around, then helped him open the room door.
Watching the little one dash down the corridor, caught by Will who had come looking, she finally breathed a sigh of relief, pulled up her mask, and stepped out of the storeroom, quickly moving towards the other end of the corridor.
Pushing the trolley to the end of the corridor, she left the trolley behind, and turned to head for the emergency stairs.
No sooner than she had pulled the door open to the emergency stairwell, before her eyes adjusted to the dim light, a hand reached out and grasped her wrist.
The next second, she was pinned against the wall.
A hand pulled away the mask from her face, and as she raised her hand in resistance, it was caught by the other person. The heat of their breath closed in, with the familiar light scent of rosemary lingering in the air.
On her lips, a warm and moist touch, as a pair of lips found hers.
Recognizing the familiar scent, Gan Yuan was so surprised that she forgot to struggle.
As her eyes gradually adjusted to the dim light in the stairwell, she stared with widening eyes, slowly making out the eyes in front of her.
Long golden-brown eyelashes, deep blue eyes like the night sea...
Those eyes, she knew them all too well, just like the familiar scent at her nose and the familiar kiss at her lips.
It was him indeed—Huangfu Jue!