The Rise of the White Lotus

Her last remarks were the sign that Lyrick Jiang and Nico Zhuang's presence were no longer needed anymore. Hence, they dismissed themselves after bidding their farewells. 

"Wait—!"

However, just as Lexi watched the two's retreating backs, she spoke— causing them to stop in their tracks and they turned around to look at her with a questioning gaze. 

"Nico, you said you've been guarding us from the shadows all this time— then, who's watching us whenever you have to eat, sleep, and bathe?" Lexi tilted her head to the side as her curiosity about this skilled man grew bigger and bigger just by watching him. 

"Most of the time I bring snacks with me. About sleeping and bathing, there's a person who has to take my place during my absence." In a polite manner, Nico Zhuang answered her easy question with full honesty. 

"Oh, I asked wrongly... What I am really thinking is that, after this, after you set your foot outside this place... will you stay outside to guard the place?" 

"It's my day off today, Madam. But if I am on duty, that is what will happen." In the same tone, Nico Zhuang responded her abrupt questions. 

On the other hand, Ethan Lu altered his gaze from Lexi to Nico Zhuang, back and forth— a few times. His brows began to knit together as he found Lexi's inquiry a little bit weird. 

"Love, do you trust him? I mean, can we really trust him?" Suddenly, Lexi turned her head to Ethan Lu's direction— sitting on the opposite side of the sofa as she pointed at Nico. 

"Ah?" Baffled by her question, he knew that Lexi already figured out the answer, he still responded to her even though that had come off as a boast. "Of course! I wouldn't place him next to you if he's not trusted and skilled."

"Then, why must he stay outside and not inside the house? Don't get me wrong, I am not asking him to live with us but the night breeze is so cold and staying inside wouldn't hurt right? After all, he doesn't have to disguise himself anymore or rather, there's no need for him to hide his identity." Lexi replied in a matter of fact tone. 

Ethan Lu peered at her with blinking eyes. Indeed, what she proposed wasn't a bad idea. Well, Nico Zhuang was meant to stay hidden no matter what before as Lexi didn't know of his existence. Hence, he had been having a tough time staying out in the cold just so his presence wasn't detected. 

Meanwhile, aside from Lyrick Jiang who was stunned to hear the benevolent graces of Lexi, the most shocked and in awe was Nico Zhuang. He already thought that after knowing the truth, Lexi's treatment to him would also change, but he honestly didn't expect this from her. 

After all, she had been very kind in her own way towards him. Despite his aloofness, Lexi managed to string him along to her ever increasingly ridiculous experiments and weird product naming— changing his initial plan of being a nobody and to just guard her with little interactions.

"What do you think?" Arching her brows, Lexi patiently waited for Ethan Lu's response. 

"Sure." He finally agreed after a minute of silence before the two resumed in leaving their bosses alone. 

When only the two of them were left, Ethan Lu sneakily moved and in one swift skip, he plopped down beside his beloved dearest baby. "Love, are you still mad at me?" He sweetly asked. 

"No, but, were the people that were coming at me at first, have something to do with what happened to brother Mo? The timeline matched everything." Lexi raised her gaze to the adorable fox who was throwing himself at her. 

"Mhmm..." Humming a tune, Ethan Lu pursed his lips into a thin line and nodded his head once. 

"I see..." With that said note, Lexi picked up another piece of, the now turning cold, chicken wings and took a bite without restraint. 

"Are you really not going to ask me anything?" Frowning, Ethan Lu let out another heavy exhale seeing that Lexi's interest seemed to not be piqued. 

"I already told you, even if I had concluded one or two scenarios— I still prefer to hear his own version of the truth." Nonchalantly shrugging, Lexi paused from her eating as she answered before resuming on filling herself up. 

"Love, can you feed me? I haven't eaten anything all day— I'm hungry." Envious just watching her eat, as his stomach started to protest and his intestines slightly contracted.  

"No," Lexi only shot him a side glance before coldly rejecting his request. "Eat that, this is mine." She shamelessly and selfishly declared while plucking her lips out to point at the other snacks laid on the small table in front of them. 

Ethan Lu, somehow, was drawn to her unusual appetite. He already discovered that Lexi has a talent to eat as much as he could; especially on her cheat days. However, she seemed to grow undisciplined regarding her diet nowadays. 

"So cold." Shrugging his thoughts off, Ethan Lu pouted his lips as he reached for the bao on the table and shoved it in whole inside of his mouth. He tried to speak while being stuffed by food but to no avail, Lexi didn't understand a word and he almost choked to death. 

"Welp!"

"Gosh! Why are you speaking when your mouth is full?!" Patting his back, Lexi bellowed as she nearly had a heart attack seeing him almost choke. For some reason, even though she was anxious, Lexi was also very irritated that he could be so clumsy sometimes. 

Ethan Lu grabbed the bottle of water Lyrick Jiang brought, probably for himself but since they were busted, he was unable to drink it. As he gulped down a mouthful of water, he gasped for air in relief. 

When he turned to Lexi's deathly glare, Ethan Lu felt like being choked again as she seemed as if she would literally strangle him to death. "Love, I was just saying we should workout together. It's not that I don't mind if you gain weight or not, but it's still good to keep our body healthy and in shape so our minds could work better."

"Tch," Seemingly not listening to his good intentions, Lexi clicked her tongue in annoyance as she put down her food. "Annoying guy." She muttered before rolling her eyes at him and jumped off of the couch and headed to the kitchen without a word. 

"Huh???" Confused, clueless, and speechless, Ethan Lu's cloud of thoughts were filled with question marks. What did he do this time?

"Love! Why are you annoyed at me again?" Since no matter how he gave his thoughts about her abrupt change of mood recently, Ethan Lu would rather ask what he did again. 

She had been very edgy lately. Of course, Ethan Lu would always brush it off as he understood that she was just a little stressed at the moment. Also, Lexi was easy to coax with just a few kisses and cuddles—which works just fine with him as she always turns sweeter afterward. However, he was worried that she has something going on that she wasn't telling him.