Imperfect Desires

Noticing Nora's gaze, Dylan followed the direction of her eyes and cursed under his breath, "F*ck!"

Qui Meihui also looked behind and called out, "Ah-Si, why are you just standing there? Come here."

Yes, it was Xin Xiaosi himself who had come out of the backroom shocking Nora and putting Dylan in a difficult position. Dylan was feeling remorseful now since he knew that Xin Xiaosi was very close to Qui Meihui's daughter, Asteria. And there was no way that he won't come to see her.

As Xin Xiaosi trudged towards them and he silently stared at Nora. His eyes didn't leave her face even for a second while Nora avoided his gaze. The more he looked, the more his eyes saddened. It was as if he had millions of questions he wanted to ask but didn't.

"Ah-Si, say hi to our Dylan's girlfriend," said Qui Meihui, intentionally emphasizing on that 'girlfriend' part.

Xin Xiaosi's hands clenched into tight fists before he took a deep breath and said, "Hello, nice to meet you." His voice was formal and distant tugging at Nora's heart while Dylan frowned.

He could recall how Nora and Xin Xiaosi were close before Xin Xiaosi left for New York. He could believe Nora that Xin Xiaosi had no interest in her romantically but he knew that Xin Xiaosi treated Nora very well. Now, seeing how they were acting, he was really curious to know what really happened between them.

Meanwhile, Xin Xiaosi turned to Qui Meihui and said, "Sister Mei, I took the cake out. Let's decorate it."

"Okay," Qui Meihui looked at her own brother and said, "Enjoy your date then Dylan. I'll see you at home."

Dylan nodded and she went back inside with Xin Xiaosi who stopped at the door to give another glance towards Nora. However, when he saw the way Dylan's arm was now around her shoulders, he sighed and went in.

Meanwhile, Dylan tried to comfort Nora as he had put his arm around her shoulder saying, "I was gonna tell you that he came back but…"

"When?" questioned Nora.

Dylan understood her meaning and replied, "He came back last week. I was really gonna tell you but you just said that you have turned your life around. I didn't want to bring up the past."

Nora scoffed, however, more to herself as she said, "I turned my life around? How come right now my life is flashing right before my eyes?"

Dylan stayed silent for a while before he said, "Do you want to leave?"

Nora thought about his question and shook her head saying, "No, I want to stay."

Listening to her words, Dylan took her to an empty table but still said, "You're only trying to hurt yourself by staying around."

Nora stayed quiet as she thought, 'Hurt? It'll hurt more if I didn't get to see him again.'

While their order was served, Dylan had been silently contemplating the various scenarios that could have conspired between Nora and Xin Xiaosi three years ago, but he didn't want to jump to any conclusion without any confirmation.

Meanwhile, in the backroom, when Qui Meihui had entered, she had noticed Xin Xiaosi acting strangely. "You look distracted," she remarked.

"Do I?" Xin Xiaosi retorted but seeing her expression, he added, "I'm fine." Then he picked up the tools to decorate the cake and got busy.

"She's the one, isn't she?" Xin Xiaosi's hand paused when he heard her and looked at her in shock. "I have seen her pictures on your phone. I just never thought I'd see her walk in with Dylan. No wonder, she looked familiar." He stayed quiet and tried to act calm. "Do you think, she's really dating Dylan now?"

"I don't care," he replied after a moment of hesitation.

"Liar," remarked Qui Meihui and put the cake frosting on his nose saying, "Ah-Si, you're still in love with her." He opened his mouth to say something when she raised her hand to stop him. "Don't deny it. I'm older and experienced than you. You had never been able to hide your feelings from me."

"I wish you're this good at understanding my brother's feelings as well," said Xin Xiaosi and earned a slap at the back of his head from her.

"Don't bring that up here. I'm talking about you," said Qui Meihui in a stern voice this time. "Love is a feeling that you can never hide. And yours is really obvious."

Xin Xiaosi pressed his lips together before saying, "It's true that I still love her. But she's also someone who has hurt me the most. Just because I can't bring myself to hate her, doesn't mean it doesn't hurt."

Qui Meihui gave him a side hug and said, "You know it's love because it hurts. Don't forget that. Besides, no matter how much it'd been hurting you, you still couldn't bring yourself to hate her or forget her." She took a pause and added, "I know you left the country because of her but don't do anything like that again."

Xin Xiaosi smiled at her stern warning and replied, "I won't run from it anymore. Don't worry."

"That's more like it," she said and helped him with decorating the cake. Noticing his dampened mood, she decided to use the person who could distract him. "By the way, did you have to bake this cake yourself? I mean, Asteria would have loved it anyway."

"My little niece said that I should bake it myself. How can I disobey her?"

Qui Meihui shook her head at him and mumbled, "You all boys are the reason, she thinks herself to be some kind of a princess. She's only six. Don't pamper her so much."

"Sis, you'd been the queen. How can your daughter be anything else than a princess? She deserves it," said Xin Xiaosi. Although he wasn't completely distracted, he still acted like it. Besides, Asteria was the only person who could lift up his spirits.

Well, that little girl could lift up anyone's spirits, he just happened to be one of those people who were more attached to that little princess.

Qui Meihui knew that he loved her daughter like every other person but she was still thankful towards him. She could understand why Darren, Dylan, Xin Xiaosi and even Xin Xiaoli always gave in to Asteria. She was a child without a father and none of them wanted to her feel like it. This gesture mattered a lot to her.