Chapter 301 - Proud Of You
Chapter 301 – Proud Of You
Only after Shui Xian's reminder did Raelle think about the long-forgotten cellphone. The mobile phone had never been something precious to her like most people of her age. She just carried it around because it was convenient for her family to keep track of her whereabouts. Other than that, she hardly had any use for the phone. After all, someone like her wasn't fond of wasting time scrolling on social media.
"It should be in my bag," said Raelle. "I didn't think of turning it on after the flight."
Shui Xian was momentarily shocked that someone would forget their own phone's presence but then he remembered that his wife was obviously out of the ordinary. She definitely could forget about something like a phone.
"You called me?" she asked.
"Yeah," answered Shui Xian softly as he took out her phone and turned it on for her.
"Why?" asked Raelle.
"I can't call my wife?" retorted Shui Xian avoiding her eyes.
Raelle observed his expressions and said firmly, "You're hiding something."
Shui Xian sighed out as he took the hairdryer from the drawer and plugged it in to dry Raelle's hair. "When I called you, your phone was off. I got worried."
"Why did you get worried?" asked Raelle. "Isn't it quite normal? What if the battery died down? There was no reason to get so worried."
"I was scared," answered Shui Xian honestly. "It must be because of the nightmare I had last night. But when I couldn't reach you, I was really scared."
Raelle turned her head to look at him, "Nightmare?" Shui Xian hummed in response and continued to dry her hair. Raelle held his hand to stop him and asked, "Tell me more about it."
Shui Xian shook his head helplessly at her and crouched down in front of her saying, "There is nothing to tell. I don't even remember most of it. But I do remember that in my dream I kept calling your name and you kept walking away from me."
Raelle paused as her eyes took in his downhearted expression. He really seemed like he was scared. Was he scared of losing her? When that question popped up in her mind, Raelle found it strange. Why would he be scared though?
Raelle intertwined her fingers with his, letting his hand engulf hers completely. "I don't have a habit of running away." She touched his fluffy hair with her other hand as she added, "So you shouldn't even be thinking about it."
Shui Xian smiled at her, "Babes, I know I shouldn't think about that nightmare so seriously but some fears are engraved too deeply on our hearts. It's hard to get rid of those fears." He had been left behind once by someone he loved dearly. How could he not be scared again now that his heart had been opened up for her? This time he was even more scared. As they say, once bitten, twice shy!
"But I heard dreams don't come true," said Raelle seriously. "Nightmares are merely the projection of your deepest fears. And dreams… I was told that the thing you think about before going to sleep, you'll always dream about it."
"Do you really believe that?" he asked curiously.
"I don't," she answered sincerely. "I never got to experience it. And there are no facts to prove it either."
"Wait!" Shui Xian seemed to have caught on to something from her words. "You never experienced it as in you never had a dream?"
Raelle shook her head, "Never!" Shui Xian's brows raised up in surprise. "I always had a blank sleep."
Shui Xian looked at her in disbelief, "That's not possible. Maybe you just don't remember your dreams. After all, most of the time we forget what happened in our dreams."
"That's also possible," said Raelle. "But there is no way to prove that either. Since I can't recall it, I'm more inclined to believe that I never had any dreams."
Shui Xian knocked on his head for getting distracted by her questions and again began to dry her hair seriously. After he was done, he even combed her hair even though she didn't want him to do that. But Mr. Clingy Husband won't listen to his wife tonight.
"Now, what should we do about your clothes?" Shui Xian was in serious contemplation. Even though her figure wrapped up in that big towel looked tempting, he still had to find some clothes for her.
"How about you lend me your own clothes for now?" suggested Raelle. "It might be too big but it'll do for now. As for tomorrow, we can worry about that in the morning."
Shui Xian agreed with her suggestion and opened the wardrobe to let her choose whatever she wanted. Raelle chose to take a full-sleeved shirt along with his boxers. Obviously, both were too big for her but she didn't care about it. Seeing how the long sleeves hid even her hands, Shui Xian found her too adorable.
While she was changing, their dinner was already delivered. Shui Xian set up the table and brought her over to take a seat and eat something. "I'll buy you some new clothes tomorrow."
"It's alright," answered Raelle.
Shui Xian still didn't look satisfied as he said, "But it's hard to say whether I'll be able to find clothes for you in this town."
"Why? There are no clothing stores here?" asked Raelle.
"No, there are," said Shui Xian and hesitated. "However, those clothes might be too shabby for my wife."
"It's alright. I'll still be the prettiest one," said Raelle without any hesitation. This narcissism made Shui Xian look at her for a long while in amusement.
He chuckled as he nodded, "Well, that's true. Clothes can't possibly decline your beauty."
"That's for sure," agreed Raelle.
"Drink some hot soup," said Shui Xian. "It'll warm up your body. Hopefully, you won't get sick."
Although Raelle repeatedly said that she won't catch a cold, Shui Xian wasn't really convinced. On the very first day here, he had also gotten ill. Now, he didn't want her to go through the same.
Just seeing her here having dinner with him made Shui Xian feel like he was floating on cloud nine. He wasn't expecting to see her here much less having dinner with her here. Although he had planned to bring her along next time, he didn't think he wouldn't have to wait for the next time.
He had been to so many beautiful places these days and every single time his first thought was how Raelle would love to see this. And just thinking about it was enough to keep him happy for the whole day. Now, he didn't have to wait for long and he could take her to all those places. While eating, he was wholly absorbed in planning how to spend the next day with Raelle. Where to take her. What to eat with her. What to buy for her. There was so much to do!
Raelle was completely oblivious to the plans that Shui Xian cooked up in his head. But seeing how he looked pleased, she found it quite interesting and kept observing his expressions throughout the meal. While Shui Xian was so lost in his planning that he didn't even notice her eyes on him.
After dinner, Raelle made a call to her grandfather to tell him that she was already with Shui Xian. But before she could talk for a little while with her grandfather, Mu Chenyan took the phone and said, "Young Miss really learned how to play hooky!"
Raelle could already perceive Mu Chenyan's mood from her words. She only called her 'Young Miss' when Raelle either did something wrong or when she had to defend Raelle in front of Grandfather Xiang. Most of the other time, Raelle was just Elle to Mu Chenyan.
"Didn't you always urged me to learn how to play hooky?" asked Raelle.
Mu Chenyan scoffed unhappily, "I really don't care that you're playing hooky from work. My problem is that you didn't even tell me! You called Elder Xiang, you even called Shui Koshing. Even Hyson knows you went somewhere. But what about me?"
"You got the first-hand information from Anna about my whereabouts even before she booked the flight," stated Raelle straightforwardly. "Without getting the clearance from you, she'd never move."
Mu Chenyan coughed unnaturally. "Well, that's Anna's job. I don't care whether she tells me or not. But I was expecting my Elle to tell me herself. Do you know how proud I felt when I learned that my Elle just ditched her work to run over to her husband? But all of my mood was ruined when you didn't call me. I had to hear it from Anna."
Only Mu Chenyan could be the one to feel proud knowing that the person she raised had finally learned how to play truant. Mu Chenyan spent years thinking of different excuses to take Raelle away from work but Raelle would never move unless she was done with her work. So, this time it was huge progress in Mu Chenyan's opinion. How could she be not proud of it?