"What is this?" Qian Meng asked as he handed her the drink. She could smell something fruity.

  "It's a citrus peach cooler. I don't want you to drink alcohol. I want to protect my virtue… you get frisky after you drink." His eyes gleamed deviously.

  She stared at him as she tilted the glass and took a small sip. "Tastes good."

  Mo Qingchen sat down on the couch next to her and took a sip of his own drink. A movement later, Li Li Hua and Mo Zichen entered the room. Li Li Hua went and sat down on the loveseat while Mo Zichen took the seat at the head of the room.

  "What is the Yun offspring doing at the Mo house?" he asked, looking at her coldly. Qian Meng could see that there was no malice in his eyes, just indifference.

  "Honey, she's a guest," Li Li Hua spoke up on Qian Meng's behalf.

  "Mm. Wasn't she a friend of Yize?" he responded gruffly. "Are you here to find out family secrets?"

  "Chairman Mo, it's good to see you. I haven't met you in a long time and you have grown… healthier since then," Qian Meng responded in the sweetest way possible. She didn't know how to talk to Mo Qingchen's father.

  Mo Zichen looked at her sharply. He pulled his eyes away and looked at Mo Qingchen. "I am impressed that you actually made it to dinner on time. In fact, you are early."

  Qian Meng felt the tension and hostility in the room, mostly coming from Mo Qingchen.

  "Yes, I was able to make it tonight," he answered, his eyes on Li Li Hua as if answering her instead of the living and breathing block of a man at the head of the room. "I get held up at work usually, but I was fortunate to be done this evening."

  Li Li Hua smiled at her son. Qian Meng noticed that no further conversation happened between the two.

  "Mom! I brought laundry!" a booming voice called from the entryway.

  Mo Xiao Chen, definitely.

  Sure enough, a couple of moments later, Mo Xiao Chen appeared in the room holding a laundry sack. He lived separately and probably didn't have employees to do it and piled up his things and let Li Li Hua take care of them every week.

  "Hi, honey!" Li Li Hua beamed, going over to give him a big hug.

  After greeting his mother and father; Mo Xiao Chen turned to Qian Meng, who was sitting on the couch.

  "Hello, Yun Qian Meng," he said cheerfully, hiding his confusion at her presence extremely well.

  "Hey," Qian Meng said, laughing a little.

  "Where's Yize?"

  "She's not here yet," Qian Meng answered, knowing well the reason for the question.

  "Then why are you here?" Xiao Chen asked, sounding genuinely confused.

  "Yun Qian Meng came with me this evening," Mo Qingchen informed him.

  "Why?" Xiao Chen asked, laughing and giving them a bewildered look.

  Qian Meng looked over towards Mo Qingchen and noticed that his parents were looking at them questioningly as well.

  "We'll answer that when Yize arrives," Mo Qingchen said sharply.

  Qian Meng took a gulp of her drink, hoping it would help her relax or at least hide her emotions. Thankfully, nobody pushed for answers. The advantages of high society, maybe?

  While they waited for Mo Yize, the five of them made small talk about random nonsense.

  Yize didn't make a sound when she entered. In fact, nobody noticed she had arrived until she appeared in the living room.

  Mo Yize's eyes immediately locked on Qian Meng, but she offered nothing more than a questioning look and a quick hi. After all of the greetings were out of the way, Mo Yize took a seat beside Mo Xiao Chen.

  "Mother, how much time until dinner is served?" Mo Qingchen asked finally when everyone was seated.

  Li Li Hua looked at her phone and thought about it. "It should be ready in thirty minutes," she said after contemplating.

  "Perfect. Qian Meng and I have something we would like to talk to you all about."

  "Okay," Li Li Hua said, looking at them expectantly. "You can tell us anything."

  Qian Meng let her eyes dart around the room to make sure everyone was focusing on them. She wanted to see how each person reacted. She brought her drink to her lips and took three gulps, trying to prepare herself for the possible repercussions of what Mo Qingchen was about to say.

  "This will be surprising to all of you, but Qian Meng and I are getting married." And then silence.

  Qian Meng's head snapped towards his direction and she wanted to curse him. Couldn't he be a bit more eloquent when breaking the news? Why did she expect him to do a good job at this? Emotionally constipated man.

  "Wait… you mean you two were dating?" Mo Xiao Chen was the first to speak up.

  "Yes," Mo Qingchen answered.

  Qian Meng allowed herself to look at the expressions. Xiao Chen looked like he had been just told unicorns existed, Li Li Hua looked at them patiently, waiting for an expression, Mo Zichen was unreadable and Mo Yize was staring at her like she was going to murder someone.

  "Hold up. You need to tell me what's going on. I thought something was brewing when I saw you two at the Mayor's anniversary party, but you two were dating?" he asked, sounding amused.

  Mo Qingchen looked like he was out of ideas to convince them. He had clearly not thought this through.

  Qian Meng had to jump in to his rescue. "We have been dating secretly for a while. We didn't tell anyone because in the event that things didn't work out between us, we didn't want negative press for our families and businesses. However, things got serious. So, we feel it's time to bring our relationship out in the open."

  It was silent for a long time and Qian Meng assumed that everyone was trying to absorb the news.