Muscat Grapes

Not-quite-siblings | Reconciliation after a breakup | Running away while pregnant | Melodramatic, sweet and angsty

"Brooding, obsessive surgeon who protects her at all costs x stubborn, clear-eyed businesswoman who falls into ruin"

"Controlling ex-boyfriend who was like a brother vs. gentle fiance and business partner: who will she choose?"

1

Protecting Xiao Chu was the condition for the Xiao family adopting Lucas.

She was proud and adorable, sensible, yet always seemed lonely.

He had no father and had lost his mother. He was lonely, too.

They fell in love just as Lucas finally escaped his trash-like past, and they broke up at the same time.

Xiao Chu left to study abroad, while Lucas signed a written waiver.

From then on, he was no longer the son adopted by the Xiao family, and he could never get close to Xiao Chu again.

2

Xiao Chu ran into Lucas in the emergency room. Five years had passed since they last saw each other.

"Bro, come have a meal at my restaurant sometime."

Xiao Chu had no time to say more. She was busy looking after an employee who had been injured and admitted to the hospital.

It took several days before Xiao Chu finally saw him come to her restaurant.

She didn't know how long he had been standing outside. They were separated by glass, no more than ten meters apart, but neither moved closer.

Xiao Chu crooked her finger, and only then did Lucas dare to step inside.

When they met again, there was none of the hysterical resentment and questioning of their last encounter.

Xiao Chu watched him go from having to rely on others to becoming a respectable doctor with a stunning girlfriend.

She was genuinely happy for him.

At last, she could let go of the love that had gone nowhere before her arranged marriage.

3

Xiao Chu thought her decision to approach him first would let them coexist peacefully, but it made Lucas abandon his dignity.

He abruptly broke up with his girlfriend and provoked the man the Xiao family had picked for Xiao Chu to marry as part of their business expansion.

When Xiao Chu got annoyed and avoided him, Lucas couldn't control himself. He broke into her rented apartment at night like a thug.

Xiao Chu was the one who got frightened into tears, yet Lucas acted like the biggest victim, full of grievance:

"Honestly, I haven't been able to sleep for days because of this thing with you... Could you take pity on me, just this once?"

He apologized, took a beating, and even gave in and tried to make amends with his adoptive father, like a dog with no dignity.

After a night of turmoil and a sleeping pill, they lay together.

The room was a mess, and a photo frame lay on the floor.

In the picture was Xiao Chu's seven-year-old younger brother, her child with Lucas.

The family portrait that should have included all of them was missing Lucas alone.

Xiao Chu didn't want to get back together. She just wanted to take Lucas home.

[Important: Read before starting!]

1. Content warning: I don't guarantee that either lead is sexually inexperienced. At the start, both the male and female leads have partners. Each relationship is monogamous while it lasts, and the leads love only each other from beginning to end!

2. Content warning: All chapters titled "Family" take place in the past. The past-timeline chapters are complete chapters. If you don't like this narrative style, feel free to drop the book or skip those chapters.

3. The leads are not related by blood. They were only foster siblings, and their romance begins after the female lead is an adult!

Halfway House No. 1 is now underway

☆ Pregnancy before marriage, then marriage, then love x powerful man bends first x older man with a big build and an age gap

[Hotel receptionist and family patriarch]

The observatory raised a Number Eight gale signal. After a week of waiting, her flight was canceled, leaving Zhu Jin alone in bed, unable to sleep.

The candlelit dinner she had carefully prepared had gone to waste, but she couldn't let the six-figure bottle of red wine he had given her go to waste, too.

At life's gambling table, Zhu Jin won as if she'd cheated, gaining a son and a daughter and becoming a wealthy man's wife.

She was barely in her twenties, the envy of everyone, but only she knew how hard the road had been.

She should raise a glass to herself.

The first glass was for herself, for dropping out of school to join her mother on the factory floor.

The second was for herself, for living for today, and for one reckless night when they each got what they wanted.

The third was for herself, for the prenatal checkup form tucked into the pages of a book, traded for a stack of prenuptial agreements.

The fourth was for herself, for never forgetting that she was cherished because she had borne him children, no matter how doted on she was.

The fifth was for herself, for daring to ask for a divorce and gamble on the world collapsing in his eyes.

The sixth glass...

No one was there to pick him up, and no one called. Shen Qingzheng finally made his way home, where he found his wife drunk on the sofa.

She mumbled to herself, a poor little thing in a one-woman show.

The billionaire had to juggle his career and family, playing both father and mother, all because his wife was never home.

Shen Qingzheng had to fly between two places like Superman just to see Zhu Jin. Wasn't he the one who deserved pity?

He irritably took off his suit jacket, unfastened his cufflinks, and rolled up his slightly damp sleeves.

"Didn't I say I'd spend tonight with you? What are you acting up for now?"

He was worn out from the road, his voice impatient, but he had already bent down and lifted her securely into his arms, savoring the intoxicating scent of wine.

What did it matter if he was the one to pity? The one who loved first was always the one who lost everything.

The man she'd been thinking about all night had finally come. Zhu Jin wrapped herself around him, her slender legs hooked around his waist.

After tracing the tattoo on his arm, she slipped her fingertips inside his collar and ran them over the muscles along his back.

A ticklish sensation.

The most dangerous thing was the delicate blush spreading over her body, the tears shimmering in her eyes as she tilted her face up and whimpered:

"The sixth glass... What should I drink the sixth glass to? Hubby, help me think of something..."

Shen Qingzheng's breathing grew heavy. How was he supposed to know how many glasses she'd had?

He pulled her into his arms and stopped her from misbehaving.

"You heartless little thing..."

He suddenly lowered his head, his hot breath brushing her ear. His voice rumbled in his chest:

"Drink to me."

"Drink to me for not letting you seduce me and then dump me, and for making sure our two kids have their daddy."

#The lifetime mission of a muscular hunk: spoiling his wife#

#The order may be a mess, but as long as they love each other, that's what matters#

Content warning: Neither lead is sexually inexperienced, neither is a good person, and it's melodramatic and cheesy.

Theme: Everyone has the right to pursue happiness.