Side Story: Defying Fate

Xie Yun didn’t like Lu Yingying.

Long before they ever crossed paths, he had known that he was destined to end up with a girl named Lu Yingying. And if there was one thing he despised more than anything, it was the feeling of being orchestrated by fate.

He met Lu Yingying for the first time at a high-society cocktail party. Amid the clinking of champagne flutes and fake chatter, his eyes drifted toward a waitress standing off in a quiet corner. She wasn’t extraordinarily striking, just a little fairer than the rest, her eyes a bit larger, the bridge of her nose slightly higher, her eyelashes slightly longer…

In short, she happened to be his exact type.

His heart thudded against his ribs so violently it annoyed him. He feigned indifference as he strolled past her, catching a quick glimpse of the name tag pinned to her chest: Lu Yingying.

Ah. So she was Lu Yingying.

Xie Yun wanted nothing to do with her. He knew his own dark nature better than anyone else. He knew what kind of monster he truly was: once he fixated on something he loved, he would hold onto it so tightly that he’d end up suffocating it.

Don’t show your face in front of me again. Don’t look at me. Don’t smile at me.

Otherwise… he was terrified he’d lose control, just as that preordained “script” had dictated: chaining her down, locking her away, turning her into a little caged songbird that belonged exclusively to him.

And yet, Lu Yingying kept barging into his world, over and over again.

—

Xie Yun lowered his head, gazing down at the woman sound asleep in his arms. She was deeply under, her long eyelashes fluttering faintly, her hands instinctively clinging to his waist even in her sleep.

He had warned her. He really had. But she was the one who kept diving headfirst into his trap.

So… she couldn’t blame him now. Fate truly was a maddening thing.

Leaning down, he pressed a tender kiss against her hair. “Not sleeping?”

Lu Yingying blinked her eyes open blearily, her voice thick with sleep. “Can’t…”

“Why not?”

“I’m thinking about you.”

She looked at him, completely dazed. “But I’m right here?”

A low laugh escaped Xie Yun’s chest. He leaned in and kissed her forehead softly. “Then will you stay by my side forever?”

She was so utterly exhausted she could barely keep her eyes open, her voice barely a murmur. “Mmm… stay with you…”

Xie Yun tightened his arms around her just a fraction more. “Sweetheart, bear me a child, okay?”

A child bearing both their bloodlines, a tie that would ensure she belonged to him, completely and utterly, for the rest of her life.

Lu Yingying mumbled incoherently, “Yeah, yeah… a baby… Now let me sleep…”

The moment the words left her mouth, she drifted right back off to sleep with irresponsible speed. Soon, the only sound left in the room was the steady, gentle rhythm of her breathing.

Xie Yun rested his palm against her flat lower stomach. Soft moonlight cascaded through the window, bathing the room in a gentle glow.

His little songbird… had finally flown into his cage all on her own.

—

The End