Chapter 83: That thing
Kian and the girls entered their home and sat around the table.
Jia was trapped in his arms, sitting on his lap. Mia and Xiao Cui sat on both of his sides, while Jiao Yin and Feimei sat facing him on the other side of the table.
Jia said: "There is some nice orange juice in the kitchen. Want me to go bring it?"
"No need, you can stay there."
Even though Kian said that, Jiao Yin quickly went to the kitchen to bring the juices.
Kian’s focus moved to Feimei. "You really want to check that thing out?"
"Yes, I do. It just calls to me a lot."
Kian pondered the matter seriously. The ’thing’ she was talking about was the map they had gotten from Hua Shulong in the past. It was a family monument of the Blood Demon ancestry.
It was not that Kian didn’t want to know what secrets it contained. It was just that he was a cautious person. There were a lot of inherent risks in that product.
The map was a door, not just a piece of skin, and who knew what waited on the other side.
If he opened it without knowing what lay beyond, he could lose Feimei to the some stupid trap.
If he waited, the gate might go cold, or someone else with the right eyes might find the opportunity or such. It was not smart to just keep it around.
Kian became very conflicted.
Still, his body moved before his mind settled. His hand slid up Jia’s waist, and he brushed her hair back with his nose. Then he pressed a slow kiss to the side of her neck, right where her pulse beat warm against his lips.
Jia froze in his lap.
Her fingers locked around his neck, but she didn’t push him away. "Kian—" Her voice dropped to a hiss. "They’re all watching, stop, you idiot."
Across the table, Xiao Cui had gone very still. Her eyes were fixed on a knot in the wood, her cheeks deepening to the color of ripe persimmon.
She clearly had no idea where to look.
Mia laughed under her breath and rested her chin in her palm. "Kian is always doting on Jia these days. Don’t mind it, Xiao Cui. You’ll get used to it before the night is over."
Jiao Yin placed the orange juice on the table. "Yeah, young master is always doting on Jia the most. He clearly likes her the best."
Jia puffed her cheeks up as she felt him bite her neck. He was clearly planning to give her an hickey.
Ignoring his ministrations on her neck, she turned to Mia. "He is also always doting on you, Mia. He never listens to a word I say, and always treats me like a dum dum. But he respects you so much!"
Mia blinked. "What?"
"Yeah. If you say, let’s kiss later or let’s do something like that, he listens. But if I say that? My words are just air. Humph!"
Kian raised his head to stare at Jia’s beautiful, annoyed face. "That’s because my Mia is a smart girl. If she says later, I feel like she is doing that for a reason. Whereas you always want to kiss but just pretend otherwise, so I just do it."
Jia opened her mouth wide, then she immediately exploded.
"She is a smart girl and I am not?! Eh?!!!"
Mia laughed softly, looking sweetly at Kian. "You understand it."
Feimei’s smile softened at the sight of them, though her red eyes stayed sharp. "You two are like kittens fighting over the same cushion. Anyway, Kian, what are your thoughts?"
Kian didn’t answer right away. He looked at the grain of the table, then past Feimei’s shoulder toward the dark window, and something clicked in the back of his mind.
He had a plan for the map, but it was better to wait for now.
He said softly to his mother in law: "We wait for now. I need to plan a little before I open anything."
Feimei inclined her head, fingers curling around the cup Jiao Yin had set in front of her.
She nodded.
By then, Jia had gone quiet through the exchange. She was annoyed at him calling her less smart than her sister, and she was fucking pissed at the fact that he ignored her again.
Her hands still rested around Kian’s neck, but her body had turned stiff. She hadn’t been fast enough to fight the captain, strong enough to protect anyone, and now she was really pissed.
"Idiot!" she whispered in his neck, her voice cracking a little.
Jia pressed her face into the heat of his neck and held her lips together until they ached.
Kian felt her sullen breath against his skin, felt her gloomy voice, and noticed that she was almost about to cry again. He dipped his head and kissed the top of her hair once.
"I haven’t forgotten you."
"Shut up, I don’t want to hear it."
"Aww, is someone mad?"
Kian had thought Jia was just annoyed, but then, he noticed that she was a bit too gloomy.
’Ouch, I forgot this girl was a softy inside.’
She was holiding her tears back.
Jia’s nails bit into his shoulder.
"Oh, don’t cry, I’m here, okay?" he whispered back with spirit sense.
"I’m not crying," she snapped in his ears, though her eyes were already glassy. "Get lost, get lost, get lost."
Girls really are a mistery.
Across the table, Jiao Yin froze with the juice bottle still tilted in her hand. Xiao Cui’s mouth opened and closed without a sound. Mia stopped smiling first.
They all noticed Jia’s slightly shaking shoulders.
Kian tilted his head, watching the way Jia’s lower lip tucked against her teeth. He caught her chin before she could turn away.
"Oh, little Jia is not crying? Then look at me and say it again without blinking."
Her eyes met his for less than a heartbeat before the first tear slipped free.
Jia tore her face out of his grip and scrubbed at her cheek with the heel of her hand.
"Told you to get lost," she whispered, but the words cracked into a wet sob.
Feimei set her cup down with a soft clink. "Jia. Are you alright?"
Her voice was gentle, but the sound of her own name made Jia’s shoulders shake harder.
Jiao Yin finally lowered the bottle, her voice dumb with surprise. "She’s really crying."