Wooing my Bodyguard Wife

After her bags had been brought into the room by a smug Sun Jingwei who continuously flexed his biceps in her face like a peacock showing off its tail feathers, she hastily unpacked her things. The cupboard was so big that her belongings only filled half of it.

Just after she put her toiletries into the main bathroom, the intercom buzzed.

"Hi! Yes, sure, come up now." Jingwei said before smiling at her. "Xue Ning! Our lunch has arrived!"

"Oh good." She was getting hungry after all the unpacking. "What did you order?"

"A little bit of everything!" Jingwei said enthusiastically. Just as he was about to open the door for the delivery man, Xue Ning pushed him aside and proceeded to do it instead.

"Xue Ning?" He asked hesitantly.

"Just being careful," she said. What if someone decided to knife him in the ribs the moment he opened the door? Next time, she would ask the delivery staff to leave the food at the door instead.

Thankfully, the delivery man did not carry a knife or any weapon. Instead he had bags of food that he was gladly ready to pass onto Xue Ning at the earliest opportunity. Jingwei stood behind her, ready to help, but Xue Ning took all of them with a raised eyebrow.

"Thanks for the quick delivery!" Jingwei yelled at the rapidly vanishing figure of the deliveryman, his hands already taking the bags from Xue Ning's full hands.

They moved back into the house after locking the door.

"A little bit?" Xue Ning asked, gesturing to the multitude of takeaway boxes that were now on the dining table.

"Well, you didn't have any preference, so this is the next best thing. Besides, shops give discounts if you hit a minimum order," Jingwei explained, as though Xue Ning and her money-saving ass didn't know this by heart.

She was surprised that Jingwei knew it though, and actually used this promotion. He certainly didn't need to save money through discounts.

"More importantly, this is our first meal together in our new home, my dear! It has to be impressive."

Xue Ning choked. Sun Jingwei really never stopped pretending that she was his wife, even when they were alone! The commitment he had was inspiring.

(She reminded herself, once again, that this was all fake. They were just like children playing house in kindergarten, and the illusion would break when it was time to go.)

"Nice! They even gave me an extra tub of cookies." Jingwei said smugly. "Let's eat!"

They dug into their meals, peacefully sharing the food. Xue Ning helped herself to sweet and sour pork, salted egg chicken and even some grilled eggplant. While eating, she managed to answer most of her messages. The martial arts centre contacted her and informed her that her services were no longer required, seeing as she missed at least two shifts without prior notice.

Her lips pursed in disappointment. Technically, this new bodyguarding job for Sun Jingwei was more prestigious and paid a lot more, but part of her did miss the children and their antics.

Jingwei meanwhile, could only give Xue Ning a curious look at her slightly saddened face. Did she not like the food? Jingwei himself had no complaints about the food, he polished off everything, clearing the plates with the efficiency of a vacuum cleaner faced with dust.

"You eat a lot," Xue Ning commented, watching him in vague concern. That man seemed to inhale his food. "Careful, don't choke."

"Aww you care about me," Jingwei said with a smug smile. There was sauce at the corner of his lips. She pursed her lips and tossed a piece of tissue in his direction.

"Wipe your mouth, you have sauce at the corner." She said.

"So do you," Jingwei said, but instead of giving her a napkin, he decided to wipe it off with his thumb instead. He then licked that thumb clean with his mouth, all while smirking at her.

"There. Problem solved."

"You- !" Xue Ning spluttered, face red. Speechless with surprise, she could only stuff her mouth with more food angrily, so that she wouldn't have an excuse to respond.

Jingwei saw the way her cheeks puffed up like a greedy hamster and laughed.

"Now you should be careful not to choke." He said, smugly repeating her words from earlier. Xue Ning longed to choke him, just a bit, but he ignored her glare to fiddle with his phone.

"I've just sent a message to Shengli about your employment contract, he'll amend it and Yi Ting will send it to you shortly! You'll just need to sign it if you find the terms agreeable."

"Of course, if you don't, you can always negotiate with me." Jingwei added, his voice suddenly sultry, his eyes holding her own.

Xue Ning was the first to break eye contact by rolling her eyes. She ignored her racing heart and the heat on her cheeks.

"Somehow, I have a feeling your negotiations aren't company policy." They probably involved a lot less clothes and that huge bed she saw in his bedroom. Pervert.

Why did she like it though? It must be temporary insanity.

"Darling, I am company policy." Jingwei pointed out. There was a fond smile on his lips as he reached for a cookie.

He bit into it and had the nerve to lick his lips free of the crumbs while staring at her rapidly reddening face.

"So just let me know whatever you want."

"Do you negotiate with all your employees this way?" Xue Ning asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Only the ones that are my wife," he replies winningly, winking at her.

She stifled a laugh.

"So, I guess that's like every woman in Shanghai," she asked, delighting in the way he choked. How the tables have turned - she was going to use this chance to fluster him the same way he did to her.

"Okay maybe not every woman, just those between the ages of 20 and 60," she added. He did not stop choking.

"Hey do you want some water?" She asked, as his face turned red. "Did the cookie go down your windpipe?"

Sun Jingwei shook his head. His eyes were filled with panic and fear. He pointed at the cookies and then at his throat.

Xue Ning immediately stood up and cracked open a cookie. There wasn't anything special inside, but when she held it to her nose and took a whiff, she understood.

The cookie had honey in it. It was well-disguised with the peanuts and almonds and chocolate, but there was still an underlying sticky sweet smell that could only be associated with honey.

Jingwei was allergic to honey.

Did someone purposely send the cookies to him?