Tangled Up In Blue

Chapter 1 Third Anniversary

It was an especially warm night in Ye City.

Malcom Quan drove through the neighborhood, passing through all the other familiar trees and houses. Finally, he arrived at his apartment. Getting off the car, Malcom went up to the door and pressed his finger on the scanner. The door then opened with a slight beep and click. Much to his disappointment, he saw the bright hall was empty. "Poppi?" he called out.

There was no answer. 'Where did you go?'

After closing the door behind him, he put the documents in his hand on the sofa and went upstairs to the bedroom.

"Poppi?" he shouted once more. "Where are you?" When Malcom Quan had reached the bedroom, he saw that there were the clothes of a woman strewn across the bed, and heard the the sound of running water in the bathroom.

Splish, splash! Splish, splash!

Just then, he faintly heard the voice of a woman coming through the crack of the bathroom door. Shortly afterwards, the person inside had turned the water off. Malcolm Quan looked in the direction of the bathroom reflexively. The door was only opened by a couple of inches. Nevertheless, he could easily see the perfect, curvy figure inside.

"Damn it..." Malcolm Qiu cursed in a low voice as he loosened his tie. As his hand reached for the door knob, the door suddenly swung open. "Poppi Qiu..."

"La la la... Aah!" Poppi Qiu was humming to herself when she came out of the bathroom. A bath towel was wrapped around her body. When she saw that Malcom was there in the bathroom, she was

surprised and jumped back, her melodious humming turning into a scream. Her hands instinctively went to her face to protect herself, thinking that the person in the bedroom was an intruder.

"Oh, shut up!" Malcolm Quan snapped, but soon after he felt guilty for startling Poppi and making her scream.

"M... Malcom?!" Hearing the familiar voice, Poppi Qiu opened her eyes with lingering fear. She blinked, unbelieving that it was indeed Malcom in front of her, and adjusted the towel on her body. "When...When did you get here? You scared me to nearly half to death... Can you tell me first when you're going to come over? I thought you were a serial killer or something!"

"Serial killer?" Malcolm Quan couldn't help but look at Poppi Qiu from the bottom up. Poppi Qui's legs were tall and slender, her skin smooth and fair. There was a beautiful pink flush on her delicate face, and her eyes were big and lovely.

Immediately, Malcom Quan withdrew his gaze. "You're too confident in yourself," he mumbled.

"What do you mean by that?" Poppi Qui asked, folding her arms over her chest and jutting out her hip. "Why did you even break into my house in the first place?" Poppi said, raising her chin up at Malcom.

"your house? In case you've forgotten, this is my home," Malcolm cast a cold glance at her.

"Uh...." Then, Poppi blinked and glanced at Malcom with a sly look in her eyes. "What are you doing home, honey?" she said, her voice suddenly sweet and alluring.

"Honey?" Malcom asked dubiously as he cast a sharp look at Poppi.

"What's the matter? We're a legal couple, aren't we?" A triumphant smile appeared on Poppi's thin lips.

"Legal, but not really in the truest sense," sneered Malcom, his face expressionless. He turned around and walked to the door. "Go downstairs," he said, looking back at Poppi, "I have something I need to

tell you."

"Give me half an hour to do my skin care routine."

"You'd better hurry up." Without looking back, the tall figure disappeared at the corner of the corridor.

Poppi Qiu shrugged her shoulders indifferently and sat in front of her dresser. There, she gently applied moisturizer on her neck and arms, quietly humming to herself.

After getting dressed, Poppi went downstairs and saw Malcom sitting up straight on the couch, his thin lips pressed tightly into a fine line. The way the living room light shone on his angular face made him especially handsome and attractive.

"Go ahead. What is it you have to tell me?" Poppi asked as she sat across from Malcom. The bright, luxurious chandelier illuminated the room with a golden light. It compliment the black, marble coffee table beautifully -- the warmth of the chandelier complimenting the coolness of the coffee table. But, the coldness of the table could not compare the cold look the beautiful woman and the handsome man had on their faces as they looked at each other intently.

"This is the contract extension." Leaning forward, Malcom gingerly pushed the thick document on the table towards Poppi. "See if there is anything else you would like to add or omit."

The corners of Poppie mouth turned up to a slight smile as she took the documents. As she read the words on the first page, she raised her eyebrows. "This is the prenuptial agreement. My lawyer isn't here though. Does this agreement count?"

"Mr. Shen has seen it already."

"Well, okay then." Poppi smiled lightly and flipped through two pages casually. "Huh.." she mumbled as she read over a page. "Will we be renewing the contract for two years?"

"Yes." Malcom sat stiffly in his seat, his knuckes white as he tightly clasped his hands in front of him.

"Why it has changed into two years? I thought we had agreed on only one year?"

"Well, you have done a good job in the past three years. I don't see the harm signing in for another extra year," Malcom explained with a straight face, "Besides, this time, after we sign this, you can be rest assured that this will be the last."

"Why? Are you about to finish your acquisition plan? How can you be so sure that you will be able to make it within two years?"

"Just trust me," Malcolm squinted his eyes as he firmly looked at Poppi, dismissing her doubtful tone. However, the more he looked at her face, the more he felt in awe. It seemed like it was such a long time since he had seen Poppi face to face like this. Malcom knew how beautiful Poppi was, but he couldn't help but feel stunned at the way her eye brightly twinkled and how her lips turned into a charming smile... 'That annoying smile!' he suddenly thought. It was what he hated the most about her - - it always looked as if it was mocking him with its cunningness!

"But all my youth would be wasted on you. Two additional years on top of the three years before that? Don't you think it's a bit too long?" Poppi protested, as the sly smile that Malcom hated so much surfaced on her lips, "Am I not a bit on the losing side of this agreement? I'm not quite sure I can sign this..."

"I will double your monthly living expenses," Malcom said sternly, a hint of disgust flashing through his eyes. With a deep sigh, he continued, "And, you are allowed to go around on dates and get a boyfriend. As long as you hold up your part of the agreement and keep our marriage as secret as before. Is that fair enough for you?"

"What? I can get a boyfriend?!" Poppi Qiu grinned and pretended to be surprised, "That's great! You should have said that earlier. I don't have to read this entire thing anymore! I'm in!"

"Stop babbling and just sign the papers if you have no other problems," Malcom scoffed unhappily.

Poppi's mouth twitched with annoyance, but didn't say anything further. She flipped the pages of the document to the very end. On the bottom of the page, she saw that Malcom had already signed his name on the dotted line. Reaching out her hand, she groped around the table for a pen but there was nothing there. Shrugging, Poppi was about to stand up. "I'm just going to get a..."

"Here you are," Malcolm said with a frown as he swiftly took out a pen from his pocket.

"Thanks," Poppi mumbled as she sat down back again. She took the pen in Malcom's hand and sighed lightly. Opening the cap, she signed the documents with a graceful swipe of her hand. With a complacent smile, she handed back the document and the pen over to Malcom. "Thank you for taking care of me for the next two years." Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org exclusive © material.

Malcolm stood up with a document in his hand. "Maybe less than two years even..."

"What did you say?" Poppi raised her head doubtfully.

"If we finish the acquisition plan ahead of schedule, at the day of the acquisition, our marriage will be terminated. It's written on there. You better read it carefully," Malcom said as he pointed at Poppi's copy of the documents.

"That's great. May you succeed as soon as possible. And yes, I will read it carefully." Poppi also stood up and looked up at him with a big and friendly smile.

Malcolm cast a sidelong glance at Poppi and snorted, "This is all your fault, you know." Then he took the documents and turned to leave.

"Wait!" Poppi called out to him. The smile on her face had long gone.

"What is it?" Malcolm stopped in his tracks, turning his head slightly back.

"It's our third anniversary. Don't you have anything to say?" Poppi stared at Malcolm from behind.

"I'll transfer the money to your account later," Malcom just replied coldly. It seemed that Malcolm Quan didn't want to talk with her anymore and was ready to leave.

"I don't want the money."

"Oh? So what do you want?"