~Present~

  Han Zihao stopped talking and glanced at Xu Nuan, who was resting her head against the couch and was sighing deeply. 

  He wondered what made her sigh so dramatically. 

  " What are you doing?" 

  She glanced at him and said with a regretting sigh, " I don't know at whom to get angry anymore. At you for not telling me the truth all along, or at my stupidity for keeping that photo in my diary and sending you to my place to get my stuff." 

  He pursed his lips and chose to not comment on this topic. 

  After a pause, she turned to him, " So……did you read the diary?"

  Seeing her lazy yet curious gaze, he clears his throat and nods, making her jaw tighten a bit. 

  He could see that she was getting worked up but because of her promise earlier to not get mad, she was holding it in. 

  " Ah, I shouldn't have kept a diary. It's so bothersome." She sighed and threw her hands on the sofa, making a loud noise. 

  She isn't the type to keep a diary but after becoming Xu Nuan, she was all alone. She didn't have someone with whom she could share her feelings and problems. 

  To not keep everything inside and die out of suffocation, she started to write a diary every day, since the day she was discharged from the hospital. 

  Although she didn't write much after she started working, there are still so many things that she has written in that diary, how can he read that without her permission?

  Han Zihao stared at her and frowned, not getting why she was feeling wronged. 

  " Why are you acting as if I read something personal? There wasn't anything to read in that diary anyway." He scoffed, making her frown deepen.

  " What do you mean there wasn't anything to read? It has all of my feelings and emotions. How can you disregard my feelings like this?" 

  Upon hearing her claims, he couldn't help but scoff, " If you're thinking that your diary helped me to clear my doubts and I found something new in that diary, then you're completely wrong." 

  " When I opened the diary, it had nothing but just some foolish scribbles and mindless drawings. For a moment, I thought it was a drawing book of an elementary student."

  He was hoping to find something useful in the diary but when he opened it, there was nothing but mindless scribbles and drawings. 

  For a moment, he was confused if it was her diary or not. 

  Xu Nuan was speechless at his words. Mindless drawings? Hah, Woah!! She never knew that there will be a day when he will call her 'art', mindless scribbles and drawings.

  " Mindless drawings? Hah, you have zero sense of art, Mr. Han. It was the drawings that I made with much thought and put my emotions in it."

  " Every drawing represented the storm of emotions inside me. Those 'mindless' scribbles are part of those drawings, explaining the scene." 

  " It's called art, Mr. Han. And you're calling them mindless drawings? Ridiculous!" She scoffed, making him stare at her in a daze. 

  Since she was too lazy to write a diary, she decided to go her own way and did some scribbling to show her emotions rather than writing a whole thing and leaving evidence for the thief who will open her cupboard and check her diary. 

  Because a thief reading her diary would be more believable than her showing her diary to someone else. 

  However, she never thought that the first person to open the diary would not be a thief but Mr. Han. 

  Han Zihao took a deep breath and shook his head, " Yeah, right. It was art and I am art blind. Happy?"

  "……""

  Xu Nuan humphed and looked away. For some reason, his acceptance made her even more annoyed. 

  There was a long silence afterward. No one spoke anything as both of them were analyzing what to say or whatnot. 

  …..

  Upon thinking of it, the questions that she had all along, started to make her uncomfortable again. 

  'Should I ask him or not? What if his answer made me even more moody? Argh….what to do?' she was debating inwardly and glanced at him, looking away from her. 

  She took a deep breath and lowered her pride a little, she asked, " So….you knew about the truth even before our first date?"

  'Shit……Shit……Shit!! He looked at me. Will he think that I am being too dramatic?' she bit her lower lip and tried to read his expressions. 

  Han Zihao was caught off guard with her sudden question and seeing that she was genuinely asking a question, he nodded and smiled at her, waiting for her to say something. 

  However, she didn't return him a smile and asked indifferently again, " Did you……did you agree to go out with me because you found out the truth that I am Jiang Yue? Or you would have still gone with me, even if you wouldn't have known that it's me?"

  " Mr. Han, do you like me, or you like me just because I am Jiang Yue?" She asked, surprising him with her complicated question. 

  She was trying to maintain an indifferent face but inwardly, her heart was beating wildly. She was scared. 

  This question might seem like nothing to others but to her, it meant so much. She doesn't want to be loved just because she is Jiang Yue, because now she is not the same Jiang Yue he used to know. 

  There is a huge difference between the Jiang Yue he knows and the girl she is now. Her identity crisis was not confusing to others but for her as well. 

  She doesn't know what kind of answer she wants to hear from him. Is she being too dramatic for putting him in such a dilemma?

  She didn't look away and stared into his eyes, waiting for his response eagerly. 

  Han Zihao noticed her expressions changing, becoming serious with every breath she took. 

  He stared into her eyes, maintaining eye contact, he leaned closer and whispered, " I like you!" 

  Xu Nuan was caught off guard by his ambitious answer and held her breath. Facing his proximity, she didn't know how to react, "Ah?"

  He held her chin with his fingers and made her look into his eyes,  " I like you, not because you're Jiang Yue or Xu Nuan. It's because it's you." 

  Her eyes wavered when she heard his words. How can he say those words with a straight face?

  Her cheeks turned crimson upon hearing his words. 

  " I would have gone on a date with you even if I hadn't found out the truth. Because I like you, the girl who acts crazy and speaks without thinking. I like the girl, who shamelessly ordered my secretary when she met me for the first time."

  " I like the girl, who has the courage to barge into my office and demand that I treat her to lunch. The reason I like you, because it's you, not because you're Jiang Yue or Xu Nuan."

  " How you look or whatever name you have now, doesn't matter to me. In the end, you will be the same, be it Jiang Yue or Xu Nuan. Does that answer your question now?" He asks, staring into her dark eyes. 

  He noticed her eyes widening and realized that she was shivering under his touch. 

  Did his answer surprise her? 

  Feeling a little hesitant, he was about to pull back when she leaned closer and held onto his arm, catching him off guard. 

  She stared into his eyes and before he could react, she moved closer and placed her rose petals like soft lips on his, making his body freeze. 

  He was surprised when she kissed him out of nowhere. He looked at her wide-eyed, wondering if she was drunk. 

  However, she didn't drink anything tonight. So, she was actually kissing him? While being wide-awake? 

  [ Read this novel only on W e b n o v e l . c o m ( remove spaces). If you are reading this other than on w e b n o v e l, then this novel has been stolen. Support the original author by reading it on w e b n o v e l, not the thieves, and get the latest updates. Follow the author on Instagram for more: kamlyn_love. Regards Kamlyn]