123 Ivy An
“What a good boy!” Mr Qin smiled. “Xiao Yan, let me introduce you to someone. This is…”He forgot that he didn’t ask the kids’ names.
He was really getting old. How could he forget to ask An Qinyan what her children’s name was?
Thankfully, the children didn’t make it different for him. His heart softened as he heard the two children taking initiative to befriend his grandnephew.
“Lu Xuan,” The boy extended his hand and feigned as if they were meeting for the first time. Well, he was not feigning. He was meeting Gu Shangyan first time as his mother’s son.
“An Xiulan,” An Xiulan followed her twin’s lead.
“Gu Shangyan. It’s nice to meet you, Mr Lu, ” said Gu Shangyan with a smile as he was burning with curiosity but he decided to keep it to himself for now.
“Why don’t you show your new friends around?” Mr Qin asked. It was good for the child to befriend these two children as it would benefit him to create connections.
Gu Shangyan looked at his uncle and the twins looked at their mother. Only after getting permission did they move. As they exited the banquet hall to enter the garden where several guests were mingling, Lu Xuan wrapped an arm around the boy’s neck and pulled him down.
“Ouch,” Gu Shangyan winced in pain. This brat, what was he doing!
“Mr Lu,” Lu Xuan mimicked.
“You didn’t tell me you know Auntie Qinyan,” Gu Shangyan retorted. “Bastard!”
Lu Xuan might have influenced him to curse but he swore that he didn’t curse often.
“Hey, hey, I will tell mom you guys are fighting, “An Xiulan chimed in. She was having a struggle in walking this heavy gown and heels.
“This is my buddy. Stay away,” Lu Xuan gave her a disgusting look.
“This is my cousin,” An Xiulan glared at him as he put her hands on her waist.
“Guys, how do you know each other?” Gu Shangyan finally asked. He didn’t know how to look at first.
“He is not my twin!”
“She is not my twin!”
They glared at each other.
“Copy cat!”
“Copy cat!”
Gu Shangyan stood between the two of them and preached about peace and order. Why did he have a feeling that in days to come he would have to act as a mediator between the two of them often?
But Lu Xuan and An Xiulan snorted and looked away, their arms crossed on their chests.
“Why do you look prettier and taller?” Gu Shangyan asked as he flicked her forehead.
A wide smile tugged at her lips as she heard her praise. “Crayfish, your eyes are still working.” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“Our family’s crybaby is the prettiest,” Gu Shangyan patted her head. Truly, she looked very pretty today. It wasn’t that she wasn’t pretty to begin with. It was just that she looked extra pretty today. Usually, she was the epitome of cuteness and adorableness, but today she looked like every guy’s dream or fantasy.
His cousin was growing heartthrob. Tch.
“Yan Ge,” An Xiulan sniffled and went ahead to hug him. But before she could wrap her arm around him, Lu Xuan pulled her back.
What the hell she means by Yan Ge?
Call him Gu Shangyan, okay!
“Teeny, who are you calling Ge? You only have one older brother,” Lu Xuan said as he pointed at himself. “Don’t go around hugging another man. The only man you can hug must have the same surname as you.”
“You are so hateful Lu Xuan, ” An Xiulan stomped on her feet. This man was so hateful that she wanted to exchange him for a nice and doting brother. “If I call my crayfish Ge, what does this have to do with you?”
“Exactly, what does this have to do with you?” GI Shangyan raised his brow. “You are not An. You claimed to not be her twin. You don’t want her as your sister. You don’t want to be her elder brother. So, what is your problem?”
“Exactly +1,” An Xiulan added.
Lu Xuan lightly poked her forehead. “You internet-addicted girl! You can’t call someone else your Ge. You only have one brother.”
“And that’s Lu Xun,” An Xiulan scoffed.
The angry Lu Xuan left her there alone as he muttered, “Why is she so stupid? This has to be the Lu blood in her veins.”
At this moment, Lu Xuan forgot that he was carrying the surname Lu, not her.
“Don’t wander here and there. I will bring him back,” Gu Shangyan sighed. What was wrong with those two? “He needs coaxing more than a girl.”
An Xiulan shrugged as Gu Shangyan went to look after Lu Xuan because he knew that the way out of the garden was more complex. He had gotten lost here once and he didn’t want the same for Lu Xuan.
“Is that you, Ivy?” A deep voice said as An Xiulan instinctually felt the need to clench her hand and shiver in fear. She didn’t recognise the voice yet she did.
Did it make any sense?
It might not make to anyone, but it did to her perfectly.
Ivy…
It was the name she had used in America.
Ivy An.
It was her English name.
Slowly and slowly, she turned around to find a boy dressed in a suit staring at her. His eyes flashing with some emotion that she couldn’t decipher and for some reason, her brain chided her to not look at him but she couldn’t look away from his face. She felt the urge to run away and hide from here but her feet couldn’t move. She was frozen. She didn’t know why but… she didn’t want to see this person…whoever he was….she didn’t want to see him. Yet, she couldn’t run away.
“Ivy An, girl, how you disappeared on all of us? You know Amanda has been asking about you but no one knows where you are. You changed your number,” The boy said as he continued to stare at her.