A Mistaken Kiss

Capital City Elite | Top-Tier Power and Influence | Bittersweet Secret Crush | Flirtatious Push and Pull

-

After her family fell into decline, Ling Nian went with her mother, moving between two households. When they were at their most desperate and hard up, they had no choice but to move into a third home.

Ling Nian stood helplessly in a high-rise overlooking half of the capital, her suitcase in hand, facing her nearly fifty-year-old stepfather.

And behind him stood a man with refined features and a modest air. He was on the phone, his eyes casually glancing her way.

By seniority, she should call Pei Yanchu Uncle.

-

Her mother's third marriage had brought her into the Pei family. Though they were only from a collateral branch, Ling Nian and her mother still became the talk of their social circle.

Eighteen-year-old Ling Nian felt ashamed, yet also relieved.

She had fallen hopelessly in love with a man nine years older than her.

Perhaps it was because he was always so graceful, gentle, and distinguished,

and because he was renowned in their circle and already had a fiancee from an equally prominent family.

-

At nineteen, Ling Nian decided to give up.

She had secretly loved him for an entire year, and being the Pei family's newest addition had left her feeling unbearably tormented.

She watched with her own eyes as the people at his side came and went, while his wedding date drew near.

At last, she finally worked up the courage. After a banquet, she rose onto her tiptoes

The man had been lowering his head to light a cigarette, but happened to turn his face just then. The young woman tilted her head up and collided with his lips.

All she had wanted was to tell him about her bitter, unrequited feelings as a girl.

She never expected the alcohol to take over and turn it into a mistaken kiss.

It began on a rainy night, with the autumn downpour pouring relentlessly over the capital, and ended in an intimate embrace in the back seat of his stretch limousine.

She must have lost her reason to be foolish enough to tempt him.

She had also forgotten that he had always been a notorious playboy, someone who never let anything leave a mark on him.

He took her. But he never once said he would give her a title.

No one knew that, for a long time, Ling Nian was forced to keep this secret.

Sometimes in the back seat of that Lincoln, sometimes at the old house in Xishan... But it could only ever remain a secret.

After six months, she finally grew tired of living this way.

She resolutely left the car parked by the roadside and flew across the ocean on a one-way ticket.

-

Three years later, Ling Nian returned to the country.

She came back with impressive credentials. Her fiance was a gifted student from T University and a renowned rising photographer.

She had long since put the past behind her, and had cut off all ties with the Pei family.

She had even bought her new home in another coastal city.

The night before her engagement party, work at the law firm delayed her, and Ling Nian did not get home until late at night.

The living room lights came on.

The man lay on a sheepskin sofa, his shirt half open, several empty wine bottles scattered beside him.

When he saw her come in, he grabbed her wrist.

"Didn't you always like me so much, Niannian?"

"Who gave you permission to get engaged?"

After all these years of running away, she had forgotten that he was now the youngest head of the Pei family.

She had also underestimated his methods and his shamelessness.

"I'm engaged!"

The man ignored her protests. His voice was hoarse as he kissed her roughly and viciously.

"I was engaged back then, too..."

"You were the one who seduced me first. Have you forgotten?"

Theme: Love means choosing each other wholeheartedly