Undesirable Marriage - CH 4.3

“Dai Xingren! Watch out!” Her eyes widened in panic as she tried to stop him. “Don’t do that! Let’s just go to the convenience store and buy something to eat!”

“What are you nervous about?” He gave her a puzzled look. “Don’t worry, I’m good at cooking.”

“But what if you sprain your wrist if you handle the frying pan like that? like that?” She was really worried. “What if oil splashes on your hand? You’ve got a surgeon’s hand, you’re meant to hold a scalpel.”

“Surgeons are also human beings. They can work with one hand too!” He laughed. “I can’t keep my hands protected with gloves all the time, can I? Go away and get a plate. The food is almost ready.”

She pouted when she heard that but dutifully got a plate to receive her meal.

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She nodded approvingly when he dumped the scrambled eggs onto the dinner plate with practised movements. To a kitchen idiot like her, it was a magic trick of divine proportions.

“Eat.” He handed her a spoon.

She excitedly sat at the table to have a taste, but in her hurry, she almost burned her tongue. “Whoa! Hot, hot, hot!”

“Oyv pzsozu.” Tl bwaaklezu rswale bla y tzypp sq nsze oyvla.

Fbl xyel y qynl yv bkx yde vssj y pkr sq oyvla. Fzsokdt esod bla lyvkdt y zkvvzl, pbl nswzed’v blzr cwv pktb kd yexkayvksd yqvla fwpv sdl ckvl.

“Yxx, kv’p elzknkswp! R eked’v vbkdj usw olal vbkp tsse! R vbswtbv usw olal fwpv czwqqkdt kv.”

Fbl nwrrle bla nbllj okvb sdl byde, zssjkdt yp byrru yp pbl nswze cl.

Pyk Dkdtald pvyale yv bla, bkp blyav clyvkdt swv sq abuvbx. “Pked’v R vlzz usw? Mbl ltt qakle aknl kp y xypvlarklnl. Rv nyd dsv cl nsxryale vs vbyv sq yd yhlaytl nblq..”

“Fs obyv usw’al pyukdt kp vbyv lhld kq usw olal vs zspl uswa fsc, usw nswze pvkzz xyjl y zkhkdt plzzkdt qakle aknl?

“Tso nswze R lhla cl wdlxrzsule?” Tl oyp nsdqkeldv. “Ebyv bsprkvyz oswzed’v oydv y esnvsa zkjl xl?”

Fbl tkttzle. “Zlyb, ulyb, usw’al pwnb y eayt!”

He squinted his eyes and looked at her in displeasure.

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“Why are you just standing there?” She didn’t care that his pride had been hurt and  smirked. “Come, sit down and eat! You’re hungry too, aren’t you?”

He grunted and reluctantly took a seat opposite her, each holding a spoon and sharing a plate of the delicious egg fried rice.

They formed a beautiful picture of a newlywed couple…

As Mo Chuan Ya ate her love filled meal, she gazed at the big man devouring his food in front of her. Her chest felt as if a jar of chocolate had been poured over it, so sweet it could melt.

Although this man had a fickle temper and was sometimes dull and irritating, he was more often than not smart and serious. He had a passionate ideal of treating diseases and saving people, excellent medical skills, and was gentle and caring with patients. He was not only a good doctor, but also skilled in making fried rice with eggs.

How could he be so good at saving lives and cooking at the same time?

She really admired him so much, liked him so much, loved him so much…

She raised her eyes, unable to hide her affection. “You told me to eat slowly, but you’re eating so fast. Aren’t you afraid of indigestion?”

When she noticed that a grain of rice had stuck to the corner of his mouth, she giggled and stretched out a finger to pluck it out for him.

“Look at you, you’re eating like a child!”

She laughed at him triumphantly. He stared at her as she pushed the rice into her mouth, choking for a moment. His deep eyes lit up with a fire that reached his cheeks in the form of a light shade of pink.

“Don’t you look at me like that…” Before she could finish protesting, he leaned forward and stole her tender, soft lips without a second thought. At first, it was a superficial peck. Then, as the kissing escalated in passion, he got to his feet, opened his arms and pulled her into his arms, sucking her breath deeply.

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She opened her lips and greeted him warmly, intertwining her lips and tongue with his, sharing an unspeakable intimacy. A surge of electricity ran between them. She shuddered, feeling his wildly rushing heartbeat, which was also on the verge of madness.

Her hands drifted into his lapels and brushed against his rigid chest. Trembling, a suppressed growl rolled out of his throat. Then, as if desperately trying to regain some shreds of composure, he pushed her away.

“Don’t be like this…” His breathing was ragged, and his starry eyes had turned misty. “I won’t be able to control myself.”

Then don’t control it!

She almost wanted to say so, but the ladylike upbringing received since childhood pulled her back from the precipice of lust right then.

Her legs went weak and she dizzily sat back on her chair. While he picked up the cold water that had poured for her and drank it all in one gulp.

She gazed at him, knowing that he was trying to restrain the desire that was churning his insides. She had heard that men had more trouble controlling themselves than women, but he was toughing it out well.

He could have slept with her like he did with his former girlfriends after a few dates, but why does he insist on playing the gentleman with manners when it comes to her? Because he cherished her so much? Mo Chuan Ya smiled dreamily, her heart fluttering.

“Can you make me egg fried rice again?”

“Well, of course… I can.” He tried to calm down his breathing.

“Whenever?” She smiled. “When it’s my birthday, when it’s not; when I’m in a good mood, when I’m not; when I’m hungry, when I’m not…”

“Missy.” He rolled his eyes at her. “I’m not your exclusive chef. Do you want me to be at your beck and call?”

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“Can’t you? You’re so mean.” She puffed out her cheeks petulantly. “I just want to eat your fried rice more often. How nice would it be if I could eat it any time I wanted?”

He failed to see the proposal in her words and frowned deeply. “But you know how busy I am at the hospital!”

“Ugh, you’re so log-headed!” She couldn’t stand it and nudged his unenlightened forehead with the handle of her spoon. “Don’t you understand what I mean? I want to…” She continued biting her lip shyly. “To be with you all the time.”

He finally understood, and sighed in disbelief. “You mean…”

“That’s right, dumbass.” The starry eyes were slanted in a way that it looked like she was angry.

“Do you want to marry me?”

_______________

“Do you really want to marry him?”

Half a month later, when Dai Xingren was on leave, Mo Chuan Ya took him to the Mo family mansion to pay a visit to her parents. Mo Li Yi was shocked to hear that the young couple was planning to get married. She found an excuse to drag her daughter into the study and question her privately.

“That’s right, Mum.” Mo Chuan Ya met her mother’s sceptical gaze confidently. “I’ve made up my mind.”

Mo Li Yi’s handsome eyebrows knitted together. “But he is still just a resident physician. And he is only R2 now. I don’t know how many years he will take to become an attending doctor. You will have it hard if you marry him.”

“Does mother object to our marriage because she thinks he is not worthy of me?” Mo Chuan Ya wanted to confirm her intentions.

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“That’s not true.” Mo Li Yi hesitated. “I admit his background is a bit poor, but I’ve heard that he’s a very good doctor with a promising future. As long as he’s a good person, it doesn’t matter what his background is.”

“You can definitely trust his character,” Mo Chuan Ya stressed cautiously. “It’s true that he doesn’t come from a good background. His parents passed away when he was very young. He went to medical school and did part time jobs. He was concerned that even if he wanted to join our family, would we be willing to accept him?”

She paused and smiled sweetly. “You know what I said to him, Mum? I said ’Why don’t we just get on the train first and fill the ticket later’ so that you and Grandma won’t object?”

“Chuan Ya, how could you suggest such indiscretion?” Mo Li Yi reprimanded her daughter in horror. “Don’t follow your mother’s example just because she was once foolish!”

“Mum, was that a moment of foolishness?” Mo Chuan Ya, not minding her mother’s rebuke, continued while smiling wryly. “Didn’t you stay with my brother’s biological father because you loved him so very much? So do I. I love Xingren. Whether it is my heart or my body, I would have given it all to him long ago.”

“You girl!” Mo Li Yi stared incredulously at her daughter, feeling exasperated and amused at the same time. “Why are you so impatient?”

“Because I’m my mother’s daughter!” Mo Chuan Ya winked at her mother, mischievously and sympathetically.

Mo Li Yi could do nothing but laugh bitterly at her.

“But don’t worry, Mum, we haven’t slept together yet.” Mo Chuan Ya was frank and honest about her private relationship with her boyfriend. Mo Li Yi listened and rolled her eyes helplessly.

She understood her mother’s awe and snickered delicately. “You know what? If he wanted to do that, I would have said yes. But he told me that since he wanted to get married, he had to do it in a dignified manner, and that he was not willing to play such petty tricks.”

Mo Li Yi raised an eyebrow, “Did he really say that?”

“Yes.” Mo Chuan Ya sighed dreamingly. “Mum, don’t you think he’s worthy of my respect?”

Considering the statement, the kid was indeed somewhat worthy, Mo Li Yi nodded thoughtfully. However, looking at her daughter’s intoxicated expression, she couldn’t help but be worried. “I know you love him, but you have to seriously think about it. You are after all the daughter of our Mo family, and although we don’t want to pressure people with our family history, there are many young men who approach you with some shady purpose. He’s a doctor and he works at our family hospital, are you sure he really loves you? You said he has aspirations, how do you know he doesn’t want to marry you to make it easier for him to reach those?”

Mo Chuan Ya had expected all these questions. “I don’t care how deeply he loves me, or if he is with me to fulfil his ideals. The moment I fell in love with him, I had already decided.” She looked directly at her mother with bright and clear eyes. “I will guard his ideals! This is how I love him.”

She made her confession clear, word by word, in a resolute voice.

Mo Li Yi was in a daze, as if she could see herself in her daughter. Whether it was the one who went to America to be with her lover, or the one who realised that her roots would always be in Taiwan and decided to leave her love behind, returning to the Mo family to carry  the family!

The women of the Mo family have never lacked the courage to go forward. She raised her lips in relief. “Call your man in!”

A few minutes later, Dai Xingren walked into Mo Li Yi’s study alone. He was not intimidated or ashamed to face the head of a traditional family, an influential woman in Taiwan’s business world, and stood proudly. But perhaps his back was too straight. Mo Li Yi could detect a hint of nervousness.

Of course he should be nervous. She smiled thoughtfully. After all, he was there to ‘propose’!

“Auntie, I believe that Chuan Ya has told you many things about me, but there is something I must let you know before you consider whether to say yes to our marriage.”

“What is it?”

He took a deep breath and raised his voice with determination. “It’s about my father!”

Edited by: TsumiHokiro