I'm Your Sister, Brother Chow

This was probably the first time in his life that Chow had ever fed someone.

Before Aunt Blaine left the room, she secretly glanced back at them both with a small smile on her lips.

It was nerve-wracking for Vivian to eat in front of Chow, what more if he was personally feeding her like this.

Vivian focused all of her attention on eating. She kept consciously staring at the spoon in Chow's hand. As soon as he brought the food to her mouth, she opened her mouth, chewed, and swallowed as quickly as possible, just in case he fed her another spoonful before she was done.

The anxious look on Vivian's face reminded Chow of a little rabbit gnawing on a carrot. He felt himself softening up to her.

Neither one of them would have ever thought that they would be in this situation before today.

Even for Vivian, she would never have thought ten minutes ago that Chow would be feeding her like this.

As Vivian finished up the last of her rice, Chow was rather startled when he realised what he'd done.

He had no idea why he did what he did.

Chow felt even more uneasy when he saw Vivian's flushed face. He dropped the bowl on the table and said roughly, "Don't overthink it, I was just bored!"

Vivian blinked softly and nodded, the blush on her face slowly disappearing. "I know."

He didn't expect to feel uncomfortable seeing her answering in such a docile manner.

He snorted angrily, got up, and walked out of the door without sparing her another glance.

Vivian stared at his back and felt disheartened. She lightly pressed against her chest and noticed that she was so busy being anxious that she hadn't realised the bittersweet feeling in her heart. Nonetheless, watching Chow leave had made it slightly more bitter for her.

She sighed and got out of bed, ignoring the pain from all over her body, and went to her desk. She took out her sketchbook and flipped through the pages casually until she reached a blank page.

Vivian picked up a pencil and started sketching. A few strokes later, Chow appeared on the paper as a rough sketch.

There was a faint smile on Chow's lips. It was nothing like the smirk he usually wore whenever he was with Vivian.

He probably never realised that he had been smiling like this when feeding her just now.

Since coming to the Howard family two years ago, this was the first time he smiled so gently at her.

Vivian wanted to record his rare smile in her sketchbook before she forgot how it looked like.

Vivian sighed as she stared at the handsome face in her book. She brushed her fingers lightly against the paper, tracing Chow's sketched eyebrows and jawline as if she really could touch him in real life. "Chow, how much longer can I stay by your side?" Vivian asked softly, calling him by his name this time.

Her deepest desire was to stand next to him as his official partner, but that was impossible.

Putting her identity aside, the hatred that Chow felt for her was already enough to draw a firm line between them both. They were not supposed to get any closer than that, and yet, they still had this intimate relationship with one another. She clearly loved him with all her heart, yet she could never be the one for him.

It felt like there was a huge void in Vivian's heart. A gust of cold wind blew into the room, making her shiver in the chair. She suddenly heard a set of footsteps from outside the door. She quickly turned around to look. It was Aunt Blaine. Vivian was unable to mask the disappointment in her eyes. Aunt Blaine saw it and looked rather worried.

Vivian blushed and quickly stood up from the chair. "Aunt Blaine," she greeted.

Aunt Blaine nodded at her and headed for the bedside table. "I'm just here to collect the dirty dishes. Seems like the Young Master managed to convince you to finish everything."

Aunt Blaine's words made Vivian think of the situation just now. She felt her heart skip a beat.

Vivian hurried towards the bedside table to help. "I'll clean it up, Aunt Blaine. It's getting late. You should rest early."

Usually, Chow didn't like it when other people came to the main building. Aside from the general cleaning that was done by regular cleaners, the other daily chores were basically managed by Aunt Blaine. Even if Vivian was busy with school, she always took time to help Aunt Blaine with the simpler household chores.

In fact, if she hadn't been so out of it just now, she would have cleaned up after herself once she was done with her dinner.

However, Aunt Blaine stopped her this time. "It's alright, just rest well. I'm only taking the dirty dishes away. Someone else will take care of them tomorrow."

Vivian stopped helping when she heard Aunt Blaine saying that. "In that case, thank you, Aunt Blaine."

Aunt Blaine nodded again. She brought the empty dishes and utensils with her as she headed for the door.

Two steps later, Aunt Blaine's footsteps slowed to a stop. "Miss Vivian..."

Vivian noticed that something was wrong. She was a little puzzled. "Yes, Aunt Blaine?"

Aunt Blaine turned and gave her an apologetic look. "Miss, I couldn't stop Young Master... I'm sorry."

Even with the few words, Vivian already knew what Aunt Blaine was trying to say.

She lowered her head and fiddled with her fingers, "Aunt Blaine, it had nothing to do with you. Even if you tried to stop him, Brother Chow would still... and I-I..."

Vivian was too ashamed to admit that she would still willingly give herself to Chow. Nonetheless, Aunt Blaine seemed to have picked up her hint.

Aunt Blaine sighed deeply. She opened her mouth to say something but ended up keeping quiet.

She took the dishes and quickly walked out of Vivian's room, closing the door behind her.

Vivian slowly sat back on the bed. She hugged her knees and curled up tightly into a ball.

She was aware that Aunt Blaine knew about her abnormal relationship with Chow.

Their relationship was cursed and a sin in itself. They would never be able to disclose their relationship to the world. Instead, they could only keep it in the shadows until people eventually forgot about them. As for her so-called willingness, it felt more like she was a moth drawn to a flame. It would ultimately end with her demise.

That night, Vivian couldn't fall asleep.

There wasn't a peep coming from the other room either.

Chow hadn't come home yet.

Vivian should really get used to his absence, but she still couldn't help feeling empty inside.

Why was it that she just had to be greedy for the one thing that she could never have?

Would she be able to live a happier life if she hadn't met Chow in the first place?

"With this, I hope that we have a great collaboration," Chow said, after signing the document and handing his copy to his assistant, Ethan.

The interpreter started translating to the burly Italian businessman word for word.

After a whole night of discussions, the project collaboration was finally settled. Chow and the Italian businessman stood up and shook hands with each other before bidding each other goodbye. There was no need for Chow to continue entertaining his clients anymore, so he left early with Ethan. There was a light spring in his step.

Before heading for the underground car park, Chow turned to Ethan and said, "You don't have to send me back. I'll drive."

"Yes, Mr. President," Ethan said. Although Chow had long become the chairman of the Howard Group, Ethan was still used to calling him 'Mr. President' because he'd been working for Chow for five years. Seeing the smile on Chow's face, Ethan couldn't help but ask, "Mr. President, you seem very happy today. Did something good happen?"

While waiting for the lift, Chow casually smoothed out his suit as he looked at his reflection. "Do I look very happy to you?" he asked.

Ethan smiled back at Chow. "You were smiling a lot more often. You even agreed to give them 1% profit, which isn't your usual style. Are you in a hurry to see someone? Maybe the Missus at home?" When Ethan brought up the 'Missus', Chow's smile froze on his face. He glared at Ethan. "It's true that I'm in a hurry to go home, but it's not because of her. I'm just tired."

Ethan had been with Chow for five years, so he was not easily intimidated by the murderous look in his eyes. He just cleared his throat and looked away. "Of course, I was only speculating." The doors to the lift gradually opened. Chow glared at Ethan once more before getting in.

Ethen scratched his nose and followed afterwards.

They stayed awkwardly silent during the descent.

Since Chow had said that he would be driving himself back, Ethan pressed the button for the ground floor instead of following him to the basement."